Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the recent Tomb Raider games, announced an unspecified number of layoffs today. In a post on LinkedIn, the game developer kept the size of the cuts vague, only stating that "a number of our talented colleagues

The credit reporting giant confirmed unauthorized access to a third-party application storing the personal information of its customers, including Social Security numbers.

Ruben Amorim said "something has to change" after Manchester United's defeat to Grimsby Town, but that it could not be "22 players again".

The FBI's cyber chief says the long-running China-backed hacking campaign is "ongoing" and affecting companies all over the world.

Apple's carbon neutral claims are undermined by the short-term nature of carbon credits used to support them, the court said.

CW: This article contains mentions of sexual abuseUbisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has been summoned to appear before the Bobigny District Court on October 1.Via the French news network BFM TV, the company received a subpoena from the Solidaires Informatiques union and four other individuals. This is in relation to the harassment allegations against three former Ubisoft executives during court hearings back in June.A month later, the French court sentenced three former Ubisoft executives to suspended prison terms, with charges including sexual assault and "enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment."Specifically, the convictions entail former editorial vice president Thomas François, who was convicted on a charge of attempted sexual assault was handed a suspended three-year term. Former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët was given an 18-month suspended sentence, while former games director Gillaume Patrux received a 12-month suspended sentence.In a statement provided by Ubisoft, a spokesperson said the civil parties and facts are the same as those involved and judged by the court this past June, following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office.The spokesperson also noted that, after that investigation, and "contrary to the civil parties' requests," the Public Prosecutor's Office decided that there were "no grounds to initiate criminal proceedings against Ubisoft or its management," a decision it "confirmed during its closing arguments at the hearing last June."Related:Ubisoft says protecting physical and moral integrity of employees is its 'top priority'The statement goes on to say that Ubisoft will continue to cooperate with the justice system in this matter, "as it has done over the past five years in the review of the facts" related to this case.“Our top priority is to ensure the absolute protection of the physical and moral integrity of its employees, through a policy of prevention and zero tolerance with regard to sexual or moral harassment, sexist behavior, assault, insult, or discrimination of any kind,” Ubisoft executive vice president Cecile Russeil stated.The hearings took place over four days at the beginning of June. As reported by The Guardian, the court was told how the aforementioned Ubisoft executives frequently abused their power to harass and bully employees.The women who previously worked at Ubisoft described how they were subjected to constant comments about sex and their bodies, made to endure sexist and homophobic jokes, and touched physically without consent.Related:During the hearings, François, Hascoët, and Patrux denied all charges. State prosecutor Antoine Haushalter, however, said the case revealed "overwhelming" evidence of harassment within Ubisoft and claimed the video game industry has "systemic" issues with sexism and abuse.The news comes a month after Ubisoft confirmed it laid off 19 people at Ubisoft Red Storm. The redundancies happened four months after securing a $1.25 billion investment from Tencent, and they followed hundreds of job cuts and studio closures over the past year. At the beginning of the year, Ubisoft said it must take "decisive steps" to reshape its business and "drive significant cost reductions."

Diego Argüello, Contributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comAugust 26, 20253 Min ReadImage via Rec RoomDeveloper Rec Room, the team behind the namesake user-generated content (UGC) driven social game, has laid off "about half" its staff.Announced yesterday via the official site, CEO and co-founder Nick Fajt wrote that both he and CCO and co-founder Cameron Brown made the decision, which they called a "business necessity based on the financial trajectory of the company" that doesn't reflect on the individuals affected."This is not a reflection on the talent or dedication of those departing—we wish we could keep every one of them," reads the announcement. "I’m gonna say that again, to make it clear this isn’t just 'one of those things you say in a layoff message'. We TRULY wish we could keep every one of these people on the team. But we can't. This is a reflection of the tough reality we face as a business and the change needed to give Rec Room a chance to thrive in the years ahead."According to the post, the laid off workers will continue to be paid for the next three months, receive health benefits for the next six months, and have the option to keep their laptop or desktop computer. Rec Room didn't specify how many people were affected.'The writing on the wall became very clear'Back in December 2021, Rec Room raised $145 million for its social platform, bringing the company's lifetime raised funds to around $294 million. According to Brown, the team invested "heavily in creation tools across PC, VR, consoles, and mobile," but the reality "has been harsh." The CEO claims the mobile and console versions never got to the point where "those devices were good for building stuff." Some of the efforts to bridge the gap, including the Maker AI tool, frustrated the studio's "more impactful creators." Related:At the same time, the lower-powered devices still fostered "millions of pieces of content," which reportedly put a strain on the team that had to come up with procedures to review it all. "Making all this run across every device was a massive technical challenge and burden. While our most skilled creators optimized their content cleverly, most creators didn’t—couldn’t, really, because we didn’t provide them with the necessary tooling."Last month, Fajt announced that Rec Room hit a "record-breaking month" for UGC sales thanks to the creations from players, with creator token earnings from room and Watch store sales increasing 47 percent year-over-year."We deliberately started with a small group of creators as the Avatar Studio tool is still in the early stages," Fajt wrote at the time. "All of the early joiners helped us iron out the workflow and onboarding, providing feedback on how to improve our systems and processes. With creators already finding success, we’re ready to expand."Related:Today's announcement continues by saying that supporting the aforementioned scope stretched the team thin, and began to "dig a financial hole that was getting larger every day." The CEO says the studio has been stuck in an "uncomfortable middle ground" during the past few years, wondering whether to keep pushing the internal UGC vision while potentially increasing the frustration of players and the team, or scale back the vision by cutting the team in half."Both paths were painful," Brown wrote. "But ultimately we got to a point where it was clear that staying the course meant low growth, a high burn rate, and no clear path forward. In a word: Unsustainable. The writing on the wall became very clear."Looking forward, Brown says the team will focus on "empowering our very best creators" and "ensuring Rec Room is a great experience for our players.""For those leaving—you will always be part of the Rec Room story," Brown wrote as a closing note about the layoffs. "We thank you for everything, and wish you the best for your next chapter. For those staying—we know this sucks. We know this hurts. Thank you for pushing forward with us—we have hard work ahead, but with a new focus we believe strongly in the future we can build together."Related:Game Developer has reached out to Rec Room for clarification on the number of workers affected.Read more about:Top StoriesLayoffs & Studio ClosuresAbout the AuthorDiego ArgüelloContributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comDiego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina. Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.See more from Diego ArgüelloDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

