/Thread - 3/26/24
Hope you avoided the GDC plague. This post brought to you by Purell!
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
Baldur’s Gate 4 is No More - Larian founder Swen Vincke announced at GDC this week that the studio has no plans to expand upon or release a sequel for Baldur’s Gate 3. He said the studio wants to take on new projects outside the D&D universe, and that porting the 5E system to a videogame wasn’t ideal. Fear not, though, Hasbro has said more D&D games are on the way, just not under Larian’s stewardship.
Blizzard: No Profit Sharing For You - The Overwatch 2 team didn’t receive any profit sharing payments in August 2023, as reported by Jason Schreier at Bloomberg. Apparently a rare occurrence at Blizzard, it could be an indicator that the game isn’t performing as well as its predecessor.
Wale’s “More About Nothing” mixtape was a banger. PS5 Helps Players Help Each Other - Sony is kicking off a program this year that will allow players to automatically upload videos of their gameplay in order to help other players through difficult passages in supported games. The videos will be moderated before they reach genpop, so my immediate plans have been thwarted.
Kotaku Loses EIC Over Content Strategy - Kotaku’s Editor in Chief, Jen Glennon, resigned her post last week in disagreement with the company’s decision to deprioritize gaming news in favor of game guides - some reports claim they expect the staff to produce 50 guides per week. Game guides are an SEO darling for sites struggling to maintain traffic in an increasingly website-agnostic market, but are a significant departure from a site that’s specialized in editorial and breaking news since its inception.
By The Numbers
84.5 - Capcom’s average Metacritic score in 2023, earning it top honors on the platform.
$129.99 - What it’ll cost for the first new Rock Band guitar in yearrrrrrs.
Better Know An Indie
Going Medieval is a city builder in the vein of Rimworld. Stake your claim in this colony building sim and survive a turbulent Medieval age. Construct a multi-storey fortress in a land reclaimed by wilderness, defend against raids, and keep your villagers happy as their lives are shaped by the world around them. Grab it on Steam for $24.99.
Have a Great Week
As always, thanks for stopping by. We’ll see you next week!