[PATREON UNLOCK] Update Patch - July 2025

Update Patch News Roundup (07/07/25)

It has been another one of those weeks in video games. Any interesting news has been dramatically overshadowed by a huge wave of layoffs, the largest yet in the worst couple of years the gaming industry has yet endured.

Microsoft Lays Off 9,100 Staff, Multiple Games Cancelled

Amounting to 4% of their workforce, Microsoft has announced yet another massive round of job cuts, with around 9100 roles affected, according to The Seattle Times. Head of gaming at Xbox Phil Spencer describes the cuts to Xbox as “protect[ing] what is thriving and concentrat[ing] effort on areas with the greatest potential,” while acknowledging the objective success of the gaming division by pretty much any metric.

Candy Crush developer King, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2023, is cutting 200 jobs despite the game recently surpassing $20 billion in lifetime revenue.

Among the casualties are Everwild, a Rare action-adventure game. Game director Gregg Mayles, who had been with the company for over 35 years and helmed games like Sea of Thieves and Banjo Kazooie, announced that he will be leaving the company alongside Everwild executive producer Louise O’Connor, who has been at Rare for 26 years.

The reboot of the Rare title Perfect Dark, which had been in development at the newly founded The Initiative since 2018, has also been cancelled, with the studio closing its doors, having never shipped a game. Alix Wilton Regan, the actor behind Joanna Dark, has implored fans to speak out in an effort to save the game.

An MMORPG in development by Zenimax Studios has also been canned, with multiple staff working on the project let go. Zenimax Online Studios president Matt Firor has announced his intention to step down after 18 years at the studio as a result.

Romero Games, helmed by DOOM co-creator John Romero and his wife Brenda, has also had its in-development game cancelled, with Brenda Romero taking to social media to underscore that “This isn’t a reflection of our team’s work, performance, or the quality of the project itself. We hit every milestone on time, every time, consistently received high praise, and easily passed all our internal gates.” A statement made to The Journal by an anonymous staff member confirmed that the Galway-based studio is closed while they seek alternative funding sources to continue development.

Forza Motorsport is another affected title, with around 120 staff being laid off from Turn 10 Studios.

It can’t be all bad, though. Xbox communications head Kari Perez has confirmed that CEO of Xbox Phil Spencer, who has presided over thousands of job losses, dozens of direct and indirect studio closures, and many game cancellations, is “not retiring any time soon.” So that’s certainly something. And other higher-ups at Xbox are looking out for the laid-off staff, with Executive Producer Matt Turnbull making the almost-unbelievable suggestion that they use AI to make job seeking easier in a swiftly deleted LinkedIn post.

Microsoft continues to invest heavily in AI infrastructure, planning over $80 billion in investments to meet demand, according to the Seattle Times.

Three Former Ubisoft Execs Have Been Found Guilty Of Enabling A Culture Of Sexual Harassment

A court in France has found three former Ubisoft execs guilty of enabling a culture of sexual harassment in the French studio. Thomas François, former editorial vice-president, was found guilty of sexual harassment, psychological harassment and attempted sexual assault, resulting in a 3-year suspended sentence and a £26,000 fine. He reportedly tied a female member of staff to a chair.

Serge Hascoët, former chief creative officer and second-in-command, was found guilty of psychological harassment and complicity in sexual harassment but was acquitted of sexual harassment and complicity in psychological harassment. He received an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of £38,000. Hascoët is reportedly considering filing an appeal and “was not aware of any harassment”.

Guillaume Patrux, former game director, was found guilty of psychological harassment. He received a 12-month suspended sentence and a fine of £8,600.

Nintendo Has Put Limitations On The Switch 2’s USB-C Port

Some accessory makers have claimed that Nintendo has put measures in place to limit what accessories will work with the Switch 2, including encryption chips. The limitations affect the USB port on the bottom of the console, primarily used for docking the device. This will limit the availability of cheaper third-party docks and limits users to Nintendo’s own products.

Companies such as Jsaux, which sells popular Steam Deck docks, have halted their plans to create a Switch 2 dock. The Verge has conducted some explorations into the nature of Nintendo’s lockdowns, with unclear results. Nintendo, unsurprisingly, offered no comment on the issue.

Other News

• A new mobile strategy game called Resident Evil Survival Unit has been announced, with further details expected during a showcase scheduled for July 10, 11 pm UK time.

