Blizzard vet Heinecke is Square Enix's new CMO

Has worked on IP including Overwatch, Hearthstone, StarCraft 2 as well as World of Warcraft

• Job News

Activision Blizzard can't seem to stop unofficial Call of Duty kids merchandise

"We never make any product close to 18 years old. It's always adult, adult, clearly adult. That's why we don't do 'back to school' stuff."

• call of duty
• merchandise
• kids merchandise

We now have a release date for when we'll find out Star Citizen single player Squadron 42's release date

New trailer features Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill and Mark Strong

• star citizen
• squadron 42

Starbreeze CFO Ahlskog steps down

Ebay vet replaced by former Remedy CDO Reini while a replacement sought

• Job News

For some reason, KFC is getting into the games space

KFC Gaming account launches on Twitter

• kfc

Two million people have played Forza Horizon 4 in its first week

Franchise is the best-selling racing series of this console generation - no surprise as it's the only annual release in this space

• data
• racing
• forza horizon 4

Skybound isn't giving much away about The Walking Dead's future

“We are doing our best to take care of the people. Our intent is to work with the original team but there are a lot of moving parts"

• the walking dead

Improbable expands Unity SpatialOS support, launches 200-player demo

Lots of battle royale on the way, then

New SuperData tool tracks video game value and impact of creators

“Watching games online has quickly become one of the most popular forms of interactive entertainment with many games video titles and esports events now generating audiences that rival traditional media content"

• data
• influencers
• video content

Bethesda says Fallout 76 skipping Steam is to have better relationship with consumers

VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines speaks out

• Steam
• fallout 76
• bethesda.net

It sure sounds like Microsoft is buying Pillars of Eternity maker Obsidian

Six years after Big M nearly killed the studio, it's "90 per cent" on the way to closing a deal to buy it

• deal

"This is the Year of Id"

"We're hitting on all cylinders and all our brands are exceeding expectations. We're very happy," says studio director Tim Willits

• quake champions
• Rage 2
• doom eternal
• wolfenstein

CD Projekt RED announces partnership with Digital Scapes for Cyberpunk 2077

"The Digital Scapes team brings aboard a lot of talent, experience and technical knowledge, and I’m very confident our long-term cooperation will add plenty to the game."

• cyberpunk 2077
• tech partnership

Assassin's Creed Odyssey peak Steam player count already 33 per cent higher than Origins'

Title hits 62,000 user peak

• player figures
• assassin's creed odyssey

Cloud games firm Improbable is moving London offices

Soon to be based in Spitafields

• office move