Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop
Sega Sells Relic Entertainment, Makes Major Cuts to Creative Assembly
What would the weekly industry roundup be without a healthy dose of industry layoff news? It would be better, probably, but unfortunately that’s not the world we get to live in.
Video Game Industry giant Sega announced last week that it sold Relic Entertainment as part of the company’s effort to downsize and reduce overhead costs. Now, rather than acting as a subsidiary developer under the Sega family of studios, Relic is an independent company after being bought by an external investor.
This news was accompanied by the announcement that Sega laid off 240 members of its workforce, mostly in their Sega Europe studio and Sega-owned Creative Assembly.
Speaking on Twitter/X about the development of their current projects following this news, Relic Entertainment stated that, “To our fans, we want to assure you we will continue to support our titles, including ‘Company of Heroes 3’ – we are looking forward to the 1.6 Update in April, loaded with new content and features requested by our community.”
Embracer Group Sells Gearbox, Reaffirms Asmodee’s Importance
After a devastating string of layoffs since the start of restructuring last summer, Embracer Group may be closing in on the end of their financial turmoil — but not without one last big headline.
Embracer reported on their website that it divested Gearbox Entertainment for $460 million dollars to publisher Take-Two Interactive Software. As a part of this deal, Take-Two received the rights to several big name franchises, including Borderlands, Risk of Rain, and Duke Nukem. Embracer retained ownership of Gearbox San Francisco, the Remnant video game franchise and “other notable unannounced releases.” The sale of Gearbox Entertainment marked the end of the larger structured divestment process for Embracer, with smaller scale restructuring to continue until the end of April.
Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Entertainment, had this to say about the sale: “As a significant long-term Embracer Group shareholder, I believe in the strategy for the Embracer Group going forward and am completely convinced that this transaction is the best possible scenario and an obvious net positive arrangement for Embracer Group, for Take-Two and, of course, for Gearbox Entertainment. My primary interest is always Gearbox, especially our talent and our customers. I want to personally assure fans of our games that this arrangement will ensure that the experiences we have in development at Gearbox will be the best they can possibly be.”
During the presentation to investors about the Gearbox sale, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors took time to praise tabletop industry giant Asmodee, which was the most profitable subsidiary of Embracer Group last year. Wingefors stated, “Asmodee is one of the absolute most important businesses we have within the group, and I’m very keen to support them.”
New PvP Shooter Based on Marvel Characters Announced
Huh, I did not have “Overwatch, but with Marvel Characters” on my 2024 bingo card.
Announced on March 27th, Marvel Rivals is an upcoming hero shooter game developed by Diablo Immortal developer NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games. In Marvel Rivals, players will take on the role of iconic heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe with different roles and abilities as they duke it out in 6v6 online battles.
Jay Oong, head of Marvel Games, says, “Marvel Rivals is one of our most ambitious game development projects. Since the conceptualization of the game and throughout our collaboration, our Marvel team has poured our hearts and souls into this project, and we are thrilled to work with the incredible team at NetEase Games to help deliver the ultimate Super Hero team-based PVP shooter.”
A prominent feature of the game’s combat will be team-up skills, where two characters can combine their abilities for devastating results. We see this a few times in the trailer, such as when the Hulk charges up Iron Man with Gamma Rays.
Also, while many mistook the character at the end of the trailer for sexy anime Galactus, it’s actually his daughter, Galacta. At Goonhammer, we know better than to mistake the two. [Look, buddy, I wasn’t born yesterday. I know when I’m looking at a sexy anime Galactus. –Ed.]
Marvel Rivals is scheduled to enter closed alpha in May, with further details of its release to be announced.
Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land Is Getting Its Own Card Game
Publisher Bandai Namco announced its plans to release a trading card game based on the late Akirya Toriyama’s Sand Land, and has brought in one of the biggest names in the industry to help honor the legacy of the legendary manga artist.
Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering, has been brought on to help bring the Sand Land card game to life. As of this writing, it is currently unclear if he will serve as a consultant for the game’s development, or is an active member of the development team.
Little is known about the gameplay for the Sand Land card game, other than it will be a constructed set format sold in standalone decks, with later releases acting as expansions to these decks.
More information for the game will be made available at Gencon 2024, as well as early copies of the decks. The Sand Land card game is set to coincide with the release of a Sand Land anime and video game adaptation both arriving this year.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Appears on Microsoft Store
This is not a drill. Nor do we think it is a cruel April Fools day prank. There’s an actual update on the status of Hollow Knight: Silksong.
After being announced in 2019, we have heard almost nothing about the highly-anticipated Hollow Knight: Silksong, save for its announcement trailer and being briefly shown off at the Xbox Showcase in 2022. On April 1st, fans who have been patiently waiting for any information finally received some news. Yesterday, Silksong quietly went live in the Microsoft store.
The store page features the 2022 showcase trailer and screenshots from said trailer. It does not feature a price for the game, file size for the game, or release date information. Fans can wishlist the game on the store page, at least.
This is not the first store page for Silksong, it has been available on Steam, GOG, the Nintendo eStore, and PSN for some time. It wasn’t on the Microsoft store before, however; this is a new listing, and on the Microsoft store the game also includes an ESRB rating of E10+.
Whether this is an innocuous update for the title or signs of potential announcements in the near future, only time will tell.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
Have any questions or feedback? Have an interesting tabletop news story we should be including in our round-up? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. And if you want regular updates in your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
