Back Next Week
Some updates, some game impressions, some news and a podcast
My kids have spring break this week, which means Game File is mostly on break, too. Look for new editions starting the week of April 6.
My big goal for April is to dig myself out of a backlog of interviews going back to late 2025. With that, I should soon be able to show you a cool “5D” game, tell you a story about an odd piece of mail that was accidentally sent to a game studio, share some insights about the state of the global game development talent pool, and a few other pieces tied to recent interviews.
Now that I think about it, it’s quite fitting that I spend a few hours this past weekend playing through A Game About Digging A Hole.
The game what it sounds like. I liked it, but, without trying to be clever, I will say I found the game a little shallow. No dinosaur bones to dig up? No hidden cities to unearth? Just lots of rocks to mine and an end-game that triggers at 100 meters below the surface? It was basically a joke game and developer DoubleBee was probably wise to not stretch things out.
Also a bit shallow was the demo for Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, which my daughter, as expected, loved but also finished really quickly. Living the Dream is a life simulation game from Nintendo. Players create virtual people (Miis; remember them?), give them some personality traits and then watch them interact with each other. The demo lets you make just three Miis, so my daughter created herself, Avatar the Last Airbender bad-boy Prince Zuko and a cheerleader named Gabby. She’s also taught them all how to talk about “fire-bending.”
Once you’ve made your three Miis and unlocked two shops, the Miis quickly run inside and go into a loop hyping the retail version of the game…
I told my daughter that the game is coming out in April. She of course thought this meant April 1. Alas, April 16!
I also told her I had review code for a game about an octopus. She was far less interested in that.
Item 2: In brief…
🚫 Lots of layoffs/closures, unfortunately: 124 roles cut at Embracer-owned Eidos Montreal, along with the exit of studio head David Anfossi; cuts at Polyarc, developers of the acclaimed Moss VR games, after failing to secure funding for a new project; Wanderstop studio Ivy Road closed after failing to land funding for their next game.
Here’s a timely quote that keeps making the rounds, from industry veteran Brenda Romero to GamesIndustry.biz: "I feel like the industry's in a really horrible place… I mean, we were there in the 80s for the crash, and this is definitely crashier. There are so few people that have not been affected, or their partner's affected, or they're worried about being affected. It's a really difficult time right now.”
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has apologized for its handling of the layoff of a programmer who has terminal brain cancer and was left without life insurance. Sweeney says Epic is now “in contact with the family and will solve the insurance for them,” Kotaku reports.
🎮 Krafton has shut down PUBG Blindspot, a top-down tactical spin-off of its popular battle royale game, just 53 days after its early access launch, IGN reports.
As with Highguard, which was pulled 45 days after launch, games launched in 2026 are getting a very short period of time to prove themselves.
🤔 Nexon, publisher of MapleStory and Arc Raiders, told investors that it will be taking “fewer bets” but putting “more conviction behind each,” as part of a capital markets presentation to investors today.
This comes as the company says it will miss its 2027 earnings target but believes it can build on the Arc Raiders success to strengthen its footing in the west.
Regarding any future mergers and acquisitions, newly elevated executive chairman Patrick Soderlund, whose own Embark Studios was acquired by Nexon several years back, said: “Every deal we evaluate runs through a filter: will this result in a game or portfolio of games? Can the game build a loyal player community that lasts for years. Will the leadership team stay on. And it has to meet our margin requirements. If it doesn’t pass through those filters, we walk.”
🚨WARNING: Wednesday is April Fools Day, so be highly skeptical of any surprising gaming news that you come across.
If it seems too good/weird to be true… it probably is.
Item 3: The week ahead
Tuesday, April 7
Musical role-playing game People of Note (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) is released.
Bethesda’s once-Xbox/PC-exclusive Starfield (PS5) gets a PlayStation port and some updates.
Wednesday, April 8
Visually intense side-scroller ChainStaff (PC, console) and Pokémon Champions (Switch, coming later to mobile) are released.
Item 4: An interview with me
Earlier this month, I was interviewed by Kalie Moore for the Naavik Gaming Podcast. We talked plenty about games reporting and my transition from exiting Axios to launching the reader-supported Game File newsletter that you’re reading right now.
It was a fun chat that you can watch above or listen via Apple, Spotify, etc.
Congrats on the Podcast. Psyched to listen.
Bummed about the continued layoffs. Nobody knows how to compete with so much legacy media out there, especially for these larger companies. It's an F'n mess.