Top Stories

At least 1,200 Ubisoft workers strike in response to recent restructuring (2 min read) At least 1,200 Ubisoft workers struck internationally February 10-12 in response to the company's recent restructuring, studio closures, game cancellations, and mandatory five-day return-to-office policy. The strike, led by Solidaires Informatique union, also protested stalled wage increases and understaffing. This marks the second major strike action at Ubisoft France in six months. (Gamesindustry)

Pacific Drive developer Ironwood Studios raises $4 million in seed funding (3 min read) Ironwood Studios, developer of Pacific Drive, raised $4 million in seed funding. The investment supports the studio's ongoing development of the automotive adventure game. (Game Developer)

Overwatch Season 1 Debut Sees Blizzard's Relaunched Hero Shooter Double Its Steam Player Record (2 min read) Overwatch's Season 1 debut hit 165,651 concurrent Steam players, more than doubling its 2023 peak of 75,608. The rebranded hero shooter launched "The Reign of Talon," a year-long story arc featuring five new heroes, a competitive Meta Event, and a Hello Kitty crossover event. Six seasons are planned throughout 2025, with additional heroes rolling out each season. (IGN)

Business & Finance

Despite having nearly its entire back catalog on Steam, Suda51's studio doesn't benefit much from sales of its old games: 'It's really nice for the other people who are making bank off that, though' (6 min read) Grasshopper Manufacture generates minimal revenue from its Steam back catalog because third-party publishers control most titles, including No More Heroes and Killer7. Suda51 notes other publishers profit significantly while the studio doesn't earn enough to fund major new projects. NetEase funded Romeo Is a Dead Man and gave Grasshopper its first self-publishing opportunity on Steam. (PC Gamer)

Secret Mode busted out of the Tencent-owned Sumo Group last year. Now what? (11 min read) Secret Mode spun out from Sumo Group in early 2025 with backing from private equity firm Emona Capital after Sumo refocused exclusively on development services. The indie publisher closed the deal in roughly three months and has since grown from 40 to 55 employees while securing major projects like Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Leadership credits Emona's gaming sector knowledge and hands-off-but-supportive approach for enabling the expansion. (Gamesindustry)

Mattel acquires control of mobile studio Mattel163 from NetEase (3 min read) Mattel acquired full control of mobile studio Mattel163 from NetEase, consolidating ownership of the studio behind titles like UNO and other casual games. The move brings the studio entirely under Mattel's publishing umbrella. (Game Developer)

Magic: The Gathering Just Had Its Most Successful Year Ever...Again (2 min read) Hasbro reported Magic: The Gathering revenue up 59% year-over-year, driven primarily by Universes Beyond and Secret Lair cross-brand collaborations. Avatar: The Last Airbender became MTG's third highest-selling set ever. The growth boosted Wizards of the Coast's segment 45%, offsetting declines elsewhere in Hasbro. The company faces shareholder lawsuits alleging overprinting of these sets to artificially inflate sales. (IGN)

Games & Releases

The Fallout VATS system was inspired by Burnout's crash mode of all things or, as Todd Howard puts it, 'imagine the car parts are, like, eyeballs and guts!' (6 min read) Bethesda's lead designer Emil Pagliarulo revealed that Fallout 3's VATS system originated from a practical constraint: the studio lacked the time and expertise to create real-time gun combat competitive with Call of Duty or Battlefield. VATS—the Vault-Tec Automated Targeting System—evolved from inspiration including Burnout's crash mode, allowing players to pause combat and select targets. The system also echoed the original Fallout games' turn-based roots, letting players make calculated decisions in real-time action. (PC Gamer)

Until Dawn and The Quarry developer announces new release date for sci-fi horror Directive 8020 (3 min read) Supermassive Games announced Directive 8020, its sci-fi horror Dark Pictures Anthology entry starring Lashana Lynch, will release May 12 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. The choice-driven narrative features a new "Turning Points" feature allowing players to rewind key story moments, plus a permadeath "Survivor Mode." The game was previously delayed following studio layoffs. (Eurogamer)

