Mindseye, the game from ex-Rockstar president Leslie Benzies-helmed studio Build a Rocket Boy, has arrived. Its launch has gone, er, a bit glitchily, currently landing the game at a mixed reception on Steam. That said, the studio have at least confirmed an update designed to improve Mindseye’s performance is on the way.
If you’re out of the loop, the sort of GTA-ish/Cyberpunk-ish game’s road to release had been plenty weird prior to it breaking cover. Build a Rocket Boy co-CEO Mark Gerhard had seemingly suggested on the game’s Discord server that he believed people were being paid to say negative things about Mindseye, and two other high-profile execs had departed the studio not long before release.
Stardew Valley creator Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone has confirmed his upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, is “larger” than the already sizeable Stardew Valley.
How much bigger, or in which way it’s bigger? Sorry — Barone didn’t elaborate. “The world of Haunted Chocolatier is larger than Stardew Valley” is the full extent of his message. If he’s referring to the length of the game, however, How Long to Beat? has the average Stardew Valley playtime listed as over 50 hours for just the main story, and around 168 hours for a completionist run.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, these 10 words sent a ripple of excitement through his fan communities, with one exclaiming: “[Concerned Ape] STOP TEASING. I MEAN- DONT STOP TEASING. I MEAN- IDK IM SO EXCITED BUT I DONT WANT U TO RUSH TAKE UR SWEET ASS TIME WE LOVE U.”
Last month, Barone admitted that he “didn’t want to just be the Stardew Valley guy,” explaining that was why he’s currently working on Haunted Chocolatier. We shouldn’t expect a release date anytime soon, though — there’s “still a lot to be done,” Barone recently admitted, particularly as he feels it’s “got to be better” than Stardew Valley.
However, he also suggested that he may “eventually make a Stardew Valley 2.” Before you get too excited, however, the developer also said it’s “so much easier to just add more stuff to Stardew Valley than to make a whole new game from scratch.”
“It’s all the systems — all the major systems — are already all done. That’s the stuff that’s not fun to do. When I make an update [for Stardew Valley now], it’s like, you know, oh, throw in this, throw in that. Let’s add green rain — like, these random, whimsical ideas.”
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Lars Wingefors, founder of Swedish gaming company Embracer, is stepping down from his CEO role. Current deputy CEO Phil Rogers will assume the position from August 2025.
In April 2024, Embracer announced plans to split itself into three separate companies: Asmodee Group, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends to “unleash the full potential of each team and provide them with their own leadership and strategic direction.” The restructuring and closures saw 1,387 workers lose their jobs and 29 unannounced projects canceled. It recently announced plans to spin off Coffee Stain Group and renamed its The Lord of the Rings business Fellowship Entertainment.
Wingefors isn’t leaving Embracer entirely, however, and has been appointed executive chair of the board, with current chair Kicki Wallje-Lund moving to deputy chair. Wingefors will also be appointed director of the aforementioned Coffee Stain Group.
“With the start of this new phase, I am thankful for the years and lessons learned as CEO of Embracer,” Wingefors said in a statement (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz). “While the road has not always been straight, I am incredibly proud of the achievements made possible by our talented teams, which have created some incredible experiences for gamers.
“This new phase allows me to focus on strategic initiatives, [mergers and acquisitions], and capital allocation, ensuring Embracer’s continued growth and success. I am more convinced than ever that the best is still ahead of us. Having worked very closely with Phil over the past years, I have high confidence in his abilities. I look forward to a continued close collaboration to further strengthen the business and drive value in the coming years.”
Looking to the future, Embracer owns or controls over 450 franchises, with a long list of subsidiaries that includes THQ Nordic, Plaion, Coffee Stain, Amplifier Game Invest, DECA Games, Dark Horse, Freemode, and Crystal Dynamics – Eidos. It has 73 internal game development studios and over 7,000 staff.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
Ian Proulx, the CEO of Splitgate 2 developers 1047 Games, has apologised for wearing a ‘Make FPS Great Again’ cap while talking about the game’s battle royale mode on stage at Summer Game Fest. As you might have guessed, the hat drew unfavourable comparisons to US president Donald Trump’s MAGA hats.
It’d have been a pretty dumb, controversy-baiting stunt for a games company CEO to pull at any point in recent history, but especially hasn’t gone over well given the timing. As the SGF show happened, a large number of anti-ICE protests also began in response to violent immigration raids, and later that weekend Trump deployed the National Guard onto the streets.”
Mario Kart World is proving to be a big hit with fans, thanks to its range of tracks, the open-world mode and its online features. It still has the accursed Blue Shell, of course, which you can thankfully dodge if you know what you’re doing.
