Top Stories

Microsoft cuts Game Pass pricing and removes Call of Duty as day-one launch title in response to "a lot of feedback" (3 min read)

Microsoft is dropping Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99/month and removing day-one Call of Duty access, citing player feedback. New CoD titles will arrive ~one year post-launch; the cut still doesn't fully reverse October 2025's 50% price hike. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Union takes legal action against Build a Rocket Boy over alleged data privacy violations (3 min read)

The IWGB union is taking Build a Rocket Boy to ACAS and the UK's ICO, alleging the studio secretly installed Teramind surveillance software on employees' home PCs, capturing keystrokes, screen activity, and audio without consent. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Business & Finance

Firstpoint VC launches with €50m fund to invest in AI-driven games and entertainment startups (3 min read)

Firstpoint VC has launched with a €50m fund targeting AI-driven gaming and entertainment startups in emerging markets including Türkiye, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia. The firm is led by former WePlay Ventures CEO Burak Yılmaz and Mike Fischer, who previously held senior roles at Square Enix, Epic, and Microsoft. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Koei Tecmo revises FY26 results following success of Pokémon Pokopia and Nioh 3 (2 min read)

Koei Tecmo revised its FY26 forecast upward, projecting a 50% rise in ordinary profit to ¥55.5B ($345M), driven by Nioh 3 surpassing 1M copies sold and Pokémon Pokopia hitting 2.2M units in four days. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Games & Releases

How Double Fine balances fun with pottery sculpting in Kiln (7 min read)

Double Fine details how it designed Kiln, a pottery-sculpting game, to feel satisfying without sacrificing accessibility. The studio focused on balancing physical authenticity with moment-to-moment fun for players. (Game Developer)

Ubisoft reportedly cancels life-simulator project Alterra (2 min read)

Ubisoft cancelled Alterra, its Animal Crossing-inspired voxel life-simulator in development at Ubisoft Montréal for ~18 months. No layoffs resulted; affected staff are being reassigned to other projects. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Chasing the American Dream: Quirky Indie Game "H1B.Life" Makes Digital Pets Cry (12 min read) 美签闯关！奇葩独立游戏“润人模拟器”，让“电子宠物”们都哭了

Chinese-American developer Allison Yang's studio Reality Reload is Kickstarting "H1B.Life," a text-adventure sim based on real H-1B visa applicant stories. Built in Unity WebGL, the Papers Please-inspired title targets a summer 2026 release. (GameLook)

AI/Tech & Tools

Games No Longer Go Wrong: AI Simulates Thousands of Players with 85%+ Accuracy—Can User Research, Testing, and User Acquisition Save Big Money? (14 min read) 游戏不再做歪！AI模拟千名玩家、准确率超85%，用研,测试,买量“省大钱”？

Academic research shows LLMs can predict human survey responses with 85%+ accuracy — outperforming humans retaking the same survey (81%). Game teams could use AI-simulated player panels to validate design and marketing decisions before spending on real playtests or UA tests. (GameLook)

"This is not a sustainable business model" – Why Google Cloud's Jack Buser thinks AI can save the games industry (8 min read)

Google Cloud's games director Jack Buser argues AI is the key to fixing unsustainable AAA economics, citing rising dev costs (up 90% since 2017) and shrinking margins. One Netflix Games studio reportedly cut iteration time by 90% using AI tools. (GamesIndustry.biz)

gg! see you in game!

— james