Gaming in Sweden. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Thunderful Group, a Swedish video game holding company that owns a number of game publishers and developers as well as gaming and toy distribution companies, has announced that it plans to lay off around 20% of its staff as it restructures its operations. 

Swedish video game holding company Thunderful Group has announced plans to lay off a fifth of its staff.

A round of videogame company layoffs following a period of "unsustainable" spending? It must be a Wednesday. Swedish conglomerate Thunderful Group AB - whose corporate possessions include Somerville developer Jumpship and several teams working on the SteamWorld games - have announced that they will lay off around 20 percent of their staff as part of a restructuring program that "stems primarily from over-investments made in the last few years".

Controversial horror game Martha is Dead is getting a movie adaptation.

Italian game studio LKA, UK publisher Wired Productions, and Swedish film-production company Studios Extraordinaires have announced an exclusive partnership for a feature film adaptation of the video game .

Martha is Dead, the psychological thriller set in Tuscany during the second world war, is being made into a film.

Movie adaptations of video games have proven themselves to be lucrative when done correctly. Martha is Dead is one of the next titles to get the treatment, and it may be one of the best choices.

LKA-developed title Martha is Dead will get a film adaptation.

Martha Is Dead is going to be turned into a feature length movie, LKA has confirmed. In partnership with Wired Productions and Swedish film studio Studios Extraordinaires, the Martha Is Dead movie is already in development. Co-directing the movie are André Hedetoft and Andreas Troedsson. André Hedetoft has previously directed a film called Origin, and two short films called Logan and Double Trouble. He is also working on a Fort Solis adaptation. Andreas Troedsson has been a cinematographer on The Birdcatcher’s Son, and Tareq Taylor’s Nordic Cookery.

Indie horror game Martha Is Dead is the latest title to be adapted for a feature film. The news came in today from Italian developer LKA and UK publisher Wired Productions, who will be partnering with Swedish film-production company Studios Extraordinaires. This company appears to be focused entirely on adapting games; they've already announced partnerships with Fallen Leak to make a movie based on Fort Solis and with Graewolv Games to develop a feature film based on VEIL, a newly announced cooperative horror tactical first-person shooter game.

EA and Respawn's battle royale smash hit Apex Legends is back at the head of the Steam Top Ten.

In yet another blow to industry workers, Embracer Group has announced more layoffs at Lost Boys Interactive, a subsidiary of Gearbox Software. Lost Boys Interactive provided support work on the Borderlands spin-off Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, but the studio is now facing the ax with multiple departments set to lose staff.

The title of Bethesda’s upcoming Indiana Jones game may have leaked ahead of a planned reveal this month.

It can be difficult keeping track of the various comings and goings in the games industry, which is why we compile them in semi-regular round-ups.

Xbox and Bethesda will live stream a new Developer Direct presentation on Thursday, January 18, it’s been announced.

You know what wireless headsets need? That's right, near infinite battery life, and we're one step closer to that goal with 3M's solar powered comms headset which has just been announced at CES this week.

Actor Jack Black has joined the cast of Warner Bros and Legendary's "Minecraft", a live-action movie based on the popular video game from the studio. Black joins "Aquaman" star Jason Momoa as well as actors Emma Myers and Danielle Brooks in the project, which will be directed by Jared Hess of ”Napoleon Dynamite” fame, reported entertainment news outlet Variety.

India is increasingly and rapidly stepping up its game in space missions and discoveries. With a number of new upcoming missions planned by the space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India has also laid out its investment plans for a monetary contribution to the international astronomical collaboration project, which includes over 16 nations. The collaboration between the nations will be developing the world's largest radio telescope called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which will be responsible for studying galaxies present in the universe. Additionally, it aims to make available the data as to evolution of our galaxy. Know what the project is about and how and when it will be ready to conduct research.

Are we in a golden patch for Star Wars games? It certainly feels like that could become the case, as Disney has sought to spread the franchise out from just films and animated shows to encompass a myriad of TV spin-offs, lesser told stories and video games. Star War Outlaws looks set to smash the epic space opera setting together with all things Ubisoft when it comes out in 2024.

