When I arrive at the party

🥽 The Steam Frame will be welcomed by the PCVR community that’s felt sidelined by Meta, but will it unlock a new audience? (no) 🧵👇 #valve #steam #steamframe #vr #xr

Silksong and Hades 2 were two of my most anticipated games this year. Sadly, one of them has disappointed me... Yes, one is a metroidvania and other is a roguelike, but both games revolve around challenging, repetitive gameplay - with the games expecting you to die... a lot. 🧵👇

Back in February 2019, when I thought #Silksong was just around the corner 🤣

Me, when playing Battlefield 6 Open Beta over the weekend.

📺🎮 I checked out Netflix’s latest tie-in game: no app store, no downloads – just my TV and my phone as the controller. 👇 Golf Mayhem '98 Demo launched with the release of Happy Gilmore 2, a Netflix original film. I gave it a try and recorded the experience (video below). 🧵

☁️ 🎮 Cloud gaming was supposed to be the killer app for 5G, but the dwindling telco partnerships tells a different story Between 2019 and 2022, cloud gaming partnerships with telcos surged – seen as the perfect showcase for low latency and high-speed connectivity. 🧵👇

☀️ No shortage of sunshine or talking points at Develop:Brighton yesterday. We covered a lot on our panel; from policy implications to the need to grow the market beyond its traditional core. 🧵👇 #developbrighton #gamesindustry #gamedev #developconf @developconference.com

🗣️ If you're at Develop:Brighton today, I'll be on a BAFTA-led panel at 12:00 PM, titled "Why Cultural Recognition is Crucial to the Future of the Games Industry" (Room 4) Got a really packed day, but get in touch if you want to catch up! #DevelopBrighton #GamesIndustry #GameDev #Omdia

Hyped to be at Develop:Brighton this week catching up with old pals and new! We have a BAFTA stand in the expo and I'll be hosting this ace chat with the inimitably insightful @nickpoole1.bsky.social, @cassiacurran.bsky.social and @giokinto.bsky.social 📅 Tuesday 8th July | 🕛 12:00pm | Room 4 🎮🤩

🪅 Welcome to the party, Netflix. TV party games was identified as one of the company's key four genres moving forward, but will it pay off? 🤔🧵👇 This scorecard shows how Netflix could carve out a unique position in TV party games to deliver accessible, easy-to-play experiences to its 300M+ subs.

📢 Two weeks to Develop:Brighton! I'll be speaking on the panel titled "Why Cultural Recognition is Crucial to the Future of the Games Industry", led by BAFTA's @lukethehebble.bsky.social 🎮 Why Cultural Recognition is Crucial to the Future of the Games Industry 📅 Tue 8th July | 🕛 12:00pm | Room 4

💥 Today marks the biggest console launch ever, with 14.4 million Nintendo Switch 2 consoles predicted to sell in 2025, according to Omdia. 👇 Switch 2 is poised to outperform the original's debut year, launching into a far stronger market position. 🧵 #nintendoswitch2 #switch2

Happy Switch 2 day! Some of my comments and Omdia sales forecast included in this article by @arjunkharpal.cnbc.com: www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/06/... #Nintendo #Switch2 #NintendoSwitch2

📱👓 No, XR devices aren’t going to make smartphones obsolete. 👇 As laid out in Omdia's latest free report, mobile devices (especially smartphones) will remain central to the XR experience for most users over the next two decades 🧵 #XR #AR #VR #MR #marketforecast #forecast #report

📈 More than 60 million XR devices could be sold annually by 2035 – and over 200 million by 2045 👇 I wrote a 3,000 word report outlining the most plausible scenario for how XR could develop from now through 2045 – and it's completely 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 to read. 🧵 #XR #AR #VR #MR #marketanalysis #forecast

👓 This is how XR devices are likely to evolve over the next 20 years 👇 We've just published a 3,000 word report outlining the most plausible scenario for how XR could develop from now through 2045 – and it's completely 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 to read. 🧵 #XR #AR #VR #MR #marketanalysis #forecast

