AlexanderTheGreat

Today, publisher NetEase Games have laid off their entire Seattle-based development team, per posts from employees, including the director on the team that helped ship ‘Marvel Rivals’.

“This is such a weird industry…” Thaddeus Sasser posted the following one hour ago, “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… …and were just laid off!”. The full post can be viewed below and includes details on the developers that have lost their jobs, their skillsets, and hopes that they can be brought back on their feet:

“This is such a weird industry… My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games… …and were just laid off! Oh well! Times are tough all over – Let’s find these incredible people new jobs, because we all need to eat, right? 😀 Today I’m going to start with the inspiring Garry McGee! During the course of the project, Garry was fantastic to work with. This is a highly technical designer – currently working in level design, but I’ve seen his passion project! – who is a proactive problem solver. A lot of our time on the project was spent as sort of an “R & D” branch, coming up with new level design mechanics, gameplay mechanics, and so on. Garry was a key part of those efforts. His technical ability, proactivity, and passion for game development and problem-solving were a huge asset to the team. Garry doesn’t wait for a problem to slow the team down; he finds a way around (or through!) it. Early in his time at our Seattle studio, he developed level design tools and gameplay mechanics…that I can’t tell you about because they belong to NetEase, hah, but they greatly accelerated the team and often enabled the team’s progress.

On top of it, he’s a nice person too! He holds some strong (wrong) opinions on video games, he’s highly competitive (in a good way!), and he’s got a lot of deep thoughts and philosophies on life, making him an excellent team member and the kind of guy you look forward to talking to every day. *Garry, I’m kidding about the wrong opinions. Don’t come for me in the comments! 😉 —— TL;DR: If you need a gameplay level designer that is: – Highly technical (Scripting, C#) – Knows Multiple Game Engines (Unreal, Godot) – Proactive – Kind and Intelligent – Driven and Committed …you should talk to Garry! He will make your life and your project better. If I had a role I’d hire him again instantly. And no, I wouldn’t to make him relocate next time!”

Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play third-person hero shooter that launched late last year to great acclaim, all though no sources have firm numbers on revenue earned over the last three months of the game’s operation. The development team that was laid off was part of a larger team that helped ship Marvel Rivals, including engineer and level design work. Companies looking for now-prospective employees should head over to LinkedIn.com for details. Unfortunately, this team joins a continued wave of job losses across the industry that have shown no signs of slowing down since last year.

Bethesda has announced a The Elder Scrolls VI NPC auction to raise money for Make-a-Wish. Winning the auction will give one fan a chance to design their very own NPC — something else to look forward to aside from collecting The Elder Scrolls VI achievements for the upcoming Xbox RPG.

The Elder Scrolls VI auction will let a fan design their own NPC

Bethesda is offering a unique experience for Make-a-Wish's annual Wish Ball via a silent auction The winner will have a chance to design their own NPC to feature in The Elder Scrolls VI Make-a-Wish creates life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses

Fans looking forward to their next adventure in Tamriel could meet a character of their own making while on their travels. Bethesda is offering a unique experience for Make-a-Wish's silent auction at this year's Wish Ball, giving the winner the chance to "create a character to appear as an NPC in The Elder Scrolls VI." The auction is open to everyone in the US and can be found on the Make-a-Wish auction page if you'd like to take part — at the time of writing, the silent auction has already surpassed $11,000.

"Calling all gamers and fantasy fans! This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity allows you to immortalize yourself in one of the most highly anticipated video games of all time, The Elder Scrolls VI. The Elder Scrolls series, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, is renowned for its vast open worlds, deep lore, and immersive storytelling" Bethesda says. "With this exclusive experience, you'll work with the developers to create a custom character that will appear in the game, leaving your mark on the legendary franchise."

It's been almost a year since we last heard anything about The Elder Scrolls 6. Last March, Bethesda confirmed that developers were playing early builds of the game, reconfirming that the highly anticipated RPG is in development. At the time, Bethesda said, "Even now, returning to Tamriel and playing early builds has us filled with the same joy, excitement, and promise of adventure."

