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Sean Murray just crushed my hopes of playing Light No Fire anytime soon by describing the dev team as 'tiny' and working 'in the background' at Hello Games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/sean-murray-just-crushed-my-hopes-of-playing-light-no-fire-anytime-soon-by-by-describing-the-dev-team-as-tiny-and-working-in-the-background-at-hello-games/
(...)
But there's another game's labor we want to hear about, right? In the midst of celebrating the year's accomplishments in No Man's Sky, Sean Murray also mentioned the other project in the works over at Hello Games: the planet-sized open world sandbox of Light No Fire.
"In the background, another tiny team at Hello is continuing at pace on our next Labor of Love, Light No Fire, and we know a lot of you are keen to hear more," Murray said on Steam.
Unfortunately, he declined to let us hear more. "For now, it suffices to say that I am really pleased with the progress we are making and I think it’s going to be something really special," Murray said.

Dispatch's original script would've let you pick 3 heroes like 'starter Pokémon', snagging Invisigal, Waterboy, or Mr Whiskey to pull under your wing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/dispatchs-original-script-wouldve-let-you-pick-3-heroes-like-starter-pokemon-snagging-invisigal-waterboy-or-mr-whiskey-to-pull-under-your-wing/
Dispatch's story focuses heavily around your relationship—platonic or otherwise—with Invisigal, the SDN's resident burnout. At least, before Robert Robertson III arrives on-scene; Whether or not you support her has a huge impact on the story, making for a nicely focused arc in AdHoc's debut game. However, things could've been very different.
That's per a Polygon interview with narrative director Pierre Shorette, who told the site: "In the very original script, you basically picked your starter Pokémon. You didn't have a team. You showed up and [your boss] is like 'pick someone you want to mentor.'"

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 didn't sell as well as Paradox expected, and the publisher is taking the blame: 'The responsibility lies fully with us'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-didnt-sell-as-well-as-paradox-expected-and-the-publisher-is-taking-the-blame-the-responsibility-lies-fully-with-us/
The saga of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is coming to a close. After a decade of development, a midpoint studio switch and some last-minute drama surrounding launch DLC, it all culminated in disappointment.
"We've had high expectations for a long time, since we saw that it was a good game with a strong IP in a genre with a broad appeal," said Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester. "A month after release we can sadly see that sales do not match our projections."

Obsidian says The Outer Worlds 2 isn't a deliberate critique of capitalism, which is even more ridiculous than the time Fallout's co-creator said that isn't either
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/obsidian-says-the-outer-worlds-2-isnt-a-deliberate-critique-of-capitalism-which-is-even-more-ridiculous-than-the-time-fallouts-co-creator-said-that-isnt-either/
The Outer Worlds games take place in an absurd dystopia: a slice of the universe dominated by corporations and the perverse, dehumanising logic that comes with making profit your god. Its people are cogs in a great, blood-greased machine overseen by CEOs, executives, and corpulent moneymen.
But it's not about capitalism.
Not intentionally, anyway. So says TOW2 director Brandon Adler in a chat with the My Perfect Console podcast (via GamesRadar). "We're not going out of our way and saying 'Let's do a critique of capitalism as we currently see it,'" said Adler. "In general, what we like to do is—especially in The Outer Worlds—is a critique on the power structures… more of the people in power and how they abuse the people that don't have that power."

'Every moment flawed and messy because we are, also': Indie developer rallies against big studios' increasingly flippant remarks about generative AI
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rhythm/every-moment-flawed-and-messy-because-we-are-also-indie-developer-rallies-against-big-studios-increasingly-flippant-remarks-about-generative-ai/
D-Cell Games—the developer behind the genuinely fantastic rhythm game Unbeatable—has put out a mighty strong statement as it rallies against big studio figureheads becoming increasingly blunt about integrating generative AI into game development: from Krafton's declaration that it was pivoting to become an "AI-first" company, to Tim Sweeney clowning on Steam's AI disclosure requirements, to Nexon's CEO casually claiming that everyone was using it now.
That last one in particular is what got D-Cell Games riled up, responding to the original news in a Bluesky post with the statement: "Absolutely everything in Unbeatable was created by human beings without any generative assistance. Every frame drawn, every word written, every model sculpted, every line of code typed, every song sung with a real voice, every guitar played with a real hand, every moment flawed and messy because we are, also."

Schedule 1 creator had a backup plan if Steam rejected it—pack up the product, don a farmer's hat, and 'pivot it to be a farming game' like Stardew Valley
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/schedule-1-creator-had-a-backup-plan-if-steam-rejected-it-pack-up-the-product-don-a-farmers-hat-and-pivot-it-to-be-a-farming-game-like-stardew-valley/
Schedule 1 was one of 2025's freshly-cooked batches of surprise hits. Y'know, the kind that comes out of basically nowhere and lands square in the top sellers list—and while it was a year marked with these success stories, it was also the year that saw Steam starting to put the kibosh on adult-themed games. Which, one might worry, could eventually include drugs.
As a matter of fact, its creator Tyler tells our friends over at GamesRadar that this was enough of a concern to develop a backup plan in case Steam didn't accept the game to its platform: "Early during development, I had a plan where, if Steam wouldn't take it for whatever reason, I could just pivot it to be a farming game. Just strip all the drug stuff out, make it a farming game—but thankfully, it was all right."

Original Yakuza 0's getting delisted from Steam on December 8, but you can tuck away a GOG copy for 45% off right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/original-yakuza-0s-getting-delisted-from-steam-on-december-8-but-you-can-tuck-away-a-gog-copy-for-45-percent-off-right-now/
You ask me (which, by clicking on this article, you did), Yakuza 0 is one of the best games I ever played. It's so good—such a pitch-perfect blend of high drama and high camp, and with perhaps the most engrossing minigame known to man packed in—that I kind of struggle to pick up other Yakuza games. I feel like I've already spent 100+ hours with the best one.
If you're one of the unlucky few who's yet to pick the game up, you may want to get on that. Sega's announced that, when Yakuza 0's spruced-up Director's Cut releases on December 8, the original version's getting delisted.