You might remember Larian CEO and Baldur's Gate 3 director Swen Vincke giving a short speech while accepting the Game of the Year Award for BG3. Now he's taken a second pass online, and delivered a moving statement on behalf of everyone behind the game.

This year at The Game Awards speeches were pretty time-crunched, and when Vincke initially spoke after Baldur's Gate 3 won Game of the Yeah, he was staring at a massive, blinking countdown. Standing in a suit of armor, he still managed to deliver some important "thank you"s , but if the speech felt rushed, it was. In a lengthy thread, Vincke expanded on some of his main points from The Game Awards and touched on some of the major issues affecting the industry right now.

The new speech begins with a light acknowledgement of what went wrong with the original version. “While 30 seconds is a bit short," Vincke wrote, "there’s nothing like the game awards and it’s an incredible achievement.” 

Vincke went on to say that the armor he wore the ceremony was he way of celebrating how much the Baldur’s Gate 3 community has supported the game and Larian itself. He pointed out that over 2,000 people helped make the game a reality before giving a special shout out to some typically unsung teams. “Team QA, team localisation, team customer support, team operations, team publishing, team play testers, and every other developer at Larian, BG3 wouldn’t exist without you and you all deserve to be very proud of this.”

Like he did during his speech at the award ceremony, Vincke dedicated the award to friends and family members who passed away during the game’s development, specifically lead cinematic animator Jim Southworth.

While thanking Wizards of the Coast and the Dungeons & Dragons team for letting Larian chart their own course in that world, Vincke also acknowledged another sad loss: the 1,100 people laid off at Hasbro. “I’m really sorry to hear so many of you were let go. It’s a sad thing to realize that of the people who were in the original meeting room, there’s almost nobody left.”

Vincke ended his speech with a look at the video game industry as a whole. He made a moving recognition that games are art, and the people who develop games do so out of deep passion.

“They don’t care that much about the money made beyond it being the fuel they need to create new and better games. It’s worth reminding everyone that fuel is but a means, not a goal. Whereto and how we journey are what matter and what we remember.” Hopefully that’s a reminder people hold onto. 

Oh, and almost as an afterthought, Vincke got to actually announce that Baldur’s Gate 3 is on Xbox at the end of this speech. 

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Sinister Statues is the name of a new mod for Elden Ring that uses a page from the Doctor Who playbook to make combat in the game more terrifying than ever. 

The mod essentially turns every enemy into a Weeping Angel by making them entirely immobile whenever they’re observed. From basic mobs to major bosses, everyone is frozen in place as long as you’re looking at them. Sounds like it would make the game a lot easier, right?

Well, to be fair, it probably does. In a video showing off the mod, its creator acknowledges that this hasn’t been designed for balance and is really just meant to provide a brand new way to experience the game. But that’s not to say a Sinister Statues playthrough is as easy as walking backward while locking eyes with an enemy. 

Don't blink

The mod also adds a new blinking mechanic to the game, which forces you to approach combat in a new way. Every so often your character will blink, turning the screen black and letting enemies swarm you. The lower your health, the longer a single blink takes. You can try to resist blinking by holding down the interact button, but that won’t last forever. Eventually your screen will go dark, and you’d better be far away from any enemies when that happens. 

The mod is designed to work alongside almost any other Elden Ring mod. If you want to play in first person, with randomized items, or with any other combination of add-ons, it should work. The only real restriction is that it doesn’t currently function with multiplayer mods. 

This is great news for anyone looking to spice up their next playthrough. We’re all still desperately waiting for more news of Shadow of the Erdtree, the upcoming Elden Ring DLC. FromSoftware hasn’t given us a release date yet, but the modding community keeps providing reasons to come back to Elden Ring in the meantime. 

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Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.0 update was supposed to be the last major addition to the game. But now CD Projekt Red is adding Update 2.1 to Cyberpunk, with some features that fans have been asking for since the game was first released. 

In a REDstream event hosted on Twitch, quest director Paweł Sasko and producer Monika Janowska laid out some of the changes that are coming in Cyberpunk Update 2.1 on December 5, many of which seem to be inspired by the most popular Cyberpunk mods. 

