Xbox Chief Vows to Keep Games Art, Reject AI Slop
Microsoft's new Xbox chief says "games are and always will be art, crafted by humans" and that Xbox won't chase AI slop. "As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop." https://t.co/3O3roJ4xwo
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.
Matt Booty Named Xbox EVP and Chief Content Officer
Xbox’s Matt Booty Matt will become Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, reporting to Asha, CEO Microsoft Gaming https://t.co/HI9rkd4LEH
Patrick Söderlund Named Nexon Executive Chairman for Growth
Nexon said it has appointed Patrick Söderlund as executive chairman of the company. Throughout his career, Söderlund has demonstrated the type of hands-on strategic and creative leadership that is needed to transform Nexon. In this newly created role, he takes...
The Odyssey Leads; Oppenheimer Lags in Early Tracking
I compared the tracking for #TheOdyssey and #Oppenehimer at the same five-month pre-release point to see what the data says. If you're curious: https://t.co/Pkk9ZNJcVS
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...
Ubisoft Announces Two New Far Cry, Multiple Assassin’s Creed Projects
In a new interview with Variety, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot says the company has: - 2 new Far Cry games in development. - Several Assassin’s Creed games in development, both single-player and multiplayer experiences. https://t.co/B59iFNd4rN
Ubisoft CEO Unveils $200M Cost‑Cut, Creative House Plan
Ubisoft CEO Explains Three-Year Plan to Revamp Game Publisher Through New ‘Creative House’ Strategy, More Than $200 Million in Cost Reductions https://t.co/3Q14sQldSc via @variety
Nintendo's Q4: Hardware Leads, Moat Questioned
In your inboxes this morning Nintendo: Are We Doing This Again? $NTDOY - No Wall Street handholding (holiday quarter results) - Hardware sales, then software sales, then profits - What about memory chips? - Is there still an emerging moat? - My investment decision https://t.co/6BIv63lDlJ
Digital Game Purchases Remain Unresellable in 2026
The concept of digital asset ownership applies to entire games on PC and console, too. It's 2026, and we still cannot sell or just transfer our "used" digital games once we bought them. Am I the only one who thinks this is...
Preparing to Share Lessons on Surviving Long Projects
It’s been a long time since I did a non-technical speech. After this game ships I’ll do a talk called Surviving Long Projects. It will be good and useful. (Not sure if there will be a suitable conference or I will do...
Gemini 3.1 Turns Dream City Building Into Reality
This is incredible btw - using Gemini 3.1 as a city builder. I used to dream about this when painstakingly making virtual cities for simulation games like Republic.
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's Missteps: From Remakes to Cancelled Live-Service
It's not a crime to acquire Bluepoint after they remade Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Colossus, have them make a God of War live-service game, cancel that game, and then close them down. But it fucking should be.
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
Vote with Emojis for Cluj's Most Exciting Final
Can't do a poll. Use the corresponding emoticon to represent your opinion on which potential final would offer the most entertment at Cluj ✊ 🥕 Vitality vs Falcons 🥔 Vitality vs MOUZ 🥜 Furia vs MOUZ 🥦 Furia vs Falcons
Tencent's Tiny Wildlight Stake Dwarfed by Massive Cash Flow
Tencent's free cash flow last quarter was US$13B, so the amount they invested in Wildlight is (probably) minuscule for them. They and competitor Netease are in plenty of other deals that are not made public, both in the West...
Todd Howard Confirms Elder Scrolls VI Still Years Away
Todd Howard says it's "going to be a while yet" until the release of The Elder Scrolls VI. (Source: Kinda Funny Games Interview) https://t.co/qSeOEFnwNW
Esports Leagues only Revamp Broadcasts After Talent Complaints
Funny how esports leagues suddenly find the need to take their broadcasts "in a new direction" when talent speaks out about issues.
Marathon Maps Feel Static Despite Promised Dynamic Events
One of my big questions for Marathon is how dynamic and alive each map will feel. In-game events described like this doesn't spur the imagination much https://t.co/nUrm93blOg https://t.co/cqpSGkhwiV
Todd Howard: Leaks Never Damage a Game’s Success
Todd Howard says he doesn't think a leak has ever hurt the success of a game https://t.co/4NImrpYtkl
Embracing Brutal Difficulty in Modern Horror Platformers
For @RemapRadio, I spoke with Love Eternal designer Toby Alden about making a game with an alienating level of challenge in an era where games are often trying to appeal to wider audiences. Plus, it's a horror platformer. Of course...
Kristen Bell Cast as Amy Rose in Sonic 4
Kristen Bell will voice Amy Rose in the Sonic 4 movie, coming next March. https://t.co/xDukyWKKYj
Silent Stamina Depletion Removes Player Control Unnoticed
Stamina Bar that silently goes empty so that you cannot dodge/jump/roll at all, and there is no audiovisual feedback about this change of state. (i.e. almost all games with a stamina bar) https://t.co/JFj7VMPgc8
ThinkPad X1 Beats Gamer Laptops for Game Development
I have been using a Thinkpad X1 for almost a year, and it hasn't fallen apart yet, unlike the "gamer-class" laptops of the past few years that fall apart hardware-wise, and never even get to a working state software-wise. Though this...
Checkout Now Shows Prices in Your Local Currency
Starting February 18, our checkout page will display prices in students' local currency. Location is detected based on IP address, and prices are automatically converted using real-time exchange rates. 🙂 https://t.co/xCo69SeIx8
Wildlight Secured Multiple Funding Rounds, Stayed Silent
It is of course not at all surprising that Wildlight raised money through multiple rounds of investment. The unusual thing is that unlike many other studio startups in the last five years it never publicized the initial investment or subsequent funding...
