Hi everyone! We hope you're having a lovely start to autumn. We've been hard at work writing our PAX West coverage and all kinds of new reviews, plus planning for our third annual VGG Campout 24-hour stream! Amid all of that, we've been brainstorming for a long while about how to better share gaming news with our community, because it's rarely something we can prioritize formally writing about for VGG.

That's where this newsletter comes in! We want to try out a gaming news digest, something that hits the highlights and keeps you informed in a slightly more formal capacity than our Discord community updates. Below, you'll find a handful of headlines from the last week, new releases, events, and recent VGG stories. We hope you find it useful! Let us know what you think, if you'd like to see this continue, and what other kinds of updates you'd be interested in having included.

Take care!

Fern and Nate

September 24 - October 1 | VGG Gaming News Roundup

The Game Devs of Color Expo was hosted from September 27 - 30. It included a GDoCExpo Direct featuring new announcements from dozens of games by creators of color.

Epic Games, maker of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, cut its workforce by 16%, leaving more than 800 workers jobless. It will also divest from two acquisitions, selling recently unionized music site Bandcamp and spinning off most of its marketing company SuperAwesome.

SAG-AFTRA union members voted yes to authorize a video game strike with 98.72% in favor. This does not mean SAG-AFTRA is striking, but gives the union leverage in its ongoing negotiations — for wages that keep up with inflation, protections around exploitative uses of AI, and basic safety precautions — and, if needed, allows the union to begin a strike immediately.

Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, is stepping down. Hiroki Totoki will become interim CEO and help find a successor to run PlayStation. This comes in the same week that PlayStation systems faced a major hacking by a ransomware group. 

Hideki Kamiya, co-founder of Platinum Games, will depart from the studio later this month. The studio is known for its action-adventure games including the Bayonetta series and The Wonderful 101.

Tales of the Shire was announced, a new cozy Lord of the Rings game coming sometime next year. It’s developed by Wētā Workshop, the New Zealand-based special effects and props company that worked on Peter Jackson’s LOTR movie trilogy.

Stardew Valley announced a 1.6 content update sneak peek with new festivals, late-game content, dialogue, winter outfits, 8-player multiplayer, and more.

Sea of Thieves is introducing a new single-player mode in its season 10 update, which will let players explore in private sessions without the threat of PvP. Guilds and competitive questing are also features expected by the end of the year.

Knights of the Old Republic’s remake is facing a bit of unease after any and all social media posts and trailers of the game were scrubbed from the internet. PlayStation says it was about a music licensing issue… but the only songs in the trailer were the Star Wars theme…

A Devil May Cry anime series coming to Netflix, announced in 2018, received a teaser trailer last week. It is created by Adi Shankar, producer on Netflix’s Castlevania series, with Studio Mir handling the animation. Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno took to Twitter to confirm that he is “supervising” the project.

PlayStation Plus October monthly games that PS+ members can download October 3 until November 6 include The Callisto Protocol, Farming Simulator 22, and Weird West.

Coming to Xbox Game Pass in October are Gotham Knights, The Lamplighters League, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Forza Motorsport, Cities: Skylines 2, Mineko’s Night Market, Headbangers Rhythm Royale, and Jusant. Last week, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy and Cocoon were added. View a full list of confirmed Game Pass games for consoles and PC.

New Game Releases

Upcoming Gaming Events

Steam Next Fest returns from October 9 - 16, a multi-day celebration of upcoming games with hundreds of demos, livestreams, and chats with developers. (VGG will regretfully not be able to cover this one with our current state of PAX posting, reviews, and Campout prep. 😭)

Gayming Live Indie Festival is coming from September 30 - October 14, showcasing 60 LGBTQIA+ games in a Steam sale event.

New On VGG This Week

» Review: Final Fantasy XVI

» PAX West demo impressions and interview: Everdeep Aurora

» Review: El Paso, Elsewhere

» Review: Paleo Pines

» PAX West demo impressions and interview: Demonschool