The most notable addition to the game is a functional metro system that includes five different fully functional metro lines spanning the entire city. The Night City Area Rapid Transit System provides functional fast travel in addition to some interesting role-playing options. Players can enjoy the view of the city while riding NCART, and the team also hinted at NPC interactions and other surprises hidden within the system.

On the Night City airwaves

Another role-playing focused feature coming to the game is the Radioport that lets players wander the city while listening to their favorite station. The Port will automatically turn off during conversations and moments when the game’s score comes to the forefront, but it’ll flip back on when players return to exploration. 

Update 2.1 is also going to add some gameplay elements centered on vehicles. The game’s car races will now be replayable opportunities to earn eddies and Autofixer discounters. Motorcycles are also getting a minor overhaul. Five new bikes are being added, and players will now be able to use throwing weapons and perform various tricks while driving. Along with that, Sasko hinted at new car chases that can emerge from interactions with various Night City gangs in the base game. 

I Really Want to Stay at Your House

Those seem to be the biggest additions, but they aren’t the only ones. The team hinted at options to hang out with characters you've romanced, and one gameplay clip revealed a Judy-centric mission called "I Really Want to Stay at Your House" in the HUD. Bosses have apparently been reworked, and the team specifically pointed out that Adam Smasher has been made stronger, will respond to player builds, and has his signature Sandevistan from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

The Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.1 will also support DualSense controllers on PC and will offer new accessibility features, including colorblind modes, font size options, and some HUD customization. 

In the stream, the team said that even more changes will be found in the upcoming patch notes and the game itself when Update 2.1 releases alongside the Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition on December 5. 

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Cyberpunk 2077 keeps adding reasons to get lost in Night City. Now that everyone’s had time to settle in with 2.0 and Phantom Liberty, a new Update 2.1 is going to add some new gameplay elements to Cyberpunk 2077 next week. 

Today CD Projekt Red announced that the free Update 2.1 for Cyberpunk 2077 will drop on Dec. 5, to align with the release of the Ultimate Edition on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Ahead of the release, CDPR is hosting a REDstreams event on Twitch at 10a.m. EST on Dec. 1. The stream will feature members of the Cyberpunk 2077 team, including quest director Paweł Sasko and producer Monika Janowska, talking about new features coming to the game. In its event listing on Steam, the company wrote, “We have a few nice surprises in this patch so don’t miss it!”

It’s hard to say exactly what features we can expect to see in the update. Cyberpunk 2077 just recently got a slew of new content and features. The 2.0 update overhauled the game’s skill trees, changed police interactions, and added vehicle combat, and Phantom Liberty added a new district and story line.

CDPR has previously stated those were “the last big updates” for the game, so whatever is coming probably won’t be too earth-shattering. Then again, adding onto the game is a great way to build excitement for the Ultimate Edition and future Cyberpunk projects like the live-action series and the inevitable sequel. Maybe we’ll luck out and those surprises will be bigger than we think.

We'll learn more when Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.1 drops on December 5.

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After developing social media apps like TikTok, ByteDance made a big push into the gaming market with its Nuverse brand. Now the company may be reversing course. 

Nuverse is a developer behind titles like Marvel Snap, One Piece: The Voyage, and Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade. According to a report from Reuters, ByteDance is scaling back Nuverse and looking to sell off Moonton Technology, its other development brand. 

“We regularly review our businesses and make adjustments to center on long-term strategic growth areas,” a ByteDance spokesperson told Reuters. “Following a recent review, we've made the difficult decision to restructure our gaming business.”

The move could affect hundreds of people working for Nuverse and Moonton Technology, as ByteDance looks to be pivoting away from the gaming industry entirely. 

The news came as a surprise for Nuverse employees, per Reuters, who learned about the restructuring with all of us on Nov. 27, but ByteDance seemed to start moving in this direction earlier this month. On November 9 TechCrunch reported that the company had laid off hundreds working on Pico, its brand focused on VR development. According to the report, this will not affect casual titles from its publisher Ohayoo and the games that are playable inside of TikTok.

Marvel Snap goes on 

Marvel Snap is one of the genuine successes that have come out of Nuverse in recent years. In the wake of the Reuters report, the official Marvel Snap account on X shared a tweet saying the game “will continue to operate and flourish in the future” despite any changes happening at Nuverse. How that will exactly play out remains to be seen. 

