It was hard playing a preview of South of Midnight because, 20 minutes in, I just started bawling. The demo for the action-adventure platformer starts at the beginning of chapter three. The protagonist, Hazel, is working her way through a swamp trying to find her mother, who, along with their house, had been washed away in a hurricane. At the same time, she comes to learn her newfound powers as a Weaver â a person who can manipulate the metaphysical strands that connect all life â from the ghostly echoes of an enslaved woman who used her powers to escape to freedom and help others do the same.
With all that weighing on me, I held it together pretty well. But as I went through the double jump tutorial, a choir started singing a hymn in the background and I just lost it. It wasnât that it was an emotional hymn; I didnât even recognize it. But I knew the song was of me and for me even without having heard it before. Thatâs the kind of cultural weight the developers at Xbox studio Compulsion Games have invested in South of Midnight.
The authenticity that oozes from the game was intentionally cultivated. Its story draws upon American Southern Gothic folklore, which itself i …
Earlier this week, the US-based developers working on Marvel Rivals began reporting on LinkedIn that they had been laid off. The developers did not give a reason for the layoffs, which came as a shock to the gaming community because of Rivals’ evident success. However, in a statement to The Verge, NetEase has clarified that the reason was organizational streamlining.
“We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals’ development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game,” wrote Alex Armour, a PR representative from NetEase Games. “This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of Marvel Rivals.”
The statement continued by reassuring fans that development on Rivals would continue with a core group of developers based in China. “We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game.”
According to a report in VentureBeat though, organizational streamlining doesn’t give the full picture of what’s going on, with sources claiming the real reason for the layoffs is that NetEase executives are no longer confident in overseas development teams. The success of Black Myth: Wukong has apparently proven to NetEase that blockbuster hits can be made cheaper and closer to home without the need for expensive overseas teams in Europe and America.
In a statement to VentureBeat, NetEase denied claims that it intends to retreat from overseas development and that the layoffs in Seattle only represent a small portion of its holdings abroad. “Our studios in North America, UK, Spain, and Japan all continue to refine and develop their ongoing game projects.”
NetEase declined to detail the exact scope of the Seattle layoffs which come just two months after Marvel Rivals launched to rapid critical and financial success with reports estimating that it raised over $130 million in revenue in its first month.
Marvel Rivals, the Overwatch 2-lunch-eating multiplayer shooter that boasted 20 million players within days of its December 2024 launch, has laid off an unspecified number of employees in its US operations, according to separate posts by recently laid off employees on LinkedIn.
“My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… and were just laid off!” wrote Thaddeus Sasser, a game director at NetEase.
The Verge has reached out to NetEase for comment on the scope and reason for the layoffs.
One way players have reacted to the news by lodging complaints via user reviews on Steam, voicing their anger that NetEase would lay off the team responsible for a game so evidently popular. Out of the roughly 1,000 reviews posted today, more than 300 have been negative.
Along with Palworld and Helldivers 2, Marvel Rivals has proved one of the standouts in a series of live-serviceflops in the face of stiff competition from entrenched live-service games like Call of Duty and Fortnite. It’s in the top 5 games based on weekly active users across Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam and it’s currently sitting at number three on Steam’s most-played games chart. And yet, apparently, that wild success wasn’t enough to insulate its US team from layoffs.
Sasser vocalized the disconnect in his LinkedIn post, writing, “This is such a weird industry…”
With GTA VI looming over the fall 2025 release schedule, a new report from Digiday claims that Rockstar is going all-in on user-generated content. According to the report, the developer is having discussions with Fortnite, Roblox, and GTA creators about making “custom experiences” inside what’s shaping up to be the biggest gaming release since the last Grand Theft Auto game launched way (way) back in 2013.
That Rockstar has made user-generated content part of its strategy for GTA VI should come as no surprise. Despite the last GTA launching over ten years ago (same with GTA Online), interest in the game has stayed fresh with the help of mods like FiveM that allow users to host and join their own multiplayer servers.
