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.
Itch.io Goes Briefly Offline Due to Cyberattack, Blames Funko
Online indie game storefront itch.io was briefly taken offline on Sunday due to a cyberattack. The culprit? According to itch.io, none other than Funko and its AI-powered brand protection program.
What’s easily provable here is the fact itch.io services were down on Sunday. The website went down on Sunday night in American times zones, and users could not access it until the following morning. This includes the itch.io storefront, as well as various user pages and any content not already downloaded to a computer.
Which brings us to itch.io’s social media post about why the website went down. In a bizarre turn of events, itch.io was targeted by automated brand protection software owned by dead-eyed collectible seller Funko. The software reported itch.io to its registrar, iwantmyname.com, for generating phishing attempts and iwantmyname responded by simply shutting the website down without investigating the matter further. After appealing the decision, iwantmyname investigated the claim and found itch.io was not at fault, and restored the website.
Iwantmyname denies any wrongdoing or negligence in a statement made to Polygon, saying, “The domain name was already reinstated earlier today after the registrant finally responded to our notice and took appropriate action to resolve the issue.”
Itch.io clarifies in their social media post that they did take down the offending page as soon as they got the notice, but reaffirms that the takedown of the website was due to negligence on iwantmyname’s part to not check on the nature of the complaint or itch.io’s confirmation message to the registrar that the offending page had been removed.
Itch.io looks to be operating normally as of this writing, but strange incidents like this are a reminder of the precarious future of online spaces with the rise of more AI systems that can make costly and potentially devastating mistakes.
Gwent Arriving on Physical Tabletops in 2025
After reaching unexpected popularity in The Witcher 3, and getting its own dedicated game (which was shut down in 2023), digital card game Gwent is finally getting a physical release.
“Gwent is the biggest ‘game within a game’ in media history,” writes Rob Trounce, marketing manager for Hachette. “After a 10 year wait, we are proud to be working alongside No Loading Games to bring this beloved game to tabletops in a stunning package – whether it’s a souvenir for fans of Geralt and his adventures, or a game for competitive card game enthusiasts, Gwent will be one of the hottest games of 2025.”
The box set, scheduled to release in Q3 of next year, features all 400 cards featured in The Witcher 3 for players to use for deck building purposes, as well as a playmat. The box set has instructions for getting started and casual play as well as tournament rulesets (though Hatchette made no comment in its press release if the company will support some sort of official organized play.)
Gwent is being developed in partnership with publisher No Loading Games, and is currently in “full scale production” according to the official press release, and the game has the blessing of The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red.
Games Workshop Opens Voting for 2025 Miniature of the Year
With the end of the year fast approaching, a new “best of” list seems to be popping up everywhere you look. Warhammer isn’t immune to this scourge of annual retrospective rankings, as Games Workshop opened up their 2025 Miniature of the Year voting competition this past Friday.
The contest, which has been running since 2016, is a public poll where folks can vote from one of the year’s released miniatures to be the winner. In previous years, all of the game systems were combined into one master list for determining the winner, but this year’s competition has elected to try a new format.
The 2024 edition of the miniature of the year will have three categories, each one having a miniature of the year. The categories are Warhammer 40,000 plus Kill Team, Age of Sigmar plus Warcry, and all other specialist games.
Previous winners of miniature of the year include Lion’el Johnson, the Avatar of Khaine, Bela’kor, Ghazzkull Thraka, and Abaddon the Despoiler.
Voting for the miniature of the year award ends on Friday the 13th, with the winners being revealed on December 31st.
Fish and Fiends Face Off in Next Kings of War Starter Set
Mantic Games revealed their next two player starter set for their popular fantasy wargame, Kings of War, on Friday, pitching the aquatic Trident Realm against the fiery Forces of the Abyss.
This two player starter set, called Battle for the Coral Gate, is set to release in 2025, and joins a wide array of starter sets aimed at giving those interested in Kings of War plenty of choice when it comes to their point of entry into the system. The box see’s these two forces meeting in battle near an underwater riff into hell, as the Trident Realm try and push the Forces of the Abyss back from the titular Coral Gate.
The contents of the box include the recently released plastic miniatures for both the Trident Realm and Forces of the Abyss, as well as a Kings of War Core Compendium and a getting started guide specific to the box. This guide features assembly instructions, lore, and a mini-campaign centered around the contents of the box set.
Kings of War: Battle for the Coral Gate is currently available for preorder and will be widely available on January 20th, 2025.
Epic Games Starts Paying Out Fortnite Players Following 2022 Settlement
If you currently are, or ever have been, a player of the megahit shooter Fortnite, you may be entitled to compensation.
This settlement payout follows a lawsuit made against Epic Games in 2022 for unlawful business practices for in-game purchases made in Fortnite. The lawsuit claimed that Epic engaged in unlawful, underhanded, and deceitful tactics to allow for players, particularly children, to rack up hundreds of dollars in charges without any warning or understanding of what was happening. The lawsuit also claimed that the confusing button layout and icons on screen caused players to purchase items completely by accident, with the refund process being purposefully obtuse. Epic Games settled the lawsuit out of court for a total of $520 million.
As announced by the FTC website, the first round of payouts from the 2022 settlement against Epic games went out on Monday via check or Paypal to those who submitted a claim to the FTC. These payouts are a little over $100 each, and will be distributed to each one of the claimants. This wave of payments covered over 600 thousand claimants, and totaled around $72 million, with more payments being sent out at an unspecified later date according to the FTC.
Those with questions about their payments can email the specific address set up for the Fortnite settlement, and as of this writing claims are currently still being accepted.
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.