Marvel Snap was our mobile game of the year in 2022, and it’s definitely grown a healthy fanbase since then. The game made $50 million in its first six months on the market, and it's still one of the most compelling mobile card games out there. 

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PlayStation Plus Premium members can now try their hand at two of the most notable games of the year. The subscription service is adding free trials for a bizarre duo: Baldur’s Gate 3 and The Lord of the Rings Gollum. 

LOTR fans will get to check out Gollum for a full hour, and based on the game’s terrible reception, that might be more than enough time with it. Gollum has a Top Critic Score of just 37 on OpenCritic, with only 4% of critics recommending it.

Following the game’s release in May 2023, publisher Daedlic Entertainment closed its development studio in Hamburg, Germany and canceled its plans for another game set in Middle-Earth. Now, any PlayStation players who skipped out on the game thanks to the rough reviews can get a chance to evaluate it for themselves.

Baldur’s Gate 3, on the other hand, is one of the most celebrated games of the year. The massive CRPG has been blowing everyone away since it debuted in August. It earned eight nominations at The Game Awards, including Game of the Year and Best Game Direction for Larian Studios.

It’s one of those games that stays deeply engaging even after hundreds of hours, so the two hour trial coming to PlayStation Plus Premium will hardly be enough for players to get a taste of what the game has to offer. That said, the opening hours are exciting enough that the trial will likely snag more than a few new players for the game. 

Both of the trials are currently available through the PlayStation Store. 

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After years and years of waiting, fans are about to get their deepest look yet at the Dragon’s Dogma sequel. 

Capcom has just announced that a showcase for the game will be held on Tuesday, November 28, at 1PM PST. Fans can tune in for a 15-minute livestream that promises to reveal a ton of new info about the game while also showing off some never-before-seen gameplay. 

The original Dragon’s Dogma debuted all the way back in 2012, and fans have been dying for a sequel ever since. That’s not to say there hasn’t been other Dragon’s Dogma content in the past decade. Netflix released a one-season anime in 2020, and there have been two spinoff games: 2013’s Dragon’s Dogma Arisen and the Japanese exclusive Dragon’s Dogma Online. 

Capcom officially revealed that Dragon’s Dogma 2 was in the works as part of the original game’s 10th anniversary celebration, offering a first real look at the game in June 2023. Destructoid's own Timothy Monbleau got to spend some time hands-on with the game, calling Dragon's Dogma 2 "a game that just wants to be a good ol’ fun time over literally anything else, even if it means getting cheesy or silly."

So far, it’s looked like Dragon’s Dogma 2 will offer even more of what we all loved about the original, and that would be a definite win. 

The biggest question looming over the upcoming showcase is the game's release date. Capcom hasn’t said anything about that yet, but with director Hideaki Itsuno and producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, this would be the perfect time to drop the news. We’ll just have to wait and see. 

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Today Sony revealed that it’s shifting its strategy with live service games. The company is scaling back the number of live service games it plans by fiscal year 2025 to launch by half.

In case you didn’t remember, just last May Sony announced ambitious plans to release a total of 12 live service games by the end of its fiscal 2025. In theory, having a deep catalog of live service titles would give Sony a steady stream of income from players who fully bought into their favorite games. Now, Sony seems to be acknowledging that creating that deep catalog is easier said than done. 

In a November 9 earnings call, Hiroki Totoki, COO, CFO, and President of Sony, elaborated on what led to this change in plans. Totoki said that after Sony acquired Bungie last July, the company had the developer help refine its plan for live service games. Ultimately, Totoki said that Sony realized it’s previous plan wouldn’t be able to produce satisfactory games. 

“We have not been able to meet the gamers’ expectations,” Totoki said, “But we are trying as much as possible [to ensure these games will] be played by gamers and liked by gamers for a long time.” To make that happen, Totoki said, “six titles will be released by FY25. That’s our current plan.” 

The other six live service games aren’t going anywhere just yet. Totoki said that the company is still deciding when those games will be released, but for now it will focus on making sure the first six games are as good as possible. He didn’t mention which games made the cut for the initial six, so the fate of specific titles like The Last of Us multiplayer, which was delayed earlier this year, is still up in the air. 

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We’ll be getting a deeper look at the future of Playdate in an upcoming live stream. The company announced that it will be hosting a 12 minute showcase via YouTube on November 8 at 9a.m. PST. 

