The Main Events of the Weekend (June 27-28)

Employees at Quantic Dream and Ubisoft Barcelona have gone on strike, Sony announced plans to continue working on live-service games, and The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth set a new concurrent player record on Steam—here's a look at the key events in the gaming industry from the past weekend.

• Developers at Quantic Dream went on strike to protest against impending layoffs—115 people or a quarter of the studio's workforce are expected to be affected due to the cancellation of the failed Spellcasters Chronicles. Additionally, the activists aimed to protect Star Wars Eclipse through the strike. The action coincided with a visit from Lucasfilm representatives to Quantic Dream to assess the game's current state. By striking, the developers hoped to draw the studio’s partners' attention to their issues. According to the protesters, the Star Wars Eclipse team is experiencing a severe staff shortage, and instead of laying off 115 people, they should be transferred to this project — without them, Star Wars Eclipse risks never being released. Quantic Dream's management did not comment on the strike.
• Employees of Ubisoft's Barcelona division also decided to strike. They plan to go on strike every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from June 30 to July 16. They hope to protect Ubisoft Barcelona from previously announced layoffs, which involve the departure of 51 employees from the division. The protesters are demanding not only the cancellation of these layoffs but also protection from potential future cuts for at least five years. Additionally, they want the return of remote work, a revision of the pay raise plan, and the elimination of barriers to career development within the company.
• Hideaki Nishino, head of Sony Interactive Entertainment, gave an interview to Famitsu. During the conversation, the top manager stated that the failure of Concord and several other projects has not deterred the company from continuing its work on live-service games. He described this category of games as relatively young and noted that many studios are currently experimenting with different formats. Therefore, Sony does not intend to give up and will continue to seek new ideas.
• The studio Turning Wheel boasted that its roguelike Barony crossed a significant milestone — Steam version sales exceeded one million copies. As the developers reminded, they reached this point after 11 years since Barony's release in June 2015. Moreover, 75% of the game’s Steam sales occurred only after Turning Wheel released a major update for Barony called Quality of Death in 2023. The studio did not disclose sales of the roguelike on other platforms — Epic Games Store, GOG, and Nintendo Switch.
• Another roguelike, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, set a new concurrent player record on Steam this weekend. According to SteamDB, on the evening of June 28, the number of simultaneous users in the game reached 123,429. For comparison, the previous peak was 70,701 players, achieved in April 2021 when the Repentance expansion was released. The new record was made possible thanks to a 90% discount.