This week meant the closure of the #Nintendo Wii/3DS portion of multiplayer servers, rendering most Nintendo developed & server-dependent games limited to local games and some extreme cases, games got just literally as collector's item. #Gaming #GameNews #youtubegaming 🕹 🎮

Embracer confirms selling part of #Saber Interactive to the company's co-founder Matthew Karch (using his company Beacon Interactive). Direct effects are: -The retirement of Saber Russia operations. -Saber will keep studios Nimble Giant (Star Trek Infinite), 3D Realms (Ion Fury), Sandbox Strategies, New World Interactive (Insurgency), Slipgate Ironworks (Graven), Mad Head Games (Scars Above), Fractured Byte (Borderlands Legendary Collection and Digic. -Embracer will retain Tripwire (Chivalry), Beamdog (Mythforce), Tuxedo Labs (Teardown), Demiurge, Shiver (Lucius), Aspyr (Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection), Snapshot Games (Phoenix Point) and 34BigtThings (Redout). -Beacon will look an option to acquire 4A Games (Metro) and Zen Studios (Pinball) For weeks, it has been suggested that Saber Interactive was the latest of the collateral of Embracer Group failed mid-2023 multi-million gaming project that still to this day, full details haven't emerged of what could have been & that made a dent in all current & future projects. It is heavily suggested that a joint venture with a gaming company, Embracer and a interest from Saudi Arabia went sour at the very last minute (a day before closure of a financial quarter). #Gaming #GameNews #youtubegaming 🕹🎮

In a new signal that FTC is not giving up on reversing #ActivisionBlizzard acquisition in the future, the regulator wrote to the 9th Circuit of Appeal Court that Microsoft contradicted on its promise that both Microsoft & ABK will operate independently post-merger. All this as a result of the recent layoff at Microsoft Gaming that also included redundant jobs and the eSport department of Activision Blizzard. After failing to win a Preliminary Injunction in Summer 2023, FTC has said that it will continue its inner process that if successful (an uphill road at best as per observers), could force Microsoft to divest ABK, but either way the process could take years. There is a chance that if by 2024 US Elections, there is a change in FTC administration and a republican one takes over, the FTC could abandon the efforts. The FTC under Biden Administration, has grown intolerant on mergers that means big companies just becoming bigger but, the low success rate has been questioned by Congress with tax money being used just to fail and FTC requesting more funding regardless. Meanwhile, Microsoft has denied FTC's accusation on the #ABK independence promise post-merger, indicating that Activision was already on plans for running layoffs before the deal's closure is incorrect to fully attribute to Microsoft Gaming's process. #Gaming #GameNews #youtubegaming 🕹🎮

Turn 10 boss Alan Hartman is now leading #Xbox Game Studios after 18 years tenure with Forza Motorsport developer. Microsoft Gaming restructured after the ABK deal closure and now Matt Booty is President of Game Content & Studios and Sarah Bond as Xbox VP. #Gaming #GamingNews