• Helldivers 2 is coming to the Xbox Series X|S on August 26, according to an announcement stream by Arrowhead. They also confirmed that there are no plans to bring the game to GamePass.

• Charlie Cleveland, director of Subnautica and founder of Unknown Worlds, as well as CEO Ted Gill and special projects director Max McGuire, have been replaced on Subnautica 2 by the studio’s owner Krafton.

• Nexus Mods will be introducing age verification along with other measures to bring the site into compliance with various UK and EU regulations.

Update Patch News Roundup (14/07/25)

Plenty Of News About Subnautica 2, None Of It Good

Since news broke last week that three top-level staff members (game director Charlie Cleveland and technical director Max McGuire, who co-founded Unknown Worlds, as well as CEO Ted Gill) have been removed from the company by Krafton, which bought the Subnautica studio in 2021, details have continued to come to light about the situation.

Krafton took to Reddit on July 9 to announce that the planned early access release of Subnautica 2 had been pushed back from later in 2025 to 2026. Their statement included the sentence, “Nothing is changing in terms of the direction of the game or the team behind it,” which certainly caused some confusion in the comments of the post.

In a statement to IGN, Krafton said the decision had nothing to do with “any contractual or financial considerations,” and was intended to address feedback gained from playtesters. The publisher added that the delay was already in discussions before the change in leadership.

The same day, Jason Schrier of Bloomberg reported that the leadership and staff of Unknown Worlds were due to receive a $250 million bonus from Krafton if the subsidiary company met certain revenue targets. Sources told Bloomberg that the company would be unlikely to hit those targets without the planned release of Subnautica 2 into early access this year. In a social media post, Charlie Cleveland stated that he, McGuire, and Gill “know that the game is ready for early access release.”

In a July 10 statement, which can currently be found in a pop-up on Krafton’s English homepage (archived on Reddit in case the pop-up is removed), Krafton has provided additional information regarding the leadership change, stating:

“However, regrettably, the former leadership abandoned the responsibilities entrusted to them. Subnautica 2 was originally planned for an Early Access launch in early 2024, but the timeline has since been significantly delayed. KRAFTON made multiple requests to Charlie and Max to resume their roles as Game Director and Technical Director, respectively, but both declined to do so. In particular, following the failure of Moonbreaker, KRAFTON asked Charlie to devote himself to the development of Subnautica 2. However, instead of participating in the game development, he chose to focus on a personal film project.

“KRAFTON believes that the absence of core leadership has resulted in repeated confusion in direction and significant delays in the overall project schedule. The current Early Access version also falls short in terms of content volume. We are deeply disappointed by the former leadership’s conduct, and above all, we feel a profound sense of betrayal by their failure to honor the trust placed in them by our fans.”

Bloomberg also reported that replacement CEO Steve Papoutsis has said in a Krafton town hall that the company did not believe the game was ready for early access release, and that the delay was to allow time for more content to be added. He reportedly denied knowing whether the delay was to ensure Krafton would not have to pay out the large bonus. “It’s a good question, and I would appreciate patience on this particular topic,” Papoutsis said, adding that further details regarding the bonus were “beyond my current understanding at the moment.” He said that “it’s never been told to me that we’re making this change specifically to impact any earnout or anything like that.”

The story does not end there. On July 11, Cleveland once again took to Reddit to share that the three ousted leaders of Unknown Worlds have filed a lawsuit against Krafton. He does not go into the details of the nature of the lawsuit, but does note that the filings will become public knowledge eventually. 

Muddying the waters further, a “credible source” has leaked information from an internal presentation about the launch of Subnautica 2 into early access. The slides show the scope of changes from the planned early access release in 2023 to 2025, suggesting that the EA version has shrunk in size, causing concern for Krafton that there would not be enough content to satisfy fans.

In a statement to Eurogamer, Krafton has confirmed that the leaked documents came from an internal milestone review of Subnautica 2. Writing for Rock Paper Shotgun, Brendan Caldwell raises some pertinent points - there is no identifiable source for this confirmed leak, which just so happens to support Krafton’s narrative of negligent leadership on the project. The outlet has asked them to verify whether Krafton themselves are the source of this leak.

