Episode 85
CEO of Unity leaves after new pricing backlash on the Game Engine
Thanks for joining me again on the Dead Drop for your secured delivery of game news headlines!
The stories for today:
Unity Software CEO exits after pricing backlash | NYSE:U (proactiveinvestors.com.au)
CEO of Unity Software John Riccitiello is retiring from his position at the company following the backlash to the new pricing structure for game developers last month.
He is quoted as being proud of his 9 years with Unity and the impact he had on the company, and yet it was leadership that fell under scrutiny after the announcements of the pricing change.
For the uninitiated, the new model would be a "payment per install" model for games made with the engine, which would create costs for developers of new games and existing ones. The tracking and action of charging for this sounded insane - especially as pirated games would count towards these costs.
Unity has since changed the policy, though it doesn't seem to be to any great impact.
ChatGPT was used to write Gollum game apology, it’s claimed | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)
In interviews with GameTwo, an outlet from Germany, former Daedalic staff have implied that that the developer for the recent Gollum game wrote their apology to fans with AI.
Daedalic had apologised to fans for the disappointing addition to the franchise, pledging to do better in coming months.
Sources have said that the apology was made using Chat GPT AND that it was handled by the publisher - Daedalic had no oversight on the apology at all. This information has yet to be confirmed.
There are also reports of crunch, lack of funds and lack of expertise as reasons for the underwhelming game.
Over 6,000 games industry jobs lost in 2023 so far | GamesIndustry.biz
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Farhan Noor, a technical artist in games, has been tracking layoffs this year and it’s a staggeringly large number.
With over 6,000 jobs lost in the industry so far, and September the worst month with 17 companies losing staff, the economic environment is stated primarily but all reasons revolve around money.
Unionisation in the games industry has been a top subject for years, and the job security for devs has never been so important. If you want to check out the details, the link to videogamelayoffs.com is available in the show notes.
CD Projekt staff form union for Polish developers | GamesIndustry.biz
In similar news, the Polish Gamedev Workers Union has been established after three rounds of layoffs in CD Projekt Red over the summer period.
Founded by Lev Ki and Pawel Myszka, who are still working with CDPR, its set to represent all game devs in Poland and is a sign of progression in the industry for Polish developers.
Word on the grapevine is that Microsoft is looking to lock up the Activision Blizzard acquisition as early as Friday October 13th.
Merger approval has come from most areas as a result of litigation, discussion and obstacles. The last of these hurdles is the UK Competition and Markets Authority, which has provisionally approved the merger.
Everything from Cloud Gaming monopolies to Call of Duty limitations have been thrown at this, and even the FTC was denied a block of the sale. For more details on the story so far, check for the link in the show notes.
Telltale Games lays off staff in response to "current market conditions" | GamesIndustry.biz
In what feels like déjà vu, Telltale Games has laid off members of its dev teams in early September according to GamesIndustry.biz.
The studio has confirmed the layoffs, and explained their thanks for staff contributions so far and that games are still in development.
Another symptom of the games industry, these layoffs come despite pushing back releases to avoid crunch and burnout - one must wonder if they have cut off their nose to spite their face.
October’s PlayStation Plus Extra games have leaked | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)
The list of PS Plus Extra and Premium games have leaked early for the coming month. If you have the higher tier subscription on Playstation, you'll get access to
- Gotham Knights
- House of Ashes (Dark Pictures)
- Disco Elysium
- Elite Dangerous
- Alien Isolation
- And Gungrave GORE, among others
The announcement is set to take place on October 11th
Lies of P DLC has been confirmed by the developer's careers website | Eurogamer.net
Lies of P has just been realised, and the developer Neowiz has already leaked the plans for a DLC in development.
The leak was through a Korean Job Board post looking for another staff member to assist.
I've been playing through Lies of P myself, and it’s a very engaging and fun souls-like: if you've been looking for another Bloodborne (ie. Less Soulsy and innovative) then I'd recommend it highly!
We missed the hubbub around the contentious release of RedFall on the Dead Drop, but Bethesda has come out with some patches to fix issues with the game upon release.
Primarily, we've got 60FPS, Performance mode for Xbox Series X|S, Accessibility improvements. There's also new combat mechanics coming, with stealth takedown and some controller settings on its way.
RedFall initially came out to a Metacritic score of 56 on Xbox and 53 on PC in May of this year.
This The Last of Us bread sculpture brings a whole new meaning to yeast infection | Eurogamer.net
And lastly, the One House Bakery in San Francisco has seen fit to create a statue of a Clicker from The Last of Us game series entirely out of bread.
The statue is affectionately known as "FunGus" and took 400 hours to create after an affinity for the franchise was found for the bakers through Pedro Pascal's "Joel" on the TV Show.
I guess the Yeast Theory from the first few eps was taken just a bit too seriously…
I'm so happy to be back, and looking forward to delivering you the no-fluff, succinct and informative gaming news updates again! ❤️
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