Developer News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty has announced the shutdown of Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks amidst huge cuts at Bethesda.

Microsoft has just announced massive job cuts and studio closures for the Bethesda portion of its gaming business. They impact the teams that made excellent games like Hi-Fi Rush.

Microsoft has closed a number of Bethesda studios, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda, IGN can confirm.

Microsoft has confirmed it is closing studios with Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios all having their operations ceased. Roundhouse Games is being absorbed by ZeniMax Online. An email was sent by Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty to teams, and it has been verified by IGN. The email is below.

Shortly before the launch of , several new details about the game were leaked, including new weapons and bosses. Based on, a popular South Korean manhwa that was recently adapted into an anime, follows protagonist Sung Jinwoo, in a setting where fantasy dungeons and monsters have started to appear on Earth — and, as Sung discovers, he has the unique ability to «level up.»

Darkest Dungeon II developer Red Hook Studios published an update on the game’s mod support earlier this week.

Today, publisher Mindscape Games and developer Aesir Interactive announced Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori, a new entry in the equine-focused franchise that also features Windstorm: Start of a Great Friendship (which is getting a remaster in June) and Windstorm: An Unexpected Arrival.

Apple's highly anticipated OLED iPad Pro models are only hours away from launch. The devices are rumored to fill the gap Apple has created for the past year or so, and it is one of the reasons why the 'Pro' models will come with an M4 chip instead of an M3. We are expecting big from the company as it is also expected to announce additional models of the iPad. If you are anxiously waiting for Apple's OLED iPad Pro launch, check out the 'Let Loose' event start time in your local time zone or region of residence.

Nintendo has finally addressed the future of the Nintendo Switch,confirming that players can expect news on the company's next major console in the very near future. Rumors have swirled for years that the notoriously elusive publisher has been developing a new console to take over from the Switch given the console's lackluster power compared to the likes of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. While details on what the next piece of hardware will entail are still unknown, consumers now at least have an idea of when to expect the big reveal.

Remedy has announced that it has cancelled Project Kestrel, formerly (formerly Vanguard), which was in development with Tencent. Project Kestrel was meant to be Remedy’s first entry into the Games-as-a-Service business model. The cancellation has been announced as Remedy looks to focus on its existing catalogue of games and IP.

SHIFT UP’s PlayStation 5 exclusive game Stellar Blade has been a massive hit since its late April debut. The developer has teased two intriguing prospects for future updates, which fans greatly anticipated. Stellar Blade will soon have a boss challenge mode and a crossover with the well-liked mobile game Goddess of Victory: Nikke.

A new life simulation inspired by the Studio Ghibli movies has been spotted on Steam.

After Sony U-turned on its controversial decision to force Helldivers 2 PC gamers to account link to PlayStation Network, the game’s community has launched an initiative to drag Steam user reviews out from under rock bottom.

Helldivers 2’s first patch since the PSN login debacle is out now, making some much-needed fixes to the game.

Today, Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment decided jointly with Tencent to cancel the cooperative multiplayer game they were developing.

Remedy has announced the cancellation of its multiplayer title codenamed Kestrel in order to focus on its existing franchises.

Remedy has cancelled one of its in-development multiplayer projects, codenamed Kestrel.

Remedy Entertainment has decided to cancel the game codenamed “Kestrel” in order to focus on other games in its portfolio, the developer announced.

The M4 is expected to be announced later today during Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event, and with the company already employing the use of TSMC’s 3nm technology before, we immediately assumed that the new silicon would be fabricated on this lithography. However, one report states that unlike the M3 powering various Macs and mass produced on the ‘N3B’ architecture, Apple’s M4 will switch to the updated ‘N3E’ process, resulting in various improvements. The report also mentions that the upcoming SoC will arrive in three variants, which is nothing unusual regarding Apple Silicon releases.

Hades 2 is finally out now in early access, giving us all the chance to jump in and give protagonist Melinoe a spin for the first time. Of course, Hades 2 isn't fully feature complete yet, with multiple big updates planned for later this year and in 2025, so questions have been raised as to exactly how much Hades 2 we'll get to play before we hit a wall. Thankfully, developer Supergiant is on hand to clear that up.

