🍪 India Goes Global, Refunds Get Easier, and Gamescom Breaks Records
Hello there global gamers, culture builders, and industry watchdogs 🎮
From India’s bid to become a gaming superpower, to Sony quietly fixing its refund pain points, to Nintendo’s secretive Switch 2 dev kits — the industry is buzzing with moves that will shape the next year. Oh, and Gamescom? It just broke its own records, proving Cologne is the new world capital of gaming chaos.
🕌 India Forms Its First Major Games Industry Body
Nine companies — including Nazara Technologies Limited, nCORE Games, Reliance Games, and Tara Gaming Limited — have launched the Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA).
The group’s goals:
Create original made-in-India IP
Train talent across the AVGC (animation, VFX, gaming, comics) chain
Enable India to produce globally competitive AAA titles
Advocate with regulators and attract investment
📢 “With our own games, based on our own culture, we could actually bring revenue to the country and also export our culture.” — Amish Tripathi, Tara Gaming
Kiki’s Take 🦊🍪: “If India actually delivers AAA rooted in their culture, it could be the next K-drama wave but in gaming. If they fumble? Just another mobile cash-grab graveyard.”
🎮 Sony Makes Refunds (Slightly) Less Painful
Sony now lets you request refunds for PlayStation Store purchases directly through the web or PS App. The rules:
14-day window
Game/DLC must not be downloaded (unless faulty)
Pre-orders can be cancelled anytime before launch
DLCs and consumables are refundable — if you haven’t launched the game yet
📢 “Exceptions are made in the case of the product being faulty.” — Sony
Kiki’s Take 🦊🍪: “So basically — don’t touch that download button or your money’s gone. It’s better than before, but compared to Steam it still feels like Sony’s handing out refunds with tweezers.”
🎮 Switch 2 Dev Kits Hard to Get
Developers from indie to AAA are complaining they still can’t get their hands on Switch 2 dev kits months after launch. Nintendo seems to be steering studios toward releasing games on the original Switch and leaning on backwards compatibility.
Kiki’s Take 🦊🍪: “Classic Nintendo: ‘Please clap for our new console. Also, no one gets to make games for it.’ Feels like they’d rather leak Mario’s tax returns than ship more dev kits.”
🎤 Yoshi-P: “We Don’t Need New Consoles”
Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P, Final Fantasy XIV producer) says the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Switch 2 are good enough for now. New consoles would be too costly and too thin on content.
📢 “There is no real need to make new hardware, because I think right now people are happy with the Xbox Series X, the PS5, and the Switch 2.” — Yoshi-P
Kiki’s Take 🦊🍪: “Translation: ‘Please don’t drop PS6 yet, I just got FFXVI running.’ Honestly though, he’s right — gamers can barely afford groceries, let alone another $600 box.”
🌍 Gamescom 2025 Breaks Records
357,000 visitors (+20,000 vs. 2024)
120 countries represented
72M views for Opening Night Live (up 80% year-on-year!)
📢 “Gamescom 2025 sets new standards. Bigger, more diverse and more international than ever before.” — Felix Falk, game – German Games Industry Association
Kiki’s Take 🦊🍪: “Gamescom just ate E3’s lunch and licked the plate clean. Geoff Keighley might as well get dual citizenship in Germany at this point.”
🎯 PlayStation’s “No More Concords” Policy
After the Concord disaster (a live-service flop shut down two weeks after launch, taking Firewalk Studios with it), Sony has introduced new guidelines to detect doomed projects earlier.
📢 “We want failures to happen early in development.” — Hermen Hulst, PlayStation
Kiki’s Take 🦊🍪: “Sony finally admits Concord was a dumpster fire. New rules mean they’ll spot the next disaster before launch. Or at least before Reddit, Inc. memifies it into oblivion.”
Closing Bite 🍪
From Mumbai’s AAA dreams to Cologne’s record-breaking crowds, the industry’s future feels pulled between ambition and damage control. Whether it’s refund tweaks, dev kit droughts, or meme-worthy failures, one thing’s clear: the community sees through the PR faster than ever.
🔥 Keep building, stay critical, and remember — the truth always spawns faster than the patch notes.
