It’s time to take another look at the world of gaming news, and this week has been another eventful one for fans of the industry.
Unfortunately, not all of the news coming out of the gaming world has been positive this week, but it’s important to take the rough with the smooth.
Let’s take a look at what’s been happening in the gaming industry for the week beginning February 26th!
Layoffs, layoffs, layoffs
Sadly, we must begin with some less-than-encouraging news for the gaming industry and those who work within it.
Once again this week, a number of studios saw layoffs and employee departures. Studios affected by this include Until Dawn’s Supermassive Games, gaming giant Sony Interactive Entertainment, and EA.
It seems that every time a new week begins, we hear about another round of layoffs. The gaming industry is in a particularly perilous place at the moment, and it’s unlikely we’ve heard the last of employees being let go from major and minor developers alike.
Another week, another Switch 2 rumour
It’s starting to feel like Nintendo will have no choice but to officially announce the Switch 2 soon, given the volume of rumours swirling around the as-yet-unrevealed console.
This week, Japanese news portal Nikkei suggested that the Switch 2 is currently targeting a March 2025 release, but that this tentative date could be pushed back.
According to Nikkei, this prospective delay would ensure that the Switch 2 would enjoy a healthy launch lineup of games, which is something we can understand. After all, nobody wants to buy a console with no games to play, right?
Pokemon Legends: Z-A revealed for 2025
While we wait for the Switch 2, the original Switch is still trundling along nicely, as sales figures and cultural relevance prove.
Another major tentpole release was revealed for Nintendo’s current-gen console this week in the form of Pokemon Legends: Z-A, a followup to 2022’s much-loved Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
This one looks like it’s going to take things in a more futuristic direction, with the trailer showing a very space-age VR rendition of Pokemon X and Y’s Lumiose City.
We’ll have to wait for more information regarding what The Pokemon Company and Game Freak intend to do with Pokemon Legends: Z-A, but it’s looking promising early on.
Another industry name jumps to NetEase
NetEase has been on a roll recently, attracting talent from studios like Capcom, BioWare, and Sega. Now, another big name has jumped ship in the form of Call of Duty’s David Vonderhaar.
Alongside other veterans, Vonderhaar announced his new studio BulletFarm earlier this week, pledging to develop a game that sounds like it’s aiming to shake up the industry (but then, aren’t they always?).
We don’t know much about BulletFarm’s debut title yet, but we do know it’ll be a first-person experience and that it’ll feature more in-depth storytelling than we’re used to from Call of Duty.
Expect more info on BulletFarm and Vonderhaar’s inaugural effort sometime this year.
A Paranormal Activity game is in the works
Also announced this week was a new Paranormal Activity game, which is being worked on by The Mortuary Assistant publisher DreadXP.
Not much is known about the game right now, which makes sense considering that it’s not slated to arrive until 2026.
However, we do know that it’ll adjust its scares based on what the player is doing, and that it will feature “a story that expands upon the lore and world of the films”.
If you’re a fan of Paranormal Activity – or, indeed, of The Mortuary Assistant – this looks like one you won’t want to miss.
A Sims 4 user recreates the infinitely-memed Glasgow Willy Wonka experience
If you’ve been keeping up with non-gaming news this week, you’ll probably be familiar with the Glasgow-based “Willy Wonka Experience”, an absolute disaster of an event that featured AI-generated images and the world’s most over-it Oompa-Loompa.
Sadly, that event is no longer available to visit, but you can still enjoy its majesty via The Sims 4, thanks to one enterprising user determined to preserve the event’s legendary badness for all time.
Of course, the event itself wasn’t very exciting, which means that its Sims 4 representation probably isn’t much to write home about either, but hey – historical preservation is important!
Toys for Bob jumps ship
If you’ve played Spyro Reignited Trilogy or Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, then you’re familiar with the work of California-based studio Toys for Bob.
This week, said studio announced that it would leap off the Activision ship and go independent, allowing it to create games for non-Activision publishers.
In addition, Toys for Bob is also “exploring a possible partnership” between the new form of the studio and Microsoft, which could mean that the developer’s work alongside Activision isn’t quite over yet.
Naturally, we don’t know what Toys for Bob is planning to do alongside Microsoft, but more will probably be revealed soon.
Nacon Connect shows off Terminator: Survivors
This week saw the arrival of the 2024 Nacon Connect event, at which we learned about some of the games the publisher has up its sleeve.
One of those games is Terminator: Survivors, an open-world survival game set in the Terminator universe and featuring some of its most iconic characters.
As the genre usually commands, you’ll build bases, scour the land for resources, and try to protect yourself against the relentless hunt the Terminators are engaged in.
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf could be coming this year
If industry insider Jeff Grubb is to be believed, we could soon be getting more information and a release date for the long-awaited Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
Speaking on the Game Mess podcast this week, Grubb said that Dreadwolf would be coming sometime this year, and that it could be shown this summer.
Given that we haven’t seen any Dreadwolf gameplay whatsoever, a release this year seems a little bit premature to us, but honestly, we’d love to see the game arriving in autumn or winter.
