Paradox Interactive's streak of game delays continues with the news its Chinese-Room-developed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is now targeting a release in the "first half of 2025", rather than its previously announced "late 2024" window.

In a post on its website, Paradox called the delay a "proactive decision" derived from its commitment earlier this year to deliver "high-quality games" to its players. "Though [Bloodlines 2] is in a good enough place that we could have maintained our planned release window," it wrote, "Paradox and The Chinese Room collaboratively decided to prioritise polish."

Paradox says the delay will "create a quality assurance buffer, giving more time between testing and launch, ensuring we release the game when it's ready." More specifically, The Chinese Room will use the time to expand Bloodlines 2's story, providing twice as many endings as its predecessor, and to "adjust certain areas" such as Fabien - the voice in its protagonist's head.

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US workers body SAG-AFTRA says its voice actors strike could still impact projects that have been in development for over a year, including games like GTA 6, despite the terms of its agreement stating they should be safe.

Initially, last week's shock announcement of strike action by video game actors over AI concerns was thought to have minimal impact on games expected to release later this year, as it did not include games that commenced production before August 2023.

Now, however, SAG-AFTRA says all "members who want to show solidarity with the union can elect voluntarily not to work", intimating that it believed the strike could be more disruptive than previously suspected and impact "non-struck" games.

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US workers body SAG-AFTRA says its voice actors strike could still impact projects that have been in development for over a year, including games like GTA 6, despite the terms of its agreement stating they should be safe.

Initially, last week's shock announcement of strike action by video game actors over AI concerns was thought to have minimal impact on games expected to release later this year, as it did not include games that commenced production before August 2023.

Now, however, SAG-AFTRA says all "members who want to show solidarity with the union can elect voluntarily not to work", intimating that it believed the strike could be more disruptive than previously suspected and impact "non-struck" games.

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Yesterday's dramatic announcement of strike action by video game actors over AI concerns may have less of an immediate impact on upcoming titles than first thought.

While the SAG-AFTRA union has indeed voted for voice artists and performance capture personnel to strike from today, a large swathe of projects now appear unaffected.

This includes any video game in development as of a year ago, including (for now) live service games, according to statements from both SAG-AFTRA and the companies the strike will hit, first shared by Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach.

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While he's "blown away" by the beach scenes in the first GTA 6 trailer, former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij thinks the forthcoming open worlder might underwhelm players hoping for a palpable technological update on GTA 5, which has been reworked and re-released extensively since its 2013 launch. This has less to do with GTA in itself, Vermeij says, than with the fact that changes in computing capacity today simply aren't as dramatic as in the days of the very first PlayStation. It's becoming rare, he suggests, that you see a "jump" akin to GTA going 3D.

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While he's "blown away" by the beach scenes in the first GTA 6 trailer, former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij thinks the forthcoming open worlder might underwhelm players hoping for a palpable technological update on GTA 5, which has been reworked and re-released extensively since its 2013 launch. This has less to do with GTA in itself, Vermeij says, than with the fact that changes in computing capacity today simply aren't as dramatic as in the days of the very first PlayStation. It's becoming rare, he suggests, that you see a "jump" akin to GTA going 3D.

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Cities: Skylines 2 has found a delightfully straightforward solution to the very real-world problem of greedy landlords demanding excessive rent payments. The city-builder sequel will simply delete all its virtual leeches in its next patch, helping to bring down the cost of living in your digital metropolis.

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Cities: Skylines 2 has found a delightfully straightforward solution to the very real-world problem of greedy landlords demanding excessive rent payments. The city-builder sequel will simply delete all its virtual leeches in its next patch, helping to bring down the cost of living in your digital metropolis.

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The highly-anticipated GTA 6 is set to release next year across PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. However, Rockstar is yet to say anything at all regarding a PC release.

Now, publisher Take-Two has given further comment on the lack of Grand Theft Auto 6-related PC news, stating Rockstar would "make more announcements in due time".

During an interview at a TD Cowen conference (as transcribed by VGC), Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said "the lack of an announcement is not something that could be set in stone as near as I could tell, because the only thing that happens after the lack of an announcement is an announcement, I suppose, or a continuing lack of an announcement, I guess that could happen too. It doesn't seem to me that either would be set in stone".

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Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive have narrowed GTA 6's release window from the previously announced "2025" to "fall" of next year.

Take-Two shared the news during its Q4 2024 earnings report, saying it was "highly confident that Rockstar Games will deliver an unparalleled entertainment experience".

"Our expectations for the commercial impact of the title continue to increase", it added, noting it expects to see "tremendous growth" in net bookings over the next three years.

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Open world crime-a-thon GTA 6 will release next “fall”, according to publisher Take-Two Interactive’s latest earning report, via Eurogamer. This narrows the previously announced release window of “2025” down by, uh, infinity I suppose? A year is an effectively endless stretch in terms of release calenders. But “Fall”, despite not being a real season, is something I can work with.

