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 at the very real and cool Goonhammer newsdesk with the scoop.
Microsoft Lays Off Thousands, Cancels Multiple Games Amid AI Push
In an industry whose recent history is littered with a truly staggering amount of layoffs, Microsoft finds a way to shock us. The company announced last Wednesday that it would lay off around 9,000 workers in an effort to “streamline layers of management”.
This round of layoffs from Microsoft represents about 4% of their total global workforce, and it is the largest the company has seen in two years. It is also the second mass firing done by Microsoft this year, with the first round in May slashing around 6,000 jobs.
Microsoft’s Gaming Division was hit particularly hard by the layoffs, as they forced the cancellation of multiple major projects within the company. Some of the most notable of these cancellations include the Perfect Dark remake and Rare’s long in-production project, Everwild. The studio behind the Perfect Dark Remake, The Initiative, was closed down completely as part of the layoffs.
In an internal memo announcing the cuts, Microsoft Gaming President Phil Spencer wrote the cuts were aimed, “To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness.”
Spencer also stated that those affected by the layoffs would be given assistance in finding other jobs within Xbox by human resources. Spencer has been an executive in charge of the various forms of Microsoft’s gaming division or subsidiary for over two decades, beginning as general manager of Microsoft Game Studios EMEA in 2001 with the launch of the Xbox. He was named Executive Vice President of Gaming in 2017, reporting directly to the Microsoft CEO; in Microsoft’s reorganization in 2022, he was named CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Following rumors that he would be retiring after the launch of Xbox’s “next generation console,” Microsoft pushed back, telling The Verge that Spencer wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon.
This massive reduction in workforce at the company follows Microsoft’s costly investment in AI tech in FY 2025, which closed last Monday. According to financial statements, Microsoft spent around $25 billion on AI datacenters in the fiscal year, ballooning the capital expenditures of the company by around 30% over FY 2024.
In the end, as appalling as these layoffs are, they unfortunately aren’t surprising from Microsoft. This is the company that closed down Tango Gameworks in the same breath that it praised Hi-Fi Rush, after all. Even worse, I doubt this is the last we will see of mass firings out of Microsoft. We can only hope that the next round won’t be worse.
CMON Cancels Major Crowdfunding Campaign Due to IP Dispute
Whoever at CMON is saying “Well, at least it can’t get any worse, right?” needs to stop.
CMON games announced last week that it is cancelling the crowdfunding campaign for Degenesis: Clan Wars, following a protracted legal battle with the game’s designers at SixMoreVodka Studio.
Degenesis was an upcoming Asymmetrical skirmish wargame designed by SMV, with CMON joining in a publisher role for the game. The campaign was launched last year on Gamefound, and raised over $330 thousand during the course of its crowdfunding run. Following the successful funding of the Degenesis, what was once described as a “collaborative and respectful relationship” soured. According to the statement by CMON on the Gamefound page, SMV demanded a large sum of money from CMON that exceeded the total sum generated from the campaign. CMON refused to pay this amount, and soon the relationship between the two companies became so cold that the only communication was through legal counsel.
SMV for their part disputes this claim by CMON in a statement provided to Boardgamewire, and says that they were not made aware in advance of the announcement to cancel the game.
“As a tiny company, we sought out CMON as a capable publishing partner to help us deliver the game we care so much about,” SMV told Boardgamewire. “However, after we delivered all required materials over a year ago, communication largely ceased. Transparency is a core tenet in communication with our fans, but with the game in CMON’s hands and no details available to us, we were unable to uphold our standards, leaving us increasingly uncomfortable and eventually bringing us here.”
CMON confirmed in the cancellation announcement that all backers would get a full refund following the resolution of the legal battle between the two companies.
With the cancellation, all rights for Degenesis return to SMV, who are uncertain about the game’s future. SMV told Boardgamewire “As to our ownership of Degenesis: Clan Wars, due to the termination of the contract the IP is back in our hands, but we’ll need to evaluate our options going forward – whether that’s finding a way to make some of the game’s assets available online as STLs etc, or finding a new publisher, we can’t say for now.”