Star Wars Outlaws is launching in late 2024, narrowing its release date down to the final few months of the year. That's according to a blog post from Disney Parks, which has since been edited to instead list the game's vague, already-announced 2024 release window.

It's 15 years since Sweden's Spotify Technology SA, co-founded by Daniel Ek, launched its music streaming service as a legal all-you-can-eat middle ground between online piracy or paying $20 for an album. At the time, the music industry was slashing jobs and struggling with the MP3's rise: In the digital domain, “copies are not just cheap, they are free,” technologist Kevin Kelly wrote in 2008. 

The successful soft landing of India's ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission on the lunar south pole was admired by a large part of the world, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Friday.

Swedish production company Studios Extraordinaires and developer Fallen Leaf have announced a TV and film adaptation of Fort Solis.

Starting from tomorrow through January 5, 2024, we’re celebrating the holiday season with a month full of activities for our PlayStation community. As part of the PlayStation Plus Season of Play, PlayStation Plus members can redeem free avatars for PS5 and PS4 consoles, join eSports tournaments, earn points on PlayStation Stars and enter a competition for your chance to win amazing prizes. Activities for those who are not PlayStation Plus members are available as well.

It appears that, as first rumored in November, TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design has been closed. The studio's website has been scrubbed and now bears a simple message saying «404 Company not found :(,» while multiple employees have said that today was their last day.

TimeSplitters studio Free Radical have closed, according to social media messages from staff who have lost their jobs this week. Load up the Free Radical website, and you'll get the message: "404 Company Not Found :-(" I think it's safe to call this rumour confirmed, though we're still waiting for a formal announcement from parent Deep Silver or their overall owner Embracer Group.

10 Chambers, a Swedish studio composed of industry veterans known for PAYDAY: The Heist, PAYDAY 2, and GTFO, have announced Den of Wolves, a techno-thriller cooperative heist game from PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2 designer Ulf Andersson. It will be available for PC via Steam. A release date was not announced.

Do you like paragliding, exosuits, loot, and tornadoes? Do you like all of those things at once? Then you might enjoy the just-announced Exoborne, a tactical open world shooter from Sharkmob, the Swedish studio behind Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt. Running on Unreal Engine 5 and set in fictional, near-future Colton County, USA, it's a PvPvE affair in which you roam a big ruined map either alone or as a team, fighting other players, NPCs and renegade "natural" elements. Published by Level Infinite, it'll be a premium game with live service elements and microtransactions, and there's no release date yet. I caught a briefing before today's announcement, and yeah, it looks all right.

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10 Chambers, the Swedish studio founded by former Payday and Payday 2 developers, has announced Den of Wolves.

Swedish studio 10 Chambers is moving on from GTFO (albeit with the release of a major update) towards Den of Wolves, a newly announced corporate espionage sci-fi heist shooter game.

THQ Nordic has delayed its Alone in the Dark reboot for a second time.

It looks like a remake of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is on the cards.

Sweden's Embracer Group has shut down Insurgency developer New World Interactive.

Insurgency developer New World Interactive are the latest Embracer Group-owned studio to lay off staff, as part of the Swedish conglomerate's efforts to reduce their debts after a series of reckless studio acquisitions. It's not clear how many people have been affected, but New World Interactive's direct corporate parent Saber Interactive have revealed that one unannounced project has been cancelled.

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora offers us all the chance to visit the lush, forested homeworld of the Na’vi. And, at the very top of a floating mountain, you’ll be able to live out your own version of an iconic Avatar scene: taming and flying a Banshee (or ‘Ikran’ in the native Na’vi language.)

Starting from tomorrow through January 5, 2024, we’re celebrating the holiday season with a month full of activities for our PlayStation community. As part of the PlayStation Plus Season of Play, PlayStation Plus members can redeem free avatars for PS5 and PS4 consoles, join eSports tournaments, earn points on PlayStation Stars, save on PlayStation Gear merchandise, and enter a competition for your chance to win amazing prizes. Activities for those who are not PlayStation Plus members are available as well.

