IGN acquires Eurogamer, VG247, & GamesIndustry.biz; makes immediate layoffs | The Midweek Memo #020

Aloha 👋

It’s been another crazy week in the video game industry, with acquisitions, layoffs, announcements, leadership changes, and even a good ol’ controversial discussion!

Let’s begin with IGN, which has announced the acquisition of Gamer Network, a collection of gaming news sites including Eurogamer and VG247 for an undisclosed fee. Unfortunately, the deal has led to job cuts, affecting multiple long-time employees.

On a much less frustrating note, Activision has announced Call of Duty Black Ops 6 with an interesting new marketing campaign. EA is instead going back to one of its most popular releases, The Sims 4, and assembling a brand new team to iron out some almost decade-old issues.

Finally, Arrowhead's CEO has also stepped down to become its chief creative officer, while Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann has sparked discussions about the use of AI in future game development. 🤖

Hot Jobs 🔥

We're all over the world with a mix of entry, junior, and intermediate-level roles in the UK, USA, Europe, and Japan.

[1] Social Media Manager V
🏢 Infernozilla 🗺️ Remote Anywhere 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[2] Associate Quality Designer
🏢 EA 🇺🇸 Orlando, FL 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[3] Game Security Analyst (Japanese Fluency)
🏢 Respawn 🇯🇵 Tokyo 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[4] 3D Artist (Props/Environment)
🏢 Sperasoft 🇷🇸 Belgrade 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[5] Bilingual Remote Community Moderation, English & German
🏢 Arise 🇬🇧 Remote UK 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[6] Bilingual Remote Community Manager, English & German
🏢 Arise 🇬🇧 Remote UK 📄 Freelance 🎚️ 0+ years exp

[7] Manager, Workforce Planning
🏢 Blizzard 🇺🇸 Remote California/Texas 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

[8] Junior PR Manager
🏢 Team17 🇬🇧 Manchester 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[9] Associate Brand Manager France - Publishing
🏢 Riot 🇫🇷 Paris 📄 Contract 🎚️ 1+ year exp

[10] Game Capture Artist - Horizon
🏢 2K 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, CA 📄 Full Time 🎚️ 2+ years exp

Over 180 new jobs have been posted this week. Not bad after a bank holiday weekend here in the UK caused us to lose a day of searching! 😅 

Big News 📰

😟 IGN acquires Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, and layoffs have already begun

• IGN Entertainment has officially acquired Gamer Network from Reedpop, which includes several popular UK-based gaming outlets, including GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer, and VG247. The final price of the deal is currently unknown.
  

• The acquisition resulted in immediate layoffs throughout the company, affecting an undisclosed number of employees. Among those affected are several veteran editors, including Stephany Nunneley-Jackson of VG247, who had been with the site for 15 years.
  

• Despite being a member of Gamer Network, VGC has not been acquired, as Gamer Network only owns shares in its parent company, Hookshot.

Other News 🗞️

In other news, Call of Duty fans have finally received confirmation that this year's entry will be titled “Black Ops 6,” with a teaser indicating that it will occur during the Gulf War. It has also been confirmed it will be available on Game Pass from day one. 👀 

EA is now working on fixing The Sims 4 while it works on its sequel, finally addressing multiple bugs that the community has been reporting for almost a decade.

Neil Druckmann has also discussed his stance on AI in game development, stating that he believes it will "revolutionize" the process. This has reignited debate regarding the costs and morality of its use.

Arrowhead Game Studios has made a major change to its leadership this week, with former CEO Johan Pilestedt becoming its chief creative officer and president and former Paradox Interactive executive Shams Jorjani stepping into the role.

🔫 Activision confirms Call of Duty 2024 will be Black Ops 6

🛠️ EA forms a new team to tackle The Sims 4's bugs and technical issues

🤖 Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann believes AI will "revolutionize" game development

👔 Arrowhead CEO becomes its chief creative officer, former Paradox exec steps into role

Getting Social 📲

Take a look at two of our most-viewed LinkedIn posts from the last seven days with 100% fewer hairless Luigis guaranteed:

We're back with another thread containing 22 of the coolest remote opportunities recently listed on Hitmarker!

From PR gigs in Europe to game production roles in North America, there's a bit of everything this week. The two unique freelance community roles for UK-based German speakers also stood out! 🤝 

Still, if nothing in the thread captures your interest, you can check out our platform for another 300+ remote roles. We post more every weekday, so be sure to check back often!

This week, we were both creeped out and impressed by "Jorogumo," an unsettling arachnid from Digital Mind's upcoming game “The Spirit of the Samurai.”

The Spirit of the Samurai is a 2D action-adventure game entirely animated in stop-motion, upping the scare factor of its enemies with more unnatural movement. The creepiness especially kicks in when playing as the cutest of its three protagonists, warrior cat Chisai. 🐱

The game is scheduled for release in Q3 2024 and is available for wishlisting on Steam.

Cool Resources 🧱

This week, we've assembled a list of the best Discord servers for existing/aspiring game developers to join, covering a wide range of languages, specialties, and development in general:

The Unity Discord

First up is the official Unity Discord, which focuses on the engine of the same name. The server emphasizes asking and answering community questions, finding game jams, and discussing the industry, so if you're a Unity developer looking for a more professional environment, this is the place for you.

Unreal Source

Although Unreal Engine lacks an official server, the community has taken the initiative to create Unreal Source. Like the Unity Discord, it covers all aspects of Unreal Engine 4 and 5, from audio to visuals to physics and more, with many of its members more than happy to assist you in resolving any issues that arise during your project.

The Developer Safe Place

The Developer Safe Place is a casual server where you can participate in coding challenges, read handy community-created guides for multiple languages, and even get help through dedicated channels or coaching from its owner, David. You can also kick back and chat with its members, of course.

r/gamedev

Reddit's r/gamedev has its own Discord, and it, like the subreddit, welcomes discussions, questions, project updates, and memes. As everyone knows, Reddit usually has the solution to your problem, and this server is no different!

Cheerio ✌️

This was certainly an eventful newsletter, but fortunately, it was positive for the most part.

First and foremost, we hope anyone laid off due to the Gamer Network acquisition can find new homes soon. It's an awful situation for everyone involved, especially those who have worked there for so long.

To end on a more positive topic, we're glad the hype train for Treyarch's next COD can start rolling, and thankfully you Sims fans out can look forward to some pesky bugs being squashed!

Danny and the gang at Hitmarker 🧡