Imagine at the height of the PS4 hype cycle pre launch someone posted online that Sony would be the one to outright kill physical media first. (It always felt to me neither company wanted to be the one but would follow suit once the other caved. Wild times.)

NEW: Sony to end production of discs for all new PlayStation games (first and third party) as of January 2028 Full news and analysis at the link: www.gamefile.news/p/sony-drops...

Was on the news this morning taking about PlayStation going all in on digital. Excited to do more appearances like these after being on BBC earlier in the year. youtu.be/PjPNgRjbarE?...

When I say we saw a significant number of layoff waves in June in the games industry, I mean it looks to be the third worst month since record keeping started. So far 30 known workplaces experiencing layoffs from game jobs that I know of this June. The worst was last July at 42.

Unionized Xbox employees are pushing back against the company's looming layoffs and have outlined various demands. https://bit.ly/4wC2yav

Maybe I missed it but this piece from @cadeonder.bsky.social seems to have missed BlueSky entirely. www.ign.com/articles/wer...

Something different this week—a column about coping with the unending tide of bad news in the game industry (and beyond). It's difficult to express, but I'm not a pessimist about all this. There is a way through—but we don't know what it looks like, and in the meantime, boy does everything hurt.

LOUDER

Xbox weighs canceling Blade game and shuttering Arkane

I dunno man, I feel like if you're a platform holder that is being criticized for not having very many appealing games to support your platform, closing down studios making interesting games for your platform or cancelling their projects might be a move people won't respond well to.

NEW: Xbox confirms to Bloomberg News that it has pulled out of IO Interactive's 'Project Fantasy' video game. “We expect to invest about the same in content as we did last year. What's changing is where we're investing and the kinds of projects we're backing.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

IO Interactive is now facing 'staffing decisions' in the wake of its deal with Xbox falling through

tomorrow will likely be a really shitty day for a lot of my friends & colleagues working in games all I can think is, what a colossal fucking waste

Even if these console list at $700 to $900 it's too much. People are already passing on the current pricing. The long tail sales that made PS2 and Wii historically profitable is dead and prospects of ROI on future consoles with it. Consoles used to get cheaper over time. Now it's the opposite.

These are unprecedented times, except for, as @nickmudry.com points out here, the previous times.

My puzzle game Rhell is in the steam summer sale at 35% off! The game is all about creativity so heres me solving the first puzzle in the game in 35 unique ways for the 35% sale

I'm actively sending out pitches on this but want to remind everyone that I am eagerly looking for a place to review Marvel's Wolverine this September.

Every executive and upper management drone who banked on GaaS should be on the chopping block, not the devs

Today's layoffs include most of the Destiny team, some people on the Marathon team, and even various Sony staff who supported Bungie, according to people familiar with the situation.

Bungie is laying off a significant number of people today. Exact number isn't clear yet, but employees are being informed this morning.

if you’ve been impacted by layoffs at bungie or xbox and want to securely and privately discuss it—especially in terms of what this terrible loss of talent means for workers and studios—feel free to reach out: [email protected] or nathangrayson.666 on signal

I forgot to mention they are also at their highest discount: 70% off for Citizen Sleeper 50% off for Citizen Sleeper 2 Enjoy!

Former Xbox employees warn of potential for retaliation in rumored impending layoffs

Been working on this as part of my Levelling The Playing Field program for a while, as part of a mission of creating fairer access to knowledge. Eight 101 video courses for independent game dev, €40 each, available soon. Sign up for the launch announcement & newsletter at courses.ramiismail.com

this is officially the last thing i'll write about the fgc. very fitting that it's on kotaku. please check it out.

As someone who spent years at Accenture, this 100% checks out.

One thing people aren't discussing about Steam Machine price is it's likely to hold as other pre-builts and individual components increase in price monthly. Two months ago $1000 - $1200 was a reasonable price for similar specs but a much better graphics card. In another two more months? ☠️💸☠️

Valve has announced that its Steam Machine will cost more than $1,000 for the 512GB version, which it says is "significantly more" than it originally wanted to charge. A 2TB model with a Steam Controller costs more than $1,400. vgc.news/news/steam-m...

