Gaming · Wednesday, 28 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Rockstar's UK staff will vote on a union from 12 to 26 November, across the week GTA 6 launches

Rockstar's UK staff vote on recognising the IWGB union while GTA 6 goes on sale on 19 November, and a tribunal over 31 fired union members hears closing arguments the same week. Don't Nod plans to cut nearly all its non-managers, Warhorse is hit by a cyberattack, and Elden Ring's film heads to market with Amazon already on board.

12-26 Nov

the two weeks in which Rockstar's UK staff vote on recognising the union

GTA 6 goes on sale on 19 November, halfway through [4]

union members Rockstar fired in October 2025

a tribunal in Scotland hears closing arguments on 17 and 18 November [2][1]

210GB

of space GTA 6's standard edition needs on a PS5

double Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar's last game; preloading starts on 12 November [7]

$8bn

of revenue Take-Two expects in its 2027 financial year

partly from sales of GTA 6 [1]

The lead story — what happened

Rockstar Games' staff in the UK will vote from 12 to 26 November on whether to recognise a union, the IWGB Rockstar Game Workers Union. [1][3]
The IWGB is the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain, which has been organising staff at Rockstar for years. [1][4]
Recognition would give staff a say on pay and bonuses, overtime, job cuts, flexible working and the use of generative AI. [3][2]
GTA 6, Rockstar's next Grand Theft Auto game, comes out on 19 November, in the middle of the vote. [4][6]
If the vote passes, the IWGB says this would be the biggest recognised union in the UK games industry. [6][3]
Union and managers have been agreeing the terms of the deal since July. [2][4]
Earlier the workers asked Rockstar to recognise the union by itself before GTA 6, but it has gone to a vote instead. [4]
Jennifer Kolbe, Rockstar's head of publishing, told Bloomberg: 'if they want a union, they will have a union.' [5][2]
Rockstar fired 31 union members in October 2025. It says they leaked secrets in a chat server, and the union calls it union busting. [2][4]
An employment tribunal in Scotland hears closing arguments on that case on 17 and 18 November. [1][2]
Shanti Easton-Steel, on the union's committee, named the gender pay gap, changing overtime pay and job security after release as the issues. [1][5]
Take-Two, which owns Rockstar, expects about $8 billion in revenue in its 2027 financial year, partly from GTA 6. [1]
Edge, a games magazine, visited Rockstar's Edinburgh studio, and its 16-page GTA 6 cover story goes on sale on 29 October. [8]

12 NovUnion vote opens

17-18 NovTribunal closing

19 NovGTA 6 launches

26 NovUnion vote closes

Rockstar's union vote, the tribunal over the 31 firings and the GTA 6 launch all fall inside the same two weeks.

Who is involved

Rockstar Games

the studio behind Grand Theft Auto; its Edinburgh studio, Rockstar North, leads work on GTA 6
The IWGB

the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain; it runs the Rockstar Game Workers Union and announced the vote
Take-Two Interactive

the US company that owns Rockstar; it expects about $8 billion in revenue next financial year
Jennifer Kolbe

Rockstar's head of publishing; she said the studio would accept a union if staff want one
Shanti Easton-Steel

a Rockstar developer on the union's committee; she named pay, overtime and job security as the issues

How it unfolded

Oct 2025 Rockstar fires 31 union members, saying they leaked secrets [2]
July 2026 union and managers start agreeing the terms of recognition [2]
27 Oct the IWGB announces the vote [1]
12 Nov voting opens, and GTA 6 preloads begin [1][7]
17-18 Nov closing arguments at the tribunal over the 31 firings [1]
19 Nov GTA 6 launches; the vote closes on 26 November [4]

Where this points

The vote closes on 26 November, a week after GTA 6 launches. The next thing to watch is that result, and then the tribunal's ruling on the 31 firings, which RPS says will take a while after the 17-18 November arguments. [3][1]

Signals on this beat

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing, and the arrow is where it is heading.

