Update Patch | July 2024 - Loads Has Happened
The 7th month of 2024 is done and dusted, we are well into a summer where the world had many goodbyes, whether it's a British public saying so long and farewell to a 14-year Conservative government or… actually, let’s just say nothing else controversial happened this month in politics.
Meanwhile, games continued releasing while most gamers, instead of kicking governments to the curb, kicked their way through Anger Foot, and Capcom had another critical hit in Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. The new strategy-action game also launched day one on Xbox Game Pass, which leads us to the first big story of the month.
Microsoft’s New Ultimate Standard for Core Game Pass Business
Microsoft announced massive changes to its cornerstone subscription service Game Pass, with new tiers that will launch later this year in September.
The main difference is in the removal of the Console Game Pass tier and in its place, a new Xbox Game Pass Standard tier. This tier will include all games on Game Pass as well as the benefits of the Core tier, which is where online features and member discounts are given. However, this tier will not feature Xbox’s big selling point for the service of new games arriving Day One, as this will now be exclusive to the most expensive Ultimate tier.
With this, new pricing will arrive in September as the Ultimate tier, with all the aforementioned benefits plus access to EA Play, PC Game Pass and Cloud Gaming, will increase by £2/$3 per month. This will take the new price to £14.99/$19.99 per month with the new Standard tier launching at $14.99 per month according to Eurogamer.
All of this is to say, Microsoft wants to present this change as giving consumers “more options”, and what they actually mean “this is how we raise the price of Ultimate without making you feel too bad about it.”
The news was met with some confusion from gamers but more notably, strong opposition from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC unsuccessfully tried to block Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard and in the wake of these changes, the FTC has sent a letter to the Ninth Circuit of Appeals. The filing, posted on Twitter by The Verge’s Tom Warren, calls the standard tier “a degraded product” and says the behaviour inclusive of the company’s layoffs this year “are the hallmarks of a firm exercising market power post-merger.” Microsoft responded with its own letter, calling the FTC’s letter “misleading” mentioning that the new Standard tier comes with online multiplayer which wasn’t in the Console Game Pass offer.
2. Layoffs, I Know, Shocking
As is to be expected, more layoffs emerged in the industry as investment struggles further.
Firstly, NetherRealm Studios announced the closure of their mobile team with the later news that free-to-play mobile game Mortal Kombat: Onslaught would be shut down. According to Insider Gaming, the layoffs affect 50 people and most likely will see a shift in strategy away from mobile operations for the company.
Meanwhile, Surgent Studios (Tales of Kenzera: Zau) announced layoffs of their own, with a statement posted on Twitter saying “just over a dozen people [were] affected” and that the company would be focusing on “supporting those affected, continuing our work on ZAU, and looking to the future with our next creative projects”.
Then we have more Embracer Group closures with the shutdown of Elex and Gothic development studio Piranha Bytes. The German studio was shut at the end of June according to Polish publication CD-Action, with long-time employees Jennifer Pankratz and Bjorn Pankratz setting up their own independent studio, Pithead Studios.
We all thought that may be the end of the layoffs, but Bungie CEO Pete Parsons announced that 220 employees, around 17% of the workforce, would be laid off. In a blog post, Parsons explained the layoffs were due to overambition in setting up “several incubation projects” leading to talent being stretched across teams and that this expansion was hit by “a broad economic slowdown, a sharp downturn in the games industry, our quality miss with Destiny 2: Lightfall, and the need to give both The Final Shape and Marathon the time needed…we were overly ambitious, our financial safety margins were subsequently exceeded, and we began running in the red.
Criticism of CEO Parsons and the company was rife from previous employees who referred to the cuts as “inexcusable”, content creators who called the studio “reckless” and calls for Parsons to step down as CEO.
3. 2024 Game Spending Outdone by Taylor Swift and co.
At the halfway mark of 2024, the UK’s Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) has gathered statistics on UK spending for the first half of the year, with games having a tricky time up against other sectors.
When it came to games, physical game software stood at £111.7m and digital sales added £236.9m. Whilst these figures might sound impressive, the overall sales are down 29.4% from 2023 due to a lack of big blockbuster releases. 2024 has been relatively light on big IP and blockbuster sales whereas 2023 benefited from big sellers such as Resident Evil 4, Hogwarts Legacy, and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Despite this, ERA CEO Kim Bayley did say the organisation was “optimistic for a strong second half, the traditional time for blockbuster releases.”
