More than 90 current and former employees at Build A Rocket Boy have signed an open letter accusing the company’s executive leadership of mistreating staff in the lead-up to and aftermath of the failed launch of MindsEye. The letter, released in coordination with the Game Workers Branch of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB), alleges that between 250 and 300 people have been laid off due to the game’s commercial and critical collapse.

The signatories blame the studio’s leadership — specifically co-CEOs Leslie Benzies and Mark Gerhard — for ignoring staff input and mismanaging the project. “These layoffs happened because you repeatedly refused to listen to your workforce’s years of experience,” the letter reads, calling MindsEye “one of the worst video game launches this decade.”

Staff describe four months of mandatory crunch in the run-up to release, with eight hours of overtime each week compensated at a lower rate and often left unclaimed due to continued demands for high-priority tasks. Redundancy notices, they say, were mishandled, with some employees receiving incorrect notice periods or being assigned to the wrong teams for performance reviews, leading to what the letter describes as potentially dozens of wrongful dismissals.

The letter demands a public apology and financial compensation for laid-off employees, as well as improvements to internal processes. Employees still at risk of redundancy are asking for the choice between working their notice period or receiving payment in lieu. The letter also calls for Build A Rocket Boy to formally recognize IWGB as a union partner and to involve external firms in any future layoff processes.

IWGB representatives backed the letter’s claims. Chairperson Spring Mcparlin Jones described the past year at the studio as “shocking,” while PR officer Scott Alsworth accused studio leadership of scapegoating workers for executive-level failures. Former employees Isaac Hudd and Ben Newbon cited months of crunch and mental health breakdowns, claiming senior management ignored warnings and later blamed outside “saboteurs” for the game’s poor reception.

Newbon’s comments refer to Gerhard’s pre-launch remarks alleging that a “concerted effort” by hostile actors was responsible for the backlash. Publisher IO Interactive later distanced itself from those claims and the project as a whole.

MindsEye, originally conceived as a single-player companion to Build A Rocket Boy’s metaverse platform Everywhere, launched as a standalone title earlier this year to overwhelmingly negative reviews. Expectations for the game were largely driven by the pedigree of the studio’s founder Leslie Benzies. He was a key figure behind the Grand Theft Auto series during his time at Rockstar North, but left the company in 2016 following a highly publicized legal dispute over royalties. He went on to establish Build A Rocket Boy, an ambitious new studio aimed at reimagining how players engage with interactive worlds. MindsEye, the studio’s first major release, was meant to embody that vision as part of a broader platform called Everywhere, but ultimately failed to do so.

Aside from being poorly written and designed, MindsEye was plagued with bugs and performance issues, and two executives reportedly left the studio just a week before release. While the studio has since promised performance improvements and a soft relaunch, it has also warned that any future updates may be significantly delayed. The game was received so poorly that lead actor Alex Hernandez (his previous projects include providing looks and voice for Mafia 3 protagonist), who played the main character in MindsEye, said the project was so damaging to his career that he now fears he may never work in video games again.

Build A Rocket Boy has not yet publicly responded to the open letter.

Battlefield 6 has already sold over 1.8 million copies on Steam, generating more than $100 million in revenue before its full launch, according to estimates from analytics firm Alinea Analytics. The global release of the game is scheduled for Oct. 10, 2025.

The game is being developed under the umbrella of Battlefield Studios, a collaborative effort involving DICE, Ripple Effect Studios, Criterion Games, and Motive Studios. During beta testing, Battlefield 6 peaked at over 500,000 concurrent players on Steam, making it the biggest beta in franchise history. While some players reported technical and game balance issues as well as some UI complaints, the overall reception was positive.

In response to growing Battlefield hype, Activision extended the Black Ops 7 beta and launched a free access week for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, running from October 9–16, overlapping Battlefield 6’s release window.

The previous title in the series, Battlefield 2042, launched in 2021 to widespread criticism due to bugs, missing features, and poor balance. It took over a year of updates to regain a portion of the player base.

Indie studio Heart Machine is laying off staff and ending active development on its early access title Hyper Light Breaker (HLB), less than a year after the game’s launch. The studio confirmed the move in a statement to Game Developer, citing “broader forces beyond our control” as the reason for the cuts and project conclusion.

Launched in early access on January 14, 2025, Hyper Light Breaker was positioned as a spiritual successor to Hyper Light Drifter, the studio’s acclaimed 2016 debut. An open-world, online rogue-lite, Breaker entered with high expectations but currently holds a “Mixed” rating on Steam, based on over 2,500 user reviews.

The studio had previously reduced its workforce in November 2024 but expressed hope that Breaker’s launch might “rekindle opportunities” for affected staff; that optimism has since faded. “As we wrap up our work on Hyper Light Breaker, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to part ways with a number of talented team members,” said a Heart Machine spokesperson. “This was not our ideal path, but rather the only one available given the circumstances.”

