Game News Round-Up

Retro publisher Retro-Bit admits 16-bit re-releases contain ‘uncredited’ fan translations

• The publisher also said that future releases have been placed on hold so it can further investigate the situation and ensure they won’t suffer the same issue.

Mortal Kombat 1 reveals T-1000 gameplay ahead of March DLC release

• The T-1000 and Madam Bo Kameo will join Mortal Kombat 1's Khaos Reigns expansion March 18th
• T-1000's fatalty references the chase scene from Terminator 2
• Robert Patrick reprises his role for the T-1000

Balatro shadowdropped on Xbox Game Pass

Surgeon Simulator studio Bossa is making layoffs as it ‘scales back’ operations

• In a statement posted on LinkedIn, studio co-founder and co-CEO Henrique Olifiers said the company was the latest to fail to successfully adapt to what he called “a fundamental transformation of the games industry” over the past couple of years.
• “Once Lost Skies is established and enjoying live operations, we’ll reshape into small teams working independently on novel game ideas brought to the players as early as possible”
• At the end of 2023, Bossa laid off approximately one-third of its staff. This reportedly saw 19 of 59 employees let go from the studio, which was founded in 2010 in London but is now fully remote.

Forte Labs-owned Phoenix Labs shutters Dauntless just weeks after laying off the "majority" of its staff

• Phoenix Labs is sunsetting Dauntless after a six-year run on May 29
• In recent years, Phoenix Labs conducted several waves of layoffs, including over 100 employees in May 2024. Weeks ago, the developer announced it'd laid off "a majority" of its remaining staff.

Balatro wins formal appeal to reclassify poker game as PEGI 12

• "On the basis of this appeal, the PEGI Experts Group will develop a more granular set of classification criteria."

Dovetail Games appoints Gemma Brown and Rob O'Farrell as Co-CEOs

$112m of Hasbro's $472m 2024 digital gaming revenue came from Monopoly Go alone

• Hasbro's gaming business saw its digital and licensed gaming revenue increase by 22% year-over-year to $471.7 million. $112 million alone of that came from Scopely's Monopoly Go.
• Overall, however, Hasbro's full-year revenues fell by 17% YoY to $4.1 billion, which Hasbro attributes to the eOne divestiture.