Good morning, and welcome to your previously scheduled Monday. Don’t watch the clock, and this terrible day will end soon. Until then, enjoy this installment of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily round-up of video game news and other stuff you might care about. This time around, we get an update on Fate of the Old Republic, check in on Fallout Shelter, and perhaps sing that famous Grinch Christmas song.
Casey Hudson denies claims that FOTOR is five years away
During last week’s Game Awards, Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic was revealed, and people got excited. A spiritual successor to Knights of the Old Republic led by that game’s director, Casey Hudson, who also helped create Mass Effect? Heck yeah. But, as pointed out by a few different reporters, this new Star Wars game is being developed by a studio that’s just a few months old and so, folks speculated, the game was likely a long way off, possibly not launching until 2030. This speculation quickly snowballed into full-on “rumors” and spread like wildfire, without proper context online, eventually leading to Hudson publicly denying the 2030 date on social media.
“Don’t worry about the ‘not till 2030’ rumors,” posted Hudson on December 12. “Game will be out before then. I’m not getting any younger!”
And while I’d love to be playing FOTOR sooner rather than later, I am curious as to why Hudson is so confident that something as large as a new KOTOR-like Star Wars RPG can be developed in under five years by a team that was just formed a few months ago. Maybe they have a super solid, streamlined plan with lots of support and resources to spare? Or maybe Hudson found a genie lamp? Regardless, according to Hudson, FOTOR will be out sometime before 2030. Place your bets now.
10 years later, and Fallout Shelter just got its biggest update ever
Mobile bunker-builder Fallout Shelter has been around since June 2015. And despite its age, Shelter is still extremely popular, receiving ports to console and PC and numerous updates. Its most recent one, out now, is its biggest yet, adding seasons, new characters, quests, and more connections to Amazon’s live-action Fallout show.
“Rejoice, Overseers – Fallout Shelter’s biggest update yet is here,” explained Bethesda on the game’s Steam page. “Years of content previously only available on mobile is now available on Steam, including new questlines, characters, weapons, themes, and more.” It ain’t Fallout 5, but at least it’s something.
Arcade1Up might have shut down over the weekend
Over the weekend, as reported by Time Extension, an email was shared online that seemed to indicate that Arcade1Up, a company that specializes in creating modern arcade cabinets, was shutting down. The reported internal email, which was sent on December 10, claims that Arcade1Up shut down on December 12 and that the future of the brand is unknown. At least one dev studio that had worked with the arcade makers has already indicated that its classic ports will still support online play via a backdoor that players will be able to turn on in the future if the shutdown affects online servers. So far, Arcade1Up has yet to confirm or deny the reports of its demise.
Katamari Damacy’s creator might be done making games after To a T sold poorly
Keita Takahashi, the creator of Katamari Damacy, released a new and odd-looking game this year, To a T, and if that’s the first you’re hearing about it, well, you aren’t alone. Apparently, the famed creator says the game didn’t sell well, and it has potentially forced him out of the game industry.
“I recently returned to Japan, and one of the reasons I had to do so was because To a T didn’t sell well,” Takahashi recently told GamesRadar. “My next goal is to support my children and find them a school in Japan. Then, if I feel that I don’t belong in the games industry, I’ll have to look elsewhere.”
It’s a real shame that an offbeat game like To a T, struggled to find an audience in 2025, and when the developer was asked if there was still room for weird, experimental games in the industry, Takahashi said “I’m not sure” and admitted that it’s “definitely” become harder for him to make these kinds of games anymore.
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