Top Stories

Embracer Group has laid off 124 employees at Eidos Montreal (3 min read)

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)

Disney Reportedly Keen on Buying Fortnite Developer Epic Games, But Waiting for Right Moment (4 min read)

Disney senior executives reportedly want to acquire Epic Games outright, following the company's prior $1.5B investment. New Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro is seen as a likely driver, with former Disney exec Kevin Mayer publicly calling Epic "a great addition" to Disney's asset base. (IGN)

Studios & People

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 studio allegedly fires "obsolete" translator to replace them with AI (2 min read)

Warhorse Studios allegedly terminated a translator of nearly four years, citing AI as a cost-saving replacement. The employee posted his account to Reddit, saying the decision came with no forewarning. (Gamesindustry)

Rec Room shutting down after failing to become 'sustainably profitable' (4 min read)

Rec Room is shutting down after failing to reach sustainable profitability. The social gaming platform's closure is a cautionary data point for UGC and social VR-adjacent studios banking on engagement-first, monetization-later models. (Game Developer)

Games & Releases

VR developer Polyarc Games facing layoffs, unspecified number of employees affected (1 min read)

Studio behind adventure game Moss was unable to secure funding after cancelling a major project (Gamesindustry)

The list of people hit by recent Epic layoffs has been turned into a dedicated portal for recruiters (2 min read)

Google sheet turned into dedicated website, while Tim Sweeney steps in following outcry over laid-off worker losing cancer treatment(Gamesindustry)

Report: Series Entertainment-owned mobile studio Pixelberry lays off staff (4 min read)

The Choices developer previously reportedly laid off an unspecified number of staff in 2024. (Game Developer)

Marathon's developers say they are "in it for the long haul" amidst fears the game has underperformed in this live service hell (5 min read)

Bungie published a PC performance guide for Marathon that doubles as a public commitment to the game's future, pledging "many years of steady improvements." This follows analyst estimates of ~1.2M copies sold in its first week — a modest figure for a major live service launch. (Eurogamer)

Raiding like it's 1999: Why Daybreak thinks new players will try a 27-year-old MMO (9 min read)

Daybreak Games and indie studio Game Jawn — formed by EverQuest emulation veterans — are launching EverQuest Legends in July, a modernized revival of the 1999 original targeting lapsed MMO players and newcomers with solo-friendly design and reduced group sizes. (Gamesindustry)

Culture & Community

Crimson Desert Patches Are Delighting Fans, but Some Say They're Making the Game Too Easy and Now Want a Hard Difficulty Mode (4 min read)

Pearl Abyss's rapid post-launch patches for Crimson Desert have boosted player sentiment, but a vocal subset now says balance changes have made the game too easy and are calling for a dedicated hard difficulty mode. (IGN)

'It Does Seem Like It Would Make a Great Movie': Mario Galaxy Star Charlie Day Keen for Luigi's Mansion Spinoff (2 min read)

Charlie Day, Luigi's voice actor in the Mario films, expressed interest in a Luigi's Mansion movie spinoff, calling it "a great movie" concept. A Donkey Kong solo film remains the more immediately rumored next entry in Nintendo's cinematic universe. (IGN)

gg! see you in game!

-james