Publisher News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

A spooky crossover has just dropped. The Identity V x Little Nightmares event runs till May 23rd. And it’s going to drag Six and Mono from Little Nightmares right into the eerie world of Identity V. These two kids are about to find themselves in a whole new nightmare, and you can snag their classic looks while you’re at it.

Amazon is currently offering Disney Lorcana starter decks for their lowest price ever. The Ruby / Sapphire Starter Deck for Lorcana’s first expansion, Into the Inklands, is on sale for just $13.99. The Amber / Emerald Starter Deck is also on sale for just $14.98. Both of these decks were originally priced at $16.99 when they launched back in March, making this the best opportunity yet to start your Disney Lorcana collection.

Cory Davis woke up one morning in January to some unfortunate news: Spec Ops: The Line, the game he directed at Yager Development, had been removed from digital storefronts. Over 24 hours, the game would disappear from Steam, GOG, and the Xbox Store. At the time of this writing, it’s not available to buy new digitally.

Elden Ring fans rejoice, for you can now preorder a limited run, life-size replica of the demigod Malenia’s golden prosthetic right arm, courtesy of a partnership between publisher Bandai Namco, and collectibles distributor PureArts Studio.

Larian publishing director Michael Douse reckons video game marketing is a thing of the past."

The latest instalment of the SaGa series has finally dropped today. SaGa Emerald Beyond is up for grabs on Android and iOS along with Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and 4 and PC. Published by Square Enix, it’s priced at $49.99. This newest addition to the SaGa family stays true to its roots. Keep reading to find out more!

Earlier this month, as spotted by Twitter user MauroNL, Polish developer People Can Fly decided to cancel the new action/adventure IP codenamed Project Dagger.

Microsoft has reported their results for Q3 2024 (which ran from the beginning of January to the end of March of this year) and it throws into very stark relief two narratives unfolding for Team Green. On the one hand, Microsoft Gaming revenue is up significantly overall following the purchase of Activision Blizzard, but the rest of the Xbox business has continued to suffer with console sales down badly year-on-year.

Sony and Shift Up have put out a new Stellar Blade trailer to mark the PS5 exclusive's launch, with the release date set for tomorrow, 26th April 2024. Like a lot of launch trailers, the two-minute slice of footage features a lot of cutscenes and stretches of gameplay we haven't seen before, so you might want to skip it given the full launch is so close. Still, you can catch it above.

If you’d like to join the over 5 million people currently enjoying the Fallout franchise, you can pick up a bundle that includes every Fallout title in addition to their corresponding DLC for just $22.49 at Fanatical. Make sure to use the code OMEN10 at checkout to take an additional $2.50 off your purchase.

Fellow Traveller, a narrative games publisher, has just signed a deal with Made Up Games, a new game development studio from New York. Now, why are we talking about this deal? Well, they have also shared the news about a new interactive story and video game they’re cooking together as part of the deal.

Jamey Stegmaier, co-founder of Stonemaier Games, has made an indelible mark on board gaming since he entered the space in 2011. Not only has he designed and published incredible strategy games like Scythe and Viticulture, but he also helped produce and publish Elizabeth Hargrave’s genre-defining nature-themed board game Wingspanand its sequel. On Wednesday, he announced a secret project, the culmination of seven long years of work. It’s called Vantage, and it might be one of the most exciting tabletop projects slated for 2025.

Publisher Capcom has announced that it's raising its yearly earnings forecast following better-than-expected game sales.

Facepunch Studios has announced on Steam that it's removing 20 years' worth of Nintendo-related workshop items for its sandbox game Garry's Mod to comply with the Japanese company's demands. Earlier this year, an X user with the name Brewster T. Koopa posted that a group of trolls was filing false DMCA claims against the game to get Nintendo add-ons removed and to get add-on makers to shut down. The perpetrators allegedly used a fake email to impersonate Nintendo's lawyers to send DMCA takedown notices. Facepunch Studios said in its new announcement, that it believes the demands legitimately came from Nintendo and that it has to respect the company's decision and start taking down items related to its IPs.

French publishing giant Ubisoft has promoted Cécile Russeil to the position of EVP of communications, corporate affairs, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, human resources and legal.

It’s still unclear whether cloud gaming will ever become the next big thing. The appeal is clear: The game you’re playing runs in a data center near you, and the video output is directly streamed to your local device. When you interact with the game, everything is relayed back to the data center.

Players can earn Hero-Track gear by defeating Illidan in Black Temple Timewalking during this week's event! Those looking to start Season 4 off with the best gear possible won't just want to take advantage of the Timewalking Dungeon reward cache — it looks like Disturbance Detected: Black Temple is also offering a Cache of Timewarped Treasures that is dropping Season 4 gear. To accept this quest, head to Shattrath and speak with Vormu, right in the center of the city (/way 54.6 39.0).