Apple is working on its next big iOS 17 update which will see the light of day soon. The company released iOS 17.4 with a handful of major changes that affect the general public and developers on a system level. The company finally allows iPhone users in the EU to sideload apps and install third-party app stores. Apple is now working to release its next iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone, which currently rests in the beta phase.

Apple Inc. has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence tools in data centers, though it's unclear if the semiconductor will ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

Manor Lords launched for PC players late last month, and it only took about a week for modders to add Shrek as a playable character.

It might seem like a boastful name, but Rockstar Games really are rockstars in the gaming world. The developer is responsible for arguably the most important and lucrative gaming franchise of all time with the Grand Theft Auto series. While the open-world crime series is what the studio is best known for, it has dipped its toes into a wide range of genres and styles as a publisher since its first game in 1997. While the studio’s output has certainly slowed, with an over eight-year gap between Red Dead Redemption 2and GTA 6, there’s a backlog of over 40 games in its portfolio. That’s a lot of history to digest, but it’s important to understand the entire scope before we decide which games are the best.

Patch notes released following last week's Developer Update highlight a ton of positive changes to look forward to in Season 4. One exciting change directly impacts the returning endgame dungeon, the Gauntlet — players who earn a Seal of the Worthy in the Gauntlet will be awarded a guaranteed Unique Item at the end of every week! Diablo 4 Season 4 Patch Notes 1.4.0

Bethesda fans should be excited to learn that QuakeCon is returning this summer from August 8 to 11 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. Bethesda made the announcement on its webpage, promising an array of thrilling activities for gaming enthusiasts.

With the PSN account linking fiasco now in the rearview mirror, what was nearly a disaster moment for Helldivers 2 is now becoming a part of community lore. Fans have been busy working on cape designs since Sony reversed course, at least some of which have seemingly caught the eye of the development team.

It's no secret that is littered with junk for players to pick up and horde if they so desire but a new mod has now made collecting everything significantly less annoying. Bethesda's RPG has a reputation for including all kinds of miscellaneous props to make their worlds feel more alive and authentic and the developer's most recent game did this better than any of its previous titles. Given the amount of useless objects strewn about, the game's inventory system isn't helpful when it comes to organizing everything.

Blizzard's recent Developer Update Livestream filled players in on some of the changes that have been implemented as a result of player feedback following the PTR. Included in these adjustments are changes coming to the Endgame Ladder Bosses! Diablo 4 Season 4 Patch 1.4.0 Patch Notes Now Available Season 4 Developer Update Liveblog Blizzard has taken note of various pain points such as Summoning Material acquisition and requirements as well as the rewards for both the Tormented versions of all the bosses and the non-Uber bosses such as Beast in the Ice or Lord Zir.

Rumors regarding the forthcoming Qualcomm chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, are circulating with anticipation. Expected to debut later this year, likely around October, the SoC has garnered attention, especially with recent benchmark leaks and insights from tipster DigitalChatStation.

Final Fantasy 14’s servers are currently under a worldwide DDoS attack that’s preventing players from logging into Square Enix’s MMORPG.

Hades 2 — the highly anticipated sequel to a roguelike that Digital Trends considers to be one of the best games of all time — is out now.

Hades II is now available in Early Access for PC players. After performing a technical test from April 16 to 29, Supergiant Games said Early Access for the “bewitching sequel” would follow “relatively soon after.” The developer lived up to its word, as a week after wrapping the preliminary test, PC players can now buy and play the highly anticipated roguelike title for $30.

Anticipated roguelike sequel Hades II was announced back in 2022, and we knew an early access launch was coming sometime in mid-2024, but a specific release date hadn’t been provided by developer Supergiant Games. Well, surprise! Following some technical tests, Hades II officially launches into early access… today! You can check out a new trailer for the early access version of the game, below.

Supergiant Games has confirmed that Hades 2 will be in Early Access until "at least" the end of 2024, although there are some big content updates planned before its full release.

