🎮 New Far Cry, Fable In Trouble & Pragmata 2
Also Warner Bros. Future Remains Uncertain, Millions for Executives, Layoffs for Developers from EA and Double Fine Announces Layoffs
Hello friends,
Today is August 4th 2026 and I hope you’ve had a great week 🙌
In today’s news:
🎮 New Far Cry In The Works
🎮 Fable Is Already In Trouble
🎮 Capcom Teases Pragmata 2
🎮 Warner Bros. Future Remains Uncertain
🎮 Millions for Executives, Layoffs for Developers
🎮 Double Fine Announces Layoffs
🫡 True Tribute!
😄 Personal Update
All of this is brought to you in a 5 min format ⏲️
Let’s dig in!
🎮 New Far Cry In The Works
It looks like, after many months of layoffs and restructuring, Ubisoft has started to stabilize again and is greenlighting projects, at least in the Far Cry franchise.
According to Insider Gaming, the new game is a project codenamed Kodiak, and it recently passed the concept approval stage and entered the development stage at Vantage Studios. The game is set to be, as usual, an open-world first-person shooter, centered on player interactions and player-driven stories. The other interesting part is that, apparently, Ubisoft plans to use the foundations laid out by their extraction shooter project, codenamed Maverick. Seems like during the restructuring, Maverick was quietly cancelled, and it’s now being repurposed to be a stepping stone for Kodiak. Meanwhile, another Far Cry game codenamed Blackbird is also struggling, but according to the report, it remains the next mainline game in the franchise, and the company is committed to seeing it through.
Of course, nothing has been officially confirmed by Ubisoft yet, but if this is true, pivoting from an extraction shooter formula to single-player is quite a drastic move, especially when all the companies are dreaming about all that sweet live-service money. On the other hand, with the closure of XDefiant and the cancellation of The Division Heartland, maybe Ubisoft doesn’t want to gamble with this niche anymore.
There is still one thing, though. If we already have one single-player project in the works, why do we need another one? I mean, I’m all for more single-player games and all that, but this new game has to be at least somewhat different. The modern-day audience, especially in this genre, is not going to just buy another game just because it has the Far Cry name on it. It has to have a separate identity, unique structure, and value proposition that’s different from Blackbird, whatever it’s going to be.
Clearly, Ubisoft is putting a lot of eggs in the basket of newly formed Vantage Studios. The question is how well it is going to live up to all internal and external expectations. That’s what we’ll find out in a couple of years.
🎮 Fable Is Already In Trouble
After several delays, the new reimagining of the franchise is still planning to release on February 23, 2027, but it may already be at a disadvantage.
According to the report from WindowsCentral, the inside sources are claiming that Fable is uncomfortably over budget already, and the game is not even out yet. The game was already advertised multiple times as very ambitious. Playground themselves said Fable contains more than 1,000 individually designed NPCs, all fully voiced, with approximately 100 actors used for that population alone. NPCs have schedules, homes, occupations, personality traits, and relationship states. Apparently, the studio tried a procedural approach first, but it didn’t work out so well, so they decided to hand-craft everything. From a development perspective, that is A LOT of work, and we are not even talking about the rest of the game.
The other big problem for this game is the fact that Sony recently announced that God of War: Laufey will launch on PS5 on February 16, 2027, which means that both titles will be competing for attention during the same time period. And that might not have been a big deal if Fable wasn’t also available on Game Pass on day 1. That means that both Playground and Xbox need PlayStation and Steam revenue to get a return on all those investments. And going up against a dedicated exclusive from Sony right out of the gate? That’s tough.
After all, ROI is kind of a big deal, especially right now. Even a well-received game can still produce weak financial results if the production costs were through the roof. So far, the team working on Fable is doing quite a lot to make this game a success, but the odds keep stacking against them. Personally, I want this game to succeed, and to play more games in this universe. But I think that Xbox is trying to combine two contradictory strategies here, leveraging Game Pass and hoping for big premium AAA money. With the new exclusives approach they announced a few weeks ago, they needed to either pull Fable from PlayStation or Game Pass, because right now it feels like both of these things could harm the profitability of this project. Of course, it’s probably too late for this and Playground Games will have to play the hand they’ve been dealt.
But it would be such a shame to see this franchise being put on ice once again, just because a bunch of execs decided to shift strategies at the finish line and made them trip over it.
🎮 Capcom Teases Pragmata 2
Pragmata took the gaming world by storm when it was released, and it looks like Capcom is already thinking about a sequel.
According to Bloomberg, the company recently reported record profits since 2014, fueled by record sales. And quite a lot of these sales were attributed to their new IP. After its release in April, the game has already surpassed 2.5 million copies in sales, and Capcom says the momentum this title has gained has exceeded all internal expectations. The company’s Corporate Officer already says the likelihood of a sequel is high and that Pragmata might just become yet another flagship IP and a source of long-term revenue. That, combined with the fact that this title managed to keep development costs pretty low, makes the sequel argument that much stronger.
Of course, it’s not an official announcement yet, but everything points to a sequel at this point. Players are happy, because they now have a new game with unique gameplay mechanics and a compelling story. And executives are happy, because the ROI was through the roof. I mean, 1 million copies sold in just two days from the brand-new IP that everybody expected to be niche at best. Why wouldn’t you want to do more in a state like this? And seeing how careful and selective Capcom has been with their portfolio, I think Pragmata deserves to be something more than just a one-off.
Obviously, it’s not anywhere near Monster Hunter or Resident Evil at this point, but a mid-tier franchise to diversify their catalogue is always a good idea for a big publisher, especially when they are getting a very big bang for not a lot of bucks.
