Hello friends,

Today is July 9th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 Sony and Xbox Moving Away From Discs

• 🎮 Hasbro Can’t Find A Studio To Make Baldur’s Gate 4

• 🎮 PC Ports Are Not About Money

• 🎮 Subnautica CEO Resigns With Significant Payoff

• 🎮 Persona Live-Action Might Be In Development

• 🎮 Kojima’s OD Is Safe From Xbox

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 Sony and Xbox Moving Away From Discs

Physical products are great; they give you a sense of ownership when you buy a game, something that the world of video games has been lacking ever since companies and publishers realized that they can simply discontinue their games whenever they want. But apparently, the era of those products is coming to an end.

According to the official announcement, Sony is going to cease production of discs for new PlayStation games in 2028. And this is not a rumor or speculation; this is from the company itself. The publisher’s main reason is that the number of digital sales has been increasing over the last few years pretty rapidly, to the point that approximately 80% of PlayStation full-game software sales are already digital. So, Sony doesn’t really see the need to keep pumping those CDs if no one is buying them. The speculation part is about what it could potentially mean for PlayStation 6. Specifically, the assumption is that because of that, Sony’s next-gen could be without the disc drive altogether, even though it kind of goes against their backward compatibility, as there are still plenty of games releasing on PS5.

On a related note, another report surfaced recently suggesting that Xbox’s next-gen console, Project Helix, won’t have a disc drive either. This could mean that this publisher is also gearing up for the same announcement. So, it looks like this might be our new norm in the next few years.

And it’s understandable. Digital copies are a lot more convenient than physical. You don’t need to store them; they can’t break, you can almost instantly switch from one game to another without spending a lot of time locating the CD, and there are a lot of games already that don’t have a physical edition at all. All that said, digital copies don’t give you a sense of ownership over the game. If you bought a CD, it’s yours, period. You can’t lose access to it all of a sudden because your account was hacked, you don’t need to wait for multiple patches to download to play the game, and you can even resell it later down the line. So, I can definitely see the appeal.

On top of that, this decision will affect not only gamers, but retailers too. I bet that a lot of companies will lose quite a lot of business because of this decision. Hopefully, though, it will force both console manufacturers to reassess their rules about digital ownership. Otherwise, this new norm is going to be yet another gut punch to the gamers.

🎮 Hasbro Can’t Find A Studio To Make Baldur’s Gate 4

It’s not easy to follow in Larian’s footsteps, and apparently, not a lot of studios and people even want to try.

Hasbro has been in a bit of a situation ever since Larian Studios decided to move to a different game after the release of Baldur’s Gate 3. They decided to do a new Divinity game, leaving Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast with a question: “Who should do the next Baldur’s Gate?” As it was clear after the success of the previous one, they were not going to abandon this golden goose. Fortunately for them, they already had experienced people in that area, James Ohlen and Kevin Martens. Both of them were co-lead designers on Baldur’s Gate 2, and both of them are currently working at Archetype Entertainment, a studio owned by Wizards of the Coast, on Exodus, a sci-fi action-adventure RPG. Unfortunately for them, according to PC Gamer, both of them declined the offer to work on the game as it will most likely fail.

According to Ohlen, he got a call from Hasbro’s CEO as soon as it was clear that Larian was not going to do the next game, and he was asked if he was willing to do it. And Ohlen answered that he would fail. Doing Exodus for his studio is already hard enough, but to compete with a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Larian with their quality, attention to detail, and all that? That would be insanity. On top of that, Baldur’s Gate 3 was built using Larian’s proprietary engine, which they are not very keen on sharing. It means that whatever studio picks up this project, they’d have to start from scratch. And that would be a production nightmare. Ohlen thinks that the best course of action here is giving this project to a studio and giving them freedom to do their own thing. That’s the only chance a project like this has, in his opinion.

And I kind of agree with him. It’s a huge problem for them. The previous game was too successful. It’s like asking somebody other than CD Projekt RED to do The Witcher 4 or Cyberpunk 2. Can you imagine something like this? Feels crazy, right? And after getting all that sweet money from Baldur’s Gate 3 sales, it’s obvious that Hasbro wants more, and they want it as soon as possible. The next team would either need to imitate Larian, which creates an unfavorable comparison regardless of the studio they pick. Or redefine the franchise, which creates huge expectation risk, because everybody just wants more of Baldur’s Gate 3.

It’s a very tough problem to solve. I wouldn’t want to be a person at Hasbro tasked with fixing it, that’s for sure 😅

🎮 PC Ports Are Not About Money

Or at least that’s what the former president of PlayStation Studios said when he was asked about the thoughts that went into porting previously exclusive titles.

Shawn Layden recently did an interview on the PSI podcast, and according to him, revenue was never an objective for Sony when it comes to PC ports. Their main thing was getting a game in front of as many eyes as possible. And not necessarily to convert them into buying a PlayStation, although I imagine that would be a good bonus. But to just make everybody aware of this character, of this story, and then just concentrating on the PlayStation population. Which makes sense to a degree, but then I don’t really see a big underlying objective. If it’s not a conversion or money, then what's the big deal about making everybody aware of the IP? So, either this guy is not telling us about it, or Sony was doing it for the sake of doing it, mostly.

Of course, now that the publisher is allegedly pulling back from PC releases, all this is moot. According to some analysts, after the initial wave of Sony’s titles landed on Steam, all the subsequent titles showed weaker momentum. For example, and this is just estimated data, God of War sold 2.5M copies after 427 days on Steam, over 2.5x more copies than Ragnarök sold in the same timeframe. The same thing could be said about Spider-Man. After 294 days on Steam, Marvel’s Spider-Man had sold 1.4M copies, over twice as many as Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in the same time frame. Again, this is estimated data, but I can sort of attest to that. I played the first Spider-Man a lot more than I played the second one, even though I bought both of them 😅

And if Sony’s main criteria is about getting butts in seats, then it makes sense why they don’t want to do them anymore and want to focus on their own thing.

