🎮 Game Development Diary - Weekly Roundup
Your Weekly Dose of Gaming & Dev News
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Hope you are all doing well and taking a bit of well-deserved time off over the next few days. It's a good time to take stock on what you've achieved, course correct if necessary and look forward to a new year of opportunities and challenges 🚀.
The Steam winter sale is on so a great time to add to that steam list of shame (so many games to play!). 'The King is Watching' is on sale and I really liked that game, 'Slay the Spire' is a must play at 90% off. Sorry I'll stop before I ruin your holiday ;-) .
📰 Gaming News
Fortnite Winterfest 2025 is Here with Epic Collabs
Fortnite kicked off Winterfest 2025 on December 18 and it's running through January 5, 2026. This year's event is absolutely stacked with collaborations—we're talking Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants, plus the return of Hatsune Miku and Sabrina Carpenter with holiday-themed skins. Players can claim free daily rewards by opening presents in the Winterfest cabin. This is the kind of seasonal content that keeps players coming back.
Read more
🎯 Indie Game Releases
Dead Island 2 Experiencing Massive Player Surge
Dead Island 2 is absolutely exploding right now with a 305% surge in players over the last 24 hours on Steam. This zombie action game is clearly resonating with players during the holiday season. If you haven't checked it out yet, now's the time—the community is thriving.
Check it out on Steam
Ranch Simulator: Build, Hunt, Farm - The Unexpected Hit
Ranch Simulator is trending hard with a 239.3% increase in players. This farming sim is proving that there's serious appetite for cozy, management-style gameplay. It's wild how these niche titles can suddenly capture the gaming zeitgeist.
Check it out on Steam
📊 SteamCharts This Week
Top 5 Most Played Games (Current Players)
- Counter-Strike 2 - 370,693 players | https://steamcharts.com/app/730
- Dota 2 - 223,507 players | https://steamcharts.com/app/570
- ARC Raiders - 212,012 players | https://steamcharts.com/app/1808500
- PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS - 160,040 players | https://steamcharts.com/app/578080
- Warframe - 87,560 players | https://steamcharts.com/app/230410
Trending Games (24-Hour Growth)
Counter-Strike 2 continues to dominate with nearly 371K concurrent players. The trending list shows incredible diversity—from zombie action to farming sims—proving there's room for everything on Steam right now.
🤖 AI in Gaming
Publishers Are All-In on Generative AI
This is wild—major gaming publishers have been openly integrating generative AI throughout 2025 for development efficiencies. We're talking faster workflows, smarter tools, and hours of work being saved. It's become one of the biggest stories of the year, though it's not without challenges.
Read more: https://www.cbr.com/biggest-gaming-stories-2025-clair-obscur-gen-ai/
Gamers Have Mixed Feelings About Gen AI
Here's the thing: gamer attitudes toward generative AI remain predominantly negative overall. But it's nuanced—power-oriented gamers (the progression-focused crowd) show slight positivity, while story and design enthusiasts are more opposed. Gender and age also play a role in how players feel about AI in games. It's a conversation that's definitely still evolving.
Read more: https://quanticfoundry.com/2025/12/18/gen-ai/
🎪 Game Jams This Week
Winter MelonJam 2025 ❄️🍈
A 3-day jam starting in 4 days with 473 participants already joined. Perfect for quick prototyping and creative experimentation.
Join here: https://itch.io/jam/wmj2025
Alchemy Jam #7 ✨🎁
This one's a 31-day jam starting in just 1 day with 201 participants. Plenty of time to build something special and get featured.
Join here: https://itch.io/jam/alchemy-jam-7
Chili Code Jam #4 🦐
A 7-day ranked jam with $200 in prizes starting in 4 days. 86 devs are already in, so the competition's heating up.
Join here: https://itch.io/jam/-chili-code-jam-4
Winter FlowJam 2026: Win a Steam Deck! 🎮
A 14-day jam starting in 5 days with a Steam Deck as the grand prize. 51 devs have already signed up for this one.
Join here: https://itch.io/jam/winter-flowjam-2026
Portfolio Builders Jam - Week #52
Starting in just 4 hours and lasting 6 days. This is perfect if you're looking to add something fresh to your portfolio before the new year.
Join here: https://itch.io/jam/portfolio-builders-jam-week-52
🎉 Wrapping Up
That's your weekly roundup, devs! We've got trending games breaking records, publishers doubling down on AI tools, and tons of game jams ready for you to jump into. Whether you're building your next masterpiece or just staying in the loop, there's never been a better time to be part of the indie dev community.
Got a project you're working on? Hit us up and let us know what you're building. We'd love to feature your work in next week's newsletter. Keep creating, keep innovating, and we'll catch you next Monday! 🚀
Happy developing!
— Morgan
Game Development Diary
