đȘ Game Over Screens We Didnât Want to See Today
Hello there industry veterans, studio survivors, and people whoâve been here long enough to feel when a day hits differently.
Today feels heavy. Like one of those editions that reads less like a news roundup and more like an obituary. And maybe itâs just me, but it really feels like since December weâve been losing a lot of industry veterans. Founders, builders, people who shaped entire eras and then quietly stepped out of frame. Not always the loudest names, but absolutely the ones who made everything else possible.
So today isnât about hype or announcements. Itâs about pausing for a second and acknowledging whatâs being lost, and what kind of industry weâre still trying to hold together.
Albert Penello Has Died at 53
Albert Penello, a longtime Xbox and Electronic Arts (EA) veteran, has passed away at the age of 53. His career spanned some of the most formative years of modern console gaming, working across platform strategy, partnerships, and publishing during a period when the industry was still defining its shape.
He wasnât a headline chaser. He was infrastructure.
đŠ Kiki: This one hit me harder than I expected. People like Penello are the reason the industry functions day to day, even if most players never know their names. Strategy roles, platform roles, partnership people, they spend their careers making other peopleâs work possible. Fifty-three is way too young, and moments like this remind you how fragile all of this really is behind the scenes.
đȘ Chip puts the controller down and just sits there for a moment.
Sega Co-Founder David Rosen Has Died
David Rosen, co-founder of SEGA and one of the founding figures of the arcade era, has also passed away. His influence reaches far beyond any single company. Arcades helped define gaming as a social and competitive experience long before online play existed.
That legacy still echoes through modern games.
đŠ Kiki: Arcades were loud, messy, competitive, and communal in a way we barely recreate anymore. Rosen helped shape a version of gaming that wasnât optimized or monetized yet. You showed up, put a coin down, and played. Every time the industry talks about rebuilding community, itâs chasing something people like him already understood decades ago.
đȘ Chip watches an old arcade screen flicker softly.
Final Fantasy IX Character Designer Toshiyuki Itahana Leaves Square Enix
Toshiyuki Itahana, the character designer behind Final Fantasy IX, has left Square Enix. FFIX remains one of the most emotionally resonant entries in the franchise, remembered for its warmth, charm, and sincerity.
His departure feels quiet, but meaningful.
đŠ Kiki: FFIX still feels weirdly untouched by time, and that doesnât happen by accident. The characters had heart without cynicism and emotion without trying to be edgy. When someone like Itahana leaves, itâs not just a job change. You lose a creative sensibility, and those are almost impossible to replace with tools or process.
đȘ Chip flips through a sketchbook and stops turning pages.
Former ZeniMax Online Director Leaves After Project Blackbird Cancellation
A former ZeniMax Online Studios director has left following the cancellation of Project Blackbird. Like many exits tied to canceled projects, it happened quietly, without spectacle or closure for the teams involved.
Another reminder of how often work simply disappears.
đŠ Kiki: Project cancellations have become so normal that we barely stop to think about the human cost anymore. Years of work and belief just gone, and the industry shrugs and moves on to the next roadmap. We talk a lot about resilience, but not enough about how exhausting this cycle actually is for the people living through it.
đȘ Chip watches a folder labeled âCancelledâ fade into the background.
Hollow Knight Silksong Wins Steamâs Game of the Year 2025
Team Cherry Hollow Knight Silksong has won Valve corporation Steamâs Game of the Year for 2025. A massive community-driven win for a game that has been anticipated, delayed, debated, and still deeply loved.
Context matters here.
đŠ Kiki: I love Silksong, full stop. I played it, I enjoyed it, and I get why people rallied behind it. But after playing both games, thereâs no universe where I think itâs better than Expedition 33. E33 took bigger risks and did more interesting things across the board. What pushed this vote wasnât craft, it was timing. After the AI scandals and all the trust issues this year, the community wanted to reward something that felt undeniably human. Silksong became the emotional safe pick. That doesnât make it undeserved, but if this vote happened before that mess, Iâm convinced E33 wouldâve taken it.
đȘ Chip holds up a sign that reads âangry voteâ.
Trusting Instincts in a Year Obsessed With Pleasing Everyone
Talking about E33âŠ
Clair Obscur Expedition 33âs team at Sandfall Interactive has said they want to trust their instincts for what comes next instead of letting fan pressure steer the project. In the current climate, that mindset feels increasingly rare.
đŠ Kiki: Expedition 33 feels like a game that exists because someone ignored a checklist. It commits to tone, pacing, and weirdness in a way that feels intentional. If they start sanding down those edges to keep everyone happy, they lose the thing that made people care in the first place. Trusting instincts is risky, but designing by crowd consensus is how games quietly lose their soul.
đȘ Chip steps back from a crowd of shouting silhouettes and gives a thumbs up.
Ubisoft Halifax Employees Form a Union
Ubisoft Halifax employees have officially formed a union. Another sign of a broader shift across the industry, especially inside large publishers where instability has become routine.
đŠ Kiki: When you talk to people inside big studios right now, the word that keeps coming up is stability. Not power, not statements, just some sense that the ground wonât disappear under them every six months. Unionization keeps popping up because the current setup hasnât been protecting anyone for a long time. And the more companies act like everything is fine, the more this becomes the only option people feel they have.
đȘ Chip plants a small flag labeled âbasic protections.â
Stay grounded like the people who built this industry from nothing
Keep listening like communities voting with emotion and intent
And remember industries donât collapse overnight, they erode when no oneâs paying attention
đŠ Kiki · đȘ Chip · â Byte · đŠ Leo
