The Tokyo Game Show is well and truly behind us now, and we’re entering a period that is traditionally just a little bit quieter before the Game Awards arrive in December.
As usual, though, just because things are a little bit more muted doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about; it’s still been a pretty eventful week in the world of gaming news.
As ever, then, pull up a chair, grab a drink (why not a pumpkin spice latte in this most autumnal of months?), and join us as we talk about what’s been going on in gaming this week!
Silent Hill f is selling faster than Silent Hill 2
Konami revealed this week that Silent Hill f, the latest game in its Silent Hill series, is selling faster than Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake.
The game managed to hit a million sales in just a couple of days after its release, and it took Silent Hill 2 a week or so to achieve the same result, so things are going pretty well for the horror franchise.
Hopefully, this means more new games in the series in future; we already know Bloober Team is working on a Silent Hill remake, but perhaps more novel entries will be created as well.
EA has been acquired by a private consortium of investors
EA, the publisher behind games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and EA Sports FC 26, has been acquired by a private group of investors that counts the Saudi PIF and Jared Kushner among them.
The company was bought for $55 billion this week by the aforementioned PIF, as well as private investment firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner’s company Affinity Partners.
What the acquisition might mean for EA’s business strategy and creative direction in the future is unknown at the moment, but it’s a momentous purchase, at any rate.
Avalanche Studios has been hit by layoffs and is closing its UK location
Just Cause and Rage 2 developer Avalanche Studios (which is not the same company as Hogwarts Legacy outfit Avalanche Software) announced layoffs and a location closure this week.
According to Avalanche, several employees will be laid off (although we don’t know which departments have been worst hit by this decision), and its Liverpool location will be shut down.
It comes after the cancellation of Avalanche’s in-development Contraband, a game it was working on for Xbox. The project was cancelled following layoffs and other project shutdowns at Microsoft.
Amazon is redesigning its Luna streaming service
Have you ever used Amazon’s Luna game streaming service? If not, that might be why Amazon is redesigning the app in order to appeal more to families and social groups.
The new Luna will come complete with a new social hub called GameNight, and it’ll offer twists on existing classics, as well as new games (including a rather bizarre-looking courtroom drama starring Snoop Dogg).
Don’t worry, though; conventional games aren’t going anywhere on Luna, so you’ll still be able to stream titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Dave the Diver, and more.
The price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate has gone up
This week, Xbox announced a rework for its Game Pass subscription service, which now comes in three tiers (technically four, if you count the still-extant PC Game Pass).
The new tiers will bring cloud gaming to everyone, although you won’t necessarily be able to access it at its highest speeds unless you pay for Ultimate.
So, what’s the catch? Well, the Ultimate tier will now cost you £23 a month (that’s $30 in American money), and for that extra cash, you’re getting…a Fortnite subscription and access to the Ubisoft+ Classics catalogue. Hmm.
Dune: Awakening studio Funcom has been hit by layoffs
Another studio was hit by layoffs this week, unfortunately, namely Dune: Awakening developer Funcom, which announced it would be letting several staff members go.
That’s despite the fact that the aforementioned survival game represents the studio’s biggest release ever, racking up a million sales within the first two weeks of its launch.
Funcom’s layoffs further cement the narrative that it’s no longer a guarantee of safety to develop a good or successful (or both!) game, and we’re sure other studios will be eyeing this decision with concern.
Payday’s Starbreeze is cancelling its Dungeons & Dragons game
Starbreeze, the studio behind the Payday franchise, announced this week that it has cancelled its live-service Dungeons & Dragons game Project Baxter in order to focus on its flagship series.
Of course, as part of that cancellation, about 44 employees will be let go from the company, because it seems that studios can’t make any kind of decision these days without laying off some staff members.
As part of the new direction, Starbreeze is also promising new experiences in the heisting genre as a whole and the Payday series in particular, so expect some Payday spinoffs ere long.
Unity has found a “security vulnerability” in its platform
Unity, an engine used for the development of many high-profile games and indie hits alike, revealed this week that it has found a “security vulnerability” in its framework that dates back to 2017.
According to Unity, there’s no evidence that this vulnerability has been exploited by any bad actors, nor is there any “impact on users or customers”.
Just to be on the safe side, though, Unity says developers should patch their applications as soon as they possibly can if they created a game with Unity from late 2017 onwards.
Highly anticipated action-strategy game Kingmakers has been delayed
Kingmakers, a hugely ambitious action-strategy game from developer Redemption Road and publisher tinyBuild, has been delayed, and there’s no new release date in sight.
According to the developer, the delay is being put into effect because the studio doesn’t “want to cut any planned features for the sake of getting it out the door earlier”.
Although no new release date was revealed, a gameplay “deep dive” will be released “very soon”, according to Redemption Road, and it’ll feature “a comprehensive overview” of what’s been done on the game so far.