Yet another time Capcom proves to Western game developers that even a new single-player IP can be very successful without chasing monetization trends or being a live-service. Way to go, Capcom!
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🎮 Warner Bros. Future Remains Uncertain
It looks like a massive merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. hit a roadblock as the transaction has been put on hold in the US.
Variety recently reported that a big legal antitrust action was initiated by a coalition of 12 US state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America, and it’s not blocking this deal from being closed for at least 28 days, pending the outcome of a trial. This coalition provided a pretty straightforward argument: when too few corporations have too much power in markets central to American life, it makes things more expensive, and it makes things worse. According to them, blocking this merger from ever happening will be the best thing for audiences, movie theaters, and the many people who write, build, and create the art, news, and entertainment so many of us enjoy.
And that makes sense, but it leaves WB in a pretty awkward position. The company still continues to operate independently, and its gaming division seems to still be committed to its four-franchise strategy around Mortal Kombat, Harry Potter, DC, and Game of Thrones. But they keep losing revenue, and we haven’t seen a decent title from them in years now. And all these business circumstances will likely hit the gaming division as well.
I’m sure there are a lot of plans from Paramount on how to make this merger worthwhile, but it’s all about timing. Now, all these plans are put on hold, shareholders and executives are losing money, and that means only one thing these days. Layoffs, cancellations, closures, and a more selective process when it comes to any and all projects. Also, any legal action raises the risk of Paramount abandoning this whole idea altogether, and for WB it means even more trouble as the company was already deep in debt when Skydance decided to buy them.
All in all, it looks like if you are a fan of Warner Bros. Games, you shouldn’t hold your breath on any of their upcoming projects.
🎮 Millions for Executives, Layoffs for Developers
It looks like that’s how EA Games is rewarding people who work there. And I have to warn you, there is going to be a lot of ranting here.
According to a recent SEC filing, while an undisclosed number of people left EA during a third round of layoffs this year alone, Andrew Wilson and other executives received millions of dollars, thanks to the fact that all the milestones for their games were achieved. Battlefield 6 achieved all milestones for a high-quality launch with positive critical reviews and stable services and gameplay; EA Sports achieved the specified retention goal and audience growth targets; Apex delivered on the project plan and strategic steps, whatever they were. Every project achieved its goals. The company even praised launching a GenAI investment framework and using AI to advance research. But if it’s all sunshine and rainbows, why layoffs?
And I know that it’s just me yelling at clouds here, but how did we get here? I mean, we all have jobs, right? We all have our bosses and our specific struggles. So, why are executives and employees being treated differently? Why are executives always rewarded for successful launches and financial results, but rarely impacted by restructuring or layoffs? I have so many questions and so few answers here, just a lot of anger.
Again, if you are a regular employee, it looks like you are in a no-win situation no matter how you slice it, and there is always one result at the end of the tunnel.
🎮 Double Fine Announces Layoffs
Shortly after splitting from Xbox and going independent again, the creators of Keeper and Kiln announced that they decided to let go of 23 members of their staff.
The founder of the company, Tim Schafer, announced the layoffs some time ago on social media and said that these actions were not taken lightly, but the survival of the studio was at risk, and this decision had to be made. Which is unfortunate, but probably bound to happen considering the scale of their titles and the loss of Xbox infrastructure to support them. And it’s not just about being part of Game Pass or publishing; we are talking about all the mundane stuff that nobody talks about, like payroll, future projects, publishing negotiations, server infrastructure, and a lot of other things.
The good news is that they still have all their IPs, like Psychonauts, which was probably the biggest hit for this studio. IP ownership gives management several options: multiplatform ports, remasters, selective sequels and licensing. But my guess is that in the near future they would need to either do the same thing that Compulsion Games did and start looking into being a work-for-hire studio or find a partner who will bankroll their next game. At least that way they would be able to keep the lights on and keep their studio alive until they have enough capital to do something big again.
Everybody thinks that being indie is such a great thing, but as you can see, it has a lot of uncertain, scary moments, and it is definitely not a guarantee of financial stability. And without it, there is no game development, unfortunately.
🫡 True Tribute!
Oh man, Trine is such an amazing game! This takes me back to when the first game was released. It was such a cool concept back in the day. The puzzles, gameplay, and the story of the original were soooo good. I haven’t played the last couple of them, but the first few were great, and it’s great to hear that you enjoyed them as well! Also, kudos for digging it up! There aren’t a lot of people who even know about these games!
😄 Personal Update
The last few weeks were kind of crazy, but I think I finally figured out what I need to do to be less stressed out all the time. It’s not something I wanted to do, but I have no choice if I want to get out of a hamster wheel.
So, from this point forward, it’s going to be 1 newsletter issue per week. Unfortunately, with the YouTube channel, the time it takes to record, edit, and package everything, as well as handling a full-time job, chores, and the rest, I just can’t keep it up anymore.
Honestly, I wish I could. And I plan to get back into it as soon as I can start outsourcing the editing and the packaging side of things 😅 Which probably won’t happen for the next several years, but it’s something to work toward.
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.
Thanks for the tribute, Alex! 🫡 And I'm glad to see another fan of these games—they are very solid co-op games. I'd love to see more games like it from the team
On Fable, I know I will not buy that game. I already don’t like where they were taking it. Play it on Gamepass, sure - not one extra gold piece!
I’m not surprised about Pragmata 2… I’m sure the people who kept on saying - it’s a creepy game will just love that, but there’s tones of fans for it. Chase what gamers want and you can get there!
And I know what you mean about how many things we can handle… I always choose simplification as well - I’ll expect the best once a week newsletter!