General Gaming News II: Steam Helpdesk Site Leak

[synistar]

afaik Pitchford is going to restore the fire damaged areas of the Magic Castle and continue to run the site prior to the pandemic state. Other developers wanted to buy the property to raze it and build a modern hotel and/or housing.

[Cail]

https://twitter.com/wario64/status/1...15LdtqBLBKWldw

[6souls]

https://twitter.com/JeffGrubb/status...06318757388288

[6souls]

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/cultur...nlrb-complaint
https://twitter.com/gamedevdotcom/st...11338765873152

An anonymous worker has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board about Nintendo of America and staffing partner Aston Carter. The two companies stand accused of interfering with an employees' legally protected right to organize their workplace, though details about what actions they took are currently scant.

The NLRB complaint (spotted by Axios) lists four allegations against Aston Carter and Nintendo of America. These include "discharge" (layoffs or refusal to hire), concerted activities (retaliation, discipline, firing), coercive statements (threats or promises of benefits), and coercive actions (surveilling employees).

Online job listings indicate Aston Carter hires for multiple contract roles at Nintendo, including customer service and game tester positions.

Seeing Aston Carter's name in this filing is eyebrow-raising, as this likely narrows the range of impacted employees to contract workers hired by the staffing firm. Nintendo, like other game industry employers, outsources some hiring to external firms, who are responsible for paying and managing contract workers.

Said workers often do not share the benefits they would receive if they were full-time employees of the studio that contracted their official employer. Contracts can often be cut short, and benefits reduced, all while maintaining heavy work hours at the company.

[6souls]

https://twitter.com/gamedevdotcom/st...57337560219648

[Ker]

https://twitter.com/nibellion/status...766578176?s=21
Kotaku sources: senior current and former Ubisoft developers suggest that the company could be preparing a possible sale

Mentioned factors
- no Guillemot left to take over
- on-going workplace controversy
- senior devs leaving
- big projects struggling

The article also mentions that according to three sources the next Far Cry, Assassin's Creed and Ghost Recon games are further out than Ubisoft planned

Two of the biggest private equity firms in the world are looking at Ubisoft.

[Souj]

Jeff Gerstmann, cofounder of Giant Bomb left the company as of today, rather abruptly. No news as to why from either end aside from the parent company giving a the canned “we agreed to part ways” line. Nearly exactly a year since Brad, Vinny, and Alex, the other original core members left.

[6souls]

XTAL - Developed by True Colors

A distant past echoes through planet Syro, while its ruined landscapes are being corrupted by a mysterious force.

You, as the Seeker, will make use of a lost technology to engage in combat and explore a vast, evocative world.

XTAL is a stylish mix of action and exploration with a fast combat system that combines TPS, Hack ‘n’ Slash and Bullet Hell elements with a vibrant art style inspired by French Comics.

Features

• Tightly tuned controls. Jump, dash and slash your way through deadly foes.
• Fight your enemies with a blend of melee and powerful magic bullets.
• Aiming is key! Find and shoot at your enemies' Weak Spots to deal massive damage.
• Use your movement to dodge hundreds of bullets.
• Explore an arcane, ruined world and discover the truth behind an ancient technology.
• Use new abilities to reach previously inaccessible places.
• Upgrade your arsenal, learn new skills and customize your equipment to create the perfect strategy.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2022640/XTAL/
https://twitter.com/TrueColorsDev

It's like Sable with combat.

[6souls]

Jeff Gerstmann, cofounder of Giant Bomb left the company as of today, rather abruptly. No news as to why from either end aside from the parent company giving a the canned “we agreed to part ways” line. Nearly exactly a year since Brad, Vinny, and Alex, the other original core members left.

https://twitter.com/DanRyckert/statu...76986087702529

[6souls]

https://twitter.com/gamedevdotcom/st...43270579036160

[Gokulo]

https://www.siliconera.com/playstati...us-part-1-ps5/

Last of Us Part 1 leaked

[Krandor]

They really gonna split it into 2 full price games huh

[Souj]

They really gonna split it into 2 full price games huh

Pretty sure Part 1 is just the retconned name of the whole first game after the sequel came out. PS5 version is also coming with the dlc.

