Industry News / Upcoming Games

[Antimatter]

Every game is being developed by a core team + external people. Localization, marketing, QA sometimes, different people responsible for the engine, licensing, etc.

Sandfall Interactive indeed has ~34 employees.

Of course, they used some pre-rendered assets from the Unreal Engine, but that's fine.

This year is already a great year for RPG fans. First, KCD2, now Expedition 33.

 

[Chronicler]

I think a lot of that stuff comes down into the "No man is an island" thing.

Nobody does it all by themselves. They drive on roads that others paved, in cars that others built, so on and so forth.

If you really want to get into the weeds of everybody who contributed to a project in any way, then yeah, there's always gonna be a lot of people who weren't necessarily a part of the team but who were still instrumental, but the fact that the team itself was ~34 employees is still significant and worth talking about imo.

 

[Antimatter]

There is a new article from Jason Schreier highlighting the issues of getting investments for medium games.

For the last two years, video-game developers across the world have been running into the same problem: Funding has dried up. With growth flat and interest rates high, investors and publishers have lost much of their appetite for risk — and they didn’t have a ton of it in the first place.

“You reach this point as a developer where you’re thinking, ‘Are we just not cutting it?’” said David Gaider, the co-founder of indie game maker Summerfall Studios. “But then you talk to everyone else who’s going through exactly the same thing.”

Gaider, a veteran game developer best known as lead writer of the first three Dragon Age titles, knows the landscape well. He’s spent the last two years on the pitching circuit with his partners at Summerfall, trying to get a new role-playing game off the ground.

In August 2023, they released Stray Gods, a musical narrative game. It was a unique, acclaimed title that sold more than 100,000 copies and was even nominated for a Grammy. But Summerfall didn’t earn enough profits to fund future projects, so shortly afterward they went into pitching mode.

They then began shopping around a meaty RPG that they called Phobos. Gaider figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to sell to publishers. They now had a prestigious reputation, an established team and a game that was more traditional and easier to market than Stray Gods.

Armed with presentations and prototypes, the Summerfall team began pitching at shows like the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. But along the way, they kept running into the same barriers. Cheap games with budgets from $1 million to $4 million were getting funded, as were massive games with nine-digit costs. “But in the middle, at the $15 million to $30 million mark, absolutely nothing was moving at all,” Gaider said.

Even when publishers seemed interested, Gaider found that they just kept asking for more. “With several publishers we got very far along the line, to the point where it felt like this is going to happen,” he said. “And then suddenly they’d go cold.”

After a year of such frustrations, Gaider and his team pivoted. They shelved Phobos and began to focus on the second game that Summerfall had been incubating, Malys, a small deck-building roguelike. But instead of another traveling road show, they decided to go to a different funding source: Kickstarter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-05-16/video-game-makers-turn-back-to-kickstarter-in-tough-funding-climate

Here is the Kickstarter page btw:

 

[Antimatter]

An interesting quote from Mike Kayatta, game director of Remedy’s upcoming FBC: Firebreak, about games released at a lower price point than we’ve come to expect (aka less than $60 USD) and becoming popular:

“I read somebody describe this recently in a very eloquent way as game developers building cathedrals competing to build these more and more complex, beautiful, expensive things," Kayatta said.

“And it's gotten to the point where you've got a lot of games that cost half a billion dollars to make. And then, of course, when you get into marketing and promotion, I mean, the amount of money involved is staggering. And that can produce some incredible, incredible experiences that I am very thankful exist, but only some of those can exist, and everyone can't compete in that space."

Kayatta continued: “And then on the other side, you've got all of these incredible indie developers. Everything from Inscryption to Stardew Valley to Blue Prince feel like they come out of nowhere and light the world on fire. But then I do think we're seeing that emergence of that middle ground now of, it's messy to call it AA, right? But it is something kind of new. It’s not quite God of War Ragnarok or GTA 6, but it's also something more than a Slay the Spire. And that's not a comment on either end of those spectrums. Those are fantastic games, but it does feel like there is something kind of emerging in the middle, at least to me.

"If it's the future, I'm not sure. I wouldn't say in the sense that it implies that that's where all games need to go, but this idea of a responsible team size, a responsible budget, a responsible amount of time to develop a game, just get it out there, make something that respects player time and don't try to overcharge and don't try to be greedy with time. I do think there's a space for it, and we're trying to touch on it with this game.”

'FOMO Has Infected Modern Games,' Says Remedy Director of FBC: Firebreak - IGN

Mike Kayatta, game director of Remedy’s upcoming FBC: Firebreak, supports the notion of making games "that respect player time and don't try to overcharge."

www.ign.com

Let's hope we'll indeed get more of these. Even before Split Fiction and Expedition 33, which are mentioned in this article, we saw games like Plague Tale, or Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (both critically acclaimed and praised by players).

