IWGB redundancy taskforce launches 🤝 AI flooding indie clones 🤖
2026-07-16 · 7 stories · 26 min read
Top Stories
IWGB Game Workers union forms 'redundancy taskforce' to defend workers' rights (4 min read)
The IWGB Game Workers Union established a member-led redundancy taskforce to support laid-off UK workers and ensure redundancies are legal, justifiable, and fair. The move comes as mass layoffs continue across the industry—Xbox announced 3,200 job cuts this week, and the IWGB estimates over 9,000 workers have been laid off since early 2026. The taskforce will provide training and solidarity to union members facing redundancy, while the union pursues an employment tribunal against Rockstar over the firing of 30+ union members, scheduled to conclude in October. (Game Developer)
AI Is Already Generating A Flood Of Indie Game Clones (5 min read)
Indie developers are reporting that people are using AI coding tools like Claude to rapidly clone their games—sometimes before official release—and publish them to storefronts, flooding the market with copies. Developer Freya Holmér posted a 50-second prototype of a Tetris variant where the board rotates; within days, multiple AI-generated clones appeared. One creator, Charlie Greenman, built a clone called Rotris in about a day using AI prompts and expressed no ethical concerns, comparing game cloning to other creative borrowing. The trend threatens smaller devs' ability to stand out amid thousands of annual releases. (Kotaku)
Studios & People
Glen Schofield, veteran director of Dead Space, three Call of Duty titles, and The Callisto Protocol, announced his retirement after 35 years in the industry. He cited the difficulty of recent development cycles and a desire to pursue painting and sculpting, calling it an inflection point for the next generation of developers. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Games & Releases
GTA 6's Lack of a PC Port Isn't Out of Greed, According to a Former Rockstar Producer (2 min read)
Former Rockstar Games producer John Ricchio explained that starting development on consoles and porting to PC later is easier than the reverse, since consoles' hardware constraints make scaling up simpler than scaling down. Resource allocation and business case analysis determine which platforms get ports. (IGN)
AI/Tech & Tools
Activision is investigating exploits in Black Ops 1 and 2 PS4/PS5 ports after modders compromised lobbies. The vulnerability stems from unchanged PS3-era encryption on save files, allowing players to decrypt and modify game data. Activision removed certain playlists and confirmed it's working to resolve the issues. (IGN)
Policy & Labor
UK union launches free resource to decode video game writing contracts (4 min read)
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain launched a free guide to help game writers understand video game writing contracts. The guide covers four employment statuses—employee, freelance, both, or 'worker'—and aims to help writers negotiate fair and equitable terms amid industry layoffs. (Game Developer)
Culture & Community
The Story Of The Stuffy, Silly, Arhythmic Hallway Recording Of The Original DK Rap (7 min read)
The DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64 was recorded in a hallway by game director and programmer Chris Sutherland, who was picked for voice work after yelling sound effects for Battletoads Arcade. Sutherland became a prolific voice actor by accident, getting tapped whenever Rare needed voices for games. (Kotaku)
gg! see you in game!
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