A long time ago in a games industry far, far away, a bunch of Sony Online Entertainment developers had the crazy idea of adding Jedi characters to an MMO without either robbing all the other classes of appeal, or nerfing the Force-wielders into oblivion.
With the days ticking down until July, when Xbox are said to be fully pulling the trigger on mass upheaval that could see studios closed and will almost certainly see jobs cut, bosses at one of the studios reported to have its future hanging in the balance have given some staff permission to openly seek new work. This, it's claimed, is the reason a bunch of devs at South of Midnight studio Compulsion Games have taken to LinkedIn ahead of any layoffs being confirmed to post that they're on the market for other jobs.
Back in May, Bungie announced that their long running shooter MMO Destiny 2 would be getting its final ever big update in June. At the time there were rumours that layoffs would follow not long after the update arrived. Now, a little over two weeks since the update dropped, Bungie have confirmed that layoffs are taking place.
Trying to persuade egotistical racing drivers not to crash into each other while keeping an eye glued to the sky in case a sudden deluge necessitates a switch to wets is pretty stressful, but at least when the cars are only virtual ones it's a fun kind of stress. A fresh set of team boss shoes to jump into is set to hit Steam in 2027, with the very straightforwardly named Motorsport Manager getting a sequel in the form of the equally straightforwardly named Motorsport Manager 2.
Former Halo Studios art director Glenn Israel has warned current Xbox staff that Microsoft's impending "reset" of their gaming business is an opportunity for studio execs to rid themselves of employees who've criticised their behaviour, citing his own, alleged experience of being driven out by "senior Halo representatives". Israel is encouraging any and all Xbox staff who've made trouble for bosses to speak to a lawyer and take certain steps to protect themselves, before the hammer comes down.
United Wizards of the Coast - CWA, a union Magic: The Gathering Arena developers voted in favour of forming earlier this year, has now officially been elected. The union filed an election petition with the US National Labor Relations Board back in April, while also requesting that Wizards of the Coast voluntarily recognise them. The workers claimed in May that the company were dragging their heels on the latter, having missed a deadline.
I have something to admit to you all. I'm not very good at Marathon. I like when the guns go pew pew, I like the weird sci-fi vibes, but the second I run into another person I'll be lucky if I make it out with all of my limbs intact. As a result, I had resigned myself to never experiencing Cryo Archive, the game's super duper hardcore map exclusive to both crews and those with the prerequisite skills and loot. But! I bring good news for those of you who stink at shooters like me: Marathon's first proper (experimental) PvE mode utilises Cryo Archive as its point of operation, and you can even play it by your lonesome.
There's long been a bit of a rivalry between Destiny and Warframe's respective communities because of them both being shooty, sci-fi, MMOy joints. But when it comes to the community director behind Warframe, the recent end to new Destiny 2 updates and expansions is no victory, and mostly just finds the whole situation to be "devastating."
We've all done it. One moment, you're playing The Elder Scrolls 3. Then, boom, you pass the thrust and everything implodes. Thankfully, the latest update to OpenMW - the open source engine reimplementation that's one of the the best ways to play Morrowind on modern hardware - includes measures to stop this thrusting from accidentally breaking the game.
Obsidian Entertainment, developers of The Outer Worlds 2 and Avowed, have been sued in California for allegedly engaging "in a systematic pattern of wage and hour violations". The case was initially filed in the Superior Court of Orange County by plaintiff Victoria Turner in the latter half of 2025, with Turner accusing Obsidian of - among other things - failure to pay minimum and overtime wage or provide lunch and rest breaks. Obsidian filed a response in March denying "each and every allegation" in Turner's compaint and asking to have the case thrown out.
As you lean back in your chair with a sigh and count the hours left in the working day, a hideously hairy stranger appears in the door. His eyes are yellow and bulging, his beard rank with ale and bogwater, his helm battered and hung with viscera. He opens his stinking yap and bellows at you like an elephant seal with its whiskers trapped in a lawnmower. Then he drops a huge pile of crude, rusty weapons at your feet. That's right, it's finally time for a proper update for Battle Brothers, the mercenary tactics management sim beloved of the Nics we used to know.
Late last year, the modders behind an ambitious Baldur's Gate 3 custom campaign mod called Path to Menzoberranzan pencilled in plans to release a Nautiold-sized demo level during the first half of 2026. That timeline was settled on following a re-think of the project's scope last summer, and with this summer now in full swing, the group have put out a teaser of the level alongside announcing its environments are nearly finished.
That there System Shock remake sure seems to have had one of the weirdest developments on any game around. There's the fact it took so long (almost eight whole years) having been delayed numerous times, but also the fact that at one point the FBI was called in on developer Nightdive. And now, it turns out that a group of devs within the studio banded together to form a sort of secret group to actually get it made.
If you heard the sound of a wet fart reverberating throughout the world yesterday, it'll likely be thanks to the most recent State of Unreal, where Epic offered some more concrete details regarding its plans for Unreal Engine 6. Namely, that it wants to infuse it with generative AI, and there's also some bollocks about using your Fortnite skins in other games and vice versa. But speaking of Fortnite, the same showcase announced a Vampire Survivors collab was on the cards, only for developer poncle to learn about the generative AI stuff the same time as the rest of us and express some concern over it.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, overseer of a company which fired over 1000 staff just a few months ago, has laid out his vision for the games industry's future during a "time of both crisis and opportunity". As Epic revealed an Unreal Engine 6 packed with generative AI model support designed to "reduce the tedious work" that goes into making games, Sweeney painted a picture of a future in which the threat of Roblox eating the world is combatted by a bunch of game makers working with Epic to create a massive integrated everythingverse that's somehow totally different to Roblox's massive integrated everythingverse.
A couple of months on from pushing to make some vital veteran additions to their team in order to get their massive Oblivion remake mod over the line, Skyblivion's developers are once again appealing for volunteers to aid in overcoming some "final roadblocks" standing the way of its release. Meanwhile, it sounds like the chances of another statistical breakdown from the modders running down exactly what's left to be done are low, with Skyblivion's implementation lead asserting that the mod's so close to the finish line such data's no longer "a super relevant way of displaying our remaining work".
Hellblade developers Ninja Theory are one of the numerous Microsoft-owned studios currently facing a very uncertain future, as the company look to either spin off or shutter a bunch of the developers under the Xbox banner. In Ninja Theory's case, the news that their existence hangs in the balance was made even more jarring by the fact they'd revealed a new game, Senua, earlier this month at Xbox's summer showcase. According to a fresh report, however, Microsoft had already decided they were going to kill or part with the studio prior to Senua's reveal, with that showing aimed - at least in the eyes of Xbox execs - at trying to boost the chances of Ninja Theory attracting some new investors.
It's not a good week to be in the games industry (again). As Xbox reportedly prepare to either shutter or spin off Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Compulsion, Don't Nod, original developer of the Life is Strange series, look to be in hot water of their own. As it currently stands, it appears that Don't Nod will run out of cash come November this year.
Xbox are reportedly closing or spinning off Psychonauts developers Double Fine, Hellblade studio Ninja Theory, and South of Midnight creators Compulsion Games, as Microsoft commence efforts to yet again "reset" their billion dollar gaming business after already laying off thousands of staff, cancelling games, and closing several studios over the past couple of years.
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