ByteAction - Issue 124
ByteAction is a newsletter for game developers and fans
Hello, and welcome to 124th edition of ByteAction newsletter!
Last week was huge for Arrowhead Studios. Their recently released game - Helldivers 2 passed 400,000 concurrent players which made it the 5th most popular game on Steam.
In other news, Baldur’s Gate 3 claimed victory at this year’s DICE awards. Another one to the trophy collection for Larian Studios. Truly an exceptional game this is.
Lastly, as always, we’ve got to address the games industry layoff situation. First off all, Build a Rocket Boy announced that it will be laying off undisclosed number of people, that’s following the recent news of the $110m investment the studio has received. Additionally, cuts were reported by Blackbird Interactive and Activision Blizzard studios.
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The Byte
The Action
Retro Byte
Studio Byte
DONTNOD Entertainment is a French video game developer known for narrative-driven games like "Life is Strange," focusing on impactful choices and emotional storytelling. Founded in 2008, their titles often explore mature themes and feature well-developed characters with branching storylines shaped by player decisions.
Legal Stuff
Optic Texas CEO and player sue Activision, claiming Call of Duty League monopoly
700 Ubisoft employees in France go on strike due to unsuccessful salary negotiations
Acquisitions/Investments
New Game Corner
Sand Land - April 25th, 2024
Sand Land invites you into an action-packed RPG adventure where you assume the role of Beelzebub, the Fiend Prince, at the helm of a band of courageous outcasts. Embark on a journey crafted by the legendary creator of Dragonball - Akira Toriyama.
Resource Byte
Great source of royalty free music.
Who’s Hiring?
Audio Programmer - Liquid Swords - Stockholm, Sweden
Software Engineer - CCP - Reykjavik, Iceland
Senior Lighting Artist - Fool’s Theory - Europe, Remote
Senior Economy Designer - Neon Koi - Helsinki, Finland
Lead Artist - HB Studios - Nova Scotia, Canada
Senior Gameplay Programmer - Heart Machine - Culver City, CA (Remote)
Senior Unity Engineer - Series.AI - San Francisco, CA
Senior Gameplay Engineer - Fast Travel Games - Stockholm, Sweden
Technical Game Designer - Thatgamecompany - Los Angeles, CA (Remote)
Lead Producer - The Gang - Remote, Malaysia
Senior Graphics Engineer - Singularity6 - Los Angeles, CA (Remote)
VFX Artist - Endnight Games - Vancouver, Canada
CMO - Tacticle Games - Copenhagen, Denmark
Environment Artist - Flix Interactive - UK, Remote
Senior Systems Designer - That’s No Moon - Los Angeles, CA (Remote)
Lead Sound Designer - IOI - Barcelona, Spain
Interested in sharing your job posts here? Just click on the button below for more info and reach out to tomas@byteaction.co
Dev Talks
“I’ve always loved game music, and there was a time when I only collected soundtracks. However, my experience in game development has taught me that game music doesn’t stand alone, but rather as one of the elements of the game, harmonizing with the map backgrounds, bosses, situations, and so on. In the future, I would like to take advantage of my knowledge of the internal workings of game development to create music that further harmonizes with each work.” Yuka Kitamura
Events
GDC - 18th-22nd March 2024
It’s time for the GDC - the largest and one of the most important events in the gaming industry calendar.