Steam adds in-game reporting of "illegal content" in AI games

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As part of major changes to Apple’s App Store policies to comply with EU regulations, the company has also announced that game streaming apps are now to be accepted on the App Store for the first time. This opens the door for Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, PlayStation Plus, Amazon Luna and other game streaming subscriptions to have dedicated apps on iPhone and iPad – they were previously only accessible via built-in web browsers.

Ruiner developer Reikon Games has reportedly laid off 60 to 70 people, or roughly 80% of its workforce, according to Kotaku.

According to reporting from Kotaku, Black Forest Games has announced the termination of 50% of its overall workforce, which was said to be around 110 employees in 2023. They join a growing list of layoffs experienced in the industry, which continues to accelerate from last year.

Black Forest Games, the studio behind the recent Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2 remakes, has reportedly laid off about 50 people. This news comes from Kotaku, which learned from a source with knowledge of the situation that these layoffs were announced yesterday, January 24, and that more information about them would be provided next week. 

This morning, there were some big headlines when Microsoft reportedly cut down 1,900 jobs within their gaming division. That was surprising but also disheartening news as we continue this layoff trend. 2023 saw several jobs being cut and studios closing down. It’s not looking much better as we head into 2024, as again, a whopping 1,900 jobs will soon be vacant. This comes right after Microsoft acquired the Activision Blizzard deal. For $69 billion dollars, Microsoft added a massive catalog of games into their collection along with new resources for future game productions. But already, these layoffs are seeing the effects on game cancellations. One of which is reportedly Odyssey.

Black Forest Games is apparently the latest Embracer Group company to face job cuts.

THQ Nordic and Embracer subsidiary Black Forest Games has reportedly cut 50% of its workforce.

Here's your daily Palworld sales update: the open world survival crafting game with monster collection mechanics has now surpassed eight million units sold on Steam alone in less than a week from the early access launch. It also broke the two million concurrent players milestone on Valve's platform, a feat that was only ever managed by PUBG: Battlegrounds back when the Battle Royale game was at its height. There's still over a million difference between the two, but it would not be wise to discount Palworld at this point.

In its first major update of 2024, Teyon pulled back the curtain on a new update for RoboCop: Rogue City that went live on all available platforms. This new update added the highly anticipated New Game Plus mode, with a new cosmetic reward for players who unlock it, and a bonus difficulty to give RoboCop: Rogue City players an extra challenge.

Indie studio Clapperheads has announced its new horror game, Zoochosis. The self-published horror simulation game takes place in a zoo where the animals are afflicted by a mysterious ailment that transforms them into truly petrifying monsters. As the zookeeper, the player must protect the animals throughout the night with all the terrifying happenings captured on the player's bodycam.

Texas-based Wimo Games seems to have closed its doors yesterday, as former employees shared the news on social media.