Game staff organising Building↑

Rockstar's UK staff vote on a union from 12 to 26 November. [1] France's main animation union has called a two-hour walkout of every animation and VFX worker on 18 November. [16] Don't Nod's union members went public about a plan to cut nearly all non-manager jobs. [10]

Studios short of cash High↑

Don't Nod's union says the studio cannot even pay for its earlier redundancy plan. [10] Hasbro booked a $56 million loss this year for games it cancelled. [39] Ukie says UK studios compete with France and Ireland, which offer 30% and 32% tax credits. [20]

AI in how games are made Building↑

Epic says it is working to let AI learn from what its Unreal Engine makes. [17] Peter Molyneux says the industry pretends it is not using AI. [22] France's animation union wants rules on AI written into its contract. [16] Fake AI-made fan wikis are crowding out real ones for small games. [26]

Attacks on studios' systems High↑

Warhorse, maker of Kingdom Come, says attackers got into its systems and data. [11][13] Capcom switched off Street Fighter V's online play over a security flaw in PHP, a common web language. [15][14]

Stories sold across borders Building↑

Amazon bought Elden Ring's streaming rights in many countries before the film reached the market. [18] Tokyo's TIFFCOM market brings Japanese rights holders such as Toei to foreign producers. [38] A French streaming app bought about 30 short phone dramas from a Singapore company. [35]

The rest of the day

30 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Don't Nod plans to cut almost every maker

Don't Nod, the French studio behind the first Life is Strange games, plans to cut nearly all its non-manager jobs, says STJV, France's game workers' union. [10][9] The list includes all 6 animators, 18 of 22 programmers and 4 of 8 game designers. [10] The studio is under court protection from its debts, and the union says it cannot even fund an earlier redundancy plan. [10] Staff consultation ends on 3 November, and firing letters could follow on 25 November. [10][9]

Why it matters — Managers plan to hand the work to outside contractors, which the union calls short-term penny-pinching. [10] The union says the studio's last game in development, called P14, cannot now be finished. [10]
03
Warhorse hit by a cyberattack

Warhorse Studios, which made the Kingdom Come: Deliverance games, says attackers got into its company systems and data. [13][11] Its boss, Martin Fryvaldsky, called it a serious incident. [13][12] The studio says it is working with security experts and the authorities. [13] Warhorse is making a Lord of the Rings role-playing game and a new Kingdom Come game. [12] It has not said what, if anything, was taken. [14]

Why it matters — For a game studio an attack also risks early leaks of unfinished games, as CD Projekt Red, Insomniac and Rockstar found, Rock Paper Shotgun notes. [13] Capcom and Square Enix have also had online breaches recently, Kotaku reports. [14]
04
Street Fighter V goes offline over a security flaw

Capcom has switched off online play in Street Fighter V, its 2016 fighting game, on PS4 and Steam. [15][14] It says the step strengthens security around PHP, a programming language much of the web runs on. [14] Sales on the PlayStation Store and Steam are being suspended in stages until a fix is done. [14] Players who own it can still play offline. [15]

Why it matters — A flaw in PHP found last week has already taken websites and some older online games offline. [15][14] A loyal group still plays it, though Street Fighter 6 has been the most popular fighting game for three years, Rock Paper Shotgun notes. [15]
05
French animation staff called out for two hours

The SNTPCT, the biggest union in French animation, has asked every animation and VFX worker in France to stop work from 2pm to 4pm on 18 November. [16] It wants minimum pay raised 11.2% to catch up with prices since 2007. [16] It also wants rules on generative AI in the industry's contract and all 11 French public holidays, against five now. [16] Employers' groups AnimFrance and SPI have rejected its demands for years, it says. [16]

Why it matters — The walkout covers studios that animate for video games as well as films and series. [16] Pay rose 1.8% to 2% in this year's talks, after 1.68% in 2024. [16]
06
Epic will let AI learn from its engine's output