Rockstar initially banned some of the creators of FiveM back in 2015, citing that their mod was “an unauthorized alternate multiplayer service that contains code designed to facilitate piracy.” However, as the popularity of the kinds of games and role-playing enabled by FiveM and similar mods grew, Rockstar reversed course. In 2023, the company acquired Cfx.re, the team that developed FiveM.
Games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft remain at the top of US sales charts years after their release thanks to the popularity of user-generated content. Arranging deals with creators prior to its launch will help GTA VI hit the ground running in a crowded marketplace.
Magic: The Gathering has revealed a look at its forthcomingFinal Fantasy-themed set. In an interview with IGN, senior game designer Daniel Holt talked about the collaboration and this initial look, which focuses on four major character cards and their associated pre-constructed Commander decks.
The revealed cards include Terra from Final Fantasy VI, Tidus from Final Fantasy X, Y’shtola from (critically acclaimed MMORPG)Final Fantasy XIV, and of course, Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. What’s interesting about these Commander decks is that instead of being constructed to simply support a single powerful card (known as the Commander), each deck’s mechanics and cards are designed to tell the story of a specific Final Fantasy game.
Since the back half of Final Fantasy VI is all about rebuilding the world Kefka destroyed, its associated deck is all about returning creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield, for example. Cloud’s deck is all about equipment — you gotta have the right materia for the job, right? Magic has always been really good with how it marries the story of a set to gameplay mechanics, and seeing that applied to Final Fantasy is really cool.
In the IGN interview, Holt assured fans that even though these Commander decks are focused on only four games, the rest of the Standard-legal set will feature cards that represent all 16 mainline Final Fantasy games.
You can see previews for some of those cards’ artwork on the set’s official website here. There will be even more cards revealed during an official MTG x Final Fantasy livestream taking place on February 18th at 1PM ET.
My first time playing Elden Ring Nightreign, I was stressed the hell out. My team and I were in an underground dungeon, trying to make our way past traps and dangerous blind corners, all while knowing there was an invisible clock ominously ticking down above our heads. If we were still underground when it hit zero a deadly storm called Nightâs Tide would close in, potentially trapping us. That kind of anxiety was exactly what Elden Ring combat designer and Nightreignâs game director Junya Ishizaki had in mind.
Speaking with Ishizaki after my time with the game, I was surprised to learn one of the main inspirations for Nightreign â a co-op focused PvE action game â was the board game Pandemic. Ishizaki said that one of the things he enjoyed about Pandemic, which he later incorporated into Nightreign, was the idea of playing under pressure. âWhen you come up against these seemingly insurmountable odds, it’s up to the player to choose how to use their time in order to overcome the seemingly impossible challenge,â he explained.
The tension between whether to continue through the dungeon as the HP-draining Nightâs Tide storm slowly closed in, or to cut bait and run, was …
Itâs inaccurate and reductive to call Elden Ring Nightreign a Dark Souls take on Fortnite. And yet, if pressed for an extremely brief elevator pitch â say, the kind youâd give to your friends who are curious about soulsborne games but are put off by all the discussions of their difficulty â itâs about as best as you could do. In my hands-on time with the game, I was compelled to ask my team at the outset of our very first run, âWell⦠where we droppinâ boys?â as we flew over the map in the claws of spectral birds. The similarity to Fortnite and other battle royale games was so striking, the reference simply had to be made. But once we got on the ground, Fortnite took a big olâ backseat and Elden Ring reemerged as the foremost game Nightreign compares to.
Nightreign strips out the combat and visual aesthetics of Elden Ring and lays them over gameplay that combines multiplayer battle royale action with roguelike live, die, repeat mechanics. Matches will take place over three days. During daylight, players will assault a Limgrave-like map (called Limveld), either solo or in teams of three, beating regular enemies and mini-bosses for powerful weapons, accessories, …
Unity has been hit with another round of layoffs. This is according to posts on LinkedIn from recently laid off staff and confirmed by reporting from Game Developer and80.lvl. According to reports, employees were notified via emails sent out at 5 AM local time, while the layoffs affect a number of different teams within the the game engine software company. According to a message posted in the Unity forums, one of the casualties in the layoffs was the entire Behavior department which built tools that assisted in NPC scripting. It’s not clear at this point how many employees were impacted.
