THQ shifting to a single-player focus, over 100 employees laid off.
Financial woes at THQ have brought many titles being developed for the publisher under scrutiny. While some titles have been scrapped altogether, other titles, such as the planned MMO Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium, have been “refocused” – changed to fit into their evolving new strategy of serving the hardcore gamer.
Platinum's online brawler just got a little more awesome/weirder.
Platinum Games, the studio that burst from the corpse of famed Clover Studio, has had a pretty decent track record of ridiculously fun – if still a bit offbeat – games such as Mad World, Vanquish, Bayonetta and the Metal Gear Solid offshoot, Revengeance. While Revengeance may be getting the lion’s share of attention from the fans and media alike these days, the studio has been working on another interesting title called Anarchy Reigns (or Max Anarchy as it is known in Japan).
South Park RPG and unnamed next gen title affected
Joystiq has reported that Obsidian Entertainment was struck by layoffs this week, affecting staff across the board. As a result, staff currently developing the South Park RPG were let go, and an unnamed next gen project was canceled.
The title is launching tomorrow on both the Vita and PlayStation 3, but thanks to Toyota owners of the new handheld will be getting it for free.
Current owners of a shiny new PlayStation Vita will be excited to learn that they'll be able to augment their game library tomorrow without the need to drop any cash. Thanks to Toyota, MotorStorm RC will be totally free in the US starting tomorrow exclusively on the PlayStation Vita. This limited time promotion will also include a Vita exclusive RC version of the Scion iQ - this comes alongside a wide assortment of other downloadable content for the miniaturized racer.
Only 10% of the affected employees are from game development.
Blizzard Entertainment announced today that they have cut 600 jobs as part of a "global reevaluation" of the company. Of those affected by the cuts, only 10% are from game development. Blizzard has assured that the World of Warcraft team, as well as current development and publishing schedules, have not been affected.
Layoffs have already begun and the company is deep in debt.
Dark Energy Digital, the company behind Hydrophobia, may be seeing its final days. Joystiq is reporting that the developer has already begun laying off employees and is deeply in debt.
Twisted Metal developer to pursue the mobile game market.
With the long awaited Twisted Metal set to hit store shelves next week, you’d think that developer Eat Sleep Play would be celebrating. Instead the developer has laid off eight employees last week, reducing the staff to 26.
Even though Electronic Arts had a good year, some developers are being let go.
Electronic Arts is in the process of "restructuring", according to a report on The Escapist. The publisher is laying people off in its Canadian workforce, specifically EA Canada and Black Box. The reason for this is unknown considering EA had good sales numbers in 2011.
Two characters are confirmed alongside two new leaks.
It seems that characters for Capcom's upcoming fighter are leaking on a fairly regular basis. The recent ESRB rating points to a reveal of Alisa and Lei, while both M. Bison and Xiaoyu were leaked by some telling images on the Xbox Live Marketplace. The most recent leak comes courtesy of a Taiwanese product listing for their collector's edition of the game. The listing confirms both Xiaoyu and M. Bison, but reveals both Akuma and Ogre. Jin is also depicted, but was revealed in trailers released by Capcom in the past.
