In 2016, some companies offered to buy the creators of Hitman for $ 1, Baldur's Gate 3 broke the record of The Last of Us Part II for the number of awards at the Golden Joystick Awards, the artist Samwise Didier left Blizzard Entertainment after 32 years of work — we tell you what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.
▫️Baldur's Gate 3 became the winner of the Golden Joystick Awards ceremony 2023. The game itself won in five nominations, including "Game of the Year", Larian Studios was recognized as the studio of the year, and Neil Newbon (Astarion) was the best supporting actor. According to the organizers, Baldur's Gate 3 has set a new record for the number of awards received in one ceremony. Previously, the record holder was The Last of Us Part II. She has six awards to her credit.
In 2016, Square Enix decided to sell IO Interactive: by that time, the studio had not made a profit for ten years in a row. In an interview with Edge, the head of IO Interactive, Hakan Abrak, said that some companies offered to buy IO Interactive from Square Enix for just $1, options were also discussed to reduce the studio staff to one fifth and make Hitman a free-play game. Ultimately, the management of IO Interactive took a risky step and bought out the studio itself, paying Square Enix "as much as they could" and leaving the company a minority stake in the studio. However, there were some layoffs. About half of the developers were fired from the studio.
After 17 years of work, Naughty Dog was left by Christian Girling, technical director and former vice president of the company. Judging by Girling's LinkedIn post, the developer is not going to leave the gaming industry. He plans to do something new, but what exactly is not specified. He was succeeded by another veteran of the company — Travis McIntosh, who has been working at Naughty Dog for 19 years.
One of the first Blizzard Entertainment employees, Senior art director Samwise Didier, also announced his dismissal. He joined the company in 1991 almost immediately after its foundation. As Didier admitted, at Blizzard he learned almost everything he can: from using a computer to working with 3D models. Didier was responsible for the visual style of all of Blizzard's key games.
▫️FireFly Studios has announced that the Stronghold remaster has made a great start. In the first 72 hours Stronghold: Definitive Edition sold more than 100 thousand copies