(Happy Halloween!)

Nintendo announced yesterday evening that they will be launching their own App with various OST’s from their large catalog of titles, ranging from Metroid for the Super Famicon to almost all of their beloved Nintendo Switch main titles!

Users will be required to have a Nintendo Switch Online membership in order to be able to use the application (Family Membership and Online Expansion Pack count too!)

The app features built in search features for characters, for example if you search “Zelda” you will be given a selection of all OST’s related to the character Zelda throughout the years, for example “Zelda’s Lullaby” and “Memories of the Sword”

The overall sound is at a high quality, and it’s very user friendly!, with some tracks allowing you to loop it for an entire hour!

Nintendo has promised to deliver consistent updates for the service, such as adding music from “Mario 64”, “Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword”, and more!

(Link to article: https://www.ign.com/articles/nintendo-releases-music-app-with-themes-from-mario-zelda-and-most-importantly-the-wii-shop-channel)

Probably Monsters is eliminating roles in the wake of a recently cancelled project. Senior Technical Artist Mic Marvin stated that “about 50” workers were let go in total, and Level designer Ed Bryne were focused on the internal Battle Barge team.

Senior artist Carol T has stated the following on her LinkedIn profile: “Probably Monsters has graciously canceled their 3rd project, with myself and incredibly capable colleagues now looking for work.”, Some of the layoffs appear to be in the roles of “3D Character artist” as well as “3D Character Animator”

They stated to GameDeveloper that they are currently undergoing a “realignment to support smaller, more nimble teams and projects. We believe this format better matches the needs of players and the market. […] Our hearts go out to everyone impacted as we navigate the new realities of the gaming landscape as an independent company.”

Earlier this year, they added Bungie alum Chris Opdahl, to lead an unannounced multiplayer project.  In 2021 the studio raised $250 Million in funding to use on its various development teams. One of these teams, was the studio of Firewalk studios, who recently got closed down by Sony earlier this week for the failure of Concord in August 2024. Before Sony bought Firewalk in 2023, it was one of the first teams launched by ProbableMonsters.

ProbableMonsters has yet to release or even announce a new title since. However they state they “currently has several game projects underway, in various stages from incubation to active development.”

We will have to see about any further developments from ProbableMonsters to see how they hold up.

(Link to article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/developer-probablymonsters-lays-off-battle-barge-staff-after-project-cancellation)

Sony has decided to close down Firewalk as well as Neon Koi after having released one (or no) game(s)

Sony has also stated that 210 roles have been eliminated, mostly from Firewalk. Concord’s servers were shut down two weeks after release in August, Sony has said that “certain aspects of Concord worked”, but ultimately decided that closing down the studio was “The best path forward”

Concord had a overall budget of $300 Million, and when it released, it’s peak player count on Steam was of just over 600 players. It’s normal for Sony to want to react in this way after the massive failure that was Concord.

Link to article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/sony-shuts-down-concord-dev-firewalk-and-mobile-studio-neon-koi)

Shinji Mikami, states that “understanding what made the original work” is the key to making a successful remake. He specifically talks about Resident Evil 4 Remake, and praises it for being “very well done”, he also points out that the “laser sight” system was very well done in how it portrays the tension of the action moment.

He also praises the remake for “taking the scenario that I wrote in two weeks and building off of it by understanding each character and the backbone of each scenario.”

(Link to the article: https://www.ign.com/videos/resident-evil-4-creator-on-what-makes-a-good-remake)

In early October, the German Minister of State for Culture and the Media have launched a funding program for new game studios in the country. Starting on October 28th (Today!) founders of the studios can apply to the “Press Start: Games Founding Grant” to receive €2,750 (Which would be £2,292) per month over the span of 18 months with the purpose of focusing on the founding phase and help bring forward the development of games.

To be eligible a Founder (Or a student still in university) must have founded a game studio within the past 18 months, or plan to do so within the next year, up to 130 founders will be chosen by a jury, that will also provide the founders with  an education and network program. They should also have a game in development or in the early development stages. Additionally, projects that use more complex technologies, for example VR and AR, have been deemed as suitable for the application.

Felix Falk, managing director for the German Game Industry Association, noted that this “gives an important boost to the German games market and further strengthens it in line with the federal government’s games strategy.”

(Link to the article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/germany-launches-new-funding-program-for-indie-dev-founders)

Sonic X Shadow Generations has sold over 1 million units within its first 24 hours after being launched. Compared to Sonic Frontiers, which sold 2.5 million units within its first month, eventually growing to 3.5 to date. This game gets added to Sega’s list of high selling games in 2024, with games such as:

Persona 3 Reload, which has sold over 22million units since it launched in February this year

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which has become the most played instalment in the series on Steam (First day of release)

and recently Metaphor: ReFantazio, Which dethroned Persona 3 Reload by also selling 1 million copies in a day.

(Link to the article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/sonic-x-shadow-generations-sells-over-1-million-copies-at-launch)

Since 2021 the Video Game History Foundation has been working on a way to preserve games that are out of print alongside Software Protection Network. However, this is currently forbidden according to section 1201 of the DMCA.

Preserving video games allows us to “celebrate, and teach the history of video games” by the words of the VGHA, as by their own studies they concluded that 87% of games released prior to 2010 in the US are virtually inaccessible.

The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) has been against reserving games, as there is a “substantial market” for classic games, as well as secondary markets, in their words preserving games with minimal supervision would eliminate this substantial market.

As a response to the denial, the VGHA stated the following “We encourage people in the game industry who are disappointed by the Copyright Office’s decision to ask their leadership to push for greater support for the work of libraries and archives within their industry groups.”

(Link of the article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/u-s-copyright-office-rejects-dmca-exemption-to-support-game-preservation)

Roblox is a widely popular game which can be played by all ages. It’s very popular amongst children, and there have been reports over the past couple of years of parents being worried about their children’s safety.

Game Developer reports that in November, Roblox will be adding new safety measures, their outlet said the new measures “are part of [our] commitment to making the platform one of the safest online environments for our users, particularly the youngest users.”

The new measures require children under the age of 13 to have parent supervision and permission to access chat features.

(Link to the article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/roblox-launching-new-child-safety-measures-in-november)

Riot Games has layed off a total of 32 employees, 27 of which were part of the League of Legends team. Co-Founder Marc Merill says that this layoff is a part of a long term plan so that there’s more experience within the League of Legends staff so that the game can last another 15 years and beyond.

He added that it wasn’t to save on money, nor that it would hinder the development process of any of the beloved games, they’re trying to “solve today’s challenges faster, while also building for the future.”

additionally, those staff that have been affected, will have a six month severance and annual bonus alongside health coverage and job placement assistance.

(Link to the article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/riot-games-lays-off-staff-to-solve-challenges-and-build-for-the-future-)

Written by Tom Regan, contributing editor for Game Developer, reports that Game Freak, developers of the Pokémon games have been victims to a large scale hack.

Th article reports that over 1TB of confidential data, such as the personal data of 2600 former and current employees as well as data regarding their games has been accessed by a third party. Game Freak reports that the data breach happened in August 2024, which has caused them to strengthen their cyber security. The data breach has also given the code name of the Nintendo Switch’s successor as well the code name for the tenth generation of the Pokémon series, the leaker also reportedly has access to the source code of the next two Pokémon games. Game Freak is currently trying to contact those who’s data has been accessed apologizing for those who have been affected by this data breach.

(Link to the article: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/pok-mon-developer-game-freak-has-been-targeted-in-massive-data-breach)