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JEMC on 24 October 2025
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Friday gaming news, part number two:

Some of The Sims 4's biggest content creators have just stepped down from EA's creator network in the wake of the $55B Saudi-backed buyout: 'This situation is a nightmare for our community'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-sims/some-of-the-sims-4s-biggest-content-creators-have-just-stepped-down-from-eas-creator-network-in-the-wake-of-the-usd55b-saudi-backed-buyout-this-situation-is-a-nightmare-for-our-community/
Some of the biggest content creators for The Sims 4 have announced their departure from the EA Creator Network in the wake of the company's $55 billion Saudi-backed buyout.
James Turner, Jesse 'Plumbella' McNamara, and Kayla 'lilsimsie' Sims took to their respective YouTube accounts to reveal that they had requested to leave the programme—which offers its members access to games, events, and opportunities to work alongside development teams for each content creator's relevant game—specifically highlighting the buyout as the reason.

Krafton is now an 'AI-first company,' will spend $70 million on a GPU cluster to 'serve as the foundation for accelerating the implementation of agentic AI'
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/krafton-is-now-an-ai-first-company-will-spend-usd70-million-on-a-gpu-cluster-to-serve-as-the-foundation-for-accelerating-the-implementation-of-agentic-ai/
Earlier this week, Pocketpair Publishing boss John Buckley said his company isn't interesting in handling games built with generative AI: "If you're big on AI stuff or your game is Web3 or uses NFTs, there are lots of publishers out there [who will], but we're not the right partner for that." One of those partners, it seems, is PUBG maker Krafton, which announced today that it is transforming into an "'AI-first' company."

AI is 'a combination of metadata with a parlor trick,' Take-Two boss says: 'A great thing' for business, but it's not creative and never will be
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/ai-is-a-combination-of-metadata-with-a-parlor-trick-take-two-boss-says-a-great-thing-for-business-but-its-not-creative-and-never-will-be/
Take-Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick has never been shy about sharing his thoughts on artificial intelligence, and he's been pretty consistent about it over the years, too. While some game industry CEOs see the rise of AI as an imminent revolution in revenue-generation (and yeah, sure, creativity and whatnot), Zelnick has always been a bit cooler on it: "Genius is the domain of human beings," he said in May 2023, "and I believe will stay that way."
And so he was today, speaking at the Paley International Council Summit in Menlo Park, California, where he said that the use of AI will "probably be able to create a bunch of efficiency" for game studios, but won't produce any hit games because it can't actually be creative.

Fallout 4 is getting the Skyrim treatment with a 10th anniversary edition that includes all the expansions and a mountain of Creation content
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fallout-4-is-getting-the-skyrim-treatment-with-a-10th-anniversary-edition-that-includes-all-the-expansions-and-a-mountain-of-creation-content/
Fallout 5 was nowhere to be seen during today's Fallout Day broadcast, but Bethesda did unveil some sort-of-newish Fallout in the form of the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition and the Fallout: New Vegas 15th Anniversary Bundle, a big-box package that comes complete with a big ol' Securitron statue.
I'm going to go with the New Vegas package first, because I'm a sucker for big boxes and game statues: It does indeed come in a big box, and also carries a big price tag of $155, plus whatever shipping costs are involved.
(…)
My personal appreciation for swag aside, the Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition is probably the bigger deal. It too includes the base game and six official add-ons—Automatron, Far Harbor, Nuka-World, and three Workshop expansions—and also features more than 150 Creation Club items, and a new in-game Creations menu that Bethesda says will make it "easier than ever to discover, download and enjoy content from professional developers and passionate enthusiasts alike."
>> The announcement prompted a reaction from Danny Trejo on Instagram asking for a New Vegas remaster that has been quite popular (link).

After making 1 million sales, Escape From Duckov makes eating poop less nutritious
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/after-making-1-million-sales-escape-from-duckov-makes-eating-s-worse/
Duck-themed singleplayer extraction shooter Escape From Duckov is currently one of the biggest games on Steam—particularly in China, where the majority of its over 1 million sales and Overwhelmingly Positive reviews originate. While it's drawing a comparatively smaller crowd of English-speaking players, the anglophone reception has been just as positive. Duckov's got a surprising amount of depth under that parody appearance.
Duckov developer Team Soda, a studio owned by China's Bilibili media platform, isn't resting easy on its laurels: Less than 24 hours after announcing its 1 million sales milestone, Team Soda has pushed a new update with a smattering of new features, balance adjustments, and bugfixes.

After 12 years of avoiding it, Path of Exile is taking another swing at an old mechanic for its new expansion: 'This one just kinda felt right'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/after-9-years-of-avoiding-it-path-of-exile-is-taking-another-swing-at-an-old-mechanic-for-its-new-expansion-this-one-just-kinda-felt-right/
In the 12 years Path of Exile has been on this Earth, it's never gone back to an old system and remade it. Game director Mark Roberts tells PC Gamer that there's a few reasons for that, but mostly it's a fear that not making something fresh—as Grinding Gear Games has always done—might disappoint its loyal players.
But this time it "just kind of felt right," Roberts says. In the Keepers of the Flame expansion, which arrives on October 31, PoE will return to Breach, a nine-year-old mechanic that is basically about killing monsters in a circle until time runs out.
>> Rogers is also fairly certain that the game to leave Early Access next year (link).

