The Midweek Memo #028
Hey, Hey ??
The Midweek Memo is back after a short break, but the gaming world never sleeps, and we've got a bumper mix of good and bad updates for you this week.
Let's begin with some bittersweet news... the Xbox 360 Marketplace has officially shut down after nearly 19 years, signaling the end of a legendary online era.
We've also seen two new unions formed within—and recognized by Microsoft—with the entire World of Warcraft development team and over 200 Bethesda employees unionizing.
There's been some of the usual controversy, with Ubisoft apologizing to its Japanese Assassin's Creed fans after Shadows' marketing campaign was criticized for being "sloppy," with some referring to the game's setting as "historical falsification."
Finally, and on an even less positive note, indie publisher Humble Games has effectively closed its doors after parent company Ziff Davis laid off all 36 employees and transferred Humble's operations to a third party. ??
More on all of those news items later but, for now, let's jump into some job listings.
Hot Jobs ??
We're awash with remote vacancies this week, with only one on this list requiring the successful candidate to be on-site! ??
?? BisectHosting ???????????????? Remote AUS/CA/UK/US??? Full Time???? 2+ years exp
?? BisectHosting ???????????????? Remote AUS/CA/UK/US ?? Full Time ??? 2+ years exp
?? BisectHosting ???????????????? Remote AUS/CA/UK/US ?? Full Time ??? 5+ years exp
?? EazeGames ???? Amsterdam ?? Full Time ??? 2+ years exp
?? BisectHosting ???? Remote AZ/ID/IN/MI/NY/OH/PA ?? Full Time ??? 2+ years exp
?? Yodo1 ??? Remote Anywhere??? Full Time ??? 3+ years exp
?? DECA Games ??? Remote Anywhere ?? Full Time ??? 3+ years exp
?? DECA Games ??? Remote Anywhere ?? Full Time ??? 3+ years exp
?? People Can Fly ??? Remote Anywhere???? Full Time ??? 3+ years exp
?? Discord ???? Remote USA ?? Full Time??? 3+ years exp
More than?170 new positions?were posted on Hitmarker over the past seven days, a small improvement since our last newsletter but still not at the level we'd like to see!
Big News ??
领英推荐
Other News ???
As we're talking about Microsoft, the company has surprisingly recognized a new union formed by 241 Bethesda artists, designers, engineers, and programmers, plus another union formed by 500 World of Warcraft developers. This brings its total number of unionized employees to approximately 1,750.
Things aren't going so well for Ubisoft after Japanese fans criticized Assassin's Creed Shadows' lack of authenticity with the samurai character Yasuke, prompting the publisher to apologize for upsetting players.?
And, after a good few weeks without layoffs, Ziff Davis has laid off all Humble Games employees, handing over the remainder of the studio to a third-party consultancy. The studio's official X account also issued a statement claiming that it was restructuring, conveniently avoiding the fact that it had let everyone go... ??
Getting Social ??
Here are a couple of our most-viewed posts from here on LI in the last seven days:
We're back with another stacked?remote jobs thread?this week!
DECA Games leads the way with a variety of globally available design opportunities, while ChillBase, BARZ, Gamelevate, and more are also looking for staff worldwide.?
The usual big players, including EA, Discord, and CD PROJEKT RED, are also offering numerous development and support roles across the US, Canada, and Europe.
As always, if nothing in the thread catches your eye, we've got plenty of other?new remote positions?on Hitmarker. Feel free to check them out, we'll cross our fingers for you ????
Hannes Breuer's upcoming indie economic and trading sim Might of Merchants recently landed on our radar and has?made its way onto plenty of wishlists!
The game, which features a beautiful hand-drawn art style, incorporates role-playing elements into the economic/trading sim genre, requiring players to prove their skills as merchants in a medieval kingdom. ??
To expand their business empire, players must acquire raw materials for manufacturing products and build and protect homes/workplaces for their employees. You will also need to monitor supply and demand and work up the political ladder to influence various laws and regulations that may affect your company's success.
?Might of Merchants has no release date yet, but it is available for?wishlisting on Steam. Hannes is developing the game by himself and interacts with the community through the game's?Discord server.
Cool Resources ??
A cool little treasure trove we've been reminded of this week is the?GDC Vault, a place where the Game Developers Conference uploads all of its previous chats, showcases, and presentations from its events held in various locations around the world.
GDC has grown into one of the largest industry events for professionals, with talks ranging from specific design ideas to the animation process behind major hits like Cuphead to general advice for both the business and development sides. ??
There are countless talks available, with the archive even going as far back as GDC 1996. Even better, the majority of the content is completely free to access!
Farewell ??
It wasn't exactly the best of weeks, with the brutal layoffs at Humble Games, but it was nice to hear not one but two positive stories about unions for once.
As for the Xbox 360 Marketplace, we'll certainly miss it, but it has served us well for almost two decades.
At least physical media was still king back in the day, so we can carry on playing one of the greatest consoles of all time!
See you all next week,
Danny and the gang at Hitmarker ??