Longtime Quantic Dream writer Adam Williams has departed the studio after almost a decade. He already has his next job lined up: he'll be starting his own independent, currently unrevealed studio."I’ve already been in touch with many of you guys at Quantic Dream and Lucasfilm, to thank you for everything on Detroit and Eclipse," he wrote. "It’s been a great adventure."Williams joined in 2015, and served as the lead writer on Detroit: Become Human and Star Wars Eclipse. Quantic Dream was the only developer he worked at up to this point, having previously worked as a writer on UK television.Regarding his new studio, Williams said it consists of "a group of very talented designers and developers. […] We're working on something very innovative, very spe…
A new report from Windows Central (spotted by VGC) claims Microsoft is preparing to introduce even more wrinkles to Xbox Game Pass.Ahead of an additional plan and price hike for all tiers in September, it's now claimed a cloud-only subscription is being explored. It's expected to be cheaper and "more approachable" than Game Pass Ultimate, but a specific price range wasn't listed.This plan is allegedly aimed more toward non-Xbox owners, and potentially even players on other consoles. This one might also let players stream titles they already own via Xbox Cloud Gaming.Windows Central further stated the Game Pass Family plan may return. It was tested in various territories in 2022 before it was scrapped, and allowed five people to share a subscription for $25/month.Fi…
Nexon's The First Descendant has hit 10 million players within its first week.The Warframe and Destiny 2-alike launched on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation consoles on July 2. Like those two games, it's a free-to-play sci-fi shooter centered around PvE and a variety of characters with different abilities."Thank you all for your tremendous support and love," wrote Nexon. "It means everything to us."While the developer didn't highlight a standout console, Descendant sports a concurrent player peak of nearly 265,000 players on Steam. It's currently the platform's top-selling game, beating out the Steam Deck, Elden Ring, and Counter-Strike 2.
Update (06/26/24): Midnight Society co-founder Guy Beahm (the streamer known as Dr Disrespect) has admitted he was banned from Twitch for messaging a minor.Beahm was ousted from the studio earlier this week after it learned of an 'allegation' against him. Midnight Society didn't disclose the nature of the allegation, but the decision was made shortly after The Verge reported the steamer had been talking to a minor via Twitch's now-defunct messaging platform Whispers before he was banned in 2020.Now, Beahm has addressed those allegations in a post on X and confirmed he sent messages to a minor in 2017."A lot of people have been left in the dark about what happened yesterday with midnight society and I, and we made the painful decision collectively, to have me step d…
Update (06/26/24): Midnight Society co-founder Guy Beahm (the streamer known as Dr Disrespect) has admitted he was banned from Twitch for messaging a minor.Beahm was ousted from the studio earlier this week after it learned of an 'allegation' against him. Midnight Society didn't disclose the nature of the allegation, but the decision was made shortly after The Verge reported the steamer had been talking to a minor via Twitch's now-defunct messaging platform Whispers before he was banned in 2020.Now, Beahm has addressed those allegations in a post on X and confirmed he sent messages to a minor in 2017."A lot of people have been left in the dark about what happened yesterday with midnight society and I, and we made the painful decision collectively, to have me step d…
Mark Cerny has been a part of PlayStation for years, and led development on the PlayStation 4 and 5. And in his eyes, the two consoles have been key in helping games evolve technologically.Talking to GamesIndustry, he expressed surprise in how developers honed in on the PS5's capabilities. Before studios prioritized 60 frames per second, he'd figured games would stick with 30 frames since it offered more detail to a game's art style.Likewise, he didn't think raytracing would get much use, but it was a key tech feature for several PS5 launch games. Adding it was a "rather late" decision, and one he was unsure about given his work on "difficult" consoles like the PlayStation 3.While that took him off guard, he was fine with being "totally wrong&qu…
There's a new mobile developer in town, and its name is Juicy Button Games.Based in Limassol, Cyprus, the studio has already raised $3 million in funding led by The Games Fund. The VC firm awarded £3 million (or $3.73 million) across 22 up-and-coming developers in the UK back in April.
Total Battle, Pixel Gun 3D, and Mighty Party pedigrees
Juicy Button is founded by Alexander Kravchuk, who created the mobile strategy game Total Battle; Anton Sinelnikov, design director of Pixel Gun 3D from Cubic Games (which he co-founded); and Aleksandr Zaytsev, co-founder of Mighty Party dev Panoramik.Among the three men, their games have ha…
Deciding whether to work with a publisher—and then finding the right partner—is a huge decision, so how can developers make the right call? Tim Bender, co-founder and CEO of Manor Lords publisher Hooded Horse, believes it's imperative to avoid becoming wrapped up in another company's success. Instead, look at how publishers treat projects that perhaps underperformed.It's pretty bold advice coming from Bender, whose own company recently delivered huge results with Manor Lords. The strategic medieval city builder amassed over 3.2 million Steam wishlists and topped 2 million sales in under three weeks with Hooded Horse at the wheel, but Bender emphasized that project is a clear outlier–not the norm."When I talk to [developers] I tell them it's a little unfair to…
Ascendant Studios has recently furloughed most of its remaining staff, according to Phoenix Labs engineer Kris Morness.In a recent post on LinkedIn, Morness claimed the furlough has affected "around 30 folks." This was further corroborated by Polygon's Nicole Carpenter, who added the studio had yet to comment on the matter.The last furlough news we had was with Crop Circle Games back in February. In March, that ended with the studio being closed entirely, allegedly in an underhanded manner.Since the launch of its debut game Immortals of Aveum in mid-2023, Ascendant has been in rough straits. Almost a month after launch, it cut about half its staff (out of a then-total of 80-100 people).Those cuts were due to Immortals' poor launch sales. While EA hasn't commented o…