Aussie News, Layoffs, and Resignations

In Aussie Gaming Headlines, Billy Mitchell has finally arrived on Australian soil in his bid to sue youtuber Karl Jobst for defamation. The disputed Donkey Kong record holder  is defending the claim that his actions against the late youtuber Ben Smith aka Apollo Legend were a “significant factor in Mr Smith taking his own life” and that he “hounded Mr Smith to death.” The case is ongoing.
Dungeons and Dragons has again been caught in the crossfire as an Albany council held a meeting regarding the removal of sex education books to be removed from the library. While the motion was defeated the group Keeping Children Safe Albany lead by former One Nation candidate Michelle Kinsella called the books “borderline pornographic”, and has previously claimed that transgender people hijacked Pride for an ”agenda” and that D&D could be used to “groom children.”
In better news, Australian Games Classifications will be updated from September 22 to push the classification of games that allow the purchase of chance, mystery items, or loot boxes with real money to the M rating (not recommended for children under 15 years of age) and any game containing simulated gambling to R18+.

On the Business side of gaming (also known as – hiring, firing, and foreclosures), all 25 staff from Annapurna Interactive have resigned after the gaming division failed to convince founder Megan Ellison to allow them to spin the gaming segment as its own company. After Ellison pulled out of negotiations earlier this month president Nathan Gary, and co-heads Deborah Mars and Nathan Vella resigned. Ellison has stated the company is still committed to the upcoming games releases such as Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, Ghost Bike and Wanderstop. Annapurna Interactive is known for the games Stray, Outer Wilds, and more
Microsoft went through a round of restructuring September 12, laying off another 650 “mostly corporate and supporting” staff in from Activision Blizzard and Xbox to add to the 1,900 staff cut in January. Xbox chief Phiil Spencer announced the layoffs in an internal memo claiming the cuts were needed for to organise the “business for long term success.”

And now for the bytes.

• The monster collector/shooter Palworld’s twitter has clarified that the game will NOT go free to play or be run under a service model. However, we may see DLC or purchasable skins in the future. And in unsurprising news, Nintendo has finally filed for multiple patent infringements against Palworld’s developers.
• Despite AI claiming there will be a Bugsnax 2: The City coming October… there isn’t. There isn’t even anything being developed.
• Bungie and Nerf have apologised and will compensate the artist after it was revealed they stole the art of Tofu Rabbit for the Ace of Spades Nerf gun.
• In a cash grab Gametech Holdings grabbed the trademark Flappy bird and sold to a subsidiary of 1208 Productions after developer Dom Nguyen missed refilling. This “spearheaded” the return of Flappy Bird into web 3 and the crypto monetisation now present in the rebrand.
• And finally, I want to personally apologise for my contributions to the fact that Diablo 4 has now made over $1 billion USD from purchases and micro transactions. The horses and skins are so damned pretty, I couldn’t help myself.

Now for the Game Releases!

• Friday September 20 brings us EA Sports FC 25 and the long awaited Frostpunk 2 both coming for PC. Also, Matchbox: Driving Adventures and The Karate Kid: Street Rumble for PC and consoles.
• Saturday September 21 gets retro with Parking Garage Rally Circuit for PC.
• Monday September 23 brings us the 2D arena shooter Anarkade on PC and consoles, and survival sandbox City 20 is going into PC early access.
• Tuesday September 24 solve the mystery in A Death in the Red Light. Civ fans will want to check out Ara: History Untold coming to PC and Xbox Series X and Crusader Kings III: Roads to Power DLC us coming to PC. Get monster taming in turn based JRPG Bloomtown: A Different Story coming to PC and Consoles. Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is coming to PC and consoles. Developed by Spiders Greedfall II: The Dying World is hitting early access. Cozy doodler Tiny Glade is coming to PC. And co-op mega horror shooter The Forever Winter is coming to PC early access.
• On Wednesday September 25; Puzzle platformer An Everyday Story comes to PC. Get retro-futuristic with a guineapig in Beyond Galaxyland coming to PC. Shoot things in the run and gun arcade shooter Iron Meat for PC and consoles. Get your puzzle on in the hand drawn Murder on Space Station 52 or challenge the grid in The Puzzle Maker: Cebba’s Odyssey both coming to PC. And the TTRPG Aria, is coming to PC and consoles under the title Worlds of Aria.
• And finally, Thursday September 26; get driving with race manager Golden Lap or arcade rallyer #Drive Rally, both coming to PC. Relive WWII again in real time co-op strategy 63 Days, coming to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. Do you like DayZ or Rust but you’re a duck? Get Duckside coming on PC. Feel the retro adventure JRPG in The Nameless: Slay Dragon coming for PC and Switch. And lastly, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom comes to Switch.