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Publishers Pivoting To Live-Service Games Have Most Devs Worried
16.4.2024
A newly published survey shows that most game developers aren’t too sure about live-service video games—like Destiny 2 and Suicide Squad—representing a sustainable future for the industry, and think the return of paid DLC might be a better option instead. Read more
El Paso, Elsewhere Dev Drags Industry’s ‘Sudden Silence’ In Uplifting Black Voices
20.3.2024
El Paso, Elsewhere was a big game for indie studio Strange Scaffold when it launched in September 2023. The Max Payne-like, narrative-driven vampire shooter centered a Black male character in the leading role, something you don’t see too often in the games industry. Well, Strange Scaffold founder...
AAA Game Dev To Frustrated Fans: 'We're Human Beings'
5.3.2024
In recent years, developers have faced more and more harassment and toxic behavior from people who say they love games but seem more interested in yelling about how studios are lazy or how everything is “woke” in 2024. And one Sony studio developer has a message to all the gamers out there, telling...
Microsoft Cuts Nearly 2,000 Video Game Workers' Jobs
25.1.2024
Another day, another layoff. This time, the staff cuts are happening at Microsoft, with IGN reporting that nearly 2,000 employees at the Xbox maker were let go.Read more
Why Video Game Voice Actors Don’t Love The New SAG-AFTRA Deal
10.1.2024
After months of speculation from voice actors concerned with how their voices could be co-opted by AI, and recent announcements from companies like Ubisoft and Tencent that they’ll use NVIDIA’s new AI tools to provide voices for NPCs, the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television...
EA Lays Off Half The Staff Behind Magical FPS Game After Low Sales
14.9.2023
On August 22, Immortals of Aveum was released on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Three and a half weeks later, around half of the staff who worked on the game have reportedly been laid off after it failed to sell enough copies to satisfy its publisher. It’s yet another round of layoffs to hit the game...
Video Game Giant Square Enix Plans to Drop a Final Fantasy VII NFT Collection in 2023
21.7.2022
According to the non-fungible token (NFT) company Enjin, the firm has inked a deal with the Japanese entertainment conglomerate and leading video game developer Square Enix. The partnership will produce the launch of Final Fantasy VII 25th Anniversary cards and figures on the cross-chain network...
Microsoft Promises To Play Nice With Future Unions Too
2.6.2022
Microsoft is trying to strike a more conciliatory tone with organized labor as it looks to get its $69 billion mega video game merger with Activision Blizzard OK’d by the Federal Trade Commission. Vice chairman and president Brad Smith wrote that the company is “committed to creative...
Reggie Fils-Aime: Companies Need To ‘Embrace’ Unions If That’s What Employees Want
24.5.2022
In an interview yesterday, former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime was asked about his thoughts on unions, which currently barely exist in the video game industry. Fils-Aime’s answer was not a ringing endorsement of unions, with the former exec saying they aren’t good or bad, just...
Report: Frustration At Riot After It Drops Vaccine Mandate In Rush Back To Office
7.4.2022
League of Legends maker Riot Games is back to the office beginning this week and not everyone’s happy about it, according to a new report by Waypoint. Following local guidelines, the LA-based company dropped its vaccine and mask mandates even as covid-19 continues to spread, leading one current...
Devs Want To Challenge Your Expectations Of Who Makes Games
24.3.2022
While the video game industry is becoming more diverse every year, marginalized game developers are still often dismissed in professional settings based on their appearance. One developer started the hashtag #WhatAGameDevLooksLike after security guards at a games conference apparently stopped...
New Witcher Game Director Promises No Crunch Despite Studio History Of Crunch
22.3.2022
Yesterday CD Projekt Red announced a “new saga in The Witcher franchise.” As part of a new multi-year collaboration with Epic Games focused on open-world design, the game will be made in Unreal Engine 5 rather than the studio’s own REDengine. It won’t be The Witcher 4, but that’s what people...
Report: IGDA Failed To Act On Internal Harassment Claims
9.2.2022
The International Game Developers Association has been an outspoken critic of the culture at companies like Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard that has led to so many lawsuits, departures and firings over the last few years. Yet a report today by GI.Biz says that the group has failed to act on its...
Call Of Duty Maker Reveals Plan To Squash Union Effort
26.1.2022
Quality assurance testers at Call of Duty: Warzone studio Raven Software gave management until today, January 25, to voluntarily recognize their newly formed union, Game Workers Alliance. Instead, embattled publisher Activision Blizzard announced tonight it would be forcing a vote with the National...
Raven's New 'Organizational Change' Conveniently Breaks Up Union Members
25.1.2022
It was only a few days ago that 34 quality assurance testers at Raven, one of the studios working exclusively on the Call Of Duty series, formed the first ever union among Activision Blizzard employees. Today, management has responded to their success with some changes.Read more
Survey Says Developers Are Definitely Not Interested In Crypto Or NFTs
24.1.2022
Every year ahead of the actual Game Developers Conference the show’s organisers run an industry survey, polling creators around the world on what’s happening and what could be happening in the games business. With 2022 promising to be a tumultuous 12 months, this year’s results are perhaps a...
Xbox Boss Shrugs Off Union Question As Activision Blizzard Employees Push For Better Working Conditions
20.1.2022
Upheaval at Activision Blizzard last year over workplace misconduct sparked an unprecedented level of labor organizing at the Call of Duty publisher. Those actions recently culminated in an ongoing strike and the distribution of union cards, while the misconduct reckoning that precipitated them...
Call of Duty Studio Vaguely Promises To Do Better A Month After Sexual Harassment Report
21.12.2021
Call of Duty studio Treyarch just issued the latest in a long series of murky apologies from Activision-owned studios regarding the ongoing investigation into company-wide sexism, harassment, discrimination, and bullying. In a tweet issued today, a little over a month after the Wall Street Journal...
The Best Video Game Surprises Of 2021
16.12.2021
Face it: The past year has been…not great. Over the course of 2021, the global temperature rose at a once again alarming rate, Marvel released not one but two panned films, and we’ve all gotta come to terms with the sobering realization that this covid-19 pandemic might never fully end. A fitting...
Indie Studio Forms First Video Game Union In The Country
15.12.2021
Developers at Vodeo Games, the indie studio behind this year’s excellent turn-based pinball RPG Beast Breaker, revealed over at Polygon today that they’ve unionized. Management at the studio is voluntarily recognizing the newly formed group, called Vodeo Workers Unite, making it the first of...