Industry News / Upcoming Games

[Antimatter]

Wyrdsong by Something Wicked Games is "planned as a dark, historical fantasy that takes place in a fictionalized version of Portugal in the Middle Ages. Though we don't yet know any details about the story, players will take on the role of a fully customizable protagonist and will engage with the world through RPG mechanics including combat and questing".

Fallout veteran returns with new RPG, and a new studio making it

Jeff Gardiner leans on the ‘unreliable narrator’ with Wyrdsong

www.polygon.com

Wyrdsong, the RPG from ex-Bethesda talent, isn't dead—but it's no longer an open world: 'We're down to a skeleton crew'

The next game from the project lead of Fallout 76 has been scaled back amid rough industry seas.

www.pcgamer.com

This is a common story in this industry.

From an overambitious RPG that had a trailer years before an actual alpha, to a roguelite and staff layoffs, in just 2 years.

 

[Skatan]

People play what they own, so if I would have done such an analysis I would have tried to incorporate (if possible) somehow the number of sold games as well, or maybe analyze the libraries of players and see the ratio of newer games to older to try and assess the percentage of "new" games per player on average. if you own 5% new games then it makes sense you play them less than older games since I would speculate that many (most?) players like to switch between games.

But considering the numbers, I'm most definitely one of those playing mostly old games. Sometimes when I buy a new game _for me_ it's already been out a few years and is thus no longer considered new on the market anymore.

Edit: Another thought that came now. I have what I would call "comfort games", it's games I play when I land between other games. Let's say I buy a new game, I try it and like it - I play it, sometimes even finish it, then I go back to my comfort game. Then maybe I try another new game, don't like it and go back to my comfort game while searching for something new. If this comfort game is old, then those hours add up in a year and despite buying maybe three new games, the total hours spent would be in favor of my old, rusty but beloved, comfort games. For me, those are Europa Universalis and the historical Total War games for example. And yet another thought while I'm rambling away, many opl play socially so that ie Counter Strike is still high up is not that surprising if compared to single player games since after you completed a single player game, most ppl never play it again (but of course some do) where-as in an MP game there's always another match to play and it doesn't get repetitive in the same way. So this too will skewer the statistics on games genres vs genres if looked at combined. Statistics is fun, you just gotta think ahead a bit and plan what you want for a result before you collect and analyze your data.

Edit2: Hah, one final thought no one probably cares about but anways: in MP I assume time spent in lobbies count as time as well, so 10000 players that spend 5% of their time in lobbies still add up a lot of hours vs SP games where you have some loading times perhaps and other idling but likely less?

 

[Antimatter]

Major news.

Ubisoft separates Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and more big franchises into new, $4 billion company

Receiving over $1 billion of investment from Tencent, a new Ubisoft subsidiary will become home to Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and more.

www.pcgamesn.com

 

[JustKneller]

Sometimes when I buy a new game _for me_ it's already been out a few years and is thus no longer considered new on the market anymore.

Agreed. That is categorically the case for me. There's no point to spend more money on buggy half-completed cutting edge games when you can wait a few years or so and pay less on the games that have survived the test of time.

Major news.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does an "evergreen" "game ecosystem" mean? Is Ubisoft trying to get me to go outside? Screw that.

 

[Antimatter]

This term, evergreen, was actually used in the Newzoo report I had posted before.

Mostly, they mean live-service games by that.

So not much for forcing you to go outside, unless you plan to get money to pay for some new live-service MTX.

 

[Chronicler]

Definition of EVERGREEN

having foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season; retaining freshness or interest : perennial; universally and continually relevant : not limited in applicability to a particular event or date… See the full definition

www.merriam-webster.com

We're probably using definition number 2b here.

"universally and continually relevant : not limited in applicability to a particular event or date"

 

[JustKneller]

So not much for forcing you to go outside, unless you plan to get money to pay for some new live-service MTX.

I work from home. Outside is for chumps.

 

[Antimatter]

Nintendo Switch 2 games will cost $80 for digital, $90 for physical.

This is setting a dangerous precedent of pricing games. I think we should now expect other companies to follow suit as this has opened wide a door for 80$ priced games across the board.

 

[JustKneller]

Wow. Hard pass for me. I also wouldn't let my kids play games at those prices.

 

[WarChiefZeke]

Game developers are just going to need to find a way to cut costs. Which shouldn't be hard, honestly. The market isn't going to bear 100$ games. Especially not in this time of widespread mediocrity. They better deliver double on the content if they want this to fly.

 

[Chronicler]

Everything's getting more expensive so fast. Price Gauging Inflation is getting out of control.

Luxury goods like videogames are the first to go. A lot of people realizing they can't really afford to enjoy their hobbies like they used to anymore.

You're right that it shouldn't really be hard to cut costs for a studio like Nintendo. They used to make brilliant games with a crew of like 30 people. Now every game they make has an ending credits sequence like a blockbuster movie. The methods haven't been lost. They can still do that. But they couldn't make the kind of games they've been making that way.