The Social Security Administration's chief data officer has publicly blown the whistle, alleging DOGE put hundreds of millions of Social Security records at risk of compromise by uploading a critical government database of citizen's data to Amazon's

Trump Administration DOGE Cuts Will Total 300,000 This Year, Report Says

Chris Kerr, Senior Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comAugust 22, 20254 Min ReadVia Evil Empire/UbisoftThe Rogue Prince of Persia developer Evil Empire doesn't believe it's worth entering early access in the current climate unless your project is at least 90 percent complete. Speaking to Game Developer at Gamescom 2025, studio marketing manager Matthew Houghton and art director Dylan Eurlings shared their thoughts on the state of contemporary early access campaigns and suggested the system is becoming increasingly risky. You might recognize Evil Empire as the studio that has spent years helping Dead Cells developer Motion Twin expand the franchise with DLC and free updates. Since May 2024, however, the studio has also been shepherding The Rogue Prince of Persia through an Steam Early Access campaign that culminated in an official launch on August 20.Yet, due to a variety of factors including shifting player expectations, the team had to tweak their pre-release strategy in a bid to lure in players. As a result, the studio has become more wary of early access in general. "To be honest, the way I see it now is that unless you're coming into early access with a 90 percent complete game, don't do it. Because players, they don't see it as early access, they see it a game to play," says Houghton. He adds that players are entitled to express their views because they're often paying money to play early access titles, but he feels that sifting viewpoint means consumers are less willing to follow games on an early access journey that will often result in significant changes. Related:Eurlings echoes that point and suggests that a perceived lack of polish and content can now be a "huge issue" during early access campaigns. He explains that Evil Empire was even forced to rethink their original roadmap after the earliest versions of Rogue Prince of Persia failed to meet internal expectations."Initially we wanted to do quick updates. Very fast. In the end, we took a bit more time to ensure that each update would be a bit more chunky," he adds, noting that pivot resulted in a steady cadence of monthly updates that each packed a fair bit of clout. That shift came after the team conceded that early access numbers "weren't great." Houghton explains the project initially attracted just under 1,000 peak concurrent users (CCU). After they flipped the script, the title started to pull in around 4,000 CCU. "That's why we wanted to prioritize chunky content—there would be an impact every time," says Houghton, before acknowledging the title still hadn't quite met the team's CCU expectations even after that switch-up. Related:"Of course you listen to the feedback and take the ideas [on board], but you have to feed them through a filter."It underlines the risks that come with early access, and Houghton specifically wonders whether some developers who can't hit that 90 percent completion benchmark before launching into early access might instead be better off conducting beta tests through Steam instead. If you're curious as to where Rogue Prince of Persia was when it entered Early Access, Houghton suggests the project was roughly 60 percent complete. Eurlings, was slightly more conservative, and claimed it was more like 50 percent. We suggested they meet in the middle. "Steam has evolved now. You can do beta tests and playtests through Steam. I think that's become more like Early Access. People aren't paying for it and your project might be a bit janky [...] but that's okay because they're still going to give feedback and it's not going to be a disaster if it's not great yet," continues Houghton. When asked whether Evil Empire would consider revisiting Early Access in the future, Houghton isn't so certain."I don't know. I'm going to be honest. I've been put off by it, because especially now people are so used to games coming out and then doing live ops for three, four, and five years—so why go with early access and have to deal with the stigma that's around it? I think I would do playtests and then just release," he explains. Related:Houghton adds that teams who are still convinced early access is right for them must have complete conviction in their creative vision—otherwise they might risk being derailed. "Of course you listen to the feedback and take the ideas [on board], but you have to feed them through a filter, otherwise you'll have too many cooks. [...] You'll have people who are super enthusiastic who think you can't do anything wrong, and then you get the people who are just super negative and people who are just throwing ideas at you that you know won't work in the game." It's a situation that can feel overwhelming, with Houghton explaining that