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It seems like Rockstar is readying up to share some more GTA 6 news with us very soon.

As spotted by the aptly named X account @GTAVI_Countdown, the developer's page was recently updated to include GTA 6 in its database. This update included placeholder spots for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date.

This page was subsequently removed by Rockstar, but not before @GTAVI_Countdown managed to grab a screenshot. In a followup post, the account noted the code with placeholders still remains in the database, as do mentions of digital purchases.

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It seems like Rockstar is readying up to share some more GTA 6 news with us very soon.

As spotted by the aptly named X account @GTAVI_Countdown, the developer's page was recently updated to include GTA 6 in its database. This update included placeholder spots for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date.

This page was subsequently removed by Rockstar, but not before @GTAVI_Countdown managed to grab a screenshot. In a followup post, the account noted the code with placeholders still remains in the database, as do mentions of digital purchases.

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It seems like Rockstar is readying up to share some more GTA 6 news with us very soon.

As spotted by the aptly named X account @GTAVI_Countdown, the developer's page was recently updated to include GTA 6 in its database. This update included placeholder spots for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date.

This page was subsequently removed by Rockstar, but not before @GTAVI_Countdown managed to grab a screenshot. In a followup post, the account noted the code with placeholders still remains in the database, as do mentions of digital purchases.

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Last year, we got the first official teaser for GTA 6, and it was quite something. We all watched Lucia make her way through Vice City as Tom Petty's Love Is a Long Road played on, breaking records in the process.

But, since then, nothing more has come from developer Rockstar. So, to keep quenching that GTA thirst we all have, fans have taken over. And, most recently, one fan has taken that initial Grand Theft Auto 6 announcement trailer, and recreated it with some amusing tweaks that add GTA 5's three protagonists into the fold.

Yes, Franklin, Trevor, and Michael all star in this fan-made GTA6 trailer from Jantsuu.

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Cities Skylines 2 publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Colossal Order have issued a stark apology for the state of the game and the release of its recent DLC, admitting to fans: "We let you down".

"We see and understand the disappointment," the companies behind the city sim sequel write in their joint statement - a message which repeatedly apologises for the missteps which led to Cities Skylines 2 being released in such a state, and announces that anyone who purchased the Beach Properties DLC would be refunded. Work on any future paid DLC has now been postponed indefinitely.

"We asked for your patience and support, and you've shown those," the statement reads. "In return, we let you down. We thought we could make up for the shortcomings of the game in a timeframe that was unrealistic, and rushed out a DLC that should not have been published in its current form. For all this, we are truly sorry."

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Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two has announced it will lay off five percent of its 11,000-strong workforce - equating to around 550 people - and cancel multiple in-development projects. The company said the move was the next stage in its ongoing restructuring plan, which began in February.

In a new filing, Take-Two said it expects to incur between $160m and $200m in total charges as a result of this restructuring program, with $120m to $140m related to title cancellations.

Additionally, it said approximately $25m to $35m will be associated with employee severance and employee-related costs, while approximately $15m to $25m will be related to office space reductions.

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Cities Skylines 2 publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Colossal Order have issued a stark apology for the state of the game and the release of its recent DLC, admitting to fans: "We let you down".

"We see and understand the disappointment," the companies behind the city sim sequel write in their joint statement - a message which repeatedly apologises for the missteps which led to Cities Skylines 2 being released in such a state, and announces that anyone who purchased the Beach Properties DLC would be refunded. Work on any future paid DLC has now been postponed indefinitely.

"We asked for your patience and support, and you've shown those," the statement reads. "In return, we let you down. We thought we could make up for the shortcomings of the game in a timeframe that was unrealistic, and rushed out a DLC that should not have been published in its current form. For all this, we are truly sorry."

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Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two has announced it will lay off five percent of its 11,000-strong workforce - equating to around 550 people - and cancel multiple in-development projects. The company said the move was the next stage in its ongoing restructuring plan, which began in February.

In a new filing, Take-Two said it expects to incur between $160m and $200m in total charges as a result of this restructuring program, with $120m to $140m related to title cancellations.

Additionally, it said approximately $25m to $35m will be associated with employee severance and employee-related costs, while approximately $15m to $25m will be related to office space reductions.

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While Cities: Skylines 2 has made progress on the performance front, not everything about the troubled citybuilder is on the up. In fact, player reception to the recently released Beach Properties DLC has proven so un-sunny that both developers Colossal Order and publishers Paradox Interactive have issued a joint statement apologising for the state it launched in.

The letter, addressed to Cities fans and signed by Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen and Paradox Interactive deputy CEO Mattias Lilja, also promises refunds for anyone who bought Beach Properties. Or, in the case of those who got it through snapping up Skylines 2’s Ultimate Edition, compensation in the form of three Creator Packs and three radio stations. The contentious DLC is also going free to anyone who’s yet to put money down.

