Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

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Tuesday news, part two:

Major Japanese studios and publishers were having a great time in 2025, right up until the weekend because of the (you guessed it) 'insultingly dumb' US tariffs
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/major-japanese-studios-and-publishers-were-having-a-great-time-in-2025-right-up-until-this-weekend-because-of-the-you-guessed-it-insultingly-dumb-us-tariffs/
In an industry already tanking a bunch of hits, full of layoffs and studio closures, the Japanese games industry seemed to be an exception in 2025—as noted by an analyst last month, five out of eight major publishers and studios hit all-time share price highs at the start of this year, with their only real issue being a lack of staff.
Well, the tariffs imposed by the United States have begun to put a stop to all that, it seems. Last week, the Trump administration imposed "reciprocal" tariffs across the globe. Japan is set to endure a 24% tariff that'll go into effect April 9—which has naturally created a huge dent in the stock market.
As pointed out by Japanese industry analyst Dr. Serkan Toto of KantanGames on X, many of those same eight companies have endured huge stock market losses.

The turf wars begin: Schedule I is being investigated for possible copyright infringement by the publisher of Drug Dealer Simulator
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/the-turf-wars-begin-schedule-i-is-being-investigated-for-possible-copyright-infringement-by-the-publisher-of-drug-dealer-simulator/
In a rather pointed example of life imitating art imitating life, Schedule I and Drug Dealer Simulator are beefing over turf—and by "beefing over turf," I mean that Drug Dealer Simulator publisher Movie Games SA has begun an investigation into potential copyright infringement of its games by Schedule I.
>> The first consequence? Drug Dealer Simulator is being review bombed.

Schedule I gets Bleuballs in its first 'proper patch,' now live in Steam beta
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/schedule-i-gets-bleuballs-in-its-first-proper-patch-now-live-in-steam-beta/
The first "proper update" for everyone's favorite drug-dealing simulator Schedule I is now available in a Steam beta branch, where it will stay for a day or two for testing before it goes into full release.

Path of Exile 2's nerf-happy update has the playerbase revolting, review-bombing their baby, and scorning the developer's promises: 'Like reading a Blizzard post on fixing Diablo 4'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/path-of-exile-2s-nerf-happy-update-has-the-playerbase-revolting-review-bombing-their-baby-and-scorning-the-developers-promises-like-reading-a-blizzard-post-on-fixing-diablo-4/
Last week saw a major patch for Path of Exile 2 that made a bewildering range of alterations to the game, with the headline message being that almost everything got nerfed. The goal was to improve the endgame experience by making it more challenging for players: but after a few days in the wild, it looks like all Grinding Gear Games has done is hack people off.
I'll highlight some individual reactions but by far the most common complaint is about the pace of the game post-patch, with most players saying the game now feels way too slow: a combination of increased monster life, decreased player damage and the large maps making even low-level fights feel like a slog.

How a hardcore survival game morphed into an open world town-builder where you play as a corgi mech pilot
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/how-a-hardcore-survival-game-morphed-into-an-open-world-town-builder-where-you-play-as-a-corgi-mech-pilot/
You wouldn't know it by looking at Animalkind, a cozy and colorful town-builder where you play as a cute little corgi driving a mech, but it got its start in a different genre altogether. The game about building houses for a bunch of adorable forest animals was originally a hardcore survival game.

Am I the only one wondering what's going to happen to Blade, now that he's not the new hero for Season 2?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/am-i-the-only-one-wondering-whats-going-to-happen-to-blade-now-that-hes-not-the-new-hero-for-season-2/
We now know that the two new heroes arriving in Marvel Rivals for Season 2 are Emma Frost and Ultron. Despite being incredibly excited to get my hands on both characters, I can't help but wonder what this all means for our friend Blade, who's still stuck in a small room on the Central Park map.

Sabrina Carpenter has been revealed as the icon for Fortnite Festival's eighth season
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rhythm/sabrina-carpenter-has-been-revealed-as-the-icon-for-fortnite-festivals-eighth-season/
After Hatsune Miku's reign as Fortnite Festival's icon during Season 7, a new heir must take the throne. For Season 8, that would be Sabrina Carpenter. After a very obvious teaser was shared on the official Fortnite social media pages, it wasn't hard to guess that the pop star would be the next mascot for the rhythm game, but now it's been revealed can we take a moment to appreciate how scarily accurate her character model is?

Shelter's developer is now making a cozy decorating game called Twinkleby
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/shelters-developer-is-now-making-a-cozy-decorating-game-called-twinkleby/
The developers of the emotional animal parent Shelter games have just announced their next project and although it's definitely still what I'd call "cozy," it's pretty different from the studio's past work. Twinkleby, announced today for release in 2025, is a "relaxing decoration game" about a floating archipelago of islands.