But what do we know? We had a Randy Pitchford moment yesterday:

Borderlands 4 price controversy explained: What did Randy Pitchford say and will it really be $80?

What a mess.

www.radiotimes.com

 

[Antimatter]

Looks like China is indeed going to provide a lot of quality big games in the future. Wukong won the Game Award for Best Action Game and Player's Voice Award last year, and today NetEase, a publisher of the highly successful Marvel Rivals, announced their take on the Assassin's Creed formula - game called Blood Message. Developer is 24 Entertainment, a studio responsible for melee battle royale Naraka: Bladepoint.

"It's Now At The Top Of My Most Wanted List": NetEase Announces A New AAA Single-Player Game & Fans Are Already Impressed

NetEase's Blood Message has fans very excited.

screenrant.com

 

[Chronicler]

Culture Crave 🍿 (@culturecrave.co)

'Lies of P' has officially sold 3M copies worldwide 🎮 To celebrate — all staff received $7,500 bonus pay, two weeks of paid vacation, and a Nintendo Switch 2

bsky.app

Never heard of the workers being rewarded for the success of their game before. Half the time it seems they make a hit game and immediately get laid off.

 

[O_Bruce]

 

[Antimatter]

I'm optimistic about The Blood of Dawnwalker, but also quite cautious.

I watched their gameplay reveal trailer twice, the second time at the x0.25 speed, to be able to evaluate what was shown there in more detail.

The video was a bit rough, as is, I don't think the game will be out in 2026, I'd say they will delay it (and it's totally fine, as long as they continue working and polishing stuff up).

Combat looked a bit hectic and had issues with enemy AI (e.g., a third opponent never attacked). The pause to use abilities in action combat might be questionable. I didn't quite feel the impact, and it was a bit difficult to tell at many points why the main character didn't block the attacks.

In the short glimpse of the perks description, I didn't see anything too exciting, just some numerical +10% damage/cost efficiency type.

The main character (to me) feels a bit uninspired. Both from the VO and mocap points.

The cutscenes looked a bit rough.

I don't think the buildings of the 14th century would fit the system where Shadowstep makes exploration interesting. The realistic aspect makes all buildings kinda same-ish (which is good, for realism), but I don't think traversal above would keep being fun after a few hours.

The city looked a bit empty.

Not sure if those small scenes shown on the streets (when the MC was passing through) could be meaningful or just a decoration (the MC never talked to anyone there).

Still unclear if it will be possible to enter buildings and how much there will be to explore.

It was unclear if feeding on people is considered a crime and if it's risky to do, or not, in terms of spotting and where the guards are.

During the vampire fight, it wasn't clear if hits registered against those blood orbs until they blew up.

People online mentioned the camera angle as an issue.

I'm still not sold on the "22 days left until game over" concept in an open world. We'll see how it works.

I realize it's not a AAA game, far from it, so a lot of the above can be due to budget constraints. As is usually the case for similar situations, a lot will depend on the game's writing then.

I like the vibe, the tone, the music, and the vampire setting. Let's wish the devs to stick to their plan and manage to cross the line, providing a quality and successful game.

 

[Antimatter]

Terrible news yesterday.

Microsoft is closing down Xbox studio The Initiative, with Perfect Dark killed as well — joining Everwild and ZeniMax's new IP, and other unannounced projects

Microsoft is closing down The Initiative, after 7 years. The partnership with Crystal Dynamics will end, and "Perfect Dark" will be cancelled.

www.windowscentral.com

9000 people laid off, games cancelled... A tragedy.

And even the MMO I played - ESO - is affected. Their studio head is stepping down.

Also noticed Techland supposedly cancelled their fantasy RPG. I had hopes for that game as they invited a few former The Witcher 3 people, including one The Bloody Baron quest writer.

https://www.gamewatcher.com/news/dy...coming-games-including-its-new-fantasy-rpg-ip

Oh, and apparently Subnautica 2 is also experiencing issues:

https://www.thegamer.com/subnautica...unknown-worlds-effective-immediately-krafton/

 

[Antimatter]

I'm on vacation, but I'm still keeping an eye on the industry, and it's just bonkers.

Visa and Mastercard pressuring Itch.io and Valve does 'nothing to protect' women, and shock games will just be 'side-stepping the ban entirely', say affected indie devs

"Cutting these women off from income streams and audiences does nothing to 'protect' them."

www.pcgamer.com

 

[O_Bruce]

Yup. Another development on this sad mudball.

Things are only going to get worse.

