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.
Critical Role TTRPG Opens Public Playtest
Daggerheart, a new fantasy TTRPG created by members of the popular actual play series Critical Role, entered its public playtest last week.
Darrington Press, a game design and publishing company founded by the Critical Role team, initially announced Daggerheart in the summer of 2023. Daggerheart advertises itself as a narrative-driven role playing experience, its core gameplay concept centering on rolling two 12-sided dice (the HOPE die and FEAR die) to determine success or failure for player actions. These rolls are affected positively or negatively by factors related to the character rolling the dice or the situation they may be in, emphasizing player creativity and storytelling.
The public playtest includes the beta version of the core rules for Daggerheart, as well as a premade adventure and character sheets intended as a way to quickly jump into the system. Downloadable accessories, like cards to track spells, domains, and abilities, are also included. A digital character sheet tool for use in conjunction with the Daggerheart will be released alongside the playtest.
Those curious to try out the playtest can sign up to receive the free rules here. Daggerheart is set to release in 2025.
Sony Halts Production on Playstation 5 VR Headsets
If this is your first time learning that there’s a VR Headset accessory for the PlayStation 5, you probably aren’t alone, because according to a report by Bloomberg no one is buying them.
Launching just over a year ago in February 2023, Sony struggled to get any sales momentum on the PSVR2 headset at launch. Declining sales followed a tepid launch, and now Sony has such a large backlog of unsold headsets that it has ceased production of any additional PSVR2 headsets until the current stock has been sold.
While PlayStation 5 sales are on the rise, with the console hitting a landmark 50 million global units sold this past December, the PSVR2 is dead in the water. There’s a few reasons for this, but most prominent among them is the steep $550 price tag and lack of substantial games for the PSVR2. Sony is currently looking to add some PC compatibility to the headset in 2024, and untethering the PSVR2 from the PS5 may help move the stacks of product collecting dust in warehouses.
Apex Legends Tournament Hacked Mid-Game
One of the biggest games in eSports, Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends, is postponing its American finals after two players in the event were hacked during a match.
The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS), an international eSports competitive circuit with a prize pool of $3 million and featuring 60 participating countries, was the target of the hack this past weekend. During a match in the North American Finals of this event, which is live streamed, two high-profile players PCs were remotely accessed by an outside party to install code into the players computer. Rather than crashing their games or worse, the hackers installed direct advantages to the two players, who were both shocked to find themselves suddenly in the possession of a wallhack and aimbot, respectively.
The North American Finals for the ALGS have been postponed until EA and Respawn can find more information about the security vulnerabilities that caused the attack. Easy Anti-Cheat, a common Anti-Cheat software (EAC) found in online games including Apex Legends, stated on Twitter/X that they “are confident there is no RCE (remote code execution) vulnerability within EAC being exploited”, and EAC is also looking into the source of the intrusion.
Those who participated in the ALGS are advised to take this security risk with highest seriousness to protect their personal information. EA has not commented as of this writing if this security vulnerability is present in other online EA games. It’s also another tough break for Respawn, which was one of the companies heavily affected by EA layoffs earlier this year.
Hasbro CEO Sees Potential in A.I for Both Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons
Wizards of the Coast’s stance against generative AI is clear. The company wrote a blog post last year stating the importance of artists and writers and barring the use of AI generated materials. Wizards further reiterated those feelings after accidentally approving a promotional image including AI generative art, and told fans it would tighten its regulations to keep AI out from the products Wizards makes.
Someone should probably tell the Hasbro CEO.
Whether Chris Cocks, the CEO of Hasbro, is genuinely clueless or willfully ignorant of this anti-AI policy is unknown. What is known is that during an interview with Venturebeat, Cocks answered questions about the potential for AI generated content in Magic and D&D with enthusiasm.
Cocks says that Hasbro is currently doing R&D on the potential of AI in its products, and how it is paramount that the technology be used responsibly. Cocks then goes on to espouse the potential for AI in Magic and D&D, saying, “But when you talk about the richness of the lore and the depth of the brands–D&D has 50 years of content that we can mine. Literally thousands of adventures that we’ve created, probably tens of millions of words we own and can leverage. Magic: The Gathering has been around for 35 years, more than 15,000 cards we can use in something like that… We can leverage all of that to be able to build very interesting and compelling use cases for AI that can bring our characters to life. We can build tools that aid in content creation for users or create really interesting gamified scenarios around them.”
Cocks speaks further on how he uses AI generative tools like ChatGPT and Bing image generator in his own games of Dungeons & Dragons with his friends, as well as the potential to leverage D&D as an online user-based content platform like Minecraft or Roblox. He also admits that during the Open Gaming License (OGL) controversy from last year the company may not have been “at its best,” Cocks believes that the history of the OGL will help with the adoption of AI, saying, “The 20-plus years that the Open Game License has been in existence for something like D&D, I think that gives us a lot of experience to navigate what will emerge with AI.”
Whether Chris Cocks’s statements during his interview with Venturebeat are a look to the future for Wizards of the Coast fans or just hot air from a CEO is up in the air. Unfortunately, only time will tell.
Popular Vtuber Announces a New Upcoming TCG
Those last two stories were a one-two punch of awful, huh? Luckily, we’ve got a nice palate cleanser to end this week’s round up with. Over this past weekend, a new physical trading card game was announced based off of popular Vtuber streaming personalities. Goonhammer author Marcy joins us this week to tell us more.
Marcy: A bit of surprise and fun news in a week filled with layoffs, hacks, and other ill omens of the continued decline of the gaming industry was the out of left field announcement of a new trading card game: VCard, produced and published by energy supplement company GamerSupps, and promoted by Twitch and YouTube partner Shylily. Described as a physical card game with a focus on hiring and paying human artists as opposed to cashing in on A.I. There aren’t many details about the game released yet, but Shylily showed off three cards that seem to hint at some form of Rock Paper Scissors style mechanic. The Orca VTuber spoke briefly about the game in that it is made to be easy and quick to learn and play, and Shylily explained that the goal is to not make the cards “limited” to inflate value, but that sets will eventually go out of print to be replaced by new sets if the product is successful enough; once more details are revealed, it will remain to be seen if the game is a niche piece of collectible merchandise, or a game with unique theming that can stand on its own.
Further details on the release window are still unclear, and we will provide updates on the card game as we learn them. Thank you again Marcy!
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.