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🎮 Subnautica CEO Resigns With Significant Payoff

Some time ago we talked about Unknown Worlds CEO being reinstated after a big debacle with the parent company, Krafton, and now we finally have a resolution of the situation.

Small recap. The CEO, along with some other founders, was fired some time ago by Krafton over allegations that they abandoned their responsibilities instead of focusing on the development of recently released Subnautica 2. They were saying that Krafton fired them because the publisher didn’t want to pay a $250 million bonus after Subnautica 2 reached a certain milestone. There was a big legal battle, allegations of the Krafton CEO using ChatGPT to find ways to get out of the agreement with bonuses; it was the whole thing. The fired CEO, Ted Grill, was reinstated and given back control of the game, but the financial question was never resolved until recently.

According to Bloomberg, Krafton finally agreed to pay all the bonuses they owed to the developers, but on the condition that Ted Grill resigns, and surprisingly, he did. According to Grill, both parties agreed to part ways and that new leadership would be best for the studio moving forward. Also, it looks like the sum of those bonuses would be significantly bigger than it was initially agreed upon. Which makes sense, since the performance of Subnautica 2 was way better than even the numbers of the original game, with reportedly 4 million sales in less than a week and it’s only starting its journey in Early Access.

And honestly, good for them! I think it’s a big win for game developers, especially people at Unknown Worlds. I know that people at Krafton probably think that it was just business, but for me and probably the rest of the world, that just looked like bad faith. And bad faith shouldn’t be rewarded; it should be punished, and I think Krafton got off easy. At least players didn’t punish the developers because of all the actions of the publisher and didn’t boycott the launch or something. And at the end of the day, the people who actually worked on the game got what they deserved.

I think that’s definitely something to cheer for!

🎮 Persona Live-Action Might Be In Development

It looks like Atlus is firing on all cylinders after the reveal of Persona 6 during Xbox Games Showcase, and now it seems like we might have a new live-action from Netflix to go along with it.

According to a report from Variety, Christopher Monfette (12 Monkeys, Star Trek: Picard) is set to write the adaptation and serve as Executive Producer and showrunner with Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, and Robert Atwood of 21 Laps, the studio that’s most famous for bringing us Stranger Things. Now, this is just a rumour at this point as the streaming giant declined to comment, but with the popularity of the IP growing, more resources being thrown from both Atlus and SEGA on the video games front, and how much studios like to release new content to go along with other types of media, I’d say it’s a pretty believable rumour.

With the success of Persona 5, including the PC port, Persona 3 Reload, and the upcoming remake of Persona 4, it’s no wonder that SEGA decided to partner with Netflix. And considering that these games are mainly about the life of a high school student who’s trying to navigate their daily life while also fighting supernatural threats, that’s just a match made in heaven for a TV show. So, the “why” is pretty clear.

My only concern is in the details, because that’s what usually kills those video game adaptations. The plot, the casting decisions, the way showrunners usually adapt things - all that is very important and could tank the whole thing before we even see a single episode. And we have examples all over the place: The Witcher, Cowboy Bebop, Resident Evil, and the list goes on. Of course, we are yet to learn any details about it, but right now there is a 50/50 chance of either huge success or a colossal failure.

So, as a person who loves adaptation, but also hates them sometimes, I’m really concerned about this franchise.

🎮 Kojima’s OD Is Safe From Xbox

While fans of Undead Labs, Arkane, Ninja Theory, and other Xbox Studios are fighting for their lives and IO Interactive got their partnership with Xbox cancelled, Kojima Productions, with its OD project, seems to be safe and sound.

According to IGN, a source familiar with Microsoft’s reset plans indicated that Kojima’s upcoming horror game remains in the works and Xbox is still set to publish the game despite their portfolio reset. Of course, that should still be treated as a rumour, and while the publisher still hasn’t officially announced anything, we really can’t rule anything out, but at least it’s some good news for the fans of the famous Game Designer.

And honestly, I find it a little bit crazy. Clearly they are not expecting this project to make a lot of money; it’s mostly about the name attached to it. An experimental project as OD that we have no information about is a wildcard. And don’t get me wrong, horror games could do well, and Kojima is a talented Game Designer, but there is zero guarantee of any commercial success. At the same time, Xbox is considering cutting a lot of studios and projects loose with IPs that have some tangible track record, fan base, and studios with a lot of institutional knowledge. So, I have no clue how exactly this selection process works at Xbox, but it doesn’t make sense to me anymore.

If you asked me, any of the studios on the chopping block right now deserve to be saved more than OD, but that’s only my humble opinion.

🫡 True Tribute!

Good Game Lobby

Sledding Game Review – The Funniest Cozy Multiplayer Game I’ve Played With Friends This Year

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a caked-up frog sledding with friends? Well, no need to wonder anymore…

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a month ago · 13 likes · 2 comments

While we are talking about hidden gems today, I wanted to say thanks to for finding this little cozy gem. While my friends and I usually play different games, this one really caught my attention as it reminds me of those goofy physics of Overcooked. And this looks just as goofy and fun. So, with a price tag like that, we will definitely give this one a try! Great find!

💎 Hidden Gem

Yet another interesting cosy game that I found recently is Map Map!

