Once again, another week in gaming has gone by, and there’s plenty happening to whet the appetite of even the most curious consumer of news.
Some games got release dates, while others got pushed back indefinitely; such is the way of the gaming industry. Nothing’s ever certain, especially not these days.
Unfortunately, this week also saw its fair share of layoffs and studio closures, although things do seem to be quieting down just a little after the disastrous year the industry has had.
Here’s what’s been happening in the gaming world this week!
Life By You has been delayed
Early this week, Paradox indefinitely delayed the release date of the upcoming Sims-esque game Life By You. It had previously been set for release in June.
The developers say that the delay was put into effect thanks to “additional development time” being needed, but no more detail was provided, so we don’t know what work needs to be done.
What is for certain, however, is that Life By You doesn’t have a new release date, which means we have no idea when we’re going to get our hands on this game. Let’s hope it’s soon.
PlayStation London waves goodbye
Admittedly, this story wasn’t so much of a development as a full stop for PlayStation London’s ongoing death sentence. This week, the studio closed its doors for good.
On Twitter (yep, still bearing that grudge), PlayStation London thanked everyone who’s played its games or supported it in any way over the years.
The developer also looked forward to the “adventures” in the futures of its former employees. Hopefully, those adventures will be a little less punctuated by closure than PlayStation London was.
IGN buys lots of websites
Gaming news giant IGN announced this week that it has bought the Gamer Network, which includes sites like Gamesindustry.biz, Rock Paper Shotgun, and VG247.
According to IGN’s announcement, the Network also holds shares in Digital Foundry, as well as Nintendo Life parent company Hookshot. It’s fair to say that Gamer Network is a pretty far-reaching organisation.
Notably, though, the sale didn’t include EGX, Popverse, or MCM, which remain with their original owner ReedPop, the previous owner of Gamer Network. Are you keeping up?
Big changes could be in store for some of these news networks, but let’s wait and see what happens next.
Valve’s Deadlock continues to circulate
Deadlock must by now be the worst kept secret in the gaming industry, as Valve’s purported team-based hero shooter endured another round of leaks this week.
Supposedly, Deadlock is currently in the closed testing phase, and gameplay footage from said phase leaked this week, showing some of the game’s heroes and its BioShock Infinite-style skyrail system.
Technically, Deadlock hasn’t been announced yet, and there’s every chance that this game will never see the light of day, but it now seems difficult for Valve to deny that the game exists, at the very least.
Industry layoffs have crossed the 10,000 mark in 2024 alone
Sadly, the next story on our list is rather grim. It was confirmed this week that industry layoffs have topped 10,000 in 2024 alone, which almost matches the figure for the entirety of 2023.
Those layoffs include thousands of employees being let go at Microsoft, Unity, and others, as well as hundreds getting the axe at EA, Take-Two, and more.
Plenty of smaller indie studios have also let lower numbers of employees go this year, and it all adds up to a sobering reminder that nothing in the gaming industry is permanent, however much it may feel that way sometimes.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is official
Activision revealed the name of the latest Call of Duty game this week, and it’s…well, it’s not particularly inspired, but that’s not something most Call of Duty fans are likely to care about.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is the newest entry in both the overarching Call of Duty series and the Black Ops sub-series, and it looks like Activision has pulled a Goat Simulator (sort of) and skipped Black Ops 5.
New details will be revealed in June, likely including the story setup for the game, which many are suggesting could revolve around the first Gulf War and Saddam Hussein.
Furiosa director George Miller gets in trouble with Mad Max’s developers
In 2015, Avalanche (not the Hogwarts Legacy developer, but the Just Cause studio) released an officially-licensed Mad Max game. It was…fine, we suppose.
This week saw Mad Max (and new prequel Furiosa) director George Miller claim that the Mad Max game “wasn’t as good” as he’d have liked it to be, which prompted ire from Avalanche’s founder.
Christofer Sundberg claimed that Miller’s comments show “complete arrogance” and that his studio was “forced” to make a linear game, which they then had to transform into an open world game after discarding “a year of work”.
Warhammer video game news abounds
This week saw the airing of the yearly Warhammer Skulls event, during which major upcoming Warhammer projects are announced and expounded on.
A sequel to flawed but fascinating turn-based gem Mechanicus is in development, and composer Guillaume David is returning, which means we’re getting more of that sublime glitchy cathedral music from the first game.
We’re also getting a new expansion for Owlcat’s Rogue Trader RPG, as well as a major update for shooter Darktide and several other exciting Warhammer-related tidbits.
2K could be working on FIFA soon
For a long time now, EA has stood virtually uncontested in the world of football video games, especially since Konami’s eFootball started missing the mark.
Well, that could all be about to end, as a new rumour (which is, admittedly, thin) suggested this week that 2K, publisher of games like NBA 2K and the WWE 2K series, will be working on a new FIFA instalment.
If true, the new game will stand in competition against EA’s newly-renamed EA Sports FC franchise, and honestly, it’ll be good to see the former kings have to defend their throne for once.
