Germany funds Rockfish 💰 Hidden AAA layoff costs 🎮
Rockfish Games secured a €8M grant — the largest single award — from Germany's expanded €125M annual games fund, covering ~45% of the next Everspace title's €20M budget. The funding lets the Hamburg studio stay fully independent. (Gamesindustry)
Sail.game launches 🚀 Synth Riders layoffs 💔
Sail.game, a curated developer-publisher matchmaking platform, has launched publicly after several months in early access, logging 13,000+ interactions and onboarding 200+ publishers. Developers pay from €99 to list; publishers join free. (Gamesindustry)
Australian gamedev history 🇦🇺 AMD vs Claude AI 🤖
Australia's 30% Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO), stackable with state-level rebates up to 45% total, has helped studios like Gameloft Brisbane double in size since 2022. The incentive is up for review next year, with industry bodies pushing for further improvements. (Gamesindustry)
Take-Two AI cuts 🤖 PlayStation PC plans shift 🖥️
Take-Two has laid off its head of AI, Luke Dicken, along with an undisclosed number of teammates — despite CEO Strauss Zelnick publicly stating the company is "actively embracing" generative AI across hundreds of internal pilots. (Push Square)
Nexon x Overwatch 🎮 More on Eidos layoffs 😔 Candy Crush (developer) tips 🍬
Nexon has agreed to publish Overwatch in South Korea, taking over regional distribution for Blizzard. The deal signals continued third-party publishing partnerships as a route for Western titles entering the Korean market. (Game Developer)
Ubisoft sued for shutting down The Crew ⚖️ Indie Pass launch 🕹️
A French consumer group has filed suit against Ubisoft over the shutdown of The Crew, challenging whether publishers can revoke access to purchased games. The case could set a precedent affecting how live service games are sold and discontinued across the EU. (Game Developer)
Pokémon patent rejected ⚖️ Shift Up buys Mikami's studio 🎮
Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has acquired Shinji Mikami's independent studio Unbound, founded in 2022, and will publish its upcoming PC/console titles. Mikami confirmed he'll be "fully involved on-site" on a "fairly large game." (IGN)
Embracer cuts 124 jobs 💼 Disney eyes Epic Games 🏰
Embracer Group cut 124 employees at Eidos Montreal, the studio behind the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider franchises. The layoffs are part of Embracer's ongoing restructuring effort following its widely reported financial difficulties. (Game Developer)
Ivy Road closes 💔 PUBG spinoff shuts down 🪦
Ivy Road, the indie studio behind Wanderstop, is shutting down after failing to secure funding for its second game, Engine Angel. The closure reflects a broader industry funding crunch, with at least 13 studios shut down in early 2026 alone. (Eurogamer)
Unity Ads sunset 📢 Asset reuse Bananza 🍌 Things are “crashier” 📉
Unity is shutting down its Ads Network and divesting mobile publishing label Supersonic as part of its ongoing business restructuring. Both moves signal Unity's continued retreat from non-engine revenue streams. (Game Developer)
Nacon studios insolvency 💸 Meta Quest all-time high 📈
Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide, and Nacon Tech have filed for insolvency, joining parent company Nacon in court-supervised reorganisation proceedings in France. The crisis stems from majority shareholder Bigben Interactive's failure to repay a €43 million loan. (Gamesindustry)
Fortnite cuts 1000+, kills modes, foretells doom of GaaS 🪦
Epic Games laid off over 1,000 employees, citing financial losses tied to Fortnite's declining revenue. It's one of the largest single-studio headcount reductions in recent gaming industry history. (Forbes)
French studios go insolvent 💸 Tekken 8 fan backlash 🎮
Three French studios — Spiders (*GreedFall*), Kylotonn (*WRC* series), and Cyanide (*Pro Cycling Manager*) — have filed for insolvency, signaling a significant blow to France's mid-tier development scene. (Game Developer)
Crimson Desert AI slip 🎨 Devs want AI disclosure 🔍
Pearl Abyss admitted Crimson Desert shipped with undisclosed generative AI art, calling the inclusion "unintentional" and pledging a full asset audit and patch replacements. The incident adds to growing industry pressure on studios to disclose AI use upfront. (Polygon)
More DLSS 5 AI backlash 🤨 Crimson Desert mixed launch ⚔️
Players are pushing back against Nvidia's DLSS 5, criticizing its AI-generated image output as an "AI slop filter" that degrades visual fidelity. Developers integrating DLSS should be aware of growing player sensitivity to AI upscaling artifacts. (Forbes)
DLSS 5 surprise 🎮 Ubisoft layoffs & Red Storm closure 🔴
Nvidia revealed DLSS 5 without notifying partner studios in advance, with Ubisoft and Capcom developers saying they learned about it alongside the public. Games like Assassin's Creed Shadows and Resident Evil Requiem were used in the reveal without apparent developer sign-off. (PC Gamer)
Slay the Unity 🎮 One last Firebreak update 🔧
Slay the Spire 2 sold 3 million copies in its first week — built on Godot after Mega Crit abandoned two years of Unity development over the 2023 runtime fee controversy. A concrete reminder that Unity's policy reversal didn't win back every studio it lost. (PC Gamer)
Subnautica 2 court order ⚖️ DIY Fortnite Star Wars 🌟
A Delaware court ruled that Krafton breached its acquisition contract by firing Unknown Worlds CEO Ted Gill without valid cause, ordering his reinstatement and full control over Subnautica 2's Early Access Steam launch. The judge also extended the founders' $250M earnout eligibility window to September 2026. (Kotaku)
Lightspeed's dev tools 🛠️ Arc Raiders shoestring budget 💸 Remaster backlash 😬
Tencent subsidiary Lightspeed Studios revealed a proprietary AAA development framework at GDC, built around a "templated foundation" using real-world references for 90% of a title's construction. The system, informed by upcoming title Last Sentinel, aims to make original IP development repeatable and scalable across its global teams. (Game Developer)
Blizzard layoff ultimatum 😬 Pardo's GDC plea 🎮
Former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan says Blizzard's CFO threatened to cut 1,000 developer jobs if the game missed revenue targets tied to Overwatch League losses. Kaplan credits the ultimatum as the moment that ended his 19-year career at Blizzard. (Eurogamer)