India's 88 Pictures Enters Gaming with 88Games

88 Pictures, a well-known Indian animation and VFX studio, has branched out into gaming with the launch of 88Games. Their goal? To create awesome games for PC and console players, blending stunning visuals with stories rooted in India's rich culture and history. A team of industry pros, led by Milind D. Shinde and Shiben Bhattacharjee, is already working on three games. The first one is set to debut on Xbox and PlayStation, with a reveal planned for the upcoming India Game Developers Conference (IGDC) 2024. 88 Pictures has a solid track record, having worked on shows like "Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia" and "Transformers: The Earth Spark Season 2. " Gaming in India is booming. According to a recent report, the industry is worth $1. 6 billion and has gained 23 million new players, totaling 590 million in 2024. It's expected to reach $9. 2 billion by 2029. In other news, Tencent has expanded its Lightspeed Studios into Japan, focusing on high-end action games. They've hired Hideaki Itsuno, known for "Devil May Cry" and "Dragon’s Dogma, " to lead the new studio. Meanwhile, Alibaba Pictures has launched an international version of its cinema management software in Hong Kong and Macau. Sohu. com, one of China's oldest tech firms, reported a net loss of $16 million for the quarter ending September 2024. They also wrapped up bankruptcy proceedings for their cinema advertising subsidiary, Jingmao Culture Communication, which allowed them to record a $35 million disposal gain. Lastly, lawyer and author James Zimmerman has switched law firms, moving from Perkins Coie LLP to Loeb & Loeb LLP. His non-fiction book, "The Peking Express, " is being adapted into a feature film.