Pixel P&L: GeoGuessr's Saudi Exit, Ubisoft's Trial, Indian AI Game Jam

Welcome to another Pixel P&L edition. This issue takes 7 minutes to read. If you only have one, here are the 5 most important things:

• GeoGuessr withdraws from Saudi Arabia's $70M Esports World Cup after community creators threaten boycott — learn why below.

• Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot summoned to testify in sexual harassment trial against three former executives.

• India's first AI Game Jam sees 25 teams create games in 9 hours, but raises troubling questions about creativity.

• Embracer Group finalizes its dramatic breakup into three companies, with Coffee Stain spinning off by year-end.

• Despite market recovery, 70% of China's top gaming companies actually cut R&D spending in 2024. 

Let's get into it.

GeoGuessr Withdraws From Saudi Arabia's Esports World Cup After Community Backlash

Geography-gaming company GeoGuessr withdrew from Saudi Arabia's $70 million Esports World Cup after facing coordinated pressure from key content creators who threatened to disrupt operations.

The Swedish company had secured participation alongside industry giants Riot Games and Blizzard Entertainment in the summer tournament, part of Saudi Arabia's broader strategy to invest in gaming and esports as economic diversification tools.

However, CEO Daniel Antell announced Thursday the company was abandoning the deal after essential map creators, who provide much of the platform's competitive content, organized a boycott over human rights concerns and sportswashing allegations.

"When you tell us we've got it wrong we take it seriously," Antell said in a statement, highlighting the company's dependence on community-generated content for its business model.

Ubisoft CEO Summoned to Testify in Harassment Trial

Ubisoft Entertainment SA Chief Executive Yves Guillemot and human resources director Marie Derain will testify in court proceedings against three former executives accused of sexual harassment and discriminatory conduct.

The trial of former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, ex-vice president Tommy François, and Guillaume Patrux is scheduled to begin June 2, following prosecution delays. All three face accusations of sexist and racist behaviors during their tenure at the French video game publisher.

The union Solidaires Informatique said the executive testimonies would highlight "systemic harassment" at Ubisoft. Both Hascoët and François departed the company in summer 2020 amid widespread allegations of workplace abuse and discrimination.

French police arrested five former Ubisoft executives in 2023 following a year-long investigation into sexual assault and harassment within the company.

The proceedings come as Ubisoft reported mixed financial results, with revenue declining despite strong initial sales for Assassin's Creed Shadows.

On Our Radar: India's AI Game Jam

India’s first AI Game Jam recently concluded in Delhi, with 25 teams creating playable games in just nine hours using artificial intelligence tools at the Indian Institute of Creative Skills (IICS) campus in New Delhi. The event was backed by the All India Game Developers Forum (AIGDF) and the Media & Entertainment Skills Council (MESC) and featured INR 2.5 Lakh as prize pool.

Reading about teams compressing the entire creative process into a single workday feels deeply troubling. What concerns me isn't these specific games but what gets lost when AI handles asset creation, design and gameplay mechanics. Games derive their strength from human’s creative decisions and the messy process of iteration. When developers rely on AI to generate art, suggest mechanics and even structure narratives, we risk creating technically competent but emotionally hollow experiences.

The nine-hour constraint seems designed to prove AI's efficiency rather than nurture the patient craft that creates memorable games. Young developers learning to lean on these tools may never develop the instincts that separate great games from algorithmic products.

⚡Quick Bytes

Gaming Consolidator Embracer Finalizes Breakup Into Three Companies

Embracer Group will spin off Coffee Stain Group into a standalone company by year-end and rename its remaining business Fellowship Entertainment, completing the Swedish gaming conglomerate's three-way split. Coffee Stain will house popular franchises including Valheim and Deep Rock Galactic, while Fellowship will control Lord of the Rings rights and employ 6,000 people across major studios.

Crunchyroll, Discord Partner on My Hero Academia Profile Collection

Crunchyroll and Discord launched a My Hero Academia profile collection, offering users eight avatar decorations and three profile effects across five global regions. The collaboration precedes the anime's final season premiere in October 2025 and the upcoming Anime Awards on May 25, where the series earned two nominations including Film of the Year.

⚔️Side Quest

📺 Watch: The first gameplay trailer of Mukti, an ambitious first-person adventure from Indian studio underDOGS that demonstrates how local developers are creating globally-relevant content while addressing serious social issues like human trafficking.

🎮 Play: The Case of the Golden Idol, a clever detective game that uses an innovative keyword mechanic to solve interconnected murders, offering satisfying puzzle-solving wrapped in a compelling Victorian mystery.

📚 Read:Valve’s blog post on how it designed various mini-games that were packaged as part of the Crownfall update for Dota 2, the various challenges it encountered, and how it managed to solve them to make one of the best Battlepass experiences in a free-to-play game, possibly ever.

💡Did You Know

Despite China's gaming market showing signs of recovery in 2024, approximately 70% of the country's 60 largest public game companies actually reduced their research and development spending that year. This conservative approach led to significant workforce changes across the industry: while 30 companies collectively cut 6,106 R&D positions, the 24 companies that chose to expand (including gaming giants like Tencent, Kingsoft, and Giant Network) added even more jobs, hiring 8,055 new employees. This created a stark divide in the Chinese gaming industry, with major players doubling down on development while smaller companies tightened their belts.

📜 Quote of the Day

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