For @aftermath.site, I reviewed the Steam Machine. It costs $1049 base. It is beautifully designed. It might be one of the most important computers ever made, launched at the worst time imaginable. aftermath.site/steam-machin...

It's actually a little cheaper than I thought it would be (although with less specs). It's a weird proposition. For the same price you can get a way better machine with slightly less convenience. It really is the classic console vs pc argument except the price point is inverted which is so strange.

any take that hinges on "games simply aren't responsibly priced commercial products" has to contend both with "the current executive class is the most grotesquely paid it's ever been", and the massive amounts of investor money currently going into massively wasteful tech obsessions.

This is like when tech bros were screaming mobile would kill console gaming. No doubt Roblox is big and has locked up a large audience that doesn't seem interested in playing outside of that ecosystem but the industry outside of Roblox is still over a $190 BILLION dollar business give or take.

luna abyss is great, this is heartbreaking to see. i do not know what the next 6-10 years of games looks like given how many people we're losing that are just... not gonna be able to find work after this all. fuck, man.

Can an indie gal get a little visibility during Steam Next Fest?👉👈 store.steampowered.com/app/4300180/... #indiegame #gamedev #pixelart #steamnextfest

During Summer Game Fest, @jeffgerstmann.com broke some heartbreaking news. Please join me in paying respect to the greatest energy drink reviewer to ever do it. Edit by the incredible @xhp.ca

🧟Beatdown City Survivors🧟 Eradicate hordes of monsters in this 🗽Immersive 👥survivors roguelite 🌃set in a destructible city OUT NOW! 🛠️fun weapon crafting 🐱large cast of characters 🏗️dynamic environments 🔊pumping soundtrack Play the demo/check it out today! beatdown.city/bdcsrstm

If you want to see what it's like to play Big Walk, we've got the video for you ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Two girls gabbing

Hey all, I'm overseeing the hiring of a (late-ish) summer intern for @pcmag.com: ~30 hrs./week, paid; NYC area preferred. Please share this listing far and wide: www.ziffdavis.com/careers/jobs... I'm happy to answer any questions about the gig!

handbrake still doing work in 2026. smdh

oh dang.

It's been heartening seeing the visibility afforded by the SGF Steam fest with the Black Voices in Gaming subsection. Seeing thousands of wishlists for an array of games. Beatdown City Survivors gained over 1K wishlists this week, which rules. Could definitely use more with launch upon us, lol.

I was pretty bummed out by the Tupac reveal for Stranger Than Heaven. Sat down and recorded my thoughts youtu.be/T2pZep-s0Ug?...

Ace Combat 8 is fucking sick. I tried something a little different with this preview. It’s underperforming, but whatever. Please watch. We want to do more videos like this! youtu.be/0NkHeVzVa2I?...

I mentioned it earlier, but I am serious that if any outlet is considering doing a review of the Steam Frame, I am throwing my hat in the ring. I have plenty of VR experience across PSVR1, Oculust Rift S, PSVR2, and Quest 3. I have used the latter both for PCVR and standalone.

We lend our voices to the 150 detainees, including hunger strikers at the Adelanto processing center and read their letter in the “Petition of Writ” that we received from @chu.house.gov. Here are their words. (2 parts) PART 1

IMPORTANT: For any artists/writers/etc etc, using Linktree to point people to their work, from 5 July, they'll be feeding all imagery you use on your landing page into DALL-E by OpenAI. I deleted my account this morning.

I made a Mortal Kombat pattern of Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Reptile performing Fatalities on each other.

Reviewed Dosa Divas alongside interviewed game’s creative director. Corporatism abound. Stephen truly saw my pitch/vision. If you subscribe to Game File due to this piece—I will get paid more moneys, so please subscribe; so I can get paid even more moneys to allow this type of work at Game File!

We'll be launching a new site that lets gamers browse Steam releases in a visually delightful newspaper style. As always we want to promote indies doing cool stuff. If you're interested, stick your game here → weloveeverygame.fillout.com/t/j3xw5Vn7WQus #steamgames #indiedev #indiegames