after flying back from Vegas last week, I was just laid off from Inverse today. I'm open to connecting over email at [email protected] and I'm definitely still in the writing and editing space. Expect a more in-depth explanation coming soon in my Updater newsletter. shannonliao.substack.com

Inverse's Gaming section is being shut down as the company "divests" from gaming content. I'm out of a job along with my wonderful co-writers. I've put my heart and soul into this job for four years. Gonna need to take time to process, but I'm now completely open for work - and boy do I need it.

Breaks my heart to share this, but today is my last day at The Verge and I am looking for work! I'd really like to stay in video games, preferably in some kind of journalistic capacity but I can do PR/Marketing and maybe even a lil Narrative Design. Please get in touch! www.ashparrish.com

Reminder that video game journalism cannot exist without functioning newsrooms that have the capacity to mentor and train new talent and the bandwidth to pursue long-form investigative pieces and break news—all while paying writers a living wage.

NEW: Following an employment tribunal that saw a group of fired Rockstar union workers denied interim relief, I asked a UK employment solicitor to explain how the mechanism works and why the threshold for success is so high.

Last week, I got a corrections request for a story I didn't write, on a publication I don't write for. It sent me down a very strange rabbit hole involving a mysterious content publisher. There's a lot I don't understand, but here's what I know: aftermath.site/nicole-carpe...

Odds of an actual nuke going off while this takes place are slim but not impossible so we could be about to birth the Fallout universe.

Looking forward to watching the next 28 Years Later this evening which is by all accounts very good despite being called THE BONE TEMPLE.

UK role + remote, but on the plus side I'd get to politely bully you (HR if you read this it is a joke)

NEW: Ubisoft had its first meeting with union representatives at its recently shuttered Halifax studio yesterday and has been accused of coming to the table with "nothing." That seemingly means no proposals for better severance or evidence the closure was based solely on financial necessity.

Did you know we have a FREE membership tier? It gets you 6 free stories every month instead of 3, plus you'll also get our regular newsletters which include news, roundups and even more free blogs. You can signup here: aftermath.site#/portal/signup

UPDATE: In a statement sent to Game Developer, Ubisoft has confirmed it laid off 29 people at its Abu Dhabi studio in November 2025. "Ubisoft made the difficult decision to restructure its Abu Dhabi mobile studio, discontinuing some projects in order to focus on Growtopia."

Now hiring freelance writers for AUTOMATON WEST. Japanese language skills required. Promotion to full-time work also possible Application deadline: January 31st, 2026. automaton-media.com/en/announcem...

A Fool’s Errand — our latest game for @play.date — is out now! Get it now: play.date/games/a-fool... Learn more: www.iorama.studio/afoolserrand

Keep 'em coming, folks!

NEW: In an extraordinary legal filing, former Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick says an ongoing lawsuit against the Microsoft-Activision deal was secretly set up to help The Embracer Group Embracer tells me they're “humbled” but deny the claim.
This one's wild www.gamefile.news/p/bobby-koti...

The sort of AI mandate I can get behind.

Vital reporting here from the PMG team in the wake of the recent interim relief ruling, including evidence that appears to indicate one person was fired for posting a 15-word message in the union Discord channel.

Hello, it is time for the Annual Tweet! Are you working on a COOL, NEAT, and perhaps even EXTREMELY WEIRD video game that'll be launching in 2026? If the answer is YES then let me know in the replies below! I want to get eyes on some coverage candidates before the year begins to consume us all.

We're looking for a News Editor to join TWIV. Ideal candidate would have proven experience with: - Working in news for a games outlet - Conducting original reporting - Mentoring junior writers ...and genuinely enjoy writing news, diving deep, and talking to people. UK timezone preferred. Email me.

A few shots of Bangkok captured on my little Minolta point-and-shoot film camera. I’m always surprised at how punchy it can be.

Hmm, this sounds promising and will ideally result in X being banned outright.

