Remedy Has Canceled Codename Kestrel, Its Cooperative Multiplayer Game
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind last year's Alan Wake 2 and 2019's Control, has canceled Codename Kestrel, its "premium cooperative multiplayer game." The game, which was being co-financed and co-published by Tencent, was in the early concept stage, according to Remedy, with only a small team working on it.
The studio says it canceled Codename Kestrel to focus on other games it's developing in its portfolio, noting that because of this cancelation, its other projects will get "experienced developers reassigned from Kestrel."
Plus, Remedy says planned investment and the need to recruit additional employees for Kestrel is removed with this cancelation.
"Codename Kestrel showed early promise, but the project was still in its early concept stage," Remedy CEO Tero Virtala writes in a press release. "Our other projects have advanced well and are moving to the next stages of development, and increasing focus on them provides us with benefits. We can reallocate talented Kestrel developers to these other game projects, and many of our support functions get additional focus on their operations. This is yet another means to ensure that our game projects continue advancing well. "I want to thank our Kestrel development team. Though we decided to discontinue the project for wider Remedy benefits, our team has done good work and provided us with valuable learnings. I also want to thank Tencent for their partnership so far. They have been very professional and supportive."Codename Kestrel, as a project, began in November 2023 as a reboot from an earlier Remedy project codenamed Vanguard.
This cancelation arrives just a couple of weeks after Remedy's latest update about its in-development games, which is where the studio said Codename Kestrel remains in the concept stage. It's also where Remedy revealed the Control 2 team is focused on finalizing the proof-of-concept stage and that Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake are expected to enter full production in Q2 of this year. You can read that update here.
Do you think Remedy is making the right call by canceling Codename Kestrel? Let us know in the comments below!
CDPR's Witcher 3 Mod Editor Hits PC For Free Later This Month
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Update, 5/07/2024:
Last year, CD Projekt Red announced it was working on a mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, set to hit PC sometime this year for free. Now, we know exactly when: May 21, 2024. That means we're just a few weeks away from The Witcher 3 REDkit, "an extensive mod editor based on the game's engine," being released to players around the world.
CD Projekt Red announced this today on X (formerly Twitter), reminding players it will be free for everyone who owns The Witcher 3 on PC.
Mark your calendars — The Witcher 3 REDkit, an extensive mod editor based on the game’s engine, releases on May 21st, 2024! ⚙
— The Witcher (@witchergame) May 7, 2024
It will be available for free for everyone who owns The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC.
Wishlist on @Steam, @GOGcom or @EpicGames:
?… pic.twitter.com/wCx8CE9SJo
If you don't own The Witcher 3 on PC yet but want to mod the game using this REDkit, you can purchase the game on Steam, GOG, or the Epic Games Store.
The original story continues below...
Original story, 11/15/2023:
It's been a big year for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt developer CD Projekt Red. It released Phantom Liberty, the first and only expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, debuted its soundtrack on streaming services, revealed plans for a live-action Cyberpunk project, and just this week, nabbed four nominations for The Game Awards 2023. Now, CDPR has announced it is working on a mod editor for The Witcher 3 that will hit PC sometime next year for free.
"We're thrilled to announce that we're working on a mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," a tweet from the official Witcher Twitter account reads. "It will allow you to create your own experiences in the game by making something completely new or editing existing quests and content. We're planning on releasing it for free in 2024. Stay tuned – we'll have more to share next year."We're thrilled to announce that we're working on a mod editor for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt! ⚔️
— The Witcher (@witchergame) November 15, 2023
It will allow you to create your own experiences in the game by making something completely new or editing existing quests and content. We’re planning on releasing it for free in 2024.… pic.twitter.com/e2kvXRqegZ
Notably, CDPR says this mod editor for The Witcher 3 will allow players to create their own experiences in the game, meaning people can develop their own fantasy adventures starring everyone's favorite monster hunter. In a reply on Twitter, the official account confirms this mod editor will only be coming to PC.
If you haven't yet played The Witcher 3, you should and you can read about why in Game Informer's review of The Witcher 3.
For more about CDPR, read Game Informer's Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty review and then check out this feature about how the team behind Phantom Liberty created its spy-thriller soundtrack.
Do you have any plans to use the mod editor coming to The Witcher 3 next year? Let us know in the comments below!
Xbox Is Shutting Down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, And More
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Xbox is closing Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and more under Bethesda, according to IGN. Alpha Dog Games, which is behind last year's mobile Mighty Doom, is being closed as well, according to the report. Roundhouse Games is also affected, but it will be absorbed by The Elder Scrolls Online team ZeniMax Online Studios.