While we could still be waiting many more years before we see The Elder Scrolls VI leave our list of upcoming Game Pass games, this is an awesome opportunity for fans of the epic franchise.

The Blood of Dawnwalker creative director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz says that - unlike his last directorial effort in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - you'll be able to kill off random NPCs, as vampires tend to do, and some of them are even VIPs.

"It's a sandbox, meaning we're trying to maximize your options of your choice in the game," Tomaszkiewicz said of his vampiric game, made alongside a slew of other CD Projekt Red veterans at his new studio Rebel Wolves, in an interview with GamesRadar+. "But it isn't purely focused on gameplay. We were trying to play to our strengths, because our past projects were very focused on narrative, on good storytelling, interesting characters and a lot of lore to find."

Rebel Wolves isn't skimping on giving players plenty of choice while telling the story it wants, though. "It's not exactly endless possibilities, because obviously we have a set character you're playing with Coen, and he has his own personality and so on, but within this personality we're trying to give you the ability to shape your own Coen." Tomaszkiewicz calls the game a "narrative sandbox" since quests can branch and twist into different directions, "for example, we allow you to kill off a lot of NPCs, and a lot of them can be really important NPCS." I wonder if that possibility for VIP bloodshed is possible when you're just out and about in the open-world, or if it's only relegated to key points in the story.

"Sometimes this can lead to alternate outcomes or even cut off certain quest lines," he explained. "And this, of course, ties into our other systems [...] you being a Dawnwalker means that you have this blood hunger during the night time, so this can actually lead to these NPCs dying if you're not careful." It sounds like your rampages will be slightly more impactful than the ones you can go on in a GTA, let's say, though we'll need to wait for the game to come out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S to learn how exactly.

The days of Xbox and PlayStation being at each other's throats seem long gone as Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer is done with trying to force Nintendo Switch and PS5 owners over to Xbox Series X|S.

Microsoft (which owns developers under the Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard umbrellas) has been porting more and more games to rival consoles over the last few years. Sleeper hits, like Grounded, and blockbusters, like Sea of Thieves, have made their way to other platforms with Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle up next - and the division's boss has shed some light on the strategy.

Spencer acknowledged that "one of the reasons that investing in our own platform is important" is that when Microsoft sells a copy of a game on another platform, it only gets 70% of the revenue, compared to 100% of the money when selling the same game on Xbox, via an interview with Xbox Era. But he also said he wants to "find fans of our franchises" that won't move to Xbox, no matter what.

"I’m not trying to move them all over to Xbox anymore," Spencer said. "People were all so invested in where our games are. Let’s just allow more people to play and yes, the 70% that we make on games on other platforms is helpful to us being able to build great portfolios... And I know it’s not what everybody else is doing, but I just believe games should be the thing that’s at the forefront. Maybe it’s because of how I’ve grown up in this industry. I came from building games. But I think the games are the things that I see growing in their strength in what we’re doing and it’s because more people can play."

Moving forward, as we saw in the latest Xbox Developer Direct, the publisher won't be hiding PS5 and Nintendo Switch logos in its game showcases as it had done in the past. "I think it’s just being honest and transparent about where the games are showing up... people should know the storefronts where they can get our games."

Of course, the executive still said he was committed to supporting the company's native hardware and systems. In the past, he's even confirmed that a next Xbox console will come, perhaps dissuading rumors that Xbox would take the Sega route and completely opt out of the race. There's even been rumblings about a next-gen Xbox handheld for a while.

Elsewhere, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said he doesn't "want to see every game turn into some big live service," and Game Pass allows for more "games that have a beginning, middle and end."

Sony had plenty of games to show off during the State of Play livestream, and Tides of Annihilation looks like it'll offer an intriguing mix of souls-like action and Arthurian legend. Developed by Chinese studio Eclipse Glow Games, Tides of Annihilation is set in a devastated version of modern-day London following a cataclysmic otherworldly invasion.

