PlayStation’s January State of Play kicked off with a pretty good look at Helldivers 2, the multiplayer action shooter launching February 8th. Looks fun!

Apple now allows game streaming apps like Xbox Cloud Streaming and GeForce Now on its App Store globally. Following EU antitrust actions, also leading to support for alternative app stores and browsers, iOS can now offer full streaming apps. Notably, these changes will also see the return of Fortnite on iOS.

Nintendo’s next console will launch this year with an 8-inch LCD screen, according to Omdia analyst Hiroshi Hayase. Bloomberg has more info. Personally hoping for the next Animal Crossing as a launch title, too!

Microsoft is reducing its gaming division by 1,900 roles, about 8% of its workforce, including jobs at Activision Blizzard and Xbox. Leadership changes are also underway, with Blizzard president Mike Ybarra leaving. A previously teased Blizzard survival game Odyssey is also reportedly being canceled. The Verge obtained internal memos regarding the announcement.

A recent CS2 Case Tracker report for 2023 revealed that Counter-Strike case sales alone generated over $1 billion USD for Valve. Players opened over 400 million cases, spending $980 million USD, with additional revenue from Steam’s market transactions likely pushed earnings past $1 billion. Oof.

Palworld, the viral survival Pokémon-like has released in early access and immediately taken Steam by storm, surpassing lifetime player count peaks of games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring. Over four million copies have been sold, and over one million concurrent players were playing in its first three days.

11 bit studios have unveiled a gameplay preview of Frostpunk 2 - announced in 2021, it follows the 2018 survival city-builder, set in an alternative late 19th-century volcanic winter. The sequel, 30 years later, introduces district creation, impactful laws, and new threats. Absolutely love the tone, styling and UI here.

13 year old Willis Gibson, who goes by Blue Scuti, has done what once thought impossible - reaching level 157 and crashing NES Tetris. aGameScout has a great video explaining the history and tech behind this achievement. Watch the full run here. Legendary.

The Steam Awards 2023 have concluded and winners announced. BG3, Lethal Company, Sifu and a couple of others make sense, but the usual popularity-contest voting has revealed the problem with this format (again). Starfield ‘most innovative’ after having been universally panned as dated, and RDR2 as ‘labour of love’ after having not received an update in years. Righto!

Prepare your wallets, the Steam Winter Sale is here. Baldur’s Gate 3 gets its first discount, and Elden Ring is 40% off, so if you’ve yet to jump into these must play titles, now’s the time. Voting has also opened for the 2023 Steam Awards, so be sure to tick that off too (let’s go Yomi Hustle!).