Beware of tomorrow. It is the worst day to be a reader, a games journalist, or anyone that works on the internet in general. April Fools Day is the day games sites think they are funny and developers and publishers think they are even funnier. Guess what, if you hear breaking news tomorrow, it is probably fake. However, that is not the deal for today, all of the bad news I have is true. Layoffs at two THQ studios and closures at Sony Online Entertainment caught many headlines today.
I will blast off with the happiest of the news, and that is a new Spider-Man game will be out before 2012 on probably every console that exists, both mobile and home alike. The name of the game is Spider-Man: Edge of Time, and it will contain both classic Spidey, and the 2099 variation. The narrative will shift back and forth between the two in completely separate settings. While this may excite people, I just want open worlds with web-swinging.
Source: Giant Bomb
The Agency has finally been canceled. No, not canceled like people thought last time, actually canceled. Announced at D.I.C.E. In 2007, The Agency had a troubled development. The last known release date for the game was late 2011, but of course it was supposed to be out in 2010 before that. The reason for the canceling of the game is Sony is shuttering SOE studios in Tucson, Seattle and Denver claiming it was a “strategic decision to reduce costs and streamline its global workforce.” No one wants to see studios close, but C.R.E.A.M., and if you aren’t making money, you aren’t going to exist.
Source: Joystiq
Remember when GameStop said they weren’t going to worry about the digital sales as there wasn’t going to be an addressable market until 2014? Well, in early 2010 they started distributing digital games on their site. Then they bought Kongretate last July, so they obviously knew digital was going somewhere. The episode has come to a close today with their purchase of the digital platform, Impulse. Impulse is not the heavy hitter that Valve is with Steam, but they do their fair share in the digital market and this purchase really shows GameStop’s intentions (and that they are eating their words).
Source: Escapist
More sad news to finish us off: THQ had to drop over 30 employees from Kaos Studios and Volition Inc. Much like Sony, THQ had a statement, “We must adjust our workforce to fit the studio’s current needs, which is a relatively common occurrence in the game development industry.” This falls in line with Kaos employees’ worries that the studio may move to Toronto after Homefront is released. Even though Homefront sold over one million copies, it appears it wasn’t enough to feed all of the mouths hungry mouths at Kaos.
Source: Gamasutra
PSA: Minecraft beta patch 1.4 hit the net today, adding in wolves amongst other things. If you haven’t ponied up yet, we recommend you do so now.
Source: Mojang
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