Rogue Prince of Persia's game director found the onslaught "too much" at times. "You have to stick to your vision," says Houghton. "Listen, but just cherry pick [your feedback] carefully."Game Developer attended Gamescom 2025 via the Gamescom Media Ambassador Program, which covered flights and accommodation.Read more about:GamescomTop StoriesInterviewsAbout the AuthorChris KerrSenior Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comGame Developer news editor Chris Kerr is an award-winning journalist and reporter with over a decade of experience in the game industry. His byline has appeared in notable print and digital publications including Edge, Stuff, Wireframe, International Business Times, and PocketGamer.biz. Throughout his career, Chris has covered major industry events including GDC, PAX Australia, Gamescom, Paris Games Week, and Develop Brighton. He has featured on the judging panel at The Develop Star Awards on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live to discuss breaking news.See more from Chris KerrDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Hello and welcome to a new edition of Patch Notes, our friendly (and weekly) news roundup. This is editor-in-chief Danielle Riendeau subbing in for senior news editor Chris Kerr, who has been boots on the ground at Gamescom this week, reporting from the show floor and generally getting down to business. It's been a busy week at Gamescom and far beyond, so without further ado, here are a few of the stories that have made the biggest splash in the last few days.2K is 'reducing the size' of BioShock 4 developer Cloud ChamberVia Jason Schreier on Bluesky/Game Developer // Bloomberg's Jason Schreier dropped the news on Bluesky this week, reporting on layoffs at Cloud Chamber, 2K's studio tasked with the next BioShock game. The news came a couple of weeks after Schreier's own report that a build of the game failed a publisher review, and employees were reportedly fearing for their jobs in the aftermath. A memo listing the layoffs also announced that Rod Fergusson would take over as Cloud Chamber's studio head, a strange mirror to the time he came in towards the end of the last BioShock's development to get it over the line.Update: Microsoft shuts down questions about layoffs and Israel ties at Gamescom 2025Via Game Developer // In the original story, your usual Patch Notes author attempted to ask a developer what it was like to work with Microsoft during a turbulent time (given the company's recent mass layoffs, and controversy around its ties to the IDF's military surveillance agency), but the company's spokespeople quashed the question. Eventually, Microsoft offered more of a comment, which you can read in the updated story.Related:Unknown Worlds files lawsuit against ousted founders for allegedly downloading over 170,000 confidential filesVia Game Developer // The Unknown Worlds/Krafton saga has heated up once again, now with the conglomerate filing suit against the former team leaders, saying Cleveland, McGuire, and Gill downloaded "substantial volumes" of undisclosed confidential company information as they left. It's an increasingly complicated tale, broken down step-by-step here in the story.Frost Giant CEO Tim Morten says layoffs are possible after Stormgate underperformsVia Game Developer // Reporting from Gamescom, Chris Kerr highlights a very candid conversation with Frost Giant's Tim Morten, acknowledging that its RTS Stormgate "underperformed" and the team might need to contract as a result. Has Tides of Tomorrow cracked the narrative multiplayer formula?Via Game Developer // In this feature from Tuesday, our senior editor Bryant Francis interviewed the team at Digixart (creators of Road 96) on the creation of their upcoming Tides of Tomorrow and its promising take on narrative multiplayer.Related:

If you've been using the jump button a little too often in the Battlefield 6 beta, then you're going to notice some changes upon launch. DICE has announced that there's now a penalty for making consecutive jumps that lowers the jump height. Momentum carried from a slide into a jump has also been tweaked to reduce its speed. Nevertheless, Battlefield 6 principal game designer Florian "DRUNKKZ3" Le Bihan wants players to know that the movement changes "are not drastic.""Movement is also getting more responsive in general in places that have felt a bit clunky before. so there is a lot more that is getting quality improvements [and] polish in this same area," wrote Le Bihan on X. "Adding diminishing returns to jumping is what we're actually doing, an initial slide or an initial jumps will not be affected. We're still trying to retain depth to movement with some skill curve to it, just making sure it doesn't become insane."The Battlefield 6 devs also recently defended the changes to Rush mode in the beta, including smaller lobbies of 24 players for 12v12 matches. According to the programing team, Rush mode doesn't work as well with more than 24 players at a time.Continue Reading at GameSpot