A Leg Up for the Little Guy

Well let’s get to the real meat of why you are here: Who exactly won Game of the Year?

The following are some of big winners of the night:

• EA Sports FC 25 for Best Sports/Racing Game,
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Innovation in Accessibility
• Neva for Games for Impact
• Frostpunk 2 for Best Sim/Strategy Game
• Batman: Arkham Shadow for Best VR/AR Game
• CaseOh, formely known as randomsimplestuf35, for Best Content Creator
• Amazon’s Fallout for Best Adaptation
• Melina Juergens’ performance as the titular Senua for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II for Best Audio Design.
• Baldur’s Gate 3 for Best Community Support
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for Best Score and Music
• Continuing to the butt of many memes, Grand Theft Audio VI is Most Anticipated Game

Tekken 8 wins Best Fighting Game, later coupled with the announcement that Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy XVI will be added to the game.

League of Legends was most represented in all respective Esports categories, winning Best Esports Game, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok  for Best Esports Athlete, and T1 for Best Esports Team.

Helldivers II won Best Mutiplayer Game and Best Ongoing Game.

Black Myth: Wukong won Best Action Game and the vote for Player’s Choice. Developers Game Science went on to complain they didn’t win more.

Balatro won Best Mobile Game, and took the gold for indies winning both Best Debut Game and Best Independent Game. Otherwise, the game’s team is currently at odds with PEGI, the European video game content rating system, for giving the game an 18+ rating.

Metaphor: ReFantazio won Best Roleplaying and Best Art Direction.

In spite of Sony’s recent blunders, Astro Bot won Best Game Direction, Best Family Game, and ultimately took home the gold for Game of the Year.

Laura Carter was recognized as a Global Gaming Citizen, co-founder of TreesPlease Games, a studio aiming to create games and develop initiatives to combat climate change.

Amir Satvat, a game developer and currently Business Development Director at Tencent, wins the new Game Changer award for his ongoing efforts in creating and sharing resources in response to the continuing, astronomical layoffs and job losses that are plaguing the industry—an issue that was surprisingly acknowledged during the show. That said, some have critiqued the introduction of the award in the absence of the Future Class program this year, with some past inductees and alum having raised complaints over the lack of actual support they ended up receiving and several of the program’s shortcomings.

Show Spotlights

We seemingly cannot ever escape anticipating what bombastic moment is going to happen at The Game Awards every year.

While our host Geoff Keighley was getting roasted by puppets for the whole duration, the show was once again mostly peppered with mostly trailers, teases, and showcases over what is to come.

Man of the hour, Josef Fares, once again was in attendance of the show with much vigor and foul-mouthed enthusiasm. Founder of Hazelight Studios, he took the stage to introduce another co-op game in the works, titled Split Fiction.

A new Indiana Jones game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, is slated to arrive Spring 2025. In introducing the game, performer Troy Baker and Todd Howard were joined by Harrison Ford, transitioning into the Best Performance category.

Keighley also gave dedicated spotlight on a new sci-fi IP in the works called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. While showing a tease of potentially impressive graphics, the big reveal (unfortunately) is that the game is being developed by Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann. Further details about the game’s plot, relayed from Druckmann himself, already has us apprehensive about it. We already were annoyed hearing about The Last of Us getting “remastered” for the upteenth time.

Snoop Dogg was also hyped as the big climatic musical performance of the night, a tie-in with his appearance now added to the next season of Fortnite Festival. He will be joining musical likes such as Lady Gaga and The Weeknd. Leaks suggest Vocaloid superstar Hatsune Miku will be dropping in come next year.

But most importantly, flute guy makes his return to the fray once more.

Following much pomp and circumstance, Swen Vincke, founder and CEO of Larian Studios, was presenter for this year’s Game of the Year, after Baldur’s Gate 3’s Game of the Year win in 2023. Before ultimately passing on the torch to Astro Bot, Vincke took his time to make a scathing joke at being told, among others, to “wrap it up” last year.

Sequels and Reboots Galore

But overall, the nostalgia cycle is in full force!

