Bethesda union rally 🤝 Asha Sharma Fed task force 💼

Top Stories

Bethesda Union Workers Will Hold Rallies Next Week Protesting Mass Layoffs (3 min read)

OneBGS, the CWA-affiliated Bethesda Game Studios union, is organizing "Save Our Devs" marches at four studio locations on July 15 to protest Xbox mass layoffs that eliminated 440 union positions across Bethesda and ZeniMax. The layoffs, part of broader cuts affecting roughly 1,600 workers at Xbox and 4,800 across Microsoft, included 96 at id Software, 22 at BGS Austin, 213 at ZeniMax Online, and 166 at ZeniMax Media. Multiple Xbox unions have been demanding layoff-term negotiations for months; union reps said Xbox had stalled discussions. (Kotaku)

Asha Sharma to co-lead US Federal Reserve's Productivity and Jobs task force (2 min read)

The US Federal Reserve appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma to co-lead its Productivity and Jobs task force alongside Marc Andreessen and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones. The division will assess the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including AI, to inform Federal Reserve policy. Sharma's appointment comes as Xbox announced 3,200 layoffs by end of 2027, affecting studios including ZeniMax Online, Id Software, Bethesda Game Studios, and Obsidian. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Business & Finance

"New Zealand's success is being built by ambitious studios of all sizes" – Combined revenue of studios supported by rebate grows 17% to $829m (2 min read)

New Zealand's Game Development Sector Rebate-supported studios grew combined revenue 17% to $829 million in 2025/26, with 43 studios receiving $21.9 million in funding. Games in development rose to 194, and medium-sized studios reported the strongest gains at 44% revenue increase. (GamesIndustry.biz)

Studios & People

Layoffs begin at Ubisoft Barcelona following Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced launch (2 min read)

Ubisoft Barcelona laid off 51 employees after Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced launched. The studio will now focus exclusively on Rainbow Six; staff had struck requesting job protection and new mandates. Black Flag Resynced scored 84 on Metacritic, the franchise's best review since 2013. (GamesIndustry.biz)

AI/Tech & Tools

Does Capital Kill Game Dev Software? Developers Rage: "FaceFX Revokes Perpetual License, Demands $230K Annual Fee" (8 min read)

“资本杀死游戏开发软件”？开发者吐槽：“FaceFX撤销永久授权，年费23万天价”！

Speech Graphics' acquisition of FaceFX prompted the company to revoke perpetual licenses and demand annual fees instead. A developer with a five-year perpetual license faced termination unless paying $35,000 yearly for single-user access or $25,000 per-platform one-time. FaceFX is used by over 300 AAA games for automated lip-sync and facial animation. (GameLook)

Policy & Labor

Laid-Off MindsEye Developers Plan Protest Outside Company Office Over 'All-Expenses-Paid Playtest Day' (3 min read)

Laid-off MindsEye developers plan a protest outside Build a Rocket Boy's Edinburgh office on July 11 over the studio's decision to fund an "all-expenses-paid playtest day" following mass layoffs. The IWGB union is also highlighting ongoing disputes over employee surveillance and union blacklisting. (IGN)

Lenovo Has Officially Ditched Its Piracy-Packed Game Boy-Like Device (4 min read)

Lenovo discontinued its G02 Game Boy-like handheld after months of pressure from emulation sites over pre-loaded copyrighted Nintendo and Sega ROMs. The $60 device, initially pulled from AliExpress and relaunched under a subsidiary brand (Sunyao), is now completely off sale following escalating IP enforcement attention. (Kotaku)

gg! see you in game!

— [james](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrjennings/)