PUBG: Battlegrounds is somehow old enough to evoke nostalgia. The pioneering battle royale game, which entered Steam Early Access in 2017, will borrow a page from Fortnite’s playbook and honor its first map. Erangel Classic will recreate the old-school battlefield from the game’s inception for a limited two-week run in May and June.

Manor Lords brings its in-depth medieval city-building to early access in just two days, so publisher Hooded Horse took the time to explain why it hasn’t announced pricing information yet.

Kazuma Kaneko, whose career as a character designer at legendary JRPG studio Atlus has spanned almost four decades, has officially left the company. Kaneko has joined COLOPL, a developer and publisher headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, where he will work on a new IP.

Sony and Shift Up have published an online comic book for Stellar Blade that appears to serve as a quick prequel to the events of the main game. Available to read through this link, it sees protagonist Eve and another character called Tachy sparring together, and then speaking of an upcoming mission to reclaim Earth. This is what you shall be doing in Stellar Blade once it hits PS5 on Friday.

The name Infogrames will ring a bell for many gamers out there; the name appeared on many popular titles on pretty much every platform. Now, the brand is making a comeback. Atari has announced the revival of Infogrames as a new publishing label.

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When Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors declared an end to the company's nine-month restructuring program at the start of this month, you would have been forgiven for assuming that things would finally settle for the troubled games group.

Valve has closed a loophole in Steam's refund policy that effectively allowed players to beat a game before its official release date and get their money back. The company has long had a policy in place whereby users could refund a game, no questions asked, as long as they haven’t played for more than two hours within 14 days. Until now, the refund policy was far more lenient for games in early access or advanced access, but Valve has nipped that in the bud.

Neowiz, the publishers of Brown Dust 2, have decided to tweak the age rating for the game in South Korea. When April 25, 2024, hits and maintenance starts, Brown Dust 2 will require players to be 19+ to dive in. Despite this jump in Brown Dust 2 age rating, the rest of the world won’t see this shift.

Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors is taking the brunt of responsibility when it comes to the company's most recent round of layoffs, studio closures, and game cancelations.

Gloomhaven developer Flaming Fowl Studios has announced layoffs, and that it's putting its current project on hold.

Assassin’s Creed Codename Red is the series’ next mainline instalment, but we also know what’s next after the Japan-set game. Alongside Red, in 2022, Ubisoft also announced Assassin’s Creed Codename Hexe, a game that, as per reports, is set in Central Europe and focuses on the witch trials during the 16th century. Now, new potential details on the title have emerged courtesy of a report published by Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson.

Lords of the Fallen developer Hexworks has announced the release of update 1.5, its “final milestone” for the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S soulslike, as publisher CI Games turns its attention to future games in the franchise.

Powerful rewards await in Season 4 to deliver the best of what the Dragonflight expansion offers. Jump into the new Mythic+ dungeon rotation, rally your forces for new challenges in raids, prepare for the new PvP season, and ready yourselves for The War Within.

The Federal Trade Commission today published a final rule banning non-compete clauses in contracts.

The latest addition to the Pokémon Center’s lineup of plush pocket monsters is unreasonably large and expensive. This massive Slowpoke weighs in at a little over 17 pounds, is 26-inches tall and 59-inches long, which is pretty close to the real deal. This Pokémon Center-exclusive doesn’t ship until November, but if you’ve got the room to accommodate this life-size plush, you can currently pre-order one for $450.

Get your hands dirty without leaving your couch with Humble’s Down on the Farm bundle. Through May 10 you can add eight eccentric farming sims to your Steam library for just $20 at Humble. If you’d like to try your hand at starting a homestead outside of Stardew Valley, this is a bundle you’ll want to check out.

is a new physics-based party brawler set on carving out a niche in a crowded market, and there's one element in particular that could help give it an edge. Developed by Lightfox Games and published by Mad Mushroom, the publishing label of creator group OTK, is angling in part to hook streamers and their audiences into the game. Finding success in this area can be something of a gamble, but Lightfox isn't leaving the prospect entirely up to chance.

Our class guides are now updated for Dragonflight Season 4! Our update includes a summary of everything you need to know to start Awakened Season, the best items to chase after with Bullions, and the best builds to run in every content type.

Atari has revived the Infogrames publishing label, which will publish games that fall outside of Atari’s core portfolio of intellectual property, the company announced.

Atari is reviving the classic Infogrames brand and reintroducing it as a publishing label. This move signals Atari's intent to expand its gaming portfolio and rejuvenate a brand with a rich legacy in game development and distribution.

April rolls on and we have another batch of our Crowdfunding Campaigns of the Week. We have a bit of a light week this time, but there are still some quality campaigns worth checking out. hopefully, you can find something that fits your tastes.

