May the force be with Respawn Entertainment as it develops this new game

By Brad Jones May 6, 2016

star wars tv series abc achievement in sound mixing the force awakens — Disney

It’s been announced that Respawn Entertainment, the studio that developed last year’s Titanfall, is working on a new game set in the Star Wars universe. The game will be published by EA, which has held an exclusive licence to publish a video game based on the property since 2013.

The news broke by way of a blog post published by Respawn’s Stig Asmussen yesterday, and the message gave the sense that the studio is beyond excited to be working on the project. “For me, just typing these words is surreal,” wrote Asumssen. “I have been playing Star Wars games my whole life, now I get to make a Star Wars game.”

Not much is being said about the project at present, other than confirmation that it will be a third-person action/adventure game. Respawn is hiring specifically for the new project, aiming to fulfill roles ranging from concept artist to level designer.

However, it seems likely that the studio’s Star Wars title won’t be hitting shelves for a little while. At present, Respawn is focusing on Titanfall 2, a sequel to 2014’s well received multiplayer shooter that’s set to be given a full reveal at E3 next month.

The conference could well see the official unveiling of another Star Wars title under development at one of the studios that’s confirmed to be working with EA on the property. A Star Wars Day blog post from the publisher confirmed that Visceral Games, BioWare, and Motive Studios all have projects still under construction.

Fans will be eager to hear if any of those games will be ready to release before the end of 2016, as it was expected that last year’s Battlefront would mark the start of an annualized release schedule for Star Wars titles. Visceral Games’ mysterious project seems like the most likely candidate, but since we’ve seen very little of it to date, it’s still a major question mark.

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Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

Gaming

Game developers are furious over Unity’s new runtime fees

Art of Unity

The makers of Unity, one of the most popular video game engines, announced a new "Unity Runtime Fee" that is set to take effect next year. Game developers aren't taking kindly to the announcement as the new fee is financially punishing, especially for smaller developers using the Unity Personal and Unity Plus plans.
Unity went into more detail about this in a blog post on Tuesday morning. It explains that starting on January 1, 2024, games that pass certain revenue and install thresholds will have to pay the Unity Runtime Fee. For developers using Unity Pro or Unity Enterprise, games "that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months and have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs" will have to pay the fee. For smaller developers using the free Unity Personal plan, this threshold is for titles that "have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months and have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs." It doesn't matter whether or not your game was released before January 1 or this announcement, the fee will still apply starting next year if your game boots up with Unity Runtime.
This chart breaks down the fees Unity game developers will have to pay. Unity
According to a chart produced by Unity, Personal and Plus plan holders will end up paying the big fee proportionally, with it being $0.20 per install. For indie titles that have cheaper price tags and don't make that much more than $200,000 but are installed a lot, the financial risk is clear. While Unity said it "set high revenue and game install thresholds to avoid impacting those who have yet to find scale, meaning they don’t need to pay the fee until they have reached significant success," this announcement is not going over well with indie developers, many of whom used Unity Personal because of its cheaper and more accessible nature.
A tweet from game developer Rami Ismail explains that this fee being tied to the number of times the game is installed makes using Unity a risk for developers accounting for subscription service downloads, charity bundles, a free-to-play model, giveaways, and even piracy. Tomas Sala, the developer behind the Falconeer franchise, tweeted about how he's worried about paying exorbitant fees in the future because he's given away so many keys to charity. "This is ball-and-chaining me for an engine I already pay every year," Sala says.
Ultimately, the Unity Runtime Fee will punish developers that release receive don't receive much in the way of revenue but do see high install counts, which is not uncommon in the indie space bolstered by Xbox Game Pass and Humble Bundle. For now, Unity seems to be sticking with its decision, but this is definitely something developers using one of the most popular game engines out there will need to keep in mind when releasing games in the future.
Update: In response to the backlash, Unity posted the following statement on X:
"Today we announced a change to our business model which includes new additions to our subscription plans, and the introduction of a Runtime fee. We wanted to provide clarifying answers to the top questions most of you are asking. Yes, this is a price increase and it will only affect a small subset of current Unity Editor users. Today, a large majority of Unity Editor users are currently not paying anything and will not be affected by this change. The Unity Runtime fee will not impact the majority of our developers. The developers who will be impacted are generally those who have successful games and are generating revenue way above the thresholds we outlined in our blog. This means that developers who are still building their business and growing the audience of their games will not pay a fee. The program was designed specifically this way to ensure developers could find success before the install fee takes effect. We want to be clear that the counter for Unity Runtime fee installs starts on January 1, 2024 - it is not retroactive or perpetual. We will charge once for a new install; not an ongoing perpetual license royalty, like revenue share. We looked for ways to lessen the impact on developers, and provide ways to bring the Runtime fee to zero. If you’re using any of our ad products, Unity Gaming Services or cloud services, etc. please contact us to discuss discounts. We are actively listening to and following your questions closely. Please review our FAQ on today’s announcement. We also invite you to continue to discuss these changes with us on our forums."

