How to sell a video game console: 1) Make your console more expensive than the other consoles 2) Also put all of your games on the other consoles

Funniest thing about Silksong Difficulty Discourse™ is that 99% of the people participating haven't even reached Act 3 iykyk

I wrote about Silksong www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

If you're struggling with Silksong, here is a tip: It is more important to avoid getting hit than it is to hit. Every single enemy attack follows a pattern that can be identified and dodged. Patience is the key. Think of it more as a platformer than an action game and you'll have a much better time

It's impossible for me to describe the things I'm doing or even the section I'm on in Silksong without spoilers, but my goodness, what a game

There's something so beautiful and cathartic about seeing Aaron Rodgers get sacked. Everyone should get to experience it

I’ve played about 20 hours of Silksong since it came out (with a few breaks for “sleeping” and “watching my kids”) and man it’s exactly what I wanted it to be. Just a brilliant, joyful experience that keeps surprising and delighting at every turn. I’m in the thick of Act 2 and thoroughly in love

Silksong is much harder than Hollow Knight (which was already pretty tough!). I wonder how many people will bounce off a certain boss in front of a door with bells

Inside the making of the new Final Fantasy Tactics remaster: - Why it took so long (it was first conceived in 2018!) - How Kazutoyo Maehiro went from grunt to director - Why they didn't nerf Orlandeau (and the funny original plan for his design) And much more: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Give him a break, guy just wanted to play Silksong

Man. It was worth the wait

After an hour of playing, I am happy to confirm that Silksong is exactly what I wanted: an endless parade of weird little guys

Alright just beat Silksong. What's next?

Silksong's first boss is tricky as hell

I can’t think of any other time in modern video-game history that a game as highly anticipated as Silksong has arrived with no early reviews, impressions, leaks, guides, videos, or even forum teases. Soon, everyone will be playing Silksong for the first time. It’s unprecedented and kinda beautiful

SCOOP: Perfect Dark was almost revived. The game's developers were close to a deal with Take-Two to fund and publish the game following its cancellation by Xbox in July, sources say, but negotiations fell through, leading to layoffs at Crystal Dynamics last week. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Paperback version is here! Out October 7 at your local book-selling establishment

Can Konami bring back Metal Gear without Hideo Kojima? They certainly want to try. I spoke to the producers of the new Metal Gear Solid 3 remake about reviving the franchise, building an internal console game team, and more. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

One week until Silksong and the hot takes are already hotter than ever. Cannot wait to see what we get when it actually comes out. "Is Silksong the reason Trump got elected?"

Whoops I accidentally replayed half of Hollow Knight

New: Blizzard cofounder's Dreamhaven is struggling in today's challenged games market per an internal letter. Its 2 new games sold below expectations. Dreamhaven now seeks funding It's not alone. Some of the most promising new studios are hitting roadblocks. Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Something I didn't mention in my story yesterday: one of the reasons that Team Cherry had such an enjoyable time making Silksong is that it's 2D. Nice and flat. Don't have to worry about 3D art pipelines. In other words, all video games should be 2D

In case you're wondering: Team Cherry told me they don't plan on sending out early codes for Silksong (they felt like it'd be unfair for critics to be playing before Kickstarter backers and other players), so don't expect to see reviews until after the game comes out

Team Cherry told me that Hollow Knight has sold 15 million copies, making it one of the biggest indie games of all time. What's really wild is that in February 2019, when Silksong was announced, Hollow Knight had only sold 2.8 million copies. The full story: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Here's one for all the game devs out there www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

BREAKING: Silksong will be out on September 4. Two weeks from today. Really. Often, games that take 7+ years to make are plagued by mismanagement and painful burnout. But for Silksong? Team Cherry was having a blast. They still are. This is their story: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

NEW: 2K Games laid off more than 80 people at BioShock 4 developer Cloud Chamber this week, about 1/3 of the studio. This new BioShock has been in the works for more than a decade across multiple studios. Here's the story behind its development hell: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

God, Hollow Knight was so good

BREAKING: BioShock 4 developer Cloud Chamber is laying off an unspecified number of staff. Also, former Diablo boss Rod Fergusson is taking over as Cloud Chamber's new studio head. More than a decade ago, he joined the troubled BioShock Infinite and helped salvage that game's production.

