Pixel P&L: CrossFire Returns, Delhi Gaming Hub, Steam Record

Welcome to another Pixel P&L edition. This issue takes 5 minutes to read. If you only have one, here are the 5 most important things:

• CrossFire: Legends is relaunching in Southeast Asia after a seven-year global shutdown.

• Delhi drafts its first AVGC policy to transform India's capital into an animation and gaming hub.

• Meta shuts down Facebook Gaming Creator Program as watch hours plummet 95% since 2021.

• AMD unveils the Radiance Core, a dedicated ray-tracing processor to challenge Nvidia's dominance.

• Steam hits 41.7 million concurrent users, driven by Battlefield 6's massive launch — see the numbers below. 

Let's get into it.

CrossFire: Legends to Relaunch in Southeast Asia After Global Shutdown

TiMi Studios is reopening CrossFire: Legends in Southeast Asia later this year, seven years after shuttering its global servers.

The tactical mobile shooter, which Level Infinite will publish regionally, originally launched worldwide in 2018 but withdrew from international markets while maintaining operations in China. The game's domestic franchised league is now in its 18th season, featuring organizations including LGD and EDward Gaming.

Pre-registration has opened, with incentives including early access and in-game items. A promotional campaign offers hardware prizes through a referral system.

CrossFire: Legends held one international tournament in July 2018, drawing teams from Southeast Asia, Brazil and South Korea, before abandoning global competition. The Chinese league adopted a franchise model in 2019 and currently runs through December at a dedicated Chengdu arena.

The Southeast Asian relaunch could revive international play in a region with substantial mobile gaming audiences. Tencent has not disclosed plans for other markets.

The move follows the December 3rd Chinese release and represents a test of whether the franchise can regain footing outside its home market.

Delhi Drafts Policy to Position Capital as Animation, Gaming Hub

Delhi is preparing its first comprehensive policy for the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics sector, seeking to capture growth in India's expanding digital content industry.

Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra said the initiative will establish regional training centers, offer subsidies and loan assistance for startups, and build infrastructure partnerships with the central government. The capital plans its inaugural AVGC Summit in November to gather industry feedback before releasing a draft for public review in December.

The policy draws from Maharashtra's roadmap, which targets 200,000 jobs and 50,000 crore rupees in investment by 2050. Delhi officials cite the city's technology workforce as an advantage in developing digital content careers.

Government support aims to reduce barriers for independent creators and strengthen connections between industry and academic institutions. A September screening partnership with Netflix served as a pilot initiative.

The framework comes as India's digital content sector expands rapidly, with state governments competing to attract studios and talent. Cabinet approval would follow public consultation, with implementation scheduled for early 2026.

⚡️Quick Bytes

Meta to Shut Down Facebook Gaming Creator Program

Meta will end its Facebook Gaming Creator Program, with partner support ceasing October 31 and full shutdown in 2026. Launched in 2018, the program offered monetization tools and early feature access as Facebook Gaming's watch hours plummeted from 1.29 billion in Q3 2021 to 66.5 million in Q3 2024. Creators must transition to broader Facebook monetization options as Meta prioritizes Reels over niche gaming support.

AMD Unveils Ray-Tracing Processor to Challenge Nvidia

Advanced Micro Devices introduced the Radiance Core, a dedicated ray-tracing processor developed with Sony Group, for upcoming Radeon cards and PlayStation consoles. The chip handles light-transport calculations independently from main processors, addressing AMD's performance gap against Nvidia's Blackwell architecture in path tracing. AMD didn't announce availability dates for the technology, part of its Project Amethyst collaboration with Sony.

Steam Reaches 41.7 Million Concurrent Users

Valve's Steam platform hit 41.7 million simultaneous users this week, more than double its March 2020 pandemic peak of 19 million. The surge followed Battlefield 6's October 10 launch, which drew 747,000 concurrent players, marking Electronic Arts' largest shooter debut on Steam and exceeding Call of Duty's 492,000-player peak. The milestone underscores Steam's dominance over competitors like Epic Games Store.

Sucker Patch to Remain Single-Project Studio After Ghost of Yotei

Sucker Punch studios will continue focusing on one game at a time despite fan requests for multiple franchises, studio head Brian Fleming told VGC. The developer completes projects roughly every five years, making each choice significant. Fleming said the studio must select its best idea whether continuing Ghost, reviving Sly Cooper, or exploring new concepts, ruling out simultaneous development of remasters or legacy titles.

⚔️Side Quest

🤣Laugh:

📺 Watch: Indie-hit Thronefall developer Jonas Tyroller argues that commercial success requires prioritizing player experience over unique mechanics. In this video, he shares seven practical strategies to build games that actually sell.

🎮 Play: As Dusk Falls delivers gripping drama through its unique slideshow art style and exceptional voice acting. Follow two families whose lives collide in this underrated narrative gem where choices genuinely matter. The compelling characters and branching story make it one of the best in its genre, with surprising co-op options enhancing replayability.

📚 Read: Former Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney dissects gaming's biggest hype cycles (VR, crypto, cloud streaming, and the metaverse) with a brutally honest "fad audit." His framework cuts through industry delusions using a simple test: does it improve user experience 2x or more? Essential reading for separating genuine innovation from expensive mirages.

💡Did You Know

In 1982, Activision cofounders David Crane and Bob Whitehead created Venetian Blinds, an Atari 2600 game where the only gameplay was raising and lowering blinds on a window. The "game" was a cheeky response to Atari's lawsuit over Whitehead's "Venetian blinds" graphical programming technique. Ironically, the joke game didn't even use the actual technique it was mocking. Created as an internal gag during the legal battle, it sat unreleased for 21 years until Activision finally published it in 2003's Activision Anthology. It's perhaps gaming's most elaborate inside joke turned into an actual playable product.

📜 Quote of the Day

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