 

[BelgarathMTH]

Perhaps strangely, this is the first I'm hearing of this news. I did see one mention on the Associated Press about the new British law restricting minors from using Facebook and other similar social media, but I didn't make the connection to how it might affect gaming.

I've been playing a lot of Final Fantasy 14 this summer. While I don't participate in ERP in any MMO including this one, I see it around, and FFXIV has a reputation for being kind of a horny game with a lot of people dancing naked in the cities and at parties in the housing district. The character models are designed to be very attractive physically in various states of undress and in revealing clothing, both the males and the females. Likewise a lot of the dancing emotes and poses are quite suggestive.

So, I wonder if these laws and these organizations who are gaining increasing political influence will soon come after games like Final Fantasy 14. And while I haven't played it and have no plans to do so any time soon, I've heard that Baldur's Gate 3 can be played very erotically with all the characters being romanceable. The character writing has a reputation of having those NPC's proposition the player even when that kind of attention from NPC's is not welcome in-game. So logically, a game like Baldur's Gate 3 should also be on the morality police radar.

 

[Antimatter]

Yes, and the industry is very silent about it. I mean, players and bloggers are talking about it, but that's not enough. And you're right. If this continues, soon even games like FF14 and BG3 might be affected.



This is Larian's head of publishing sharing the same thoughts/worries.

 

[Antimatter]

Launch DLC is pretty common these days, but Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is going too far. The clan system is at the core of Bloodlines, it's effectively your class, and making Lasombra and Toreador a Day 1 DLC is not something that should be supported. Imagine e.g. getting Drow Elves DLC for BG3 Day 1, or, say, khajiit DLC for TES VI Day 1.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Has Two Clans Locked Behind DLC Because of 'Business' - IGN

The decision to lock two of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2’s six clans behind a DLC add-on pack is a “business” informed choice, publisher Paradox has said.

www.ign.com

You know what else this reminds me of? The Lord of the Rings™: Gollum charging for the Elvish-language DLC.

 

[Cahir]

Launch DLC is pretty common these days, but Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is going too far. The clan system is at the core of Bloodlines, it's effectively your class, and making Lasombra and Toreador a Day 1 DLC is not something that should be supported. Imagine e.g. getting Drow Elves DLC for BG3 Day 1, or, say, khajiit DLC for TES VI Day 1.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Has Two Clans Locked Behind DLC Because of 'Business' - IGN

The decision to lock two of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2’s six clans behind a DLC add-on pack is a “business” informed choice, publisher Paradox has said.

www.ign.com

You know what else this reminds me of? The Lord of the Rings™: Gollum charging for the Elvish-language DLC.

And we all know how Gollum ended

 

[JustKneller]

Launch DLC is pretty common these days, but Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is going too far. The clan system is at the core of Bloodlines, it's effectively your class, and making Lasombra and Toreador a Day 1 DLC is not something that should be supported. Imagine e.g. getting Drow Elves DLC for BG3 Day 1, or, say, khajiit DLC for TES VI Day 1.

That's really disappointing. I really liked the first game. It was definitely a top game for me (especially playing a Malkavian). But, if this is the approach they are going to take on the second, I'm definitely taking a pass on it, at least for now. Down the line there will probably be an "ultimate edition" that includes all the DLC and whatnot that I'll get during a steam sale for $10-15. That will be my buy in point, assuming the game itself is decent.

 

[Chronicler]

That's how it goes.

In 10 years having classes and races locked behind Day 1 DLC will be the norm, but some new even shittier permutation of the idea will be the thing that takes it a step too far.

They introduce the fucked up new thing, work it into the market until it's just an accepted fact of life, and then they fuck it up even further.

 

[JustKneller]

That's how it goes.

In 10 years having classes and races locked behind Day 1 DLC will be the norm, but some new even shittier permutation of the idea will be the thing that takes it a step too far.

They introduce the fucked up new thing, work it into the market until it's just an accepted fact of life, and then they fuck it up even further.

I hear that. I've been getting closer and closer to deciding that I won't let me kids play video games when they're old enough. I'm even wondering if I'm hitting the tail end of it myself and if I should pick up a different hobby. What it's becoming is something I don't want in mine or their lives.

 

[Cahir]

I think you guys are to gloom and doom with your predictions

 

[JustKneller]

I'm not so sure about that. I'm not even thinking about the future. The current state of things is bad enough. I used to buy games on the release dates and also buy DLCs (aka expansion packs as they were called then) and not really feel like I was getting ripped off. Now, I can't even bring myself to buy a new game in good conscience. It seems almost necessary to see how it stands the test of time. There are also fewer and fewer games coming out that actually interest me. Games seems to focus more and more on product design and commodification over quality game design.