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

[JEMC]

I didn't want to fill the news with more doom articles coming from the Msoft’s layoffs and its consequences. So, I’ve decided to post them all here, so you can choose to read them or skip this post entirely:

Perfect Dark dev shoots down claim the ace-looking reveal was fake: 'It's probably more real than you think'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/perfect-dark-developer-shoots-down-claims-the-ace-looking-reveal-was-fake-its-probably-more-real-than-you-think/
This week, as part of an enormous round of cuts at Microsoft, the company closed down The Initiative and cancelled the ace-looking reboot of Perfect Dark it had been working on. The game had first been announced in 2020 but a "gameplay reveal" was shown in 2024's Xbox Games Showcase: and it blew us away.
(...)
The game looked awesome, and like it 'got' Perfect Dark in a way that Perfect Dark Zero never really managed (despite coming from original developer Rare, the main talents behind Perfect Dark had long left to found the ill-fated Free Radical Design). But in the wake of the project's cancellation a prominent journalist shared on social media he'd been told the trailer "was basically fake," a claim that quickly went around the internet and resulted in articles calling it "everything wrong with modern video games".
A developer who worked at The Initiative for three and a half years, and was one of the three staff charged with creating the gameplay reveal, has taken issue with such claims. Adam McDonald, who now works as a senior game designer at Cuphead maker Studio MDHR, took to BlueSky to explain his involvement, and what the video represented.

CWA union derides Microsoft layoffs when ‘the company is prospering’: 'We are living through a moment of profound corporate consolidation and disruption'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/cwa-union-derides-microsoft-layoffs-when-the-company-is-prospering-we-are-living-through-a-moment-of-profound-corporate-consolidation-and-disruption/
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced around 9,000 layoffs—many of which gutted teams and canceled games all over Xbox Game Studios—and it hasn't gone over great with, well, anyone whose conscience is intact. The Communications Workers of America, a major media union with several locals within Microsoft, took the moment to address its disappointment with a formal statement.
“We are deeply disappointed in Microsoft’s decision to lay off thousands more workers, including union-represented CWA members, at a time when the company is prospering,” said Communications Workers of America President Claude Cummings Jr. “We will be bargaining with the company over these layoffs, and CWA District Vice Presidents Mike Davis and Derrick Osobase will remain directly involved in ensuring that our members are supported and treated with dignity throughout this process.”

Former Forza dev says original Motorsport series died in Microsoft's cuts, but Forza Horizon lives on
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/former-forza-dev-says-original-motorsport-series-died-in-microsofts-cuts-but-forza-horizon-lives-on/
First reported by Eurogamer, former Forza content coordinator Fred Russell has stated on Facebook that the Forza Motorsport series has been effectively killed by Microsoft's most recent wave of mass layoffs, but that the Horizon spinoff series will continue. Russell left Forza developer Turn 10 in 2016, but appears to still have inside contacts at the company.
"Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more," Russell wrote on Facebook. "A very sad day for one of the best car racing videogames. I loved my time there." In response to a comment asking if Turn 10 would cease making games altogether, Russell responded that "Forza Horizon will continue at this point."
>> That sucks but, can we really believe someone that still uses Facebook?

Romero Games reportedly met with Microsoft just a day before the publisher pulled funding for the studio, and there was 'no mention' of the decision that put over 100 people out of work
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/romero-games-reportedly-met-with-microsoft-just-a-day-before-the-publisher-pulled-funding-for-the-studio-and-there-was-no-mention-of-the-decision-that-put-over-100-people-out-of-work/
As reported by TheJournal.ie (via VGC), Doom designer John Romero and Wizardry 8 developer Brenda Romero's studio, Romero Games, has fully closed following the withdrawal of publisher funding for its in-development FPS. Former employees have stated that the publisher in question was Microsoft, making Romero Games another casualty of the tech giant's most recent round of cuts and mass layoffs.
We previously reported on Romero Games' statement on the loss of funding, but TheJournal.ie confirmed the closure and shed more light on the circumstances surrounding it. A former employee told TheJournal.ie that Romero Games "had meetings with the publisher the day before this happened, there was no mention of it."