In this game, you are a map maker, and you explore the island, use proper navigation tools like a real explorer, and try to find a treasure at the end of it all. Of course it’s nothing too fancy, but it has a very quiet art style, great reviews, and a very chill price tag. If you are looking for a cozy game for a couple of evenings, check it out!

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

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Alex from Gamedev Relay.

Hello friends,

Today is July 7th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 Hardware Crisis About To Get Worse

• 🎮 Console Prices Are Going Up

• 🎮 Quantic Dream Strikes To Save Eclipse

• 🎮 Capcom Doesn’t Want To Remake RE: 5 and 6

• 🎮 Unionized Xbox Employees Demand Layoff Protection

• 🎮 Xbox Denies Reducing Investment In Games

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 Hardware Crisis About To Get Worse

If you are thinking that the worst is behind us with the whole RAM and SSD situation, well, I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.

At least that’s according to a report published by Jefferies Equity Research (shared by WCCFTech). And this report is saying that another big price surge of 40%–50% is expected to happen in Q3 2026, another 30%–40% in Q4 2026, and if it’s not enough, the third one, 40%–45% year-over-year in 2027. There is some hope, though. The analysts are saying that the prices might slow down in 2028 as the demand might decline and new capacity comes online. And that’s a very scary notion for us, gamers, especially. Especially with so many demanding games on the horizon.

All those high-end PC games, AAA titles, console exclusives, they all need pretty expensive hardware to run. And I’m not sure if you saw the prices recently, but they are absolutely disgusting, and manufacturers are constantly raising them, even the ones who told us a few months ago that everything is fine, that they have a huge stock of hardware, and that they are not going to raise any of the prices. And if fewer people upgrade their hardware, fewer people will buy all those fancy new games, like GTA 6 or Wolverine. Which means the companies will suffer and, by extension, game developers, as poor sales performance usually leads to closures and/or layoffs. As if the situation in game development wasn’t terrible without it…

And that’s, honestly, shocking to witness. If somebody asked me about AI ramifications a year ago or so, one of the last things I would’ve guessed is how big of an impact it’s making. Go figure…

🎮 Console Prices Are Going Up

Speaking of RAM, Xbox recently decided to raise its prices due to console storage and memory prices.

According to the official announcement, Xbox console prices will rise worldwide on August 1, 2026, by $100 for 512 GB models and $150 for 1 TB models, while the 2 TB model will be sunset. The console manufacturer stated that storage and memory prices have risen by more than 2.5x so far, and it also expects another doubling by Fall 2027. This means that prices are not going down any time soon, if ever. Cordially, Xbox also decided to point out all the different options for how you could buy a cheaper version of a console and payment options, like buy now, pay later. As well as mentioning that Xbox Series S remains the lowest-cost console that could still run all the upcoming titles, like GTA 6, Modern Warfare 4, and others.

On top of that, Microsoft is not the only company whose console might end up costing an arm and a leg. Recent leaks suggest that Sony’s next-gen console already costs a staggering $960 in materials just to manufacture it. And that might not be the end of it, as more price hikes are expected. All this will put the next-gen console well past the $1000 mark, and that’s not even the Pro version. In comparison, PS 5 Pro launched with a $700 price tag and climbed to $900 recently. I don’t even want to speculate how much a PS 6 Pro will cost at this point… Not to mention how much it costs to buy a good gaming PC.

And honestly, I don’t even know how either Sony or Xbox, or even Nintendo, could win in a conventional way with prices being what they are. As Microsoft mentioned themselves, consoles are typically sold below cost, and manufacturers are compensating for it with exclusives, cloud access, subscriptions, and stuff like that. But no matter how you slice it, unless those manufacturers would be willing to sell consoles with even bigger financial losses, the number of people who would be able to afford it would be even lower than now. And it’s far from good, as most of the companies are reporting that console sales are terrible right now.

The time when you could have multiple consoles and enjoy all the newest games is definitely coming to an end. Unless you are a millionaire or something, of course 😅

🎮 Quantic Dream Strikes To Save Eclipse

While Xbox is in the middle of their huge portfolio review that could mean that a lot of studios will be shutting down, Quantic Dream decided to get ahead of it and strike in an effort to save Star Wars Eclipse.

After a recent fiasco with Spellcasters Chronicles and discontinuation of further development, as well as a threat of being shut down by Xbox, the company announced a big “restructuring” plan that resulted in mass layoffs, and according to the STJV union, 95 jobs were under threat. But the interesting part is that the union and some of the employees say the studio still needs those people if there is any hope of delivering Eclipse. Even more than that. The workers are saying at least 115 additional people are needed to release the game, and that’s at a minimum. The studio, like many others, is understaffed, and their bosses know very well that game developers are passionate and will crunch till the game is actually done, but that’s not a very sustainable way to make games.

To say that it’s alarming is an understatement. Star Wars Eclipse is already starting at a disadvantage, as the project was originally announced back in 2021, and here we are, 5 years later, and we still don’t know anything concrete about it. The main problem is that the studio expanded beyond its historical production identity and then suffered a huge failure in the new lane. Quantic Dream’s strongest asset is still narrative-led games, demonstrated by Detroit: Become Human passing 11 million sales. But by doing Spellcasters Chronicles, the studio shot itself in the foot and now… Well, we are where we are. And I get that the idea was that Spellcasters would fund Eclipse, but I think this idea would’ve been more viable if the studio leaned on their expertise first, not the mass hysteria about live-service titles.

Because the truth is, with this big portfolio review from Xbox, no matter how I personally want to see Star Wars Eclipse released, I don’t think there is a business case for it, at least not for Xbox. And that breaks my heart a little bit…

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🎮 Capcom Doesn’t Want To Remake RE: 5 and 6

Speaking of projects that are unlikely to happen, it looks like all those few people who still want Capcom to remake Resident Evil 5 and 6 might be out of luck.

