video game,star wars video gamesHighguard Dev Mourns The Game - "The Future Seemed Bright" Before TGA Reveal

In the wake of Highguard developer laying off staff and announcing that only a "core" group of developers will continue work on the game, one former developer has reflected on the entire situation surrounding the game, from its much-discussed reveal at The Game Awards to where it stands today.

Josh Sobel was a lead tech artist at Wildlight until he was laid off on February 11, and the developer began their message by discussing the time right before Highguard was revealed to the world at The Game Awards on December 11. This was an exciting time in Sobel's life. They were amped for the world to see what Wildlight had been working on in secret for the previous 2.5 years.

"The future seemed bright. Everyone I knew who had any connection to the team or project had the same sentiments: 'This is lightning in a bottle.' 'I trust this team wholeheartedly.' 'If there's one project nobody in the industry is worried will fail, it's yours.' 'This has mainstream hit written all over it.' 'There's no way this will flop.' 'I could play this game all day,'" Sobel said.

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video game,star wars video gamesAssassin's Creed Is Doing Better Than Expected

Business at Ubisoft continues to grow in some areas, as employees protest layoffs and game cancellations. A newly released Ubisoft earning report states that Q3's "overperformance versus expectations was primarily driven by partnerships and the Assassin’s Creed franchise." Net bookings for Q3 stood at €338 million (approximately $401 million), which is 12% higher than the same quarter in last fiscal year.

Most of the quarter's income (€297m) came from Ubisoft's back catalog. In particular, Assassin's Creed as a franchise had 28% more total players than the same time last year, thanks in part to free DLC for Assassin's Creed: Mirage and the Switch 2 release of Assassin's Creed: Shadows. The report also names The Division 2 and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora as games that saw significant growth in Q3--in the case of Avatar, it likely saw an influx of players as hype picked up for the latest Avatar film. Overall, 130 million unique players booted up Ubisoft games during the quarter, which the report claims is evidence of "the appeal and strength of the Group’s portfolio of franchises."

In January, the publisher closed Ubisoft Halifax, fired 70 employees, and canceled multiple in-development projects. Ubisoft also fired a 12-year veteran without stated cause, though the termination was shortly after he criticized the company's "return-to-work" mandate. The earnings report outlined further plans to "reshape [Ubisoft's] HQ into a leaner and focused organization" via "a voluntary departure plan." In response to the layoffs, 1,200 Ubisoft employees, primarily in France, have gone on a three-day strike.

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video game,star wars video gamesThe Pokemon Company Wants To Expand Franchise Beyond Just Battling

The Pokemon Company wants to be a bit more adventurous with its eponymous franchise, starting with the Animal Crossing-like life sim Pokopia and, eventually, evolving beyond just monsters battling other monsters.

In a February 11 VGC interview, senior game director Shigeru Ohmori spoke about the future of Pokemon. With Pokopia looming on the Nintendo Switch 2 horizon, he said that this experience--as well as specific moments found in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokemon Diamond and Pearl--could lead the franchise toward a battle-less future. Or, at the very least, one where battles aren't the primary focus of the gameplay.

"When I've worked previously on a Pokemon project, yes, battles have been the focus," Ohmori said. "But there's also been other side content like the Secret Bases (Ruby and Sapphire) and The Grand Underground (Diamond and Pearl). I believe a lot of the fans enjoy these things as well. So, I would like to scale the Pokemon games in general, aside from battling. I will seek new possibilities to scale them."

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