Zed Games Weekly News Update 20 – 27 March

Hey all! Adrian here with your weekly Zed Games news update.

EA Layoffs

EA has laid-off around 350 of its 9000 employees due to organisational changes. CEO Andrew Wilson stated that these layoffs will allow EA to “better deliver on our commitments, refine our organization and meet the needs of our players.”

He went on to say that, “as part of this, we have made changes to our marketing and publishing organization, our operations teams, and we are ramping down our current presence in Japan and Russia as we focus on different ways to serve our players in those markets.”

EA says it will look after affected staff and help them transition to new roles, but they haven’t detailed how. This news comes just over a month after EA laid-off up to 50 staff members at the Australian FireMonkeys studio.

Apple Arcade

Apple is launching a subscription-based game service called Apple Arcade. The service will provide unlimited access to curated titles from the App Store from partners like Sega, Konami, Disney, Sumo Digital, and Cartoon Network. Apple says it’ll deliver over 100 exclusive titles for Apple Arcade’s launch by “contributing to the development costs and working closely with creators to bring the games to life.”

Games included in the service will be playable across iOS, MacOS and Apple TV, with the option to also play offline. Apple Arcade will launch in over 150 countries this Spring, but pricing details are yet to be confirmed.

State of Play

PlayStation delivered its first-ever State of Play livestream, featuring a slew of upcoming game announcements. Sony doubled-down on support for PlayStation VR, announcing Marvel’s Iron Man VR – and in perhaps the best-ever redemption arc for a game, No Man’s Sky Beyond is receiving a super slick-looking VR mode.

A first-person shooter follow-up to London Heist, Blood & Truth is releasing on the 28th of May,. We also scored a new look at the narratives of Mortal Kombat 11, Days Gone and Concrete Genie.

New Nindies!

Nintendo’s announced a swathe of indie games coming to the Nintendo Switch in a recent Nintendo Direct livestream. Hard-as-nails platformer Cuphead, Zelda rhythm-based spinoff Cadence of Hyrule, and my personal favourite shown at PAX AUS 2018, Neo Cab, are all coming to the platform.

Other titles include Overland, My Friend Pedro, The Red Lantern, Dark Wood, Stranger Things 3, and more. Don’t forget to hit up the Nintendo eShop and support your indie faves!

That’s all for now! For more gaming updates, check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as @ZedGamesAU!