Unity has been on shaky ground for the last two years, undergoing several rounds of layoffs amid other upheavals. In January 2024, Unity eliminated 25 percent of its workforce or around 1,800 employees. Before that in November 2023, Unity closed several office locations and cut 265 jobs.
Before that was one of the events that likely contributed to all the layoffs: the company’s disastrous deployment of its Runtime fee. The fee, which initially intended to charge developers a small fee for every download of a Unity game, was roundly rejected by prominent indie developers. Several voiced their concerns on social media, while others threatened and, in the case of a collective of mobile developers, actually enacted a boycott of the software.
Sony has announced that it will hold a presentation to show off the next batch of upcoming Playstation games. The presentation will take place Wednesday, February 12th at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET. It’ll have a runtime of 40 minutes and feature, “creative and unique selection of exciting games from studios around the world.”
As for the event itself, we can reasonably expect an update on Ghosts of Yotei, the sequel to Sucker Punch Studios’ Ghosts of Tsushima that was announced at Sony’s September 2024 State of Play. Ubisoft might also make an appearance with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows which was delayed for a second time, pushing its new release date to March 20th. There might also be an update on Insomniac Games’ new Wolverine title which, outside of some details including a playable build getting leaked in a malicious hack, hasn’t had an official update since its reveal in 2021.
But it won’t be long now before we find out just what PlayStation has in store for the year.
Most of my encounters with other leaders were friendlier than this one.
There are few things more daunting than attempting to win a game of Civilization by way of cultural victory⦠except maybe trying to play a complex strategy game on the Steam Deck. And while Iâm still struggling on the culture victory aspect, I can say, playing Civilization VII on my Steam Deck was far less difficult than I imagined.Â
In my review of Civilization VII, my biggest complaint was not really understanding some of the gameâs more complex systems. The controls are a function of that misunderstanding. In playing a game as information-dense as Civilization, every function is mapped to a button, and there are a lot of functions. I tried my best to memorize it all but was grateful for the Deckâs touch-screen functionality, which let me forgo buttons in certain instances.
However, there were times when I occasionally encountered a bug where Iâd click on a selection and nothing happened. It was never anything mission-critical. Sometimes the game didnât want to register when I wanted to put a unit to sleep or ignored my attempts to establish a trade route I knew I met the criteria for. These complaints blend with my initial problems with the gameâs legibility. M …
Itâs odd that a match-3 game got me in my feelings so much that Iâm considering adding making games to my profession of covering them. But thatâs exactly what happened after my delightful time with Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To.
Itâs a mouthful of a name, but damned if the game doesnât do exactly what it says on the tin. There are little colorful block-shaped spirits, and you swap âem around to match three (or more) while charming and calming lo-fi beats bang out of your speakers. It reminds me of the recent trend in anime where the titles of shows are hyper-descriptive to the point of hilarity, and just like those shows, thereâs a lot more going on than a simple match-3 game with a chill soundtrack. And I love it.
In Spirit Swap, you play as Samar, a witch with a lovely technicolor wardrobe who protects the material plane from mischievous but benign spirits that occasionally cross over and gunk things up. Throughout the game, Samar encounters her gaggle of friends, talking them through their myriad problems by challenging them to spirit-swapping competitions â think Dr. Robotnikâs Mean Bean Machine with a dash of informal talk therapy.
After 20 years, World of Warcraft is finally adding player housing. During its Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct last year, Blizzard delighted players with the surprise announcement that the feature — a long-time staple in other MMOs — was on the way. Now the studio has revealed a bit more information with a new blog explaining how it’s all supposed to work.
In the past, WoW has obliquely flirted with the concept of player housing with the garrison feature from the Warlords of Draenor expansion in 2014. Players had their own home base or “garrisons” that they could customize from a pool of buildings, but they couldn’t invite others in to see them or have any say over decor. Player housing, on the other hand, is meant to give players greater control over everything.
According to Blizzard there are three principles driving the development of player housing in Azeroth: self-expression, sociability, and longevity. The team wants players to be able easily customize their houses and socialize with their friends and guildmates within a feature that’s meant to last for expansions to come.
