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)
April 7, 2026 | Subscribe | Read On Web
Share on X/Twitter | Reddit
Top Stories
The rise, fall, and resurgence of Australian game development (9 min read)
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)
AMD's senior director of AI publicly reported that Claude has "regressed" on complex engineering tasks since February, citing ignored instructions and false completion claims. Broader user complaints echo the finding, with some switching to OpenAI's Codex. (PC Gamer)
Business & Finance
Sony to acquire AI and computer vision company Cinemersive Labs (1 min read)
Sony Interactive Entertainment is acquiring UK-based Cinemersive Labs, a machine learning and computer vision firm specializing in immersive 3D photography and VR/AR video. The studio joins SIE's Visual Computing Group to advance ML-driven rendering and gameplay visuals. (Gamesindustry)
Studios & People
Monolith Soft confirmed its Zelda co-development role will expand, with Nintendo stating it wants the studio to take on "more core roles" in building future series entries from the ground up. (IGN)
Games & Releases
Blizzard updated hero Anran's in-game face after fan and voice actor backlash over "Same Face Syndrome." Game director Aaron Keller cited a shift toward a more mature, confident look to better match her personality. (IGN)
Obsidian shipped a turn-based combat mode for Pillars of Eternity on PC, 11 years after launch. Character speed influences turn order, and the mode can be toggled mid-playthrough without starting a new save. (Eurogamer)
Policy & Labor
Nvidia’s Controversial DLSS 5 Video Gets Caught In A Bizarre YouTube Copyright Mess (4 min read)
Italian news network La7 filed copyright claims against Nvidia's own DLSS 5 announcement video and several creators, despite La7's upload coming weeks after the original. YouTube's Content ID system has yet to resolve the dispute automatically. (Kotaku)
Culture & Community
State Of Decay 3 Trailer Was Basically Fake As Dev Dashes Fan Hopes For Zombie Deer (4 min read)
Undead Labs studio head confirmed the 2020 State of Decay 3 reveal trailer was fully pre-rendered by Blur Studio with no actual game in development — just a Word document. A reminder of the real cost of premature reveals: misaligned fan expectations that linger for years. (Kotaku)
Double Dragon, River City Creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto Passes Away At 64 (5 min read)
Yoshihisa Kishimoto, creator of Double Dragon and the Kunio-kun series that spawned River City Ransom, has died at 64. His 1986 arcade brawler Renegade defined the scrolling beat-em-up genre and influenced Street Fighter and fighting games broadly. (Kotaku)
Return of the Obra Dinn Dev Says AI Makes Him Hesitant to Talk About New Projects (3 min read)
Lucas Pope (Papers, Please, Obra Dinn) says AI has made him reluctant to publicly discuss projects in development, fearing ideas could be scraped and copied before release. (IGN)
Nintendo Hits Another Home Run In Hollywood As Mario Galaxy Movie Tops $350 Million (3 min read)
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie crossed $350M globally at opening, making Super Mario Bros. the only animated franchise with two titles opening above that threshold. Nintendo's IP-to-film strategy continues to pay off despite mixed critical reception. (Kotaku)
NASA's Artemis II mission drove Kerbal Space Program's Steam peak to 11,390 concurrent players — nearly triple its usual 3–4K baseline — alongside a 732% spike in Twitch viewership for April 2026. (IGN)
WoW: Midnight's Race to World First took a dramatic turn when a hidden resurrection phase triggered after guilds brought final boss L'ura to 0% health — a secret no dataminers had uncovered ahead of time. 🐣 (IGN)
Main Character Of Rockstar’s Cancelled Agent Found By Dataminer (4 min read)
A dataminer found what appears to be the main character model for Rockstar's cancelled PS3 spy game Agent buried in the leaked GTA V source code, dated 2009 and stored under a folder codenamed "Jimmy." (Kotaku)
gg! see you in game!