Tim Sweeney, boss of Epic Games, says Epic is working to drop a rule that stops AI being trained on what Unreal Engine and MetaHuman make. [17] Unreal Engine is Epic's software for building games, and MetaHuman is its 3D animation tool. [17] Each game's makers could still allow or forbid such training, he said. [17] He posted it while answering a Kotaku article calling Epic's AI plans hypocritical. [17]

Why it matters — Studios using Unreal would have to choose for every game whether their work can feed AI tools. [17] Epic has not given a date or answered Game Developer's questions. [17]
07
Elden Ring's film goes to market with Amazon aboard

A24's film of Elden Ring, the 2022 fantasy game, will be the biggest-budget single film ever offered at a film market, Deadline reports. [18] Its budget is between $175 million and $200 million, nearer the top. [18] Amazon has already bought its first streaming rights in many countries, in a deal sources put at tens of millions of dollars. [18][19] A24 is flying staff to buyers so they can read the 180-page script under watch. [18]

Why it matters — A24 is paying for the film alone, so Amazon's money lowers its risk before the American Film Market from 10 to 15 November. [18][19] The film opens in March 2028. [18]
08
UK games body asks for a better tax credit

Ukie, the UK games industry's trade body, wants this week's Autumn Budget to change the Video Games Expenditure Credit, a tax relief for making games. [20] With TIGA, another trade group, it proposes 53% support for games costing up to 15 million pounds. [20] One studio head said 67% of its contract work qualified in 2021 and only 25% in 2025. [20] Ukie also wants a growth fund for studios that have outgrown early grants. [20]

Why it matters — Ukie says France offers studios a 30% tax credit and Ireland 32%, and that jobs are lost when work moves overseas. [20] Its members have asked for the changes in this Budget. [20]
09
Save the Children warns about child esports players

Save the Children, the children's charity, published a report on Tuesday saying young esports players are not protected well enough. [21] It counts up to 300 million children worldwide playing esports, which are video games played as competitions. [21] Risks include lost sleep, neck and wrist pain, anxiety and online abuse. [21] A national esports body told the report there are no agreed rules on training hours. [21]

Why it matters — In one study the report cites, 62% of top Twitch streams had sexist language in their chats. [21] The charity wants children treated as children first and competitors second. [21]
10
Game makers argue about using AI

Peter Molyneux, the British designer behind Fable, says the industry pretends it is not using AI, though coding without it is now almost impossible. [22] Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Smash Bros, notes Steam's new games rose from 275 in 2010 to 19,000. [23] He says AI will add more, and most will not make money. [23] Square Enix veterans say makers must learn to use AI well. [24] Kotaro Uchikoshi, writer of Zero Escape, says his studio's cancelled game might have survived with AI. [25]

Why it matters — Uchikoshi says mid-sized studios now compete with single makers who use AI to build big games cheaply. [25] Sakurai expects copies of simple puzzle games to flood stores. [23]
11
AI-made fake wikis crowd out fans' guides

Eurogamer found websites calling themselves wikis for small games that are full of made-up facts. [26] A wiki is a help site that players usually write together. [26] One for Nighthawks listed companions that do not exist. [26] Hooded Horse, a publisher, says it chases such sites, including more than 20 from one operator, GameDB, which admitted using AI. [26] Wardogs, a shooter, got at least five within days of its release. [26]

Why it matters — Players who land on the fake sites get wrong answers and stop trusting wikis at all, a volunteer told Eurogamer. [26] Fan-run wikis earn little, so a small amount of advertising money is enough to make the fakes worth building. [26]
12
Board game maker says Jackbox copied him

Sam Greszes, a solo board game designer, says Debate and Switch in Jackbox's new Party Pack 12 closely resembles his game, Die On This Hill. [27] Jackbox Games also makes the You Don't Know Jack quiz games. [27] He sent Jackbox a copy in March 2025 after talks about a video game version. [27] Jackbox says its own team made the game, and that pitches go to a separate team that never shares them. [27]

Why it matters — Jackbox says it keeps pitches away from its game teams so that its own work stays independent. [27] Jackbox says it warned him in writing that it might already have a similar idea. [27]
13
Roblox players rebuild other companies' games

