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 here with the scoop
Gamer Network Family of Websites Bought by IGN
Last year, there were reports that Reedpop was looking to sell the Gamer Network family of websites. These websites, such as Gamesindustry.biz, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Eurogamer, and Dicebreaker, are major players in the gaming space for news and editorial content. Last week, Gamesindustry.biz announced that Reedpop had found that buyer: IGN.
The announcement offers no word on what IGN paid to acquire Gamer Network, and clarifies that Reedpop will be retaining ownership of its UK based events MCM and EGX, as well as the Popverse brand.
The announcement does state that due to the acquisition “some redundancies have been made across the UK-based organization.” In layman’s terms, that could mean anything from layoffs to shuttering entire sites. The scope of the redundancies is unclear, but some of those affected have made announcements on social media. Rock Paper Shotgun deputy editor Alice Bell and Gamesindustry.biz managing editor Brendan Sinclair are two of those confirmed to have been affected by the merger.
The fate of Dicebreaker, a website in the Gamer Network focused on tabletop games, is currently unclear. No major announcement about Dicebreaker has been made yet, but as of this writing the site hasn’t posted any new articles since May 21st and Dicebreaker canceled its planned Tabletop Games Designer Summit earlier in May.
From Software Hints at What’s Next for the Company
Hidetaka Miyazaki has become a minor international celebrity for his work on the Dark Souls series and its spiritual successors. The revered game designer gave a recent interview with IGN Japan about the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring, and in it gave a few hints on what he could be working on next.
In the interview with IGN, Miyazaki is asked about his thoughts on the most recent entry in From Software’s Armored Core series, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. Miyazaki told IGN that “As you can see from the fact that we made “ARMORED CORE VI,” the game “ARMORED CORE” is very important to FromSoftware. Therefore, we have a strong desire to continue making it in the future. I think “ARMORED CORE VI” was a success. On the other hand, not everything was perfect, and there is still room for improvement, so we have no intention of ending it here. However, nothing concrete has been decided yet.”
While Miyazaki strongly suggests here that there will be more Armored Core releases in the future, it isn’t known yet whether that will be in the form of an expansion for Fires of Rubicon or a new named entry in the Armored Core series. If Miyazakis comments are to be taken at face value here, any work being done here is in the very early stages.
Miyazaki also addressed the possibility of a Bloodborne sequel. While he says that Bloodborne is a very special game to him, Miyazaki says that Bloodborne “is not an IP that we can do anything about, so I cannot answer it.” While titles like Armored Core and Elden Ring are published by Bandai Namco, Bloodborne was published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and it’s very likely based on this comment that From Software has very little control of the Bloodborne IP, despite being one of their most popular titles. Without anything from Sony, the future of a Bloodborne sequel or remaster is unknown.
New Warhammer Video Games and Content at Warhammer: Skulls
Games Workshop held their annual Warhammer: Skulls event last week to celebrate Video games set in the Warhammer universe. Included in this event is a showcase hosted by Rahul Kohli, voice actor for the protagonist of Boltgun, where Kohli announced new Warhammer video game projects, downloadable content, and updates about the upcoming Space Marine 2.
New downloadable content was announced for many of the most recent Warhammer video games. Both retro shooter Boltgun and cRPG Rogue Trader will be getting major expansions, respectively dubbed “Forges of Corruption” and “Void Shadows”. Forges adds new levels and enemies, as well as a brand new horde mode to Boltgun. Void Shadows sees the player learning the secrets of a Death Cult temple, and adds a Death Cult Assassin companion to the game.
The showcase also featured several smaller DLC announcements. Fans of Blood Bowl 3 will be thrilled to hear the Necromantic Horrors team is making their way to the game. Karanak the three-headed Flesh Hound is being added to Total War: Warhammer 3. In “Secrets of the Machine God” for Darktide, players will explore the ruins of a Mechanicum forge and whatever horrors await them there.
New information about Space Marine 2 was shared during the showcase. Much of this focused on the multiplayer modes for the upcoming title. Alongside the three player co-op campaign already announced for the game, Space Marine 2 will feature a co-op “Operations” mode and a 6v6 multiplayer mode. The Operations mode has several classes to choose from, such as what appears to be a Bladeguard class or a Phobos-armor class. The 6v6 multiplayer pits Space Marines against Chaos Space Marines in a variety of modes. Customization options will be available for multiplayer and operations modes.
Finally, the showcase ended with the announcement of Mechanicus 2, the sequel to the beloved strategy game Mechanicus, with the Necrons joining the Adeptus Mechanicus as a playable faction, as well as a digital version of the new edition of the Talisman board game.
Asmodee’s Stated Asset Value Drops by Over $600 Million
Embracer Group, the parent company of board game giant Asmodee (for now, at least), shared their interim financial report for Q4 of the 2023/2024 fiscal year.
In this financial report, Asmodee’s stated asset value dropped by around $620 million. According to the report, Embracer Group blames this write-down on the value of Asmodee’s assets on “macroeconomic headwinds and rising interest rates combined with prudent future expectations.”
Despite this shrinking in value, Asmodee posted strong sales reports for the quarter thanks to the success of the Star Wars Unlimited TCG. The success of Star Wars Unlimited helped push a 50% jump in EBIT for Asmodee in Q4 compared to last last year, and a net sales increase of 13% for the entire fiscal year. Even with its stock struggles at launch, the success of Star Wars: Unlimited was a major financial success for the company. Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors’s expectations for Asmodee’s future is positive, writing in the report that “Asmodee is still expected to generate mid-single digit organic growth in addition to any acquisitive growth, with an expanding Adjusted EBIT margin in the coming years.”.
According to the report, the plans to split Embracer into three separate publicly traded entities is “on track.” As a part of this plan, Asmodee will be split into an independent company and saddled with almost $1 billion in Embracer Group’s outstanding debt.
Warhammer Design Veteran Takes Lead on Konflikt ‘47
Warlord Games announced on Monday that it has brought in veteran game designer Andy Chambers to be the head of the writing and development team for their alternate reality World War 2 game, Konflict ‘47.
Andy Chambers made a name for himself writing rules for Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy battles between 1990 and 2004, as well as being the lead designer for Necromunda and Battlefleet: Gothic. Chambers has written several novels for the Black Library, and designed the air combat historical game Blood Red Skies, which was released by Warlord games.
According to Warlord Games, “Andy’s responsibilities will include developing and guiding the evolving in-game universe, including rules, background, and much more.”
Speaking on his new role as the head of Konflikt ‘47, Andy Chambers writes “I have many, many plans for the Konflikt ’47 universe, and I’m in the process of pulling together a fantastic team to help me – I hope to be able to reveal them to you over the coming months! Many thanks to Warlord for the opportunity, and to the members of the Konflikt ’47 community I’ve already spoken to for your insights – big plans are afoot, and I’m certain you’ll like them!”
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
Have any questions or feedback? Have an interesting tabletop news story we should be including in our round-up? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. And if you want regular updates in your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
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