It looks like WB Games ended 2025 by making some layoffs at its San Francisco studio. A number of senior employees were seemingly impacted—but it's currently unclear how many jobs were eliminated overall. Pinged the company for comment earlier this week but have yet to hear back.

hi! i'm co-founding a new gaming website with my former polygon colleague @zoehhannah.com. it's called mothership.blog. i made it for someone like me... the kind of website i always wished we had in our space. watch the video to learn more :D

It looks like WB Games ended 2025 by making some layoffs at its San Francisco studio. A number of senior employees were seemingly impacted—but it's currently unclear how many jobs were eliminated overall. Pinged the company for comment earlier this week but have yet to hear back.

Is the UK government about to deliver a rare win?

CWA Canada says a Ubisoft spokesperson would only commit to providing relevant information next week. It'll be interesting to see what they eventually hand over.

NEW: Nintendo of America and contracting firm Teksystems are facing two new labor complaints from workers Details are light, but the companies allegedly violated workers' rights to engage in concerted activities around unionizing or similar acts No comment so far www.gamefile.news/p/nintendo-t...

Finally finished Stranger Things and the second half of the finale would have been emotional had it followed a season that didn’t completely swerve any sense of narrative cohesion. Wanted to love it, but it all felt a bit hollow.

My new years resolution is for @bsky.app to finally verify me because that entire process is beyond vague.

This is perhaps a good time to mention that I attended this preliminary hearing at the start of the week, met some of the fired union members in its aftermath and have been able to review Rockstar's evidence in-person for myself. We'll have more to share once the result has been announced.

Update: CWA Canada says it will "pursue every legal recourse" to defend union members impacted by the closure of Ubisoft Halifax. The organisation said the timing of the shuttering "raises many questions for which we do yet have answers."

Union formed on Dec 18, 2025. Studio closure confirmed on Jan 7, 2026.

ICYMI during the holidays, these were my five favourite video games of 2025. Special props to Baby Steps and Lumines Arise for being utterly magnificent in their own unique (and harrowing, in the case of Baby Steps) ways.

I have no memory of writing this during the early hours of a (rather tipsy) NYE party but I reckon I was on to something BIG.

I"M BACK FROM HOLIDAY AND READY TO DECLARE 2026 THE YEAR OF BIG WALK

Sometimes the no comment is the entire story!

Remember, you too can LARP Death Stranding by attempting to walk to the train station with all of your Christmas presents, clothes for a week, and various travel gadgets in tow. Lord have mercy (on my shoulders).

You might imagine that if you 'pushed hard' to deploy GenAI and found it was only useful when fleshing out PowerPoints and other similarly guff tasks, then, well, perhaps it isn't really useful at all.

LRT: Folks, here's your Short List for the 2025 Games Journalism Award nygamecritics.com/the-games-jo...

Writing my annual 'biggest stories of the year' roundup for Game Developer and, boy, it just feels like we stuck 2024 on repeat, doesn't it?

Justice for Giraffe.

I know the holidays are the worst for hiring but I'm still looking for work :') my website goes into detail on my contributions to Civ VII, MMS, and Hindsight: emmkid.info I'm quick, adaptable, and eager to learn from smart people who enjoy abusing custom slack emotes

On December 10th 1993, workers at id Software published Doom. 32 years later, workers at id Software have formed a union to protect the franchise and games they love.

Another highlight was all of the wonderful interviews y'all did with Keita around to a T. Was present for some and it was the best. Give to a T a shot www.gamedeveloper.com/design/what-... www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/... www.wired.com/story/katama...

Design that performs.

NEW: “We’ve hit a snag” - The untold saga behind a missing Star Wars video game DLC that spawned a lawsuit One of the most detailed stories I’ve ever run. An inside look at the year-long struggle to make KOTOR II’s cut content available in the game’s Switch port. www.gamefile.news/p/kotor-ii-r...

NEW: I just got off the phone with a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson who confirmed Warner Bros. Games is included in the Netflix deal. I asked whether they would discuss plans for the division, but they refused to elaborate further at this point in time.

Deleted my original tweet to avoid potential confusion over the fate of Warner Bros. Games AND have pinged both Netflix and WBD to clarify what (if anything) the acquisition means for the video game division. It was notably absent from announcements on both sides.

This is NEAT.