Painful Cuts At PlayStation, A Big Pokémon Reveal, And More Of The Week’s Top News

Image: Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, Disney, Olly Curtis/Future Publishing (Getty Images), Gearbox Entertainment, Ironwood Studios, Pocketpair, Bioware, Sony, Screenshot: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

This week was marked by more inescapable upheaval on the gaming landscape, as PlayStation announced massive cuts across its studios and canceled some games in development. But there was some lighthearted fun to be had as well, with Hideo Kojima sharing his amusing reaction to Oscar Isaac’s performance in Moon Knight, and we got an exciting announcement about the future of Pokémon. All this and more awaits on the pages ahead.

Image: Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone

The lowkey farming simulator Stardew Valley is getting some new stuff in a couple of weeks. Developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone announced on X/Twitter on February 26 that the PC version of the chill game will get the 1.6 update on March 19, with the patch coming to to consoles and mobile “as soon as possible.” – Levi Winslow Read More

Image: Disney

Moon Knight, the Marvel miniseries on Disney+ starring Oscar Isaac, debuted back in 2022, but Hideo Kojima is just getting around to watching it. A known cinephile, it’s no surprise Kojima would have the show on his backlog, and we have now been treated to a signature lengthy X (formerly Twitter) post detailing his thoughts. While he says a fair bit, the highlight is his praise of Oscar Isaac, who he calls “pathetic and unattractive” in the show, clarifying that this is a “good thing.” – Willa Rowe Read More

Image: Olly Curtis/Future Publishing (Getty Images)

This morning, Sony revealed that it is adding to the ever-growing pile of industry layoffs. In official posts, the company announced it had “initiated a reduction” in workforce. These cuts will impact a variety of PlayStation’s first-party studios including Insomniac Games, Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Firesprite, and more, with the biggest cut hitting PlayStation’s London Studio, which is being closed down in its entirety. In total, Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, estimates that the layoffs will affect around 900 people, or 8% of the current workforce, and multiple games are being canceled as a result. – Willa Rowe Read More

Image: Gearbox Entertainment

Image: Ironwood Studios

I was lowkey terrified the first time I tried to start my station wagon in Pacific Drive. I turned on the ignition and listened to the old engine whir. It sputtered for a fraction of a second longer than I was expecting, reminding me of the dread I feel every time I put the key in my beat-up 2006 Toyota Rav4 wondering if it’s finally about to die on me. Eventually the virtual engine sprang to life and my adventure through the Tarkovsky-esque Olympic Exclusion Zone began, but the threat of analog failure remains pervasive throughout Pacific Drive’s early chapters. It’s part of the game’s background horror, as well as one of the key ways it builds a sense of emotional intimacy where you least expect it. – Ethan Gach Read More

Image: Pocketpair

Don’t you just hate it when a glitch you exploit in your fave video game gets fixed? I do, too, and apparently, so do Palworld players. Developer Pocketpair recently patched up a popular bug-turned-feature in the Pokémon clone that let players do something they weren’t actually supposed to: capture tower bosses. After squashing the glitch, though, the studio has since apologized, saying the fix was an “unintentional” mishap that came about as a result of the game’s recent update. – Levi Winslow Read More

Image: Bioware

In January 2019, I was optimistic when I flew out to BioWare’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. I’d been invited to test out Anthem, the studio’s take on the live-service looter-shooter, before it made its way into players’ hands. I was immediately smitten by the polish of the demo, zipping around levels like I was Iron Man in my Javelin suit and blasting bugs with elemental guns. At the time, I was convinced that Anthem would be a generation-defining title that countless future AAA games would have to emulate. Turns out, many of them did. Even if they shouldn’t have. – Steven Asarch Read More

Image: Sony

In recent years I’ve come to accept that I just don’t love open-world games. It’s partially because my life has only gotten busier and I have less free time to spend on games, so I gravitate towards shorter experiences. But it’s also because open-world game design tends to be boring and repetitive in my opinion. This isn’t a new opinion, either; much has been written about the so-called Ubisoft-style open-world game and its tiring checklist design. However, there is one open-world game in recent years that has grabbed my attention, and no, it isn’t Breath of the Wild. Rather, it’s the game that one overshadowed in many people’s minds: 2017’s Horizon Zero Dawn. – Willa Rowe Read More

Total Recall: Why Yakuza Is So Much More Than A Japanese GTA

With the release of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, it’s a great time to hop into the quirky crime franchise

Screenshot: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

This morning’s Pokémon Presents event gave a look at a number of updates across its portfolio, including the announcement that the next Pokémon game will skip 2024 altogether. Releasing worldwide in 2025, the curiously titled Pokémon Legends: Z-A also seems to quietly confirm what we’ve been hearing for weeks now: that the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming in 2025. – Moises Taveras Read More