The bouncing DVD logo screensaver is a Balatro now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/the-bouncing-dvd-logo-screensaver-is-a-balatro-now/
Provided enough time, all things will inevitably become a roguelike. It is the way of things, a truth of the universal mathematics revealed in countless Steam listings. Everything inevitably becomes Balatro. Slot machines are a Balatro. Mahjong is a Balatro. Chess is a Balatro.
And now, thanks to a prototype game from solo developer BadIdeasDigital, the bouncing DVD logo screensaver of our youth is a Balatro, too.

Hades 2's first post-launch update attempts to fix the 'true ending' that nobody really liked
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/hades-2s-first-post-launch-update-attempts-to-fix-the-true-ending-that-nobody-really-liked/
An unfortunate consequence of releasing your story-heavy game in early access is the amount of pressure on its final release to satisfy everyone who's been following along. That's the trouble Hades 2 ran into when it hit 1.0 earlier this month.
As people brought over their progress and finished the game for its "true ending", the criticisms started stacking up. The Hades Reddit was flooded with threads discussing problems with how the story wraps up, so much so that the moderators asked users to only use neutral statements about it in their thread titles to avoid any hint of spoilers for those who hadn't seen it yet.
(…)
The negative reactions must've been strong enough to prompt developer Supergiant Games to start working on a way to contextualize—not change—the ending. In its first patch since its release, Hades 2 will get "true ending enhancements" that add new events that lead up to it and a few following it.

Fatshark celebrates 10 years of 'Tide, reveals Darktide is getting another new class and Vermintide 2 a new map
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/fatshark-celebrates-10-years-of-tide-reveals-darktide-is-getting-another-new-class-and-vermintide-2-a-new-map/
It's been a full decade since Fatshark released Vermintide, beginning a journey through the Warhammer worlds that would continue in Vermintide 2 and Darktide. As the stats-laden video above reveals, in that time 8.2 million characters have been killed by the humble skavenslave. It's always the one you least expect.
Both Darktide and Vermintide 2 are still being supported, with Darktide's Stolen Rations event running right now. The big news for Darktide is that it's getting another new class hot on the heels of the Arbitrator, but we won't know what it is until the reveal on November 11. (...)
Vermintide 2, meanwhile, is getting another free map on November 20 called Return to the Reik. Inspired by the original game's Death on the Reik DLC, it'll involve messing about on boats, hopping from deck to deck as we travel down the river Reik. (...)

Latest CS2 patch has skin collectors in meltdown over a supposed $2bn in losses, with others saying 'this is the best update ever', but maybe Valve is just doing some course-correction and doesn't care
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/valves-latest-counter-strike-2-update-flashbangs-entire-skins-market-headshots-speculators-and-clutch-defuses-inflationary-market-prices/
CS2's latest update has certainly put the cat among the pigeons, and feathers are flying. The innocuous-sounding patch "extended functionality of the 'Trade Up Contract' to allow exchanging five items of Covert quality as follows: five StatTrak Covert items can be exchanged for one StatTrak Knife from a collection of one of the items provided, five regular Covert items can be exchanged for one regular Knife item or one regular Gloves item from a collection of one of the items provided."

The secret hero of Battlefield 6's next update is a jeep that doesn't suck
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-secret-hero-of-battlefield-6s-next-update-is-a-jeep-that-doesnt-suck/
One of the great injustices of Battlefield 6 is that the basic transport jeep is a useless piece of garbage. With four seats, one turret gunner, and absolutely zero protection from bullets or mines, taking a ride in Battlefield 6's sole transport car is like announcing to the entire server that five free kills are vroomin' their way soon.
(...)
The LGT is a failure. The Traverser Mark 2, a new armored transport truck arriving in Battlefield 6 Season 1, is its redemption. I took the Traverser for a handful of test drives during a preview session on the upcoming maps Eastwood and Blackwell Fields, and much like the maps themselves, I came away unable to imagine Battlefield 6 without it.
>> And players keep complaining about the CoD-like mobility (link).

Xbox boss Phil Spencer says 'nurturing and protecting creative teams that want to go take risks' is the priority, admits 'we don't always succeed at that'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/xbox-boss-phil-spencer-says-nurturing-and-protecting-creative-teams-that-want-to-go-take-risks-is-the-priority-admits-we-dont-always-succeed-at-that/
Speaking alongside Double Fine founder Tim Schafer at the Paley International Council Summit on Thursday, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer emphasized the value of creative risk-taking to a small crowd of film, TV, and online media bigwigs.
"The creativity of the teams is, in my mind, the most important thing and the thing that we need to protect and foster," Spencer said during the moderated discussion.
>> Hard to do that when you’re pursuing an unicorn in the form of a 30% profit margin (link).

And last, but not least, the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

+Steam

That’s all folks! Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.



Please excuse my bad English.

Former gaming PC: i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Current gaming PC: R5-7600, 32GB RAM 6000MT/s (CL30) and a RX 9060XT 16GB

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.