According to a notable Capcom leaker, the publisher has no idea what to do with those games. Apparently, they don’t have any master plan in place or major long-term planning when it comes to the franchise, but they are not interested in remaking those games at all. Based on what they are saying, Capcom tends to think 5 years ahead at any time broadly and reassess every few years where they should go with the franchise rather than planning some super long-term plan. So, if you were hoping for some sort of prequel for Requiem with those games or if there is a big idea in place to remake all Resident Evil games, that’s just not the case.

Which is a little bit surprising. Now, I know that those games are probably not the belle of the ball of the Resident Evil, but their sales figures are surprisingly solid. Both games managed to sell more than 10 million copies each, and that’s pretty impressive. For reference, on Capcom’s sales chart, those games are right behind Devil May Cry 5. So, while those games might not be universally loved by all the fans, there is a business case to be made here. And personally, I kind of loved those games, much more than the whole horror direction that the more recent games are taking.

On the other hand, with the release of Requiem and the whole franchise restart, Capcom doesn’t really need those remakes. I mean, sure, it’s a nice revenue boost while the next mainline game is in development, but with a bunch of other games like Resident Evil 0 and Code Veronica already confirmed, they might not need any more remakes, especially if they are not thinking that far into the future. My best guess is that we should expect at least 1 more mainline game before the company goes back to the drawing board and decides what to do next.

But then again, publishers are going back on their decisions all the time, so maybe in 5 years things will be different 😅

🎮 Unionized Xbox Employees Demand Layoff Protection

The pressure from Microsoft is enormous right now, especially when it comes to game development, and people who are working at Xbox are already terrified.

The unionized part of employees, at least in the US, already reached out to their Communications Workers of America union to start negotiations with the company before the axe falls. And according to the comment from a Microsoft spokesperson, the company has a long track record of good faith partnership with labor organizations, and they are committed to negotiating in good faith with the CWA to reach agreements across Xbox. Which is all well and good, but it’s unclear how this union can actually make any meaningful impact on these impending layoffs.

With so many studios under its wing, Xbox has been a pinnacle of Western game development, but after a string of acquisitions and failed projects, that might no longer be the case. Because with each layoff, a huge chunk of institutional knowledge is lost, as this knowledge doesn’t transfer automatically once teams are broken up. And it’s not like this is the first round; it’s not even the tenth. So, while cancelling underperforming titles is understandable and completely normal, losing teams with vast production knowledge and franchise experience could bite them in the long run.

The only silver lining is that at least employees who are part of the union could expect some sort of compensation and at least somewhat fair agreements, and that’s already more than the majority of us could hope for in these circumstances.

🎮 Xbox Denies Reducing Investment In Games

While the revenue of Xbox is going down, Microsoft’s profits in AI and cloud technology are going up. So, with the upcoming layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations, it’s worth asking whether Xbox wants to reduce the amount of money they are spending on video games. Apparently, that’s not the case.

According to Insider Gaming, after all the news about impending layoffs reached the media, especially after Xbox decided to end their publishing agreement with IO Interactive and their upcoming Project Fantasy, Xbox wanted to reassure everyone that they are not reducing their overall investment in games. They are saying that the company is expected to invest about the same amount in content as they did last year, but they are going to be more selective about what kind of projects they are backing.

And we’ve already heard some of that from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, when she was talking about Fallout 5 and how the company wants to supercharge their Halo, The Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises some time ago. So far, it’s still unclear how exactly Xbox wants to refocus its investment, but we know that aside from IO, at least 5 studios are in danger: Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, and Arkane Studios.

The only question I have is: how come no one thinks about the long-term ramifications of such decisions? I mean, it’s clear as day that Xbox wants to quickly fix its bottom line and solve near-term cost pressure. But fewer projects mean fewer chances to create breakout IP, fewer differentiated Game Pass beats, and less room for mid-budget creativity. And if those big franchises fail for whatever reason, the company won’t have a solid fallback plan anymore. But it looks like short-term solutions are the only thing modern executives are good for; everything else is somebody else’s problem, right?

And the whole Western industry is holding its breath as the layoffs are about to start very soon…

🫡 True Tribute!

The Solo Gamedev

How I Tackle Multiple Projects (Without Burning Out)

Having multiple projects can be troublesome…

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18 days ago · 7 likes · Maurice Klimek

As a person who constantly takes on more projects than I can handle, I can definitely relate to that 😅 And your approach, , is actually an interesting one. Personally, I started using Notion a little while ago, and I’m not sure that it supports tasks that can recreate themselves, but I do have a sort of similar cycle with rewards. And I have to tell you, the feeling that you get while gaming after all the tasks are done is absolutely priceless! Here’s to staying productive without burning up 24/7/365!

😄 Personal Update

Another interesting update. While I was sick a few weeks ago, I decided to at least try to do something useful, so I set up most of the stuff I need for YouTube streaming, and I want to do more live discussions where I talk about the news in the gaming industry, some interesting stories, and just chat with you guys if you are up for it.

On that note, I have a question. Is it something you guys will be interested in?

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

If you feel like supporting me and my work, consider Powering-Up GameDev Relay 🎮

Tip GameDev Relay with a Power-Up ⬆️

Have a great week!

Alex from Gamedev Relay.

