According to a July 1 Bloomberg report, Krafton Inc. and Unknown Worlds Entertainment have reached a "legal settlement" with the Subnautica 2 studio's CEO Ted Gill and its co-founders. As part of the agreement, Gill has resigned, stating that the two companies--Krafton and Unknown Worlds--are searching for a new CEO outside the companies.
"We mutually agreed to part ways," Gill told Bloomberg News. "New leadership is the best way for the studio to move forward."
Gill explained to Bloomberg that everyone at Unknown Worlds--including those who were there during the Krafton acquisition in 2021 and those recently hired--will be "compensated significantly more" than under the original purchase. How much is unknown, but Gill said that the team will get "further incentives" as Subnautica 2 receives more updates. These bonuses will be paid out in three annual installments.
Unknown Worlds filed a lawsuit against Krafton in July 2025 for refusing to pay out $250 million in bonuses. The drama resulted in Subnautica 2 being delayed and Ted Gill being fired, though a judge ruled in March 2026 that Gill be reinstated, blaming the publisher's CEO for consulting ChatGPT on how to get out of paying the bonuses the studio was reportedly owed. Now, Gill is out once again, but the team's getting paid.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-05-2026, 02:23 AM - Forum: Lounge
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News - Sony To End PlayStation Store Support On PS3 And Vita
After Sony's surprising announcement that it plans to end PlayStation disc production by 2028 in favor of a digital-only future for its consoles, some fine print has gotten lost in all the buzz: Sony is also ending support for the PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita.
"After nearly two decades of supporting the PS3 console generation, we wanted to let you know we will be closing the PlayStation Store on PS3, as well as on PS Vita," Sony senior director Sid Shuman shared in a blog post announcing the upcoming changes.
Of course, this isn't nearly as surprising as Sony's pivot to digital-only games. Cutting off online store access for aging consoles is common--Nintendo cut off eShop access for the 3DS and Wii U in March 2023, for example--but Sony seems to be taking a softer approach.
"PlayStation Store on PS3 will close in select markets starting this year, followed by global closures for PS3 and PS Vita next year," Shuman explained. "That means new content purchases will no longer be possible once the PlayStation Store closes on these devices. To ease the transition, players will still be able to download previously purchased content after the closing date for the foreseeable future."
Per Shuman, the first markets on the chopping block are Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua, where the PlayStation Store on PS3 will close in August. (No word yet on how this will affect Vita users in these regions.)
The PlayStation Store will also become inaccessible on PS3 consoles in "additional Latin American and Middle Eastern countries" sometime in "late 2026." Sony hasn't provided any specifics on which countries will be affected, or exactly when in 2026 this will take place. (And no word on Vita here, either.)
"In all other countries, PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027," Shuman wrote suggesting that regardless of location, all PS3 and Vita users will lose access to the PlayStation Store by this time next year.
"As we continue to expand the PlayStation experience on newer devices that most of our users are playing on today, we need to focus more resources on delivering the best gaming experiences on these platforms as we look ahead towards the future," Shuman said of the decision.
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Solarpunk is out
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Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-04-2026, 08:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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News - PlayStation Disc Death Sends The Internet Into Its Physical Media Defense Arc
Sony's announcement that it will end production of all PlayStation game discs in 2028 hasn't gone over well with fans of physical media. While the move might be an obvious one to make for Sony--digital sales account for almost 80% of its game sales on PS5 currently--the news still feels like it came from out of nowhere.
Coupled with Sony also confirming that it'll be closing the PS3 and PS Vita storefronts next month, today feels like a solid reminder that you don't own the game you just bought, merely a license to play it on that specific platform.
This will have a major ripple effect across the industry, as physical retailers like GameStop have long made their bread and butter on physical sales, both new and secondhand. Then you have people who swap games with each other or who prefer to obtain a tangible copy of a game so that they can feel some sense of ownership over it, or the consumers who don't trust a company to keep the servers online forever--an idea that feels especially relevant in light of Sony delisting hundreds of digital movies from PlayStation user libraries last week.
Naturally, people have a lot to say about the shift to digital, and how it feels like the latest addition to a seemingly never-ending cycle of bad news.
News - Goodbye Discs: Digital Game Sales Continue To Grow At PlayStation, As Well As
Sony has confirmed that it will no longer support physical discs for PlayStation games--for first- and third-party games--starting in January 2028. Many are wondering why, and it likely has to do with steep declines in physical software sales at the gaming giant. And it's not just Sony that's seeing major declines in physical, disc-based games--many other publishers are as well. It's part of a wider trend of people increasingly buying games digitally, for convenience and other reasons.
Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad has reminded people that while physical software is not a dead market--almost 70 million new disc-based PlayStation games were sold in 2025--but the shift toward digital keeps growing.
"Having a retail presence is still important for many publishers, but it's clear that doesn't always need to a disc, and won't be going forward," he said.
"So as much as rising digital share is a market trend, the decision to stop physical disc production at this point is entirely a platform led decision that is designed to cut costs for Sony, eliminate resale / used markets, and drive 100% of revenue through the PlayStation Store," he added.
No more discs for PlayStation games.
80% digital at PlayStation
When the PS4 launched, less than 10% of game sales were digital. For the latest fiscal year, it rose to about 80% of full-game sales being digital for PlayStation.
93% digital at Capcom
Earlier this year, Japanese publisher Capcom--known for Resident Evil and Monster Hunter--reported that a whopping 93% of its game sales were digital. That compares to 75% just a few years prior. Capcom said it predicts that its percentage of digital sales will grow in next year.
Electronic Arts is seeing a big shift, too
Electronic Arts, one of the biggest publishers of games in the world, is seeing increased share for digital game sales compared to physical. For EA's latest reporting period, full-game downloads amounted to $528 million, compared to $81 million for "packaged goods."
Nintendo is selling more digital games
For Nintendo's latest fiscal year, the company said digital game sales were up 25% year-over-year, "mainly due to an increase in sales of downloadable versions of packaged software." Digital sales grew by 1.1 points to make up 54.6% of total software sales for the fiscal year.
Sony killing off physical discs for PlayStation games might make business sense, but it's also a big bummer for many who wanted to keep buying physical games. It also has sparked game-preservation concerns.
Sony's official explanation is that it's doing this "in response to shifting trends in consumer preference."
"This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs," the company said. "This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today."
News - Surprise Mario Kart World Update Ends A Drought Of New Content
Despite being the Switch 2's leading launch game, Mario Kart World hasn't gotten much in terms of proper new content. But update 1.7.0 just dropped for the game, and it adds two Knockout Tour routes for players to burn rubber on.
The Drill Rally starts at Wario Shipyard and ends in Bowser's Castle, while the Boomerang Rally extends from Salty Salty Speedway to Whistlestop Summit. Nintendo's website mentions that additional routes will be added in future updates, and the game's menu indicates that six more are on the way.
Mind you, there aren't any new tracks or expansions to the open world included in this new update, but the addition of new Knockout Tour routes signals that Nintendo isn't done with the game yet.
As a bonus, Mario Kart World's photo mode now lets you add stickers to your pictures, with touchscreen and mouse support sure to make sticker placement even easier. Other changes in version 1.7.0 include changes to item rates and other gameplay adjustments.
Previous Mario Kart World updates include the addition of Bob-omb Blast, but this is probably the most substantial content drop for the Switch 2's best-selling game yet. The Mario Kart World community on Reddit appears quite excited to have received anything, to be frank.
Fans were convinced last year that DLC based on Donkey Kong Bananza was inevitable, but there's been no hint of such an update. At least with this patch for Mario Kart World, hope for more tracks, costumes, and such can race on.
Let’s Rank What Matters Most In Mario Kart World: The Food
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-02-2026, 07:35 AM - Forum: Lounge
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News - Splatoon Raiders Takes A Page From Monster Hunter To Boost Your Co-Op Chances
The Splatoon Raiders Direct outlined the structure of the upcoming single-player-focused title, and it looks packed with challenging encounters against hordes of Salmonids. If any raids get a little too punishing, an online feature will lend solo players support in a way that recalls modern Monster Hunter games.
As detailed in Nintendo's video presentation, you can send out a call for help before beginning a raid--other players can select a "Go Help" option on the map to be matched with another player seeking help and join their lobby.
Failing a raid results in players losing all the loot they collected in that session, but succeeding will give the helper a "help bonus" in the form of "nifty in-game rewards." If the raid is successful, there will be a cooldown period before you can call for help again.
It's not unlike the SOS Flare mechanic from Monster Hunter World (and Monster Hunter Wilds). The big difference here is that in Monster Hunter, your player character will quite literally shoot up a flare in-game during a quest instead of calling for help from a menu.
Of course, Splatoon Raiders lets you team up with up to three other players through online or local wireless play, but difficulty will scale depending on the number of players. GameSpot's preview of Splatoon Raiders observed how players' different builds can synergize with each other, and said that "multiplayer seems like a fertile ground for high-level raids against tough opponents."
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