Vertical Slice

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Kingdom Come and Lord of the Rings studio Warhorse targeted by cyberattack

WB Games owner Skydance Corporation introducing five-day in-office mandate alongside 'Voluntary Buyout Program'

French union accuses Don't Nod of illegally targeting individuals during redundancy process

Interior/Night studio director Charu Desodt appointed chair of BAFTA Games Committee

"I don't want to work at this place anymore:" EA workers decry mismanagement and corporate greed after mass layoffs Current and former EA employees paint a bleak picture of daily life at one of the video game industry's most prominent publishers

Xbox workers among 60,000 staff offered voluntary exit by Microsoft

WB Games owner Skydance Corporation introducing five-day in-office mandate alongside 'Voluntary Buyout Program'

Report: Sony cutting jobs at Sucker Punch less than a year after declaring Ghost of Yotei a "major hit"

Key figures behind EA buyout accused of exchanging billions for political favours

Pitch Deck // Falcon Age "This was our first pitch as a way to establish the studio and we were also figuring out if we wanted studio investment or project funding and ultimately decided that project funding was the right fit for us as a team."

Creative Assembly says external partner was largely responsible for bungling Shogun 2-Complete Edition

The new Xbox COO lasted just three months

"I made it 68 words into Fortune's rhapsody to Sharma, who the publication is positioning as 'The non-gamer CEO racing to save Microsoft’s Xbox,' before my head swivelled so hard I practically became an owl."

From a self-funded independent outlet to a sprawling media empire? Here's an honest look at what Vertical Slice needs to survive and expand.

GameMaker will make its next-gen runtime free for commercial use in 2027

Kick back and check out this collection of vintage photos documenting Japanese video game culture

Pitch Deck // Thirsty Suitors "We initially did a round of pitches with multiple games to see if any of the ideas had any interest. Most folks seemed to like Thirsty Suitors so we spent time putting together a playable prototype and repitched to possible partners we thought would be a good fit"

Key figures behind EA buyout accused of exchanging billions for political favours

Devolver subsidiary System Era cuts 30 jobs after "big bet" Starseeker underperforms

Headliner [23/10/26] - EA kills BioWare, Miyamoto honoured, and a Mass Effect trailer that almost made me weep

Bonfire Studios confirms layoffs ahead of Arkheron launch

Update: Freeplay responds after dropping Unpacking developer as a sponsor over "Zionist" allegations In a lengthy statement sent to Vertical Slice and shared online, event organisers said they regret how "aspects of the process" played out and intend to seek discussions with "all affected parties."

Headliner is dropping tomorrow! Free subscribers will nab the first two editions for free, paid subscribers will be treated to handcrafted emails FOREVER.

Playbill is a new subscription service for lovers of "high-concept, genre-abusing" indie games

Pitch Deck // Thirsty Suitors "We initially did a round of pitches with multiple games to see if any of the ideas had any interest. Most folks seemed to like Thirsty Suitors so we spent time putting together a playable prototype and repitched to possible partners we thought would be a good fit"

The company behind Claude, the AI tool reportedly favoured by some major game firms, just lost $80 billion in six months

Pay-to-play: Xbox is letting some users buy cloud playtime in hourly batches

"I made it 68 words into Fortune's rhapsody to Sharma, who the publication is positioning as 'The non-gamer CEO racing to save Microsoft’s Xbox,' before my head swivelled so hard I practically became an owl."

Cyber attacker steals personal information of Supercell employees and studio partners The Finnish studio confirmed an unauthorised party has obtained the images, voices, names, and email addresses of some workers, guests, and partners

Bonfire Studios confirms layoffs ahead of Arkheron launch

UPDATE: Additional LinkedIn posts from workers at Respawn (Apex Legends) and Motive (Battlefield/Marvel's Iron Man) suggest those studios have also been targeted by EA. The publisher has yet to respond to our request for comment.

Update: Freeplay responds after dropping Unpacking developer as a sponsor over "Zionist" allegations In a lengthy statement sent to Vertical Slice and shared online, event organisers said they regret how "aspects of the process" played out and intend to seek discussions with "all affected parties."

"There will definitely have to be some sort of restriction:" Game UI Database considering drastic countermeasures in fight against generative AI scraping

Here's a table from Microsoft's latest annual that shows Xbox is being hunted down by the salivating wolf that is LinkedIn. Xbox remains the third highest-performing MS division in terms of annual revenue (for now).

Report: Maxis, Full Circle, and Ripple Effect targeted by EA during sweeping layoffs

EA shutters BioWare and carves through other teams months after after Saudi-led buyout An internal email obtained by Vertical Slice states EA is also "bringing together" Respawn and DICE to work on a new shooter.

Netflix bosses spend more time discussing Ice Age than Netflix Games during latest earnings call—which is to say, they didn't mention the video game division at all

The company behind Claude, the AI tool reportedly favoured by some major game firms, just lost $80 billion in six months

Life is Strange studio Don't Nod opens safeguard proceedings to freeze debt in fight for survival The Paris Business Court approved the move, which studio CEO Oskar Guilbert described as a "proactive, protective measure."

Opinion: Xbox already has a marketing team and (unless I'm mistaken) journalists are not on its payroll A conveyer belt of toothless Asha Sharma profiles have shown one thing: reporters who get access must do better

"There will definitely have to be some sort of restriction:" Game UI Database considering drastic countermeasures in fight against generative AI scraping

Netflix bosses spend more time discussing Ice Age than Netflix Games during latest earnings call—which is to say, they didn't mention the video game division at all

Pitch Deck // The Final Cut of Lilith Cunningham "When pitching Lilith, we needed to show our plans and capabilities to create a more ambitious game with branching narrative, meaningful choices, and multiple treatments of full-motion video."

Report: Project Helix being engineered using AI and could cost up to $1,800 without subsidisation It's also being reported that more Xbox Game Studios layoffs will be confirmed in November and January as part of the company's ongoing purge

Life is Strange studio Don't Nod opens safeguarding proceedings to freeze debt in fight for survival The Paris Business Court approved the move, which studio CEO Oskar Guilbert described as a "proactive, protective measure"

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PEGI is updating the age rating of titles featuring loot boxes Existing digital-only releases will be handed a new 16+ rating if they allow players to spend money on random items

Total War: Shogun 2—Complete Edition players have not taken kindly to betrayal