Hello friends,

Today is July 2nd 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 Xbox Shuts Down Hellblade Studio

• 🎮 Compulsion Games Is About To Be Closed

• 🎮 Bungie Is Facing Layoffs

• 🎮 Sony Stops Porting Exclusives

• 🎮 Luna Abyss Team Laid Off A Month After Release

• 🎮 Witcher Multiplayer Game Update

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 Xbox Shuts Down Hellblade Studio

It looks like even a critically acclaimed portfolio and a newly announced game can’t save a studio these days, as Xbox is targeting Ninja Theory in the latest streak of cost-cutting layoffs and closures.

According to multiple sources, a few weeks ago, the studio began seeking a buyer just days after announcing their new game, Senua. Xbox bought Ninja Theory back in 2018 after the success of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which sold 1 million copies and received a lot of praise from both critics and fans. Hellblade 2, however, only received strong critical and craft recognition. This could be one of the reasons why Xbox decided to do such a drastic move. Unfortunately, the company still hasn’t officially commented or confirmed it, so all we can do is guess.

But what the company shared prior to putting Ninja Theory on the market is a big Xbox Reset memo, where they acknowledged that they have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in content, platform, and hardware, but their annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time, which is why they are shifting gears yet again. The company is saying that they are overextended right now, so while Xbox increases the value it ships to players, it will decrease the time it takes to do so. Which sounds confusing, but in practice, it probably means that the publisher will be going through a hard portfolio triage, and even studios that deliver awards, reputation, and creative achievements may still be cut if they do not meet revised financial thresholds.

The fate of Ninja Theory, however, remains uncertain. Hopefully, they either find a buyer or a partner to support their upcoming project, as the alternative is worrying, especially for a studio like this that clearly has a lot to offer.

The other unfortunate reality is that this is only one of the studios that Xbox wants to sunset.

🎮 Compulsion Games Is About To Be Closed

Another studio that’s negotiating its own fate as we speak is the one that brought us South of Midnight, Compulsion Games.

According to Kotaku, after the big Xbox Reset was announced, the fight for survival started for Compulsion, and it’s currently negotiating with Microsoft over the studio’s fate. Obviously, we don’t know much about the nature or details of these negotiations, but the fate of this studio is hanging by a thread.

What we do know is that this is yet another studio with a reliable identity, art direction, and differentiation that’s about to be closed by Xbox. Compulsion Games was acquired back in 2018, shortly before the release of another notable game, We Happy Few. And while both this game and South of Midnight delivered respectable critical results and recognition, as well as more or less stable scores, there is not a lot of information about the commercial results of both games. Which might mean that both games didn’t reach the absurdly high shareholder expectations typical for game releases these days.

And this, according to Xbox CEO and Chief Content Officer, is something they can’t tolerate any longer. Considering the declining revenue, the money and the time it takes to produce new games, it’s clear why Compulsion and Ninja Theory are the first on the chopping block. They are small studios producing long-cycle, single-player games with non-recurring revenue. They can’t possibly provide the value publishers need right now without making some sort of cultural phenomenon. Unfortunately for them, neither We Happy Few nor South of Midnight was it.

Again, hopefully, Compulsion has enough creative credibility to be valuable for potential buyers, as it would be a shame for such talented people to go out of business just because the parent company decided to buy them and then shift their strategy.

🎮 Bungie Is Facing Layoffs

Another acquired studio that’s not doing so well is Bungie, which might be on the brink of the biggest wave of layoffs the company has ever seen.

According to Insider Gaming, the outlet recently uncovered a rumour from a French journalist who claims that because of the underwhelming performance of Marathon and the fact that the studio is discontinuing further development of Destiny 2, it’s about to be hit with layoffs that might impact at least 50% of Bungie. And that’s as many as 400 employees. Of course, this information has not been confirmed by either Bungie or Sony at this point, but the majority of companies tend not to advertise their upcoming layoffs. They usually do it only after it has already happened.

Still, considering the trajectory of Bungie lately, this decision might make sense. Since Destiny 2 already received its final live-service content update on June 9th and has no further updates planned, it only needs a small team to maintain the servers and maybe provide some small community support. And Marathon numbers do not project a whole lot of confidence either. After a second major update in 4 months, the concurrent player count on Steam went up only to half of what it was during the release, and that’s also combined with the fact that it was a free weekend. Shortly after that, it dropped to the usual 5,000 to 10,000 players per day, which is still worse than even the all-time low player count of Destiny 2.

This means that the upcoming PvE update for Marathon is probably the last-ditch effort from Bungie to justify having more resources to work on the game. If it fails, the game might not die instantly, but the update cadence will surely be affected, as well as the scope of these updates.

Personally, I’m not sure who decided that an extraction shooter like this is a better idea than Destiny 3, but this person should be fired. Also, the idea to go all-in with Marathon and to discontinue further updates for Destiny 2 was also a ridiculous one, especially after seeing the early results of Marathon. But hey, maybe they know something I don’t.

Either way, it feels like Bungie is about to hit a reset button as well, and it won’t be pretty.

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🎮 Sony Stops Porting Exclusives

Some time ago, we talked about a speculation that Sony is moving away from the strategy of porting their exclusives to PC and other platforms. Unfortunately for us, PC gamers, it’s true, and now we know why.

According to a thread on Resetera, Jason Schreier from Bloomberg shared that during a town hall a few weeks ago, Hermen Hulst, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, told staff that their single-player narrative games will be PlayStation-only. And there are a few main reasons for that. First is the fact that they were inconsistent with their PC releases. And of course, yes, they were, but it’s probably not such a big deal compared to the next points.

Which is the fact that they didn’t make enough money. And here’s where I think that cursed shareholder value comes in. Since Sony didn’t share any specific information about the number of copies sold for each title on each platform, I think it means that these PC ports weren’t smash hits. I am more than sure that sales from these titles, at least most of them, recouped more than it cost to make them. But these days, the game can only be deemed successful if it earns at least a triple of what it takes to make it, and that’s a very hard target to hit.