Nintendo To End Switch Game Vouchers

Nintendo has announced its plans to end a voucher scheme that allowed users to get Switch 1 games at a slightly discounted rate. The vouchers, which are bought in pairs for £84 and redeemed for one game each, were not eligible for Switch 2 titles, which have significantly higher prices than Switch 1 games. Using these vouchers typically saved gamers around £8 per game, but this obviously varies based on the cost of the game. Users will still be able to buy vouchers until January 30, 2026. They will remain valid for a full year after purchase. 

Other News

• Charity speedrunning marathon Summer Games Done Quick has raised over $2.4 million for Doctors Without Borders.

• Romero Games has clarified the situation, confirming that the studio is not closed and that it has significant interest from other publishers to continue work on its upcoming game.

• Rare has hosted its first-ever Sea of Thieves ‘Community Direct’ broadcast to share the game’s future with players after sustaining losses during the Microsoft layoffs last week. A summary of the announcements was posted to its website.

• Sony and Sucker Punch shared a 20-minute ‘State of Play’ for Ghost of Yotei, showcasing the world and giving players a preview of the combat and systems ahead of release.

• Weta Workshop has confirmed the system requirements for the PC version of Tales of the Shire ahead of its July 29 release date.

• One of the largest Switch piracy sites, Nsw2u, has been seized by the FBI and taken offline in cooperation with a Dutch enforcement agency, reports Kotaku.

Update Patch News Roundup (21/07/25)

Details About Subnautica 2 Lawsuit Emerge

The lawsuit alleges that Krafton deliberately sabotaged and delayed the development and early access release of Subnautica 2 to avoid paying out a planned $250 million bonus that was contingent on revenue targets. The suit accuses the publisher of a “months-long campaign to delay Subnautica 2’s launch and avoid the earnout.”

"It [Krafton] eventually wants the game to drive revenue," the suit states. "But a blockbuster [redacted] launch—squarely within the earnout period—would likely trigger the $250 million earnout to the studio's former owners and employees." The suit also includes a claim that Krafton’s CEO, Changhan Kim, stated that a successful early access launch during the window required for the $250 million earnout “would have been disastrous” for the publisher.

Last week, the former leaders of Unknown Worlds, Charlie Cleveland, Ted Gill, and Max McGuire, announced that they would be filing a lawsuit against Krafton, the South Korean studio which purchased the Subnautica developer in 2021 for $500 million, after their removal from the studio and the delay of the game’s early access release.

The demands made by Cleveland, Gill, and McGuire boil down to two things: that creative and operational control of Subnautica 2 will be returned to them, and that Krafton pays out the $250 million bonus without the revenue goal requirement.

The suit alleges that these actions put Krafton in breach of the Equity Purchase Agreement made when it acquired Unknwon Worlds in 2021.

Speaking to PC Gamer, a Krafton representative stated: "Releasing the game prematurely with insufficient content, falling short of what fans expect in a sequel, would have both disappointed the players—who are at the heart of everything Krafton does—and damaged the reputations of both the Subnautica and Unknown Worlds brands," the spokesperson said. "While we are disappointed that Charlie, Max, and Ted have filed a lawsuit seeking a huge payout, we look forward to defending ourselves in court. In the meantime, Krafton remains focused on what matters: delivering the best possible game as quickly as possible to Subnautica’s fans."

Steam Has Removed Large Numbers Of Games In Order To Satisfy Payment Processors

Steam has updated its game publication rules to include a new restriction which prohibits games that violate standards set by the company’s payment processors, banks, or network providers. It has also begun the removal of multiple ‘adult content’ games that violate this new guideline.

In a statement to Eurogamer, Valve stated: “We were recently notified that certain games on Steam may violate the rules and standards set forth by our payment processors and their related card networks and banks. As a result, we are retiring those games from being sold on the Steam Store, because loss of payment methods would prevent customers from being able to purchase other titles and game content on Steam."

There is currently a lack of clarity on what specifically this entails. The guideline applies to “certain kinds of adult-only content” but fails to clarify what that means, causing confusion among NSFW developers.

Stats site SteamDB reported on BlueSky that, simultaneously with the rule change, a large quantity of incest themed games were removed from the storefront, so it seems safe to assume that this is one particular kind of adult-only content targeted by the guidelines. However, not every game that contains this theme has been removed, causing yet more confusion for developers.

Finance companies previously came under fire for attempting to use their influence to force OnlyFans to ban certain kinds of content in 2021. While this was reverted, the new Steam rules suggest a similar level of overstep from these payment processors, banks, and network providers.

