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… still not here with the scoop. They’re off being “responsible” and “having a family”. Oldest excuse in the book.
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows Delayed until March 20th
The latest instalment in Ubisoft‘s flagship Assassin’s Creed series has faced another delay, pushed back to March 2025 after already facing a delay from its original release date of November 2024.
Coming on the heels of news that Ubisoft may be considering buyout options with increasingly ominous megacorp Tencent, the additional five weeks delay may have been influenced by the underwhelming holiday sales of Star Wars: Outlaws and discontinuation of live-service shooter XDefiant, with Ubisoft declaring a shift towards smaller scale, tighter focused projects going forwards.
The sudden shift in business plan may have also been influenced by a recent expose by investigative journalist group People Make Games, who uncovered a truly harrowing culture of physical, emotional and psychological abuse (content warning for discussion of all three) at one of the support studios who helped work on Shadows, a culture of harm that is allegedly not uncommon amongst these smaller studios who have become increasingly critical to ensuring big tentpole series like Assassin’s Creed can handle the increasingly unsustainable demands of AAA level games development.
NVIDIA Officially Reveals GeForce 50 Series Graphics Cards
NVIDIA have officially announced the newest generation of their GeForce graphics cards, the GeForce 50 series.
While PC enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting the graphical potential a new generation of cards brings, NVIDIA has focused the main thrust of its promotion of the new range on its AI integration as companies continue to pretend machine learning isn’t a bubble about to burst any moment now. Cutting through this however, the new 50 series cards boast DLSS 4 capacity, capable of generating multiple frames per second and potentially able to hugely boost performance rates.
The 5090 and 5080 models will be available for sale at the end of this January, with the less wallet-burningly priced 5070 and 5060 models coming a month later in February.
Trench Crusade STLS March for General Sale
Rolling juggernaut of flesh and barbed wire Trench Crusade released the digital files for its miniatures to general sale yesterday via MyMiniFactory.
Players who missed out on the Kickstarter can now purchase the game’s miniatures piecemeal, or via the Kickstarter bundles which are on sale for a limited time. Stretch goals like the 28mm Mag tie-in miniature, accessories sets and eventual Corpse Front minis will remain Kickstarter exclusives for now, likely not seeing wider release until the physical miniature sets and rulebooks make their way into backer hands later this year.
Catan Receives New Revised Edition for 30th Anniversary
Board game shelf staple Catan celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, with a new revised edition of the venerable game releasing to mark the occasion.
The new edition boasts updated renditions of both the iconic box art and play piece illustrations, as well as a suite of rules tweaks as part of a newly revised rulebook that promises illustrative tutorials to onboard new players.
Catan’s 6th edition is slated for Spring 2025, with the Seafarers, Cities & Knights, Traders & Barbarians, and Explorers & Pirates expansions following throughout the rest of the year.
Games Workshop Announces LVO Reveal Stream
After a short holiday rest the Warhammer Events scene is gearing up again with the Las Vegas Open at the end of this week, and as custom Games Workshop will be there with another live* reveal show on the opening Thursday.
Streaming at 9om PST (5am GMT), teaser silhouette have got buzz building high in the Hamosphere, with what looks to be a freshly reincarnated Lucius the Eternal keeping the Emperor’s Children hype train steaming for 40k, with hints of Beastmen and High Elves for The Old World, as well as a very Sylvaneth looking insect for Age of Sigmar.
But ignore all that, they might have another roadmap for us! Lets go Roadmap Enthusiasts lets go!
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