GDC News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

One day after closing Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, Xbox studios boss Matt Booty reportedly told staff the company needs “smaller games that give us prestige and awards”.

The founders of Deliver Us Mars and Deliver Us the Moon studio KeokeN have announced that the rest of the company has been laid off.

Next week’s free Epic Games Store titles have been revealed.

The first news on Gears of War 6 may be coming this summer, according to new claims.

Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has been announced.

Saber Interactive founder Matthew Karch has launched a defence of his former employer Embracer Group and its CEO, Lars Wingefors.

Next week’s free Epic Games Store titles have been confirmed.

Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has seemingly leaked ahead of an official announcement on Thursday.

Smilegate Barcelona, the studio established in 2020 to develop an open-world AAA console title, has reportedly been closed.

World of Warcraft recently held a retrospective panel at a Games Developer Conference that reflected on the rise, fall, and recovery of the MMO over the last several years. During the lecture, World of Warcraft admitted to the mistakes it made during Shadowlands, and revealed the subscription trends between each expansion.

Some third-party publishers are reportedly expressing doubts about continuing to support Xbox consoles amid “flatlining” sales in Europe.

Developers shutting down a live service game should consider releasing a modified version that supports private servers, according to a Knockout City developer.

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vinke says the decision to move on from the Baldur’s Gate series had nothing to do with Wizards of the Coast.

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vinke has said the company’s moving on from Baldur’s Gate and the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

The CEO of Larian Studios and director of its hit game Baldur’s Gate 3 has blamed corporate greed for the high number of mass layoffs in the video games industry.

Next week’s free Epic Games Store title has been confirmed.

The winners of the 2024 Independant Games Festival were announced at GDC last night, and it was Visai Games' Venba that came home with the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. The cooking adventure was up for four IGF awards in total, including nominations for Excellence in Audio, Narrative and Visual Art. But there was no runaway winner at this year's IGF Awards, with all prizes going to completely different indie games. Come and celebrate the full list of winners below.

Xbox has launched the 'Gaming For Everyone Product Inclusion Framework', a series of resources and information on how to make games more inclusive.

Marvel and Skydance New Media have unveiled Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, the game being helmed by Uncharted 1 – 3 director Amy Hennig.

Arkane founder Raphaël Colantonio has begun teasing his next game, which is described as a first-person “retro sci-fi RPG”.

It's GDC week, and conversations are being had about AI. Ubisoft have blundered into this, in classic Ubi style, by revealing that they've had an R&D team beavering away on a project called NEO NPC. It's the usual pitch. "Have you ever dreamed of having a real conversation with an NPC in a video game?", asks Ubi's official post about it. And what all people who make this fail to understand that the answer most normal people give if they think about it is "Erm, probably no, actually?"

Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry publisher Ubisoft has unveiled ‘NEO NPCs’ at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Ubisoft has shown three behind-the-scenes demos at GDC this week on the potential of AI when it comes to building NPCs.

Players can now buy games via Robot Cache and play them 'almost instantly' as they download.

Toxicity is a serious issue that players expect studios of online games to address. New legal regulations are also demanding studios do more to protect their players or face hefty fines.

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Microsoft seems to be the latest entrant in the race for upscaling solutions, with a Super Resolution technology reportedly in the works. While various implementations of the technology exist in the industry currently, some games opt for one instead of the other, making it available only for a subset of users. Microsoft could be on its way to providing a more standardized solution.

Build a Rocket Boy has reportedly made an unconfirmed number of layoffs.

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The number of games industry job losses announced in January is already more than half the total job losses in the entirety of 2023.

Microsoft’s head of gaming has confirmed that 1,900 staff will be laid off across Activision Blizzard, Bethesda and Xbox.

Nintendo has announced plans to launch a new Pastel Pink Joy-Con set alongside Princess Peach Showtime.

Riot Games is the latest games industry firm to confirm significant layoffs.

Games industry leaders have suggested that widespread job losses across the market last year will continue throughout 2024 and likely stretch into next year too.

8% of developers questioned in a new industry survey have said they’re working on games for Nintendo’s next console.

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

Game Developers Conference organizer Informa released its annual State of the Games Industry survey today, giving a window into developer experiences and attitudes on a variety of subjects, including layoffs, generative AI, unionization, and on which engines and platforms they're making games.

Game artists: It's time to show your work to the world. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) has opened submissions for its third annual arts showcase—promoting an honoring a broad spectrum of art by specific artists in video games.

The creator of the original Counter-Strike Minh 'Gooseman' Le has said that he wishes he had stood up to the game's community over changes the development team wanted to make.