atlas news
    
Game Developer
28  mars     17h00
Creator of Tetris reveals his ’cerebral’ unreleased sequel called Tetris Reversed
Alessandro Fillari    Alexey Pajitnov revealed at GDC why his unreleased sequel never went beyond the prototype phase.
    16h57
How to make an Indie Game for 100
Luis Augsburg    I have no money. Turns out this is quite a big problem if your goal is to make a video game completely on your own. Or is it
    16h56
Gearbox is laying off staff following Embracer breakup
Justin Carter    At least three employees and ’countless others’ have been let go from the Borderlands studio as it’s preparing to jump ship over to Take Two.
    16h38
Scopely nets Activision Blizzard alum Bobby Loya to oversee external dev partnerships
Justin Carter    Loya’s near years at Activision Blizzard will now go towards helping Scopely secure deals with third party mobile studios.
    16h30
GDC’s Experimental Game Workshop shows off a litany of innovative and interesting titles
Imran Khan    In an industry often criticized for a lack of innovation, this year’s Experimental Games Workshop showed that the spirit of creativity is alive and well in the medium.
    15h55
Silence from Sony, Remedy, other studios could worsen harassment campaign
Bryant Francis    Dr. Rachel Kowert of Take This breaks down how extremist groups take advantage of the reluctance of some companies to stand up to online harassment.
    12h00
Embracer sells Borderlands maker Gearbox to Take-Two Interactive for 460 million
Chris Kerr    Take Two will become the proud owner of major Gearbox studios and franchises including Borderlands, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, and Homeworld.
    12h00
Sega sells off Relic Entertainment, will axe 240 jobs
Bryant Francis    Relic will become an independent game studio, while Sega’s remaining studios across Europe will lay off workers.
27  mars     19h16
Don’t Nod reorganizes company into genre-based branches
Justin Carter    The Three Genre company.
    18h59
10 facts you didn’t know about the Star Wars: X-Wing series
Bryant Francis    Totally Games veteran David Wessman breaks down key facts about the making of Star Wars: TIE Fighter and the rest of the X Wing series.
    18h12
Hellgate: London alum Bill Roper co-founds new studio Lunacy Games
Justin Carter    Before Lunacy, Roper worked on a number of games, including Diablo, Disney Infinity, and Champions Online.
    17h30
Report: Nintendo of America laying off contractors ahead of Switch 2 launch
Justin Carter    Layoffs have come for nearly every developer since , and Nintendo of America is now among those affected.
    16h59
Sega of America union workers secure raises, layoff protections with first collectively-bargained contract
Chris Kerr    AEGIS CWA union member Jasmin Hernandez told Game Developer the new contract will provide a more secure environment for employees.
    16h42
Crossfire developer Smilegate is shutting down its Barcelona studio
Chris Kerr    Multiple employees have confirmed the news on Linkedin.
    16h28
Sony declared winner in 500M patent infringement suit
Justin Carter    Genuine Enabling Technology filed its suit against Sony in , claiming PlayStation consoles and controllers communicate in a way similar to an idea it patented in .
    15h00
NetEase and Marvel team on PvP shooter Marvel Rivals
Justin Carter    Could the project challenge the likes of Overwatch and Valorant
    13h44
GameStop commits to layoffs despite concerns over business ’strain’
Chris Kerr    The retailer said the job cuts are part of its ’strategic plan to achieve profitability.’
26  mars     17h32
Free Radical’s Steve Ellis looks back on attempted TimeSplitters revival
Justin Carter    It’s probably the end of me being involved with TimeSplitters. ... I don’t know what it would take to get me to want to go through all that again. It was a big letdown.
    17h07
We asked indies at Day of the Devs how to survive the game industry hellscape
Chris Kerr    Stay lean, make games with your heart, and steal from the best.
    16h20
It Takes Two has sold over 16 million copies since 2021 launch
Justin Carter    Hazelight’s second game released exactly three years ago, and may be its most successful title yet.
    16h00
10 years making games from Mexico
Antonio Uribe    Looking towards the future, the possibilities are endless. The industry continues to evolve, presenting new opportunities and challenges. But armed with the knowledge and experience I’ve gained, I’m excited to see what lies ahead.’
    14h34
Advocacy microtalks at GDC directly confront enabling harassment campaigns
Imran Khan    Game developers talk about creating a kinder and more diverse industry, but in order to get there, the industry’s leaders must stand up to hate.
25  mars     19h26
World of Warcraft’s player count rises again ahead of War Within expansion
Justin Carter    MM grow.
    18h39
Analyst: Normalized layoffs have made threat of poached talent ’less worrisome’ for employers
Justin Carter    If companies had their way, losing staff through tough times would be preferable to them leaving for another studio.
    17h26
Japan aiming to support indie devs with new acceleration program
Justin Carter    The So Fu program will help Japanese indie devs with product management, teach them more about game development, and how to pitch their projects to stakeholders.
    17h24
What Walkabout Mini Golf’s Players Tell Us They Value in VR Right Now
David Wyatt    I want to tell you what I can say for sure about the value of VR and social gaming right now, not based on our playbook or brand positioning or Mighty Coconut’s ROI strategy for investors, but based on what we hear from Walkabout Mini Golf’s players.
