Bandai Namco Online faces insolvency post-Blue Protocol launch

Toadman Interactive, the studio known for developing original titles like Immortal Unchained and plying its trade as a work-for-hire developer, is making layoffs.The company confirmed the news on LinkedIn and explained it would be making some redundancies and shuttering its offices in Stockholm, Visby, and Oslo."Like many other game companies, we have gone through a tough period over the last 12 months, and, unfortunately, that means that we are shutting down our offices in Stockholm, Visby, and Oslo, as well as having some redundancies in our Berlin studio," reads the statement. "If you are hiring in the games space, please reach out to Araken dos Santos and we would love to make introductions to our talented staff."Toadman is owned by Enad Global 7 (EG7) and has worke…

45 employees have been let go by Ubisoft, according to Bloomberg.The outlet reports the reductions were spread across US offices located in Cary, North Carolina and San Francisco, CA. A Ubisoft spokesperson said the cuts were made to "align [their] organizations with future business and development objectives."Ubisoft's Cary team (typically known as Red Storm Entertainment) was the lead developer on several Tom Clancy titles over the years. More recently, it released Assassin's Creed Nexus VR and canceled The Division Heartland.Meanwhile, Ubisoft San Francisco was the lead developer on the Rocksmith series. Other titles under its name include South Park: The Fractured But Whole and the free-to-play shooter xDefiant.This marks the second time this year Ubisoft has reduce…

Another change is being introduced to Steam's user reviews. As of today, reviews will be marked with a symbol to show the reviewer played it "primarily" on the Steam Deck.The icon is presented on the right side of the banner, and the Steam Deck playtime can be revealed by hovering over it. However, there's currently no way to categorize any user reviews by handheld or PC usage.

Steam Deck's prominence

Alongside its current (and future) iterations, Steam Deck's importance is reflected in its monthly top game charts, which includes the most-played games on the device.For developers, the Steam Deck icon should help curious players …

Mad Crusader will spend the next two years investing $30 million in double-A games, the transmedia company revealed.Spread across four investment rounds, the money will go specifically toward concepts made by the first 10 graduates from its World Builders incubation program. The funding will help those concepts grow into "commercial products with franchise potential."In other words, if a developer thinks its project has what it takes to grow beyond games, as so many others have done recently, Mad Crusader wants to help get it off the ground.The original (and remote) online program ran from October 2023 to this past May. Graduates and investors maintain an equity stake in the product, along with an equity share in Mad Crusader's game development holding.In that same press rel…

As previously announced last week, Squid Shock Games has launched a Patreon campaign to continue post-launch support on its debut title, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus.The restructuring of publisher Humble Games in late July has resulted in Squid Shock missing "critical post-launch support" like updates and console patches. With the studio's future uncertain, it will rely on crowdfunding for the time being."We've explored every possible option to deliver the future content we had planned," explained Squid Shock, "and decided to create a Patreon for those who would like to support us."There are six tiers that range from $1 to $100/mo. Benefits range from early access to development updates, build demos and beta tests, to being listed in the game's c…

Update (7/23/24): In a statement provided to Game Developer, Humble said its game publishing label is "undergoing restructuring" rather than fully shutting down. This restructure "involved much deliberation and careful thought, with the goal of ensuring the stability and support of our developers and ongoing projects.""We are acutely aware of the profound impact this decision has on our team members at Humble Games and deeply empathize with everyone affected. Our team's contributions have been world-class and invaluable, supporting the launch of our games since we started publishing in 2017."Ongoing and future projects are said to be unaffected, and the restructure has "no impact" on Humble Bundle's operations. It affirmed that it was &quot…

Last week's sudden restructuring of Humble Games has affected various developers, including Squid Shock Games.The creator of Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus revealed it's been dealt a "critical blow," particular with the game's console ports. It and QA support were linked to its deal with Humble deal, which has now hampered post-launch support."[Humble's news] took us completely by surprise," said Squid Shock, "and we are now in a difficult situation when it comes to updating the console ports."Shortly after news of the restructuring, Humble assured that this wouldn't affect the deals it had in place with studios like Squid Shock and Coral Island creator Starway Games.The latter put out a statement last week affirming it too was in a rough …

Three months after Koei Tecmo filed a lawsuit against mobile studio Youzu, the two developers have reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed fee.At the time of the April suit, the Japanese developer claimed Youzu had repeatedly infringed on its copyright. Music and in-game assets from its games had allegedly been used to promote Youzu titles like Dynasty Origins and Sengoku Legend: Uprising.It was further claimed the Singaporean developer "continuously used" materials without asking permission. Despite a "voluntary promise" to Koei Tecmo to stop what it was doing, Youzu continued using the music and assets.Koei Tecmo stressed that these actions "damage our intellectual property’s value and lead to misconceptions by users and our partners that we are r…