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.
A quick note for all my news-heads out there reading this: I know the news is a day late this week. I’ve been in Las Vegas the past few days spending time with family and playing Kill Team in the Las Vegas Open. You can read all about my preparation for the event in my Road to LVO series here on Goonhammer, and my recap of the event itself is coming soon.
I appreciate everyone’s patience, and without further ado, the news!
Warhammer Community Poll Opens to Select Decade’s Best Age of Sigmar Model
In the decade since its launch, Age of Sigmar’s model range has been filled with breath-taking models for nearly every faction. While each of these stunning models deserves praise, Games Workshop reached out to the community in a poll to decide which of these models is the best AoS model ever released.
The survey itself includes 50 selections from every faction and grand alliance in the mortal realms, with a focus on singular character models and centerpiece models instead of entire units. The Warhammer community team notes that there are too many models in the current Sigmar range to have every single one included for the purposes of this poll, so the team did their best to curate the 50 choices to be balanced between all the factions as much as possible.
As of this writing, there is no end date given for the poll on the Warhammer Community website, nor any approximate date given for when the winner will be revealed.
StarCraft Miniatures Game Announces Public Playtesting, Gives First Look at Models
The team behind the upcoming Starcraft Miniatures Game, Archon Studios, gave eager fans some first looks at their upcoming game on their social media this past weekend, as well as announcing the first chance for players to try the game for themselves and SPIEL Essen.
Archon shared photos for the Zerg faction on their social media, kicking off what they called “only the beginning” of new information being shared about the game. The photo itself shows off two of the swarm’s most iconic units, Zerglings and Hydralisks, as well as what appears to be specialized variants of both models battling terrain marines in the background. Keen eyed fans can also spot burrowed Zerglings mixed in, an iconic ability for Zerg units in the StarCraft video game.
Those eager to see these models for themselves don’t have long to wait, either. Archon announced on Monday that it will be hosting open demos for the game at SPIEL Essen later this October, as well as hosting public playtesting sessions at the event. While anyone curious for a demo can visit the Archon booth, those who would like to playtest and provide feedback need to sign up online for a limited spot.
SPIEL will be held during October 23rd-25th this year in Essen, Germany.
Kickstarter Employees Go On Strike
Union Employees at Kickstarter United went on strike Thursday last week as negotiations with their parent company broke down over the most recent contract agreement.
Kickstarter United launched in 2020, and it was recognized and ratified by Kickstarter corporate leadership in 2022. The Union was one of the first of its kind in the United States tech sector, and its membership includes professionals from all areas of the Kickstarter team, including Marketing, Safety, Software Engineers, and Community Support Specialists.
The union contract expired in July of this year, leading into several months of renegotiation between the union and Kickstarter leadership. These talks stalled out over two major proposals: the protection of a 32 hour work week for Kickstarter United members, and an increased minimum salary to reflect current cost of living standards. The proposed minimum salary for Kickstarter workers would be raised to $85,000 as a part of the new contract, a number decided based upon what is considered “Low Income” in New York City, which was just over $87,000 in 2024.
“As the sponsor of legislation calling for a four day work week, because our bodies deserve leisure, our bodies deserve rest, our bodies deserve creativity. We don’t deserve to be micromanaged, that’s what we are fighting for in my bill because we need to protect our workforce,” assembly member Phara Forrest wrote in an official statement for the union. “The time is here, the time is now to tell management to Kick Rocks.”
Those reaching to cancel any current Kickstarter pledges to support the strike can take a sigh of relief, as the union very specifically asks for those supporting the strike not to boycott Kickstarter. Instead, Kickstarter United asks those supporting the strike to donate directly to the striking workers with their solidarity fund, raise awareness of the strike and attend rallies, and to send letters to Kickstarter leadership urging them to meet union demands.
Discord Customer Service Data Breach Leaks Personal Info of Users
A recent data breach of a third party customer service company used by social messaging platform Discord has put the data of some Discord users at risk, according to a report from the company last week.
In the statement by Discord, the third party service was hacked with the intention of using the stolen user data to exact ransom money. When Discord refused to pay the ransom, the user data stolen in the breach was leaked online. The personal information contained in this leak includes users’ full names, Discord usernames, emails, IP address, and partial payment information linked to the users account such as credit cards. Also leaked are pictures of the government IDs for some users who included pictures of their ID for age verification purposes.
The extent of the breach is narrow, according to discord, only affecting a select few who have contacted the customer support service team recently. Only messages and activities between the user and the support team are lost in the hack, no additional messages were accessed. Still, Discord is taking this breach seriously, and is reportedly working closely with law enforcement to find those responsible.
Any users whose information is included in the data leak will receive an email from Discord at noreplay@discord.com, with instructions on what next steps they may need to take.
Microsoft Increases the Price of Game Pass by 50%
Hot on the heels of their Xbox price increase is a price bump for Microsoft’s popular games service, Game Pass, which jumped up in price across all levels of subscription.
According to a press release from Microsoft, the increased cost of Games Pass is to facilitate a higher quality product, with a wider scope of games for users to access with the service.
“Our goal with Game Pass has been clear: deliver unmatched value, benefits, and a deep library of games for our players. Since launching in 2017, we’ve steadily grown our subscriber and creator satisfaction – and today, creator participation and player engagement in Game Pass are at an all-time high,” Microsoft writes in their statement. “But we have the opportunity for Game Pass to help more players find the creators and games they love.”
“We know not everyone wants the same thing in their Xbox experience, so we’re evolving Game Pass to offer more flexibility, choice, and value to all players, whether you love day one releases, discovering hidden gems, or playing across multiple devices and screens and across Xbox consoles, Xbox on PC, and Xbox Cloud.”
Included items in the new packages for Games Pass is access to the Ubisoft Classics+ games service, Fortnite Crew, expanded Day 1 Games Pass Offerings, and higher quality streaming across multiple devices.
Alongside some rebrandings, the basic costs of Games Pass subscription goes up around 50% a month, with the Standard package increasing from $11.99 to $14.99 per month. The highest tier, Ultimate, increases from $19.99 to $29.99 per month.
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