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The NASA James Webb Space Telescope has unmatched capabilities of capturing deep space beyond our galaxy going as far back as almost to the point of the Big Bang event event. Now, a new study by the eXtreme Ultraviolet Environments (XUE) program revealed observations about water and other molecules being present in the regions where rocky planets form and that too under extreme environmental conditions. This study has stunned researchers as it challenges the previous theories about where rocky planets develop. Know more about the James Webb Space Telescope findings here.

On Saturday night, Kiss closed out the final performance of their “The End of the Road” farewell tour at New York City's famed Madison Square Garden. But as dedicated fans surely know — they were never going to call it quits. Not really. During their encore, the band's current lineup — founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons as well as guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer — left the stage to reveal digital avatars of themselves. After the transformation, the virtual Kiss launched into a performance of “God Gave Rock and Roll to You.”

The era of the bad movie tie-in is over. Today, we’re living in an age where games based on licensed IP are among the cream of the crop: the Batman Arkham franchise, The Witcher games, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man series are all critically acclaimed top sellers. Hoping to run alongside them is Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Out of all the careers, life paths, and pursuits available to you in , you will need to live the life of a gambler if you want to earn the High Roller Ribbon. That means spending most of your life, and its earnings, at the casino. So, if you're hoping to add this ribbon to your collection of achievements in, you better be ready to risk it all.

I don't always play surrealistic metroidvanias about escaping the clutches of ancient demonic beings, but when I do, I prefer for them to be set in giant cosmic uteruses. A difficult scratch to itch, but that's the setting for Ultros, developed by Swedish studio Hadoque, and due for release in 2024. Above is a new trailer shown during the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted livestream, offering further proof—in case you need it—that Ultros is a gorgeously distinct adventure.

Hunting for hardware news sometimes takes you places you've never been before or shows you things that will forever be etched in your mind. Our superchiefintendo Dave pointed me to this one and well, you can't deny that it's definitely a thing. What you've got is a wireless headset that's been modded to sport a hulk-sized battery and some wonderfully garish looks.

Embracer management has now apparently confirmed Free Radical Design's closure to its staff.

The Embracer mass layoffs train has come for Fishlabs, the Hamburg-based studio behind space shooter Chorus. Embracer have laid off more than half the Fishlabs team - "around 50 people" - as part of a restructuring operation that has already seen the Swedish conglomerate cut over 900 jobs across their business over the summer.

 Battery giants are starting to put their money on new sodium-based technology, a sign that there could be yet another shakeup in the industry that's crucial for the energy transition.

The layoffs at troubled Swedish games giant Embracer Group are apparently "a necessary thing" for the company to meet its objectives.

VR specialist developer nDreams has been acquired by Swedish gaming group Aonic for $110 million.

Celebrate the festive season Remedy style with Saga Anderson’s cozy sweater. With the studio’s knitting guide, you’ll have a sweater of your own in no time.

Xbox Series sales in Europe have dropped considerably compared to last year, while PS5 sales experienced a major boost year-on-year.

VR specialist developer nDreams has been acquired by Swedish gaming group Aonic for $110 million.

UK virtual reality developer nDreams has been acquired by Swedish conglomerate Aonic for $110 million in what the studio described as a "landmark" deal for the VR industry.

A raft of unannounced Gearbox games were spotted online over the weekend.

Swedish games firm Aonic has bought VR specialist NDreams.

Aonic has acquired Synapse and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord developer nDreams for a total enterprise value close to $110 million, the company announced.

2023 has been kind to fans of cyberpunk action games. Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider touted retro character-action sword slashing in January, Turbo Overkill brought over-the-top gunplay and chainsaw leg attacks in August, and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty introduced a brand-new district to one of the coolest dystopian cities in modern gaming in September. Players searching for a neon-lit futuristic dystopia to run, gun, hack, and slash through certainly haven’t lacked for options this year.

Embracer Group, the Swedish video game and media holding corporation responsible for a wide range of intellectual properties and game studios, has announced that it's laid off a total of 900 employees over the past three months.

Embracer boss Lars Wingefors is staying tight-lipped on the current state of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake.