The showcase is set to introduce developers working on the next slate of Playdate games and to offer some insight into “more fun stuff on the horizon.” In a follow-up message, Playdate teased what that fun stuff might look like. The company wrote, “No big hardware news, but keep an eye out for something blue & new.”

Save the date

Playdate was first announced back in 2019, and the little handheld console made its way into gamers' hands for the first time in April 2022. The console’s games follow a bit of a strange release schedule. The first “season” contains 24 different games, which become available two-per-week after you first get your device. Those are the flagship titles, and other games can be bought through Playdate's Catalog service or sideloaded onto the device.

Thanks in part to the handheld’s unique approach, Playdate has skyrocketed in popularity. A year after its launch Playdate had sold over 50,000 units. That’s more than double what developer Panic had projected and orders were backlogged into late 2023. Currently it’s possible to pre-order a Playdate for when the next batch of devices arrives. 

The November 8 showcase could shed some light on when Playdate will be more readily available. It will also finally give owners and people with a pre-order waiting in the wings a peek at what Playdate’s second season of games will look like. 

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Today, Ubisoft will lay off 124 employees as part of a cost cutting strategy. These departures are happening across several of its departments, including many at its Canadian offices.

The layoffs are hitting a variety of departments at Ubisoft, including some administrative teams, Ubisoft IT, and Hybride, the company’s SFX studio. In a statement to Kotaku, the company explained the reasoning behind the move. 

“Ubisoft is proceeding with a collective dismissal in its Montreal establishment within the framework of a reorganization of its production support services across Canada, by consolidating these functions Canada wide, Ubisoft will be able to optimize its resources to be more sustainable in the long term.” 

The company also said it is “providing comprehensive support for our colleagues who will be leaving Ubisoft during this transition” and emphasized that the current restructuring won’t have an effect on its production teams. 

Déjà vu

Ubisoft as a whole has been facing challenges lately. Lengthy delays for games like Beyond Good and Evil 2 and xDefiant have undoubtedly affected the company. Just this May, Ubisoft let go dozens of employees at its North Carolina and Newcastle locations. Employees at the time said they were given no notice that they would be losing their jobs.

Sadly this is part of an ongoing trend in the gaming industry this year.  In September Epic Games cut 16% of its workforce. Just last month Naughty Dog and Telltale Games were hit by a wave of layoffs. More than a dozen different companies have faced layoffs in the back half of 2023 alone. 

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It looks like Gameloft’s Disney Dreamlight Valley won’t be a free-to-play title after all. 

Dreamlight Valley is the Disney meets Animal Crossing game that entered Early Access back in September. Players could get in the game by purchasing a Founder’s Pack. Each pack included some cosmetic items and varying amounts of Moonstones, the game’s premium currency. 

The game is set to officially launch on December 5. Ahead of the full release, Gameloft has made an announcement ending the free-to-play plans. “As we look ahead to the official launch, with the learnings we've gained from Early Access, we’ve made the decision to remain a paid game for the foreseeable future,” the developer wrote.

Paid editions

For now players can secure their access to Dreamlight Valley by purchasing one of the Founder’s Packs. When the game launches on December 5, it will be available in three different editions. 

Standard Edition - $39.99

• Digital copy of the full game
• 8,000 Moonstones

Gold Edition - $69.99

• Digital copy of the full game
• Expansion pass
• 15,000 Moonstones
• Flowery capybara companion
• Flowery summer cottage house style
• Artist’s overalls avatar costume

Cozy Edition - Retail exclusive - $49.99

• Physical copy of the full game
• 14,500 Moonstones
• Cottage house skin
• 5 raccoon companion skins
• Cheshire Cat sweater
• 1 of six posters
• Sticker sheet

The future of Dreamlight Valley

Gameloft also announced Dreamlight Valley’s first paid DLC. A Rift in Time will introduce a new location called Eternity Isle. With that will come more Disney characters to meet and activities to engage in. The expansion will be available for $29.99 on December 5, and it comes with 5,000 Moonstones. 

The shift away from the free-to-play formula is definitely a surprise. The move is bound to have some effect on Dreamlight Valley’s longevity. More info is expected from Dreamloft in its upcoming showcase. That is currently scheduled to stream on Twitch, Facebook, and YouTube at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on November 1.