Lastly, Schreier said that Sony wants to keep their IP aligned to their own platform. Meaning that they want to leverage those exclusives to reel people in and buy their newest consoles, sticking to a much more traditional Sony approach that worked for them for years. Somebody probably made a very neat AI analysis with unrealistic projections that if those titles stayed exclusive, they would’ve generated millions more console sales and convinced Sony’s leadership that it’s just not worth it.

And don’t get me wrong, the logic makes sense, but in our current economy, not a lot of people can afford having several different consoles and owning all these games that come out every single month. I know I can’t. But then again, that’s probably just my problem as a PC gamer, right? 😅

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted at least…

🎮 Luna Abyss Team Laid Off A Month After Release

And speaking of teams that are being laid off, Kwalee Labs, the studio behind a recently released cosmic horror named Luna Abyss, decided to let go of its entire dev team.

For those of you who don’t know what it is, Kwalee Labs is part of an established UK publisher with a relatively big portfolio of mobile games, and recently, they released their big debut project, a new first-person bullet-hell IP, Luna Abyss. And while the game managed to secure “Very Positive” reviews on Steam and an 81 score on Metacritic, it looks like it didn’t gain any positive momentum. According to Steam Charts, an all-time concurrent peak was only 317 players. This is probably why the CEO of the company posted an update on LinkedIn, announcing that the entire team has been made redundant and that this decision was outside of their control.

And that’s probably not very surprising. You probably haven’t even heard about this title, have you? Which is exactly the problem with such games. The game didn’t fail because it was bad; clearly, it wasn’t. It just didn’t reach anyone, and the company decided not to invest too much into marketing, most likely.

All this highlights a big problem in our industry right now. Publishers are so scared to invest in new IPs, so much so that even if they have a potential winner on their hands, they would rather lose small and not spend an extra marketing dollar than try to win big, especially when it comes to single-player games that don’t have a lot of monetization to begin with. On the other hand, we have so many cases of “Concord”s during the last few years that I have lost count. Of course, it’s just a speculation at this point, but I’m 90% sure that this is the problem, as this game just died purely because of the reach.

What a terrible time to be an AA game developer…

🎮 Witcher Multiplayer Game Update

And to wrap things up, let’s talk about something positive for a change. For example, new details about Project Sirius that CD Projekt RED is working on, aside from the Witcher 3 DLC and the Witcher 4.

If you forgot, this spin-off was announced back in 2022 as a Witcher-universe game that will have both single- and multiplayer elements and developed by The Molasses Flood, the studio that was later absorbed by CDPR completely. And recently, MP1st published a big report with some of the details about this upcoming game. The outlet’s sources describe the game as a free-to-play co-op action RPG set in The Witcher universe that currently targets only PC and mobile devices. The game itself is set during a time when Geralt was still a young witcher, and apparently, it will allow you to create your very own customizable witcher, featuring the standard options you’d expect from a multiplayer experience, like gender and appearance customization. When it comes to gameplay, it will be pretty much standard Witcher stuff. Killing monsters across different environment settings, like forests, villages, ruins, and things like that.

And I don’t know, so far it doesn’t sound all that exciting for me, even though I’m a hardcore Witcher fan. As far as expectations go, I don’t expect much from this title, and it sounds like CDPR doesn’t either, as they already mentioned at some point that this is sort of an experiment to target a much broader audience, and this title already survived at least 1 internal reset. A co-op monster-killer game sounds fun, yes, and it can expand reach beyond traditional premium RPG buyers. But the free-to-play market is brutal right now, especially if they are targeting both PC and mobile. And projects like this usually do not get a lot of positive feedback, at least not at first. Look at Horizon Steel Frontiers, for example. They know all about it.

So, I think it sounds like a cute experiment, and if the trailer looks good enough, I might give it a try, but this game will also live or die on both the initial reception, retention, and their live ops. If nothing else, at least it will be a good test case for CD Projekt 😅

🫡 True Tribute!

GameDev's Journey

Games about Human Heart in Conflict with Itself

In many of his interviews, George R. R. Martin mentions the core principle that guides his writing…

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2 months ago · 13 likes · Niki

A great read! Honestly, the first thing that popped into my head is Ellie’s journal from The Last of Us: Part 2, which I know is almost the same thing as Arthur’s journal, but still. It was such a cool time to look at all the sketches and see how Ellie’s mind goes from being focused purely on revenge to finally letting go and thinking about what’s more important. I never thought about it too much, but those games wouldn’t be the same without conflicts like this. Really shows you how important good writing is!

😄 Personal Update

I’m finally fully back to the land of the living. I usually don’t get sick a lot, but when I do, damn, that hits hard. I’m slowly getting back to my usual cadence, so fingers crossed there will be no more disruptions.

In the meantime, I’m trying something new for my video editing process. I finally got sick of using CapCut and decided to make a switch to DaVinci Resolve, and I have to say, it’s quite a big adjustment. Honestly, I’m kind of thinking that I should’ve started with this editor back in the day. Not because it is easier (it’s definitely not 😅), but because it’s more stable and sort of almost like an industry standard, along with Premiere Pro, and now I have to learn a new video editor all over again. So, wish me luck 😁

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.

Hello friends,

Today is June 25th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌

In today’s news:

• 🎮 New Witcher 3 DLC

• 🎮 Xbox Rethinking Next Gen

• 🎮 God Of War: Laufey Revealed

• 🎮 Warner Bros. Sale Approved

• 🎮 More Rumours About Resident Evil 0 Remake

• 🎮 Fallout 5 Might Be Not That Far Away

• 🫡 True Tribute!

