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.
Vallejo Workers Win Strike
After a 26 day long work strike, the workers at Vallejo have won major concessions in negotiations with company management and have agreed to end the strike.
The strike was initially a partial work strike when it started late in November, but escalated to a full work strike in mid December as Vallejo employees campaigned for better pay and workplace protections. According to an article published in the Spanish magazine Catalan, Vallejo workers faced dangerous conditions on the factory floor that were sometimes even illegal under Spanish law, such as the lack of employee showers despite working with the dangerous chemicals needed to produce paint.
The labor organization group that assisted Vallejo’s workers, CGT, shared in a Bluesky post that as part of ending the strike, Vallejo management agreed to increase salaries by up to €3000, guaranteed paternity leave compensation, and an annual education credit for the children of workers’ families.
Victrix Buys Little Big Men Studios
Historical model and wargaming company, Victrix Limited, reached an agreement to buy out popular model transfer company Little Big Men Studios, which was created by Victrix co-founder Steve Hales.
Hales helped found Victrix in 2008 with Julian Blakeny Edwards, before leaving the company in 2014 to create Little Big Men Studios (LBMS). Since then, his one man operation became a premiere source of transfers for historical wargaming fans. Hales has continued a working relationship with Victrix since his departure, working on some models for the company on a freelance basis.
Following the Victrix buyout, Hales will return to the company under the new title of Head of Design. Victrix states in their announcement that this is so that Hales can “freed up to do what he does best… design!”. Hales also assures longtime LBMS fans that he will make sure that all orders made before the buyout are fulfilled, and that he will continue to design transfers under Victrix for multiple model lines, and not just those supported by Victrix.
Longtime Host Jeff Probst Collaborating on New ‘Survivor’ Card Game
Jeff Probst, host of the long running reality TV show “Survivor”, is collaborating with Exploding Kittens to release a new card game based on the show called “Survivor: The Tribe has Spoken”.
The game is designed to be played in groups of 3 to 6, and has player engage in challenges using mechanics from the show, like hidden immunity idols. Much like the show, players are voted off the island one by one, using the game box to collect votes, until one player is voted the final survivor.
Exploding Kittens founder Elan Lee shared his excitement for the game in a press release, writing “I’ve watched every episode of Survivor since the first season — 24 years ago. It has had a massive influence on my own game designs and ability to craft amazing experiences for our players. I have always wanted to bring the Survivor experience to at-home audiences, but condensing a multi-week game to less than 30 minutes has been challenging. After two years of working closely with Jeff Probst, we’ve finally done it… with all the fun, strategy, alliances, and betrayal packed into a beautiful box.”
Survivor: The Tribe has Spoken’s 2025 release coincides with the show’s 25th anniversary year. Now one of the longest running reality shows on television, the new card game attempts to bridge the gap between the longtime fans of Survivor and those who just want to have a good time voting their friends off a metaphorical island. The game is available for preorder at most major retailers, and will release on January 12th, 2025.
“Dark Alliance” Shutting Down Servers and Delisting from Storefronts
Remember that one Dungeons & Dragons video game with the really weird trailer? With the GoPro camera and the bad metalcore? Drizzt was there?
Well folks apparently remember the bad trailer pretty well, but not the game itself, as Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance will be shutting down its servers and will no longer be available for purchase starting in February of 2025.
On the game’s Steam store page, developer Tuque Games writes “We will be shutting down (shut down) the Dark Alliance servers on 2/24/2025 and it will no longer be available to purchase starting that day. The base game and all DLC are still available to play in offline single player by anyone who currently owns it.”
A spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, the new Dark Alliance game tried to take the nostalgia and action RPG gameplay from its spiritual forebears and adapt them to a live service model. The game was not met very warmly on release, with most major outlets citing the game’s uninspired combat and bugginess as major issues, as well as the difficulty in finding multiplayer games.
With the shutdown of Dark Alliance servers, it is unclear if the game will be rebalanced for solo play by Tuque, or if it will simply be left in the state that it is to be swept away by the winds of gaming history.
YouTube Board Game Sensations Broker Deal with Play to Z Games
After making a name for themselves by becoming the biggest name on Youtube for board game reviews, Shut Up and Sit Down has spent more time working on developing games of their own. To this end, the channel has officially partnered with Play to Z Games to create a new of games, called “SH&SD Presents”.
SH&SD Presents will focus on reprints of old games with a cleanup on bloat and with updated art design, as well as new games from high profile designers in the tabletop industry. One of these games by a high profile designer will be Animal Rescue Team, created by Pandemic designer Matt Leacock with the assistance of real life Animal Rescue consultants. The Presents line will also debut with a reprint of Dogs of War by Paolo Mori and CMON games.
SH&SD has partnered to help design games in the past, such as expansions for the party game Monikers, and assures fans of Play to Z games as well as it’s channel that this partnership will not compromise the core values of SH&SD. Previously, this has meant the channel has avoided doing reviews on games they have designed due to a conflict of interest, or making it abundantly clear that they have had a hand in a games design when mentioning it on the channel.
The SH&SD Present’s line will debut in 2025 with both Animal Rescue Team and Dogs of War, and will release one game annually in following years.
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.
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