🍪 From FAIRFAILS to Fork Soup: Gaming’s Excuse Olympics and lndie Rebellions
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🥊 HeartLoop Games Launches with Poly Fighter
Former Brass Lion Entertainment lead Osama Dorias has co-founded HeartLoop Games in Montreal, alongside ex- Artifact 5 director Elaine Gusella and two other co-founders. Their first project, Poly Fighter, is a single-player roguelike fighting game aiming to fuse old-school arcade vibes with modern roguelike progression. Planned for PC.
Context: Dorias left Brass Lion after the studio laid off at least 13 staff earlier this year, part of a “realignment” toward its action-RPG. That shakeup birthed HeartLoop — a fresh start from ex-brass talent.
📢 “Build step-by-step, share with players early, and stay flexible so the game can evolve into the best version of itself,” the team says.
🦊 Kiki’s word: “Sounds healthy. Just remember, roguelike fighters live or die on feel. No one wants a lecture in combos.”
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💀 Perfect Dark Reboot Canceled… Twice
Microsoft’s mass layoffs in July killed The Initiative, the studio spearheading the Perfect Dark reboot. But Crystal Dynamics — its co-dev partner — kept hope alive, pitching the project to Take-Two Interactive and others. Talks broke down over franchise rights, and the game is now dead again.
This makes Perfect Dark one of the rare titles to be canceled twice in the same year — a brutal fate for what was once positioned as a cornerstone Xbox revival.
🦊 Kiki: “Resurrecting Joanna Dark has become gaming’s worst necromancy. She’s risen, canceled, risen, canceled. Someone bury her with dignity before she turns into Duke Nukem’s roommate.”
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🐉 Capcom Blames PS5 Prices for Monster Hunter Wilds Slump
Monster Hunter Wilds sold 10M in its first month but added only 477K between April–June. Steam reviews are clear: performance is broken. One viral review summed it up: “Yes, you can play this… in the same way you can technically eat soup with a fork.”
Capcom‘s president Haruhito Tsujimoto disagrees. In a Nikkei interview, he blamed PS5’s high entry price (~$537 in Japan, ~$672 with software/subs) for slowing sales. He contrasted it with the cheaper Switch 2 ($336) which launched in June.
🦊 Kiki: “Soup with a fork. That’s not hardware, that’s software. Capcom pointing fingers at Sony while ignoring performance is like blaming chopsticks for bad ramen.”
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🧛 The Chinese Room Goes Indie Again
UK-based THE CHINESE ROOM LTD (of Dear Esther, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Still Wakes the Deep) has bought itself out of Tencent-owned Sumo Group via a management buyout. The result: independence restored, but with layoffs.
Studio director Ed Daly told Game Developer that Sumo was losing interest in original IP, focusing instead on work-for-hire. The MBO allows The Chinese Room to pursue two in-house projects, but budgets will be leaner: cycles capped at 3 years, low-single-millions budgets, and tighter scope.
🦊 Kiki: “A born-again indie in 2025 is no small gamble. But trimming fat, moving fast, and doubling down on narrative identity? That’s survival mode. Respect.”
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🚀 No Man’s Sky Hits a 9-Year High
Nine years after its disastrous 2016 launch, No Man’s Sky just hit its highest PC peak since release, thanks to a major new update that added customizable ships and shared boarding.
Sean Murray shared the SteamDB spike: proof that Hello Games’ long slog of free updates has rebuilt trust — a redemption arc still paying off nearly a decade later.
🦊 Kiki: “From meme to miracle. Nine years in, Hello Games is still dropping updates stronger than many AAA launches. Lesson: fix your game, don’t excuse it.”
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💸 FAIRGAME$ Loses Another Lead
Haven Studios Inc’ debut project FAIRGAME$ (Sony’s much-hyped live-service heist shooter) is on shaky ground. After Jade Raymond left in May, game director Daniel Drapeau has now departed too, quietly jumping to WB Montreal.
The project, once pegged for Fall 2025, is now internally delayed to 2026 after poor early impressions. With two major leaders gone, confidence in Sony’s live-service push looks weaker by the week.
🦊 Kiki: “Two execs gone in one year. Live-service shooters already have graveyard space booked — and FAIRGAME$ is bringing its own shovel.”
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🦊🍪 Our Verdict
Today’s stories underline one theme: excuses vs. execution.
HeartLoop and The Chinese Room are betting on lean, clear strategies.
Perfect Dark proves nostalgia can’t save a project twice.
Capcom dodges blame while Hello Games embodies accountability.
Haven’s FAIRGAME$ looks more like FAIRFAIL$.
The industry’s winners will be the ones who ship, fix, and build trust — not the ones who explain failure away.
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