The Industry Checkpoint - Issue #4

Layoffs, Redundancies, and Closures of the Week

• Mindcraft-like sandbox game Hytale has been cancelled by Riot Games and the company has shut down developer Hypixel Studios. The title has been in development for 10 years and according to Hypixel CEO Aaron Donaghey the team had “looked at reducing scope, adjusting timelines, and finding new angles to keep moving forward. But each of those options would have meant compromising on what made Hytale special in the first place.” ComicBook Gaming

• Microsoft plans on enacting major job cuts in its XBox division. According to posts on Linkedin, layoffs appeared to have occurred already this week for Stoic Studio and Turn 10. Jason Schreier (Bloomberg)

• Build a Rocket Boy has confirmed that a redundancy process has begun at the company, following the launch of MindsEye. According to a report, over 100 employees could be impacted. Eurogamer

• Intel has begun a round of layoffs following the plans announced this April. The company issued a WARN notice for a layoff that will affect roughly 107 employees. GamesIndustry.biz

• French studio Don’t Nod has laid off a handful of workers across multiple departments. The French Union STJV has released a statement, indicating that 9 have been laid off and 7 others are on a temporary suspension in order to “reduce costs across the group.” Rock Paper Shotgun

Special Notice: Security researchers are warning that old or expired Discord invites are being used for phishing attacks. The hijacked link prompts users to verify themselves and following the authorization flow can leave you and your PC in a bad state. PC Gamer

Studio News

• Halo Studios has granted official blessing to a fan project called Spartan Survivors. The game, available on itch.io, is a bullet-heaven meets roguelike that features Master Chief and the Arbiter as playable characters. The company allows for fan projects, as long as they follow a list of rules that include adding legal disclaimers to the game credits and store pages. Game Developer

• Game designer Chris Avellone has joined up with Republic Games to work on the studio’s upcoming dark, mature fantasy RPG title. Eurogamer

• Netflix has appointed Mike Verdu as VP of GenAI for games and is working to drive the use of generative AI tech to “enable big game teams to move much faster” and “put an almost unimaginable collection of new capabilities in the hands of developers in smaller game teams.” PocketGamer.Biz

• Developer Jay Tholen has confirmed that his Hypnospace Outlaw sequel, Dreamsettler, has been cancelled. The move was a “mutual” decision between Tholen and publisher No More Robots. Eurogamer

• Studio Wildcard has said that it will “hopefully” release Ark 2 in Early Access by 2027. Co-founder Jeremy Stieglitz said that the development team needed time with Unreal Engine 5 to develop a Souls-like combat system for the game that has to support both multiplayer and PvP. Rock Paper Shotgun

• Jagex has announced that it will be peeling back on microtransaction mechanics in Runescape 3 and wants to test out changes to its microtransaction models. The announcement is in acknowledgement of player feedback and concerns that the systems have been overall negative and harmful. MMORPG.com

• Daybreak Game Company has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Everquest emulator The Heroes Journey. Speculators assume that this lawsuit is being filed now because the Everquest audience is being cannibalized. The Heroes Journey’s featured content is ahead of what is currently on the existing, official progression servers. MMORPG.com

Spotlight: Industry Thoughts

• Being in a startup can be invigorating, thrilling, overwhelming, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Travis George of Vela Games provides a great look at being in a startup going through the highs and lows of development. Hit the link for the read. My soul aches with startup pain and glory, having lived through a lot of similar hurdles. GamesIndustry.biz

• Private equity and lack of diligence have left us broken, games-as-a-service/platform has shifted the way we design, and new tech threatens our livelihoods. This week, Joshua Rivera of Slate provides a reflection on the games industry and what might be taking shape for our futures as developers and players. Slate (via MSN)

• IO Interactive’s CEO, Hakan Abrak, discusses with PCGamer what it takes to make a studio more efficient with its development to ensure its survival and rebirth. PC Gamer

Business News

• Roblox is introducing a Creators Reward program that is designed to encourage creators to bring players onto the platform on a regular basis. The program will begin rolling out July 24 and offers two components: a daily engagement reward which gives Roblox creators 5 Robux for an active spender (spends at least 10 minutes in their experience in one day), and an audience expansion reward that pays creators a revenue share of purchases from Roblox users who join or return to the platform because of them. The Verge Games

• Bongo Cat continues its dominance (currently #3) on Steam’s most-played chart but developers at Irox Games say that the popular clicker doesn’t make money. “It’s not even paying a developer for us”. The real benefit lies in its user base and its ability to promote their next game, Oku. Rock Paper Shotgun