While the exact number of layoffs wasn’t disclosed, the studio emphasized that the decision was influenced by shifting funding conditions, increasing corporate consolidation, and the unstable climate facing small indie teams.

Heart Machine added that one final update is planned for January 2026. The patch is intended as a polished conclusion to the project and a “thank you” to players. “We’re doing our best to refine what we can, complete key systems, and have the game culminate in a satisfying punctuation point,” said a spokesperson. No additional updates or community Q&A sessions are planned for the rest of the year.

The studio says it will continue making games with a smaller core team and expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to its projects.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has officially passed 5 million copies sold across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, developer Sandfall Interactive announced. To mark the milestone, the studio is preparing a free update featuring new content, quality-of-life additions and expanded language support — described by the team as a “thank you” to fans.

While a release date hasn’t been confirmed, Sandfall said the update will introduce a brand-new location filled with previously unseen enemies and challenging new boss fights aimed at late-game players. Each party member will receive a new costume, and the update will also add seven more supported languages — Czech, Ukrainian, Latin American Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian — bringing the total to 19.

Sandfall had first hinted at additional content and localization features in June. The studio also acknowledged community requests for a photo mode and hinted at future plans for the Clair Obscur universe, which is expected to continue in later projects despite the team already working on a new game.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched to universal critical acclaim earlier this year and sold 3.3 million copies within its first month — despite being available on Xbox Game Pass. The game became an unexpected breakout hit for the small French studio Sandfall Interactive, which developed the game with a core team of just 33 people. A few team members had prior experience at Ubisoft, while the majority had never worked in game development before.

A new report from research firm Circana shows that 63% of US gamers purchase no more than two games per year, while one-third do not buy any new titles annually. The findings were shared by Circana’s Mat Piscatella on Bluesky and come from the company’s Q3 2025 Future of Games report.

Only 4% of US players buy more than one game per month. Meanwhile, 10% purchase a single game each month, and 22% buy a title every three months. The report highlights the increasing reliance on a relatively small segment of frequent buyers to sustain the premium game market. Piscatella noted that “hyper enthusiast, price-insensitive players are really keeping things going,” particularly in the non-free-to-play space.

The data also reflects broader shifts in player behavior. Many gamers now spend extended periods in long-running live-service games like Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone, Roblox, Minecraft, GTA Online, Apex Legends and Valorant, rather than purchasing new releases. Others rely on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus and Netflix Games to access content. A portion of the audience simply shows limited interest in newly released titles.

Although the launch of the Switch 2 has helped boost overall US gaming market performance in 2025, Circana previously reported a decline in spending among younger Americans aged 18-24, suggesting shifting consumption patterns or economic pressures among key demographic groups.

Electronic Arts and developer Full Circle have revealed that their rebooted Skate — now stylized as skate. — has surpassed 15 million players within three weeks of its Early Access launch.

Released into Early Access on September 16, 2025, skate. is a free-to-play, cross-platform title that revives the franchise’s signature Flick-It control system in a new open-world skateboarding sandbox set in the city of San Vansterdam.

The game’s early performance is especially notable given its “Mixed” user rating on Steam — a score partly attributed to Steam Deck incompatibility, as Easy Anti-Cheat currently functions only on Windows. Despite this, skate. reached a peak of 134,901 concurrent players shortly after launch, according to SteamDB, and has maintained a steady daily active count between 50,000 and 80,000 players.

The Skate franchise first launched in 2007 under EA Black Box, earning acclaim for its analog stick-based “Flick-It” controls, which offered a more technical, realistic alternative to the arcade-style trick system of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It was followed by Skate 2 (2009) and Skate 3 (2010), each refining the formula with deeper mechanics, improved physics, and expanded online features.

Despite strong fan demand, the series went dormant after Skate 3, which over time achieved cult status thanks to its popularity among streamers, glitch hunters, and modders. Viral clips and community content helped keep it relevant for years, eventually prompting Microsoft to add it to the Xbox backward compatibility program in 2016. After a decade of silence, EA officially confirmed the franchise’s return in 2020 with the announcement of skate., now developed by EA’s newly established studio Full Circle.

The resurgence of Skate also comes during a broader revival of the skateboarding game genre. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 — a modern remake of the early 2000s classics — launched in July 2025, following the commercial success of THPS 1 + 2 Remastered. Indie titles like Session: Skate Sim and Skater XL have also helped reinvigorate the scene, offering physics-heavy, sim-style alternatives that emphasize realism and user-generated content.

Poncle has announced that Vampire Survivors will receive full online cooperative play later this year with the release of version 1.14. A new trailer showcases players creating or joining lobbies via ID, enabling up to four survivors to team up and explore stages. More feature reveals are expected next week, as the developer teased answers to long-standing community questions.

While local co-op has been available since version 1.6, this is the first time players will be able to roam independently in online sessions.

The online co-op has been in public beta on Steam since August 2025. The current test build introduces an “Online” tab in the main menu, supporting spectating, free movement for each player, grouped level-up sequences, and requires all participants to own the corresponding DLCs.

