Author: Amelia Brooks

Embracer has concluded the financial portion of its Saber Interactive divestment and confirmed that 4A Games and Zen Studios haven't been included in the deal.The Swedish conglomerate sold notable Saber Interactive assets—including studios like 3D Realms, Slippage, and New World Interactive—to Beacon Interactive earlier this year. Beacon is controlled by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch.In total, Beacon chose to purchase a myriad of assets including multiple studios, 38 ongoing game projects, proprietary engine technology, and numerous game tools. The company also had the option to acquire Metro developer 4A Games and Pinball FX creator Zen Studios as part of the transaction, but has decided not to pursue those deals.Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said he is "satisfied" with how the divestment shook out and "very glad to see the great teams and assets of 4A Games and Zen Studios remain within Embracer."

4A Games and Zen Studios have big plays for Embracer

"They will be important building blocks in …

Scopely is shifting teams around internally following the cancellation of an unannounced project, prompting some developers within the company to express uncertainty about their role or future.Rumors of changes at the Monopoly Go creator started earlier this week when senior creative director Steve Garvin mentioned that his "cool new game got cancelled," and that he was looking for work.In a statement to Game Developer, a Scopely spokesperson indicated no staff had been laid off at time of writing, and said it intends to move impacted developers to other teams within the studio.

Scopely's statement on the cancellation and affected workers

"We have a robust in-development slate which includes incubation and prototype projects," said Scopely, "and we regularly assess where to focus the efforts of our talented [staff]."Its statement acknowledged the cancellation of an unannounced project, and that it's "begun transitioning the team affected to other parts of the business.&…

VR studio nDreams is conducting a round of layoffs that could impact 17.5 percent of employees.The company said a "challenging VR games market" requires a "renewed strategic focus" that will result in job cuts.The UK firm operates four studios and is known for working on titles like Far Cry VR, Fracked, Phantom: Covert Ops, and Synapse. According to the nDreams website, it currently employs over 250 people across a variety of hybrid and fully-remote roles.The downsizing comes less than a year after nDreams was purchased by Swedish conglomerate Aonic for $110 million in what was described as a "landmark" deal.In a statement sent to Game Developer, nDreams CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh said the layoffs are being made with "deep regret" and noted roles could be trimmed at all levels "including senior leadership.""We are working tirelessly to support our team with the respect and care they deserve throughout this challenging process, including all our efforts to comprehensively assist those whose positions may be impacted to move into new roles within nDreams or elsewhere," he added."Having been fully-focused on VR developm…

Developer Rogue Snail has outlined a set of changes for its Early Access game Relic Hunters Legend, and the biggest will see the removal of its free-to-play elements.On the game's Steam page, Rogue Snail explained that the game's 1.0 launch will turn it into a full-fledged $20 title. Since it no longer has backing from Gearbox, the studio realized it couldn't stick to its Kickstarter promise of not charging for the game.Being blunt about it, the team also admitted it "had to focus our limited resources," and "just can’t spare the effort that goes into monetization.""New challenges have been presented to various development studios, ours is no exception," wrote Rogue Snail. "With all these challenges in hand, we needed to think of a monetization plan for the game that would be fair to our players and sustainable for us."Hand-in-hand with this news is the removal of Relic's online requirements. With the upcoming 0.11 update, the game will now feature save slots, and players will choose manually whether or not to play with others.This "significant change" is already being implemented into the Early Access version,…

Indie studio Jyamma Games is indefinitely delaying the Xbox Series X|S port of Enotria: The Last Song, and laid the blame squarely on Microsoft's shoulders.Per IGN, founder Jacky Greco reportedly said on Discord that Xbox "obviously don't care about Enotria and they don't care about [players]."The official announcement attributed the delay to "challenges" not found in the PlayStation 5 or PC versions coming on September 19. But Greco was more candid on Discord, and alleged Jyamma spent two months contacting Xbox to no response.In mid-August, Haak developer Blingstone claimed Xbox's porting process was a "nightmare" to go through. Greco's comments echo that sentiment, as he similarly said Jyamma was unable to open a store page and submit the game."We've [got] Xbox Series X and S versions ready but we can't proceed with submission and release," he wrote. "I spent a lot of money for porting and they decided to ignore us."

