BlizzCon 2024 may have been canceled, but this is another layoff-free newsletter | The Midweek Memo #016

Hello 👋

It’s been another eventful week in gaming, with cancelations, mistakes, legal action, and announcements regarding upcoming games.

To begin, Blizzard has confirmed that it will not hold its annual event, BlizzCon, but will instead showcase its upcoming releases at other trade shows.

Elsewhere, Remedy and Bethesda have provided updates on their upcoming projects, with Remedy's co-op Control game nearing completion and Starfield's first expansion set to launch in fall 2024.

Furthermore, Nintendo has forced the removal of all Garry's Mod workshop content using its IPs, according to its creator, Garry Newman, leading to discussions regarding the claim's legitimacy.

Finally, this week has not gone well for Battlestate Games. The studio planned to lock the long-awaited PvE mode of Escape from Tarkov behind its new $250 game edition until players forced Battlestate to change tack.

Hot Jobs 🔥

There are a ton of early-career and remote opportunities in this week's list!

[1] Lead Online Software Engineer, WWE 2K
🏢 Visual Concepts 🌎 Remote North America 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 6+ years exp

[2] Development Tester
🏢 Ubisoft 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Contract 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[3] Talent Coordinator
🏢 Clover Talent 🇺🇸🇨🇦 Remote USA/Canada 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[4] Project Support Specialist - XDefiant
🏢 Ubisoft 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[5] Brands in Games Project Operations Manager
🏢 Yodo1 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[6] Events & Community Assistant
🏢 Esports Insider 🇬🇧 Remote UK 📄 Internship 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[7] C++ Developer (m/f/d)
🏢 DECA Games 🗺️ Remote Anywhere  📄 Full Time 🎚️ 3+ years exp

[8] Junior Unity Games Developer (f/m/d)
🏢 Kolibri Games 🇩🇪 Berlin 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[9] Software Development Intern
🏢 Demonware 🇮🇪 Dublin 📄 Internship 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[10] CRM Manager
🏢 Twitch 🇺🇸 Remote USA 📄 Contract 🎚️ 4+ years exp

Over 220 new listings have been posted since our last newsletter, making this one of our busiest weeks of 2024 to date!

Big News 📰

❌ BlizzCon 2024 has been canceled, Blizzard announces

• Blizzard announced the cancelation of this year's BlizzCon in a post on Thursday. Although it did not provide an explicit reason, the company stated that it is "just as excited as ever" for the event to return in the future.
  

• As BlizzCon is traditionally where Blizzard makes most of its major announcements, it now intends to appear at other shows such as Gamescom. It will also share more information about expansions for World of Warcraft and Diablo IV “over the next few months," and in-person events will be held for Warcraft's 30th anniversary.
  

• This isn't the first time BlizzCon has been canceled since it kicked off in 2005. The pandemic shut down the event in 2020, forcing it to move online in 2021, followed by another cancellation in 2022 due to allegations of sexual discrimination and harassment against the company.

Other News 🗞️

Battlestate Games has reversed its plans to make Tarkov's upcoming PvE mode exclusive to owners of the new "Unheard Edition" after players pointed out that a now-delisted version of the shooter promised access to all future DLC. After attempting to argue that PvE does not fall under "DLC," the studio has decided to provide access in waves.

Nintendo is also the number one enemy of an entire community after issuing a takedown request to the creator of Garry's Mod, forcing the developer to remove 20 years of community-created mods featuring its characters.

On the bright side, Starfield is still on track to receive console mod support, with the Shattered Space expansion set to release later this year. Remedy has also confirmed that Codename Condor, a co-op game set in the world of Control, is in full production.

😬 Escape from Tarkov dev apologizes to players and changes "exclusive" PvE mode plans

💼 Garry's Mod is removing all Nintendo community-created content following takedown request

🚀 Starfield's Shattered Space expansion is arriving this fall, and console mod support is still on the way

💪 Remedy's co-op Control project has now entered full production

Getting Social 📲

Here are two of our most-viewed LinkedIn posts from the last seven days:

This week's junior-level jobs thread is jam-packed with great opportunities across North America and Europe that only require one year of experience!

Rockstar is looking for early-career animators and designers to work on Grand Theft Auto VI online, while Ubisoft, Blizzard, and Esports Insider are looking to expand their social and community teams.

We aim to post new junior-level roles every weekday, so be sure to check back regularly so you don't miss out.

Daniil Spivak, Lead 3D Artist at Liquid Development, created an impressive new animation of a Fisherman's House on an island, which was a big hit with our community this week.

The animation was made using Unreal Engine, Blender, 3ds Max, Maya, Substance Painter, and ZBrush so Spivak could “practice shaders in UE.” We've had it on repeat and are particularly huge fans of the little crab! 🦀

Daniil's other work is just as amazing, and you can check it out over on his Artstation.

Toodles ✌️

We’re delighted to have avoided the dreaded "L-word" for two newsletters in a row! Let’s try and keep the streak going.

With that said, it's disappointing to hear about Nintendo's decision to remove mods from a game that has been around for so long, but at least Battlestate has attempted to correct its mistake with Escape from Tarkov. 😅

Wishing you and yours all the best. We’ll see you next week!

Danny and the gang at Hitmarker 🧡