Judge Reinstates Ted Gill, Extends $250M Payout Eligibility
NEW: he judge in the Subnautica 2 court case has ordered Ted Gill reinstated as CEO of Unknown Worlds and extended the period of eligibility for a performance based $250 million payout through September 2026. Also been given control over Early Access. https://t.co/mAehb7YNjX https://t.co/7AYdXKNL84
Gaming Toxicity Shifted From Fans to Opportunistic Grifters
Toxicity in gaming used to predominantly be "passionate" fans taking stuff way too seriously/far. Now it's mostly grifters with no real skin in the game who spend all day searching for unrelated stuff to get mad about.
Talent Retention and Cross‑Discipline Collaboration Drive Game Creativity
There was nothing entirely revelatory in Nintendo's lone GDC talk but the subtext throughout was that retaining talent and collaborating across disciplines is the key to unlocking more fun and creativity in game making.
Grateful for Nier: Automata Inspiration, yet Question Its Lessons
"I’m extremely grateful that you say your work was inspired by NieR: Automata. At the same time, a large part of Automata’s success was due to luck, so… I do wonder what exactly there is to learn from it." Never change...
Xbox Ally Gets AI‑Powered Auto Super‑Resolution in April
Xbox announces automatic super resolution mode is coming to the Xbox Ally in April. Leverages AI to scale resolution up in real time to improve performance. Auto SR "fills in the gaps" by existing upscaling tools like DLSS. https://t.co/XDwttHUvxV
Good Intentions Won’t Save Overwatch League’s Failure
Kaplan says the road to hell is paved with good intentions and that was Overwatch League
Indifferent to Low‑quality D1 Bounty Quests
The interesting thing to me is that the quests are shitty D1 bounties AND I DON'T EVEN CARE
GDC: Low Turnout, AI Hype, but Community Thrives
The vibes from GDC so far: attendance is down, AI biz slop is crowding out some of the traditional developer talks, it's too hard to find coffee around the convention center. But the people are nice, making games is really...
Valve Faces Copycat Gambling Lawsuit in Washington
New York's odd gambling lawsuit against Valve has spawned a copycat class action lawsuit filed in Washington. https://t.co/OWiA3NcG98
Hidden in Marathon, I Keep Dying Repeatedly
I spend a lot of my time in Marathon hiding in plain sight...and dying https://t.co/UZP9Ud6nEs
Marathon's Early
Marathon has hit a high enough peak by hour 15 for me that even if the vibes substantially nose dive from here on out it will be a contender for my personal top 10 games of the year list. https://t.co/5bt2Sn4plv
Xbox Faces Clash: Fans Want Roots, Microsoft Pushes Forward
The tension that's being navigated here is the fan base's desire for the "back to Xbox's roots" revival teased in the reorg vs. Microsoft's strategy to move forward. The essential conflict is when push comes to shove, will Microsoft let Xbox...
Early Destiny's Low Ammo Added Real Combat Challenge
I'm team low ammunition. People forget early Destiny had you running out of ammo all the time. Managing it was a key part of early Nightfalls. It was bad for bullet sponge bosses but there are other ways to juice...
Valve Deletes Steam Machine 2026 Delay Reference
Bizarre update: Valve has removed the bit in its new blog post about the Steam Machine possibly not shipping in 2026. https://t.co/s9zuuDPD48
Current Console Woes Threaten All Gaming Platforms
I don't see how this gets better any time soon, or how it doesn't sabotage every other gaming console as well https://t.co/UrL6CJqeav
Thousands of Marathon Reviews Already Publicly Available
There are already 1000s of early reviews on Steam, multiple reviews-in-progress published at large websites, and tons of reactions across X, Reddit, and YouTube. The idea that somehow anyone has been prevented from finding out what people think about Marathon...
Ex‑Ashes of Creation Lead Returns, Defends Community
After weeks of silence amid dueling lawsuits, former head of Ashes of Creation studio Steven Sharif has reappeared on Discord. "But I will not allow the work of hundreds of developers and the belief of millions of players to be erased...
