Plus the entire Annapurna Interactive team resigns and Flappy Bird returns
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SIFTER is produced by Kyle Pauletto, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Courtney Smith, Adam Christou and Chris Button. Mitch Loh is Senior Producer and Gianni Di Giovanni is our Executive Producer. Thanks to Audio Technica Australia for their support of SIFTER.
FIONA: Hi I’m Fiona Bartholomaeus
CHRIS: and I’m Chris Button
FIONA: Welcome to Walkthrough, SIFTER’s weekly recap on the biggest news in video games.
CHRIS: This week Annapurna Interactive is in strife as all staff quit, Sony reveals the PlayStation 5 Pro and we wince at the price and Flappy Bird returns!
Here is the news for Sunday 15th of September. Let’s go!
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PROMO: Join the SIFTER community on Discord at sifter.com.au/discord
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CHRIS: Sony finally announced the PlayStation 5 Pro this week and it’s got some pretty good specs but boy is it expensive.
Like holy moly, who can afford this thing?
The mid-gen console will have a GPU with 67 percent more compute units, 28 percent fast memory, and 45 percent performance increase…whatever that means.
And all for a low-low price of $700 USD or about over $1200 AUD.
FIONA: The price point doesn’t end there though as the PlayStation 5 Pro doesn’t come with a stand or disc drive so if you want them, you’ll have to pay extra for both, pushing the price up to around $1400.
During the reveal PS5 Lead Architect Mark Cerny, introduced a new technology called PlayStation Spacial Super Resolution. It builds on Sony’s current upscaling method by using an AI algorithm to calculate missing image info and fill in missing pixels.
They haven’t really said much more about that technology but I’m sure we'll see more before the console goes on pre-order in a couple of weeks.
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FIONA: In a shock announcement this week, the entire staff of Annapurna Interactive have resigned.
The Annapurna Interactive team including President Nathan Gary had been negotiating with Annapurna CEO Megan Ellison to spin off the video-game division as an independent company
However after Ellison pulled out of the negotiation, all 25 members of Annapurna Interactive including Gary all resigned, which they’ve said was the hardest decision they’ve ever made.
A spokesperson for Annapurna said the parties failed to reach an agreement, which led to the resignations.
CHRIS: Only a couple of weeks ago we shared the news that Annapurna Pictures was joining forces with Remedy Entertainment for an upcoming game and potentially film and TV adaptations, so it’ll be interesting to see if that collaboration is impacted.
Mixtape by Australian studio Beethoven & Dinosaur, another Annapurna game in development is still going ahead despite the upheaval the studio has confirmed.
It’s such a massive shock for the gaming industry to see the team behind the publishing of titles such as Outer Wilds, Stray and Cocoon end like that.
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CHRIS: Microsoft is sadly back with another round of layoffs, this time cutting 650 staff from their video game workforce.
It was announced via a memo, from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, and said that the roles affected were mostly corporate and support functions, and it was to help organise the business for long term success.
FIONA: This round of layoffs means that Microsoft has let go of 2,550 people from its gaming business since acquiring Activision Blizzard in 2023.
In the memo he clarified that no games or studios were being closed as part of these cuts, which is a tiny breath of good news after previous cuts included Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall developer Arkane Austin.
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FIONA: Bungie has come under a bit of fire after an artist on X pointed out that the company’s new merchandise was based on their work.
The company recently announced a limited edition NERF gun of Destiny 2’s most iconic weapon, the Ace of Spades, which you can unlock the preorder for once you earn the Legend title in Destiny 2.
However the artist Tofu said that after they reached the ‘Legend’ status, they were shown an ad to buy a nerf gun and that’s when they noticed it looks incredibly similar to art they made nine years ago.
CHRIS: Tofu said they made the stylized print of Ace of Spades back in 2015 and the engravings and painted stripes are details that don’t actually appear in the game, so after they pulled their original artwork to compare, they noticed a lot of the finer scratch marks and details were identical.
The Destiny 2 team replied on X saying that they’re currently investigating the issue both internally and with their partner, and are in contact with the artist.
Tofu has said while they’re disappointed, they don’t blame Bungie as this kind of work would have been outsourced to other contractors.
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CHRIS: Flappy Bird is back, if you missed the craze that saw everyone playing this little one button mobile game your time is now.
A group calling themselves the Flappy Bird Foundation have revised the game and updated it for current phones.
Creator Dong Nguyen pulled the game right at its peak, worried about the addictive elements causing harm to players.
FIONA: In a real monkey-paw moment, it seems the trademark was acquired by a company called gametech holdings according to court documents and on sold to the foundation.
The game now has some of those microtransactions and dark pattern designs that sort of fly in the face of the original creator’s intentions.
Will you be flapping again? Let us know on our socials.
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FIONA: That’s it for the big headlines, here are the games coming out this week with a couple of Australia made titles in the mix.
CHRIS: Jump into the storybook world of The Plucky Squire, a fun action-adventure game made in Brisbane. Navigate between 2D and 3D as the storybook characters discover a world outside their book and they try to save their friends. That’s out on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and Switch on Tuesday.
FIONA: UFO50 is a collection of games from the creators of Spelunky and Downwell packed in a cool retro package. It’s got heaps to choose from with fifty different games to play, both single and multiplayer. It was first announced 7 years ago wow, but you can play it on PC on the 18th.
CHRIS: Frostpunk 2 the sequel to the hit post-apocalyptic city builder will launch on the 20th for PC. Delayed from earlier in the year after beta feedback will you survive in the frigid tundra? Find out on Friday.
FIONA: From Australian devs Spoonful of Wonder comes the narrative game Copycat. Follow the story of a newly adopted shelter cat who becomes the victim of a jealous stray copycat who steals her place in the household. Grab it on PC on the 20th.
CHRIS: Also out on the 20th is The Karate Kid: Street Rumble. This classic looking retro game is a co-op multiplayer title following along the classic Karate Kid journey. That’s out on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4|5 and Switch.
FIONA: And finally a couple of PlayStation mainstays are arriving on PC this week, Final Fantasy XVI arrives on the 18th on Steam, and God of War Ragnarok arrives a day later on the 19th.
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FIONA: This has been Walkthrough by SIFTER, my name is Fiona Bartholomaeus.
CHRIS: And my name is Chris Button, thank you so much for listening.
FIONA: Think of this episode of Walkthrough as a video game and you’re a games journalist, would you give this epic adventure of fun a five star review? You can! Head over to Pocket Casts now, one of our favourite podcast players, and hit that five stars. It helps people find the show. That’s Pocket Casts, Search for Walkthrough and rate it five stars.
CHRIS: SIFTER is produced by myself, Fiona Bartholomaeus, Adam Christou, Courtney Smith and Kyle Pauletto. The episode is edited by both Senior Producer Mitch Loh and Executive Producer Gianni Di Giovanni, who is also Walkthrough’s script editor.
FIONA: Thanks to Brian Fairbanks from Salty Dog Sounds for composing the Walkthrough theme tune, and Audio Technica Australia and Apple for their support of SIFTER’s podcasts.
CHRIS: We’ll be back with more news next Sunday. See you then.