Roblox, a platform where players build and share games, hosts copies of other companies' games made without permission, Eurogamer found. [28] One looks and plays almost exactly like Counter-Strike, Valve's shooter. [28] Another rebuilds the PlayStation 4's home screen with seven playable games, including The Simpsons: Hit and Run and Superhot. [28] They were uploaded by Roblox users, not by Sony, Activision or the original makers. [28]

Why it matters — Eurogamer has asked Sony and the developers for comment. [28] The makers of Peak earlier told players to pirate their game rather than play a Roblox copy. [28]
14
Big games now need room to unpack

Phantom Blade Zero, an action game from the Chinese studio S-Game, needs 300GB free to preload, double its 145GB installed size. [29] The studio says temporary files and the full game must sit side by side while the game is unlocked. [29] It also needs a fast SSD drive. [29][30] GTA 6's standard edition will take 210GB on a PS5, GameSpot reports. [7]

Phantom Blade Zero, installed145 GB
GTA 6 on PS5210 GB
Phantom Blade Zero, to preload300 GB
Space each game needs on a player's drive, in gigabytes.

Why it matters — Drives and memory are expensive now, partly because data centres are buying them up, Rock Paper Shotgun says. [30][29] Players with small drives must delete other games to make room. [7]
15
Shelved Looney Tunes film can compete for an Oscar

Coyote vs. Acme, a Looney Tunes film that mixes cartoons with live actors, has been ruled eligible for the Oscar for animated films. [31][32] The rules say at least 75% of the running time must include animation. [32] Warner Bros shelved the finished film in 2023 [32] and took a $30 million write-down, a loss on its books. [31] Ketchup Entertainment bought it for $50 million, and it has taken $101.5 million worldwide. [31]

Why it matters — Ketchup can now run an Oscar campaign for a film its maker gave up on. [32] Only one mixed film, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, has been nominated in the category before. [31]
16
SpongeBob leads the most-watched cartoons

Nielsen, which measures what people watch, says SpongeBob SquarePants was the most-watched animated series of the 2025-26 season, at 70.6 billion minutes. [33] Bluey came second with 68 billion, and Family Guy third with 65.4 billion. [33] Streaming made up 58% of the minutes for the top 15 shows. [33] On streaming, viewers over 50 gave only 9% of the minutes. [33]

SpongeBob SquarePants70.6 bn min
Bluey68 bn min
Family Guy65.4 bn min
South Park44.5 bn min
Billions of minutes watched in the 2025-26 TV season, on TV and streaming together.

Why it matters — On regular TV, viewers over 50 gave 36% of the minutes, four times their share on streaming. [33] Seth MacFarlane, maker of Family Guy, was the most-watched creator. [33]
17
One studio made three of the top four streaming shows

Reacher, made by Paramount TV Studios for Amazon's Prime Video, was September's most-streamed original series, with 4.6 billion minutes, Nielsen says. [34] Its spinoff Neagley and Paramount+'s Lioness tied for third with 3.3 billion each. [34] Apple TV's Ted Lasso came second with 3.6 billion. [34] Reacher and Neagley stream on Prime Video, a rival to Paramount's own Paramount+. [34]

Why it matters — Paramount TV Studios makes hits for a rival service as well as its own. [34] Paramount's CBS series Marshals also topped its week in October. [34]
18
Short phone dramas reach France and Fear Factor

JLA Play, a new French streaming app, has bought about 30 microdramas from DramaBox, owned by StoryMatrix of Singapore. [35] Microdramas are series filmed upright for phones, with episodes a few minutes long. [36][35] Separately, Fox and Endemol Shine are turning the reality show Fear Factor into a 30-episode microdrama, each episode three minutes long. [36] It will stream on My Drama, an app Fox has a stake in. [36]

Why it matters — Deadline says Europe has been slower than Asia and the US to take up the format. [35] Fox says it is the first reality show to become a scripted drama. [36]
19
Anime rights site raises $6 million