Tango has confirmed the news online, with a thank you to its fans:
— Tango Gameworks (EN) (@TangoGameworks) May 7, 2024
Arkane Austin has followed suit, confirming the news online as well alongside word that players who purchased Redfall's Hero Pass will be eligible "to receive the value of the upgrade." Here's the studio's statement:
Signup here https://t.co/wb1R4m4emj to receive details on how eligible players can receive this credit. pic.twitter.com/69Os17kpQ8
— Arkane Studios (@ArkaneStudios) May 7, 2024
These closures arrive after Tango delivered the extremely well-received Hi-Fi Rush last year a few months before Arkane Austin released Redfall, which unfortunately didn't pan out as expected, with both critics and fans disappointed in the first-person vampire shooter from the studio behind the Dishonored series.
IGN learned of these closures in emails sent to staff by Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty, where the executive cited reprioritization as the reason for the closures. Here is the email, in full:
"Today, I'm sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda and ZeniMax teams. These changes are grounded in prioritizing high-impact titles and further investing in Bethesda’s portfolio of blockbuster games and beloved worlds which you have nurtured over many decades. To double down on these franchises and invest to build new ones requires us to look across the business to identify the opportunities that are best positioned for success. This reprioritization of titles and resources means a few teams will be realigned to others and that some of our colleagues will be leaving us. Here are the changes going into effect: Arkane Austin – This studio will close with some members of the team joining other studios to work on projects across Bethesda. Arkane Austin has a history of making impactful and innovative games and it is a pedigree that everyone should be proud of. Redfall’s previous update will be its last as we end all development on the game. The game and its servers will remain online for players to enjoy and we will provide make-good offers to players who purchased the Hero DLC. Alpha Dog Studios – This studio will also close. We appreciate the team’s creativity in bringing Doom to new players. Mighty Doom will be sunset on August 7 and we will be turning off the ability for players to make any purchases in the game. Tango Gameworks – Tango Gameworks will also close. We are thankful for their contributions to Bethesda and players around the world. Hi-Fi Rush will continue to be available to players on the platforms it is today. Roundhouse Games – The team at Roundhouse Games will be joining ZeniMax Online Studios (ZOS). Roundhouse has played a key role in many of our recent game launches and bringing them into ZOS to work on The Elder Scrolls Online will mean we can do even more to grow the world that millions of players call home. With this consolidation of our Bethesda studio teams, so that we can invest more deeply in our portfolio of games and new IP, a small number of roles across select Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will also be eliminated. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified today, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with respect and compassion. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted in today’s notifications and through their transitions, including severance benefits informed by local laws. These changes are not a reflection of the creativity and skill of the talented individuals at these teams or the risks they took to try new things. I acknowledge that these changes are also disruptive to the various support teams across ZeniMax and Bethesda that bring our games to market. We are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games. Bethesda remains one of the key pillars of Xbox with a strong portfolio of amazing games and thriving communities. As we look to the future, there is an impressive line-up of games on the horizon. In 2024 alone we have Starfield Shattered Space, Fallout 76 Skyline Valley, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle, and The Elder Scrolls Online’s Golden Road. As we align our plans and resources to best set ourselves up for success in this complex and changing industry, our teams across Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, MachineGames, ZeniMax Online Studios and the Bethesda publishing and corporate teams will be well-positioned to build new IP, explore new game concepts, and expand on our existing franchises."Game Informer has reached out to Xbox and Bethesda for comment and will update this story if it learns more.
Arkane Austin is one half of the Bethesda-owned Arkane Studios, the other half being Arkane Lyon. Both studios often work together on Arkane games, but Arkane Austin led the charge on titles like Redfall and 2017's Prey while Arkane Lyon is behind 2021's Deathloop and the in-development Marvel's Blade game.
Arkane Lyon studio director and Marvel's Blade creative director Dinga Bakaba posted on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after news of Arkane Austin's closing hit the internet to explain his frustration and sadness:
"This is absolutely terrible," Bakaba writes. "Permission to be human: to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you."
He continues, "Don't throw us into gold fever gambits, don't use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don't make our work environment darwinist jungles. You say we make you proud when we make a good game. Make us proud when times are tough. We know you can, we seen it before."
You can read Bakaba's full thread below:
This is absolutely terrible. Permission to be human : to any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.
