Epic Games Store's database leaks, revealing some juicy unannounced projects | The Midweek Memo #023

Hello 👋

Despite news of an interesting Epic Games Store database leak, an exciting update on the rumored Final Fantasy Tactics remaster, and a big Nintendo Direct yesterday, this week's newsletter has been another tough one to write.

That’s because shortly after reducing their workforce earlier this year, the powers that be at Embracer have struck again with the full closure of Pieces Interactive, the developer behind the recent Alone in the Dark reboot.

Additionally, Indie developer Galvanic Games has also announced it is shutting down after sales of its twin-stick shooter Wizard With a Gun have struggled to sustain the studio.

And finally, after ominous confirmation of an “indefinite delay” earlier this year, Paradox Interactive has ultimately closed Paradox Tectonic and canceled its Sims rival Life By You, which was set to be its debut title.

Just another week in the video game industry, then… 😩

Hot Jobs 🔥

Plenty of gaming companies are still hiring, thankfully, though it’s also been a quieter week than normal on that front. Still, eight of this week's most popular jobs are available remotely! 🛜

[1] CS Agent
🏢 CSGOEmpire 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[2] QA Engineer
🏢 CSGOEmpire 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[3] Campaign Manager
🏢 MANA Talent Group 🇺🇸 Remote US 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[4] Associate Quality Assurance Analyst (Project Hire)
🏢 That’s No Moon Entertainment 🇺🇸 Remote US 📄 Temp 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[5] Associate Technical Level Designer
🏢 Santa Monica Studio 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, CA 📄 Contract 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[6] Community Manager - Mobile Games Media
🏢 Erisia 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[7] Games Partner Support Engineer (L5)
🏢 Netflix 🇺🇸 Remote US 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[8] Product Manager, Game Publishing
🏢 Yodo1 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 3+ years exp

[9] Customer Service Representative
🏢 Daybreak Games 🇺🇸 San Diego, CA 📄 Temp 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[10] Integrated Marketing Manager
🏢 Discord 🇺🇸 Remote US 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 4+ years exp

Altogether, 190+ new job opportunities have been posted since our last newsletter. There has been a bit of a dearth of entry-level and junior-level openings, however. 👎

Big News 📰

👀 Epic Games Store database reportedly leaks, listing Final Fantasy IX remake, Red Dead Redemption, and more

• EpicDB, a third-party database containing listings from the Epic Games Store's backend, similar to SteamDB, appeared to reveal several unannounced projects from various high-profile publishers last week.
  

• Many of the games were listed under codenames, but users have connected the dots to determine that Final Fantasy IX's rumored remake, The Last of Us 2's PC port, and a long-awaited port of the original Red Dead Redemption were most likely among the listings.
  

• The site was taken down after Epic released an update that prevents third-party tools from collecting data about unpublished products on the Epic Game Store following the leak.

Other News 🗞️

Despite Embracer Group's restructuring program ending months ago, it has closed yet another studio, Pieces Interactive, less than three months after the release of Alone in the Dark. It was previously stated that the game did not meet the company's commercial expectations. 🤥 

Galvanic Games has found itself in a similar situation in terms of commercial performance, with sales of its indie shooter Wizard With a Gun beyond its launch being too low to keep the studio open.

At least both of the aforementioned developers were able to release their products, as Paradox Tectonic was shuttered before it could get Life By You into early access after its parent company was dissatisfied with the progress being made on the title.

On a more positive note, Final Fantasy Tactics' remaster is reportedly real, according to trusted journalist Jason Schreier. Nintendo has also announced a new Mario and Luigi, Zelda, and Mario Party for the Switch, with Metroid Prime 4 finally getting a new gameplay trailer! 🙌

😢 Alone in the Dark reboot studio Pieces Interactive has shut down

🫠 Paradox Interactive cancels its Sims rival Life By You following indefinite delay, closes studio

😓 Wizard With a Gun studio Galvanic Games is shutting down

⚔️ Rumored Final Fantasy Tactics remaster is reportedly "real and happening"

Getting Social 📲

Take a look at two of our most-viewed LinkedIn posts from the last seven days. We can only apologize for what you’re about to see, as we may have jumped the shark with this one. 🙈 

To celebrate Donkey Kong Country Returns coming to the Nintendo Switch, Donkey Kong has compiled a list of the latest entry-level jobs, though he appears to have lost his hair in the process. 😅 

Nintendo, Ubisoft, EA, and Activision's Beenox are looking for interns in various departments across Europe, North America, and Asia, while Free Fire developer Garena is searching for QA staff in Singapore.

If nothing stands out, be sure to check out our platform for more entry-level roles. We post new opportunities every weekday, though they have been hard to come by lately!

Dante Leoncini, a 3D artist and programmer, blew our minds this week when he shared a video of Blender running on a Nokia N95 mobile phone from the mid-late 2000s (and it's real).

In the video, Dante models Crash Bandicoot using Blendersito, a version of the modeling software that he built from the ground up to run using Symbian. Considering the age of the device it's being used on, the software runs very smoothly and has quite a lot of features packed into it.

Dante has also shared more clips of Red Dead Redemption 2's Arthur Morgan, Half-Life's G-Man, and God of War's Kratos within the software.

You can check out more videos of Blendersito in action over on Dante's Instagram, or download the software for yourself on GitHub if you still have an ancient mobile device to play around with.

Cool Resources 🧱

Given the industry's recent layoffs and closures, we felt that it was important to highlight some groups that could help protect you, the average employee, from mistreatment in the workplace, beginning with the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). 🤝 

The UK-based union aims to ensure that employees in various industries work in conditions that respect their basic rights to health and safety, fair wages, and sick pay. IWGB also has a branch dedicated to workers in the gaming industry.

Members will receive full legal protection in any cases that arise during their time with the IWGB, as well as support for workplace campaigns and other benefits.

For those in the US and Canada, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a similar group under the Communications Workers of America banner that covers the entire tech industry and also offers similar legal benefits and free organizer training classes.

Peace ✌️

This was not exactly the newsletter we wanted to write, but it’s become our expected output at this point. Almost 11,000 people have lost their jobs in the gaming industry this year, and we’re not even halfway through yet.

While we cannot prevent further cuts in the coming months, we will continue to seek out and share new job opportunities, resources, and hopefully, a laugh or two here and there to try and help people get back on their feet.

We hope you all can keep your heads up and get a moment to find enjoyment in playing something you love or looking forward to some cool upcoming games.

See you next week folks,

Danny and the gang at Hitmarker 🧡