Initially, Blizzard plans on implementing only two housing areas, one for each faction. These houses will be arranged into neighborhoods that are either public with everyone free to come and go as they please, or private neighborhoods established and maintained by friend groups or guilds. Decor for these homes will be obtained either by questing or purchasing and are meant to reflect all the different aesthetics of the game’s numerous races, cultures, and locations that make up WoW’s ever expanding world.
Interestingly, WoW has also said it wants to make player housing available for everyone which included a very pointed shot across the bow at one of WoW’s biggest competitors — Final Fantasy XIV — which has had player housing for several years. As a player of the “critically acclaimed MMORPG,” I can tell you the requirements for obtaining housing (and the hoops you have to go through to actually get and keep one) are so onerous that it’s never been worth pursuing. It’s good that Blizzard is differentiating its housing initiative from others by making it clear what players can expect in that regard.
“If you want a house, you can have a house,” Blizzard’s post read. “No exorbitant requirements or high purchase costs, no lotteries, and no onerous upkeep (and if your subscription lapses, don’t worry, your house doesn’t get repossessed!).”
Blizzard hasn’t given a timeline on when housing will be implemented. The company released its latest expansion War Within, last year as the first part of its three-expansion long continuous story dubbed “The Worldsoul Saga.” Housing could come as soon as a War Within patch or when the next expansion, Midnight, releases likely sometime in 2026.
As we settle in for the long, excruciating wait for more tangible news on the Switch 2, Nintendo has thrown us a little extra nugget of information. While we knew the company was planning to share more about the Switch 2 on April 2nd, now we have a time: 9 AM ET / 6 AM PT / 10 PM JST. If you were taking bets on this time, you would have won handily as this is generally the usual time Nintendo holds its big events. The announcement on Nintendo’s website didn’t contain any extra detail about the duration of the event or the exact breakdown of topics that’ll be covered, other than to say it “will share a closer look” at the new device.
Last month, the company finally confirmed the existence of its new console dubbed, helpfully, the Switch 2. The reveal itself was sparse on detail, only confirming that the console would be larger than its predecessor and that its Joy-Con controllers appear to attach via some kind of magnetic action. Because of the reveal’s relative lack of concrete information, we’re left with so many questions about the new console. Nevertheless, there was still lots of speculation about what the Switch 2 could possibly do. Theories were put forth that the new Joy-Cons contained some kind of mouse functionality and that the extra button on the right Joy-Con was related to some kind of party chat feature. Hopefully, Nintendo will let us know those if theories were correct during the Switch 2 Nintendo Direct on Wednesday, April 2nd bright and early at 9 AM.
The Switch is on track to complete a major milestone for Nintendo this year. As of the end of 2024, the Nintendo Switch has sold over 150 million units in the eight years since its release. That’s an impressive number, and yet…that’s still not enough to make it the company’s best selling piece of hardware – a distinction that belongs to the humble Nintendo DS – but it’s getting close.
The company released its earnings report earlier this week and the numbers don’t look great. Though hardware sales are down a whopping 30 percentage points compared to 2023, Nintendo has, predictably, taken an optimistic stance. After all, this console is eight years old with the Switch 2 tantalizingly close to launch. And in light of all that, it still sold almost 10 million units. But that impressive 150 million unit total is still a bit short of the massive 154 million units the Nintendo DS sold in its 12-year lifetime. Bolstered by recent games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and with new games like Metroid Prime 4 and Pokémon Legends: Z-A on the horizon, it’s likely that the Switch will finally overtake the DS this year, making it Nintendo’s best selling console ever.
After that, there’s one more boss for the console to beat before it can be called the best-selling console of all time – the 160 million units of the PlayStation 2.
I’ve been having a great time with Infinity Nikki. I do my dailies, grind for materials, and desperately search for an outfit that works with the single ugliest piece of clothing in the game: a red vest. But as I’ve progressed, the game has given me — a gacha newbie — an unfortunate crash-course education on how these games really work and what not to do if you want to keep your sanity and your wallet intact.
