Games industry news — studio acquisitions, layoffs, publishing deals, and business analysis.
An Iconic Piece Of Gaming Artwork Just Fetched A Princely Sum At Auction
A sales flyer for Donkey Kong featuring the first appearance of Mario sold for almost $330,000 at auction today, more than doubling its estimated fina…
Rockstar employees will soon vote on whether to create the biggest games union in history
Rockstar Games employees will vote on whether to unionize between November 12 and November 26. The vote could create the largest video game workers un…
Capcom's golden streak continues as Onimusha and Pragmata sell well, but Monster Hunter Wilds conspicuously absent from financial report
Capcom's half-year financial report for April through September shows strong performance across its game lineup, with Onimusha: Way of the Sword reach…
Demanding 300GB to install despite its actual size of 145GB, Phantom Blade Zero makes me question what a gigabyte is worth
Phantom Blade Zero demands 300GB of storage space to install on PC, yet the game's actual footprint sits at just 145GB. The discrepancy exposes a pers…
"This is a serious incident": Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 devs Warhorse hit by cyberattack targeting their systems and data
Warhorse Studios, the Czech developer behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, confirmed it fell victim to a cyberattack targeting company systems and data…
The GameMaker engine series behind Undertale, Hotline Miami and Spelunky is going free for commercial use on PC
GameMaker has announced that PC game developers will gain free commercial publishing rights using its latest tools, joining web and mobile platforms i…
With Xbox cuts not done, Microsoft offer voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 workers across the company in latest attempt to get rid of staff
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees across the company as it continues restructuring efforts that began with sig…
"What if Larian had shut down after Divine Divinity?": Star Trek Online exec scorns publishers who close teams like BioWare in favour of "AAA veteran" start-ups and AI "magic beans"
Thomas Marrone, executive producer on Star Trek Online at Cryptic Studios, launched a scathing critique of publisher practices that dismantle establis…
Skydance Institutes Company-Wide Mandatory Return To Office So It Can Avoid Saying ‘Layoffs’ So Soon After Merger
Skydance Media has implemented a company-wide mandatory return-to-office policy requiring all employees to work five days per week at physical locatio…
Here’s How The Way Activision Talks About Call Of Duty Launch Weekend Sales Has Changed Over Nearly 20 Years
# Activision's Silent Treatment: The Shifting PR Strategy Behind Call of Duty's Launch Numbers Activision has fundamentally changed how it handles Ca…
Steam's AI disclosures are akin to "forcing developers to list their voting history", says man who must hate seeing eggs virtue signal that they're free-range
Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, has pushed back against Valve's new AI disclosure requirements for Steam, comparing the transparency mandate to forced…
220,000-signatory petition to "save Mass Effect" doesn't mention BioWare, suggests giving Mass Effect 5 to somebody else
A Change.org petition with 220,000 signatures calling on EA to "save Mass Effect" pointedly omits BioWare's name. The deliberate absence speaks volume…
Ghost Of Yotei Dev Sucker Punch Hit With Layoffs Despite Shipping Sony’s Best-Selling Game Last Year
Sucker Punch Productions announced layoffs despite the massive commercial success of Ghost of Yotei, which sold 5.4 million copies on PlayStation 5 si…
Microsoft Gives ‘Voluntary Exit Offer’ To 60,000 Employees, Roughly 25 Percent Of Its Total Workforce
Microsoft extended a voluntary exit package to approximately 60,000 employees, representing roughly 25 percent of its 240,000-person workforce. The of…
Arkane survival negotiations reportedly seeing "several forms of takeover" considered ahead of November deadline, as Marvel's Blade production nears end
Arkane Lyon, the French studio behind Dishonored and Deathloop, faces an uncertain future as Microsoft-mandated negotiations over the studio's indepen…
Helldivers 3 "only makes sense" if it’s so unlike Helldivers 2 "that both games can exist side by side", says Arrowhead boss, discussing their new prototype game
Arrowhead Game Studios will not develop Helldivers 3 unless the studio can create something radically different from its breakout success, Helldivers …
Half-Life 3 speculation reignited by Valve dev mentioning three sweet little rumored codenamey letters amid technical chat about video game noises
A Valve composer has reignited Half-Life 3 speculation during a technical panel on video game audio by casually mentioning "HLX," a rumored internal c…
Eric Bauza, The Voice Of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, And Many More Has Died At 46
Eric Bauza, the prolific voice actor behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and dozens of other iconic cartoon characters, died at age 46. His family announce…
Google’s Finnish Data Centers Were Already In Trouble Over Deforestation, Then The Wolves Came
Google's expansion into Finnish infrastructure has collided with environmental and wildlife concerns that reveal deeper tensions between tech infrastr…