• 😄 Personal Update

All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️

Let’s dig in!

🎮 New Witcher 3 DLC

So, the rumours were true after all, and CD Projekt RED is doing one more DLC for The Witcher 3 before moving on to the next chapter.

According to the official announcement, Songs of the Past was co-developed with Fool’s Theory, and it will launch in 2027 on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. The official details are a bit scarce at the moment, but at least we know this story will also be Geralt-led. The company also promised to share more information on this DLC during the summer of 2026. Also, this new expansion will bring higher PC system requirements to ensure smoother performance and better compatibility moving forward.

But as we talked about in January, all this pretty much aligns with the previous leaks, which means that at least some of them could be true as well. According to them, we might have a new desert region to explore, a new Manticore School of Witchers, and a narrative that bridges the gap between the end of The Wild Hunt, where Ciri just starts her path, and The Witcher 4, where she uses signs, drinks potions, and kills monsters as a full-fledged Witcher. Also, I’m pretty sure that we will have another sad epilogue on the horizon with Geralt, same as it was in the books, but CDPR has yet to confirm any of this.

And again, all of this makes sense. Witcher 4 made quite a big time leap in the trailer; they need something substantial to pass the baton to Ciri and make her the main protagonist of the following story. Also, considering how long the next game was in development and the fact that The Witcher 3 has sold more than 60 million copies since its release in 2015, it could be a much-needed revenue boost for CD Projekt and reduce the cold-start burden for The Witcher 4. The only potential problem that I can see is the scope of this DLC. All the previous expansions trained us to expect something substantial, and if Songs of the Past is anything less than that, the company will be in trouble.

Either way, I think it’s a great move, and I will gladly buy one more DLC to finish the story of Geralt.

🎮 Xbox Rethinking Next Gen

With memory costs only getting worse, it looks like Xbox is now rethinking its approach with its next-gen console codenamed Project Helix.

The Game Business recently talked with Xbox’s Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball, and while the company is still working on this new device, apparently, the RAM crisis is forcing them to reevaluate a lot of things. According to Ball, they are trying to make sure that Project Helix is affordable, flexible, and that this new device makes sense for the players. But their approach is a bit different from, say, Sony. Xbox is trying to move away from exclusivity and focus more on adding more value. Of course, hardware shortages are taking their toll, but Ball is saying that they are working very hard to figure out the best way to navigate it in a way that works for everyone, that does not ask too much of players, but also doesn’t detract from other investments that we need to make.

And all that sounds well and good, but not very specific, as usual. It’s clear, though, that Xbox is now trying to be less of a PlayStation competitor and more focused on either avoiding the traditional console economics or forming some sort of new niche for itself. We already know that Project Helix is set to be a platform with a big emphasis on cross-device play, PC-game compatibility, and Windows integration, which makes sense, since they already did sort of a trial run with Xbox Ally. But now it looks like it is still deciding what kind of business a next-generation Xbox can be. Especially when premium hardware is expensive, console sales are declining, and the company’s growth assets are increasingly content, services, PC, and cloud rather than boxed hardware. And that’s a big shift for a company like this.

Personally, I find it a little curious that a lot of companies started saying that all the RAM shortages and price hikes are not going to affect anything, and in a few months, everybody is either raising their prices or trying to redefine their strategy altogether. But oh well, at least Microsoft started thinking in the right direction and thinking about flexibility and value before making any big moves, right?

🎮 God Of War: Laufey Revealed

Another rumour that turned out to be true is the new God of War game focused on the wife of our beloved Kratos and the mother of Atreus, Laufey.

According to the official announcement, what started as a spinoff is now, apparently, the next mainline entry to the God of War series, and it begins right after the death of Fey in the world where all the gods go after they die, the Everywhen. And now she has to fight through this realm to protect both Kratos and Atreus. A lot of footage was already shared, showcasing the beginning of the game and some early encounters with some of the other gods in this realm, and it all looks pretty amazing despite some of the criticism this title has been getting.

Also, according to an interview with GamesRadar+, this title allowed the studio to merge the series’s old and new eras. Specifically, juggling enemies, chaining combos, and having dynamic movement options of the original God of War games, as well as more kind of grounded, visceral, just really up close combat of the more recent games. Unfortunately, though, the game still doesn’t have a release date, but you can already wishlist it on the PlayStation Store.

But then again, while the footage looks great, there’s been a lot of criticism surrounding this title. A lot of fans are upset because Kratos isn’t a playable character, but the game is still called God of War. The others are mad about a shift to a female protagonist in general. Even the original creator of the series, David Jaffe, said that God of War: Laufey is dull and uninspired. On the other hand, Jaffe has been a vocal critic of the recent Norse-themed games in general.

Personally, I’m not sure yet how to feel about this one. It definitely looks like a God of War game, so I think people just need some time to adjust to the new protagonist. After all, we are not talking about a completely new setting and an unknown franchise. Sony is using a known character from the modern saga, a proven combat lineage, and a first-party studio with a strong record. I think this is the safest time and the safest way to do something like this for this studio. A brand like this definitely has some room to fit more than one protagonist, especially after more than 20 years on the market 😅

Also, I’m pretty sure that this is a part of some bigger agenda, like setting the stage for future games where Kratos returns as the main protagonist. But I’m curious to hear what you guys think!

If you haven’t subscribed yet, this button is just for you ⤵️

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🎮 Warner Bros. Sale Approved By US DOJ

Another big milestone has passed during a massive $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. by Paramount, as the United States Department of Justice has officially approved the purchase.