The trouble began right before the current Lunar New Year event, when I started obtaining every piece of a special outfit called Wings of Wishes. In Infinity Nikki, special outfits like Wings of Wishes are gated behind what’s called Resonance Events, which are essentially slot machines available for a limited time. When you spend currency in the game, you’re not buying outfits outright; you’re paying to “pull” the lever on that slot machine in hopes that it’ll spit out the pieces you want.
Throughout the month Wings of Wishes was available, I managed to earn eight of its nine pieces, even though I wasn’t really trying to get it. And as the event wound down, I was confident that even if I ran out of currency, I’d simply earn enough back for the final piece. But once I exhausted all the story and event quests, I learned that the game does not reward currency at a pace that can keep up with even casual, intermittent pulling. I went from earning enough to pull 10 or 20 times a week down to four or five times. It was like that paycheck meme, where, in the first week after you get paid, you’re eating steak and caviar for dinner, but by the second, you’re having ice soup. It got so dire that, by the end of the event, I started spending money hoping I’d pull the last piece, but I never did.
I was crushed, not only for obvious reasons but also because playing this game wasn’t supposed to change my spending habits. And I learned through consulting with my gacha veteran friends and the Infinity Nikki subreddit that I made the rookiest of mistakes in thinking I could outsmart a game engineered to part me from my money in ways I wouldn’t really notice or feel.
Gacha games have a poor reputation because of the way they can exploit players to extract their money. I got got because I thought I was above that, not realizing the game had already tapped into my FOMO and my wallet. Nothing, not even Wings of Wishes, was ever so desirable that it was worth focusing on. It only became a focus when I realized I needed one more piece right before the event ended. On top of that, I never noticed my spending. I wasn’t concerned because I wasn’t dropping $30–$50, but I was spending two dollars, three dollars, 99 cents, two and three times a day, because again, all I needed was one more piece.
True blue gacha veterans will tell you that if there’s something you want, be prepared to either pay for it or plan for it. Players who don’t want to spend money for outfits skip two and three events in a row, hoarding their currency, waiting for the right outfit to spend their entire warchest on all for free. On the other hand, if a player wants to pay for an outfit, they know to be prepared to spend bill money for it. Pulling is the same as working a slot machine: you’re not guaranteed to hit. But Infinity Nikki guarantees a high-value piece every 10 pulls. With the currency used for pulls going for a dollar apiece, a nine-piece outfit like Wings of Wishes will run you at least $90. That amount goes up dramatically because the guarantee is for any high-value piece, and Resonance Events often contain multiple high-value outfits that have anywhere between eight and 10 pieces.
I understand that my problems likely don’t extend to the majority of other players. From perusing the game’s subreddit, I get the feeling most people either already understand the level of preparation required to obtain coveted clothing effectively, don’t mind spending eye-watering sums, or are content to either engage with the system casually or ignore it altogether. I planned on being the latter, someone who tossed the developers a few bucks here and there to obtain the occasional outfit I fancied.
And in my naivete, I assumed that’s how gacha games worked. You could either grind out the resources you needed or spend money only when you chose to for items you wanted. Yes, I understood there were elements of random chance to compete against, but I genuinely thought that I could guarantee myself the desired outfits through a mix of casual play and light spending. I will not make that mistake again. Thankfully, the current Lunar New Year event doesn’t have any premium outfits I want. Plus, the ones being given away for free are more than cute enough to soothe my sartorial spirit.
The real tragedy of all this is that I don’t even like how Wings of Wishes looks. I only wanted it for its special ability to make Nikki’s floating animation look like she’s gliding on a magical paper crane. I have multiple substitutes for the white stockings I’m missing, so I can easily complete the look. But without that final piece, the outfit’s ability won’t trigger, and I don’t like it enough to wear it casually. So it’ll sit, incomplete and unworn, in my wardrobe, possibly forever.
Sid Meier developed the first Civilization game in 1991 and has contributed to every iteration since. When I visited Firaxis Games last year, I saw that the company maintains the very computer Meier used to develop the game, which can still be booted up and played. Walking through the halls of the studio, I saw not only the legacy of its games but its employees, too, some of whom have children who work or worked at Firaxis, including Meierâs own son. Itâs no wonder, then, that Civilization VII is a game about legacy and all the ways it leaves a mark on history and contributes to the future.