While there was a sliver of some potential new, original hits that are expected to land in gamers’ hands next year, teases of releases were mostly updates to ongoing games, sequels, and reboots, and revisits of IPs new and old.

Koei Tecmo is putting out a new Ninja Gaiden title, to be called Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound.

While RGG Studios is working on a new title, Project Century, they’re taking the lead with handling a new Virtua Fighter.

There will be yet another Double Dragon game, a new installment to the Onimusha franchise slated for 2026, and the big drop of the night: Hideki Kamiya jumping off the burning ship that is Platinum Games to make a sequel to beloved PS2/Wii Classic Okami! (But never mind all that, we also got a new Turok game baby!!!)

Apart from just full on reboots, tonight also showcased some more current continuations: CD Projekt Red unveiled The Witcher 4 with a full focus on Ciri as the protagonist.

Enemy of the site Randy Pitchford also pulled up to announce Borderlands 4, a shocker to those of us who wanted to forget Borderlands 3 was out in the world. Potentially, there might be less “toilet humor.”

Both The Outer Worlds and Slay the Spire are getting sequels.

We also got a surprise taste of what is going to be a new Sonic Racing game!

Tales of the Shire, a cozy-looking Lord of the Rings game that seems to focus on peaceful Hobbit life is coming for the Switch.

There are also two new games in the works set within the Dungeon & Fighter universe: teased earlier last year, the gristly, bloody, and dark The First Berserker: Khazan, and the more lighthearted-looking, anime-stylized open RPG, ARAD.

Highly anticipated is Mafia: The Old World, the newest installment in the Mafia franchise set in 1900s Sicily.

Oh yeah, and there was also this cat game that most obviously looks like it is some suspicious AI-generated shlock. The developers have hastily thrown up a “gameplay” trailer in defense of the game’s first impressions

Movements in Mobilization

Studio People Can Fly, known for Outriders, goes through its second wave of layoffs this year.

Developer of Gotham Knights and additional support to Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad, WB Games Montreal lays off 99 developers.

Meanwhile, ZeniMax Online Studios, have officially unionized with the CWA.

Workers at 2K’s Motion Capture Studio, with numerous games credits such as the NBA 2K and WWE 2K games, have voted to unionize. The shop will be represented under IATSE. This is the first successful unionization of a motion capture studio in the video games industry.

In other news…

Video game-inspired anthology series Secret Level is renewed for another season.

itch.io was briefly down due to a AI tool used by Funko Inc. falsely reporting their domain to their registrar for phishing. itch.io’s domain has since been reinstated, but the issue also escalated to the point that a Funko representative allegedly went as far as calling itch.io’s founder’s mother.

Shuhei Yoshida is leaving his post at Sony come January of next year. He joined the company in 1993 at the height of the first PlayStation’s development.

Tencent is ending Nintendo Switch eShop services to the Chinese version of the console in 2026. This most likely does not mean it will be down forever, the current agreement the two companies had will lapse, and Nintendo may go with another avenue for Switch and Switch 2 in China.

And yes, Skibidi Toilet is coming to Fortnite.

The post The Bulletin: The Game Awards 2024 appeared first on Gamesline.

Winners, Losers, and More Layoffs

As expected, there was a stark contrast between the air of celebration inside the Peacock Theater and the protests by games workers outside Los Angeles streets. Protestors and allies wanted to draw attention to the troubling rising numbers of layoffs that have shaken the industry this year, alongside other issues that continue to negatively affect developers. This gathering was not at all acknowledged by host Geoff Keighley.

Otherwise, the show has went on smoothly with much haste—and arguably with a little too much haste as viewers have remarked, noting the dissonance felt with how rushed many of the show’s winners were in their speeches and acknowledgements in contrast to the much longer advertisement spots and candid, celebrity moments.