No matter who’s at fault here, this is another body blow for CMON after an already rough 2025. A $330 thousand campaign may not be much to write home about compared to other CMON campaigns that raised millions, but that amount is going to be rough for CMON to have to refund while it’s already reeling from its $3 million loss in the previous fiscal year.
Games Workshop Celebrates AoS’s 10 Year Anniversary with Summer Preview
In far less bleak news, Games Workshop announced to fans last week that it will be hosting a surprise preview on July 18th, with a major focus on celebrating ten years since the launch of Age of Sigmar.
The announcement video for the preview featured the two hosts for the show talking to one another over a video call, and giving clues as to what sort of stuff is expected to be announced via different hats. While nothing is confirmed, the hat’s tease reveals for Deathwatch Tomb Kings, Votann, and some sort of pirate group. Fans also speculate that Chaos Dwarves are going to be announced at the event as well for either Old World or Age of Sigmar.
Games Workshop says that the main focus of the preview will be Age of Sigmar, which was launched ten years ago following The End Times in Warhammer Fantasy, including the reveal for a brand new faction. Other games with confirmed reveals include Warhammer 40,000, Kill Team, Old World, Imperiais, Horus Heresy, and Underworlds.
The preview is scheduled to take place on July 18th, at 7pm BST. Those interested can follow along on the Warhammer twitch page, YouTube, or the Warhammer Community Website.
2025 ENNIE Award Nominees Announced
One of the most notable awards in tabletop gaming, the ENNIE awards, announced its 2025 nominees last week on its website, with public voting for the nominees to soon follow.
The ENNIE were created by the fan website EN World in 2001 to celebrate “excellence in tabletop roleplaying gaming”, according to the ENNIE website, and an awards ceremony is held annually at GenCon. Nominees for the various categories are submitted each year by TTRPG publishers and reviewed by a panel of industry judges, who decide on what games will be nominated in each category based on said submissions. Public voting is opened up shortly following the announcement of the nominees, and winners are decided based on the results.
While this year’s nominees come from a wide variety of games across multiple studios, a few games dominated the nominations list. Triangle Agency and The Land of Eem both received four nominations, with other popular nominees including the Monty Python RPG, Doomsong, and Yazebahs Bed and Breakfast.
Notably, this is the first ENNIE award since the ban on the use of any AI generated materials in games submitted to the awards. Previously, some AI generated materials were allowed in submissions to the ENNIEs as long as they were disclosed by the publisher submitting the game. This concession drew in massive criticism of the awards in the tabletop games sphere, and the ENNIES decided to implement a full ban on any AI generated material in games considered for awards.
Voting for this year’s ENNIE award will begin on July 11th and run through July 20th on the group’s website, and the ceremony announcing the winners will be held at GenCon on August 1st.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 Enters Production at TRIGGER
The huge success of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime in 2022 marked the beginning of a widespread about-face of public opinion on Cyberpunk 2077. While initially designed to be a standalone story, the popularity of the show spurred both CD Projekt RED and Studio TRIGGER to collaborate again on a second season for the show, which was announced last week.
The announcement was made at the 2025 Anime Expo convention, hosted in Los Angeles. The announcement came with a teaser trailer from Netflix, who hosted the show’s first season on its streaming platform. The teaser gives little in the way of the plot, but gives brief glimpses at the new cast of characters that the second season will follow in Night City.
The series will be ten episodes long, and is set to be directed by Kai Ikarashi, who was the director on the fan favorite episode “Girl on Fire” from season one. Other major personnel from the first season, like character designer Kanno Ichigo and writer/showrunner Bartosz Sztybor are also confirmed to return for the new season.
Sztybor shared his excitement to return to Edgerunners, telling fans at Anime Expo “”To again have the legendary Studio Trigger along for the ride makes us at CD Projekt Red so excited to introduce a raw, real chronicle of redemption and revenge, something unlike what we’ve ever done before.”
As of this writing, no premiere date has been set for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II.
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