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls finally outlines its launch content: 20 characters, big online lobbies, and a story mode (of sorts) (3 min read) Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will launch with 20 characters, 64-player online lobbies, and an Episode Mode exploring team dynamics and lore. The 4v4 tag team fighter from Arc System Works is published by Sony and coming to PS5 and Steam. Details expect announcement during PlayStation's February 12 State of Play stream. (Eurogamer)

Arc Raiders immediately suffers an infinite ammo exploit after Embark fixes a dupe, heightening criticism of the studio's soft response to cheaters (6 min read) Arc Raiders players discovered an infinite ammo exploit hours after Embark fixed a dupe glitch, allowing weapons to bypass magazine limits and durability constraints. The exploit spreads via streamer coverage, letting players achieve massive damage without resource costs and breaking competitive balance in trials. (GamesRadar)

Cult of the Lamb Woolhaven presented a great opportunity to make the game harder, but the devs promise they weren't 'necessarily trying to stress players out' (7 min read) Cult of the Lamb's Woolhaven DLC introduces a winter season that disrupts late-game comfort by removing crop farming and adding survival pressure through storms and freezing mechanics. Massive Monster designed the expansion to force players to rethink resource management and cult strategy, rather than purely to increase difficulty. New systems include ranching animals for food and dynamic weather events ranging from mild to lethal. (PC Gamer)

AI/Tech & Tools

Fortnite expands anti-cheat measures for esports tournaments (3 min read) Epic Games mandated Secure Boot, TPM, and IOMMU for all PC players in Fortnite esports tournaments starting February 19th. IOMMU protects game memory from illegal cheat hardware access. The move mirrors Activision's September 2025 anti-cheat expansion for Call of Duty, which reportedly eliminated cheaters from 99% of ranked matches. (Esports Insider)

The creators of a popular Dark Souls 2 lighting mod are experimenting with path tracing and, oh boy, it no longer looks like an Xbox 360 game (5 min read) The creators of Dark Souls 2's popular lighting mod are experimenting with path tracing, dramatically improving the game's notoriously flat visuals. The new path-traced version transforms previously murky areas like Shaded Woods into richly atmospheric environments with dynamic lighting applied to all elements including spells. (PC Gamer)

Policy & Labor

Report: Mindseye dev installed surveillance software without employees' knowledge (4 min read) Build A Rocket Boy installed surveillance software (Teramind) on employee PCs without knowledge, discovered in January when staff noticed performance slowdowns. Co-CEO Mark Gerhard later justified it as "enhanced cybersecurity" tied to Mindseye's success. The studio has faced prior scrutiny for layoffs, mandated crunch, and mismanagement allegations from nearly 100 former employees. (Game Developer)

Microsoft withdraws DMCA claim against indie developer Unomelon (1 min read) Microsoft withdrew a DMCA claim against indie developer Unomelon's voxel sandbox game Allumeria after alleging it contained Minecraft "gameplay and assets without authorisation." The developer restored the game to Steam without filing a counterclaim. Unomelon flagged the claim as potentially automated and called for investigation into such systems, citing their potential to damage independent creators. (Gamesindustry)

Culture & Community

Fallout 76 devs were surprised the community turned out to be so friendly: 'It’s post-apocalyptic, it’s Fallout, they’re going to all want to kill one another ... it's the complete opposite' (7 min read) Fallout 76's creative director Jon Rush revealed that Bethesda was surprised by how cooperative and friendly the game's community turned out to be, contrary to pre-release expectations that players would be hostile in the post-apocalyptic setting. Similarly, Arc Raiders developer Embark Studios noted that players have been unexpectedly kind and cooperative, particularly in solo modes, despite the game's competitive extraction shooter design. (PC Gamer)

Cairn's prickly protagonist serves a powerful purpose - Narrative Notebook #1 (7 min read) GameDeveloper.com launches Narrative Notebook, a new column analyzing storytelling craft in games. The debut examines Cairn's protagonist Aava, a prickly climber whose obsessive drive to summit creates moral complexity without subverting player agency. The piece explores how developers can craft nuanced characters while maintaining engaging gameplay. (Game Developer)

gg! see you in game! - james