🕹️ Helldivers unite

Happy March. Happy belated birthday to everyone born on February 29th! Can’t wait to celebrate again in 4 years! Now that we’re into March, check out our look ahead to some of the biggest upcoming games this month in today’s Main Quest.

— Tim Rhyne, Derek Neville

MAIN QUEST: March Madness

March brings highly anticipated AAA titles such as Rise of the Ronin and Dragon’s Dogma 2, as well as first-time indie creations such as Potions: A Curious Tale. We also see the first Xbox exclusive make its PlayStation debut, with Hi-Fi Rush making its blue debut. Here are 10 games we’re keeping an eye on this month:

• The Outlast Trials (PS/Xbox/PC) - March 5

• Potions: A Curious Tale (PC) - March 7

• Backpack Battles (PC) - March 8

• Contra: Operation Galuga (PS/Switch/Xbox/PC) - March 12

• Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection (PS/Switch/Xbox/PC) - March 15

• Hi-Fi Rush (PS) - March 19

• Dragon's Dogma 2 (PS/Xbox/PC) - March 22

• Princess Peach: Showtime (Switch) - March 22

• Rise of Ronin (PS5) - March 22

• South Park: Snow Day (PS/Switch/Xbox/PC) - March 26

Can’t wait? You can play the Potions: A Curious Tale demo now.

HUD

• 👋 Toys for Bob is splitting from Microsoft and Activision Blizzard and returning to being an independent studio. Microsoft recently laid off 86 Toys for Bob employees and closed its physical office as part of larger Xbox cuts. Toys for Bob was founded in 1989 and has worked on major franchises such as Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty.

• 😢 Electronic Arts laid off 670 (5%) of its employees in what CEO Andrew Wilson describes as an effort to deliver “deeper, more connected experiences for fans everywhere that build community, shape culture, and grow fandom.” The company is expected to move away from licensed IPs, having already canceled Respanw’s Star Wars FPS, as a part of the restructuring effort.

• 💰 Complexity Gaming has been sold by GameSquare to investor group Global Esports for $10.36 million. The investor group is led by Jason Lake, Complexity’s founder and current CEO. This comes after GameSquare announced its acquisition of FaZe Clan in October for $17 million, which is expected to close soon.

MAJOR W

• 🤝 Helldivers 2 issued a major order to liberate the planet VELD, and were on pace to complete this objective within 24 hours. Then Arrowhead’s “DM” stepped in and upped the difficulty. The players responded in kind as over 70% of the 400k+ active players are spreading managed democracy to the planet as requested.

• ⏩ Despite layoffs and the cancelation of one Star Wars game, EA has confirmed that the 3rd game in the Cal Kestis Jedi series is in development.

F IN THE CHAT

• 👎 Firesprite studio was affected by Sony’s announced layoffs this week; however, reports indicate that the studio had already been suffering talent loss due to a toxic work culture ranging from sexual discrimination to ageism since Sony acquired the studio in 2021.

• 🥸 Fraudsters attempted to scam users by changing two Steam store pages to copies of Helldivers 2 right down to linking the legitimate PlayStation Steam page as their publisher. The listings were then “discounted” to draw users in. The listings remained live for about 3 hours before they were delisted.

CAREER CORNER

• Monetization Designer — Arrowhead (Stockholm, Sweden)

• Senior Marketing Manager — Cult Games (Remote, UK)

• Dialogue Manager — That’s No Moon (Los Angeles, CA)

HIVE MIND

WEEKLY CHECKPOINT

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