As a survivor of the Avalon incursion, the protagonist Gwendolyn discovers that she has unlocked the power to summon the legendary Knights of the Round Table. Hellbent on saving her sister, she embarks on a quest to defeat the demigods of Avalon. The announcement trailer can be seen here.

Eclipse Glow Games says that Tales of Annihilation is inspired by classic action games and that players will get to explore both London and the realm of Avalon. Gwendolyn will be able to draw upon the power of 10 distinct Spectral Knights, mixing their abilities to create a custom fighting style. As you'd expect from a game with souls-like influences, there'll be dozens of bosses to face off against and each one will require a different strategy to defeat.

Skyscraper-sized Colossal Knights can also be found roaming the environment, and to reach them, players will navigate through challenging levels to interact with and eventually fight these armored titans.

"We've created a world that reimagines Arthurian legend, where themes of courage, loyalty, and heroism intertwine with an epic story set in a strange yet familiar setting that will test the mettle of true gamers and push the genre forward," Eclipse Glow Games lead producer Kun Fu said in a press release.

While it doesn't have a release date yet, Tides of Annihilation will launch for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S in the future.

Tonight brought a closer look at gameplay for MindsEye, the mysterious new big-budget single-player project from former GTA producer Leslie Benzies and his Build A Rocket Boy studio.

Sony's State of Play broadcast contained a new cinematic trailer, too - confirming a summer 2025 launch window for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Hey, it looks like MindsEye will debut shortly before Benzies' former colleagues launch GTA 6 this autumn!

MindsEye was originally announced as part of Everywhere, an ambitious bid by Build a Rocket Boy to launch a fresh game platform akin to Fortnite and Roblox. But this has seemingly been put on the back burner, and in October 2024 it was announced that Hitman studio IO Interactive had picked up publishing duties for MindsEye - seemingly as a standalone game.

"I've dedicated my entire career to crafting captivating interactive entertainment to delight players," Benzies said in a statement today. "With MindsEye, we've pushed cinematic adventure to the next level - building characters and a world that feels truly alive. We can't wait for players to step in and feel the immersive realism and tireless effort poured into every moment of the game."

Today's look at MindsEye gives our best glimpse yet at its story, which sees protagonist Jacob Diaz reliving disjointed flashbacks. MindsEye is set in a Redrock, a "fictional desert metropolis" in the near-future.

Eurogamer visited Build A Rocket Boy's flagship Edinburgh studio early in 2023, when Everywhere was being seen as the studio's major focus. It'll be intriguing to see how much - if anything - of this earlier version of the project remains.

Right at the end of a lengthy report by Bloomberg detailing the Warner Bros. Games' position since president David Haddad stood down after 12 years in the role comes news Rocksteady is "looking to return to Batman for a single-player game".

Neither Rocksteady nor Warner Bros. have formally announced the Batman sequel, but it doesn't look like it's coming any time soon – according to the report, "the new project is years away from landing".

Reflecting upon the disappointment of fellow live-service hopeful Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the inability for Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions to replicate the same success as Hogwarts Legacy, its thought Rocksteady will abandon the live-service template adapted for Suicide Squad and instead refocus on its critically-acclaimed - and, crucially, single-player - Batman series.

WB Games Montreal, however, is reportedly "helping out" on other projects like Wonder Woman, the new action hero game Warner Bros. felt compelled to clarify would not be a live-service game. It is also allegedly working on a pitch for a new Game of Thrones game.

MGS3 remake is coming in hot.

The upcoming release date for Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3 remake has leaked online, via a trailer uploaded early to the PlayStation Network. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater launches on August 28th across Xbox, PlayStation and PC - also now evident on the store page.