Like a lot of stuff would have to be scaled back but most obviously the elaborate systems of interactable objects like they have in Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Echoes of Wisdom is simply not possible with the kind of crew they brought to the development of Link to the Past. Much as I enjoy the old way of doing things it would be sad to lose all that so we could bring in a more modest price tag.

 

[JustKneller]

You're right that it shouldn't really be hard to cut costs for a studio like Nintendo. They used to make brilliant games with a crew of like 30 people. Now every game they make has an ending credits sequence like a blockbuster movie. The methods haven't been lost. They can still do that. But they couldn't make the kind of games they've been making that way.

I agree. the industry has reached a critical mass and is quite likely to collapse from here. But, some can survive if they just reduce the mass. It's situations like this that could potentially be a catalyst for a "retro reformation", but I also think such a notion is overly optimistic knowing how people are. Not to mention, a lot of these developers are now owned by really big corporations (e.g. Microsoft). Entities this big can't feed themselves on small, relatively inexpensive projects. People need to buy a lot of an expensive game for it to be good "business". At the rate things are going, I give it maybe five years for something really big to happen that permanently and drastically changes the industry in one way or another. Five years is a long time, but it seems the industry still stubbornly thinks they can just "go bigger" and it will all work out. To quote well, themselves, "A whisper follows as you stride away, something vestigial and sinister that you recognize, but yet have never heard, 'You will learn...'"

 

[shmity72]

It's dumbfounding, (not), how a monopoly like EA can have their *exclusive* license for NFL football need to be renewed and then actually put out a great product with Madden 25...Thank the video game gods microsoft has other MMO other than ESO to compete with.

 

[JustKneller]

Ubisoft holds firm in The Crew lawsuit: You don't own your video games

Ubisoft shut down The Crew in 2024

www.polygon.com

I'm kinda mixed on this one. On one hand, online-only games often eventually get shut down and that's that. You know the risk when you buy the game. On the other hand, the shenanigans that Ubisoft is pulling with legitimate refund requests are sleazy.

 

[Antimatter]

Indie publisher Devolver Digital has revealed which of its IPs has generated the most revenue, as its shares its strategy for the future.

One of the slides in the company’s latest investor presentation shows the lifetime revenue of 10 of its most successful first-part and third-party franchises.

According to its list, third-party release Cult of the Lamb is the publisher’s most successful IP, with total lifetime revenue of more than $90 million.

This is followed by numerous first-party IP, including Astroneer ($80 million), Stronghold ($50 million across 9 games) and Serious Sam ($45 million across 11 games).

According to the slide, “gamers are spending more time on known IPs as opposed to new IPs”, and Devolver plans to respond to this by “leaning further into our own popular IPs in a variety of ways”.

Devolver notes that five of the 10 franchises on the list already have sequels announced, including Astroneer, Gungeon, The Talos Principle, Gorn and Stronghold (which has two upcoming games – Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition this July, and a new Stronghold developed using Unreal Engine 5).

Devolver Digital reveals which IPs and platform have made the most money as it shares its future strategy | VGC

Devolver has listed its top 10 franchises by revenue…

www.videogameschronicle.com

So the approach where sequels are more welcome than new IPs affects even indies. Not surprising.

 

[JustKneller]

So the approach where sequels are more welcome than new IPs affects even indies. Not surprising.

But then, how will anything new be created? The gems in this hobby are generally the surprises, and not things like Beating a Dead Horse 7: Horsing Around.

 

[Antimatter]

Yeah, tbh, that was pretty depressing. They state right there that a third-party title (Cult of the Lamb) was their most successful and then proceed to "a reduced average investment on third-party games, focused on smaller development budgets with high success potential and scope for future paid DLC.”

And the usual "decision to “right-size” three subsidiaries and giving them “a tighter focus, reducing affected team sizes by approximately 50%”.

 

[Antimatter]

The hottest game right now is Clair Obscur Expedition 33. It's a breakthrough hit. Currently, it's the highest ranked game of 2025 on Metacritic, and has the highest user (!) rating there as well, at 9.7. It blends JRPG turn-based combat with QTE parries/dashes. The game is created by Sandfall Interactive, a small French studio with just over 30 employees (some of them are former Ubisoft devs).

Here is a spoiler-free article about the game: https://www.bundle.app/en/technolog...ays-best-4d9289d1-f4e7-435e-8357-1af0ae4143b2

Industry peers are ecstatic:

 

[JustKneller]

If I could run this on my current box, I would buy it right now. I'll have to wait until my next upgrade.

Though, it's been about 5 years...maybe I am due?

 

[Chronicler]

That development team is about the same size as the team that made Final Fantasy 5, which is one of my favorite games of all time. It was like 31 or 32. Something like that. Haven't recounted the ending credits recently.

Of course, it had another 90ish names in the "Special Thanks". I've seen some discourse on reddit about whether it's accurate to say Clair Obscur was made by a team of 30 people for similar reasons. They outsourced the localization to another studio, and I think a couple other things like maybe voice actors weren't included in that 30. But I think anybody who's passingly aware of the games industry knows there'll be a bunch of people like that who weren't necessarily a part of the development team but whose help was still important, and it doesn't diminish at all how it stands in contrast to all the AAA games with ending credits like a blockbuster movie.