BioWare staff "should be given the first opportunity and the federal support" to buy the studio and keep it running, says Canadian political party leader
A Canadian political leader has proposed offering federal support to BioWare's staff to purchase and operate the studio independently, following EA's …
Legend Of Zelda Producer Eiji Aonuma Knighted By French Ministry Of Culture
Eiji Aonuma, the legendary producer behind Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise, received a knighthood from the French Ministry of Culture in a ceremo…
CoD Dev Who Crunched On Black Ops 1 + 2 Reacts To Remasters Blowing Up: ‘Hard To Watch The Suits Rake In Giant Financial Windfalls From Our Old Code’
A former Call of Duty level designer who worked on Black Ops 1 and 2 expressed frustration over remasters of those games generating significant revenu…
Massive GTA 6 Banner In Paris Censors All Of The Guns
A massive Grand Theft Auto 6 banner displayed in Paris removed all firearms from the promotional material, according to Kotaku. The advertisement feat…
Famous And Innovative Duke Nukem, Quake Level Designer ‘Levelord’ Has Died
Richard Gray, known professionally as "Levelord," died recently. His wife shared news of his death online. Gray earned recognition as a level designe…
We Might Be Cooked, As These Vibe-Coded Web Browser Ports Of Halo, The Simpsons: Hit And Run, And GTA: Vice City Seem To Work Perfectly
A collection of classic and popular video game titles, including Halo: Combat Evolved, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Skate…
Claims that genAI speeds up PC ports of classic games are either "false" or missing the point, says Banjo Kazooie: Recompiled developer
DarioSamo, the developer behind the unofficial PC port Banjo-Kazooie: Recompiled, has challenged claims that generative AI accelerates porting classic…
Industry layoff watch: Supermassive, Ninja Theory, The Coalition, and a warning from Warhorse
The Coalition, developer of the Gears of War franchise, has not announced layoffs, but staff members working on Gears of War: E-Day express concern ab…
Warner Bros. And Paramount Unveil New Name As Both Studios Restructure
Warner Bros. and Paramount announced a merger that will create a new company under Skydance's ownership. James Gunn, the director known for "Guardians…
Troves Of Unseen Star Wars Material Emerge Online After Effects Wizard’s Garage Sale
Phil Tippett's studio closure has resulted in hundreds of behind-the-scenes files from major film productions becoming publicly available through the …
After a record-breaking September, 'it's safe to say Steam's yearly revenue will blow past $20B for the first time'
Alinea Analytics reported that Steam recorded a record-breaking September, suggesting the platform is tracking to exceed $20 billion in annual revenue…
"Ultimately, we asked 'why are we doing this?'": the creators of Arc Raiders wildly underestimated how hard it is to make a live service game
# Embark's Arc Raiders Stumbles Under Live Service Burden Embark Studios built Arc Raiders with live service ambitions it couldn't sustain. The extra…
All the RPS Supporter rewards for September 2026: Model ships, maze cities, and the tyranny of content
Rock Paper Shotgun published its September 2026 roundup of exclusive content for RPS Premium Supporters, the publication's subscription membership tie…
Ex-PlayStation Veteran Says Sony Should Make The PS5 Console Generation Last As Long As Possible ‘I Don’t Think Lots Of People Are Asking For More Power’
Shuhei Yoshida, the veteran PlayStation executive who spent decades at Sony Interactive Entertainment before departing in 2019, has publicly argued th…
"NO GAME NO LIFE": Grasshopper Manufacture have leapt from the jaws of NetEase and gone indie again
Grasshopper Manufacture has severed ties with NetEase and returned to independent operation, founder Goichi "Suda51" Suda announced. The studio behind…
Xbox’s Experiments With Cloud Gaming Seem To Be Collapsing
Xbox's cloud gaming infrastructure, once positioned as a cornerstone of the company's long-term strategy, is contracting significantly. The service th…
Valve is changing Steam's homepage discounts and events section to go the way of the algorithm to get you to look at, and buy, obviously, more games
Valve is overhauling Steam's discounts and events section. The platform will shift from hand-curated, site-wide sales highlights to algorithmic recomm…
McDonald’s Could Use AI To Charge Everyone Different Prices For Burgers
McDonald's is exploring dynamic pricing powered by artificial intelligence across its franchise network, according to reporting from Kotaku. The fast-…
Control Resonant Director Explains The Game’s Lack Of Yellow Paint: ‘It Was A Conscious Decision, Obviously’
# Control's Deliberate Design: Why Remedy Ditched Yellow Paint Corridors Remedy Entertainment's Control stands apart from modern action-adventure des…
The Guy Who Saved The Predator Franchise Is Reportedly Making A Sleeping Beauty Movie
John Carpenter, the legendary filmmaker behind the 1982 science fiction horror classic The Thing, is reportedly developing a Sleeping Beauty adaptatio…
The Publisher Of Ys, Disgaea, Trails Wants To Do More Worldwide, Simultaneous Game Releases
Falcom, the veteran Japanese publisher behind long-running franchises like Ys, Disgaea, and Trails, has signaled a major shift in its global strategy.…