We haven't managed to lock eyes on the trailer ourselves yet, but we are seeing screenshots from the clip and the store page itself - confirming the late August release date. Here's evidence of that, shared by Wario64:

Read the full article on purexbox.com

I'm in the process of developing a solo tabletop skirmish game with roleplaying elements and looking for some guidance and advice from people who have more knowledge than me. This is my first attempt at making something aha.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard might have sold more copies and made more money for EA if it had been a live-service game, the publisher's top brass appear to have suggested.

Speaking to investors last night following the release of EA's latest quarterly results, both EA boss Andrew Wilson and the company's chief financial officer suggested the game's offline, one-and-done nature was to blame for it not meeting the publisher's sales expectations.

"In order to break out beyond the core audience, games need to directly connect to the evolving demand of players who increasingly seek shared world features and deeper engagement alongside high-quality narratives in this beloved category," Wilson said.

"Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well reviewed by critics and those who played. However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market."

After a long and bumpy development, Dragon Age: The Veilguard finally emerged last year as a single-player game. But, of course, an earlier iteration of the project had been intended to include online play and live-service features.

The length of the project's development is in large part due to the fact that EA flip-flopped on the game initially being single-player, then live-service, then single-player again - a decision taken after the high-profile flop of BioWare's actual live-service effort Anthem.

Now, EA appears to be suggesting the game should have stayed as a live-service after all.

"Dragon Age: The Veilguard underperformed icing the competitive dynamics of the single-player RPG market," EA's chief financial officer Stuart Canfield said - leaving little wiggle room for how EA sees the genre's future.

"Historically, blockbuster storytelling has been the primary way our industry bought beloved IP to the players," Canfield continued. "The game's financial performance highlights [the] evolving industry landscape and reinforces the importance of our actions to reallocate resources towards our most significant and highest potential opportunities."

The big, unspoken question here now, of course, is what this means for Mass Effect 5. Currently, BioWare has given no indication that the game will be a live-service. But these fresh comments by EA execs certainly raise the question of whether it is going to bankroll another single-player BioWare game once more.

Alternatively, perhaps we've seen the evidence that EA will support a single-player Mass Effect - albeit via the newly slimmed-down BioWare that has emerged this month after many staff were moved elsewhere, and some sadly lost their jobs.

Mass Effect 5 lacks a release date, of course, and appears to still be several years away.

I swear to the holy RNG Gods if they fuck with my Mass Effect I'll nut punch them!

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 officially makes its way to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S tomorrow (February 4th), and based on the reviews we're seeing so far - including ours here at Pure Xbox - it's an early Game of the Year contender!

The Metacritic and OpenCritic averages are bound to change as more reviews roll in, but they're currently sitting around the high 80s and low 90s depending on which platform you look at - there are a lot of very high scores floating around.

So, let's take a look at what some critics have been saying about Kingdom Come Deliverance 2:

Push Square (10/10)

"Fortune favours the brave, the family motto of the noble Capon line and the creed of developer Warhorse Studios. In daring to deliver its singular vision for a game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 transports even the most grizzled genre veterans back to a time of truly immersive video game experiences. Challenging, uncompromising, and thoroughly engrossing, it's in a league almost entirely of its own."

TheGamer (5/5)

"In an age where games are fighting harder than ever just to succeed, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 should not be one to pass you by, as a return to form for the RPG genre. It’s not just a game about history - it’s a game that feels like it’s making history."

Pure Xbox (9/10)

"With top-notch writing and voice acting, one of the most convincingly real worlds we've ever roleplayed in, and an absolutely filthy line in humour, violence (and foul language), this is every bit the sequel fans of Henry's first outing will have been hoping for."

"Armed with excellent melee combat and an exceptional story, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one part sequel and one part coronation, bringing a lot of the original's ideas to fruition."

GameSpot (9/10)

"Not everyone will vibe with its slow-paced and oftentimes tedious approach, but those willing to meet it on its own terms will find a compelling open-world RPG that relishes in player agency and the consequences of your actions."