The following are big winners of the night:

• Super Mario Bros. Wonder for Best Family Game
• Forza Motorsport for Best Sports/Racing Game, Innovation in Accessibility
• Tchia for Games for Impact
• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for Best Action Game
• Pikmin 4 for Best Sim/Strategy Game
• Street Fighter 6 for Best Fighting Game
• Resident Evil Village VR Mode for Best VR/AR Game
• HBO’s The Last of Us for Best Adaptation
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Best Action/Adventure Game
• Hi-Fi Rush for Best Audio Design
• Honkai: Star Rail for Best Mobile Game
• Cyberpunk 2077 for Best Ongoing Game
• Cocoon for Best Debut Indie Game
• Sea of Stars for Best Independent Game
• Final Fantasy XVI for Best Score and Music
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for Most Anticipated Game

Despite glimmers of something to celebrate for, more layoffs and unsettling developments in games workplaces continue to erupt within the past week alone.

Angry Birds developer Rovio is shutting down subsidiary Studio Lumi, which includes the cancellation of an unannounced project.

While details remain pending, TinyBuild will be escalating a cost reduction plan due to failing to meet financial goals for the year.

EA lays off staff at Codemasters.

Indie studio League of Geeks, developer of Armello, pauses development on Jumplight Odyssey, a starship management game that has been in early access, following the termination of over half of its staff.

Right after announcing a content update to their game Fae Farm, Phoenix Labs lays off more staff, a second round following up a series of layoffs back in spring.

Sony has been waving concerning threats over Destiny developer Bungie if they fail to meet its financial targets. Since its recent wave of layoffs, culture and morale at the studio has been at a low as remaining employees have been rebuffed for their concerns.

That said, CD Projekt Red has voluntarily recognized the Polish Gamedev Workers Union, two months since the shop’s public intention to mobilize.

Microsoft has also officially agreed to incorporate contract workers into the ZeniMax Workers United-CWA union.

Workers at Experis Game Solutions, a quality assurance and testing provider, have also voted to unionize.

THQ Nordic is delaying its Alone In the Dark reboot until next spring, but with the pretenses that the studio hopes to avoid crunch.

And somehow, Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones has made it out with a more definitive release date this time.

Alan Wake 2, Comes Away with Three

Alan Wake 2 won 3 awards, taking the accolades for Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Art Direction.

A live performance based on an in-game sequence by the Old Gods of Asgard, as performed by the band, Poets of the Fall, was part of the programming in full display on The Game Awards stage.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Sweeps With Six Awards

Baldur’s Gate 3 went home with 6 awards: Best Community Support, Best Roleplaying, Best Multiplayer Gam, the Player’s Voice award, and Best Performance by Neil Newbon for his role as the character Astarion. in which audiences sounded by voting online. Ultimately, Larian Studios’ heavily Dungeons and Dragons‘-influenced game won the coveted Game of the Year (presented by famed Xbox controller modder, Timothée Chalamet).

The fervor for Dungeons and Dragons shows no signs of stopping, and 2024 will mark the 50th anniversary since the game’s creation, and PAX Unplugged has unveiled several key releases that will mark this major milestone, including a new Vecna: Eve of Ruin adventure that will likely mark the game’s major transition from 5th Edition to One D&D.

The United States Postal Service will be releasing a line of new special commemorative postage stamps in 2024, which includes a series dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons in time for its anniversary.

Matthew Mercer, voice actor and Dungeon Master of the popularly-acclaimed liveplay D&D series Critical Role—and who also made an appearance during The Game Awards to promote his role in a sequel to Asgard’s Wrath—came full circle to expressing that he would be open to a Critical Role video game.

Grand Theft Auto VI

It has been almost more than 10 years since the release of the last mainline entry in the games series, Grand Theft Auto V, and Rockstar Games finally debuted a proper trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI. The game’s current slate for release will be in 2025.

The trailer video has broken YouTube viewership records, breaking the record for first-day views on a non-music video by accumulating more than 46 million views within 12 hours of its upload, and accumulating more than 100 million views within 2 days.

Twitch Ends Service in Korea

In a rather sudden announcement, Twitch will be ending operations and services in Korea. Twitch CEO Daniel Clancey states that continuing to operate in the region is “prohibitively expensive” and that network fees are “10 times more expensive than in most other countries.”

South Korean law requires content providers to pay high-volume fees in older to distribute their services through the country’s local providers. Netflix was previously embroiled in a lawsuit with one of the country’s largest Internet service providers due to said stipulations.