AniBiz, an online marketplace where companies can find and license anime characters, has raised $6 million from TBS, Toei Animation and TV Tokyo. [37] Nakama launched it in July. [37] Its president, Gao, says getting anime rights has long depended on who you know. [37] A basic listing is free, and a fuller tier costs $49 a month. [37]

Why it matters — Gao says anime licensing is so complicated that new buyers struggle to break in. [37] AniBiz says its listings cover thousands of anime series. [37]
20
Tokyo's content market opens on Japanese stories

TIFFCOM, the market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, runs from 28 to 30 October. [38] It drew about 4,600 visitors and 300 exhibitors in 2025. [38] Its Tokyo IP Market brings owners of remake rights, such as Toei, Shochiku and the toy maker Takara Tomy, to foreign producers. [38] The Association of Japanese Animations will release its yearly industry figures there. [38]

Why it matters — Its director, Kaori Ikeda, says anime and manga have made Japanese stories sought after. [38] The Violinist, an animated film that found an Italian partner at the festival's financing market in 2023, won Annecy's top award this year. [38]
21
Former Halo boss to run Magic and D&D

Hasbro has named Dan Ayoub president of Wizards of the Coast, maker of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, from 2 November. [40][39] He also runs Hasbro Digital Games. [39] Ayoub ran 343 Industries, the Halo studio, and led D&D for about a year. [39][40] He replaces John Hight, who left in July after two years. [39]

Why it matters — He takes over two video games in the making, Exodus and Warlock. [39] Hasbro booked a $56 million loss this year for games it cancelled. [39]
22
SPIEL Essen sets a visitor record

SPIEL Essen, the board game fair in Germany, had 230,000 visitors this year, 10,000 more than its previous record. [41] It sold out on every day of the fair. [41] Exhibitors rose from 948 to 997, and they showed 2,012 new games, up from 1,700. [41] The fair opened an extra hall to fit them. [41]

Why it matters — The show floor grew to a record 81,200 square metres. [41] It also held its first awards for trading card games. [41]
23
Acer brings a $1,300 game handheld to the US

Acer, a Taiwanese computer maker, will sell its Predator Atlas 8 handheld in the US from 1 November, only at Best Buy. [42] The stronger model costs $1,299.99, the same as Microsoft's Xbox Ally X20. [42] It runs Windows 11 and can play Xbox Game Pass games. [42] Best Buy's preorders sold out last week. [42]

Why it matters — It is the first of Acer's handhelds to go on sale officially in the US. [42] Sold-out preorders show some players will pay $1,299.99 for a handheld. [42]
24
More games launch unfinished on Steam

Steam had 2,924 Early Access games by mid-October, an 18% rise on 2025, SteamDB counts. [43] Early Access lets players buy a game while it is still being made. [43] Such games are now 13.7% of all Steam releases. [43] ArcheAge Chronicles, an online role-playing game, joins them on 3 November at $29.99, for nine to 12 months. [44]

Why it matters — Only 21% of these games earned more in the 30 days after their full release than after their early launch, GameDiscoverCo found. [43] GamesIndustry.biz says the early launch now matters as much as the full one. [43]
25
Mass Effect fans pay for billboards at EA

Mass Effect fans raised $5,274 in under 15 minutes for billboards outside EA's headquarters, its Edmonton office and the Game Awards. [45] EA has closed BioWare, the studio that made Mass Effect. [45][46] A petition to save the series has passed 250,000 signatures. [45] Composer Austin Wintory has shared music he wrote while in talks to score the cancelled game. [46] Sam Hulick, who scored the first games, plans a new score for its leaked trailer. [47]

Why it matters — The fans have asked a fund for laid-off developers whether it can take any extra money. [45] The Game Awards take place on 10 December. [45]
26
Atari's bought studios keep their old work

Atari has bought studios including Nightdive, Digital Eclipse and Hipster Whale, maker of Crossy Road, for $1 million to $40 million each. [50] Nightdive's boss, Stephen Kick, says Atari took over payroll and tax work and left the studio to remake old games. [50] He says owners who force bought studios to change usually close them later. [50] He names EA's Bullfrog, Westwood and BioWare. [50]

