February marches on as relentlessly as it always does, and there’s no sign of the weather improving any time soon; in fact, it’s been raining pretty much non-stop where we are. Thankfully, we’re big fans of the rain, so we don’t mind.
Anyway, that’s enough characteristically British talk about the weather; now, it’s time to take a look at what’s been going on in the world of gaming once again.
Come in out of the rain, dry off your wet umbrella, and sit with us as we run down the past seven days in the gaming world!
StarCraft might be coming back as a shooter
It’s been a while since we heard from storied real-time strategy series StarCraft, but that might all be about to change if a new report from Korean news platform dnews is to be believed.
The report alleges that Blizzard and Arc Raiders publisher Nexon are teaming up in order to create a shooter based on the StarCraft series, although we don’t know too much more than that.
Reportedly, a well-known StarCraft modder by the name of Choi Jun-ho will be working on the game, so it’s got some pedigree behind it, at least.
Remedy has appointed its new CEO
This week, we got to learn who the new CEO of Alan Wake and Control studio Remedy will be, and it’s a fellow who has experience in various companies throughout the gaming world.
Jean-Charles Gaudechon will be taking over from former interim CEO Markus Mäki in March, and he’s pledging to “stay close to players, earn their time and trust, and strengthen [Remedy’s] independence”.
He also says he wants to “scale Remedy in a way that builds lasting value”, so it sounds as though he has some commercial ambitions for the company. Let’s hope they don’t clash with its independent spirit.
Mewgenics has sold over 250,000 copies
Breakout indie hit Mewgenics is already doing very well for itself, according to one of its designers; the game has managed to sell over 250,000 copies within its first 12 hours.
Designer Tyler Glaiel revealed the milestone on social media this week, and he also confirmed that Mewgenics has recouped its development budget already, so the game is officially in profit.
He and fellow designer-slash-creator Edmund McMillen will no doubt be happy about the game’s success, which appears to mark out Mewgenics as McMillen’s biggest launch yet.
No Man’s Sky is 10 this year, and it’s got a big new update
Space sandbox No Man’s Sky, which continues to mark itself out as the gaming industry’s biggest turnaround success story, got itself a big new update this week to start its tenth-anniversary celebrations.
The Remnant update introduces a Half-Life 2-style gravity gun to the game, allowing you to throw physics objects around whichever planet you desire, as well as pick up resources and do other fun stuff.
Remnant also adds new ship customisation systems for you to engage with, plus more. It’s well worth a look if you’ve been absent from the game for a while.
A number of Highguard developers have been laid off…
In news that will perhaps surprise nobody, a group of Highguard developers have been laid off, with a small number of staffers left at developer Wildlight to continue supporting the game.
As reported by Eurogamer, Wildlight developers wrote of their dismissal on social media this week, and the studio itself told the publication that it has parted ways with “a number of [its] team members”.
According to Wildlight, a “core group of developers” will continue “innovating on and supporting the game”, although it feels to us like the writing might be on the wall, especially if the game’s most recent Steam numbers (at time of writing) are anything to go by.
…and one of them has something to say about its release
If you thought the Highguard news began and ended with the aforementioned layoffs, then you’ll want to take a look at something one of its former developers said about its release this week.
In a long X post this week (which has since been deleted), former Highguard developer Josh Sobel reflected on the game’s release, and it seems he’s laying the blame for its failure at the doors of the media, gamers, and some content creators.
Sobel says Highguard received “quite positive” internal feedback, which he refers to as “unbiased”, and he says the game was “turned into a joke from minute one”.
A big PlayStation State of Play presentation brings 60 minutes of news
This week, PlayStation aired a brand new State of Play presentation, and it was absolutely jam-packed with news for us to sift through, including announcements for major new franchises.
We got to see a brand new Castlevania game, Belmont’s Curse, created by the Dead Cells folks, as well as a new Legacy of Kain game and a brand new God of War title as well.
All of them are 2D action-platformers, but we also got to check out a first glimpse of Konami’s Silent Hill: Townfall, another new entry in the revived survival horror series, plus lots more.
Den of Wolves developer 10 Chambers has laid off a bunch of its staff
We now turn to more sombre news, as Den of Wolves and GTFO developer 10 Chambers confirmed this week that it’s laid off a “large number” of its employees as part of a “significant restructuring”.
In a statement provided to Game Developer, 10 Chambers says it remains “focused” on Den of Wolves and that it will continue to support the game, but that it had to make “difficult” changes to allow Den of Wolves to “become the game it deserves to be”.
A quick look at GTFO’s Steam numbers might show why the studio is making these changes; its 24-hour player peak is just over 800, and while multiplayer games don’t always need large numbers of players to stay viable, that might be a little too low for a sustainable project.