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GTA 6 publishers Take-Two Interactive have announced that they're "rationalizing" their "pipeline" and positioning/restructuring/streamlining for growth by, you guessed it, laying off a load of people and cancelling a bunch of games. As detailed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Take-Two are doing away with five per cent of the approximately 11,000 people who work for them, and have cancelled several in-development projects worth tens of millions of dollars.

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Six months is a long time. In that half-year you could fully grow a patch of delicious strawberries, plant the seeds, then grow another. Or you could squirm through three and a half successive Liz Truss premierships. Or, as Cities: Skylines 2 developers Colossal Order have done, you could take the technical mess of your long-awaited citybuilding game and reconstruct it into something that performs... okay, not well, but better.

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When Modern Warfare 3 released last year, it pulled in some serious numbers for internet service providers (ISPs). The game's launch and pre-load period resulted in record traffic across EE and BT, which the companies reported as the "biggest single game contribution to a broadband peak". But what does this really mean? And how do ISPs cope when gaming traffic spikes occur? I spoke with EE's director for gaming and future propositional development Sam Kemp to find out.

Inside EE's network - as with any ISP - are records of games and other media in a cache, or CDN. "CDN is a content distribution node inside our network," Kemp says. "Whether it's the latest Apple software release, the latest Fortnite download or the latest Call of Duty game, we work with all of our partners globally to bring all of that content into our network... so when you call down on that film, that game, those maps, it's already in our network." This enables ISPs like EE to provide these downloads as fast and as directly as possible, with metrics "we know are really important to gamers", Kemp says, like "jitter, packet loss, latency, packet sequencing".

He compares EE's work adjusting internet signals - specifically when gaming on a smartphone - to a musician tweaking the "fine-tuned dials at the end of a violin or guitar. If you turn them all in the right way, you get the best sound".

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Developers at GTA 6 studio Rockstar Games have criticised the company for telling employees they must return to the office full-time next month, calling leadership's decision "reckless".

As reported yesterday, employees at Rockstar have been told to return to the office five days a week, now that GTA 6 is entering the final stretch of development. Studio management cited security and productivity reasons for this upcoming change, which will come into effect in April.

Since this announcement, the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has blasted Rockstar for its plans to withdraw remote working provisions for the "majority" of its staff, noting the studio said any exceptions to the new rules will be "rare".

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Employees at Rockstar have been asked to return to the office five days a week, now that GTA 6 enters its final year of development.

As reported by Bloomberg, an email sent to staff by Rockstar's head of publishing Jenn Kolbe stated the decision to end hybrid work was made - in part - with security reasons in mind.

Rockstar was the subject of a high profile hack in 2022, in which over 90 screenshots and videos were released online showing work on the then unannounced GTA 6. Then, last year, the studio released its first official GTA 6 trailer ahead of schedule, after it too leaked online.

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The greatest gaming event of 2023 was the GTA 6 reveal trailer. I am still thinking about it now. Rockstar has mastered the art of making the gaming world pause for a few minutes to experience something lavish and mind-blowing. Their games encourage grandiose thinking. I want this new version of Vice City’s map to be the biggest in history, even though I’m currently exhausted of massive open-world games.

I’m attracted to an open-world sandbox for the chance to catch that fleeting and ephemeral feeling of immersion. GTA 6’s trailer delivered the real essence of immersion for me. If you ask me, a crucial part of immersion is the game’s power to remain in your consciousness even after you’ve put the controller down and turned off the TV, blurring the barrier between the fictitious and reality.

I spent hours in GTA 5 as the embodiment of Trevor Philips, Michael De Santa and Franklin Clinton. You know, just cruising around Los Santos listening to radio stations, earning money as a taxi driver, encountering hilarious random encounters or causing utter 5-star mayhem. This level of immersion pulled me through my screen into the world and narrative of GTA 5 like an early premonition of Alan Wake 2. I’ve been trying to grasp that fleeting sense of immersion ever since, only finding it when experiencing The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2. I’m sure you have your own touchstones for this!

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The "biggest regret" of the developer behind Cities: Skylines 2 is the game's ongoing lack of modding support, Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen has said.

Writing in the studio's latest developer diary, posted on publisher Paradox Interactive's forum, Hallikainen also detailed the changes Colossal is now looking into based on player feedback.

The city-builder sequel released in October last year on PC and was immediately criticised by players for its performance issues and, yes, missing official mod support. In response to fan complaints the game's launch had been a "mess" and a "disaster", Hallikainen admitted Colossal would "much rather be in a different position than we are in the moment, but we cannot change the past".

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GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games are reportedly ending hybrid working and requiring employees to return to the office full-time, with a view to being in "the best position to deliver the next Grand Theft Auto at the level of quality and polish we know it requires, along with a publishing roadmap that matches the scale and ambition of the game." That's allegedly from an email to staff sent by head of publishing Jenn Kolbe.

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