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.
Astro Bot Wins Game of the Year at the 2024 Game Awards
Geoff Keighley’s Cavalcade of Advertisements (sometimes also known as The Game Awards) aired last Thursday with a strong slate of nominees across its categories. Sony’s love-letter to platform gaming Astro Bot shone bright with seven nominations and four award wins, including the coveted Game of the Year spot, while indie darling Balatro and the Persona-like Metaphor: ReFantazio followed close behind with three wins apiece.
The night also saw some big upsets, with Amazon’s Fallout series beating out the second season of Netflix’s Arcane for Best Adaptation, while Japanese Vtuber Pekora lost out at Content Creator of the Year despite being the heavy favourite for the award.
Also the Muppets were there again. At this point Disney should just sell them to Keighley because god knows the Mouse don’t know what to do with ’em.
FromSoftware Announce Elden Ring Survival Co-op Spin-off
Announced at The Game Awards to the surprise of just about everyone, Dark Souls’ FromSoftware announced a new instalment to the megahit of Elden Ring, just not quite how people expected. Elden Ring: Nightreign was revealed as a spin-off Multiplayer Survival Co-op game taking place in the Elden Ring setting.
Sounding like the child of a Soulslike, Survival Co-op, a Hero Shooter and a Battle Royale, players choose one of 8 unique characters and must work together to make progress in an alternate timeline of Elden Ring’s Lands Between, racing against a lethal wave of night to defeat The Night Lord and save the land.
To say this is a big departure from From’s modern wheelhouse is no understatement, and fans’ interest has further been piqued by the appearance of several creatures and bosses from other Fromsoft titles making blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances in the announcement trailer.
Elden Ring: Nightreign will release sometime 2025, with a network test opening to signups for Xbox and Playstation players from the 10th of January.
Layoffs Hit IGN, GamesIndustry.biz and Humble
Now just in time to remind you that the games industry is a nightmare hellzone, staff at IGN, GamesIndustry.biz and Humble have found themselves pushed out of their jobs. Key senior staff members were offered buyouts and other severance packages in what has been termed a “soft layoff” by media sources covering the departures. This has hit several veteran creatives and journalists from these orgs and is a harbinger of yet more cuts to come — voluntary buyouts now herald involuntary layoffs later for those who don’t take the opportunity to get while the getting is good.
Elder Scrolls Online Developers Successfully Unionize
461 members of Zenimax Online Studios have successfully completed their unionization bid, with Microsoft recognising the new ZOS United-CWA union.
Following on the heels of sister studio Bethesda Games‘ own unionization, the Zenimax Union marks the latest in a wave of Union action sweeping across the big development houses in the past few years in response of the ongoing and historical workplace exploitation rampant within the industry.
Amazon Pushes Forwards with Warhammer Streaming Series
A full two years since it was announced and dangerously close to the deadline set for reaching a deal Amazon Studios, Games Workshop and Henry Cavill have announced they have reached an agreement surrounding the “Creative Guidelines” laid out for the show and will be moving forwards with pre-production.
Announced on Cavill’s Instagram (above) then later confirmed on Warhammer Community, it looks like things are finally in motion with the long awaited project, which looked like it was going to flounder after such a long silence from the parties involved.
No announcements have been made regarding creative crew or what aspects of the 40k franchise will be adapted for the streaming screen, so expect another long silence from official sources, filled with the most tedious nerds alive screaming that Amazon’s trying to destroy Warhammer or some other interminable whinging.
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.