Viewers based in Korea will no longer be able to make any purchases from February 27, 2024, and affiliates and partners will be offboarded on June 4, 2024.

Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo is Canceled

Following “persistent threats” that have been going on for some time against the potential safety employees, Nintendo has canceled a major upcoming fan event gathering that was to take place in Tokyo. As a result, the future tournaments such as Splatoon 3 World Championship 2024, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Online Challenge Final Stage, and the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024 are postponed.

In other news…

Founder of Softimage, Daniel Langlois, was found murdered with his spouse in Dominica where they have been taking residence since 1997. Softimage’s software and tools were an instrumental trailblazer in leading the way to the modern visual effects industry, used in works like Jurassic Park and The Matrix. Two men have been charged for their deaths before the Dominica chief magistrate.

Among the huge deluge of other game released announced at The Game Awards, Hideo Kojima is developing a new, immersive horror project called OD. Actor and filmmaker Jordan Peele also made a surprise appearance during the awards show to further discuss his involvement in its production.

Bethesda and Arkane Lyon revealed that they have been handed the mantle to do a game adaptation of Marvel’s Blade.

Sega released fast-paced sizzle reel teasing several titles up their sleeve, featuring the new and old, revisiting familiar territory with Jet Set Radio and Streets of Rage.

Disney Lorcana next set, Into the Inklands, is slated to drop across mass retailers on February next year, which will include the addition of new mechanics and characters, such as Scrooge McDuck.

Among Us and Vampire Survivors are getting a crossover.

Fortnite and Rocket League also collaborated to form a new, arcade racing mode for the former called Rocket Racing.

Daniel Mullins Games, creator of Inscryption and Pony Island, teased a Pony Island 2 in the works.

The Dead by Daylight team unveiled a cinematic of an upcoming single-player experience called The Casting of Frank Stone, which will share the same universe as the asymmetrical online game.

As one of the final exclusive premieres at The Game Awards, Capcom revealed Monster Hunter Wilds, the next mainline Monster Hunter game slated for 2025.

Life is Strange developer DON’T NOD announces a new game in development called Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.

And confirming the authenticity of several leaks days prior, Elphelt Valentine is confirmed to return to Guilty Gear with a new design as the latest character to be added to Strive.

The post The Bulletin: The Game Awards 2023 appeared first on Gamesline.

What is The Game Awards Even Celebrating?

While the Game Awards released its official 2023 nominee list for the upcoming ceremony with much excitement, a shadow continues to loom and grow across much of the industry as layoffs seem unending with a stockpile of other lingering concerns that bring some ambiguity into what the next year may hold.

All award shows receive justifiable flack over the constant executive decisions made for their make, and The Game Awards has also come under fire due to the nomination of Dave the Diver in the Best Indie Game category.

Executive producer and host Geoff Keighley defended the selection, saying that “Independent can mean different things to different people, and it’s sort of a broad term” and that show can only “[really] to our jury of 120 global media outlets who vote on these awards, to make that determination of ‘is something independent’ or not.” Dave the Diver was developed by MINTROCKET, a team that currently sits as a subsidiary of Nexon, a major video game publisher known for the likes of titles like MapleStory and Mabinogi, while also handling distribution for South Korean releases of games such as Final Fantasy XIV.

The strange decision is coupled with how viewers are approaching this year’s programming with cynicism, at odds with very little to celebrate outside of the ceremony. But hey, the Flute Guy seems to be coming back!

A Neverending Stream of Layoffs

All year round, layoffs have been sweeping the tech and games sector, creating massive headache and grief against the jarring juxtaposition of what appears steady sales and profitable numbers in the industry. To highlight them all, and Roger Lee has developed a layoff tracker that has been tracking the scale of these dire numbers since the onset of COVID-19.

In a flagrant display, around 100 staff members of Bungie were let go, including longtime composer Michael Salvatori.

Amazon laid off more than 180 employees from its games department, cutting costs to focus on measures in hopes of developing its own titles.

Embracer Group has been going through restructuring, making the decision to downsize its subsidiaries such as Fishlabs, while totally shuttering Free Radical Design, the studio behind TimeSplitters.