Swedish mega-publisher Embracer Group has laid off more than 900 people as it looks to mitigate its massive $1.3 billion in debt. With these cuts — and more to come — Embracer expects to lower that number to below $1 million by the fiscal year’s end. The company, which is known for its rapid expansion and industry consolidation, has 15,701 employees as of late September, according to its latest financial report.

Swedish conglomerate Embracer Group laid off 900 people during the last three months after actioning a restructuring program designed to turn the company into a "highly cash flow generative business."

Embracer Group has said it has laid off 904 staff, or 5% of its workforce, since its financial struggles began following the collapse of a $2 billion deal, reportedly with Saudi government funded company Savvy Games Group.

Swedish games giant Embracer Group has let go more than 900 people as part of its restructuring effort.

Voxel-based sandbox game Teardown drops today on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Owen Wilson (??!) is here to narrate the launch trailer.

In an interview with Game Developer, Remedy’s Sam Lake and Kyle Rowley spoke at length about Saga Anderson, her importance in the story, and how the team went about creating this intriguing character.

The Amirdrassil Race to World First begins today, with several guilds hosting events and live streaming their progress to take down Fyrakk the Blazing! Who are you rooting for to become the next World Champions of Dragonflight? The World First Aberrus victors of Team Liquid stand as the front runners, with Method and Echo hot on their heels, though several well established guilds from around the world will be vying for world rankings. Wowhead is officially partnering with Team Liquid to assist with raid graphics and character models, though we're here to highlight everyone and keep track of all the community achievements! We've put together a list of the top guild and community hosted events, coverage, casters, charity fundraisers, and more.

Well, here's an odd one. Last night, hundreds of furious World of Warcraft players took to Blizzard's forums to voice their complaints about a bug that is making the game all but unplayable, which seems to have emerged from the recent 10.2 update. The twist? All of these players are located in Norway.

Hydrogen-powered heavy lorries were once seen as the future of emissions-free road transport but they could soon be relegated to niche markets in Europe, overtaken by electric trucks.

Senior Art Director Samwise Didier announced his retirement from Blizzard Entertainment today. Credited with creating Blizzard's art style and even coming up with the Warcraft name, for 32 years he lent pen and voice to bringing these worlds to life. Beginning his career at Blizzard (then called Silicon & Synapse) after reading a terse newspaper ad in December of 1991 and being hired the very same day, Samwise since served as art director for each of Blizzard's major franchises, was credited as a producer of several games, and was further credited with creating Blizzard's distinctive house art style that has permeated the majority of their illustrations and games… but his contributions don't stop there.

Today, Fanatec and M-Sport, one of World Rally Championship’s most successful teams, have joined together to release a new accessory for sim racing wheels. This device is used in all M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 WRC cars, and will be perfect for the recently released EA SPORTS WRC. The Podium Button Module Rally originally launched with the new Podium Steering Wheel Monte Carlo Rally bundle that combined the two components used in the real car back on October 31. These are designed by Fanatec in collaboration with M-Sport, and the Sparco R383 wheel rim used in the real car, plus the Fanatec ‘Podium Hub’ and ‘QR2 Pro Wheel-Side’.

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2023 is being touted as one of the greatest years in gaming. With major releases like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, and Starfield coming from the big three publishers, plus plenty of third-party hits, there are more great games this year than we know what to do with. Meanwhile, there have been close to over 6,000 layoffs across the games industry in the same time, impacting companies like Bungie, Epic Games, and more. But the primary reason for the huge number of redundancies isn’t because of something that happened in the last 12 months, but a trend that’s steadily grown for the past two years.

Former Embracer Group chief operating officer Egil Strunke announced on LinkedIn today that he has formally resigned as the company's chief operating officer—essentially, Embracer's number-two guy—and that he's now launching an all-new game company of his own.

Embracer Group COO Egil Strunke has departed the Swedish conglomerate to kickstart his own company.

Embracer's chief operating officer has left the company, amid a wave of restructuring and studio closures.

Maxis might pump out expansion after expansion, but it is nothing compared to the army of people putting their own creations into the venerable life sim and to sift through the staggering variety, we have the best Sims 4 CC and how to use custom content explained.