It’s time to slash through baddies and wield the power of some very sexy gods. Developer Supergiant Games released Hades 2 in early access on Monday. The game might be a pre-release version, but it’s certainly not a completely unpolished work-in-progress. A select number of players tried the game as part of a technical test in April, and its characters have already piqued the interest of fans. Now, Windows PC users can download the early version of the game on Steam and the Epic Games Store.

In a press release published on the Polish financial website Bankier.pl, CI Games confirmed to have reached an agreement with Microsoft to bring Lords of the Fallen and Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 to Game Pass.

Buckshot Roulette is an ugly, mean little game that pits players in a no-win scenario against a sinister, shotgun wielding dealer. The game is a solo effort from developer Mike Klubnika, and it blew up after its launch on itch.io, in part because it found popularity on short-form video platforms. The game has since launched on Steam and has now sold over a million copies. In a world where big-budget, wonderfully crafted games can – and often do – fall off the radar without making a splash, it’s interesting to interrogate the unexpected success of a small game, especially one that’s designed to be so viscerally unpleasant.

Meta is axing Quest 1 support for Beat Saber, a popular rhythm game where players use glowing sabers to slice musical blocks.

The creative director of Helldivers 2 has said he's impressed by the "willpower" of fans after their feedback caused Sony to reverse its decision regarding PlayStation Network accounts being required by all players.

Playing Kafka, a narrative adventure inspired by Franz Kafka’s life and works, will soon be available on Android devices! It lets you scour a universe influenced by three of Kafka’s most well-known pieces: The Trial, The Castle, and Letter to His Father.

Frédéric Julian’s The Last Game is a game which hopefully won’t be your last game. If you’re into the charm of old-school pixel art and the thrill of survival, this top-down action roguelike should be your next pick. Developed and published by Frédéric Julian, this title is up for grabs on Android for $1.99. The indie developer is known for his other cool strategy title on mobile, Cards Knight.

Manor Lords has a quirky bug that makes dead animal corpses stay in your village and contribute to your in-menu numbers, but the game's lead developer says the bug has already been squashed and awaiting deployment.

Veteran RPG developers have weighed in on how Baldur's Gate 3 has (or hasn't) affected how they approach their own games.

Helldivers 2 PC players who live in regions without access to the PlayStation Network will still be able to play the game, even after the account linking mandate comes into effect, according to one developer. 

Realm of Ink will be moving to early access on Steam from May 17th, 663 Games has confirmed. The early access version of Realm of Ink will expand upon the current demo with eight bosses, 20 ink gem skills, 15 ink pets which will have 40 forms, 150 perks, the first 30% of the storyline, and an endless challenge mode. Red the Swordsman will remain as the only playable character in early access.

Apple is making waves in the tech world with its ambitious plans for foldable devices, as revealed in a recent investor note. With speculations surrounding the launch of a 20.3-inch hybrid and a foldable iPhone, Apple is poised to revolutionize the way we interact with technology.

Even though generative AI is a recent development, there's already strong evidence that, like the steam engine, it possesses all the characteristics are needed of a general-purpose technology, argued Andrew McAfee, the Co-Founder and Co-Director of 'MIT's Initiative on the Digital Economy' and a Principal Research Scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

India has become a key market for global tech giants, with a burgeoning developer base attracting significant attention. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, expressed his contentment with India's growing developer community, underlining Apple's holistic approach covering everything from developer support to market strategies and operational efficiency.

Baldur's Gate 3 has 11 species, from human to drow to dragonborn, but with how extensive Dungeons & Dragons is, it was only inevitable that some fan-favourites wouldn't make the list.

Every once in a while, an indie game rises out of the blue to the very top of Steam sales. In 2017, that happened to Dead Cells, an extremely popular roguelite-Metroidvania game that sold several million copies over the years.

Mere days after Skywind got its first progress update in a long time, the sister project Skyblivion was also shown by the TES Renewal team in the fifth entry of the developer diary series.