TikTok owner Bytedance is pulling away from developing games, downsizing and impacting what might be potentially hundreds to a thousand employees. Several of its titles, such as Marvel Snap, will currently remain in service.

Following its runtime fee controversy and the departure of CEO John Riccitiello, Unity has cut down about 265 staff members for a “company reset.” Unity will also be terminating its services with Weta FX, and members laid off were in positions related to this contract. Meanwhile, the company is furthering a push to look into “responsibly sourced” AI tools.

Cuts Across Games Journalism

Our fellow colleagues in the games press were also not immune from being hit with layoffs and the fatigue of capitalism.

New rounds of layoffs are now encroaching to hit staff across Condé Nast and Vox Media, which will be impacting about 300 employees.

G/O Media laid off more than 20 staffers, affecting all of its properties which includes, io9 and Gizmodo. Ultimately, the publisher has decided to completely shut down Jezebel, but is recently in the works to be now handed off to Paste Magazine.

In response to the firing of Nick Calandra, much of the remaining staff of The Escapist resigned from their positions in solidarity, including Ben Croshaw, known as Yahtzee for his review series, Zero Punctuation. The Escapist was acquired by Australia-based Gamurs Group last year.

And due to extenuating circumstances and burnout, Uppercut will be winding down on publishing new content and will no longer be taking new pitches.

Meanwhile, seasoned writers and former members from Kotaku have come together to launch a new video games and pop culture editorial publication called Aftermath.

The SAG-AFTRA Strike Has Ended

After about 118 days, the SAG-AFTRA strike had officially come to an end. The tentative agreement settled between guild representatives and the AMPTP prioritizes a new residuals model that hopes to be better adapted to an era of streaming. While anything can still shift as voting for the agreement still pends, several members have otherwise expressed being dissatisfied with the current terms in an effort to protect talent against AI.

You can read the full memorandum of the agreement here.

In other news…

The US court has granted a final approval of settlement over the lawsuit between CD Projekt and its investors over its initial launch. Meanwhile, the developer has revealed that another patch is arriving to the game this upcoming week.

A judge has ordered Epic Games and Google to hold settlement talks before the jury in a recent update to its ongoing antitrust trial.

COVER Corporation owner of Hololive Production, has listed its guidelines for its talent to be able to develop derivative work in games.

No one quite knows still what is going on with Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, but new reports suggesting the game is being further delayed into 2024 are being met with further elaboration that may release may happen as soon as February.

The 2023 App Store Awards has declared Honkai Star Rail as best iPhone Game of the Year. Other game-relevant categories has Snapbreak Games’ Lost in Play as iPad Game of the Year, Hello Kitty Island Adventure for Apple Arcade Game of the Year, and NEOWIZ’s Lies of P as Mac Game of the Year.

Arcane is confirmed for a Season 2 premiere in 2024. The animated series taking place in an adaptation of Riot Games’ League of Legends setting is the first program produced of a streaming platform to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2022.

Is the Nintendo DS getting its own sequel? In early November, Nintendo applied for a patent for a handheld device that not only splits into two separate devices, but also features a third screen.

Meanwhile, mobile game SINoALICE has ended service and will be ending service in Japan next January.

At the very least: Bloodborne Kart will be releasing around that same time on January 31, 2024.

The post The Bulletin: Over 6000 People Lost Their Jobs in Games This Year appeared first on Gamesline.

It is now 2021, and this is the first year The Game Awards fully returns to the stage while the pandemic continues to be a looming threat. Prior to the Independent Games category, the first category presented on-stage of the nearly 3-hour long show, Keighley reminds the audience the urgency of supporting developers, especially during these troubling times. Although earnest in reasoning, as it was accompanied by a pitch for the Games and Online Harassment Hotline, which otherwise is an amazing initiative to support and consider as a resource, which resonates a pervasive air or performativity that continues to be at odds with the show’s annual boasting for inclusion while coated in corporate glitz. While the show was peppered with very compelling, inspiring stories and from various influences and small creators, the big elephant in the room that currently is big trending subject of the games industry’s news cycle remained ignored all while viewers were ironically subjected to various promos for Riot Games. (And what could the most invasive cherry on top be than a performance by Imagine Dragons?)