Why it matters — Atari has not cut staff while buying, Game Developer says, unlike many big buyers since 2020. [50] Game Developer notes that as a studio boss he may be biased. [50]
27
Fans rebuild Dark Messiah with Ubisoft's help

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, a 2006 action game, is getting a free Community Edition on Steam this year. [51] A team called wiltOS Technologies rebuilt it with co-op play and years of fan-made changes. [51][52] Ubisoft, the publisher, and Valve, which made the engine, back the project. [52] Ubisoft invited the team to Montreal to add features once only on consoles. [51]

Why it matters — PC Gamer calls it effectively an official upgrade, released for free. [51] The team wants other modders to keep adding to it. [51]
28
Black Flag remake gets its last big update

Ubisoft released the last major update for Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, its remake of a 2013 pirate game, on 27 October. [53] It adds a mode to replay the game up to five times with harder enemies. [53] After this, only small fixes are planned. [53] Ubisoft cut 70 jobs this month at Ubisoft Singapore, which led the remake. [53]

Why it matters — The new mode keeps tools, weapons and ship upgrades from the last playthrough. [53] Ubisoft says only quality-of-life fixes will follow. [53]
29
Bleach becomes a phone game today

Bandai Namco launches Bleach Mirrors High, a free game based on the Bleach manga and anime, on iPhone and Android on 28 October. [54][55] Tite Kubo, who created Bleach, designed its new characters. [54][55] Studio Pierrot Films, which animates the anime, made its opening film. [55] Its story is set after the Thousand-Year Blood War part of Bleach. [54][55]

Why it matters — The game is free to play, so it earns from what players buy inside it. [54] The anime's own cast voice the characters. [54]
30
Asmodee puts its accessible games online

Asmodee, one of the biggest board game publishers, has opened a website for its access+ plan. [48] It shows games that meet its rules for players with cognitive disabilities, which affect thinking and memory. [48] The site has game guides and printable aids. [48] Asmodee began the work with an in-house studio in 2022. [48]

Why it matters — The rules now apply across all of Asmodee's studios, not one team. [48] Each listed game shows which of these features it has. [48]
31
Crowdfunded comics move into shops

IDW Publishing, a US comics publisher, is starting an imprint for White Ash Comics. [49] White Ash raised over $1 million across 28 Kickstarter projects. [49] Its comics have not been sold in shops until now. [49] They will be redone and given new pages for the shop editions. [49]

Why it matters — Charles Stickney, White Ash's writer, will lead the imprint. [49] Its artist, Conor Hughes, becomes chief creative officer. [49]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why games and shows are sold at big yearly fairs

A seller and a buyer must first find each other, so the trade in games, films and anime gathers where both are sure to be on the same days.

The twist

A deal can only start once both sides know the other exists. A trade fair is the few days a year when sellers and buyers are sure to be in the same place.

The picture

SPIEL 20251,700

SPIEL 20262,012

New games shown at SPIEL Essen, the board game fair: more makers chose the same few days to launch.

How it works

The owner of a story and the firms that might pay for it are spread over many countries
Finding each other one at a time takes years of contacts
A fair puts thousands of them in one building for a few days
Buyers can compare many offers there, and small sellers get seen
So launches and deals bunch up around a few dates each year

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Elden Ring's film goes to market

A24 takes its film to the American Film Market because buyers from many countries gather there, and Amazon paid to settle its part before the doors opened.
Tokyo's content market opens

TIFFCOM brings rights holders such as Toei to foreign producers in one place, and one animated film found its Italian partner at the festival's financing market.
SPIEL Essen's record

Nearly 1,000 makers showed 2,012 new board games to 230,000 visitors in one place, so a year of launches happened in a few days.
AniBiz raises $6 million

An online listing tries to do a fair's job all year, because its founder says anime rights went to people who already knew someone.