Blizzard has been hard at work implementing learnings from the first PTR of Diablo 4, analyzing feedback from players, and making tweaks and changes wherever they can. The recent Developer Livestream highlighted some of the changes that will be present at the launch of Diablo 4's Season of Loot Reborn.

Hello! Welcome to the 325th edition of the WoW Economy Weekly Wrap-up! This week we take a look at the latest news on Professions in The War Within Alpha and speculate on what might be the good selling items for gold makers. We also talk about levelling via gathering in Retail and the return of Glyphmas for Cataclysm Classic! Just look at those Token prices! My name is Samadan and I'll be your guide through the World of Gold Making!

In today's Developer Livestream, Blizzard explained how the Armor stat currently works in Season 3, as well as the changes developers are making for Season 4. The thinking behind this change is to balance out how players are experiencing defensives in top-end play and reduce the mystery involved in one-shot deaths players experience. Diablo 4 Season 4 Developer Livestream Summary

With 2024 already producing some true game of the year contenders on PC only a third of the way into the calendar, it's a good time to be looking for the next great video game time sink. While 2023 was arguably one of — if not — best years in gaming history for its slew of top-tier releases, 2024 is somehow making a case for being even better, with a variety of genres represented. AAA games and indies alike are vying for people's attention, and the quality feels like it's almost too good to sustain.

In late November, Blackbird Interactive revealed that the long-anticipated real-time strategy game Homeworld 3 would support NVIDIA DLSS 3. However, we've since received confirmation that this will not be the case.

A report from DidYouKnowGaming has revealed that Vicarious Visions, the developers behind Skylanders, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, pitched a 3D Donkey Kong game to Nintendo that ultimately got rejected.

Intel's next-gen Arc Battlemage Xe2 and Celestial Xe3 GPUs might possibly be delayed or even canceled based on the latest posts from Golden Pig Upgrade over at Weibo.

No Rest for the Wicked, the action RPG developed by Moon Studios, has received a major performance update with the first Early Access patch, lowering the recommended system requirements.

With Diablo 4 Season 4, the Gambling system will receive massive changes, allowing players to gamble on «the best items in the game», according to Blizzard. During their Developer Livestream for Diablo 4's upcoming season, the development team stated that Level 100 characters will receive only Item Level 925 items while gambling. Season 4: Loot Reborn — Developer Update Summary Essentially, this means that players will be able to gamble into Legendary items with up to three Greater Affixes, which, besides Unique items with up to four Greater Affixes, will be the best items to wear in the game by far.

The Season 4: Loot Reborn, Developer Update Livestream this week highlighted several upcoming changes to Diablo 4's Seasonal Journey, and possibly one of the most exciting is the addition of a new reward system reminiscent of Diablo 3's Seasonal Reward Caches. Starting in Season 4, players tackling their Seasonal Journey will periodically receive class-specific Legendary Item Caches while progressing through the Seasonal Campaign. These rewards will include curated Legendary Items tailored toward specific builds that will help players live out iconic class fantasies with their fresh Seasonal Characters. In Season 4, players will receive gear for the following builds.

The Unreal Engine 5.4 will push some incredible visuals, but it will come at a huge performance cost, which may force most players to turn down some settings, even on the best GPUs on the market.

Vampire Survivors is getting another DLC pack next week, this time bringing a crossover with Contra, Konami's classic shooter series. It wouldn't be a Contra mashup without the iconic Spread Shot, and developer Poncle has just revealed a bit about how the weapon will work in the indie smash.

As Helldivers 2 endures thousands of negative Steam user reviews prompted by mandatory PlayStation Network account linking, community managers from developer Arrowhead have been rushing around handing out context and clarification to disgruntled players. A key point comes from community manager Twinbeard on Discord: "It's Sony's decision, not ours."

Hardcore FromSoftware fans might recall that director Hidetaka Miyazaki once said Elden Ring would take about 30 hours to beat - an estimate that was proven not just wrong, but ridiculously wrong pretty soon after the game's launch. Now, after so many players roasted that initial estimate, Miyazaki is refusing to guess at just how long the Elden Ring DLC is.