We review Apiary, a worker placement board game published by Stonemaier Games. In Apiary, players are using familiar mechanisms to try and score the most points.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Lightfox Games and Mad Mushroom have teamed up to bring gamers a new physics-based brawler called Rumble Club. It’s a quirky game with ultimate clumsy battles. It’s free to play and offers in-app purchases to snag some special passes and gems.

Legacy games brand Atari has brought back Infogrames.

Following his death in 1986, the stewardship of Frank Herbert’s Dune universe passed on to his son, Brian, who has continued to publish novels to this day diving into the history and lore of his father’s epic sci-fi universe. If your encore viewing of Dune: Part Two has left you with an urge to learn more about the Dune universe, Humble is currently offering a collection of 16 novels authored by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson that explore the houses, events, and other key players that have shaped the Dune universe for just $18. In addition to this expansive library of fiction, you’ll also receive a copy of Frank Herbert’s biography, Dreamer of Dune, penned by Brian.

2014’s The Crew was the first project for developer Ivory Tower, which was founded in Lyon, France, in 2007 and later acquired by Ubisoft in late 2015. While it may have been the debut game for the studio, a number of Ivory Tower’s staff formerly hailed from Lyon’s Eden Games (including Ivory Tower’s three founders) and had previous experience on the first three instalments of the V-Rally series, the PlayStation version of Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, and the trendsetting Test Drive Unlimited. As such, there was a good deal of optimism around The Crew.

Famed mass-layoff-manufacturing corporation Embracer Group are dividing into three companies, which will be listed separately on Sweden’s stock exchange. Those companies are: Asmodee Group, which comprises Embracer’s tabletop games biz; Coffee Stain & Friends, an evolution of the existing Coffee Stain publisher, who will pursue "a dual focus on indie and A/AA premium and free-to-play games for PC/console and mobile"; and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends, “a creative powerhouse in AAA game development and publishing for PC and console, as well as the stewards of The Lord of the Rings and Tomb Raider intellectual properties, among many others”.

The Watch Dogs is "dead and buried", as Ubisoft canceled multiple projects based on the franchise, according to online rumors.

Vintage gadgets find new life with Grid, a company that deconstructs vintage gaming controllers and other accessories, transforming them into clever art pieces. Right now, this purveyor of tasteful video game art is having a sitewide 15% off sale through April 23 in honor of Earth Day. Each of Grid’s shadowbox pieces is made of wholly genuine recycled parts, artfully displayed in a black 13 x 13-inch frame.

Embracer Group, the company best known for acquiring an obscene number of studios, publishers, and intellectual property and then laying off thousands when that didn't work out, is set to split into three separate entities. Following its massive restructuring plan, the business is dividing into a trio of companies, each with their own leadership and specialities.

Kwalee, the British video game developer and publisher, is now diving into the Casual gaming scene with Text Express: Word Adventure. In case you don’t know, they’ve published hits like Teacher Simulator and Airport Security with over 1 billion downloads on mobile.

Mother’s Day in the U.S. falls on Sunday, May 12, this year, and it isn’t far off. Your mom is too cool to ask for a gift, but we all know she deserves more than a little recognition for her efforts. So this Mother’s Day, make sure to give your mom a call, and maybe pick her up something nice to show her you care.

Embracer, the embattled gaming company that went through a massive restructuring over the past year, just announced that it will split up into three different companies: Asmodee, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.

Kazuma Kaneko, who is known for his character and demon designs across the Megami Tensei series, left ATLUS in 2023 after 35 years and has joined COLOPL to develop a new intellectual property.

For just about as long as I can remember, products from The Army Painter have been judged a bit hit-or-miss by those in the painting community. Some colors were just okay, while others were best avoided entirely. All that’s changed over the past few years, however. Now, the Denmark-based company is a competitor in the space once again. Both of its two new lines of paint give industry leader Games Workshop a run for its money, and the newest is available to the public this week for the very first time.

Teapot Games has just launched AeroMayhem PvP: Air Combat Ace on Android. It’s an air combat simulation where you fly a fighter jet and take on enemies across vast maps. Based in India, Teapot Games has published other air combat titles like War Dogs: Air Combat Flight S and Jumbo Jet Flight Simulator.

Here’s a heads-up on a sweet deal you might not want to miss. Down in Bermuda, the puzzle game by Yak & Co has just dropped its price from $4.99 to $1.49. Yup, you read that right. You can dive into the mysterious Bermuda at a much cheaper price than usual.

April 17's Roxxon Presents: Thor #1 is a tongue-in-cheek satire that offers up an exacting look at what the absolute worst case scenario of corporate comics can be, with the evil Roxxon Corporation, led by the vicious minotaur Dario Agger and powered by the Asgardian villain the Enchantress, having bought and warped all of Thor's adventures into the corporate synergy comic to end all corporate synergy comics.