Where you've seen this

Book translations

publishers sell the right to translate a book at a few big book fairs each year

Farm animals

a livestock auction brings many sellers and buyers to one ring on one day

Job fairs

employers and students meet in one hall instead of writing thousands of letters

The catch

A fair helps most the companies that can pay for a stand and the trip, and the biggest buyers often make their deal before it opens, as Amazon did with Elden Ring.

And the whole of it

A board game on a shelf, an anime on a phone or a film in a cinema may have started as a meeting in Essen, Tokyo or Los Angeles. Each buyer at those fairs saw only the stands it had time to visit, so nobody there saw everything on offer.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Rockstar's UK staff are voting on a union in the same two weeks that GTA 6, Rockstar's biggest game, goes on sale, and a tribunal over 31 fired union members hears its closing arguments. Take-Two, Rockstar's owner, expects about $8 billion in revenue next financial year, and the staff want a say on overtime and job security once the launch is over. [1][5]

Why it works on us — The union ties its vote to the launch in its own words, calling it a chance to make gaming history twice, which sets the staff's case beside the year's biggest game. [1]

Who gains

Amazon — It took Elden Ring's first streaming rights in many countries before other buyers could bid at the American Film Market. [18]
A24 — Amazon's money lowers its risk on a film budgeted near $200 million that A24 is paying for alone. [18]
Ketchup Entertainment — It bought Coyote vs. Acme for $50 million after Warner shelved it, has taken $101.5 million, and can now run an Oscar campaign. [31][32]
Operators of AI-made fake wikis — Sites built cheaply with AI take search clicks and a little advertising money from fan-run guides. [26]
Rockstar's UK staff, if the vote passes — Recognition gives them a formal say on pay, overtime, job cuts and the use of AI. [3]

Who pays

Don't Nod's staff — Nearly all non-manager jobs are to go, and the union says management offers only the legal minimum. [10]
Street Fighter V players — Online play is off and the game is being pulled from sale until Capcom fixes its PHP problem. [14]
Players of small indie games — They search for help and land on AI-made wikis full of made-up facts. [26]
Children who play esports — Save the Children says there are no agreed rules on how long they train or rest. [21]
French animation and VFX staff — Pay rose 1.68% in 2024 and about 2% this year, while their union says minimum pay is 11.2% behind prices since 2007. [16]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How many Rockstar staff will vote, and how many must say yes.

No report gives the number of staff in the vote or the share needed to win it. [1][4]
02

When the tribunal rules on the 31 firings.

Closing arguments are on 17 and 18 November, and Rock Paper Shotgun says a judge's decision will take a while after that. [3]
03

Whether Don't Nod survives as a studio.

A regional employment agency has 21 days after 3 November to judge the job-cut plan, and the union says management has no fallback if it is rejected. [10]
04

What, if anything, was taken from Warhorse.

Warhorse says attackers reached its systems and data, but it is giving no more comment until its investigation is done. [13][14]
05

When Street Fighter V's online play comes back.

Capcom says emergency maintenance is under way and gives no date. [14]
06

What Amazon paid for Elden Ring's streaming rights.

Deadline's sources only guess at tens of millions of dollars, and A24 and Amazon declined to comment. [18]
07

When Epic's new engine terms take effect.

Tim Sweeney said Epic is working to drop the rule, and Epic did not answer Game Developer's questions. [17]
08

Whether Jackbox's game drew on the pitch it was sent.

The designer and Jackbox give two different accounts, and only Jackbox can show who saw his copy. [27]

04 Hope carry this

SPIEL Essen, the board game fair in Germany, had a record 230,000 visitors this year, 10,000 more than its last record. Makers showed 2,012 new games there.

Also true today

Coyote vs. Acme, a Looney Tunes film Warner Bros shelved in 2023, has taken $101.5 million worldwide and has been ruled eligible for the Oscar for animated films.
Mass Effect fans raised the $5,274 they needed for billboards outside EA's offices in under 15 minutes. They have asked a fund for laid-off game developers whether it can take any money left over.
Asmodee, one of the biggest board game publishers, opened a website of guides and printable aids for players with cognitive disabilities.