Top Stories

Football commentator permits EA to use an AI version of his voice for EA Sports FC (2 min read)

Commentator Guy Mowbray has consented to EA cloning his voice via AI for EA Sports FC, allowing the studio to cover 20,000+ player names without recording each individually. EA stated AI supports development pipelines but emphasized commentary remains "collaboration with talent, not replacement." The move highlights growing use of voice synthesis in games, though contrasts with recent disputes over unauthorized AI voice replication in other titles.

(Gamesindustry)

UK's Advertising Standards Authority bans Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 commercial for "trivializing sexual violence" (2 min read)

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority banned a Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 commercial for trivializing sexual violence. After nine complaints, the ASA ruled the ad's depiction of implied non-consensual sexual assault violated standards of social responsibility, despite Activision's argument that the 18-rated game's ad was restricted to adult time slots and used parody. The ad cannot run again in its current form.

(Gamesindustry)

Business & Finance

Scopely acquires majority stake in Pixel Flow! developer Loom Games (3 min read)

Scopely acquired a majority stake in Loom Games, the developer behind Pixel Flow. The deal expands Scopely's portfolio of mobile and mid-core titles, adding Loom's game development expertise to the publisher's internal studios.

(Game Developer)

Lyrical Games announces full-financing publishing deal with The Chinese Room (5 min read)

Lyrical Games announced a full-financing publishing deal with The Chinese Room. The arrangement covers development and publishing costs for The Chinese Room's upcoming projects, strengthening the indie studio's financial backing while expanding Lyrical Games' portfolio.

(Game Developer)

Devcat opens publishing arm to support "cozy and wholesome" projects (2 min read)

Devcats, maker of Full of Cats, launched a publishing arm to support indie developers working on "cozy and wholesome" projects. The studio will offer marketing, localization, music, and game direction support to other teams, with its first published title being Feline Forensics and the Meowseum Mystery from Nobody Crown. Devcats commits to donating a portion of profits to animal rescue causes.

(Gamesindustry)

Studios & People

Report: NetEase is cutting jobs at internal studio Spliced Inc (4 min read)

NetEase is cutting jobs at Spliced Inc, its internal game development studio. The exact number of positions affected was not disclosed in the report, but the layoffs mark another round of industry restructuring affecting developer headcount.

(Game Developer)

Outgoing Sucker Punch boss hopes studio can make games in 'shorter periods of time' (5 min read)

Sucker Punch's outgoing leadership expressed a goal for the studio to develop games in shorter timeframes going forward. The statement reflects broader industry pressure to accelerate production cycles while maintaining quality.

(Game Developer)

Games & Releases

Understandable AI paranoia has inspired a developer to change the handcrafted character art in its upcoming sim: 'They look a bit AI' (6 min read)

Transport Fever 3's handcrafted character art triggered AI-generation concerns among beta testers, despite being entirely human-made. Developer Urban Games is redesigning the character models after players flagged their uncanny, AI-like aesthetic. The studio emphasizes all work is 100% handcrafted.

(PC Gamer)

Bungie Delays Major Destiny 2 Update by Three Months to Focus on 'Quality-of Life Updates' (3 min read)

Bungie delayed its next major Destiny 2 update from March to June 9, 2026, citing "large revisions" and a focus on quality-of-life improvements. The update will now include weapon tier upgrading, tiered gear expansion to all raids and dungeons, Pantheon 2.0, and Tier 5 stats for Exotic Armors. The delay comes as Bungie juggles the March release of Marathon.

(IGN)

Battlefield has a bot problem, and it could signal doom for the franchise (3 min read)

Battlefield 6 has faced backlash over excessive bots in matchmaking despite strong launch momentum. The influx of AI players—intended to support new players—has become a friction point for the community, raising questions about the game's long-term health and player retention strategies.

(Esports Insider)

AI/Tech & Tools

Elder Scrolls 6 Is Powered By New Version Of Creation Engine (3 min read)

Bethesda's Elder Scrolls 6 will run on Creation Engine 3, an upgraded version of the tech that powered Starfield. In a Kinda Funny Games interview, Todd Howard confirmed the studio has spent years evolving the engine to enable innovation while returning to the classic open-world RPG style that defined the franchise. Development is progressing well but remains "a while yet" from completion.

(Kotaku)

Policy & Labor

Ishtar Games told to pay damages for illegally terminating workers (4 min read)

Ishtar Games was ordered to pay damages for illegally terminating workers. The ruling underscores ongoing labor enforcement actions in the games industry around wrongful dismissal and worker protections.

(Game Developer)

Culture & Community

Apex Legends permanently bans 2,000 accounts for XIM cheating (3 min read)

Respawn issued over 2,000 permanent bans to Apex Legends players using XIM cheating devices on February 18th. The crackdown follows a separate ban wave targeting Titan cheat users, signaling continued enforcement against third-party hardware exploits.

(Esports Insider)

*gg! see you in game!

-james*