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

[JEMC]

The second part of the Monday gaming news:

Netflix sells the studio behind Cozy Grove back to its original owners, freeing the studio to bring its mobile life sim to other platforms
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/netflix-sells-the-studio-behind-cozy-grove-back-to-its-original-owners-freeing-the-studio-to-bring-its-mobile-life-sim-to-other-platforms/
Spry Fox, the Seattle-based studio behind cozy games like Cozy Grove, got purchased by Netflix back in 2022 when the streaming giant was really trying to get into this whole videogame thing. While the acquisition did bear fruit—an upcoming mobile co-op life sim called Spirit Crossing—Spry Fox is parting ways with its owner after just three years, as reported by Game File.
Netflix is still on publishing duties for Spirit Crossing's mobile release, but it sounds like the now independent Spry Fox is keen to put the game on other platforms too. The Game File article shares a statement from studio co-founder David Edery: "Spirit Crossing was built to connect the world, bring people together and inspire kindness, so being able to bring the game to as many players, across different platforms, is truly the best thing for the game."
>> The fact that they’ll now own WB Games makes me worry about the future of those studios.

The guy responsible for the whole battle engine in Total War since Rome 1 had 'never worked writing game code' when he got the assignment
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/the-guy-responsible-for-the-whole-battle-engine-in-total-war-since-rome-1-had-never-worked-writing-game-code-when-he-got-the-assignment/
Ever felt lost at sea in the first days of a new job? I'll admit it—my first weeks at PC Gamer, I had no idea what I was doing (some might say that's still the case). I was just trying to keep my head above water and not publish anything libellous, or at least nothing both libellous and unfunny.
But my experience doesn't have a patch on Scott Pitkethly, battle architect at Creative Assembly. In a chat with PC Gamer, Pitkethly said his start at the studio—all the way back in 1999—was very much sink-or-swim. First, the studio put him to work on sports games, which he couldn't care less about. Then when he finally got to make a Total War? Well, he had literally never worked writing game code before.

WoW's new player housing feature's been out in early access for less than a week, and players have already made battleships, dollhouses, and large hadron colliders
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wows-new-player-housing-features-been-out-in-early-access-for-less-than-a-week-and-players-have-already-made-battleships-dollhouses-and-large-hadron-colliders/
World of Warcraft's player housing feature has been out for less than a week—well, in early access, as long as you've bought the upcoming Midnight expansion—and I'm delighted to report that players are already going hogwild.

Mysterious missile defense game PVKK named one of our most anticipated games in this year's PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/pvkk-is-our-20th-most-wanted-game-and-this-new-trailer-shows-how-unquestioningly-following-orders-can-lead-to-shooting-down-santa-claus/
Buttons, levers, dials, switches. I want to press them all. The daunting control desk of Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant, or PVKK for short, is shown off impressively in the new teaser revealed to celebrate the game hitting the number 20 spot in this year's PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted.

Remember Postal? In the last 48 hours publisher Running With Scissors has announced a new game, insulted fans, apologized, canceled the game, the studio making it denied wrongdoing, shut down anyway, and we can thank the magic of AI for all of it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/remember-postal-in-the-last-48-hours-publisher-running-with-scissors-has-announced-a-new-game-insulted-fans-apologized-canceled-the-game-the-studio-making-it-denied-wrongdoing-shut-down-anyway-and-we-can-thank-the-magic-of-ai-for-all-of-it/
The Postal series is essentially the videogame equivalent of Uwe Boll's filmography*. They're notoriously awful—the last one we reviewed was Postal 3 in 2012, which earned a dismal 21%—and they keep happening for some reason. A new addition to the lineup was announced on December 3, in fact, called Postal: Bullet Heaven. And then approximately 24 hours later, everything went very sideways.
>> The article expands on the DSOG article from last Friday.

'We ended up flipping a coin': Slay the Spire devs left it up to pure chance whether they'd make a sequel or something else
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/we-ended-up-flipping-a-coin-slay-the-spire-devs-left-it-up-to-pure-chance-whether-theyd-make-a-sequel-or-something-else/
Deckbuilding roguelike Slay the Spire hasn't left the PC Gamer Top 100 since it came out despite inspiring hundreds of imitators, a testament to how precisely it bullseyed assembling a hand of cards so powerful you become a god. Now it seems the game most likely to usurp it is Slay the Spire 2, which is coming in March 2026—though there was apparently a 50% chance that the indie team at Mega Crit Games would never make a sequel.

There are too many hints at a Diablo 4 shadow drop at The Game Awards to convince me paladins won't be playable next week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/there-are-too-many-hints-at-a-diablo-4-shadow-drop-at-the-game-awards-to-convince-me-paladins-wont-be-playable-next-week/
Tin foil hats on, everyone. Several clues point to a new class dropping in Diablo 4 right after next week's Game Awards, where Blizzard is expected to announce the next expansion.
I wouldn't be convinced of this if it weren't for a preview image on the Diablo 4 website that contains something that wouldn't exist otherwise: a new flail weapon type.

Actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, known for his iconic depiction of Mortal Kombat villain Shang Tsung, has died
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/actor-cary-hiroyuki-tagawa-known-for-his-iconic-depiction-of-mortal-kombat-villain-shang-tsung-has-died/
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a prolific character actor known to gamers for his portrayals of Mortal Kombat's evil sorcerer Shang Tsung, has died. A Variety report says Tagawa's death was the result of complications from a stroke he suffered on December 4.
(...)
He also had a 25+ year career in videogames, although he's less well-known for that, possibly because he appeared in a grand total of four games over that span. His first, according to Mobygames, was in the 1997 FMV joint Soldier Boyz—the resolution is terrible but you can get a look at it on YouTube—after which came appearances in Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu, World of Warcraft: Legion, and Mortal Kombat 11, in which he reprised his famous film role.

Todd Howard says AI can't replace human 'creative intention,' but it's part of Bethesda's 'toolset for how we build our worlds or check things'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/todd-howard-says-ai-cant-replace-human-creative-intention-but-its-part-of-bethesdas-toolset-for-how-we-build-our-worlds-or-check-things/
During a recent event for the second season of the Fallout TV show that premiers later this month, Bethesda's Todd Howard joined the press junket fray to talk about the lasting influence of New Vegas, skipping the "war never changes" refrain, and—in an interview with Eurogamer—the use of AI in game development.

Cities: Skylines 2 finally gets its asset editor in a parting gift from the series' original developers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/cities-skylines-2-finally-gets-its-asset-editor-in-a-parting-gift-from-the-series-original-developers/
It's been a rough ride for Cities: Skylines 2 over the last two years, with the sequel's premature launch in 2023 leading to severe technical issues and lengthy delays to planned future updates. But the troubled city-builder has received some significant TLC lately. November's bike patch brought bicycles, scooters and associated infrastructure to player-created metropolises, and now, developer Colossal Order has finally added its hotly anticipated asset editor too.

Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert isn't interested in returning to making 2D adventure games: 'When we're all dead, it probably won't be the kind of thing that survives'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/monkey-island-creator-ron-gilbert-isnt-interested-in-returning-to-making-2d-adventure-games-when-were-all-dead-it-probably-wont-be-the-kind-of-thing-that-survives/
Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert isn't interested in making another 2D adventure game, despite having brought the series back in precisely that form only a few years ago.
Speaking to Ars Technica, Gilbert compared "use verb or noun"- style adventure games to black and white silent movies, expressing that making games like that now would feel similarly dated.

Rust's hotly anticipated naval update is delayed into 2026: 'We took on too much'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/rusts-hotly-anticipated-naval-update-is-delayed-into-2026-we-took-on-too-much/
Facepunch's survival sim Rust has had a busy 2025, adding its medieval-themed primitive mode at the start of the year, introducing a massive jungle biome in March, and experimenting with radical changes to its progression systems and meta through the summer and autumn. But the biggest planned patch of 2025 was the naval update, which aims to expand Rust's survivalist battles to the oceans, letting players build their own ships and exchange cannon blasts in seaborne conflicts.
But players hoping to get their pirate on in Rust will have to keep their powder dry a while longer, because the naval update has been delayed.

Tom Morello worked on a song for Final Fantasy 14's latest raid tier after finding out the game's composer was a huge Rage Against the Machine fan
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/tom-morello-worked-on-a-song-for-final-fantasy-14s-latest-raid-tier-after-finding-out-the-games-composer-was-a-huge-rage-against-the-machine-fan/
What do critically acclaimed MMO Final Fantasy 14 and the renegades of funk, Rage Against the Machine, have in common? Probably not much before this week, but now they both contain a shared ingredient: legendary guitarist Tom Morello. Morello was featured on the game's official X account, where he announced a collaboration between him, the game's composers, and metalcore band Beartooth.

Arc Raiders finally lifts the curtain on its Expedition rewards, showing us what players can expect to get for retiring and prestiging their Raiders later this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-finally-lifts-the-curtain-on-its-expedition-rewards-showing-us-what-players-can-expect-to-get-for-retiring-and-prestiging-their-raiders-later-this-month/
In a new blog post, Embark Studios has outlined what players can expect from the Expedition, a feature that will let you wipe your progress and start a new character with special rewards and new bonuses based on your previous character's stash value. You can choose whether or not to opt in to the Expedition in a window that will be open from December 17-22.

Players are piling in to the Guild Wars remaster, and it's giving the servers trouble: 'Demand for Guild Wars Reforged blew past our projections'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/players-are-piling-in-to-the-guild-wars-remaster-and-its-giving-the-servers-trouble-demand-for-guild-wars-reforged-blew-past-our-projections/
There's still nothing quite like the original Guild Wars. It came out before World of Warcraft had crystallized the face of the modern MMORPG, and was as inspired by Magic: The Gathering as it was by Everquest or Ultima. It turned out as more of a co-op ARPG with shared town hubs, dual-class deckbuilding, and a cutscene-driven narrative—and that unique confluence of inspirations may be why it's still popular today. So popular, in fact, that it's even a surprise to developer ArenaNet.