🎮 More lawsuits from Epic, AC: Shadows delayed and Lords of the Fallen 2...
Epic is filing more lawsuits against Google, What’s up with AC: Shadows being delayed, Lords of the Fallen 2 is coming in 2025, Former EA devs form a new studio in Australia and more!
Hello friends,
Today is October 3rd 2024 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌
In today’s news:
🎮 Epic is filing more lawsuits against Google
🎮 What’s up with AC: Shadows being delayed
🎮 Lords of the Fallen 2 is coming in 2025
🎮 Former EA devs form a new studio in Australia
⚡ Lightning Round!
🫡 True Tribute!
😄 Personal Update
All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️
Let’s dig in!
🎮 Epic is filing more lawsuits against Google
Well, I have to hand it to them, they know how to be the centre of attention. According to multiple news outlets, Epic is suing Google once again. And yes, it’s about Fortnite once again.
Some of you may know that recently Epic won a legal battle against Google where they proved that Google’s prevention of allowing alternative app stores on its devices was anti-competitive, and as a result, the Epic Game Store (EGS) is now an app you can install on your Android devices, worldwide.
But, if you ever tried doing it, you’d know that it’s a huge pain in the butt. And it’s even more so for Samsung devices. You need to download an .apk separately, allow your phone to install it and sometimes it may require some time. I mean, tech companies being tech companies, yes, they lost but it doesn’t mean they want to get Epic’s life easier.
And this is why Epic decided to go to court again.
Google and other mobile OS providers would argue that allowing a user to install any .apk they downloaded from the internet is a massive security issue, and the easiest way for malevolent software to find its way onto phones. But Epic argues that all these measures are nonsense and designed to do only one thing, discourage the competition.
As a former Android user, I can definitely say that installing anything but the applications from the Play Market is always a pain and I wouldn’t want a user to go through this process. But I think it’s fair for Epic to argue this point with Google and Samsung.
What do you think? Do you think Epic is within their rights on this one? Do you think the mobile market is really suffering because of Apple’s / Google’s monopoly?
🎮 What’s up with AC: Shadows being delayed
Insider Gaming recently posted some exclusive details that surround the game being delayed as well as some of the potential reasons related to other Ubisoft’s projects.
So, last week Ubisoft posted on X that the game release date is going to be February 1st after the date was set for November. The main reason was stated as “to polish and refine the experience” as well as due to “the learning from the Star Wars Outlaws release.”
In an internal memo, Yves Guillemot (CEO) talked about Star Wars Outlaws’ initial sales being “softer than expected” and then he went on to talk about Shadows:
Consequently, we decided to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows to February 14, 2025. The game is already playable and of high quality, and has all the features the team wanted to integrate into this ambitious experience. This unusual decision at such an advanced stage is motivated by our desire to offer an optimal experience from launch on all platforms and various PC configurations, and to remove the small frictions we typically used to address in post-launch title updates. We will also use the extra time to complement the experience with a few high-impact secondary quests that will bring even more memorable moments.
Additionally, as a result of listening to player feedback on other topics, our new releases, starting with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, will again be available on Steam on launch day, in addition to being available on first parties’, Epic’s and Ubisoft’s stores. Also, we are currently rethinking our Season Pass model for our upcoming games. For Assassin’s Creed Shadows, all players will have access to the game at the same time, and those who have pre-ordered the game will get the first expansion for free.
With all that said, it looks like Ubisoft are doing everything it can to ensure that Shadows is not going to be a buggy disaster which some may say is typical for a game from this studio. With everything that’s happening with the company, it’s not surprising that they want to ensure that this project is a success as multiple sources already reported multiple times that the stock of the company is at almost an all-time low.
Are you looking forward to the newest addition to Assassin’s Creed franchise?
🎮 Lords of the Fallen 2 is coming in 2025
If you haven’t heard about the first game, you should. It’s quite interesting souls-like that was released in 2023 and now it looks like CI Games (Publisher) is planning to have a sequel in 2026.
According to the company’s H1’24 Results, Strategy Update & Product Roadmap 2025-2028, Lords of the Fallen 2 is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, with an official reveal planned for 2025 alongside a “strong marketing campaign”.