Civilization VII is a strategy game in which you shepherd a country or people plucked from throughout world history through the ages of time. As their leader, often a famous ruler or notable historical figure, your job is to grow your empire to become the preeminent society of the world either through conquest, commerce, culture, or scientific advancement. As time progresses, you must make choices and take actions for your civilization that determine how it develops into a world power. You must acquire resources, choose systems of government and social policy, research technologies to impr …
Though Nintendo can technically claim it had the first big gaming news event of the year, at least Xbox’s Developer Direct actually showed off some games and let us know when we can play them. The showcase was anchored by deep dives into the biggest games coming down the green pipe like Doom: The Dark Ages and Compulsion Games’ South of Midnight, with a couple of surprises to fill out the nearly one-hour-long runtime. Here are the highlights from the show.
Ninja Gaiden 4
Xbox kicked off the Direct with the surprise reveal of Ninja Gaiden 4. The game is being codeveloped by Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja and Bayonetta studio PlatinumGames. Ninja Gaiden 4 revives the series’ bloody, fast-paced combat and high-stakes (but often frustrating) platforming with a new face, the ninja Yakumo. Yakumo will use his unique fighting styles to defeat the Divine Dragon Order that’s turned Tokyo into a dystopian, crumbling mess. Gaiden’s former protagonist, Ryu Hayabusa, will also make an appearance as a playable character and Yakumo’s rival.
Ninja Gaiden 4 will launch in the fall of this year, but if you don’t want to wait for your bloody ninja action, you don’t have to. Xbox stealth dropped Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, a remake of Ninja Gaiden II, and it’s available right now on Xbox and Game Pass.
South of Midnight
The developers at Compulsion Games went into detail about South of Midnight’s gameplay and story. You play as Hazel who must use her powers as a Weaver, fighting monsters and traversing the haunted landscape, to rescue her mother who gets swept away in a hurricane. With this, everything I’ve seen about South of Midnight makes it seem like it’ll be one of my games of the year. It’s got a Black protagonist, features characters and tropes that harken to Southern gothic folklore, and its stop-motion art style makes it immediately stand out. I cannot wait to get my hands on this game when it releases on April 8th.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Sandfall Interactive was founded in Montpellier, France, in 2020 with a team led by former Ubisoft developers. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the studio’s first game — a turn-based RPG with a compelling narrative hook. The world has been ravaged by a being known as the Paintress. Every year, she writes down a number, and everyone older than that number disappears. Expeditions are sent out to stop the Paintress, and the game will follow Expedition 33 in their attempt to save humanity. In addition to an interesting Persona 5-style take on turn-based combat, Expedition 33 features some serious voice acting talent, starring Charlie Cox, Jennifer English, Ben Starr, and Andy Serkis. Can’t wait to hear them perform when Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launches on April 24th.
Doom: The Dark Ages
To close out the Direct, Xbox gave us another look at Doom: The Dark Ages, the prequel to id Software’s 2016 Doom reboot and Doom Eternal. It will, of course, feature all the ripping and tearing a Doom enjoyer could want, along with an interesting focus on narrative — something the series isn’t really known for. But I suspect folks are far more interested in piloting a 30-story Doomguy-shaped mech suit when the game releases on May 15th.
“Pocketpair Publishing provides comprehensive support for game development through funding, development assistance, and publishing for indie game developers and small studios,” Pocketpair wrote in its press release.
We don’t even have to wait long for the company’s first game. Pocketpair Publishing has teamed up with Tales of Kenzera: Zaudeveloper Surgent Studios to produce its next title, a horror game slated for release later this year. Surgent Studios was founded by video game voice performer and on-screen actor Abubakar Salim. After launching Tales of Kenzera, an afro-futuristic metroidvania, the company was forced to furlough its games division due to lack of funding — a common occurrence that’s become endemic over the last two years.
