Games Journalism 2023 - Buy the battlepass for article unlocks!

Hasbro’s Wizards of the Coast cancels 5 unannounced videogames.

Wizards of the Coast is still “committed to using digital games,” a spokesman said in a statement to Bloomberg, adding that the company has “made some changes to our long-term portfolio to focus on games which are strategically aligned with developing our existing brands and those which show promise in expanding or engaging our audience in new ways.”

But the reorganization will land hard for several independent studios such as Boston-based Otherside Entertainment and Bellevue, Washington-based Hidden Path Entertainment, both of which were working on games for Wizards of the Coast.

The company also cancelled an internal project code-named Jabberwocky and two other external games that were early in development.

Fewer than 15 people at Wizards of the Coast will lose their jobs due to the shift and will be given a chance to apply to new roles within the company, the spokesman said.

Two of the biggest outlets in games media are the latest to face layoffs. A number of editorial staff across both Giant Bomb and GameSpot revealed they’d been let go on Thursday, just months after the sites were purchased by the Fandom wiki network.

While it’s not clear what the extent of the cuts are at the moment, close to half a dozen editors, video producers, and on-air talent shared tweets confirming they were part of the layoffs. Previously owned by Viacom CBS, Giant Bomb and GameSpot were both sold to Red Ventures in 2020, which then turned around and sold them again to Fandom last October.

https://twitter.com/giantbomb/status/1616158360750915600

Is there any gaming press outlet that’s not in the red?

That depends on whether or not you count TheScreamyIrishman’s Games & Redpill Rants YT channel or BoobsMcHottub’s Twitch channel as gaming press outlets!

Jason and Jess out, at least.

By no means do I assume that those companies doing layoffs are in the red. Red Ventures previously, and now Fandom, are run by vulturous private equity funds which often do extremely stupid shit which wreck pretty successful media companies

I think Linus Tech Tips, which I can’t stand personally, is profitable.

IGN “reporting” on forum moderation at Resetera.

I knew IGN was skimming QT3 for article ideas!

The Washington Post imposed more layoffs on Tuesday just a week after owner Jeff Bezos visited its Washington D.C. office. Among the ritual sacrifices will be Launcher, the newspaper’s burgeoning gaming section, which routinely broke important news stories, landed big interviews, and asked the tough questions.

Launcher had only just turned three years old last fall and was one of the few attempts by a mainstream media outlet to tackle the unwieldy world of video games in a way that wasn’t condescending or misinformed. Kotaku understands that some of its team will be reassigned to other parts of The Washington Post while the others will be laid off. Due to their union contracts, those affected will still remain employed until March 31.

Launcher? I didn’t even know this was a thing.

I didn’t really go to the WaPo for gaming news and also was never aware of the name, but they did have a few worthwhile features such as their coverage of the development of Diablo 4.

IGN explains why so many games score a 7.

This, and they still only gave a 5.9 to Alien Isolation.

An OpEd that’s very timid about making its point. That Cinematic RPGs are on the way out and complex TableTop style RPGs are coming back maybe? I don’t know, it meanders so much, I’m not sure if that’s what he’s really trying to get at.

Great headline. The story made me laugh too.

As a follow up of sorts to that article, PC Gamer assembled some of the best in the business of Western RPGs to discuss the state of the genre. I haven’t listened to it yet so I can’t personally vouch for it, but Josh Sawyer and Paweł Sasko!

Writing seemed to be on the wall.for a long time, but still a bummer. I hope they manage to find their feet soon, and hopefully as a team.