In today’s political climate, the decision of Valve to acquiesce to the processor’s demands has sparked fears that this will be the first step towards the effective banning of LGBTQ content. One viral BlueSky post by NoahFuel_Gaming summarises the concern: “It’s the quiet normalization of financial censorship and it’s going to hurt LGBTQ+ games and devs. Banks like Visa and Mastercard are now backdoor moral authorities. They already pressured Patreon, OnlyFans, and others to remove NSFW content. Now Steam is next. And guess who they’ll target first? Queer, transgressive, or “unusual” games. Queer content gets flagged as “explicit” even when it’s PG. A trans dev making a personal story? “Too controversial.” A surreal queer VN? “Sexualized.” Financial deplatforming in action.”

The creator continues: “If banks raise a fuss, they’ll nuke anything that could be controversial. And they’ll say, “It’s out of our hands.” Corporate cowardice in action. This is how cultural erasure happens in the digital age: not with a banhammer, but with a denied payment processor. With a vague rule. With silence.”

Journalist Ana Valens reported for Vice’s Waypoint that an Australian anti-porn lobbying group named Collective Shout is behind these new restrictions. The organisation’s co-founder, Melinda Tankard Reist, posted on X that gamers angered by them are “porn sick brain rotted pedo gamer fetishists”. 

Collective Shout’s X account posted about the removal: “Since we launched our campaign calling on Payment Processors to stop facilitating payments for rape, incest, sexual torture and child-abuse themed games on Steam, they have added a new rule to their policies + removed hundreds of these games.”

Collective Shout published an open letter earlier this month calling on PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and several other payment processors to “request that you cease processing payments on gaming platforms which host rape, incest and child sexual abuse-themed games.”

Included in the letter were signatures from representatives of organisations that have a history of video game censorship. These include the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), which has targeted visual novels such as HuniePop, and Exodus City, which has claimed that children searching for video game content are led to sexually explicit material.

Perhaps just as concerningly, Savage Ventures, the owners of Vice Media, have requested the removal of Valens’ articles, which can now no longer be found on the site. The removal is down to “controversial subject matter” rather than any concerns with the reporting.

Valens’ pieces can still be found on archive sites here and here. They contain further information and context surrounding Collective Shout’s current and previous actions.

300 People To Be Laid Off From The Studio That Brought Us Oblivion Remastered

The co-founder of French gaming site Origami Gauthier ‘Gautoz’ Andres reported on BlueSky that “Mass layoffs are underway at Virtuos, the studio behind Oblivion Remastered and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Δ." (Translated by Google Translate.)

“300 positions (7% of the workforce) are at risk at this outsourcing specialist located in Asia, the USA, and Europe, including three branches in France.”

Andres continues: "Virtuos is said to have made significant efforts on Oblivion, with a policy of over-quality relative to the budget and a contract without royalties (without bonuses indexed to the game's success). The result: teams put to the test for a purely showcase game, doomed to see its profitability questioned."

Oblivion Remastered is currently one of the best-selling games of 2025, according to industry analyst Mat Piscatella. 

These layoffs are interlinked with the recent waves of Microsoft job cuts. As well as staff redundancies, Xbox has reportedly been pulling funding from smaller studios that had publishing deals, leading to far-reaching ripples of job losses and uncertainty. Studios that were contracted to work on cancelled games are scrambling to make up for an unexpected financial shortfall, reports startmenu EIC Lex Luddy, for Rewinder.

She continued: "The story here really is that these layoffs are way bigger than the number that Microsoft is reporting, because there's a lot more indirect layoffs happening than are being reported," says Luddy around an hour into the podcast. "It was described to me as people are at panic stations."

In Other News

• Netflix looks to “ramp up” its investment in gaming, reports GameSpot. Co-CEO, president, and director Greg Peters noted in a recent earnings call that the potential to grow is very large. This comes less than three weeks after Netflix removed over 20 titles from its Netflix Games Collection, including Hades, Katana Zero, all three Monument Valley Games and both Golden Idol games.

• The streaming company also stated on the same call that they see huge opportunities in generative AI and recently debuted AI-generated effects in Netflix Original series El Eternaut.

• Industry analyst Ichiro Lambe (previously of Steam Labs) found that there are now nearly 8000 games which disclose generative AI on Steam, amounting to 7% of the platform’s offerings. This is eight times higher than last year.

