GTA VI Trails, League of Geeks Flails, Twitch Bails and Jeff Minter Sails

News just keeps on coming like a never ending train it won’t stop it will never stop won’t someone please make it stop?!

League of Geeks Loses Developers

Melbourne-based indie game development studio League of Geeks has just laid off half of its workforce. An estimated 31 experienced game developers are now out of work a few weeks shy of Christmas, with the studio blaming a major source of funding unexpectedly pulling out at the last minute.

Trent Kusters, co-founder and studio director at League of Geeks, told staff that they had to make a decision to stop development of one of their titles. The game, Jumplight Odyssey, was expected to be finished in the first half of 2024, and was released in Early Access back in August. A loan has been taken out to ensure the completion of the studio’s other title, a remake of their earlier hit Solium Infernum, but even that is not guaranteed.

Mr Kusters told the ABC that “The fact that we have to pause this game is just a brutal, brutal reality of the financial implications of everything that’s happening in the industry right now.”

It’s a sobering time for anyone in the trenches of the games industry. This week Electronic Arts announced major layoffs at the studio they recently bought, Codemasters. Frontier Developments, the makers of Elite and several Rollercoaster Tycoon sequels, just laid off 20% of their workforce. Worms developers Team 17 have laid off the majority of their internal development teams. New World Interactive have just been completely shut down by its parent company Embracer Group. It’s rough out there folks, stay strong and look out for each other.

GTA VI Trailer Definitely Is a GTA VI Trailer

Well it’s only taken 10 years but we finally have a trailer for one of the most hotly anticipated sequels in the gaming world has finally seen the light of day. Grand Theft Auto VI is coming some time in 2025, and it’s clear to see where all the time and money has gone. The game will see players returning to the sun-drenched world of Vice City, but instead of the neon-pastels of the ‘80s this one’s set in the social media obsessed modern times.

The trailer features dense crowds, alligators, people twerking on cars and music from Tom Petty. For the first time in a GTA game you can play as a female protagonist, who seems to be half of a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde style duo. It’s probably already being picked apart frame by frame by people on YouTube, so check it out even if this isn’t your kind of game because it’s at the very least technically very impressive.

Publishers Take Two also put out a press release confirming the launch platforms will be the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X. Sorry PC owners, you’re just going to have to wait even longer for the inevitable PC port.

Twitch goes offline in South Korea

Do you like the game-centric video streaming service Twitch? Well, spare a thought for our friends in South Korea who are losing access to the platform. Thanks to a unique set of laws in that country that charge content providers for the bandwidth used by viewers, Twitch has announced they are closing down operations there effective immediately. This impacts the jobs of all the local Twitch staff, not to mention the thousands of users who make a considerable living streaming on Twitch.

I guess they can go over to…I don’t know, is Mixer still a thing?

The Street Fighter Alpha 2 Machine At Netherworld Has Been Set To Free Play

That’s it. That’s the whole story. I think this is notable news. See you there.

Fortnite Keeps Fortnitin’

New game modes for Fortnite might not seem that newsworthy, but they’re making a big song and dance about these ones. Lego Fortnite combines the creative world of Lego with the action of Fortnite in something very Minecraft-like, Rocket Racing brings Rocket League into a more conventional racing game with a twist, and there’s Fortnite Festival which is notable for being Rock Band developer Harmonix’s new game. And since they’re all free to play and available now within Fortnite, why not check them out?

Get Ready To Love Llamas!!!

Overnight, Digital Eclipse announced that they’re soon to release Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story in early 2024. This is the second of their Gold Master series, which are not just collections of old games perfectly preserved for modern audiences but are also interactive documentaries. In the Jeff Minter Story you’ll be able to follow the life of the gaming industry’s longest creating and in my mind, most important, indie game developer starting all the way from the Commodore Vic-20 to the release of Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar. The collection will also include the unreleased Attack of the Mutant Camels ‘89 for the ill-fated Konix Multisystem, and a reworked update of his frenetic shoot ‘em up Gridrunner.

It’s nice to know what the best release of next year is already going to be.

New Game Releases

And now, through a series of small miracles, new games are being released today. Here’s some of the highlights:

Arizona Sunshine 2 (PSVR 2, PC VR, Quest)
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
The Day Before (PC early access)
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Briley Witch Chronicles 2 (C64)