This weapon has been ruining friendships for years and is one of the many tactics the Mario Kart series employs to avoid having a single player dominate the race. When used, it dashes to the front of the pack and takes out the lead driver, evening the odds.
The developer of MindsEye has said it’s working to improve the game’s performance after a number of players took to Steam user reviews to complain.
Build A Rocket Boy’s debut title launched on June 10 and has settled on a ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, where it also hit a peak concurrent player count of 3,302. Many of the negative reviews focus on MindsEye’s performance problems, which appear to be hitting PC gamers hard. There are also reports on various bugs, glitches, and NPC behavior oddities.
In response, Build A Rocket Boy issued a statement on the MindsEye subreddit, saying its engineering team is “working around the clock” to improve performance. Patch 3 will be revealed soon, it added.
Here’s the statement in full:
Thank you kindly to all of you who joined us as pioneers on day one! We understand that the current minimum spec requirements are very high, but our engineering team are working around the clock to improve performance on mainstream hardware as well as consoles by integrating the performance improvements in Unreal Engine V5.6. We will provide patch 3 update timing, including these improvements, within the next 24 hours. In addition to the main campaign, we would also value your thoughts on Build.Mindseye.
MindsEye, led by former Rockstar North chief Leslie Benzies, has endured a tumultuous run-up to release. Last week, Build A Rocket Boy said fans should wait for MindsEye’s official launch rather than play it before its street date, after early copies made their way into the hands of players.
“We want everyone to experience the story the same way at the same time on day one, without bias,” Build A Rocket Boy said in a statement issued in response to early copies being played. “This means waiting until the official release date to play through the game firsthand.”
Mention of bias in the studio’s statement sparked speculation that the company was referring back to comments made by its co-CEO Mark Gerhard, who suggested there had been a “concerted effort” to “trash the game and the studio” with negative social media posts from paid accounts or bots.
Physical copies of MindsEye also needed a “major” update for “key improvements to ensure MindsEye plays as we intended and to meet all the characters at their best.”
And just days before MindsEye’s launch, Build a Rocket Boy’s Chief Legal Officer and Chief Financial Officer confirmed they had left the company, sparking concern from the studio’s fledgling community.
Steam concurrents do not tell the whole story, of course. MindsEye launched on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S as well as PC, so its true concurrent player count will be higher than that reported on Valve’s platform.
MindsEye carries a $59.99 price tag. At launch, there is a “tightly crafted linear story campaign,” and what’s called “single-player free roam,” but there are also a number of missions: a horde mode mission called “Destruction Site Shootout,” and two combat missions (“Honor Amongst Thieves” and “Friendly Fire”). Also at launch are six races, six checkpoint races, and three drone races. If you get the premium pass, you get an extra horde mode mission and an exotic cosmetics pack.
Following launch, Build A Rocket Boy said it will deliver a “constant stream” of fresh premium content monthly, “ensuring MindsEye is a living, ever-expanding player experience.” This includes new missions, challenges, and game assets. “The continuous stream of studio-developed content, combined with the very best of the community’s own beautiful creations, means that MindsEye will continue to surprise and delight its players for decades to come,” Build A Rocket Boy added.
Build A Rocket Boy also confirmed its 2025 roadmap of content. In the summer there will be community updates, new missions, in the fall new single-player modes, multiplayer, and new missions, and in the winter free roam updates and new missions. Premium pass owners get extra missions and new packs throughout.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Games Workshop was forced to pull its own website, Warhammer.com, offline after scalpers caused chaos during the launch of pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition book.
The Warhammer maker launched pre-orders for the hotly anticipated special edition of Siege of Terra: End of Ruin, a new anthology of short stories set during the aftermath of the Siege of Terra and the Horus Heresy. For the uninitiated, the Horus Heresy is the Space Marine civil war that took place 10,000 years before the current Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is the foundation of 40K’s grimdark universe, and reveals how the carrion Emperor ended up on the Golden Throne.
Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is a hugely exciting release for 40K lore fans, but its special edition is even more enticing. It features a leather-effect cover with gold foil details, gilt page edges, and a metal emblem of a ruined Imperial eagle.
Games Workshop had signaled the special edition would be available “strictly while stocks last,” and that it would go on sale at 10am UK time on June 10. It also told fans it planned to use a queue system “to ensure fair distribution.”
Unfortunately, this queue system caused chaos, with fans desperate to pre-order the book unable to make progress. Amid frantic messages of complaint across social media, Discords, and subreddits, Warhammer.com suddenly… stopped. It was offline, and no-one knew why.
