Byte Action - Issue 85
Byte Action is a newsletter for game developers and fans
Hello, and welcome to the 85th edition of Byte Action newsletter!
Last week HumbleBundle fund was launched to raise money for the Türkiye-Syria earthquake relief. They’ve already raised almost 3m EUR which is pretty incredible. Whatever donations you make 100% will go to people who suffered from the earthquake, and in return you’ll get 70 items worth over $1,000 including Gotham Knights and Ghostrunner games.
In other news - industry veterans Toshinori Aoki and Toshimichi Mori joined forces and founded a new game studio - Studio Flare. Operating out of Gotanda, Tokyo, the new company will be focused on developing console games for a worldwide audience of gamers. They have also received backing from NetEase Games.
Lastly, Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka said in court that there is "no doubt" he knew a pair of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy spin-offs were going to be announced before he bought stock in the companies developing them thus committing insider trading.
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The Byte
Not sure how I’d feel about seeing ads whilst playing a game on my Xbox. It certainly is quite difficult to imagine how can that not be distracting or diminish your experience, but some people think that gaming consoles are key for advertisers looking to reach new audiences.
The Action
Retro Byte
Studio Byte
Liquid Swords is a AAA developer based in Stockholm. It was founded in 2020 by Christofer Sundberg with a mission to develop action focused video games for an adult core audience. They’re currently working on a single-player narrative focused open world IP.
Legal Stuff
Acquisitions/Investments
New Game Corner
Dead Island is back, and that’s all there is to say. Very excited for this one!
Resource Byte
This week in this section we’ve got a website called StumbleUpon. There’s a lot of hidden gems on the internet. StumbleUpon helps you find those.
Who’s Hiring?
Technical Animator - Liquid Swords - Stockholm, Sweden
Graphics Programmer - Liquid Swords - Stockholm, Sweden
Senior Combat Designer - IO Interactive - Barcelona, Spain
Senior Animator - Supermassive Games - Guildford, UK
UX Lead - Embark Studios - Stockholm, Sweden
Senior Producer - Avalanche Studios - NYC
Art Director - Avalanche Studios - Liverpool, UK
Audio Director - Smilegate Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain
Senior Game Designer - Haven Studios - Montréal, Canada
Lead Concept Artist - Unbroken Studios - El Segundo, CA (Remote)
Online Game Director - Techland - Warsaw, Poland
Senior Engine Programmer - Keen Games - Frankfurt, Germany (Remote)
Rumours
Dev Talks
Tim Schafer - CEO @ Double Fine Productions
Tim Schafer: “There's types of games I would like to make, and it's more like I think the biggest effort is, I've always been mindful of not losing that fire in your belly. How do you tend that, how do you stoke that? How do you not suffocate that, how do you let in enough air? All these metaphors for, ‘How do you make sure you still love what you do?’ And it always involves moving towards a project that excites me the most, because there's a lot of pressure to get pulled into maybe business development or other areas of your job that are important, but will make you wake up one morning and that fire's gone. So, I've always avoided that, so I would just maintain pursuing that, and just always chasing what inspires me and everyone at Double Fine.”
Events
GamesBeat Summit is the premier annual gathering for video game industry leaders.
Final Thoughts
Thank you for taking your time to read this, and I hope you’ve found it useful. As from me - I am wishing you all an amazing week ahead!
Tomas