11 Bit Studios quietly laid off eight employees at the end of 2023
Game Developer has learned that eight developers from 11 Bit Studios were let go in December 2023, and it went without mention by the Frostpunk 2 creator.
Recently, former studio writer Anna Sokalska explained that it has been "nine months after layoffs at 11 Bit, [and] I'm still searching for a job." At 11 Bit, she was a narrative designer on an unnanounced project.
Speaking to that project, a spokesperson for 11 Bit told Game Developer that the project had undergone "production changes," which led to the reductions. "Several people were let go or switched to other teams," they said.
Spanish government gives indies funding boost with new $7.9M grant
The Spanish government has established a €6.5 million ($7.9 million) grant to help nurture the country's indie development scene.
It's a notable move, particularly because it comes just a few weeks after Spanish minister Alvaro Nadal reportedly attempted to cancel a €2 million ($2.4 million) European Union grant that would provide smaller studios with sorely needed cash..
As reported by Polygon, the new grant will be made available to games companies with an annual turnover of under €2 million ($2.42 million) per year, letting them apply for up to €150,000 ($182,000) in funding.
It's also worth pointing out that anyone looking to use the grant must have been in business for over six…
The Spanish government has established a €6.5 million ($7.9 million) grant to help nurture the country's indie development scene.
It's a notable move, particularly because it comes just a few weeks after Spanish minister Alvaro Nadal reportedly attempted to cancel a €2 million ($2.4 million) European Union grant that would provide smaller studios with sorely needed cash..
As reported by Polygon, the new grant will be made available to games companies with an annual turnover of under €2 million ($2.42 million) per year, letting them apply for up to €150,000 ($182,000) in funding.
It's also worth pointing out that anyone looking to use the grant must have been in business for over six…
Nvidia to acquire high performance computing company Mellanox for $6.9 billion
Newsbrief: Nvidia has penned an agreement that will ultimately see it acquire the leading computing company Mellanox for $6.9 billion, or $125 a share. Once finalized, the deal will become Nvidia’s biggest acquisition to date.
It’s a hefty deal, and one that Nvidia reportedly beat out bids from Intel and Microsoft to arrange. Nvidia and Mellanox, meanwhile, have worked together in the past but the acquisition creates new opportunities for the company in terms of datacenter-caliber computing tech.
Both Nvidia and Mellanox contributed to the creation of two supercomputers operated by the U.S. Department of Energy and between them power over 250 of the world’s 500…
The beauty industry is getting an AR makeover; learn how at XRDC!
More and more industries are finding innovative uses for augmented reality technologies, and the best place to learn how, why, and what it means for you is at XRDC in San Francisco next month!
That's because XRDC is a premier rallying point for AR/VR/MR innovators, making it a great place to meet experts in these industries and learn how your skills can help push the boundaries of what these technologies can do.
For example, augmented reality mirrors and other cutting-edge AR tech are popping up in beauty stores worldwide, and ModiFace's Jennifer Tidy will give you the inside scoop in her XRDC Brand Experience track talk on "The Future of Augmented Reality for …
The biggest challenges for VR game developers, straight from Oculus
What are the biggest problems facing virtual reality developers? Oculus co-founders Palmer Luckey and Nate Mitchell took the stage at GDC Europe to outline some of the biggest stumbling blocks.
The Potential of VR
Luckey set the stage by talking up what VR could mean to games. "What's great about virtual reality is that it enhances a lot of things we love about games. It enhances immersion and removes abstraction… what gets between us and the world," he said. Though so far a lot of what's been announced for Oculus Rift has been ports of existing games, par…
Survey- Devs remain unsatisfied with European game dev tax breaks
In order to understand the state of the European game industry ahead of GDC Europe, Game Developers Conference officials surveyed over 250 European games industry professionals who have attended GDC shows, read Gamasutra.com, or plan to attend GDC Europe 2015 this August.
Once again, their responses and opinions shed light on some fascinating trends, offering a European perspective on a wide variety of issues.
Yesterday, we shared some highlights from the survey that suggest European game makers are migrating away from mobile and towards PC as the contemporary home consoles gain traction. They also seem to be confident that VR game development is a long-term, sus…
Rocksteady cuts staff following Suicide Squad’s underperformance
Eurogamer reported layoffs at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League studio Rocksteady.
On Monday, the outlet said the developer's QA team was effectively cut in half from 33 staffers to 15. Other departments were affected, though at time of writing, the total number of redundancies is unclear.
Junior and tenured staff were among those let go. Senior management has reportedly acknowledged product quality will "suffer" with the QA culling, which included employees with "specialized knowledge."
Sources told Eurogamer the anti-hero shooter's poor sales were a direct reason for the cuts. Warner Bros. Discovery has been open
State of the Industry- Enough with the skeletons
As part of our continued coverage of the Game Developers Conference State of the Industry report (download it for free here!) we bring you the final piece of the puzzle – the great infodump. Here, our over 2,000 surveyed anonymous developers answer the vague question: “Is there anything else you'd like to say about the game industry?”
As you can imagine, it gets quite heated.
The Good Stuff
Let's start with the good stuff. And there must be a few good things, because as one developer says, “Games are awesom…
Report- Xbox bracing for more cuts after studio-hoarder Microsoft claims it’s spread too thin
Microsoft, the $3 trillion tech company that recently spent $68.7 billion to acquire sprawling conglomerate Activision Blizzard and prior to that nabbed ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, will likely continue cutting jobs within its first-party Xbox Game Studios to become a leaner operation.
That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which claims the company is offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, QA testers, and others at ZeniMax as part of an ongoing cost-cutting program.
Microsoft announced it would be laying off 1,900 workers across its video game divisions earlier this year, with those cuts already impa…
Sega will be at GDC 2020 to deliver a unique postmortem of the Genesis Mini!
After stepping away from the video game console business decades ago, Sega made something of a surprise return last year with the launch of its Sega Genesis Mini console.
It's a remarkable bit of engineering that taps into the current trend of retro mini-consoles, and at GDC 2020 you'll have a unique opportunity to learn all about how game industry titan like Sega reinvigorates one of its classic consoles.
In a very special Design track talk on "Genesis Mini: Sega's Return to Hardware after 20 Years" Sega Games' Yosuke Okunari and M2 CEO Naoki Horii will share insights into the inception and realization of the project that (in a sense) brought Sega back to th…