After all, it was only just a several hours earlier in the day that employees of Activision Blizzard had publicly announced their intentions to strike, opening up their strike fund for any interested donors to support.

Today, the ABK Worker's Alliance announces the initiation of its strike. We encourage our peers in the Game Industry to stand with us in creating lasting change. For those who wish to join in solidarity, please consider donating to our Strike Fund.https://t.co/IauGyxuLYG

— ABetterABK 💙 ABK Workers Alliance (@ABetterABK) December 9, 2021

There were a few solid chuckles here and there, such as a particularly clever ad campaign that intentionally leaked game titles and Xbox Game Pass codes while the show was going, and it’s refreshing to see that Ben Schwartz might just be truly a normal person (with a sick preview finally debuting Idris Elba as Knuckles in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog sequel). But ultimately, it was especially poignant that Josef Fares, developer of Hazelight Studios and infamous for his “Fuck the Oscars” rant that made Keighley visibly uncomfortable at The Game Awards in 2017, ended up winning Game of the Year for It Takes Two. Fares, at that point in time, was not only calling out what he felt was the film industry’s disregard for video games’ artistry, but went on a tangent on various other issues, such as calling attention to the discourse around microtransactions all while promoting his game, A Way Out. Perhaps we all need a Fares to our Keighley to ground us back to reality.

Accompanied by several of the highlights of The Game Awards below, you can also check some semblance of a Twitter thread informally covering the live show here. If you are also interested in supporting the ABK Worker’s Alliance strike fund, it can also be found here.

Selected Winners

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits – Independent Video Game
• Maggie Robertson – Voice Performance Best Performance for her role as Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village
• Returnal – Best Action Game
• Deathloop – Best Art Direction
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – Best Narrative
• Metroid Dread – Best Action Adventure Game
• Final Fantasy XIV Online – Best Ongoing Game
• Forza Horizon 5 for Innovation in Accessibility
• Deathloop – Best Game Direction
• It Takes Two – Game of the Year

World Premieres

Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga

When this title was first teased, we previously critiqued how further stretching the first game’s allegoric intentions with mental health belittles its original intentions and comes off as downright exploitative.

Star Wars Eclipse

We thought this had some interesting promise until we saw that Quantum Dream is developing this…

Alan Wake 2

The “first” survival horror game Remedy has to develop! Apparently.

Sonic Frontiers

An open-world Sonic game inevitably made sense as the next step for the franchise, and involving the input of IDW’s Ian Flynn, a chief writer of the eponymous Archie Comics’ Sonic series, may actually make for an interesting take on the character for once!

Slitterhead

There were numerous allusions to Silent Hill, including an interestingly coy remark made by Guillermo del Toro appeared in the latter half of the show to present the Art Direction award, but through and through Slitterhead seems like a new original title in the works.

Nightingale

TimeSplitters? With steampunk/Wild Wild West vibes? Okay!

The Lord of the Rings Gollum: The Untold Story (#GollumGame)

Absolutely not enough of this was shown. #GollumGame

Tchia

This very cute title captured are hearts immediately with its similarity to the Super Mario Odyssey mechanic of inhabiting objects while exploring, a huge, open world. You can even play the ukulele!

Suicide Squad

That’s a game all right.

Warhammer 40k: Space Marine II

Who would have ever seen Space Marine II coming?!

Forspoken

Isekai the game may currently be getting some flack in the writing department, but at least we know you can do some killer magic tricks in it!

Metal: Hellsinger

Besides long-running franchises that have been steadily continuing, we haven’t been really seeing new rhythm games, but combining the concept with a boomer shooter can make for something interesting and unique.

A Plague Tale: Requiem

RAT DELGO 2! RAT DELGO 2!

GTFO

A horror co-op game that has been in the works for a decent time now, and it has just freshly left Early Access!

Elden Ring

That’s Elden Ring all right.

The Matrix Awakens

Are you ready? (We aren’t!)

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