Japanese gacha boss under fire for huge Nintendo-esque salary, as Puzzle & Dragons sees rapid decline - Related to event, sees, gacha, los, dragons

Explore The Ocean Depths With This Week's Epic Games Store Freebie

The Epic Games Store continues to give away a free game each week, and this week is another nice find with a price that can't be beaten. Every Thursday at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, Epic offers at least one free PC game (and sometimes even as many as two or three). All you need to do to claim the free games is create a free Epic account and enable two-factor authentication. You have a week to add the freebies to your library before the new one(s) take their place. At this point, Epic has given away hundreds of free games, and there's no sign that the program will stop any time soon. We keep this article up to date weekly to highlight both the current free games and next week's offerings.

This week you can pick up Beyond Blue, a single-player adventure where you'll get to explore the vast oceans of our world. As a member of a newly formed research team, you'll get to use advanced technology in your ocean journey, and there are even several mini-documentaries to watch so that you can gain a greater understanding of the deep blue sea.

In case you can't pick up Civilization 7 yet, you can get something from the turn-based strategy genre for free this week in the form of Humankind. Released back in 2021, you'll get to create your very own civilization by mixing and matching from more than 60 different cultures and using their strengths to lead humanity to a new golden age.

Next week you can get a feel for running your very own racing outfit with F1 Manager 2024, and like previous entries in the series, you'll have to use all your managerial skills to lead your team to victory. As an officially licensed game, F1 Manager 2024 capabilities the real teams, locations, and drivers who took part in that sport last year.

We're keeping a running list of every free game that Epic individuals have been able to claim in the past. From AAA hits to indie darlings, Epic has really made its mark with free games. You can even snag these games if you don't have a powerful PC so you can play them if you ever get one. Look at the list below to see the frankly ridiculous list of free games that have been available.

survival crafting game set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth.

tongue-in-cheek take on the simulation genre.

Amazon has revealed the free PC games coming to Prime Gaming in February, and the lineup includes games like Wolfenstein: Youngblood, BioShock Infinit......

Focus Entertainment has released a new major modification for Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 titled the Datavault modification. It contains more free content, a ne......

EA and Maxis have issued a patch for the lately released Legacy editions of The Sims 1 and The Sims 2.

These games launched on Friday, after earlie......

Pokémon Go offers refunds for Los Angeles event following wildfires

Pokémon Go developer Niantic has mentioned it will offer a full refund to players with tickets to a major in-person event later this month in Los Angeles, following the city's devastating wildfires, should they no longer be unable or wish to go.

Players who have paid for the event's $30 entry fee have the option to refund their ticket via in-app support at any time up until the event on 23rd February, Niantic has stated.

Pokémon Go Tour: Unova - Los Angeles is otherwise set to continue as planned, with an in-person experience at the Rose Bowl Stadium and Brookside Golf Course in Pasadena, and citywide gameplay across Los Angeles and Orange County.

"Our team has been watching the situation in Los Angeles, prioritising the safety and well-being of Pasadena, the greater Los Angeles area, and our Pokémon Go community," Niantic stated in a statement.

"In partnership with the Rose Bowl Operating firm and local authorities, we have made the decision to continue holding the in Pokémon Go Tour: Unova - Los Angeles experience."

The event is set to feature a major in-person meet-up and sneak peek at gameplay set to debut globally when Pokémon Go Tour: Unova rolls out worldwide on the weekend of 1st and 2nd March. This includes the debut of Black Kyurem and White Kyurem, and the Shiny version of Mythical creature Meloetta.

This year's wildfires in the Los Angeles area have claimed the lives of at least 27 people and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, leaving whole neighbourhoods ruined. Numerous video game and entertainment companies have donated to relief efforts over the past month.

Treyarch co-founder Peter Akemann - who more in recent times served as president of Skydance Interactive - has pleaded guilty to flying the drone that crashed into, and grounded, a firefighting plane assisting in the efforts to control the wildfires. He now faces up to a year in prison.

EA has become one of the first publishers to discuss - in broad terms - its plans for Switch 2, now Nintendo has finally lifted the lid on its next co......

The big game is almost here, and for most of us, that means disappointment, as your team probably didn't make the cut. (Unless you're a dirty Chiefs b......

A free-wheeling RPG road trip that pushes all the right buttons. Manage spare tires and drink endless coffee while you trundle to......

Japanese gacha boss under fire for huge Nintendo-esque salary, as Puzzle & Dragons sees rapid decline

Puzzle & Dragons developer Gung Ho has come under fire from its shareholders, who have complained about the extremely high salary of its president and poor returns on their investments.

Strategic Capital, an investment advisory firm, has submitted a investigation on behalf of corporation shareholders requesting Gung Ho "up its game" as it highlights a number of issues (thanks Automaton).

The biggest is the salary of president Kazuki Morishita, who received 340m yen (£[website] in 2023. That's similar to the total remuneration of Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa (360m yen), and above similar figures at Square Enix, Sony, Capcom, Konami, and Bandai Namco.

That's despite Gung Ho relying on mobile gacha game Puzzle & Dragons - its biggest hit - for revenue since its release in 2012, despite its revenue declining since 2014. Indeed, the report states Gung Ho has made less than a 10th of Nintendo's profits, despite their presidents having similar salaries.

While the company has released 20 games since 2012, including based on popular IPs from Disney and Yo-kai Watch, the company has reportedly not been able to shake its dependence on Puzzle & Dragons.

The study estimates Gung Ho has spent over 100bn yen developing new titles, but these have collectively earned less than 10bn yen.

To summarise, then, Gung Ho has a single but gradually fading hit game, has struggled to release another success, and is led by a president taking home an extortionate salary that far exceeds firm profits. And now there's friction between firm leaders and shareholders.

Gung Ho did see huge success with Puzzle & Dragons, a free-to-play match-three puzzle game that was the first mobile game to gross $1bn in revenue. In Japan, Nintendo even licensed a Mario-themed version of the game for 3DS.

Strategic Capital's findings implies reform by going private and a review of the remuneration system. It also states the firm has "excessive" cash reserves, which (unlike Nintendo) is viewed negatively due to low value.

Earlier this week, a plastic bag blowing in the wind made me question all I knew about the world, but in whatever way the opposite of life-affirming i......

Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and Outriders studio People Can Fly will be co-developing Gears Of War: E-Day, the upcoming shooter in the long-running serie......

I never cease to be amazed by portals in video games. Even though the tech is nearly two decades old (and older still, if you include the use of porta......