Gaming

Embracer Group may sell Borderlands studio Gearbox Entertainment

Zane fights enemies in Borderlands 3.

Gearbox Entertainment -- the Texas-based game developer and publisher behind series like Borderlands, Remnant, and Homeworld -- has been part of Embracer Group since 2021. That might not be the case for much longer, though, according to some new reports.
Reuters reported on Monday morning that Embracer Group has considered selling off Gearbox Entertainment as part of its restructuring plan. For the past several years, Embracer Group has made a name for itself by constantly acquiring developers, publishers, and IP, but that trend started to go the other way following a failed deal with the Saudi Arabia government-funded Savvy Games Group. Embracer is now laying off developers and shutting down studios. The most recent example of this was the closure of Volition, the Gearbox-owned developer behind the Saints Row series.
It now seems like Embracer Group doesn't just want to rid itself of Volition, but potentially Gearbox Entertainment as a whole. While Embracer Group is not commenting on the matter, Bloomberg leaked an internal email from Gearbox's chief communication officer Dan Hewitt affirming that Gearbox could potentially be sold off or go back to being independent.

"The base case is that Gearbox remains a part of Embracer. However, there are many options under consideration, including Gearbox's transfer, taking Gearbox independent, and others. Ultimately, we'll move ahead with whichever path is best for both Gearbox and Embracer," the email states. "Nothing has been decided yet, but there will be a lot of speculation in the coming weeks."
Gearbox Entertainment's fate is currently up in the air, so it's certainly a company to watch in the coming weeks and months. Regardless, it's now starkly apparent that Embracer Group's growth spurt is at an end if it's considering getting rid of Gearbox despite the success of games like Borderlands 3 and Remnant II.

Gaming

Netflix games may be coming to TVs soon, as revealed by new iOS app

Selecting a game in Netflix Games.

It looks like Netflix might be expanding its gaming offerings to TVs soon, as a Netflix Game Controller is now on the iOS App Store. Netflix has yet to announce or comment on the purpose of the app, but a message shown when the app boots up confirms that it's coming.
Netflix has slowly made its way into the gaming industry over the past couple of years, acquiring studios and adding a dedicated game section to its mobile app that lets players download premium mobile games. The library includes some great games like Poinpy and Before Your Eyes, but has yet to break into the mainstream, likely due to its somewhat obscure availability. This new app, which was preemptively listed on Apple's storefront by Netflix and lines up with leaks from earlier this year, indicates that Netflix Games are coming to the TV.
The description for the app states that "this Game Controller app pairs with your TV and allows you to play games on Netflix using your phone or mobile device." After downloading and booting up the app, Digital Trends discovered two more messages asking players to "choose a game on your TV and follow the directions to connect" and that "Netflix Games on TV are in beta. Some devices may not be supported at this time."
All of this points to an impending beta rollout for games on Netflix's TV apps, which has not been announced yet. As such, we don't have any idea about which televisions or games the iOS app or Netflix Games on TV will support just yet. Regardless, this looks like a massive evolution for Netflix's gaming efforts, especially as it gears up to release a cloud gaming service.
Netflix declined to comment on the program when asked by Digital Trends, but it did refer us to previous statements it made about its intentions to break into cloud and TV game streaming.