TheSixthAxis (8/10)

"Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 continues to fulfil the uncompromising vision of the first game. It weaves together a world of lords, knights, peasants and bandits in medieval Europe, with poor Henry of Skalitz caught somewhere in the middle just trying to cope. It's grand in scale whilst being full of fine details and it sometimes gets in its own way a little bit, but if this is your kind of game it'll be one that you don't want to end because there's nothing else quite like it."

GamesRadar (4/5)

"Provided you have the patience with its pacing and are willing to put in the hours to get deeper into its systems rather than just trying to min-max your way out of a problem at optimal speed, it's a thoroughly absorbing RPG that's quite unlike anything else."

Eurogamer (3/5)

"Like the original, this isn't an RPG designed to make you feel good - you continue to be little more than a passenger in this historical tapestry, following along behind the horse tails of Henry's betters, and clearing up the mess they leave behind. Some will revel in that work, but I for one won't be chomping at the bit for another sequel any time soon."

If you're interested in checking out Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, it's available to pre-order on the Xbox Store right now starting at £59.99 / $69.99, with a more expensive 'Gold Edition' also available to purchase if you wish.

Keep in mind that the original game occasionally gets discounted by 90% in the Xbox sales as well, so you may be able to grab it for an extremely low price at some point this year. Both come highly recommended if you're up for a time sink!

Will you be getting Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 on Xbox? Let us know down in the comments below.

BioWare is reportedly now down to fewer than 100 employees after a round of layoffs and staff exits following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and a restructure to focus on the next Mass Effect game.

Bloomberg reported that BioWare was more than 200 people two years ago, when Dragon Age: The Veilguard was in the thick of its production.

Last week, EA restructured BioWare to focus on Mass Effect 5 only, meaning some who worked on Dragon Age: The Veilguard were moved to projects at other EA studios. Game Developer reported that John Epler, Veilguard's creative director, was sent to work on Full Circle's upcoming skateboarding game Skate. Dragon Age: The Veilguard senior writer Sheryl Chee, meanwhile, was moved from BioWare to work on Iron Man at Motive.

The decision followed EA’s announcement that Dragon Age: The Veilguard had underperformed on its expectations for the long-awaited action RPG. EA said Dragon Age "engaged" 1.5 million players during its recent financial quarter, which was down nearly 50% from the company's projections.

According to Bloomberg, these staff “loans” to other studios are now permanent relocations, and the staff working elsewhere at EA are no longer BioWare employees who were temporarily on assignment.

Others, however, revealed they were laid off and were now seeking work. Following the announcement, a number of BioWare developers took to social media to say they had been laid off. Editor Karin West-Weekes, narrative designer and lead writer on Dragon Age: The Veilguard Trick Weekes, and editor Ryan Cormier all said they were looking for work, with producer Jen Cheverie and senior systems designer Michelle Flamm also confirming their exit.

BioWare already suffered a round of layoffs in 2023, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche announced her departure from the studio last month.

IGN asked EA for specifics on how many individuals at BioWare were being impacted by this latest change, how many face potential layoffs, and how many remain at the studio, but EA’s response was vague:

"The studio's priority was Dragon Age. During this time there were people continuing to build the vision for the next Mass Effect. Now that The Veilguard has shipped, the studio's full focus is Mass Effect.

"While we're not sharing numbers, the studio has the right number of people in the right roles to work on Mass Effect at this stage of development."

Bloomberg said the layoffs affected around two dozen people at BioWare. According to Jason Schreier, the author of the report at Bloomberg, BioWare staff believe it was a miracle Dragon Age: The Veilguard released a complete game “after EA forced live-service into it, then reversed course.” IGN has chronicled some of Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s development challenges already, including layoffs and the departure of several project leads at different stages.

With Dragon Age fans now fearing the worst for their beloved series, one former BioWare writer said: “Dragon Age isn't dead because it's yours now.”

As for Mass Effect, EA said a "core team" at BioWare is developing the next Mass Effect game under the leadership of veterans from the original trilogy, including Mike Gamble, Preston Watamaniuk, Derek Watts, Parrish Ley, and others.