Arguably Cyberpunk 2077's most famous date scene - the underwater scuba dive with tech wizard Judy Alvarez - was made with smoke and mirrors, according to one lead developer. 

The mod teams behind Skywind and Skyblivion, the two massive projects remaking Morrowind and Oblivion within Skyrim, have been at work for a long, long time, and it's finally starting to look like that work will pay off. Both projects shared some extensive developer updates this week, complete with some absolutely gorgeous-looking in-game footage.

When creating Cyberpunk 2077's vast open world of Night City, it turns out that developer CD Projekt Red was faced with a "significant challenge" when it came to "adjusting to the scale and characteristics of American settings," simply because most of the team is European. 

Manor Lords solo developer Slavic Magic suspects some players aren't enjoying the city builder's farming element because they don't understand how it works at a fundamental level.

Helldivers 2 is about to actually start enforcing its previously stated requirement for players on Steam to sign in with a PlayStation account, and to put it mildly, the community isn't taking it well. After 20,000 negative reviews in less than 24 hours, the game's developers say they get why players are upset.

Usually, when I recommend a game, I try to give as comprehensive an overview of it as I can. I know that it’s hard to get players to commit time and money to something sight unseen. But with Indika, I’m tempted to say nothing at all. It’s something you should experience for yourself. If that’s enough to intrigue you, you can stop reading here and head on over to Steam.

It's a pretty exciting time to be a Starfield fan at the moment, with Todd Howard revealing that the game's Shattered Space DLC will release this Fall, and that land vehicles are finally being added at some point in the near future. However, Bethesda may have also accidentally shown us something it didn't mean to in that same video, as there's a brief moment in which story details for Shattered Space may have been revealed.

Indian Bikes Driving 3D is a popular Android game which is a spinoff of the GTA franchise. The game brings all the elements of an open-world game, just like GTA San Andreas or GTA Vice City. However, there are times when playing the game can become a bit challenging, and this is why the developers have added an option for cheat codes. These cheat codes can provide players with various advantages, such as fancy new cars and bikes and exclusive features. In this article, we will discuss a full list of Indian Bike Driving 3D cheat codes that can help you enhance your gaming experience. So, without further ado, let's get started.

Today’s Developer Liveblog covered new changes coming in Diablo 4's Season 4: Loot Reborn, including improvements to the amount of Veiled Crystals yielded from Salvaging at the Blacksmith. Season 4 Developer Liveblog As the usefulness of Rare items has become a topic of conversation since the Gear Affix reduction announcement, players have expressed concerns about needing to pick up Rare items for Veiled Crystal. In an attempt to address this, Salvaging Legendary items will now grant the same amount of Veiled Crystal as Rare items.

Blizzard has released a Hotfix for Cataclysm Classic which resolved an issue that prevented Bloodlust and Heroism from working, corrected heal-over-time and damage-over-time ticks, and extended The Children's Week holiday for one week.

AI roundup: The first week of May has been a series of AI breakthroughs. Now that the week has ended, let's take a look at the top AI happenings such as Nvidia announcing the integration of Google's Gemma model for its AI chatbot, ChatRTX. In other news, a new report revealed that Apple has a secret AI lab in Europe. Know more about such AI news from this week.

Nintendo sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice for over 8,000 GitHub repositories hosting code from the Yuzu Switch emulator, which the Zelda maker previously described as enabling “piracy at a colossal scale.” The sweeping takedown comes two months after Yuzu’s creators quickly settled a lawsuit with Nintendo and its notoriously trigger-happy legal team for $2.4 million.

Blizzard is aware of a bug that is not allowing the PvP Resilience stat to work properly in Cataclysm Classic. This issue will be resolved as a part of scheduled maintenance on May 7th.

In their most recent Developer Livestream, Blizzard has confirmed that after overwhelming PTR feedback, players will be able to see Greater Item Affixes on dropped gear — before even picking it up! Diablo Season 4 Developer Livestream Summary Items with one Greater Affix will have one star, while items with two will have two stars, and so on.