Interestingly, the report does mention that video sales (i.e. sales of blu-rays, DVDs, digital rental and download) were overall up by 5.4% but music sales beat both with a growth of 7.9%, which was mostly aided by the release of Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department album.
4. Game Becomes Less Rewarding
UK retailer Game denied it would stop selling physical games last month but the bad news stories continue despite this as it was announced that the retailer will be closing more elements of its business.
This month, the company announced that it would be bringing in-store pre-ordering to an end with a report from TechRadar Gaming indicating the service would end from the 1st August. The memo to staff indicated the change was “part of the continued integration into Frasers Group”, the ownership group that acquired Game in 2019. This is seen in the closure of Game outlets in favour of smaller outlets inside of the larger department store House of Fraser.
This move also comes after the announced closure of its reward scheme and membership programmes, with customers to that programme being contacted and encouraged to use their points before the 31st July, at which point the programme closes.
5. Esports Olympics Confirmed for Saudi Arabia
The month of July also sees the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the only event to feature diving and football as separate activities in the same sporting event. Whilst the Summer Olympics kicked off, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) confirmed the first Esports Olympic Games for 2025.
Earlier in the month, the IOC confirmed the rumour that the event would be hosted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with their press release stating a 12-year partnership between the IOC and Saudi Arabia’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) to run this event. Of course, this raises the questions around how the Olympic values square with the Kingdom’s record on human rights and LGBTQ+ laws while all this coincides with the recent Esports World Cup attracting similar concerns from fans and players alike.
Saudi sports minister and Olympic Committee President HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal says the Kingdom is “hugely excited” and added “there is still much to consider and plan with the IOC, but we are committed to hosting a special event that respects and celebrates the Olympic values while boldly seizing the momentum to drive esports forward with the international platform the sport and its athletes deserve. The world will have an open invitation to join us in 2025 and celebrate this moment together.“
What hasn’t been confirmed, regardless of this, is what games will make up the Olympics and what format those will take.
6. SGDQ 2024 Roundup
As usual, July saw another SGDQ event where speedrunners gathered in Minnesota to raise money for Médicins San Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). The event was a huge success with over $2.5m raised for the charity.
The full playlist of speedruns is available on YouTube, with some of our recommendations including:
A 70 minute run of Elden Ring by blankz which also has the point where the event hit $2 million in donations
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind being beaten in a paltry 22 minutes by musical_daredevil following plenty of zooming across the map, through out-of-bounds area and even a mid-game swap to the GOTY edition.
A 34:43 run of classic running game Mirror’s Edge by Blackbeltginganinja with plenty of out-of-bounds fun and doing absurd skips via checkpoints.
A run of Alan Wake 2 in just under an hour from suavepeanut which featured the runner and commentators joining attendees for the dance in the chapter We Sing
Tomb Raider I Remastered being beaten in 1hr 12m by Beckski with plenty of skips by jumping up through 20ft platforms and running past the T-Rex.
Other games featured this year included Dishonored, Baldur’s Gate 3, multiple Legend of Zelda entries and many more.
7. Brett Jones Tribute
Sad news from the industry with the death of longtime 3D artist Brett Jones. Whilst the name may not be familiar, his work in gaming is iconic through his years at Rare.
Following his graduation from Bournemouth University with an MA in Computer Visualization and Animation (according to his portfolio) in 1995, Jones worked for Rare where he would contribute to the great Rare entries of the 90s in Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Jones would provide work on numerous aspects of the former, from rigging and concept art to modelling of all the game’s characters. He would go on to do similar jobs for Joanna Dark’s first adventure, being crucial in the creation of the characters and the modelling of all of them.
Following his time at Rare, Jones would have a lengthy VFX and artistic career in TV and Film, with his TV work including a spell at the BBC working on shows such as Doctor Who, Being Human and work producing sporting title credits including the opening for BBC’s Match of the Day, and ITV’s opening credits for England football matches accompanied by The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony, also known as the best sporting opening credits ever as determined by me. His film credits would include pre-visual work on Guardians of the Galaxy and VFX work on Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Appropriately, former colleague and Goldeneye designer David Doak described Jones on Twitter as an “absolute legend”.
We at startmenu offer our condolences to Jones’ family and friends.
8. As Layoffs Rise, Unions Arise
With the aforementioned layoffs and instability in the industry, we are starting to see the rise of trade unions as workers look for additional protections with two big announcements on this front from Microsoft-owned companies and late in the day, a strike called for video game performers and actors.