[Gokulo]

Pretty sure Part 1 is just the retconned name of the whole first game after the sequel came out. PS5 version is also coming with the dlc.

I think he's referring to the fact that they will most likely release part 2 for ps5 later too and we'll pay full price for both

[Krandor]

If it's Souj said it's whatever, but I thought the name was implying they were going to FFVIIR it and split it into multiple full price titles for what used to be one game.

[Andalusian girls]

nah man that'd be bonkers, they just renamed as said cuz of Part II. it's the whole game with all the DLC. if you watched the trailer it's showing scenes from the entire game

they ain't making The Last of Us Part 1 + The Last of Us Part 1.5 to go with The Last of Us Part 2 lawlz

[6souls]

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/busine...led-from-steam

All games published by Spicy Horse have been pulled from sale on Steam. When one title was attempted to be pulled for being broken, Steam went ahead and pulled everything.

As spotted by Eurogamer, a notice on the title's Steam page indicates it has been removed "at the request of the publisher" -- which is pretty nebulous as far as explanations go.

Shedding a bit more light on the situation on social media, Alice: Madness Returns creator American McGee suggested all of the titles from his former studio, Spicy Horse, have mistakenly been delisted from the platform.

"From what I've heard, in trying to remove Akaneiro from Steam (it was broken), all the other Spicy Horse games also got removed," wrote McGee. "We're reaching out to Support and trying to get this resolved. Anyone at Valve can help fix this faster?"

In a follow-up tweet, McGee added that a member of his team told Steam Support to "shut down everything" when the topic was "Akaneiro" after "wrongly thinking other games -- like Alice: Madness Returns -- had been moved to a Mysterious Inc account." For context, Mysterious Inc is a business owned and operated by McGee.

Alice: Madness Returns
Akaneiro: Demon Hunters
The Gate
Grimm

[Gokulo]

This is kinda between the gaming and anime sections:

[6souls]

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/busine...-million-users

Google's other game platform, GameSnacks, has hit 35M users. It's a HTML5 browser-based way to play that Google has been focusing on since they saw Wordle get popular.

Google's HTML5 game platform GameSnacks has crossed a notable business milestone: As of last week, the platform has acquired over 35 million users, and is shuffling inside Google to be an arm of the Google Ads business unit. Most of the platform's players are located in developing regions, where internet access is growing thanks to a proliferation of cheaper smartphones utilizing lower-speed networks.

The company is also entering into a partnership with mobile game publisher Voodoo to bring games like Helix Jump to GameSnacks.

This news comes from a conversation with GameSnacks founder and general manager Ani Mohan, who explained to Game Developer how the Google subsidiary has found success meeting a new audience of players at their level, rather than trying to integrate them into an existing mobile games cycle.

Industry veterans trying out GameSnacks games might feel a twinge of nostalgia for the era of Adobe Flash, when simple web-based games could be the entirety of a player's video game diet. What is new, however, is that GameSnacks isn't an app that players download; it's a web-hosted platform that can integrate into "all-in-one" apps that are prolific in regions like Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Nigeria.

Mohan said that Wordle's success reinforces the idea that web games (HTML5 or otherwise) have legs in conventional video game markets, not just emerging ones. He described a growing interest in "short-form gaming," where games are deliberately designed to be played in 5 minutes or less.

The proliferation of so many Wordle-likes may also be a symptom of the short-form format. "The web format and the quick quick, casual nature of [Wordle] allows for faster remixes," he observed.

Wordle's blaze of glory among game developers shone a light on the world of web games, which might be a verdant field for developers chasing the casual game market.

[Gokulo]

Should be starting in around 5 hours