— Dinga Bakaba (@DBakaba) May 7, 2024
Tango released Hi-Fi Rush as a surprise "out today" game during an Xbox Developer Direct in January of last year, and the game recently came to PlayStation 5. Before Hi-Fi Rush, Tango released Ghostwire: Tokyo, and outside of those two games, it is perhaps best known for The Evil Within series.
These studio closures join a string of other disheartening 2024 closures and layoffs, which now total more than 10,000 in just the first five months of this year.
Last week, Take-Two Interactive closed Rollerdrome studio Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 studio Intercept Games alongside major layoffs to its indie-publisher Private Division label. That same week, we learned Deliver Us Mars developer Keoken Interactive had laid off nearly its entire staff.
Elsewhere in the year, EA laid off roughly 670 employees across all departments, resulting in the cancellation of Respawn's Star Wars FPS game. PlayStation laid off 900 employees across Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and more, closing down London Studio in the process, too. The day before, Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games announced it laid off 90 employees.
At the end of January, we learned Embracer Group had canceled a new Deus Ex game in development at Eidos-Montréal and laid off 97 employees in the process. Also in January, Destroy All Humans remake developer Black Forest Games reportedly laid off 50 employees and Microsoft announced it was laying off 1,900 employees across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams, as well. Outriders studio People Can Fly laid off more than 30 employees in January, and League of Legends company Riot Games laid off 530 employees.
Lords of the Fallen Publisher CI Games laid off 10 percent of its staff, Unity will lay off 1,800 people by the end of March, and Twitch laid off 500 employees.
We also learned that Discord had laid off 170 employees, that layoffs happened at PTW, a support studio that's worked with companies like Blizzard and Capcom, and that SteamWorld Build company, Thunderful Group, let go of roughly 100 people. Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive also reportedly laid off 45 people, too.
[Source: IGN]
How do you feel about these closures? Let us know in the comments below!
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Written by Grace BlackNintendo Says It Will Reveal Switch Successor By March 2025, But Not At The Direct Next Month
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Nintendo will reveal the Switch successor within the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2025. However, the company says there will be no mention of this successor during a Nintendo Direct it is holding in June; this Direct will instead be focused on the games coming to Switch in the second half of 2024.
While this isn't the first hint of a Switch successor from the company, it is the most direct and comes from the same financial results where we learned the Switch has sold an additional 1.96 million units since the last one, bringing its total up to 141.32 million. Software has reached 1.235 billion units.
"This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo," the company's announcement reads on X (formerly Twitter). "We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation."
This announcement follows industry reports from earlier this year stating the Switch successor was targeting a March 2025 release date. That could still be the case given Furukawa's reveal, but given the timeline, Nintendo could also announce the successor that month, meaning we likely wouldn't have it in our hands until later that year. Only time will, though, but at least we now officially know that by this time next year, we'll know what the successor to the Switch is.
For more, read about how Nintendo reportedly demoed the Switch successor to developers at Gamescom last year, and then check out Game Informer's top 10 Switch games.
What do you hope to see from the Switch successor? Let us know in the comments below!
Nintendo Switch Surpasses 140 Million Units Sold
Written by Wesley LeBlanc
Nintendo has revealed the Switch has surpassed 140 million units sold, further securing its current place as the second-best-selling console in the company's history. This news arrives at the same time Nintendo has revealed it will announce the Switch successor by March 2025, meaning there's still some time for the Switch to catch up to Nintendo's best-selling console: the Nintendo DS.
Since the last financial results call, the Switch has sold an additional 1.96 million units, bringing its grand total up to 141.32. That keeps it in second place, only behind the Nintendo DS' massive 154.02 million. It's possible the Switch surpasses the Nintendo DS, especially considering the Switch will likely continue to sell even once its successor is released, but that's a big 13 million-unit gap to close.
Elsewhere in the financial results, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has hit 20.28 million units sold, Super Mario Bros. Wonder has sold through 11.96 million, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe another 6.79 million, and Pikmin 4 3.33 million. The fiscal year ending with March 2024 was a strong one for Switch software, selling 163.95 million units in Q1 through Q3 of Fiscal Year 2024. However, compared to the same quarters for Fiscal Year 2023, Switch software is down 4.7%.
With the Switch successor on the horizon, that number will likely be way up this time next year.
In the meantime, read about the Nintendo Direct happening next month, and then check out Game Informer's top 10 Switch games. After that, check out this list of the Switch's best-selling games.
Do you think the Switch will surpass the Nintendo DS? Let us know in the comments below!