It’s worth mentioning that one of the key objectives outlined in the report is to enhance the game’s accessibility and as a result to draw in a larger fan base for the game. They plan to do this by introducing additional game modes and implementing various gameplay improvements, like shared progression.
Again, currently, it’s nothing more than a vague roadmap with goals and we have a long road to 2026, so there’s a high chance of them adjusting this plan. Still, Lords of the Fallen was (and still is) a solid game. It’s not Elden Ring, of course, but it’s a good souls-like with great art, sound and interesting quests. So it’s great that the company sees the potential in this game. Good luck to them!
Have you played this game? Are you interested in a sequel?
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🎮 Former EA devs form a new studio in Australia
Another great news in the world of layoffs. Three former EA veterans formed a new development studio in Australia called The Three Thousands studio. The studio is helmed by Joseph Donoghue, Benjamin Dawe, and Nikhil Kurian.
Donoghue, The Three Thousands CEO, was formerly EA Australia’s general manager. Dawe was creative director at EA Melbourne, and is now CCO at the new studio. Lastly, Kurian is the studio’s CPO after being the racing general manager at EA Melbourne.
In the official statement, Donoghue said:
Our goal with The Three Thousands is to become the ultimate digital automotive brand blending racing, culture, and entertainment in a way no one has done before. We’ve assembled a core team that are truly best in class at what they do to help deliver the vision and we couldn’t be happier with the results.
With all of them being racing veterans, it’s not a surprise that the first title they are working on is a racing title with a planned release for 2025 and the details should be announced in the following months.
Honestly, it brings me so much more joy to write about this news than the constant feed of layoffs and downsizing. I wish all my newsletter episodes would have at least one news like this. Godspeed, guys! 🙌
⚡ Lightning Round!
1…2…3…Go!
🎮 The Alters delayed to 2025
It looks like the creators of Frostpunk and This War of Mine are having a little bit of a rough patch with another title they are working on and the one that I’m really looking forward to.
The game was originally planned for a release in November 2024. However, a decision to delay was made in order to take more time to improve the quality of the game and work on marketing plans. Now, the game will launch in Q1 2025.
If you haven’t heard about the Alters, check out the Gameplay Trailer above!
🎮 Multiple layoffs across different studio
Yes, unfortunately, it’s still happening. During this week multiple studios have reported their plans to cut their staff. Here is the list of the companies that at least made the decision in public:
Sharkmob London (Exoborne, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt) is laying off an unknown number of employees
XR Games (Starship Troopers: Continuum and Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded) said that at least 72 employees are at risk of redundancy
Nexon (Dave the Diver) has made a “small number” of layoffs to staff in its American offices.
And the beat goes one every week…
🎮 Krafton to move Palworld to mobile
A few days ago news surfaced that Krafton (PUBG) signed the agreement with Pocketpair to bring Palworld to mobile.
The company announced it through a press release:
Through this contract, Krafton will expand the Palworld IP to the mobile platform. It plans to faithfully reinterpret and implement the original’s main fun elements to fit the mobile environment. The project will be handled by the development team of ‘PUBG STUDIOS,’ a creative studio under Krafton.
Looks like they don’t care about pending lawsuits 🤷
🫡 True Tribute!
Today I wanted to salute
and the recent post about Linux gaming! has a unique style and very interesting content as the writing tends to be more conversational and the topics of choice tend to be more about the Games and Games Journalism industry as well as Games Development. A great read for anyone who’s interested in the above!😄 Personal Update
Among other things happening in the pipeline, I’m working on a small project together with
from . I can’t say anything concrete as this thing is ongoing, but it’s dedicated to a game that I’m very passionate about.Stay tuned for more updates! 🙌
This is all the news I have for you folks today.
Thanks for making it this far! 🙌
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Have a great week!
Alex from Gamedev Relay.
ohhh The Alters was one of my most anticipated this year, and I have no problem waiting if it means they will have a polished game with more hype.
I should be excited about the new AC. But the open world Ubisoft games I played during the past few years all felt samey and safe to a degree, and yet bloated to give a sense of value. The result ultimately was initial excitement gradually replaced with a mild boredom.