After a big bidding war with Netflix, Paramount was victorious and secured the deal in February 2026, and according to Reuters, they have one less thing to worry about. The Antitrust Division of the DOJ is saying that it is unlikely to harm competition or consumers. Of course, this is not the last hurdle before the deal can be officially closed. The outlet states that the deal still faces FCC, European, and possible state-level review or litigation exposure, including scrutiny tied to foreign investment backing. So, it might be a while before Warner Bros. becomes a part of Paramount, but it’s a big step forward.

But what does it mean for games? Well, for now, nothing, but something else happened just days before this approval. Apparently, Paramount decided to form its own Games Studio, a unified gaming division that brings together all Paramount and Skydance gaming studios under one roof with one mandate: transform world-class IP into immersive, enduring franchise experiences. The company appointed Tony Driscoll as President, who brings more than two decades of senior leadership experience, including roles at Epic Games, Warner Bros., AT&T, and Disney.

Which means that while the gaming division of Warner Bros. was kind of treated like an afterthought during the acquisition negotiation, Paramount realised that they are about to become a major IP owner once the deal is finalized. But being an owner and a publisher are two very different things. Owning Batman, Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, TMNT, SpongeBob, Star Trek, and Transformers is not the same as building a sustainable game development and publishing pipeline; it does not solve production discipline, engine strategy, retention design, studio morale, or portfolio pacing.

On the bright side, we can at least see that after all is said and done, Paramount is not going to just sell those IPs and it’s actually going to do something with them. And that’s already more than I hoped for 😅

🎮 More Rumours About Resident Evil 0 Remake

With Resident Evil Veronica finally getting announced some time ago, there is another remake that is reportedly still in development, but still hasn’t been confirmed: Resident Evil 0. And it looks like this remake had quite a few issues already.

According to a notable Capcom leaker AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem, this remake was already rebooted mid-development and is now being passed to Capcom Division 1 to push it over the finish line. This team is reportedly the company’s flagship development team, which handles mainline AAA entries from series such as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Dragon’s Dogma, and more. So, even with a rocky start, it looks like it’s now in safe hands.

The funny thing is that this would be the 3rd time this game has been released, similarly to some of the other Capcom titles. First, there was the original 2002 survival horror, then there was an HD remaster in 2016, and now this remake. And we are not even talking about Nintendo Switch ports. But the truth is, considering that even an HD remaster managed to sell 5.4 million units, which is honestly a huge number even by modern standards, Capcom can probably keep remaking and remastering these games till kingdom come, and people will keep buying them.

But the obvious choices for remakes are almost done at this point. A lot of the games have already been remade in modern form, so pretty soon, Capcom will have to start thinking about how else they are going to expand the brand while the mainline entries are in development. And without a steady stream of remakes, it’s a tough question to answer.

🎮 Fallout 5 Might Be Not That Far Away

While Xbox and Bethesda are set to work on The Elder Scrolls 6, the question about when the next mainline Fallout game is going to be released remains. And it looks like it might happen sooner than we think.

According to Insider Gaming, the previous timeline suggests that Fallout 5 will be on the cards only after the release of the next Elder Scrolls. But a more recent report says that the Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, is planning to invest even more into three core franchises and super-charge them, specifically Halo, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls, which means that studios might be able to produce more games and produce them even faster. And the other good news is that this initiative is reportedly backed by Microsoft’s CEO, so we can expect at least some of these plans to come to fruition.

And these franchises make sense, all of them are heavy hitters with strong commercial performances in the past, they are all big and recognizable, and it’s been a while since we saw anything new from them. For example, Fallout 4 was released more than 10 years ago, and even Fallout 76 is turning 8 this fall. And we are not even going to touch The Elder Scrolls.

But with Fallout 5, the biggest constraint is definitely the production capacity. If the company wants The Elder Scrolls 6 to become a big leap, it will require a lot of people, which means only a skeletal crew will be working on Fallout. If Xbox wants something more, they will have to open up their wallet, and considering the current state of the industry, I honestly don’t know how they will be able to do that without taking resources from some other studio. And this means that while it will be a positive thing for Fallout fans, other projects will never see the light of day.

Hopefully, I’m wrong, but we’ll see soon enough how well the company can manage its development pipelines.

🫡 True Tribute!

Push to Talk

To Prove We Haven't Reached AGI, the ARC Prize Foundation Built a Game Studio

If you wanted to prove that current AI systems aren’t yet as smart as humans, how might you go about it? According to Gregory Kamradt, President of the ARC Prize Foundation, one way is to build a very tricky puzzle game collection…

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3 months ago · 50 likes · 10 comments · Ryan K. Rigney

If you were wondering how smart AI models really are, this might be a very interesting read. First of all, the results are a bit surprising, and second of all, it’s very cool that people decided to use games and puzzles in such a unique way! And if it’s not enough, it also has an amazing interview with the people behind this idea. Great read !

😄 Personal Update

It’s good to be back, y’all! My vacation and trip to Europe are finally over, and it’s been a blast! The only thing is that right after I got back, I got hit with a nasty respiratory virus, and I’ve been dying for the last few weeks 😅 So, the progress with getting back to writing and recording videos is very slow, as I also have a lot of work to catch up on.

But I missed you all very much! So, while today is mostly about catching up on the biggest news I missed, hopefully, I’ll get back in the saddle real soon and continue with my regular cadence 😁

Did you guys miss me?

This is all the news I have for you folks today.

Thanks for making it this far! 🙌

If you feel like supporting me and my work, consider Powering-Up GameDev Relay 🎮

Tip GameDev Relay with a Power-Up ⬆️

Have a great week!

Alex from Gamedev Relay.