Hi friends,

It's been a while hasn't it?

Welcome to 2024! After a nice long break, VGG is gearing up for a busy new year. We've got a lot of catching up to do this January, so expect a lot of 2023 content slipping in before we go full throttle on all the things exciting us in 2024.

We missed you. We're excited to spend another year with y'all. And without further ado, let's get into the news!

Take care,

Fern and Nate

December 31 - January 8 | VGG Gaming News Roundup

According to job listings, a Horizon MMORPG is on the... horizon. A multiplayer project set in the universe of Sony's robot dinosaur hunting franchise had been long hinted at, but a LinkedIn job posting has revealed fresh details. 1) It's an MMORPG codenamed Skyline Project, 2) it's coming to us via a collaboration between NCSoft and Sony, and 3) it's at least coming to PC and mobile.

Frogwares has finally won the sole publishing rights to 2020's The Sinking City. A years-long back and forth battle with publisher Nacon, which saw the game delisted due to a breach of contract and a withholding of royalties, only to be listed again without Frogwares consent, is finally over.

Square-Enix is at it again! President Takashi Kiryu addressed the public for the first time in 2024 with the company's annual "New Year's Letter from the President." In it, he promised the company would be aggressive with AI and increase their marketing efforts in 2024. This isn't the first time the company made controversial promises, as in 2022, their letter promised a push into the NFT market... which soon after died. Fingers crossed history repeats itself.

In a rare interview, Shigeru Miyamoto admitted that he has no plans on retiring anytime soon. In fact, he stated that he thinks of dying more than ever retiring. The Guardian's Keza McDonald talks to him about his legacy, Nintendo's generational approach to development, and more.

Jack Black has officially been cast as Steve in the live action Minecraft movie. He joins the likes Jason Momoa, Danielle Brooks, and Emma Myers as the Minecraft guy. Jack is set to don the teal tee and blue jeans when the film hits theaters in 2025.

Microsoft revealed January 2024's free Game Pass offerings coming to the subscription service include the likes of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Resident Evil 2, Super Mega Baseball 4, and We Happy Few.

CD Projekt Red is not on the market. In an interview with Polish outlet Parkiet, the studio's Chief Strategy Officer, Adam Kiciński, stated "we are not interested in integrating ourselves into any larger entity." The studio has dealt with many issues in the last few years, layoffs and Cyberpunk's launch for example, but is looking to right the ship in the coming years.

Steam shattered records in 2023, as SteamDB has noted that 14,528 games were released on the platform in the past year. If it felt like 2023 had way too many games, you were right. Steam may need some better curation, but the fact that just about anyone can make and publish their game on a platform like Steam is worth celebrating.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Silent Hill 2 Remake confirmed for 2024! PlayStation released a fun teaser highlighting the biggest games coming to the platform in 2024. It included some of the platform's major exclusives — Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, for example — but also snuck in looks at MGSΔ and Silent Hill 2 Remake. Neither game had a confirmed release window before this and PlayStation must know something we don't know.

In a fun bit of news with a dash of Nate lore, classic superhero MMORPG City of Heroes has been revived by fans... and gotten approval from the original developers! NCSoft has granted an official license to fans to host their server and continue development on their new branch of the game. Maybe it's time for Nate to revive his slow-flying superhero Chalupa Boy, huh?

Netflix is looking to make money off of Netflix Games. The company had been slowly adding to a fascinating library of games that mobile users had access to over the last few years... suspiciously, for no extra cost. Those times could be ending as Netflix explores implementing ads or additional costs for those looking to play.

And it wouldn't be a follow-up to 2023 if we didn't have some layoff news:

• First Contact Entertainment has shut its doors due to a "lack of support for VR within the industry." The team is most known for its work on the Firewall VR series for PSVR.

• Bossa Studios laid off 19 employees, nearly a third of the studio's workforce. Co-founder Henrique Olifiers cites rising operational costs, delayed funding decisions across the industry, and the big holiday AAA releases hurting indies. The studio is most known for releases like Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread.

• Unity continues to unravel, this time with the announcement that the company is laying off 25% of its workforce. Roughly 1,800 employees are being let go in what Interim CEO Jim Whitehurst called a "company reset" back in November.

New Game Releases

Events

The future of tech is on display at CES 2024! While not specifically gaming-focused, the Consumer Electronics Show highlights a ton of aspirational technologies from companies across all the tech-focused industries.

For those keeping an eye out for gaming news: Nvidia announced the 40-series Super cards, Twitch is collaborating with Nvidia to leverage the power of the cards for superior streaming capability, Steam Deck competitors are popping up left and right, and AI is the talk of the town.

New On VGG This Week

» Planet of Lana review

» VGG's 2023 Community Game of the Year

» In case you missed it: VGG's 2023 Game of the Year winner!