• According to MobileGamer.biz, many of the 200 laid-off jobs at King, the developers of Candy Crush, will be replaced by AI. The same anonymous source stated that morale is “in the gutter” at the studio.

• In one of the most tone-deaf things anyone has ever said, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said on a recent earnings call that microtransactions “make the player experience more fun.” The company recently appointed Guillemot’s son, Charlie, as the CEO of a new Tencent-backed subsidiary. “My appointment isn’t only about family ties; it’s about what Ubisoft needs at this moment. [...] What matters now isn't my name, it's the work ahead," said Guillemot to Variety. As he would.

Update Patch News Roundup (28/07/25)

Stop Killing Games EU Movement Reaches 1.4 Million Petition Signatures, But Has Been Met With Resistance

The EU-based Stop Killing Games movement has recently exceeded 1.4 million verified signatories on its petition to the EU Parliament, which far exceeds the threshold required to ensure it is heard and discussed by policymakers.

The movement aims to compel games companies to lay out end-of-life plans for games, and to try and make compromises that maintain a degree of functionality after the live support of a game has ended. This was triggered by Ubisoft’s shutdown of The Crew’s multiplayer servers, which also led to players being unable to play the game’s single-player mode.

Stop Killing Games (SKG) acknowledges that not all functionality can be maintained in perpetuity, but believes that a robust end-of-life plan set out from a game’s launch will lead to a better outcome for consumers.

However, it has been met with significant resistance and roadblocks. In a YouTube video which has garnered over 630k views, a key proponent of the movement, Ross Scott, has detailed the “serious accusations” and “false claims” that have been filed against the movement. The movement has been notified of a Transparency Complaint which has been made against them, claiming the campaign fails to “provide clear, accurate and comprehensive information on the sources of funding for the initiative exceeding EUR 500 per sponsor" and has filed a “false 'no funding' declaration", thereby violating the EU’s rules.

The complaint claims that Scott’s work “far exceeds any reasonable volunteer threshold", suggesting that his time “constitutes quantifiable in-kind contribution under transparency regulations". However, as Scott stated in his video, he was never hired to promote the movement and has been operating on a purely volunteer basis. He is not involved in the organisation or management of the campaign, and the organisers themselves have even received confirmation that “it was okay for me to assist them in the capacity I have been.”

The movement has been receiving some recognition from large companies. In a recent shareholder call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot spoke on the issue. "You provide a service, but nothing is written in stone and at some point the service may be discontinued. Nothing is eternal,” he said. However, this is a deliberate straw-man argument, because SKG are not asking for games to be supported eternally.

In addition, the EU industry body Video Games Europe has spoken against the movement, suggesting that if passed, it could make games “prohibitively expensive to make,” with further arguments described by Scott as “flimsy.”

The Plague Of Layoffs Continues

Multiple studios have announced layoffs for a variety of reasons this week.

Still Wakes the Deep developer The Chinese Room has announced its departure from Sumo Digital, making it newly independent following a management buyout. While a positive move for the studio in principle, the company has since confirmed in a statement to Game Developer that some number of layoffs have been made.

UK studio Supermassive Games, responsible for Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures Anthology games, has announced approximately 36 redundancies along with the delay of upcoming sci-fi horror title Directive 8020 to the first half of 2026.

After the disastrous launch of Splitgate 2, 1047 Games is shutting down the servers for Splitgate 1, recalling the sequel into a beta, and laying off staff. According to a statement on Reddit, the team “hope[s] to bring them back” in the future.

And yet, despite the thousands of layoffs, many studio closures, and multiple game cancellations, Microsoft is “thriving”, at least according to a completely tone-deaf statement by CEO Satya Nadella. 

Other News

• itch.io has joined Steam in its delisting and removal of adult/NSFW games from its platform in order to appease payment processors under pressure from anti-pornography group Collective Shout. Itch says it is aiming to create new policies to support creators of these games.

• Krafton has acquired Last Epoch developers Eleventh Hour Games in the midst of the Subnautica 2 controversy. "Joining Krafton is a dream come true for Eleventh Hour Games," said Eleventh Hour CEO Judd Cobler.

• Obsidian Entertainment has backtracked on its decision to price The Outer Worlds 2 at $80, with a new price of $69.99 for pre-orders being announced on BlueSky. The studio has also issued instructions on how to get a refund and re-purchase the game at the new lower price.

• Hollow Knight sequel Silksong will have a playable demo at Gamescom.