Tiny Tina's Wonderlands developer faces layoffs in latest Embracer cuts

The development team behind Blizzard's now-cancelled survival game, reportedly called Odyssey, is seemingly among the teams dramatically impacted by the layoffs at Microsoft today.

Microsoft has made the decision to lay off a massive 1,900 staff from its gaming division. While the majority of the Microsoft layoffs are coming from Activision Blizzard, staff at Xbox and ZeniMax are also believed to be affected.

We’re still only in January, and 2024 has seen numerous layoffs, from studios like CI Games of Lords of the Fallen fame to bigger companies like Riot Games. The Embracer Group laid off a significant portion of Lost Boys Interactive, part of Gearbox Entertainment, this month after closing 2023 by shutting down Free Radical and reportedly laying off developers 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks.

You might have thought the The Day Before's sorry saga had ended last year when developer Fntastic, amid claims of misleading marketing and Overwhelmingly Negative Steam reviews, yanked the game from sale and promptly shut its doors just four days into its early access launch. But no, the studio has now reemerged with a lengthy statement blaming the whole thing on a «hate campaign» orchestrated by «certain bloggers».

As much as I love looking at and admiring sandbox citybuilders like Townscaper, I am terrible at actually playing them. I get the same kind of blank canvas choice paralysis I do in games like Minecraft, or anything where there's no real clear objective for what I'm meant to be building. I sit there with a big toybox of lovely things to stick together, but always end up deflated and disappointed with my own lack of imagination. But Summerhouse, the sandbox citybuilder (or townbuilder, more like) from solo developer Friedemann is just teeny-tiny enough to give me a sense of creative satisfaction. I've been playing its gorgeous little demo this week in between Palworld sessions, and yes, more of this please, this is utterly delightful. Happily, we don't have to wait too long for the final game now either, as it's coming to Steam on March 8th.

One talented Pokemon fan has decided to utilize his impressive artistic skills in order to create a fusion of Giratina and Tina Belcher from Bob's Burgers. Dubbed Gira Tina, the terrifying creation adds to the vast pool of examples illustrating the immense creativity of the Pokemon fandom.

cutscenes don’t always play out in ways that are necessarily ideal, but there’s one easy technique that can help make characters look more presentable at virtually any point in the game. Unlike the first two games in the series and many similar RPG competitors, features extensive voice acting and motion capture to bring conversations to life. This can provide enormous benefits to overall immersion, but it also provides plenty of opportunities for minor things to become distracting.

Around a third of developers say they were impacted by layoffs at their workplace over a 12-month period.

Sony shared its upcoming PlayStation Plus free games for January on Wednesday. Headlining this month’s batch are Capcom’s 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake and the Borderlands spinoff Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. PS Plus Extra and Premium subscribers can claim the 14 new games on January 16.

Gearbox's Lost Boys Interactive is the latest in a long line of studios to make staff redundant.

In an effort to make the PsiOps Battleground: Cosmodrome mission on Grandmaster difficulty a bit easier, one Destiny 2 player shares a simple trick involving the Polaris Lance and a Nightstalker Hunter. For players looking for a challenge, Grandmaster Nightfalls offer the highest difficulty within the Vanguard Playlist. Typically arriving a few weeks into a season, Grandmaster level difficulty offers some of the best rewards for those who are able to overcome the various challenges, like a capped light level, an abundance of champions, stronger enemies, as well as limited revives.

An unknown number of employees have been laid off at Gearbox-owned developer Lost Boys Interactive.