Top Stories

Stellar Blade studio Shift Up breaks from publishing partner Sony for "high-quality self-publishing" (2 min read)

Shift Up, developer of Stellar Blade, plans to self-publish the sequel after breaking from Sony. The studio cited steady sales and desire to control marketing strategy and IP identity as drivers for the shift to independent publishing. (GamesIndustry.biz)

New Steam update hints at four separate Steam Machine models and a reservation system (5 min read)

Steam update code hints at four distinct Steam Machine models and a reservation system, suggesting Valve is preparing a major hardware push. Developers should monitor specs to optimize for multiple configurations. (PC Gamer)

Business & Finance

Sega Cancels Super Game, Lowers Focus On Live-Service Titles (4 min read)

Sega cancelled its ambitious 'Super Game' live-service project and is reallocating over 100 developers to focus on established franchises. The move reflects the publisher's retreat from free-to-play ambitions. (The Gamer)

Discord Nitro subscribers to receive "starter edition" of Xbox Game Pass through new partnership (1 min read)

Xbox and Discord partnered to offer Game Pass "starter edition" (50+ games, 10 hours cloud gaming) free to Nitro subscribers. Game Pass Ultimate and PC tiers saw price cuts to $22.99 and $13.99 monthly, part of Microsoft's shift toward a more flexible subscription model. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Studios & People

Industry veteran and YouTube musician launch new indie studio, Stupendium Softworks (2 min read)

Industry veteran Alex Oxspring and musician The Stupendium launched indie studio Stupendium Softworks, committed to sustainable development and explicitly rejecting generative AI in production. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Games & Releases

Forza Horizon 6 leaks early, developer responds by banning the IPs of anyone playing it for just under 8,000 years (7 min read)

Forza Horizon 6 leaked early; Playground Games responded by issuing IP bans lasting nearly 8,000 years to anyone who played the leaked build, demonstrating aggressive anti-piracy enforcement. (PC Gamer)

Path of Exile 2's 1.0 release won't need to accommodate other game releases, director says—except GTA 6: 'That's a Goliath I don't want to take on quite frankly' (8 min read)

Path of Exile 2's director said the 1.0 release doesn't need to avoid other game launches—except GTA 6, which he called a "Goliath" too large to compete against directly. (PC Gamer)

Policy & Labor

"The industry wants people to think this is a demand for eternal server support ... it isn't" - E3 owner and Stop Killing Games clash over Californian games bill (6 min read)

California's proposed AB 1921 bill would require games to offer offline versions or refunds at end-of-service. The ESA and Stop Killing Games are clashing over whether the law imposes unreasonable eternal server-support demands on developers. (Eurogamer)

Culture & Community

Mortal Kombat 2 writer says one of the big "mistakes" from the first movie was not having the game developers "as creatively involved as they should have been" (5 min read)

Mortal Kombat 2's writer acknowledged that the first film's mistake was excluding game developers from creative decisions. The sequel aims to involve them more closely in adaptation. (GamesRadar)

gg! see you in game!

— james