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Ideals Like Full-Time Employment and Job Security Are ‘Too Romantic’ in Game Dev, Says Monument Valley Studio CEO

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The CEO of Monument Valley developer Ustwo Games, Maria Sayans, has outlined the studio needs to lower development costs, and to do so it will rely on contractors in the future rather than hiring full-time staff. Sayans explained the plan in an interview with Game Developer at London Games Fest. In the wake of Netflix dropping the Monument Valley games from its service and deals with major companies drying up, Ustwo has a plan to focus on building “meaningful single player experiences” for PC and consoles. It’s a plan already in motion, with Ustwo recently porting several of its games to platforms like Steam and Switch without publisher support. However, Sayans explained that they’ve subsequently learned that lower development budgets are going to be crucial. “We saw a lot of potential for the Monument Valley IP to be maybe reset and reinvented for PC and consoles, but what became clear was that our development budgets were too high for us to achieve a safer break even if we wer...
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Tony Hawk Once Modded His Friend’s PS1 to Get Early THPS Feedback

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Tony Hawk once modded his friend’s PlayStation 1 in order to get feedback on early builds of the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. This is according to the Birdman himself, who told the story during a panel at iicon (a new conference for video game industry professionals) about the lasting legacy of the THPS series. Back in 1998, Hawk was working with Neversoft on early versions of the soon-to-be legendary skateboarding game, which at the time was borne out of a modified version of the failed Bruce Willis-branded game Apocalypse. “Every week they would burn a CD for me, and I played it on my modified PlayStation 1,” Hawk said. “I would make comments, and then the next week I get a disc in the mail with all the updates.” “I was really excited about it, but I was also kind of isolated in my excitement because I was the only real skater working on it, and so – I hope I don’t get in trouble for this, 20 plus years later – but I started making copies of the burns and sending them to ska...
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Undisputed Developer Ends Support to Focus on Sequel; Adds Talent from Rockstar and EA Sports

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Steel City Interactive, the team behind Undisputed , has announced that it will be ceasing support for the boxing game ahead of a sequel. Undisputed was released back in 2024 after spending nearly two years in early access. It was the first licensed boxing game since EA’s Fight Night, and was an earnest attempt to make something from next to nothing. The team was eventually able to attract real boxers and major boxing organizations to help make the game more authentic. Undisputed received mixed reviews from critics, including IGN ( we gave it a 6 ), but many see the potential in Steel City’s vision. As a result, the studio has announced via a YouTube video that it will be ending post-launch support for Undisputed to focus its efforts on a sequel. Not much has been revealed about the sequel, but Steel City’s CEO, Ash Habib, stated the developer has recruited renowned talent from Rockstar Games, 2K, and EA Sports. Ultimately, the decision to end support for the first game came dow...
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Invincible VS Global Release Times Confirmed

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Invincible VS , the superhero 3v3 tag fighting game set in the Invincible universe, is coming to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 on April 30. Developer Quarter Up has now confirmed the exact global release times, so you know when Invincible VS goes live in your timezone. The fighting game sees you battle to the death as a team of fan-favorite characters from the hugely popular Prime Video animated series, including Mark Grayson (Invincible), Thula, Bulletproof, Atom Eve, Rex Splode, and Omni-Man. Those who participated in the beta received the Coalition of Planets Omni-Man skin as a thank you for taking part. There's a story mode, too, that acts as a bonus, playable episode of the animated series set between later episodes of Season 3. Here's the official blurb: Designed to match the length and quality of a full Invincible episode, players will have the chance to dive deeper into the entire character roster, and completing the Story Mode will reward them with a variety of exc...
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Above Land: Rhapsody is a Co-op Roguelite that Mixes Swordplay with... Slam Dunks?

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Colourful, quirky, and completely chaotic, Above Land: Rhapsody basically takes the three-player co-op carnage of Elden Ring Nightreign and injects it with some hilariously over-the-top weapons and special moves that seem straight out of a Yakuza street brawl. At a recent BiliBili: First Look event in Shanghai, I spent a few hours hacking and slashing away at monsters in a land above the clouds, in this frenetic roguelite that marries breathtaking bursts of action and tower defense elements with a deep sense of combat customisation. Yet what really stood out for me was the creative combination of weaponry at my disposal. I mean, when was the last time you played an action RPG that allowed you to cut down goblins with a giant broadsword in one hand, and perform slam-dunking finishing moves with a basketball dribbled with the other? Just why do you have access to an eclectic arsenal of weapons that seem to be stripped out of the pages of a tweenager’s sketchbook? Well, that probably h...
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Above Land: Rhapsody Announced for PC

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Introducing Above Land: Rhapsody, an absolutely wild sci-fi fantasy action-RPG roguelite with tower defense elements set above the clouds that you can play in three-player co-op where weapons include bows and arrows, swords, and chairs. Yes, chairs. And basketballs. You'll see what we mean in the trailer, which you can watch above. Above Land: Rhapsody is being developed by Flying Amateurs and puts you into a cloud-based civilization on floating islands on the backs of giant mythical creatures known as Kun. The team describes Above Land's setup as such: "Players enter chapters from a comic book left behind by the player's mother, complete each map's challenge, bring back Stars, repair the stranded Invincible Bebe, and unlock later chapters. The journey moves between a ruined present and a lost "Yesterday" when humans and ancient giant Kun lived in harmony." Each chapter is a different, visually unique map. You'll be able to dual-wield weapon...
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Take-Two CEO Addresses Grand Theft Auto 6 Price, and the Possibility for More L.A. Noire

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Speaking at iicon today, a new conference for video game executives , Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed the much-debated question of how much Grand Theft Auto 6 will cost. He declined to confirm the game’s price, but hinted away from the potentially super-premium price point that has been floated in the past. “Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way way way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said. “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.” He went on to mention that game pricing has actually gotten cheaper over the years, a reference to the fact that major game releases have been priced at $60 or at most $70 for more than a decade, as compared to greater rates of inflation seen in the wider economy. “If you look at it through that lens, that doesn’t make a whole...
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