STAT | 125 million - Total number of Fortnite players since the game’s original launch less than a year ago.

QUOTE | “I’ve talked to one Valve rep, and I’m like, ‘I want to put this kind of content on Steam,’ and the Valve rep responded, ‘Yeah, that seems okay, I’ll let you know if we change our mind.’ Which doesn’t provide any certainty. It puts developers in a weird position because we have to guess how Valve’s mind will…

QUOTE | “We have had over two million unique visitors to this stream to watch, I don’t know what, nothing.” - Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard describes the company’s 24-hour live stream of a Vault Boy statue and a TV with a “Please Stand By” graphic on it leading up to the teaser reveal of Fallout 76.

QUOTE | “According to the email, Kindred Spirits will be re-reviewed and we will be equipped with specific feedback if there are concerns about the game’s content.” - The Twitter account of MangaGamer, announcing that Valve seemingly backtracked on its demand that the studio (and other risqué visual novel developers)…

QUOTE | “What we see now is we can launch games whenever we are ready and whenever we want, just because there’s a good appetite for new products on the market thanks to the fact that there are less big games coming to the industry. That gives us the possibility to choose when to launch, because it’s really the…

QUOTE | “We’re working with all the industry associations globally and with regulators in various jurisdictions and territories, [and] have established that programs like FIFA Ultimate Team are not gambling.” - On Tuesday, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said regulators agreed with EA’s position that loot boxes aren’t gambling.

QUOTE | “When we see people innovate in an interesting and impactful way, we are very quick to figure out how to capture inspiration from innovation. When we see things that appeal to our audiences, we are very good at being inspired by those.” - Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick uses his verbal judo black belt to…

QUOTE | “Inappropriate conduct or practices have no place at Quantic Dream. We have taken and always will take such grievances very seriously. We value every single person who works at QuanticDream. It is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a safe environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion…

QUOTE | “Again, sorry for this as we kindly ask for your further patience and hopefully it won’t be a deal breaker for any of you. In return, we promise we’ll push this extra three weeks in 90+ hours per week so it’ll be very-very useful for Martyr.” - NeoCoreGames producer Zoltán Pozsonyim in an update apologizing…

QUOTE | “I think wherever the Western market gravitates toward is what everyone will try to gravitate towards and create, and that will become the next red ocean. So I want to do something that’s not in there” - Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro tried appealing to Western audiences before. It didn’t work, so he…

QUOTE | “Simply being aware that they are available for purchase reduces the immersion in the world and takes away from the challenge of building your personal army and your fortresses.” - Monolith Productions acknowledges that the impact loot boxes had on Shadow of War in a blog post announcing their removal from the…

STAT | 2 million - Number of Sea of Thieves players in the game’s first week of release. It is Microsoft’s fastest-selling first-party original IP since the Xbox One launched in 2013.

QUOTE | “Switch is not as powerful as a PS4 or Xbox One. Everyone knows that. But the difference isn’t as big as the general perception would have you believe.” - Abstraction Games CEO Ralph Egas says the studio’s biggest challenge in porting Ark: Survival Evolved to the Switch was not processor power, but getting…

QUOTE | “The premium living room experience today is on Xbox One X, and we hope to continue that for years to come. But when you think about how we are going to broaden our business, we need to think beyond console to be successful.” - Microsoft GM of gaming cloud Kevin Gammill says the company isn’t leaving the…

QUOTE | “Every shot is in colossally bad taste and everyone associated with those games should be ashamed of themselves. They hurt us.” - Deus Ex and System Shock developer Warren Spector was upset by the White House’s video game violence montage produced for a meeting with industry leaders and critics.

QUOTE | “The president will meet with a number of stakeholders next week. He’ll also be meeting with members of the video game industry to see what they can do on that front as well. This is going to be an ongoing process, and something that we don’t expect to happen overnight... to make sure that we protect schools…

STAT | $295 million - Estimated revenue generated by Nintendo’s mobile free-to-play game Fire Emblem Heroes in its first year, almost five times the amount made by Super Mario Run.

QUOTE | “The prevalence of in-game microtransactions, often referred to as ‘loot boxes,’ raises several concerns surrounding the use of psychological principles and enticing mechanics that closely mirror those often found in casinos and games of chance.” - Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) has asked the ESRB to detail when…

QUOTE | “We remain deeply committed to developing immersive experiences for consumers through groundbreaking augmented and virtual reality.” - A Viacom statement regarding the company shutting down its AR and VR development studio, Viacom Next.

QUOTE | “Essentially, it’s made [our Xbox business] worthless overnight… Effectively overnight they’ve wiped massive value off our company and made it not worth doing. Why should we support them and sell their consoles and accessories if we’re going to get very little out of it? We don’t make anything off their…