/Thread - 1/5/24
We back in the saddle!
Greetings, traveler, and welcome to /Thread, a weekly roundup of what’s happening in the game industry, for game industry professionals, just like you.
Today’s Densely Daily Dosage
Nexon eats $9MM in fines over lootbox shenanigans. Korea’s Fair Trade Commission slapped Nexon with an $8.9MM fine for rigging lootboxes without informing their players about the changes. According to the commission, some lootboxes had their reward rates dropped to 0. Which, uh, just makes it a regular box.
Versus Evil calls it quits. Since we last spoke, indie publisher Versus Evil announced its shutdown after a 10-year run. The founders recently were embroiled in a dispute with its parent company, TinyBuild. VersusEvil published The Banner Saga, Pillars of Eternity 2, among other double-A and triple-I titles.
NCsoft says Homecoming’s free to run - When players reverse engineer the server technology required to keep a decommissioned game running, they usually operate in legal limbo: they don’t own the IP they’re hosting, but they’re also not using someone else’s source code to do so. Homecoming is a player-run City of Heroes server that began operations after the MMO was officially shut down in 2012. This week, CoH publisher NCsoft granted Homecoming a use license to operate their server, which should remove the legal sword of Damocles that naturally hangs over any unrecognized player-run service.
Bossa Games lays of a third of its team. Probably the first games business in 2024 to join the layoff party (this party sucks ass), Bossa — known for Surgeon Simulator and other absurdist indie darlings — described the financial circumstances leading to the decision as a “blue moon situation.” The studio is currently working on Lost Skies, an open world survival crafting game that is decidedly less silly than the studio’s library, currently sitting at #454 in wishlists.
I could never get past level 9. The OG Nintendo Tetris scene is on fire after a 13-year-old reached a level so high the program crashed, effectively beating the game. Recent innovations in controller-holding strategies have catapulted the competitive scene past level 29, the original theoretical human limit where you shouldn’t be able to move pieces across the screen fast enough to place them.
The Enya albums are still full price. The New Zealand government announced they’re continuing a program that provides games studios a 20% tax rebate inside the country. Maybe Embracer should relocate there.
By The Numbers
3MM - Sales that Dave the Diver has enjoyed since its release.
$15MM - The size of Bobby Kotick’s golden parachute as he leaves Activision.
Looking For More
Brought to you by our friends at gamejobs.co
Quantic Dream (Montreal ) - Game Designer
CD Projekt (Boston) - Senior Technical Artist
Better Know An Indie
Starsector is an in-development open-world single-player space-combat, roleplaying, exploration, and economic game. You take the role of a space captain seeking fortune and glory however you choose. Think Freelancer meets Starfield. Grab it on their website for $15.
Have a Great Weekend
As always, thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you next week!