Top Stories

Lightspeed Studios unveils proprietary development framework to build titles 'rooted in reality' (3 min read)

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)

Embark Studios head Patrick Söderlund explains how Arc Raiders was made on "a quarter of the budget" of a AAA title (10 min read)

Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund says Arc Raiders was built for roughly $75M — about a quarter of a typical AAA budget — by rethinking pipelines: using photogrammetry, procedural generation, and Google Maps topography instead of traditional workflows. The 360-person studio has sold over 14 million copies since October 2025. (Gamesindustry)

Backlash Over Remaster Update Quality — Bugs, New Costumes Draw Criticism: "Lara Deserves Better Than This," "Worse Than Fan Mods" (14 min read)

The March 13 free update for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered has drawn heavy fan criticism for introducing bugs and low-quality costumes, with some suspecting AI-generated assets. The remaster's original lead artist publicly stated neither he nor Saber's original developers were involved in the update. (GameSpark)

Business & Finance

Jackbox Party Pack studio will start publishing absurd games: 'We applaud the baby-slapping' (6 min read)

Jackbox Games is expanding into indie publishing, with My Arms Are Longer Now from Melbourne-based Toot Games as its first title. The company says its financial stability from the Party Pack series gives it room to champion smaller, niche games. (Polygon)

Resident Evil Requiem Now the Series' Fastest-Selling Game Ever, as It Passes New Sales Milestone (2 min read)

Resident Evil Requiem hit 6 million copies sold, making it the fastest-selling entry in Capcom's 30-year-old franchise. Capcom plans ongoing support including a story expansion, mini-game, and photo mode. (IGN)

Studios & People

Warner Bros. Montréal devs report layoffs (4 min read)

Multiple WB Montréal developers have announced on LinkedIn they were laid off, with most reporting their last day as March 13th. No formal confirmation from WB Games yet, but the cuts align with Paramount's pending acquisition of Warner Bros., which Netflix's CEO flagged would require significant cost-cutting. (Eurogamer)

In an industry beset by layoffs and crunch, Japanese publisher Atlus is raising salaries and working to reduce fixed overtime (5 min read)

Atlus is raising starting salaries for new graduates by 10% and increasing average annual pay for all full-time and contract staff by 15%, while cutting fixed overtime hours from 30 to 20. Changes take effect April 2026. (Eurogamer)

Games & Releases

Darktide is getting a new extraction-esque mode where you go outside and try not to die from radiation poisoning: 'If time runs out and you die, you get nothing' (6 min read)

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide's upcoming "Beyond the Hive" update adds an extraction-style "Expeditions" mode with open-zone scavenging, a radiation timer, and a high-risk/high-reward loot structure — no PvP, but lose everything if you die. (PC Gamer)

The creator of Stephen's Sausage Roll has released a new puzzle-platformer where you play as an egg, in the latest example of a developer fallen to the sunny side (6 min read)

Oeuf, a 3D puzzle-platformer where players navigate as eggs, is now on Steam for $10 from increpare, the developer behind Stephen's Sausage Roll. It supports up to 4-player co-op, includes a level editor, and Steam Workshop integration. (PC Gamer)

Throwback XCOM successor Xenonauts 2 leaves early access in April, though the developer says the milestone 'doesn't mean our work is done' (6 min read)

Goldhawk Interactive's XCOM-inspired tactical game Xenonauts 2 exits Steam Early Access in April after nearly two years, adding 180+ maps and a full ending during development. Modding tools are planned post-launch. (PC Gamer)

Beaver-themed city-builder Timberborn has gnawed its way out of early access, and surprise! It has Factorio-style automation now (5 min read)

Timberborn hit 1.0, exiting early access with a surprise automation system: 20 new logic-node buildings enabling Factorio-style conditional programming for gates, production buildings, and pathways. (PC Gamer)

AI/Tech & Tools

Even on an Indie Budget, You Can Create "Great-Feeling Movement." A Former Santa Monica Studio Developer Shares the Secrets of Smooth Movement with Limited Resources [GDC 2026] (57 min read)

A former Santa Monica Studio developer presented at GDC 2026 on achieving smooth, responsive player movement without AAA resources. The talk focused on practical techniques indie teams can apply to replicate high-quality locomotion feel on limited budgets. (4gamer)

Where is Unreal Engine headed? We ask the UE General Manager about the evolution Epic is aiming for [GDC 2026] (3 min read)

Epic Games' Unreal Engine General Manager sat down at GDC 2026 to discuss UE's future roadmap and development direction. The interview covers the engine's planned evolution for developers across platforms. (4gamer)

Gaming is embracing AI, but GDC proves nobody actually knows what to do with it - Polygon.com (6 min read)

GDC 2026 was saturated with generative AI booths and panels, but no clear consensus emerged on practical use cases. QA automation, AI NPCs, and full AI-generated game engines were all on display, with most demos feeling like early proof-of-concepts rather than production-ready tools. (Polygon)

Donkey Kong Bananza Developers on Voxels, Sandboxes, and a Delicious Bacon Burger Prototype (20 min read)

Nintendo's GDC talk on Donkey Kong Bananza revealed how the team used voxel tech to build fully destructible levels, with the Switch 2's expanded memory being key to tracking player-altered terrain across entire play sessions. (IGN)

Your Pokémon Go data has helped Niantic AI power urban delivery robots (4 min read)

Niantic Spatial has partnered with Coco Robotics to use Pokémon Go's Visual Positioning System and years of player-collected spatial scan data to navigate urban delivery robots. The data, gathered through in-game photo and scanning features since 2016, helps robots localize without relying on GPS. (Polygon)

Culture & Community

Venture Capitalist ‘Shocked And Sad’ About How Much Gamers Hate AI (3 min read)

At GDC, Lightspeed Venture Partners' Moritz Baier-Lentz called developer hostility toward generative AI "shocking and sad," citing layoffs as a key driver. The GDC survey found only 7% of developers view generative AI as good for the industry. (Kotaku)

Amidst high profile live service failures, Arc Raiders production director says he hopes other studios are 'given the same chance we had, because it's so hard to put a game out' (6 min read)

Arc Raiders production director Caio Braga, speaking at GDC, said Embark's success depended on rare developer trust and time to pivot — resources most studios don't get before cancellation or forced launches. (PC Gamer)

Ahead of GTA 6, Rockstar-owned GTA 5 RP mega mod FiveM breaks its own Steam record with 200,000 concurrent players (4 min read)

FiveM, Rockstar's acquired GTA 5 roleplay mod, hit 202,756 concurrent Steam players on March 15 — a new all-time high. The milestone signals strong community demand for RP features ahead of GTA 6's release later this year. (GamesRadar)

Reverse-engineering Marathon's visual mood board magic (8 min read)

A Eurogamer feature breaks down Marathon's layered visual identity — tracing influences from The Designers Republic, supply-chain iconography, fiducial markers, and demoscene aesthetics. Useful mood-board reading for devs interested in building eclectic-but-coherent art direction. (Eurogamer)

Former Bethesda Game Tester Once Broke Fallout 4 So Completely The 'Entire Zenimax Media Company' Was Sent Email Blasts Saying 'Somebody Found 4 Crashes In a Single Morning' (2 min read)

A former Fallout 4 QA tester at Bethesda found four crashes in one morning by stress-testing RAM on Xbox One, triggering company-wide email alerts to all of ZeniMax. The tester, now at Strange Scaffold, used creative out-of-bounds thinking rather than standard test scripts. (IGN)

gg! see you in game!

-james