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The Creative side of Fortnite just got a new experience, courtesy of developer Torus Games and publisher Starbreeze Entertainment. Turtle vs Turtle sets two teams on top of moving platforms and puts them in a battle of base destruction. 

Turtle vs Turtle is essentially the Fortnite that you know and love with a slightly different hook. The game supports two teams of up to eight players. Each team gets a moving platform, and team members need to get to work building defenses and turrets. The goal is to keep your own platform stable and on the move while blasting your opponents’ to bits. 

Bill McIntosh, CEO of Torus Games (LEGO 2K Drive, World War Z) released a statement saying: “Creating Turtle vs Turtle has been an exhilarating journey for us at Torus Games, and the support from Starbreeze has been pivotal in bringing our vision to life.”

Starbreeze Entertainment, mostly a live service games publisher with titles like Roboquest and Payday 3, will be supporting Torus on Turtle vs Turtle as the game continues to evolve. 

Creative 2.0

The game was built using Unreal Editor for Fortnite as part of the Creative system, which Epic released in March 2023. The toolset lets developers create new games inside Fortnite. It also lets them cash in on their work. Each month Epic pays a portion of its Fortnite revenue to creators based on player engagement with their games.

Starbreeze's other recent live service release, Payday 3, debuted in September to mostly negative reception. Fans ran into frequent matchmaking problems and were frustrated by the game’s need for an internet connection even during solo play. An update addressing some of the issues has faced multiple delays.

Turtle vs Turtle has a solid foundation as part of the Fortnite ecosystem, but Payday 3's rough start might make some reluctant to give it a shot.

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2023 has seen a wave of unionization across the video game industry, with new unions popping up at companies like ZeniMax Media and Sega of America. Now Nintendo of America president Doug Bowswer has commented on the possibility of a union at his company. 

In an interview with Inverse, Bowser was asked what role unions might play at NOA in the future. Bowser touted NOA’s success without a union, pointing to its high employee retention rate. “Our focus has always been on creating a culture that's inclusive, has a work-life balance, and is focused on our singular mission of bringing smiles to faces,” Bowser said. 

An inclusive culture creates a great foundation for employees at any workplace, but some still see unions as key to securing better pay, benefits, and treatment from a company. Bowser acknowledged that unions aren’t off the table at NOA. “Everyone has the right to form a union, and certainly in the future, wherever it takes us, we'll respect that," Bowser told Inverse.

The state of Nintendo

In April 2022 Kotaku published a report in which former contractors alleged that they were mistreated and never offered a legitimate path to full-time employment. “They want to control you like you’re full-time, but not treat you like a full-time worker,” one contract worker said.

IGN published a similar report in May 2022. Some workers interviewed for the piece complained of “a huge disparity” between themselves and full-time employees. The company has previously faced labor complaints for allegedly cracking down on discussions of unionization.

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Larian Studios just dropped its ninth hotfix for Baldur's Gate 3, and along with the usual bug fixes, this small update brings some greatly appreciated quality-of-life features. Get ready to lose even more time in the game’s character creator, as Hotfix #9 introduces name changes to Baldur's Gate 3 and lets you adjust the appearance of Hirelings now, too.

Mirror, mirror on the wall

The Magic Mirror has always been a useful camp item in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you get tired of your Tav’s current look, the Magic Mirror will let you change things up. Now, though, the Mirror will let you adjust arguably the most important aspect of your character: their name. That’s right, no more bemoaning the fact that you weren’t feeling creative when you started your campaign. Tav can finally get a truly unique name, like Frank or Jane. 

Even if you’re fully satisfied with your current character, this latest hotfix will still give you a reason to check out the Magic Mirror. You can finally use it to adjust the look of any hirelings that you decided to bring along on your journey. Anyone who didn’t get their character create itch satisfied at the beginning of the game can now dive back into the creator with a new character all over again. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the gift that keeps on giving. Larian Studios blew everyone away when it released the game in August, and since then a steady stream of updates and hotfixes have been addressing fan concerns and cleaning up minor bugs throughout the game’s massive world.

Those Mirror changes are the highlights of Larian’s latest hotfix, but you can read all nitty-gritty details on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam page. 

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