Anger grew as those who had carved out time to be there for the pre-order launch were left empty handed. Eventually, Games Workshop issued a statement on the debacle — a rare event in itself — to say it had brought Warhammer.com offline itself because it had noticed scalpers were bypassing its systems.
“Scalpers attempted to use bots to bypass our normal safeguards,” Games Workshop said. “Our eagle-eyed Tech Priests caught this happening in real-time, so we pulled Warhammer.com offline.”
The upshot is that Siege of Terra: End of Ruin is currently unavailable on Warhammer.com, in its place is a page asking for an email for a notification. Games Workshop said the special edition is still coming, “we’re just absolutely determined that real fans get it.”
“All erroneous orders are being purged,” Games Workshop continued. “This is our number one priority. Please forgive us for a delay as we sort it all out.”
The statement has gone some way to calm angry fans who had hoped for a smoother launch of the special edition. Some are calling Games Workshop’s actions here a “small victory” over the scalpers, although there is a healthy dose of skepticism about the company’s efforts to truly combat the bots. Some are calling on Games Workshop to use a raffle system, as other companies do for their high-profile products, or, even better, force interested customers to pass a Horus Heresy test to prove their worth.
In truth, Games Workshop has suffered pre-order problems for years now, and special edition book launches are often plagued by scalpers who go on to sell the products at hugely inflated prices. All eyes are on Games Workshop to see how it handles pre-orders for the Siege of Terra: End of Ruin special edition when they’re eventually re-launched.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
One minute you’re flicking through Steam’s Next Fest demos, and finding one that looks to be included despite having come out in May. The next, you’re desperately firing missiles into the rear end of giant monster truck, a sole red light glaring out from its metallic behind, as though it’s mega-pissed that it seems to have gotten stuck in a cluster of trees. Given that, it should be easy prey for the ordnance strapped to the bonnet of my very Mad Max-ish muscle car coated in enough sheets of metal to fence off several allotments.
This is Mad Metal, though, an indie game whose murderous enemy cars have minds of their own and move more like automotive animals than simple machines.
inZoi publisher Krafton has addressed an ongoing debate about its plummeting Steam concurrent player count, insisting that as a single-player game sales are a better indicator of performance.
The eye-catching The Sims competitor launched big on Steam with an all-time peak concurrent player count of 87,377. Krafton announced inZOI sold impressive 1 million copies in a week, the fastest sales milestone ever for a game published by the South Korean megacorp. It rose to number one on Steam’s Global Top Sellers List (by sales revenue) just 40 minutes after release, with CEO CH Kim said at the time that Krafton planned to “foster” the game as a “long-term franchise IP.”
However, inZoi’s Steam concurrent player count has dwindled since launch, with a 24-hour peak of 1,477. As TheGamer reported this week, inZoi’s peak concurrent player count even dropped below the 16-year-old The Sims 3 on Valve’s platform.
IGN asked Krafton for comment on the situation, and it responded to dismiss Steam peak concurrent player figures as a barometer of the game’s success because it is a single-player game.
“inZOI continues to steadily generate sales, and as a single-player game, it would be most appropriate to refer to the additional sales count at each major update point as opposed to concurrent player count on Steam in measuring the game’s performance,” Krafton said.
The focus on Steam concurrent player numbers has become a hot topic within the industry in recent years, with a number of developers and publishers insisting they don’t tell the whole story of a game’s performance, particularly for single-player games.
In 2024, John “Bucky” Buckley, community chief at Palworld developer Pocketpair, said our obsession with the concept of the “dead game” and player counts was unhealthy for the video game industry and gamers. And in April this year, Alex Bolle, production director on Helldivers 2, told IGN that Steam concurrents are “a metric among many others.”
As for inZoi, Steam user reviews, which do have a significant impact on a game’s visibility on Valve’s platform, remain ‘mostly positive’ for all reviews, but are on ‘mixed’ for recent reviews. As an Early Access game, it has yet to fully release, a point Krafton made in its statement to IGN:
“That said, Early Access is only the beginning of inZOI’s journey, and in many ways our work is just starting. During this phase, the team’s top priority is gathering player feedback and continuing the development of the game with more enhanced features, improved performance, and an overall immersive and engaging experience. We’re thankful for our dedicated inZOI community and look forward to sharing new content updates over the coming months.”
Meanwhile, Krafton announced inZOI is coming to the Mac App Store and Steam in August. The Mac version of inZOI is optimized for the latest macOS on Apple Silicon, Krafton said, and takes “full advantage” of Apple’s MetalFX and Core ML “to deliver the same great gameplay experience as on Windows.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Game-Key Card releases have been a huge talking point in the lead up to the launch of the Switch 2 – arguably blurring the lines between physical and digital media.