The indie game space has not been insulated from the effects of the layoff crisis that’s plagued the game industry. The big publishers, from which smaller indie outfits typically receive funding, are tightening their belts, choosing to either keep their cash or only dole it out to projects they believe are sure to make money. And even the publishers known for supporting quality indie games, like Annapurna Games, are having a hard time staying in operation.
However, Pocketpair Publishing joins a group of new companies that have entered the indie games space via non-traditional means. In 2022, YouTube video game critic and content creator videogamedunkey, created his own publishing company Bigmode which published its first game, Animal Well, to critical acclaim last year. Also last year, Innersloth, developers of the wildly-popular murder mystery multiplayer game Among Us, established Outersloth, which is an indie game fund rather than a traditional publisher. Like Outersloth and Bigmode, Pocketpair Publishing is seeking to parlay its commercial success into an avenue for more indie games like Palworld to get made.
“Game development comes with many challenges,” said Pocketpair Publishing head John Buckley. “But we want to ease that process as much as possible and provide an environment where creators can pursue their dreams.”
One in 10 game developers lost their job in 2024. That’s according to the results of the annual Game Developers Conference state of the video game survey. The survey sampled over 3,000 developers and covered a number of topics including industry layoffs and what kind of games developers are working on.
Prolific layoffs have ravaged the industry over the last two years making the question of their impact on developers one of the most important in the survey. In addition to 10 percent of developers losing their jobs, 41 percent of respondents said they had been impacted by layoffs in some way, either by being laid off directly or seeing coworkers or colleagues in other departments let go. The survey also noted that the number of people impacted is potentially much higher because of the students and graduates who reported having a difficult time simply getting a job in the industry at all.
When asked what reason companies gave for layoffs, 22 percent said restructuring while 18 said declining revenue. 19 percent gave no reason at all. Developers, though, have their own ideas about why layoffs keep happening. In an analysis of responses to what developers think the reason behind layoffs is, the majority were general statements about the industry’s over-expansion during the pandemic. Companies acquired workers and studios in hopes of meeting a level of demand for games that dried up as covid restrictions loosened. However, some developers believe the reason for layoffs is much simpler. Companies like Microsoft and Sony still reported growing revenues despite multiple rounds of layoffs and studioclosures. It’s no surprise then that 13 percent of respondents attributed layoffs to corporate greed.
In addition to layoffs, the last few years have also seen the failure of a number of high-profile, big-budget, live-service games. While there has been some success in that area with new games like Marvel Rivals, it’s generally tough to launch a live-service game that can compete with the overbearing likes of Fortnite, Roblox, and Call of Duty. 2024 was also the year that Balatro, Animal Well, and Astro Bot dominated headlines and award lists suggesting a greater appetite for those kinds of smaller-scoped, single-player experiences. It’s interesting, and perhaps concerning then, that according to the survey, over 30 percent of AAA developers are working on a live-service game.
When it asked developers their thoughts on live-service games the survey answered, “One of the biggest issues mentioned was market oversaturation, with many developers noting how tough it is to break through and build a sustainable player base.”
Balatro has crossed a major milestone, selling 5 million copies in its first year. The news was shared on X and featured a shout out to The Game Awards.
“To everyone who picked up Balatro after seeing it at @thegameawards, we hope you’re having an amazing time with it!” the post read. Balatro was featured prominently during The Game Awards, nominated for a number of awards including Game of the Year and winning the best indie, best debut indie, and best mobile categories.
On X, Wout van Halderen, PR manager for Balatro publisher Playstack, added that the game had sold 3.5 million copies by the first week of December. With The Game Awards taking place the second week in December, the implication is that Balatro received a significant 1.5 million unit bump in sales after being featured during Keighley’s Christmas Commercial telethon. Even more impressive, the 5 million figure is total units sold and doesn’t count the number of downloads the game got for being on the Apple Arcade subscription.
Since its launch in February, Balatro has quickly become one of the biggest indie hits of 2024. Developed by a single person over the course of two years, the poker roguelike has garnered a reputation for being a well-crafted “number-go-up” game with its developer leaning in on the joke that it devours players’ free and not-so-free time.
