2023-10

Atari has announced an agreement to acquire Digital Eclipse. The studio is known for its expertise in digitally restoring and preserving retro titles such as Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. According to a press release, Atari aims to expand its internal development and further support its retro-focused growth strategy (citing its acquisition of Night Dive Studios earlier this year as an example) by leveraging Digital Eclipse's proprietary tech and experience. Atari states that Digital Eclipse benefits by gaining access to “world-class IP” to grow its business and development capabilities further.  Atari is spending $6.5 million on the acquisition ($4 million in cash, $2.5 million in newly issued Atari shares), with a remaining earn-out of up to $13.5 million in cash over the next 10 years based on the studio's future performance. The purchase is set to be completed in the next...

Developer Toby Fox followed up their 2015 critically acclaimed and fan-favorite 2D RPG Undertale with Deltarune Chapter 1 in 2018. This chapter was the first in what we'd later learn is a five-chapter top-down RPG with puzzles, bullet hell sequences, and Final Fantasy-inspired combat, and Chapter 1 was released for free. Fox dropped Chapter 2 in 2021 in a surprise announcement, and now, players patiently await the release of Chapter 3. Today, more than two years later, Fox has revealed an updated plan for their Deltarune release strategy.  With Chapter 3 nearing completion, Fox plans to finish Chapter 4 and release Deltarune as a purchaseable product. And following that, development on Chapter 5 will continue and hit the game when it's ready. To help with this, Fox has hired a producer "whose entire job it will be to speed up...

Update, 11/01/23: IGN and Bloomberg have learned new information about the layoffs that occurred at Destiny 2 maker Bungie this week, including that roughly 100 employees were laid off from the company. As for why, IGN's sources report that during an employee meeting after the layoffs, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons told staff that the layoffs were due to the underperformance of Destiny 2 over the last year as well as "lower-than-expected preorders" for the upcoming expansion, The Final Shape.  Employees were reportedly told that Destiny 2 player sentiment had reached an all-time-low and IGN's sources say employees at the studio have attempted to discuss this with Bungie leadership, asking to make the necessary changes, presumably to get player sentiment back up.  Bloomberg reports that roughly 8% of "Bungie's game unit" staff were laid off due to Destiny play time hitting a low, and IGN's sources say roughly 100 people were...

Update, 10/31/23: Bungie has yet to reveal how many employees it laid off yesterday and it hasn't given an official reason why either. However, as more and more former employees have shared details about the layoffs, we continue to learn who else was affected. It's how we know famed Destiny 2 composer, Michael Salvatori, who also worked as a co-composer alongside Martin O'Donnell on games like Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and more, was either laid off or voluntarily left amidst the studio layoffs.  It's currently unclear because, as noted by VideoGamesChronicle, Destiny 2 community animator Carson Reed claims he was laid off, according to their own internal sources, but Windows Central's Jez Cordon says he's heard Salvatori may have retired voluntarily.  Nonetheless, Destiny Bulletin on Twitter noticed that on Salvatori's website, it no longer features the two paragraphs where...

Destiny 2 developer Bungie, which was acquired by PlayStation last year for $3.6 billion, is the latest game maker to be hit with layoffs in 2023. Various former Bungie employees announced on Twitter today they had been laid off, and Bloomberg has confirmed with its sources that an undisclosed number of staff were laid off today.  Bloomberg reports that Bungie CEO Pete Parsons told staffers they'd be "hearing some news today" and that following it, there would be a team meeting later today to "discuss today's events."  As for why employees were laid off, that remains unclear, especially as the company is set to release a massive Destiny 2 expansion – The Final Shape – that's set to end the decade-long saga that began in the first Destiny game. Bloomberg states that its sources say The Final Shape has been delayed internally to June 2024, months...

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, the latest in the long-running FPS franchise and the first back-to-back sequel in years, is due out later this week, kind of. If you preorder a digital version of the game, you can play through its campaign early, starting November 2. That's eight days before the full game's release on November 10, which is when its multiplayer suite goes live. Ahead of that early campaign launch, publisher Activision Blizzard has released the PC specs and system requirements to play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.  If you've played recent Call of Duty entries, you likely already know what you're in for, and this year's is not all that different. But if you're new, or curious if you need to upgrade before this year's entry, we've got you covered.  Call of Duty: Modern Warfare...

Square Enix revealed Kingdom Hearts Missing-Link, a new GPS-based action RPG for iOS and Android devices, last year as part of its 20th Anniversary celebration, which is also where the company revealed Kingdom Hearts IV. Now, Square Enix has released a new teaser trailer for Missing-Link alongside the reveal it will launch sometime next year.  In the teaser trailer, we see someone who is presumably the game's protagonist in Scala ad Caelum, a special metropolis that those who have completed Kingdom Hearts III will recognize. The teaser showcases the RPG's combat as well, which seems like a mix between some of the mechanics in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and standard mobile action RPG gameplay. We also see some of the Disney characters in the game, including Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Simba from The Lion King, and Baymax from Big Hero 6, to...

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You can buy a PS5 everywhere these days....

It's almost all Disney......