Peak hits new heights, the layoffs keep on coming, and union workers make history

Good morrow Patch People! How’s your week going? Mine has largely been spent imploring my teammates to pass the ball in Rematch before inevitably watching them succumb to a crunching tackle after attempting to channel prime Messi when they’re prime Ali Dia at best. There’s a deep cut for you Premier League loreheads.

Beyond that, I’ve mostly been writing about layoffs and lamenting the state of job security in the game industry, whose corporate leaders seem intent on convincing their workforce that career stability and just rewards are pure myth. Mission accomplished.

The good news—it’s important to remember there are still things worth celebrating in the world of video games—is that union workers at Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax finally ratified a contract with the Xbox maker after years of negotiations. Peak, a chaotic and comedic climbing title from Landfall and Aggro Crab also managed to achieve 2 million sales in just nine days. Talk about scaling new heights.

As always, there’s plenty to chew on in this week’s edition, so let’s get chomping. 

via Game Developer // Let’s start with some good news because the mood is going to nosedive from here. Union workers at Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax this week voted to ratify their first union contract after years of negotiations. ZeniMax Workers United-CWA formed in 2023 and has spent the past two years locked in negotiations with Microsoft. After threatening strike action the union finally made a breakthrough when it reached a tentative agreement with the Xbox maker. Now, it has ratified that agreement, which includes across-the-board wage increases, protections against arbitrary dismissal, and AI safeguards. Speaking of which…

Related:EA CEO Andrew Wilson earned 260 times more than the company’s median worker last year

via Game Developer // UK studio Frontier Developments decided to use generative AI in their upcoming video game that asks players to build a theme park where genetically modified dinosaurs are the star attraction. Naturally, then, the studio decided to use the tech to generate portraits of humdrum human beings. It’s a decision that raises eyebrows for a multitude of reasons, but after fans caught wind and took the studio to task Frontier backtracked faster than a raptor on rollerblades. 

via Game Developer // Hypixel Studios was shuttered by parent company Riot this week after spending a decade working on a sandbox RPG called Hytale. The studio began working on the project after finding success with a Minecraft server of the same name. It eventually secured investment from Riot to flesh out the project and was acquired by the League of Legends make a few years later. Sadly, the team explained they fell short of realising their vision and have now cancelled development on the long-gestating title.

Related:Obituary: Unity senior program manager Andy Brammall has passed away

via Game Developer // UK studio The Chinese Room has seemingly laid off a number of employees. Social media posts from multiple staffers claiming to be impacted by the cuts were shared online, indicating there have been redundancies at the Sumo Group subsidiary. The news comes after Sumo announced a restructuring plan earlier this year that will see the company move away from developing original franchises, which is precisely what The Chinese Room is known for. A Sumo spokesperson also confirmed a number of the company’s communications team have been laid off, which explains why our emails to three separate members of that team bounced.

via Bloomberg // Microsoft has laid off thousands of developers over the past 18 months and it looks like the Xbox maker isn’t finished yet. Bloomberg claims the company is preparing to cut more jobs in what it reports will be a “major” round of redundancies. Those layoffs are expected to be announced next week and would arrive less than two years after Microsoft spent almost $70 billion acquiring Activision Blizzard. How many salaries would that cover, you wonder?

Related:Report: Lost Records developer Don’t Nod is making layoffs

via IGN // Build A Rocket Boy, the studio behind universally panned sci-fi shooter MindsEye, is making layoffs just weeks after the title launched. The company confirmed the news to IGN, but stopped short of specifying how many people will be impacted by the cuts. It appears that over 100 employees could be made redundant, however, with the studio starting a 45-day consultation process that is triggered in the UK when over 100 roles are at risk. 

via Game Developer // Microsoft continued its recent habit of slapping an Xbox sticker on third-party hardware and calling it a video game console. This time, the company collaborated with Facebook-owner Meta to release the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition. The limited edition bundle comes with a 128GB version of the headset, a Meta Quest Elite Steam, an Xbox controller, and three months of Meta Horizon+ and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Microsoft seems to think the unique selling point here is the ability to stream compatible Xbox titles on a virtual screen that’ll float around your living room like an audio-sensory blimp. Let’s see what consumers reckon. 

via Game Developer // You’ve probably heard a lot of chatter about Peak, the comedic climber from Aggro Crab and Landfall, over the past week. That’s because the title has surpassed 2 million sales in just nine days after being developed in around a month on a budget of under $200,000. That’s a mean feat—but how was it accomplished? We’ll give you a hint: it involved copious amounts of Korean barbecue. 

via gov.uk // The UK Government published its Creative Industries Sector Plan this week and ins doing so unveiled plans to roll out a new £30 million Games Growth Package over the next three years to “back the next generation of start-up games studios and talent.” The government also intents to maintain a Video Game Expenditure Credit for developers in the country to ensure “stable, efficient, and competitive tax measures” are made available. The full plan is well worth a read if you’re a developer in the country, but it’s pretty dense so make yourself a cuppa first. 

via GamesIndustry // Sony has been accused of exploiting its dominant market position in the Netherlands to artificially inflate the price of digital software on PlayStation. Dutch consumer group Stichting Massaschade & Consument has filed a collective lawsuit against the Japanese company and accused it of making consumers in the region pay 47 percent more for digital titles compared to physical releases—while also claiming people are being pushed towards digital consoles. The lawsuit is expected to result in a hearing that will take place later this year.