Gamer Fridge

Basketball was one sport I loved playing as a kid—not only to compete or spectate, but just for fun. I was not good at it. So I stopped playing, partially because I hated feeling like my teammates were stuck with me. When I got benched, that bummed me out. But when I got put in,…

Bloomberg reports that Compulsion Games isn’t the only Microsoft studio fighting to stay open during the great “Xbox reset” announced last week by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and “several other studios” are at risk of closure, reports the publication, which cited undisclosed sources who are familiar with Microsoft’s plans. Double…

Last year’s explosion of ‘friendslop’ games inspired by Peak’s phenomenal success may be a recession indicator, but I’m still here for it: I love seeing indie developers focusing on small, cheap, creative games built around the idea of hanging with the pals. But the game industry’s tendency to pile onto a promising trend does mean…

Xbox Games Studios head Craig Duncan has stepped down after just over a year-and-a-half in the role, reports The Game Business. Duncan led Sea of Thieves developer Rare for nearly 13 years before being promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios in 2024, which put the rest of Microsoft’s studios under his stewardship, including Double…

Today marks the beginning of Steam Next Fest, the thrice-yearly, week-long smorgasbord of delectable demos served up by game creators of all sizes as samplers for their in-development delights. And unsurprisingly, as the Steam catalog adds tens of thousands of games every year, that translates into a lot of demos. To be precise: This season’s…