Star Trek Online Celebrates 16 Years with Major Update
Star Trek Online gets an update on its 16th anniversary. Our interview with the exec producer. https://t.co/0Lg3tamCs7
Key Trends Shaping Gaming's Future From Ball's Deck
My take on Matthew Ball's slide deck on the state of gaming. On GB Max. https://t.co/anknONm1u2
Highguard Site Down, PR Refuses to Comment on Roadmap
The Highguard website has been down all day. I asked Wildlight why and when players might expect an update on the game's roadmap. PR declined to comment. https://t.co/y3MJDo1i6t
Night Raises $70M to Expand Gaming Business
News: Night, a leading talent representative for creators like @KaiCenat, has raised $70 million to expand its business in gaming (and other areas).
Legendary Sci‑fi Authors
Yano san dug up the novel from the Japanese limited edition of MGS3. At the time, neither the contributors nor I had any fear. The energy we had was incredible. The lineup of contributors has now become legendary: Stanisław Lem,...
Steam Decks Unavailable in US Amid Supply Shortages
All Steam Decks are currently out of stock in the US. Per Valve, Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. https://t.co/GUyAgX5EXz
Disney's AI Cease‑and‑desist Misses Modding Reality
Disney sent a cease-and-desist to #Seedance over AI clips of Brad Pitt vs Tom Cruise. They are treating this as a copyright problem. It is not. Gaming's modding economics are coming to video—and half-measures will not stop it. https://t.co/OyzvSOwB7d https://t.co/fgCZBrnrNV
Japanese Sample of Wood Kid's Death Stranding 2 OST Arrives
The original soundtrack of WOOD KID’s DEATH STRANDING 2. The Japanese version CD sample arrived. https://t.co/9CWtznkNUO
RAM Shortage Could Postpone PS6 Launch Until 2028
this RAM crisis feels like it’s going to ruin consumer electronics over the next decade. Bloomberg reports that Sony is considering pushing the PS6 release to 2028 or even 2029 https://t.co/vyvkDH8iPy https://t.co/g0ENxQkMW8
Investors Fear Unstable Pricing for Switch 2,
Why investors are concerned about price stability this year for Switch 2 and PS5 this year (+ why Steam's upcoming devices still have no price):
Verse Introduces Hassle‑free Reactive Programming
This is one of the most exciting features coming to the Verse language: reactive programming that “just works”!
Markiplier's IronLung R‑Rated Game Nets $3.5
Even YouTuber @markiplier had a nice #ValentinesDay at US #BoxOffice, after his own #MarkiplierStudios’ R-rated game adaptation #IronLung grosses STRONG 3.5M on 3rd 3-day weekend, just a -49.4% drop from last weekend (vs #ReturntoSilentHill’s 116k, -88.2%, #UntilDawn’s 2M, -49%, #ResidentEvil’s...
Online Strangers Critique Game Dev's View on Difficulty
The number of internet randos lecturing a Housemarque artist on what's easy and hard in game development
Language Feedback Can Substitute Rewards in Reinforcement Learning
Can natural language replace scalar rewards in reinforcement learning? A new paper from researchers at Stanford, UMD, Netflix, and Microsoft Research presents a formal structure for utilizing natural language as feedback in a reinforcement learning setting they call Learning from Language...
Creative Writing Insights From Clair Obscur’s Lead Author
This was a very interesting session on creativity for writers at the Dice Summit from the lead writer of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I also interviewed Jennifer Svedberg-Yen on video after one of the game's wins at the Dice Awards....
Surprise Game Appears on Brand‑new Switch 2
Hey everybody, guess what just showed up on the shiny new Switch 2 video game system? https://t.co/B4LVWiDEcu
Kena Bridge of Spirits 50% Off Until Feb 19
Kena Bridge of Spirits is now 50% off on steam until 18/19 Feb (timezones lol) Now is the PERFECT time to get it if you haven't played it already coming off the announcement of Kena Scars of Kosmora Or...be like me and...
World Models and Game Engines Will Converge, Not Compete
World Models vs Game Engines -- Who Wins? Gaming stocks had a bloodbath after Google's Genie 3. Unity down. Roblox down. Nintendo down. Unity down 35%. Unity's CEO posted a whole thread. Tim Sweeney weighed in. They're both saying the same thing...
Ubisoft Downplays Strike, Says Fewer Devs Involved
Earlier this week, it was reported that 1,200 developers went on strike at Ubisoft in France and Italy. Days later, Ubisoft is pushing back saying that number was much lower as it focuses on "maintaining an open and constructive dialogue" with...
Should Games Include a Mute Option for Swearing?
Every family has a different approach to swearing. An interesting question over at @crossplayblog: should video games let you mute swearing? https://t.co/9b2NMJulCT
Japanese Version Finalized; Moving to English and Sound Mix
The Japanese version’s structure is pretty much done. From here, it’s frame-by-frame checks and adding typography animation. At the same time, working on the sound. After finishing the English version, we’ll move on to the sound mix. https://t.co/o9mdXQgX9V
Web3 Gaming Thrives: New Game and Token Launched
I am simply uninterested in debating whether web3 games are alive or dead. We have revenue, shipped a new game @waifusweeper, and launched the $CHAD token all in the last 2 weeks. @YGG_Play is here to stay.