Firstly, Bethesda workers formed the “first wall-to-wall union” at a Microsoft studio following its vote. In a press release, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union confirmed a majority of 241 workers at Bethesda Game Studios (Starfield, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) either signed a union authorization card or indicated a want to join a union, with the CWA confirming Microsoft has formally recognised the union. The release notes that Montreal workers for the company have filed for a union with the Quebec Labor Relations Board in Canada.
A few days later, the CWA sent out another press release following the formation of The World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild, a branch of the CWA union encompassing “over 500 workers” for World of Warcraft encompassing branches including designers, engineers, QA testers and more. As noted in the press release, this follows employees walking out at Blizzard HQ following the lawsuit from California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) over gender-based discrimination and harassment.
Finally, the biggest news was the beginning of a strike called by U.S-based SAG-AFTRA on behalf of performers in video games beginning at midnight on the 26th July. The union, in a statement, confirmed the strike following a vote by members last September. Whilst the union says “agreements have been reached on many issues”, the key issue being a disagreement over A.I. usage and SAG-AFTRA dissatisfaction at the lack of protections performers are being offered over “fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the AI.. use of their faces, voices, and bodies”, as said by SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.
Most companies will be affected, with the strike working on a game-by-game basis with localisation work also affected. In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, spokesperson for the games companies involved in negotiations Audrey Cooling said: “We are disappointed the union has chosen to walk away when we are so close to a deal, and we remain prepared to resume negotiations. We have already found common ground on 24 out of 25 proposals, including historic wage increases and additional safety provisions.” Of the A.I. protections offered, Cooling claimed “These terms are among the strongest in the entertainment industry.”
Patch Notes:
After a surreal teaser trailer, Nintendo revealed the next Famicon Detective Club game with the subtitle Emio - The Smiling Man.
Speaking of announcements, Devolver Digital announced the new Kung-Fu tactical game Forestrike.
A different kind of announcement, as Pocketpair (Palworld) have formed a new partnership with Sony Music Entertainment Japan and Aniplex to “develop the reach of the intellectual property” according to VGC.
Gamescom has unveiled its full list of vendors for 2024, with major publishers Xbox, Bandai Namco, EA, Sega, Ubisoft and more present at the event.
Meanwhile, 1047 Games announced FPS multiplayer game with portals Splitgate 2, with the game due for release in 2025.
Ubisoft held its Q1 FY25 sales report that The Division: Resurgence and Rainbow Six Mobile would be delayed beyond the 2024-25 period.
Speaking of sales, South Korean developers Shift Up held a press conference to tout the success of action-adventure Stellar Blade, with the game reaching 1 million copies sold worldwide and describing the launch as “smooth”.
A separate live game has launched in The First Descendant, with 10 million players getting involved but developers Nexon had a tricky launch with bugs and server problems to be patched.
On the live-service front, Overwatch 2 continues on and on with its 41st (WHAT?) hero in mobile support character Juno.
TV show adaptations were at either end of success this month, with Amazon’s adaptation of Fallout garnering 16 Emmy nominations, and Paramount’s Halo TV Series being cancelled following its second season.
Finally, the Fallout London mod had a trial run on GOG and features a cast including the Sixth and Seventh iterations of Doctor Who, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, Anna Demetriou (Sophia in A Plague Tale: Requiem), Neil Newbon (Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3) and former UK Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.
Writer’s Note:
Since introducing the Writer’s Note section to our regular programming, they’ve all tended to focus on concerns, whether that be the availability of physical games or the layoffs in the industry. This month, maybe because I had a birthday and have a feeling known as “warmth”, I’d love to talk about SGDQ. I don’t regularly watch speedrunners but I find myself tuning into various streams for the July extravaganza and it reminds me of the best of gaming.
People coming together through a shared passion to raise money for an excellent charity, adding to the industry’s charitable efforts celebrated at the BAFTAs through SpecialEffect. Players engaging with games in remarkable and strange ways to break them in the way that is only fun in this medium, whether transferring saves to game-of-the-year editions or jumping through out-of-bounds areas. A helpful reminder that it doesn’t actually matter how people play games, what matters is getting satisfaction from the game.
Perhaps, more than anything, SGDQ feels like a celebration of games, their mechanical ingenuity, and a strange honouring of the art form. This year, the games of the past were on display through Castlevania, Super Marios Bros, multiple Zelda, Sly Cooper & Halo games. They stood on stage with more contemporary hitters like Alan Wake 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, Elden Ring, Pizza Tower and more. To the speedrunners, thanks for celebrating this medium better than most.
