Another AA publisher is hanging on for dear life. Amazon continues to flee AAA gaming like it didn’t just make $77 billion in net income last year. And a $20 million fine on Reddit shows why the scourge of online age-verification requirements has become such a messy fight. It’s the latest edition of Morning Checkpoint, Kotaku‘s daily roundup of gaming news, rumors, and culture. Were you waiting for the right time to check out Ninja Gaiden 4? It was a lot of fun and is about to get new DLC.
I’m still trying to read the finely crumbled tea leaves in the new CEO of Xbox’s first big interview since taking over. She promises AI won’t displace creativity and that nothing is off the table in terms of a rethink. But she’s also waiting to complete a listening tour before deciding what to change. Matt Booty, meanwhile, promises first-party development remains a key pillar of Microsoft Gaming, including small indie games like Double Fine’s Keeper. Only one thing is for certain: Xbox’s Major Nelson is ready to report back for duty.
Nacon has some overdue bills
The French publisher announced it doesn’t currently have enough cash to pay its debts, leading it to file for insolvency, VGC reports. It says the “procedure will enable the company to continue its business, renegotiate its debts, and develop a credible and effective continuation plan.” It recently released the underwhelming Styx: Blades of Greed and is preparing for the launch of the troubled RPG sequel Greedfall 2 in March.
Last year it published Hell Is Us, a grim but novel Soulslike that received a fair amount of praise but not much wider attention. It follows an AWOL military operative searching for his family in a war-torn country infested with supernatural beings. Unlike most modern games, it eschewed clear objectives and quest markers, which some found refreshing and others found tedious.
Nacon was also set to publish Terminator: Survivors last year but the game was unexpectedly delayed indefinitely. The survival shooter also dropped its plans for Early Access and multiplayer co-op.
Amazon abandon’s Forza Horizon director’s new open-world game
UK developer Maverick Games is no longer working with Amazon, The Game Business reports. The studio was cofounded in 2022 by former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown to make a AAA narrative-led game, with the tech giant signed on to publish. It’s unclear what will happen if the team doesn’t find a new partner. “Development of our debut title continues to progress as strongly as planned,” Maverick Games said. “We’re in active dialogue with partners who share our long-term ambition for the IP and look forward to sharing more later this year.”
Xbox cloud gaming gets an upgrade on console
“We’re now rolling out up to 1440p, higher bitrate streaming for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members, delivering sharper visuals and more responsive gameplay across supported titles and regions,” reads a new post on Xbox Wire. A bunch of updates have also been rolled out to the Xbox PC gaming app to make navigation feel more responsive.
Magic: The Gathering lawsuit gets dismissed
Filed earlier this year, it accused Hasbro executives of misleading investors about the sustainability of the card game’s profits and alleged that overprinting was happening despite the known harm it would do to the brand. Polygon reports it was voluntarily withdrawn while another shareholder lawsuit continues. Hasbro previously said the claims had no merit.
Reddit gets fined nearly $20 million over child privacy issues
UK regulators said the company shirked its responsibility to know which of its users were 13 or younger and handle any personal information collected accordingly (via the BBC). It’s one of the regulatory pressures leading companies like Reddit, Discord, and others to implement AI age checks which are in turn making users mad. “The ICO’s insistence that we collect more private information on every UK user is counterintuitive and at odds with our strong belief in our users’ online privacy and safety,” a spokesperson for Reddit said. The company will appeal the ruling.
20 years later, modders are still trying to “fix” Morrowind
A great new feature at Ars Technica details the long-running efforts of Elder Scrolls fans to make Morrowind‘s world feel as vast as that of its predecessor, Daggerfall. The result is multiple groups of modders spanning decades working together to try and piece together all of Tamriel in the 2002 PC game.
“We have some really wonderful people who are the old guard that feel like they are the comfortable welders, and they’re all very wise,” college-age modder Meadhainnigh said. “But even in the newest editions, we’re not here because we think that it’s all going to be done within our lifetimes. We like to joke about 2090 and about raising our children to work on the project. We just like to look at the next release, and that tends to be exciting enough to get us going.”