    17h13
We Need To Talk About Gaming’s User Acquisition Problem
Leo Li    Attracting and retaining players isn’t as easy as it used to be.
    17h02
Level Design Compare: FPS vs TPS Games
Liu Xinyan    FPS and TPS share common ground as shooting games, focusing on aiming and target selection as core gameplay. These form the basis for player engagement and strategy, setting the stage for further exploration of their differences.
    16h49
Pocomon
Nikhil Murthy    I recently read the Project Polaris piece on postcolonial games and felt that I should write out a full postcolonial analysis of Pokémon.
    16h38
Mastering Collaboration with a Remote Game Art Outsourcing Team
Hannah George    We’ve been a fully remote team since the very beginning, back in , and we’ve discovered numerous benefits that can make the remote work experience not only effective but also enjoyable.
    16h30
AI NPC chat is like VR: probably cool but certainly niche
Oscar Barda    The who hasn’t dreamt of having a real conversation with an NPC discourse should remind us of the famed who hasn’t dreamt of living inside their game discussions we’ve had about VR in the s. It’s a technologist’s dream, but not something anyone will use.
    16h18
Toys for Bob reportedly teaming with Microsoft on first indie project
Justin Carter    The Spyro and Crash developer isn’t entirely done with its former parent company just yet.
    15h23
Prytania Media ends Crop Circle Games furlough saga with a studio shutdown
Justin Carter    Following a number of staff layoffs in February, Crop Circle was completely shut down during the tail end of GDC week.
    14h55
Report: Rockstar urging RTO to prevent GTA 6 delay to 2026
Justin Carter    Rockstar currently has every intention of releasing Grand Theft Auto in , but circumstances may force a sizable delay.
    14h52
Creating a prequel story to a historical figure’s works in The Forest Cathedral
Joel Couture    Brian Wilson discusses the thought processes that went into creating a surreal mixture of D forest exploration and brutal D platforming, as well as how those connect to a book on DDT by Rachel Carson.
22  mars     22h17
Slowbiz not showbiz: How Playdate maker Panic avoided becoming a ’garbage’ tech company
Chris Kerr    We’re a different kind of tech company. We’re playing the long game.’
    21h10
Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s consulting historian explains why authenticity is so crucial for games
Alessandro Fillari    Historian and games consultant Glaire Anderson highlights the importance of DEI and how Ubisoft’s open world game was elevated by insightful research.
    19h03
6 iconic character design moments in the history of Princess Peach
Holly Green    Here are some of the most notable design moments in this character’s multi decade development.
    17h44
Overwatch 2 devs lose bonus pay after Blizzard policy change
Justin Carter    The hero shooter’s tumultuous state is now further complicated by the lack of bonus compesnation for those who helped get it out the door.
    17h38
The talking flowers in Super Mario Bros. Wonder became Nintendo’s very own Mr Motivator
Chris Kerr    Nintendo thinks players want praise, so it designed some chatty flowers that can dish it out.
    16h28
Knockout City dev Velan preparing to lay off nearly 50 after an abrupt project cancellation
Justin Carter    This is a rough environment for a lot of indie studios, and like them, we’re faced with some very hard choices.
    15h49
Dragon’s Dogma II opens with 200K concurrent PC players
Justin Carter    The fantasy RPG has surpassed the concurrent player peaks both Resident Evil and Resident Evil Village had at launch.
    15h00
How Venba uses food to explore connections and disconnections with culture for immigrants
Joel Couture    Abhi, designer and writer for Venba, talks about the familial and cultural connections found in food for immigrants finding their place in a new country, as well as how they designed puzzle like play around cooking it.
    14h59
Shinji Mikami founds new studio, Kamuy Inc.
Justin Carter    The Resident Evil and Evil Within veteran seemingly had his next studio prematurely announced before its intended grand reveal.
    14h00
Using medical stories and heart conditions to create musical challenges in Rhythm Doctor
Joel Couture    The team at th Beat Games talks about how they used real world medical stories and worked with the rhythmic connections in certain heart ailments in order to make a single button rhythm game.
    13h30
Unionization feels closer than ever as new long-term goals emerge
Imran Khan    More and more game studios appear to be considering unionization, according to a panel at GDC , indicating that formerly hushed whispers about labor unions are becoming full blown roars.
    13h00
The challenges of laying worlds upon worlds in puzzle game COCOON
Joel Couture    Developers Jeppe Carlsen, Jakob Schmid, and Erwin Kho speak about the various difficulties that came from creating a puzzle game where multiple independent worlds were used to solve and navigate complex puzzles.
21  mars     23h44
Panic says two pallets of Playdates worth 400,000 have vanished in Vegas
Chris Kerr    The company is looking into the matter after a FedEx delivery went awry.
    21h33
The Epic Games Store on iOS and Android will be ’consistent’ with PC marketplace
Chris Kerr    Fundamentally we believe that every platform should be an open platform and should allow open competition.’
    21h29
Last night’s Game Developers Choice Awards showed a community burning to speak out
Bryant Francis    Amid a celebration of great games, developers pleaded for a ceasefire in Gaza and decried inhumane layoffs.