Live Services Attract More Players, Not More Playtime
Some data from recent years suggests live service wins on total players but not total hours. Would love to see more data on this https://t.co/ak82BS9Ppg
Last‑minute Skill Tree Release as Servers Shut Down
Highguard just pulled an entire skill tree out of its ass days before the servers go offline. A skeleton crew crunched on the final update as the social media pile-on continued. https://t.co/LAEMdTviw9
Tencent Buys 15% of Arrowhead Amid Meme Backlash
Tencent took a 15 percent stake in Arrowhead Game Studios. Some players starting lashing out at a recent Chinese New Year cosmetics bundle with a certain meme that was quickly banned on the Discord.
No Hand‑holds: Game Demands Self‑guided Exploration
"If you need the yellow paint to know where to climb this game isn’t for you."
Ubisoft's Hexe Update Omits Clint Hocking Farewell
The first official update on Assassin's Creed Hexe from Ubisoft in years makes no mention of Clint Hocking leaving or thanking him for his long tenure at the company. https://t.co/twVkOQ1BG5
Marketing Director Defends No Console Reviews at Launch
Crimson Desert marketing director says there's nothing to hide as players worry about the lack of console version reviews at launch https://t.co/sPbsmiijgU
Stop Blaming Capitalism; Copying Advice Solves Nothing
The Concord people wanted to make Concord. The Highguard people wanted to make Highguard. The Marathon people want to make Marathon. I get the draw of simple morality plays and shareholder capitalism is an easy villain but "stop trying to...
Highuard Outlasts Concord by 29 Days, Sparks Refund Debate
Highuard made it 29 days longer than Concord. Players in the Discord are trying to decide who or what to blame as some ask for refunds. https://t.co/fdPWk7VsPl
Seeking Swedish Game Developer Salary Insight
Can any game developers tell me what a role like this would pay (specifically interested in Sweden)? https://t.co/QqBKb7Gtps
Seeking Confirmation on Console Review Codes
If any outlets are getting console code for Crimson Desert reviews I'd love to hear that confirmed cause I would not be surprised if that's just not happening (you can DM me and stay anonymous) https://t.co/z1gKvUXI0f
Marathon's Gripping Pull: Surviving Two Runs Sparks Endless Play
Played three hours of Marathon last night, maybe only made it out alive in 2 runs. Woke up and wanted to play more. Which is an insane reaction to have that most players probably won't share. https://t.co/iSr82qzDdw
Switch 2's Hit Titles Were Outliers, Not Guarantees
There is an assumption that Mario Odyssey and Zelda Breath of the Wild-type hits are guaranteed for Switch 2, when their sales success and critical acclaim were arguably an outlier in Nintendo's recent history.
Marathon's Player Count Drops, Community Mood Improves
Marathon concurrent on Steam are 1/3 of the peak but overall vibes of people still playing feel like they've shifted to a more positive place as they actually get a hang for the ideocracies and rhythms of the game. https://t.co/QDWvjrFSeB
Marathon Echoes No Man's Sky's Underrated Beauty
Marathon reminds me a lot of when No Man's Sky launched and it felt both under-featured but also the most pure form of something undeniably cool and beautiful.
Don’t Pre‑judge a Game’s Live Service Before Launch
I think it would be a real shame if people manifest another live service doom cycle for a game that's not even out yet based purely on trying to forecast other people's vibes. https://t.co/V1UiAFFBI4
Arc Raiders Promises Unity; Marathon Embraces Cosmic Silence
Arc Raiders: a better future together. Marathon: no one can hear your screams on Tau Ceti. https://t.co/UKH7lp7yuL
Highguard's Player Numbers Dropping Far Below 300 Daily
A lot of misinfo going around about Highguard. Yes, the player counts keep going down and are nowhere near enough to sustain it but it's also obviously not "just 300 people" a day. https://t.co/rDSnZ2jRzU
Tencent Pulls Funding as Highguard Misses Launch Targets
Bloomberg reports that Highguard devs thought they had more runway but Tencent seemingly pulled funding when it failed to hit launch goals.