If you hurry, you can currently pick up a pair of our favorite gaming earbuds, the Sony Inzone Buds, for their lowest price ever. For a limited time, the $199.99 wireless, noise-cancelling earbuds can be purchased direct from Sony for just $179.99. They’re a true multi-purpose solution as well, since they can work with virtually any PC and your phone as well.

Earth Day is April 22, and to commemorate the occasion, you can currently save on a variety of documentaries from the BBC’s Planet Earth collection in 4K UHD format at Amazon. Even if you’ve already seen some of these films, streaming service resolution can’t compare to the visuals on a physical disc. While this isn’t a comprehensive collection of nature documentaries produced by the BBC, it is an excellent opportunity to explore the majesty of our little blue marble without leaving the safety of your living room.

It hasn't been a great week for Paradox Interactive, and things just got a little worse for the publisher. It has announced another delay for Prison Architect 2, the sequel to a cult hit from 2015. The game had been set to drop on May 7 (which was already a delay from March 26) but now it won't arrive until September 3.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

The Baldur's Gate 3 team has expressed a feeling of "closure" after the juggernaut game completed its victory lap. 

UK studio and publisher Kwalee has revealed recent staff cuts were made to «reshape» the company's business around «significant growth opportunities.» The company has layed off approximately 10% of its workforce, around 40 people, in recent months. Despite that, Kwalee stressed it expects to grow its headcount (currently about 400) to somewhere between 410 and 420.

Grand Theft Auto owner Take-Two has announced it's laying off around five per cent of its more than 11,500-employee-strong workforce in an effort to save $165 million annually. Around 600 full-time workers will be affected by the layoffs, and some unannounced games within the publisher are to be cancelled as a result. Take-Two declined to say what the projects are.

GSC Game World has published PS4 patches for the three games that make up the S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Legends of the Zone Trilogy. Following its surprise release last month, the developer has now updated the three titles with fixes that should address a variety of save, crashing, and bug-related flaws. The patch notes are the following:

Rebellion has today published a fresh PSVR2 trailer for Zombie Army VR, a spin-off from the main Zombie Army series that marks its first foray into virtual reality. It delivers a fully-fledged campaign that can be played alone or with a friend, and charts a path alongside the main games telling the story of a Deadhunter on the search for zombie war criminals.

Publisher Marvelous and developer Voracious Games have unveiled a console port of their well-received shopkeeping sim, Potionomics. Coming to PS5 this autumn as Potionomics: Masterwork Edition, this is a souped-up version of the game that adds various new features to the experience.

Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke recently discussed various topics in an interview published by GamesIndustry. The director of Baldur's Gate 3 talked about avoiding overlap with Bethesda's Starfield (Larian's game launched in early August on PC, while Starfield was released in early September) and his respect for the studio.

Blizzard published a video highlight of their recent Warband Preview Article. In the video, they highlight exciting parts of the system, including easy transfer of currencies, most achievements becoming account-wide, improvements to transmog collection, and more. Video Highlights:

The Super Mario Maker community rallied together to beat every single level uploaded to the game before the servers shut down earlier this month, and while the devs at Nintendo weren't initially aware of that effort, they now think it's pretty cool.

Cities: Skylines 2 is still having a very rough time, to the point where every player who bought the recent Beach Properties DLC will soon be offered compensation, and its devs are delaying the Bridges and Ports Expansion as well as the console release of the base game.

Paizo, fresh off a highly-anticipated refresh of Pathfinder’s 2nd edition ruleset, announced some big moves for the game’s ongoing narrative on Tuesday. The War of Immortals meta-event will kill a god, span multiple rulebooks, and restart the publisher’s line of hardcover novels. It will also introduce the first two original classes built following the company’s formal departure from the legacy Dungeons & Dragons ruleset and the OGL.

John Wiswell’s debut novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In was one of Polygon’s most anticipated SFF novels of 2024, and it lived up to that title. It’s an energetic, deeply strange, surprising book whose protagonist, a monster named Shesheshen, strongly reminded me of one of the decade’s most popular SFF protagonists, Martha Wells’ Murderbot. Like Murderbot, Shesheshen is a nonhuman character who struggles to understand human emotion and behavior, and is frustrated and even repelled when she starts experiencing it herself. They share a certain outlook — a loneliness they can’t acknowledge, and an attachment to one human in particular.

Months after release, Cities: Skylines 2developers Colossal Order and publisher Paradox Interactive have issued an apology over the poor state of the game and its recent DLC, Beach Properties, along with the lack of updates to address player concerns about performance and the lack of content.

The developer of PC city builder Cities Skylines 2 has offered refunds for the game’s latest DLC amid a backlash from players over the state of the game.

The boss of Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead has addressed player concern about bugs (not those bugs) as the studio continues to release new content and new premium warbonds.

Hasbro, owner of Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast, is looking for potential partners to work on the future of Baldur's Gate.