Delighted that Omdia's games research team is once again a key contributor to @ukieofficial.bsky.social's annual market valuation 👇 UK consumers spent £7.6bn on video games in 2024; a slight YoY dip, but still much higher than pre-pandemic £5.4bn. Press release and PDF below: 🔗 zurl.co/bs1r3

🕺 “Wii, but without controllers” – is how I describe Nex Playground, which I tested out with my 5-year-old niece (and captured some of the ensuing chaos in this video). 🧵👇 #nex #nexplayground #games #familygaming #livingroomgaming #motiongaming #gamingtrends

Outdoor advertising for second-hand smartphones done right 😂 @backmarketofficial.bsky.social

Turns out I've been ahead of the curve on Switch 2's design all these years (been using these silicone covers/grips from day one, which now I realise kind of look like Switch 2's new look!)

Check it out - includes insightful comments from my colleague James McWhirter 👇

🎥 Ahead of Switch 2's full reveal, my colleague James and I looked back at five handhelds that defined Nintendo’s always-evolving strategy since 1989. 🔗 Watch the full discussion: shorturl.at/BdXMe #switch2 #nintendo #nintendoswitch2

A great summary of major trends emerging from GDC 2025, including AI's progress in game development, renewed hopes for UGC to drive engagement, and the industry's search for fresh growth. You can read it for free here: 🔗 lnkd.in/e2Yj3kdz #GDC25 #GDC2025

📅 Mark your diaries for our pre-GDC webinar, Ten Big Questions and Answers About the Games Industry in 2025! Details below 🧵👇 #GDC25 #GDC2025 #webinar

🎮📲 Handheld gaming is well and truly back, with the likes of Steam Deck and PS Portal driving renewed interest in dedicated portable gaming. But it’s ironic that the very thing that disrupted the handheld market in the early 2010s – smartphones – often get left out of this conversation. 👇🧵

🌎📱 Meta's metaverse future looks a lot like Roblox. For some Friday fun, I checked out popular games on the Horizon mobile app – what I found was... interesting. 🎞️LinkedIn video: tinyurl.com/5f28kuw7

🌊 Consumer VR moved in waves, defying past forecasts that predicted steady growth. Yet, mass-market appeal remains elusive. 📈 Is another upswing on the horizon? Omdia's forecast suggests so – assuming the launch of Apple’s more affordable headset, Meta’s continued investment, and Google’s return. 🧵

It was great to share my 2025 XR predictions with Wareable 👇 👓 More developments around smart glasses, led by Meta 🥽 The last hurrah for Meta's metaverse/Quest ambitions 🏃 Android XR to play catch up, with very limited impact ✨ Convergence of wearables and AI (early days) 🔗 PULSE newsletter ($):

Two months on, my colleague James McWhirter's analysis piece (below) continues to stir up discussions about Microsoft's shift in strategy for Xbox 👇

Great to see Omdia's Mobile Games Report stats included in @mobilegamerbiz.bsky.social's Data Digest. Check out the link in the original post 👇

Great reporting by @henrystockdale.com about the state of VR from game developers' perspective. It's been clear to me for a while that all is not well with VR, so it's important to highlight key issues. It's encouraging that Meta is apparently preparing a blog post to address concerns raised here.

Reading between the lines, 2025 seems like one last hurrah for Meta's metaverse/Quest ambitions. I'm not expecting Meta to completely scrap them if 2025 doesn't pan out great, but they'll likely get greatly deprioritised in favour of glasses (which are easier to tie in with Meta's AI investments).

⚠️Nintendo’s earnings misses were no surprise, given we’re at the tail end of the Switch’s lifecycle. Per my comments in this @cnbc.com article, the real challenge is pulling off a successful Switch 2 launch this year. 🔗 www.cnbc.com/2025/02/04/n...

