More layoffs at Iron Galaxy Studios 😞
The US studio announced another round of cuts, exact numbers weren't disclosed. After an early‑2025 wave that let go 66 people and shrank the team by about 25%, management says the market changed after 2020 and won't "return to normal." Players consume content differently, publishers rethink investments, and partners feel the squeeze. Iron Galaxy promises to help affected staff with references and...
⚡️A short praise trailer for Replaced from Sad Cat Studios has just dropped, a spotlight reel that basically wraps up the press hype and shows exactly what everyone's raving about.
The action-platformer pairs intricate 2.5D pixel art with a dense dystopian vibe: the story centers on the tragedy of the digital mind R.E.A.C.H., trapped inside a human body amid a nuclear-ravaged 80s America. Gorgeous and WILD 🎮
😡 ARC Raiders: the third Expedition from Embark Studios has the player base furious, apparently only NO-LIFERS will be able to clear it.
Dev change: they removed the stash/currency trade-in, all 5 skill points are now granted for dealing damage by any means during a five-day window. The Expedition opens on April 28, the same day as the Riven Tides update. It's the final 2026 roadmap drop: a new map and a giant "Queen" boss.
#SteamAndEpic #Expedition #NOLIFERS #Raiders #Studios #Embark
⚡️Launch drama around Replaced, the game dropped on 14 April, but a review calling it «AI-based» made some players assume it was MADE WITH AI 😅
Studios Sad Cat Studios and Thunderful clarified: the protagonist being a human/AI hybrid is a STORY element, while the game itself is 100% handmade, no generative AI was used. The mix‑up over an IGN phrasing shows how touchy the AI topic has become in the industry.
#SteamAndEpic #Studios #Thunderful #Replaced #AIBased #Launch
Tarkov phenomenon: Escape from Tarkov is outlasting the new extraction shooters, Marathon dumped 72% of players in a month, an Embark Studios project bled over 81% from its peak.
Tarkov, which hit Steam in November 2025, dropped only 65%: Battlestate keeps its core with events and DLC prep, while rivals choke on a content drought and backlash over punishing difficulty. The FATHER of the genre still calls the shots. 💥
#SteamAndEpic #Tarkov #Battlestate #Marathon #November #Studios
In Arc Raiders PvP grabs only 30% of players 🤝
Embark Studios faced a harsh truth: in their extraction shooter one in five players has never attacked another raider, while 95% use voice chat, researchers and criminologists say that the voice layer turned raids into a space for talks, shared adventures and cooperation instead of nonstop war. PEACE.
🧠 REPLACED by Sad Cat Studios is a philosophical retro‑future pixel platformer, and my launch experience was a saga: black screens, monitor sleeping, cloud settings overriding fixes. Reinstall + reboots finally got it running in a tiny window until I reset to defaults.
Short version: you are R.E.A.C.H. trapped in Dr. Warren Marsh's body, reborn as Rich. The game nails atmosphere, camera work and animation; traversal is deep, comb...
Indie studios are joining forces through Nova Assembly to share knowledge and resources, offering a new survival strategy for independent developers facing market challenges.
Major film studios are mining NFTs. Find out why in this story from Fast Company.
⚡️Replaced, a pixel cyberpunk priced at $20/€20, CHEAP and short, but cinematic.
Sad Cat Studios revealed regional pricing is planned (numbers TBD); expect the main story to take ~8 hours for an average player, with full completion around 11-12 hours. Publisher, Thunderful Publishing. The price suggests they're aiming for an accessible cinematic bite.
#SteamAndEpic #Thunderful #Publishing #Publisher #Replaced #Studios
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Scott M. Graffius