• Riot is now allowing sports betting sponsorships in top-tier League of Legends and Valorant esports. John Needham, Riot’s president of publishing and esports said that the company believes “building the future of esports means investing in a sustainable ecosystem, not just for today, but for the long run.” PC Gamer

• Logitech G’s Streamlabs has launched Streamlabs Sponsorships to connect brands and streamers. The platform aims to help streamers earn money through brand partnerships and launch campaigns will incur no platform fees - 100% of the brand payout goes directly to creators. GamesBeat

• ZeniMax Workers United-CWA has ratified their first union contract with Microsoft after two years of negotiations. The agreement includes protections against arbitrary dismissal, grievance procedures, AI provisions, a crediting policy to ensure recognition, across-the-board wage increases, and new minimum salaries for employees. Game Developer

• Epic Games is suing a Fortnite player for cheating in a tournament. The company issued a lifetime ban against the player and sued them for $175,000 USD after the player used cheating software/hardware and “tried to avoid getting caught by using multiple accounts”. GamesIndustry.biz

Investments and Partnerships

• The UK Government has launched a new $40.5m (£30m) fund to support British game development and established a new UK Video Games Council to drive growth in UK’s creative industries. GamesIndustry.biz

• GenAI animation startup Motorica has raised $5.8m (€5m) in fresh capital to expand integrations via SDKs and APIs for a more “plug-and-play” tool to grow the company’s data infrastructure and motion library, foster partnerships, and hire across engineering, animation, data, and CS. Its tool is already in use by Quantic Dream, Far Out Games, and Digital Continue. Game Developer

• McLaren and Logitech G have signed a multi-year partnership deal to develop pro-quality racing sim hardware. PC Gamer

• Sega is now the official gaming partner of McLaren Racing with Sonic the Hedgehog. Eurogamer

• Xsolla has teamed up with Affirm to provide flexible ways for players to pay for game purchases. Not sure if I’m on board with payment plans on my microtransactions - seems like it should be the same no-no as buying lottery tickets with a credit card from a personal finance ethical perspective... GamesBeat

• Spekter Games has raised $5M in funding to make Spekter Agency, a roguelite Web 3 game on secure messaging app Telegram. GamesBeat

• Lineup Games has partnered with Sui to integrate their blockchain ecosystem across its games on mobile and superapps (Telegram, Line). GamesBeat

Market Insights

• Co-op climbing game Peak has sold over 2 million copies as of Thursday this week. Game Developer

• Sloclap’s Rematch has hit over 3 million players as of Wednesday this week (Rematch is on GamePass, so this total is not unit sales) PC Gamer

• Remedy has announced that FBC: Firebreak has surpassed 1 million players (this is also not unit sales, since Firebreak is on GamePass). PC Gamer

• Funcom has announced that Dune: Awakening has passed 1 million in sales and has become its best performing game to date. Eurogamer

• Via LinkedIn, MyGames has reported that its mobile merge game Fable Town has earned over $5M in revenue since its launch in 2024 and currently has 440k monthly active users. LinkedIn

• According to NewZoo data, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has moved back into its top 10 chart for overall revenue in May, having debuted at #13 in April. Newzoo has noted this movement was “unusual for a premium title”, indicating strength in word-of-mouth marketing. GamesIndustry.biz

• In its 2025 Proxy Statement, EA has acknowledged that CEO Andrew Wilson earned just over $30.5M last year. The total includes a base salary of $1.3M, $25.7M in stock awards, $2.8M in a non-equity incentive plan, and $678k in other compensation. The figure is roughly 260 times more than the company’s median worker earnings last year. Game Developer

Government in Games

• Sony has been officially sued by Stichting Massaschade & Consument, a Dutch non-profit, over the price of digital PS4 and PS5 games on the PlayStation store. According to the org, Sony has “exploited its position in the console market for over a decade” by denying other app stores access to PlayStation, leaving no option to purchase digital games beyond the PlayStation store. ComicBook Gaming

• The FTC has given out a further $126M in refunds to Fortnite players who were charged for “unwanted purchases”, bringing the overall total issued so far with this 2022 settlement to $200M to date. Epic is paying a combined total of $520M and was accused of breaching the Children’s Online Privacy Act (COPPA) by collecting data on under-age-13 Fortnite players without parental consent. Rock Paper Shotgun

In memoriam:

Andy Brammall, Unity’s regional sales director and senior program manager for over 11 years, has passed away. Brammall joined Unity in April of 2010 and was responsible for direct sales of Unity to game devs in EMEA until June 2017 and later provided consulting and contract development services to game studios.

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