For The First Time Ever, Sony Skips CES, Which Was Home To One Of PlayStation’s Silliest Announcements
Sony ends a 60-year streak of Consumer Electronics Show attendance this January, marking the first time the electronics giant will skip CES since the …
"We clearly handled that responsibility poorly": Paradox ban Discord profile pics of historical figures born after 1800, after bust-up with Hearts of Iron 4 players over Atatürk banning
Paradox Interactive, the developer behind Hearts of Iron IV, has implemented a new Discord policy banning profile pictures of historical figures born …
20 Brilliantly Inventive Cosplay Fits At Dragon Con Atlanta 2026
# Dragon Con Atlanta 2026 Delivers Standout Cosplay Moments Dragon Con Atlanta 2026 showcased cosplay that pushed beyond standard character replicati…
Famed Rock Producer Blames Video Games For Giving Us Taylor Swift
Todd Rundgren, the legendary rock producer and musician behind hits like "Hello It's Me," has ignited yet another culture war salvo by blaming video g…
Switch Pirate Ignored Nintendo’s Lawsuit, Now He Owes $4.5 Million
Nintendo secured a $4.5 million judgment against James "Archbox" Williams, a former Reddit moderator who ran the r/SwitchPirates community. US Distric…
UK’s Largest Tabletop Convention Bans AI With Few Exceptions
UK Games Expo, Britain's largest tabletop gaming convention, has enacted a sweeping ban on AI-generated content across its vendor halls and competitio…
Comedic Filmmaker John Wilson Discovers Foundational Metaphor In The History Of Concrete
# Filmmaker John Wilson Turns to Gaming's Built World for Philosophical Inquiry John Wilson, the comedic filmmaker behind HBO's acclaimed documentary…
Ubisoft Was Reportedly Working On A Legend Of Zelda Spin-Off Starring Ganondorf
# Ubisoft's Lost Zelda Spin-Off: How Nintendo Killed A Ganondorf Game Before It Started Ubisoft pitched Nintendo on a Legend of Zelda spin-off center…
There Are Only Two Things That Money Can’t Buy: True Love, And Homegrown Tomatoes
# Kotaku's Quirky Take: Why Homegrown Tomatoes Beat In-Game Monetization Kotaku dropped a philosophical piece disguised as horticultural wisdom, draw…
Nippon Ichi, NIS America Head Says Company Is ‘Researching’ AI But Personally Doesn’t Think It Will Make Development Faster
Nippon Ichi Software and its North American publishing arm NIS America are exploring artificial intelligence applications, but leadership remains skep…
Microsoft CEO On Recent Xbox Layoffs: ‘There’s Some Amount Of Streamlining Asha Is Doing…Which Is Great To See’
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella defended the company's recent Xbox division layoffs, characterizing the cuts as necessary "streamlining" during an earning…
Disgaea Dev CEO Says Company Is Having ‘Discussions’ With Sony About The End Of Physical Discs: ‘I Think That They’re Hearing A Lot Of The Feedback From Customers’
Nippon Ichi Software CEO Sohei Niikawa addressed the ongoing physical media debate engulfing the gaming industry, revealing that his studio maintains …
PC Gaming Grows Over 200 Percent In Four Years In Japan As Global Hits Break Through
Japan's PC gaming market has exploded over the past four years, expanding by more than 200 percent as streamer-friendly global blockbusters capture th…
Microsoft CEO Attempts To Kill Remaining Xbox Goodwill
Microsoft's gaming division continues its downward spiral after CEO Satya Nadella doubled down on defending the company's destructive strategy. This w…
Microsoft's failure to find a home for Ninja Theory voids the one, very tenuous upside to Senua's SGF reveal
Microsoft's decision to part ways with Ninja Theory represents a spectacular misfire in the company's studio acquisition strategy. The Senua's Saga: H…
Nvidia CEO Doesn’t Care That Kids Are Forgetting Basic Math Because Of AI: ‘I Actually Don’t Know My Address’
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has dismissed concerns about children losing foundational math skills as artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent in edu…
Moderator Of Switch Pirates Subreddit To Pay Nintendo $4.5 Million In Piracy Lawsuit
Nintendo's legal team secured a decisive victory against piracy enablement this week. James Williams, identified as a moderator of the r/SwitchPirates…
Bethesda say new underlings Obsidian will retain their "distinct" creative identity, despite no longer being as free to work on their own creatively distinct series
Bethesda has pledged to preserve Obsidian Entertainment's creative autonomy following a major reorganization that places the acclaimed RPG studio dire…
Age of Empires studio World's Edge reportedly lose nearly half their staff and a new game project in mass Xbox layoffs
Microsoft's aggressive Xbox consolidation continues to devastate developer rosters. World's Edge, the studio responsible for maintaining and developin…
Bungie decide their destiny is to do more Destiny after all, pledging to bring back vaulted Destiny 2 campaigns while declaring that Marathon "needs to evolve"
Bungie has reversed its decision to wind down Destiny 2 development, committing to restore vaulted campaigns while simultaneously declaring that Marat…
Xbox reportedly set to lay off hundreds more staff and "consolidate" several game studios in second round of major cuts this year
Microsoft's Xbox division is preparing a second major round of layoffs this year, following the shock 1,600-person workforce reduction announced in Ju…