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🗝️Bosskey Newsletter 35 - Unity and Crytek Layoffs, Steam Blocks Watch Ads , X user Archiving Japanese Game Ads

# 🗝️ Bosskey Newsletter #3 Things: 1 🎮 Game news, 1 🔎 Interesting Find, 1 📱Social Post. Written by a Part Time Indie Game Dev

February 23, 2025

Hi There Gamers and Devs,

3 Things I read this week, Unity and Crytek Layoffs, Steam Blocks Watch Ads (Forced), Japanese X user Archiving Japanese Ads.

#3 Things :

🎮Game news: Unity and Crytek Layoffs

📱 Social Post: Steam BLocks Force Watch Ad on Games

🔎Interesting Finds: X User Kunta Archiving Old Japanese Game Ads Media

Lets Go!

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This post first appeared on

🎮Game News:

Unity and Crytek Layoffs

Crysis 4 put on hold and Unity Consolidates

Unity layoffs again I feel sad hearing this. and it was done at 5AM? I feel that the Games From Scratch Blog post is reporting it best. The layofss seems like Unity wants do double down on a few core products instead of stretching themselves thin on Many Platforms.

“Our product and engineering teams are currently stretched across too many products, creating complexity and limiting impact. Historically, we’ve engaged in extended debates about what our focus would be, which would prevent crisp decision making and limit release velocity. We also added people and created operating structures that were meant to speed us up, only to find they were slowing us down. Under the leadership of Steve Collins, Shanti Gaudreault, Andie Nordgren, and Adam Smith, we are changing this approach. Some principles we’ll be following:

- Matt Unity

Links

Crytek Layoffs

With this announcement I feel sad its about 400 Employees and the new Crysis game gets cancelled. I also think that Cryengine will be getting a back seat in development.

Links

  • Youtube @Forenci

📱Social Post

Steam prohibits force watch Game Ads

Steam recently announced a ban on Play-to-Watch ad-based monetization, a model where players earn in-game rewards for watching ads. This move significantly impacts developers who rely on mobile-style monetization, as Steam aims to keep its platform focused on premium and traditional free-to-play experiences. For devs accustomed to mobile strategies, this signals a need to rethink monetization for PC audiences, whether through direct sales, DLC, or more conventional in-game purchases.

Links:

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🔎 Interesting Finds

A X user archiving Japanese Gaming Ads

An archive of old game japanese commercials, mostly playstation ones, from this Japanese User @kunta_ I am glad to see it in VHS style. I enjoyed the Square Soft ones FF VIII and Xeno gears

Nostalgia.

Final Fantasy VIII (FF8)

Link: 

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