Poncle’s 2025 roadmap also includes cross-save functionality across most platforms — though not PlayStation, due to ongoing legal constraints — as well as further content under the game’s evolving “Chaos Roadmap.”

Vampire Survivors officially launched in October 2022 after an early access period that began in late 2021, and quickly became a breakout indie success. Widely credited with popularizing the “auto-shooter” or “bullet heaven” subgenre, the game features a character who attacks automatically while players focus on dodging swarms of enemies and managing upgrades. It received strong critical acclaim and fan support, going on to sell millions of copies across PC and consoles.

Obsidian Entertainment has temporarily removed several of its titles from digital storefronts due to a security vulnerability in the Unity game engine. The issue affects games that use Unity-based components, including some editions of the studio’s 2025 release Avowed.

The Unity flaw, initially discovered in June and patched on October 2, could have enabled local code execution and access to confidential information on user devices running Unity-built applications. According to Unity’s advisory, there is no evidence that the vulnerability has been exploited, but developers are strongly encouraged to rebuild their projects using the updated engine.

Obsidian announced Friday that it had delisted several games in order to “implement the necessary updates.” The affected titles include:

• Avowed Premium Edition
• Grounded 2 Founders Edition and Founders Pack
• Pillars of Eternity Hero Edition and Definitive Edition
• Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and its Ultimate Edition
• Pentiment

Although Avowed and Grounded 2 run on Unreal Engine 5, Obsidian clarified via social media that Unity is used for the digital artbook included with the Avowed Premium Edition. Grounded 2’s Founders Pack also includes an artbook, though it’s unclear whether this component is also Unity-based.

“Our team is working on a fix and will restore these games as soon as possible,” the studio said in a post on X. “We will provide additional information once they are available again.” Players who already own the affected titles are advised to apply patches once they are issued.

Obsidian is one of many developers impacted by the Unity security issue. Games like Overcooked 2 and Among Us received rapid updates to address the vulnerability. However, some Unity-based titles — such as the PC version of Fallout Shelter — remain unavailable pending further fixes.

Funcom is shuttering Metal: Hellsinger developer The Outsiders as part of a wider round of layoffs, the company and studio founder David Goldfarb stated in a post on Bluesky.

The Outsiders — also (formerly) known as Funcom Stockholm — was home to roughly 60 staff, and had been active for about ten years. In a social media announcement, Goldfarb said the layoffs at Funcom affected the entire studio and that The Outsiders would be closing permanently.

Goldfarb’s statement recalled the studio’s past struggles — including ‘near-death experience’ when their earlier project Darkborn was canceled — and noted that Metal: Hellsinger itself emerged from that adversity. He said the team had once hoped to build “something even better,” and expressed a desire to continue in some new form, asking for support, job leads, and guidance for affected staff.

The closure follows Funcom’s recent announcement of company-wide layoffs as it shifts resources toward live-service development for Dune: Awakening. The timing was baffling to say the least, as the survival MMO — described by Funcom as “the biggest release in our 32-year history” — is the company’s most commercially successful title to date but was still affected by the cuts.

Funcom described the restructuring as “necessary” to reallocate resources from development to long-term operations and console preparation. The full scale of job cuts across Funcom’s global studios remains unclear.

Metal: Hellsinger is a rhythm-based metal shooter released on September 15, 2022, for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms. The game was praised for its innovative, fast-paced gameplay that synchronized combat to a heavy metal soundtrack featuring vocalists like Serj Tankian and Alissa White-Gluz. It was generally well-received by critics and players, surpassing one million players within its first three months.

Microsoft has officially removed the 10% discount on game and DLC purchases previously available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. In its place, users will now receive Microsoft Rewards points that
can eventually be converted into Xbox gift cards, but unlike a direct discount, they must remain within Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Until now, Game Pass Ultimate users could buy DLCs, in-game currency and even full titles included in the subscription catalog at a discounted rate. The change was first noticed by Call of Duty players, who found they could no longer get 10% off COD Points or Blackcell, the $29.99 premium battle pass. Soon after, it became clear the removal affected most Game Pass titles.

In a statement to IGN, Microsoft confirmed the move, explaining that instead of discounts, subscribers will earn points when purchasing DLCs or add-ons. Ultimate members will receive 10% back in points, while Premium (formerly Standard) subscribers get 5%.

The change comes on the heels of a major price hike: Game Pass Ultimate is increasing from $19.99 to $29.99 per month — a $120 annual jump. Microsoft is attempting to justify the cost by adding Ubisoft+ Classics, Fortnite Crew and promising more day-one releases, but many subscribers feel the value proposition is slipping; on the day Microsoft announced the Game Pass price hike, its website struggled under the volume of users attempting to downgrade or cancel their subscriptions.

Further frustrating users, Call of Duty titles — now under Microsoft’s publishing umbrella — won’t be included in the new Premium tier. This effectively locks early access to Black Ops 7, due in November, behind the more expensive Ultimate plan.