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

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Part two of the gaming news:

'Our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger,' Phil Spencer says, as Microsoft announces another round of mass layoffs at its gaming division
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/our-platform-hardware-and-game-roadmap-have-never-looked-stronger-phil-spencer-says-as-microsoft-announces-another-round-of-mass-layoffs-at-its-gaming-division/
An IGN report says Microsoft has begun a new round of mass layoffs across its gaming division, beginning with a 10% reduction—approximately 200 people—at social game developer King. Layoffs are also being announced at other European studios, according to the report, while US-based studios will be informed about job losses later today.
>> To sum it all in one go, Rare’s Everwild is cancelled, as are Perfect Dark and its studio The Initiative (curl-6 has made a thread about this two). But that’s not all, because a Zenimax MMO has also been cancelled and people have been fired.

The Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor, who helped launch ZeniMax Online Studios in 2007, is leaving the company
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-elder-scrolls-online-director-matt-firor-who-helped-launch-zenimax-online-studios-in-2007-is-leaving-the-company/
Matt Firor, president of ZeniMax Online Studios and game director of The Elder Scrolls Online, has announced that he is leaving the company.
"After more than 18 years leading ZeniMax Online Studios, I'll be stepping away later this month," says a message attributed to Firor on the official TESO X account. "The studio and The Elder Scrolls Online will be in great hands under the direction of new Studio Head Jo Burba, along with Executive Producer Susan Kath and Game Director Rich Lambert.

Phil Spencer retirement rumor is made up, says Microsoft
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/phil-spencer-retirement-rumor-is-made-up-says-microsoft/
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has probably not penned his last email thanking employees for their hard work while pointing them to the door.
After Microsoft laid off around 9,000 employees today, including a number from Spencer's gaming division, a rumor began circulating that the Xbox head will step down after the next generation Xbox console comes out, but Microsoft says it's not true.

Final Fantasy 14 is fast-tracking one of my most-anticipated fixes, releasing an entire month earlier than expected
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-14-is-fast-tracking-one-of-my-most-anticipated-fixes-releasing-an-entire-month-earlier-than-expected/
Occult Crescent—Final Fantasy 14's newest field operation mode—is good fun, but it's an absolute pain to tackle its 48-player dungeon Forked Tower as a static. That's thanks to the fact the game currently doesn't let you enter in groups larger than eight, leaving folk playing what's been dubbed as 'instance gacha' to try and land everyone in the same place.
It's a pain I've encountered myself across my handful of clears, but director and producer Naoki Yoshida revealed in a June livestream that it was an issue we'd no longer have to deal with once Patch 7.3 released. Which was, unfortunately, at least a month and a half away at that point.
(...)
I have to wonder if Yoshida and Square Enix felt the same way, because in a surprise turn of events we're getting at least some of the fix an entire month early.

Videogames on the scale of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 could be on the way for other World of Darkness TTRPGs, including Mage: The Ascension and Changeling: The Dreaming
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/videogames-on-the-scale-of-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-could-be-on-the-way-for-other-world-of-darkness-ttrpgs-including-mage-the-ascension-and-changeling-the-dreaming/
After a long and difficult journey, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is finally mere months away from coming out. But as any '90s TTRPG fan will tell you, there's more to the World of Darkness than just blood-suckers, and according to Jason Carl, brand marketing manager of the franchise (and veteran tabletop writer), this may be just the beginning.

'It's not like we applied for the award ourselves': Dave the Diver director reminds people that 'there's nothing indie' about his game and the controversial indie nomination was out of his control
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/its-not-like-we-applied-for-the-award-ourselves-dave-the-diver-director-reminds-people-that-theres-nothing-indie-about-his-game-and-the-controversial-indie-nomination-was-out-of-his-control/
A lotta stuff happened in videogames in 2023: Baldur's Gate 3 released, a staggering number of layoffs occurred, and Dave the Diver was controversially nominated for Best Indie at The Game Awards.
(...)
Now, the game would go on to lose out to the excellent (and actually independently developed) RPG Sea of Stars, and the controversy quickly died down thereafter. The situation was dredged back up in a recent interview between Hwang and 4Gamer, though, with the director reiterating that Mintrocket had nothing to do with the category it was nominated for.

'Instantly lost all desire to even start': Mecha Break's Steam rating lands at an early 'Mixed' as players realize the beta's customization options have been turned into MTX fodder
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/instantly-lost-all-desire-to-even-start-mecha-breaks-steam-rating-lands-at-an-early-mixed-as-players-realize-the-betas-customization-options-have-been-turned-into-mtx-fodder/
Mecha Break launched in the wee hours this morning for those of us in the US, attracting more than 50,000 players in its first 10 minutes through the undeniable allure of cool robots. At time of writing, it's ranked number 12 on Steam's concurrent player charts. But not all that launch day attention has been positive, as early Steam reviewers say the free-to-play mech battler is a bit less free than they'd been led to believe.

French court finds 3 former Ubisoft executives guilty of workplace harassment
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/french-court-finds-3-former-ubisoft-executives-guilty-of-workplace-harassment/
Concluding trials that began last month, a French court has convicted three former Ubisoft executives based on accusations of systemic racism, bullying, and sexual misconduct that emerged in 2020 (via Courthouse News Service).

EA reportedly expects Battlefield 6 to bring in 100 million players, a number that even DICE devs don't think is feasible
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/ea-reportedly-expects-battlefield-6-to-bring-in-100-million-players-a-number-that-even-dice-devs-dont-think-is-feasible/
From the outside, the vibes around Battlefield 6 (yet to be officially titled) are pretty good. Spurred by a creative direction that's essentially "let's do Battlefield 3 and 4 again," folks are liking what they're seeing from those playtests that keep leaking onto Reddit.
From the inside, Battlefield 6 development could be going better. As detailed in a report published today at Ars Technica, EA's grand multi-studio strategy for the future of Battlefield has proven more chaotic than harmonious.
Battlefield 6's budget has reportedly ballooned past $400 million, its campaign is far behind multiplayer, major features are undecided as the project enters alpha, and EA suits are setting sky-high expectations that its own developers don't see as even remotely realistic.

Blizzard ends new content development for Warcraft Rumble and lays off staff: Former employee says 'most' of the team has been let go
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/blizzard-ends-new-content-development-for-warcraft-rumble-and-lays-off-staff-former-employee-says-most-of-the-team-has-been-let-go/
Less than a year after making its debut on PC, the real-time strategy game Warcraft Rumble has reached the end of the line. Blizzard announced today that it's made the "extremely hard decision" to end new content releases for the game, although it promised that "updates focused on regular, systemic in-game events and bug fixes" will continue.