Writer: Down With The Ship, Zephon, Endless Space 2 (rbryantfrancis@gmail.com) Senior Editor: Game Developer (bryant.francis@gamedeveloper.com) 📝: www.bryantfrancis.me 🎥: https://boxd.it/hp9UB
EA is now owned by Saudi Arabia and Donald Trump's son-in-law
EA is now owned by Saudi Arabia and Donald Trump's son-in-lawThe U.S. publisher has been taken private in a deal worth $55 billion.www.gamedeveloper.com
From July 2024, still relevant. www.gamedeveloper.com/business/how...
Opinion: How will Project 2025 impact game developers?The Heritage Foundation's manifesto for the possible next administration could do great harm to many, including large portions of the game development community.www.gamedeveloper.com
you do need to read this series
Stella SaccoNEW ANA & DIN BOOK RELEASED TODAY YEAH YEAH YEAH
oh don't worry from what I hear publishers are absolutely out there right now demanding "the next balatro" in the form of gambling adjacent roguelikes with zero budget and expecting tens of millions of dollars in revenue
GamesRadar+We need games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Balatro, and Peak as a cure for the "fear" in the industry, say experts www.gamesradar.com/games/we-nee...
This InfoWars caper is going a little too well. We need to staff up a bit. We're hiring a Social Media Lead, who will help make InfoWars the network of the future. We need someone who is extraordinarily online, has big ideas for how things break through in 2026, and can pull those ideas off quick.
Social Media Lead, InfoWars at Global Tetrahedron jobs.gusto.com
In response to the unprecedented number of game developers laid off this year, we have created a bundle on itch to benefit a Game Industry Hardship Fund, managed by @videogameworkers.bsky.social. More than 100 games for 10+ bucks! Please share widely and donate generously! itch.io/b/3802/game-...
Narrative Notebook #5 – UNBEATABLE's music video vibes can't be beat
Narrative Notebook #5 – UNBEATABLE's music video vibes can't be beat'Music doesn’t make us feel things. Music IS feeling. Art IS feeling.'www.gamedeveloper.com
Y'know, I was thinking, "what on Earth could we possibly get from a Scrooge prequel that we haven't gotten from the many adaptations of A Christmas Carol, which literally bake in the prequel?" Knowing this background now, the answer's obvious: a Christmas Carol that makes us feel bad for rich men.
Kat TenbargeThere’s an even more sinister angle to Johnny Depp’s ongoing “comeback” tour as the new Scrooge—it’s a Paramount production and part of a slate of Ellison-backed conservative cultural takeover attempts. It’s angled around MeToo rejection and the manosphere. spitfirenews.com/p/johnny-dep...
This was, is, and always will be a brilliantly shit illustration of how stupidly self defeating business people can be. Forgoing the universal positive of a staff self-training on their own time, because of the vague fear that one in a hundred might make some money.
Chris KerrNEW: I spoke with multiple video game developers and a U.S. employment lawyer to learn more about restrictive side clauses that often prevent employees at major companies from pursuing hobbyist work or personal projects. In an industry renowned for creativity, why are we stifling it?
tangentially, even if you're dead-certain you have approval for side work AND have talked to your employer about it, make sure it's, uh. actually reflected in your employment contract, otherwise things can get a bit awkward lol
Chris KerrI suspect anyone who's worked at a major studio in a full-time capacity has encountered these clauses, which seem oddly self-defeating in how they prevent employees from bettering themselves outside the confines of the workplace—and subsequently sharing that knowledge with their peers.
"transforming Game Pass into a bustling indie library could work to both rapidly shrink the costs of running the service, as well as retain more subscribers" IMO the primary reason Game Pass failed to hit its subscriber targets is because the mass market simply does not care to play lots of games.
Game Pass Was Supposed To Be the Netflix-Style All-You-Can-Play Subscription That Would Save Xbox – Instead, It’s Killing the CompanyGame Pass was supposed to be the all-you-can-play subscription service that put Xbox on top after a disastrous generation. Instead, it's a failure that's threatening to ruin the company.www.ign.com
NEW: I spoke with multiple video game developers and a U.S. employment lawyer to learn more about restrictive side clauses that often prevent employees at major companies from pursuing hobbyist work or personal projects. In an industry renowned for creativity, why are we stifling it?
Developers discuss the pain and prevalence of side work clausesHow an industry renowned for creativity is actively stifling it.www.gamedeveloper.com
Exclusive from me — Daniel Moraff, one of the political operatives behind Graham Platner's rise and fall, has been accused of sexual assault. Full story here:
Exclusive: Political operative behind Graham Platner's rise accused of sexual assaultA spokesperson for Daniel Moraff said: “Any suggestion that he committed a criminal offence is false and without foundation."www.thehandbasket.co
Flying Bark, one of the studios that worked on Avatar Aang, confirmed to io9 it used "traditional methods" to produce the film:
io9The Messy Release of ‘Avatar Aang’ Continued at San Diego Comic-Con
Do you know who my father is
preterniaHasbro Star Wars Black Series Rotta the Hutt booth display shots from SDCC.
"We may think companies are immoral, but that’s because we assume they are coldly dedicated to their bottom line, not making billion dollar decisions based on something someone sent them on Facebook."
We used to be able to buy things in this countryLocking up toothpaste was a warning sign that our executive class was crazydannykatch.substack.com