📲 Mobile game downloads have been declining since 2020, but revenues are holding steady. In 2024, downloads dropped by 6% YoY, yet net revenues grew by 4% to $56.7bn across iOS and Google Play.

Well, that didn't take very long at all! OpenAI rolled out its latest o3-mini AI model to users on all ChatGPT plans, (including the free tier). DeepSeek clearly forced OpenAI's hand 🙃

'Surging'? Yes, 4Q24 was record quarter for revenue, but this is due to shifting of GP subscribers to Ultimate, raising prices, and stopping the $1 promo. All translating to 2% YoY total Xbox revenue growth. Worryingly, limited subscriber growth suggests Black Ops 6 didn’t deliver expected results.

Meta's Reality Labs unit generated $1.08bn in Q4 2024, up just 1.1% YoY, despite launching Quest 3S for that holiday quarter – validating my assessment earlier this month that the new headset failed to deliver a significant boost. 🧵👇 #Meta #MetaQuest #VR #XR #MetaEarnings

"We are seeing 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀 and the Quest brand has never been stronger". I think this was very carefully worded. Meta Ray-Ban glasses sit within the Reality Labs, I believe they (not Quest headsets) were responsible for most (if not all) of the 40% YoY sales growth in 2024.

2024 was brutal for VR game studios, and sadly 2025 is set to be more of the same. Over past year there's been layoffs, reorgs, or closures at Archiact, Fast Travel Games, First Contact Entertainment, nDreams, OrbusVR, Ready at Dawn, Sony London Studio, Soul Assembly, VRChat, Wimo Games, & XR Games

🌐🎮 16% of developers are working on browser-based games – highest in the past decade 🧵👇 This is according to the latest GDC State of the Game Industry report (3k+ devs surveyed). Up from 9% last year and 11% the year before. This marks the highest percentage since 2015 edition of the survey.

"Unlocking The iOS Platform For User Growth - Key Updates On DMA, DMCC & Emerging Regulations" presented by Aptoid's CEO Paulo Trezentos. Aptoide claims to be the first independent app store for Android, and the first non-Apple game store for iOS. Is seeing increased interest in recent years.

"Opportunities Of Unlocking New Audiences Through Web Gaming" - a panel discussion about what's happening in this space Elina Arponen - Quicksave Interactive Chris Kemp-Salt - Kempt & Co Lily Nos-Mentink - Azerion Rafael Morgan - Crazy Games J.B. Elliott - Enthusiast Gaming #PocketGamerConnects

At PocketGamer Connects today – first session I'm checking out is "Let The World Play – Case Studies Of Web Game Hits" presented by @poki.com's Joep van Duinen (Head of Game Developer Operations & Partnerships). Poki is the biggest browser-based gaming platform, with 70M+ MAU

LEET STREAK on Duolingo 🦉

Shared my insights and expectations with @duckvalentine.bsky.social about the official Nintendo Switch 2 reveal. Read about it over at @ign.com 👇 #nintendo #switch2 #switch

Meta Quest 3S underperformed during the holiday season, according to Sensor Tower app data and Amazon product page sales data analysis. Here's a link to my analysis piece: 🔗 shorturl.at/Pfoio Highlights in 🧵👇 #VR #MetaQuest #MetaQuest3s

I was talking as this was taken, but it came out as if my mind is being blown by playing TMNT on the Lenovo Legion Go S via Legion Glasses 2 🤯 #CES2025

EssilorLuxottica's booth at #CES2025. Oakley and Ray-Ban owner acquired a hearing technology startup Nuance last summer. It's showcasing Meta Ray-Bans and smart glasses with built-in hearing aids. The latter is certainly part of a broader trend at the show.

PSP that runs PC games, anyone? It even has a slide up screen/physical keyboard! Shenzhen-based GPD showcasing their handheld PCs, including this 'Win 4' (AMD chip, Windows). Performance was... Mixed (Cyberpunk wasn't too bad with lower graphics settings). #CES2025