Author: Lucas Bennett

Starbreeze is giving Payday 3 a regime change ahead of its one-year anniversary. The studio recently announced game director Miodrag Kovačević will no longer lead its live-service crime game.According to Starbreeze, Kovačević will "step away from his role…and refocus his efforts as a designer elsewhere in the project."While the studio looks for someone to take on long-term director duties, Payday 3's "creative force" will be temporarily steered by lead producer Andreas Penninger and global brand director Almir Listo.As Listo noted, he and Penninger have been at Starbreeze for 12 years and worked on Payday 2. Discussing the future, Listo said he was "thrilled about the upcoming content we are preparing for you all!"

The tumultuous, ongoing Payday 3 saga

Payday 3 debuted in September last year but has struggled to make headway. The multiplayer shooter faced server issues at launch but still opened to 1.3 million overall players.Months later, Starbreeze said the game had massively underperformed. The situation result…

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 developer Saber interactive has lamented the leak of an old build that could spoil the experience for players.Footage from a playable version of the title was uploaded to YouTube earlier this week (thanks Eurogamer) and it also appeared that some people had been able to download and play that same iteration.The leak occurred just two months ahead of release, with Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 currently slated to launch on September 9, 2024. Responding to the situation, Saber has implored players to steer clear of footage that comes from a build it claims is almost a year old."Our teams have poured years of hard work, passion, and dedication into creating a game worthy of your hopes and expectations, and it's disheartening that many of the surprises we worked to keep secret were spoiled," reads a post from the studio on X."We're saddened that this build, which will be almost a year old by the time we launch, is how some of our most eager fans will first experience Space Marine 2."

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As MultiVersus heads toward its second season (for the second time), its creator Player First Games has been officially acquired by Warner Bros.Per Variety, co-founders Tony Huynh and Chris White will retain leadership of the developer. The former noted that being a part of the WB Games umbrella will benefit the studio and its playerbase."We have worked with Player First Games over several years to create and launch MultiVersus," added WB Games head David Haddad. "We are very pleased to welcome this talented team to Warner Bros. Games."MultiVersus first launched with an open beta in 2022, and was gained popularity not long after. WB Games affirmed it'd stick with the title and Player First, all but saying it was safe from the then-aftereffects of the WB Discovery merger.After its beta was shut down last year, MultiVersus returned as a full (but still free-to-play) game. Now running on Unreal Engine 5, the title appears to be doing well enough that WB wants to further invest in it and its studio.Warner Bros. previously said it wanted MultiVersus to be one of its live-service champions. Time will tell if the game can live up to those ambitions, and what else …