The biggest announcements from Summer Game Fest & Xbox Games Showcase | The Midweek Memo #022

Ahoy 👋

This week has been (mostly) good, as we've been spoiled with so many game announcements that we should have lots to play for years to come. 🤩 

Summer Game Fest took place last Friday, and while it wasn't the craziest in terms of reveals, it did give us some great titles to look forward to, including Civilization VII and the rather cool Lego Horizon Adventures.

Sunday's Xbox Games Showcase then stole the spotlight with a new Doom, Gears of War, and Life is Strange being revealed, among other announcements and updates, including Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

Meanwhile, during Ubisoft's Forward event, it was also confirmed that the remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time will arrive in 2026.

However, just as we were on the cusp of writing a layoff-free newsletter Sumo Group, Sumo Digital's parent company, announced it would lay off up to 15% of its global workforce to “cut costs.”

Hot Jobs 🔥

There are plenty of roles for those skilled in marketing and social media this week! 📣 

[1] Campaign Manager (Social & Influencer)
🏢 YRS TRULY 🇬🇧 London 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[2] Social Media Manager
🏢 Agent Ink 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[3] Programmer
🏢 Adurite 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[4] SEO Specialist
🏢 Unity 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[5] Development Tester
🏢 Ubisoft 🇺🇸 San Francisco, CA 📄 Temp🎚️ 1+ year exp

[6] Growth Marketing Lead
🏢 Yodo1 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 3+ years exp

[7] Social Media Specialist, North American Football
🏢 EA 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Contract 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[8] Subscription Optimization Specialist
🏢 PlayStation 🇺🇸 San Mateo, CA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[9] Junior Level Designer
🏢 Ubisoft 🇵🇭 Taguig 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[10] Social Media Manager
🏢 Amazon Games 🇺🇸 San Diego, CA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 4+ years exp

More than 210 new opportunities have been posted on the platform this week, so feel free to check them out!

Big News 📰

❎ The biggest announcements at Xbox Games Showcase 2024

• This year's Xbox Games Showcase was massive, featuring announcements from first- and third-party studios. Some notable reveals include Doom: The Dark Ages, Gears of War: E-Day, turn-based RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Life is Strange: Double Exposure.
  

• We also received new gameplay and updates on previously announced titles, such as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf being renamed Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle getting a brand new trailer, and the Perfect Dark reboot coming out of development hell with a cool gameplay preview.
  

• Black Ops 6 was fully revealed in a special showcase at the end of the show, displaying new movement mechanics and confirming a Game Pass release date of October.

Other News 🗞️

Friday's Summer Game Fest was also filled with great announcements, such as Civ 7, a retro-inspired Power Rangers beat 'em up, and news about the VALORANT console and EA's upcoming fourth Skate game.

Ubisoft Forward was a tad less exciting as it only featured titles from one publisher, but at least we now know when the highly-anticipated Sands of Time remake will be released.

Sadly, although we got close we couldn't avoid layoffs by publication time this week, as Sumo Group's job cuts may affect approximately 250 employees across its 19 studios worldwide. 😠 

☀️ Major announcements from Summer Game Fest 2024

⏳ Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake confirmed for 2026

🔫 Black Ops 6's new movement system, story, release date, and more revealed

😢 Sumo Group is laying off up to 15% of its workforce

Getting Social 📲

Take a look at two of our most-viewed LinkedIn posts from the last seven days:

This week's junior-level job thread is packed with opportunities in North America, Europe, and Asia that require only one year of experience!

Some standouts include marketing positions at Unity and Nintendo, testing roles at Ubisoft, Rockstar, and Amber Studio, and a rare social media gig at PC builder Starforge Systems.

As always, if nothing in the thread piques your interest, you’ll find over 100 other junior-level positions on our platform! 🤝 

Monterona, a cute street-building title from solo indie developer Slava Korolev, returned to our radar this week, so we had to share it with everyone again!

In Monterona, there is no score, and the only goal is to construct and decorate a row of homes inspired by stories told by your Italian grandma.

You can add anything from grass, water, plants, lights, and cars, to people, and create families with their own lives and stories. Players can also walk around in their creations for a close-up look! 😍 

Monterona has no set release date, but Slava has just released a demo for the game on Steam for those who want to try it out.

Cool Resources 🧱

Amir Satvat's Games Community was founded by Amir to assist those in the industry in finding and securing jobs by providing a variety of useful free resources co-created by experienced professionals.

Amir's website offers 16(!) free resources in six categories, including hiring visibility, career planning in gaming, and connecting with others inside and outside of the community. Members of Amir's community even offer résumé and portfolio reviews, as well as mock interviews!

Amir is also active on LinkedIn and Discord, where he frequently shares advice and news of relevant industry events.

You’ve hopefully already heard of this awesome resource, but if not be sure to make full use of it! 🙌 

Farewell ✌️

We hope you're all excited about at least one of the games announced over the weekend, as the next few years look to be great for new releases. We're mostly hyped for the new Doom and Dragon Age!

However, we can't overlook the industry's ongoing layoffs, and we wish everyone impacted by the Sumo Group’s layoffs—and the countless other companies’ cutbacks—the very, very best.

We'll continue to bring you new jobs and resources to help as best we can.

Keep your heads up and we’ll see you next week,

Danny and the gang at Hitmarker 🧡