Walking through Penn Station, haven’t seen this many happy Knicks fans in…20 years?

NEW:
- Xbox still isn't done cutting costs, sent voluntary buyout offers to some Zenimax staff
- Why were Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks closed? Bad timing, perhaps
- Activision purchase has ramped up scrutiny on Xbox
And much more - here's my latest: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

10,000 copies of Mario Kart 7 sold in the last 6 months

Flashback to my conversation with Xbox studios chief Matt Booty last June, when I asked if Arkane Austin would remain open despite Redfall's rough launch

'That is the plan right now. They are hard at work on updates and continued content for Redfall.”

axios.com/newsletters/ax…

NEW: Nintendo and Sony's digital storefronts continue to fail to credit game studios

They credit publishers, but don't have a line for dev studios

Not a new issue, but a sign of how publisher/platform-centric the industry is

Full breakdown at the link:
gamefile.news/p/psn-eshop-st…

Pretty good apartment for a reporter’s salary

I've played it for about four hours. Very polished already. Crunchy combat, fun new characters

Some intriguing new systems involving crafting, gardening and setting up ultra moon-based attacks.

If there's a big twist coming, I haven't found it. Feels familiar, as expected

Nintendo objects (understandably) to a Chinese company trying to trademark the term Pokékoala

Turns out that Pokémon, Poképark, Pokéball, Pokédex, Poképark, etc are collectively called Poké Marks.

Now you know

gamefile.news/p/us-video-gam…

The U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9% today, but what is it for the game industry?

A new International Game Developers Association survey of 2023 data suggests a global figure of 4.8%

Industry expert SuperJoost believes the U.S. rate could now actually be double that.

My story:

gamefile.news/p/us-video-gam…

Ouch, right in the review score 😢🤕

Well, I guess it's warranted. Sorry everyone for how this all transpired. I hope we will make it up and regain the trust by providing a continued great game experience.

I just want to make great games!

Helldivers 2 user reviews on Steam taking quite a dip since Sony said it'd enforce the requirement to have a PSN account to play

.Joshua Rivera is always worth a read

VGC is great. I’d happily pay for their news, too.

NEW - Sea of Thieves and Helldivers II show the potency of making games multiplatform

And what of FF7 Rebirth? Being PS5 only may have hurt, but Mat Piscatella tells me that its $ sales trail even PS5-only FF16 in the same time period by a double digit %

gamefile.news/p/ps5-xbox-sea…