Embracer says its ‘crazy’ spend on platform fees exceeds its spend on game development

Unless the FTC's Lina Khan runs in at the last minute to physically tackle Bobby Kotick before he can sign anything, it's looking very likely that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will close in the very near future. I mean very near, you understand, as in possibly this Friday, pending word from the UK market regulator. But if you think that heralds the imminent arrival of games like Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo 4 on Microsoft's Game Pass service, Activision has news for you: It doesn't.

With all signs pointing to an imminent successful end for Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition saga, Activision has moved to address the issue of its titles appearing on Game Pass, saying not to expect that to happen until next year if the deal goes through.

Payday 3 has had, shall we say, a rough launch, and one of the main sources of player protest has been its progression system. Heisters just aren't thrilled that your infamy points—the things you accrue to unlock new weapons, cosmetics, and what have you—are tied exclusively to the game's challenges. It can mean that players whose goal is to unlock new gear are better off completely ignoring their heist in order to focus on blasting as many cops as possible to tick off 'kill 20 enemies with this gun' challenges. A little backwards, for a Payday game.

In a new interview, president of Activision Rob Kostich said that the publisher is looking into AI tools, but that the jury's still out on them for now.

Payday 3 makers Starbreeze have promised that the matchmaking woes of its launch are at an end following multiple rounds of maintenance to the co-op shooter’s servers.

BackerKit will not allow AI-generated content on its platform, which includes many high-profile board game and tabletop role-playing game projects. The announcement, made formal in a blog post on Monday, stands in stark contrast to its biggest rival, crowdfunding giant Kickstarter, which has no such restrictions. The announcement comes less than one month after AI-generated art in a Terraforming Mars board game expansion raised alarms among creators and backers alike. BackerKit’s policy goes into effect on Oct. 4.

Capcom’s long-awaited sequel to Dragon’s Dogma may be set in a fantasy world, but its director, Hideaki Itsuno, has revealed that Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5 has inspired the upcoming game’s approach to creating a “living world”. 

On Friday (September 22), game engine Unity announced that it was making changes to its controversial upcoming Runtime Fee, and developers have been sharing their thoughts on the amended policy.

It's been a pretty rough week for Unity and all of the developers who build their games on the engine. After introducing a new Runtime Fee based on the amount of times a game is installed, developers lashed out at the potential changes and their capability of driving smaller indie studios into the ground, specifically ones that offer up their games on subscription services like Game Pass. Many devs threatened to delay projects to switch to different engines, and it was an all-round disaster for Unity's image.

In the aftermath of Embracer Group failing to close a deal with Savvy Group worth $2 billion earlier this year, the company has suffered some financial setbacks. In June, it revealed that it was instituting a restructuring program that would entail layoffs, studio closures, and upcoming projects being cancelled.

Today, the Embracer Group hosted its annual general meeting with investors for the current fiscal year. Chief Executive Officer Lars Wingefors commented on the ongoing restructuring process that brought about the closure of Volition and Campfire Cabal, as well as other minor layoffs at other studios owned by Embracer.

Mortal Kombat 1 has officially launched on PC and console, but the Nintendo Switch version appears to be missing key content.