Earlier this month I had a video call with Team Cherry co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen, who talked all about what the last seven years have been like for them. It's a very fun story. Coming Thursday on Bloomberg

Here we go. Silksong will have a "special announcement" on Thursday at 10:30am ET. AND coming from me on Thursday, the story behind why Silksong took seven years to make... Stay tuned! www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XGe...

Falcom boss Toshihiro Kondo is probably the only CEO in the video game industry who got his job by starting a fan website for walkthroughs. I spoke to Kondo about ending the Trails series, how he brings a player's approach to running Falcom, and much more: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Hanging out with some old guys

I made a special episode of Strong Songs about my dad, and the band he played in back in the 60s. 🎶 🥁 I'm very proud of it. Making it showed me how music can bring the people we've lost back to life, however briefly. Thanks to everyone who's listened, and shared stories of their own parents. 💛

Stormgate, a spiritual successor to StarCraft II from ex-Blizzard developers, had a rocky Early Access launch last year. Since then, the team has retooled the art and overhauled the campaign. Now they're hoping for a redemption story. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

I've been replaying CrossCode (2018) and I think it's become one of my favorite games of all time. It's an SNES-style action-RPG inspired by Zelda and Secret of Mana set within a fictional MMORPG. Strong combat, good jokes, devious puzzles. If you haven't played it, you should

BREAKING: Xbox is canceling Contraband, announced in 2021 from Avalanche Studios (Just Cause), after four years of radio silence, sources tell Bloomberg News. This news arrives weeks after a mass layoff in which Xbox canceled several other big titles.

You can now get the ebook version of Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment (a New York Times bestseller!) for just $3, which is less than my coffee cost this morning. This week only!! www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/jason...

NEW: The next BioShock recently failed a publisher review, leading to a leadership shakeup and a narrative overhaul as employees worry that layoffs may follow, sources tell Bloomberg. BioShock 4, announced in 2019, has been in development for more than a decade. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The video game industry's rush to $80 games has stalled — for now. But what does the future look like? Seems to me like the solution to a more sustainable video game industry is cutting costs, not raising prices. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The Silksong release date will never actually be announced. One day we'll all just log in and realize it's been out for weeks

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said on today's Q1 earnings call that the company has no plans to adjust the pricing of its games, perhaps quashing rumors that Battlefield 6 will be $80

One of the strangest (and most frustrating) quirks of the video game industry is that sales data is so opaque, you sometimes only get it when companies sue each other www.resetera.com/threads/hori...

"Sony sues Tencent for allegedly ripping off 'Horizon' video games" Well alright but surely it can't be that blata— lmao

Ralph "SkillUp" Panebianco has built a successful YouTube career with more than one million subscribers. So naturally, his next move is... to start a video game website? I spoke to Panebianco about his new venture ("no ads, no AI") and why he's doing it: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Two months after Xbox said upcoming RPG The Outer Worlds 2 would cost $80, it is reversing course. The shift to $80 video games is not going as smoothly as publishers hoped

For the last week or so I've been obsessed with Nurikabe World, a serene game that's sort of like a cross between Minesweeper and Sudoku. It's got that trance-like, "just one more game" pull store.steampowered.com/app/2964540/...

Six weeks after launch, the Switch 2 gets its (single-player) killer app: Donkey Kong Bananza, a game in which you smash rocks, hunt for bananas, and marvel at the incredible attention to detail. The Super Mario Odyssey team has done it again. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

NEW: A jam-packed Game File with lots of new reporting about Ubisoft - How their CEO reacted to a face-to-face grilling about "woke" content and "Stop Killing Games" - A surprise mention of a new Ghost Recon - The number of young workers at Ubisoft plummets More: www.gamefile.news/p/ubisoft-ce...

Hello. About a year and a half ago, some guy called Ralph asked me if I wanted to make a new videogame website. We're launching it today. Maybe you can even visit it if people stop hammering the server for a second.