Xbox's troubled port saga

Studios have pr…

Another video game is crossing over into films: Ruiner, the sci-fi shooter from Reikon Games and Devolver Digital.Per Variety, director Wes Ball (of Planet of the Apes and eventual Legend of Zelda fame) will adapt the game for Universal Pictures, which will be produced by Story Kitchen and 87North.It's the newest video game get for Universal, who recently entered the game-to-film scene with the very successful Super Mario and Five Nights at Freddy's films.

Ruiner on the big screen

Ruiner released in 2017 and is set in the cyberpunk future of 2091. Players take on the role of a silent character nicknamed "Puppy" who embarks on a journey to save their brother from a conglomerate named Heaven that runs the city of Rengkok.According to Variety, Ruiner has amassed 4 million players since its release. It first came out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, followed by the Nintendo Switch in 2020.Reikon itself has yet to comment on the adaptation, though co-founders Marek Roefler, Jakub Styliński, and Magdalena Tomkowicz will all executive produce the film.In…

Techland just revealed Dying Light: The Beast at Gamescom, but it turns out the standalone title isn't new new.Speaking with Game Developer, director Nathan Lamaire explained the game was actually born from DLC originally meant for Dying Light 2. After its plot was leaked by hackers last year, Techland pivoted it into a full game.Leaks have been a part of the industry for a long time, especially recently. A developer leaning into those leaks is rare, and it's even more unusual when it comes to expansions that have bloomed into fuller projects.Another reason to blow it up? Kyle Crane, returning protagonist of the first Dying Light. As Lamaire explained, veterans from that game felt "10 years younger" once he was chosen to lead The Beast, and there was a desire to do right by that older staff.From there, Techland decided The Beast needed "to be more than what we already planned for," he said. The studio famously supported the first Dying Light over the years, and The Beast continues that throughline for the sequel.Players who bought Dying Light 2's ultimate edition (either on current or last-gen) get The Beast at no extra cost, since it was inteded …

Nintendo reported a downturn in both net sales and operating profit over the first quarter of the current fiscal year.The company saw net sales decrease by 46.5 percent year-on-year to 246.6 billion yen ($1.68 billion), while operating profit decreased by 70.6 percent to 54.5 billion yen ($371.6 million). Profit attributable to owners of parent fell by 55.3 percent to 80.9 billion yen ($551.6 million).There are some predictable—but nonetheless interesting—reasons for that downturn. For starters, the Nintendo Switch is more than eight years old and that means hardware sales are dwindling.As it stands, the Switch family has sold 143.42 million units worldwide. It's an eye-watering metric that means it's hardly surprising to hear quarterly hardware sales declined by 46.3 percent year-on-year to 2.1 million units. Despite that downturn, Nintendo claimed sales are relatively stable compared to the last quarter.

"Special factors" like Zelda and the Mario Bros film …

A trio of alums from Pixelberry Studios have formed a new team of their own in Candlelight Games. Per the website, the Washington-based team will make narrative-based titles "[that] unite people through shared experiences.""Our mission is to deliver heartfelt, character-centric narrative games with meaningful choices that truly resonate with players," wrote co-founder Andrew Shvarts. "We're…committed to creating immersive experiences that stay with you long after the credits roll."Shvarts previously worked at Pixelberry as a creative director on its mobile narrative game, Choices. His fellow co-founders, Megan Schwarz and Royal McGraw, also worked on the game as a respective lead writer and executive producer.Schwarz and Shvarts were among those let go from Pixelberry earlier this year when the studio laid off an unspecified number of staff. More recently, the Choices developer was acquired by Series Entertainment.The three have individually said they'll offer a first look at their unannounced debut project "soon."…

Joseph Rubino, a former cinematics editor for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, suggested the game's planned story DLC was scrapped once Grand Theft Auto Online grew into such a gargantuan hit.Talking to SanInPlay, Rubino revealed he was at work on an expansion focused on Trevor, one of the game's co-leads. Story DLC for each lead was previously datamined, and Trevor's actor Steven Ogg mentioned its existence in April.Per Rubino, prioritizing GTA V's multiplayer marked a shift in Rockstar's hopes for the open-world game. It was such a "cash cow" that he claims the studio didn't think single-player expansions would be able to properly stand beside it."I think looking back now I would say that you could probably do both, but that was a business decision that they made," he added. Further adding to the sting was the DLC was quite a ways into development before it got cut, which he admitted made him "a little upset." Even so, he said "a lot" of that expansion was put into GTA Online. "It's not like they wasted it," he acknowledged. "It was really, really good."GTA Online has been so ever-pr…