Metacritic's Rising Relevance Threatened by Dwindling Quality Sources
Metacritic has only become more important as algorithms flatten and fracture the internet, but its authority relies on quality inputs from sources that are being hallowed out at an alarming rate. https://t.co/OotCnOjnz5
Adopting This Approach Could Accelerate
How many games might have come out years sooner or at all if they'd done similar? https://t.co/xQnUmXmze1 https://t.co/JIFcQsABbQ
New Xbox CEO Defers Commentary, Cites Need to Understand Decisions
New Xbox CEO's second interview after the shakeup (Variety had the 1st). Nothing about layoffs, exclusivity, hardware plans, or why Bond left and nobody thanked her. Sharma says she still needs to learn why decisions were made before commenting on them? https://t.co/SjQr6dGwYO
Microsoft’s PR Teams Manage Exec Image, Even at Midnight
Worth keeping in mind that there are entire teams of people whose job it is to curate the public image and messaging of Microsoft's top executives when you see them decide to respond at midnight to a viral claim about...
Xbox's Messy Leadership Shakeup Signals Decline or Rebirth
Microsoft's rollout of its big Xbox leadership shakeup is as messy as everything else this console generation. Is Xbox going back to its roots or is the company intent on managing the decline of the only Microsoft brand left anyone...
Ubisoft Places Assassin's Creed Veterans at Tencent-Backed Vantage Studios
Ubisoft announces Jean Guesdon and two other Assassin's Creed veterans will oversee the franchise within Tencent-backed Vantage Studios. He had previously worked on an unannounced voxel-based Minecraft competitor before briefly leaving Ubisoft in 2023. https://t.co/sCpFaKXE5P
Xbox Fans Expect Gamer Expertise Despite Business Focus
I think it's obvious that knowing or liking games is not a necessary condition for being good at the business of making and selling games. But I also think it's the least surprising thing in the world that fans expect...
Discord Officially Ends Partnership with Persona, Confirming Rumors
Seeing it make the rounds again that Discord parted ways with Persona, which we reported a week ago
Spencer May Be Hiding Game Projects From Microsoft’s Earnings
One guess: we're about to find out how many game projects Spencer was shielding from Microsoft's quarterly math
Xbox Embraces Cross-Device Gaming Future
“renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console.” "Gaming now lives across devices, not within the limits of any single piece of hardware" Did Copilot write this? https://t.co/9xhWEFi0TM https://t.co/HNsY9rUlOr
Spencer's Retirement Timed with Massive Halo PS5 Reveal
I don't think it's a coincidence that Spencer approached Nadella about retiring around the time Halo was announced for PS5. It's one of the biggest Xbox announcements ever and the one Spencer never promoted himself.
Two New Far Cry Projects Confirmed: 7 and Live Service
Yves Guillemot confirms there are two Far Cry projects in development. One is Far Cry 7, the other is/was a live service spin-off. The franchise has historically had off year stand alone spin-offs so the gap after Far Cry 6...
Sony Shuts Down Talented Bluepoint Despite Stellar PlayStation Work
"Bluepoint is an incredibly talented team and their technical expertise has delivered exceptional experiences for the PlayStation community" Which is why Sony's closing the whole thing down. https://t.co/UV5eOuC38P
Blackburn's Raw Dev Diary on Delay Feels Ancient
Joe Blackburn doing that raw and personal dev diary to talk fans through The Final Shape delay feels like a lifetime ago https://t.co/aSJAcanmKV
Bluepoint Games to Close After Five Game‑Free Years
A source confirms reporting that Bluepoint Games will be shut down in March after five years without releasing a game. A live service project it was working on was canceled in early 2025. https://t.co/iDyik1yFVj