According to media reports, BioWare now employs fewer than a hundred people, the lead writer of Fallout: New Vegas has returned to Obsidian Entertainment, and sales of Human Fall Flat have reached 55 million copies. Here are the main events in the gaming industry from the past weekend.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- BioWare's workforce has halved compared to 2023, claims Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier, citing his sources. Reportedly, less than a hundred people work at the studio now. Schreier discovered that layoffs began late last year shortly after the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, but they were carried out in an unusual manner. Some employees were temporarily transferred to other studios within Electronic Arts, with the explanation that the next Mass Effect installment is still in its early stages and BioWare doesn't need so many people. However, last week developers learned they would permanently remain in the teams they were assigned to and would have to wait for new vacancies to return to BioWare and go through the hiring process again. Nonetheless, there were also standard layoffs. According to Schreier, around 20 people were recently let go from BioWare.
- Former vice president of Sony's game division for third-party relations, Adam Boyes, believes that Xbox's new strategy of gradually moving away from exclusives and focusing on multiplatforms is beneficial for everyone. In an interview with Gamertag Radio, he stated that Xbox has become an "entertainment provider" instead of a "disc provider," aiming to introduce games to as many people as possible. "Is anyone suffering because Phil Spencer and his team are putting great content on more platforms? I've asked many if there are victims of this decision. There are none. Except for people who say, 'I bought this device and want games to come out solely for it,’" Boyes said. However, Boyes acknowledged that it might become more challenging for Xbox to sell the next generation of their consoles.
- Obsidian Entertainment veteran John Gonzalez announced his return to the studio 14 years after leaving. He was the lead writer for Fallout: New Vegas but left the team after the game was completed and went to Monolith Productions, where he worked on the storyline for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Gonzalez also worked at Guerrilla Games, Smilegate, and Fantastic Pixel Castle. He stated that he is now assuming the role of creative director at Obsidian Entertainment. To avoid rumors, he immediately added that he didn't return to work on Fallout: New Vegas 2 but will engage in other projects.
- The creators of the puzzle game Human Fall Flat announced that the game has sold 55 million copies on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. It took just under nine years—Human Fall Flat was released in July 2016. Currently, No Brakes Games is working on a sequel, but the exact release date is still unknown. It is expected that Human Fall Flat 2 will be released sometime in 2026.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 has broken its peak online record on Steam for the second consecutive weekend. According to SteamDB, the maximum number of concurrent players on the evening of February 2 reached 99,993 people. This can be attributed to a significant discount, ranging from 75% to 80% in different regions.