With Epic laying off 1,000 people, the game industry job market has gone from “extremely chilly” to “nearing absolute zero.” Also: a recap of GDC’s challenged year, Circana Report on U.S spending for February 2026,…
This was supposed to be a show just about earnings. All we wanted to do was cover the earnings… but Sony closed Bluepoint, Nintendo is releasing $20 Pokemon ROMs, and Microsoft appears to have ousted…
We’re joined by two special guests on this milestone episode. Please welcome Andy Pan (the only person who has previously co-hosted a show with us) and Greg Alderton, Virtual Economy’s lead moderator! With 14,000 people…
Bonus Episode 11: The PAX West 2025 Roundup
- September 22, 2025
- Tagged as: Ambrosia Sky, Arcane Eats, Beatdown City Survivors, Black Jacket, Blocks for Babies, Demon School, Fallen Tear: The Ascension, Fractured Blooms, Framework, Fresh Tracks, G'Aim'e, Letter Lost, Mistfall Hunter, Nintendo, Rogue Eclipse, Starcade: Factions, Starseeker: Astroneer, Swap Meat, Terrible Lizards, Tokyo Extreme Racer, World of Kylia:
PAX West 2025 felt like home for the first time since the COVID-19 lockdown ended. We recap our favorite games and tech from the show. You can support Virtual Economy’s growth via our Ko-Fi and…
Following the flagging performance of Destiny 2 and Marathon woes, Sony has jettisoned embattled Bungie studio head Pete Parsons. They’ve also announced significant hikes on PS5 prices. Also: Another Subnautica 2 lawsuit, a BioShock shakeup,…
The original Nintendo Switch launched at $300 USD. The Switch 2 price was absent from the huge Nintendo Direct, only to be quietly revealed at $450. As for game prices, Mario Kart World is a…
Another bad quarter for Embracer could have ripple effects throughout the industry. Also: Sony, Nintendo, Sega, and Square Enix earnings, legal trouble for NetEase executives, a strike at Activision Blizzard, and more. You can support…
We had a hunch that EA Sports College Football was going to be big, and it seems to have single-handedly swung the U.S. video game spending report in a positive direction. Also: Lots of earnings, PS5 price hikes, some acquisitions, and more.
Sony dug a giant hole and dumped all the Helldivers 2 goodwill into the pit (while cutting off 177 countries). Microsoft lit itself on fire and burned player sentiment to the ground. Good times. Also: Take-Two layoffs target a BAFTA winner, Unity has a new CEO with a massive compensation package, the Circana report for March, and earnings, earnings, earnings.
Triple-A game development is unsustainable. No matter whether your game succeeds or fails, the corporate machine is grinding developers up and spitting them out by the thousands. Things need to change.