🍪 Switch 2 Slips in the Holidays, WB Cuts Again, AI Turns Into a PR War, and Roblox Ships Safety Theater
Hello there platform watchers, layoff doomscrollers, and people who can tell when a “policy update” is really a reputation update.
Today’s news paints a familiar picture. A major platform holder facing softer momentum than expected. Another large publisher quietly cutting teams. AI discussions drifting further into moral theater. Safety solutions rolling out fast while their real effectiveness remains questionable. None of this is isolated, and none of it feels accidental anymore.
Switch 2 Has a Solid First Year but Misses the Holiday High Bar
Nintendo Switch 2 moved over 10 million units in its first four months, securing a strong first year overall. The holiday season told a different story. In the United States, sales from November to December were reported to be down roughly 35 percent compared to the original Switch during its 2017 launch year. Hardware sales more broadly struggled, with November 2025 marking the weakest US hardware month in decades.
Europe showed similar softness. The UK saw a reported 16 percent holiday decline compared to Switch 1’s 2017 performance, while France posted over a 30 percent drop year over year. Japan fared better, with only a 5.5 percent decline compared to the original Switch’s holiday numbers. Across the full year, Switch 2 still outperformed Switch 1’s first-year totals in the UK and Japan, but the holiday slowdown stood out.
Internally, Nintendo attributed the dip to economic conditions and the lack of a major Western release. Kirby Air Riders performed well in Japan, while Metroid Prime 4: Beyond received mixed fan reactions. At the same time, pricing pressure has become more visible. Newly announced alternate Joy-Con colors are priced at $99.99, with fans questioning the value given minimal design changes.
🦊 Kiki: This is where Nintendo’s shield really shows. A 35 percent holiday drop would be brutal for anyone else, but Nintendo still gets framed as “doing fine.” The hardware is expensive, accessories are borderline absurdly priced, and the early lineup hasn’t justified the premium. Fans keep buying anyway and defending it like it’s a personal identity. Nintendo should be feeling real pressure to deliver better games and better value, but loyalty keeps cushioning the fall.
🍪 Chip quietly puts away a $100 controller receipt.
Warner Bros. Games Cuts Roles in San Francisco as Turbulence Continues
Warner Bros. Games eliminated roles at its San Francisco studio, which houses its digital publishing division and produces mobile titles. Multiple senior employees shared publicly that their teams or positions were being eliminated, with some departures tied to layoffs that landed at the end of December. Employees with over a decade at the studio were affected.
These cuts cap a turbulent year for the company’s games division. Leadership changes, underperforming releases, and studio shutdowns reshaped Warner’s internal structure, with the company narrowing its focus to a smaller group of core franchises. Communication around the layoffs has been minimal, leaving employees to announce their own exits.
🦊 Kiki: I support the people hit by this, and I’m so tired of reading these stories. Same language, same silence, same outcome. People find out they’re done through LinkedIn posts while executives talk about strategy and focus. This keeps happening because there’s nothing stopping it. When layoffs become routine and accountability disappears, regulation stops sounding radical and starts sounding necessary.
🍪 Chip stares at the phrase “entire team eliminated” and doesn’t blink.
Larian Pulls Back on GenAI for Concept Art to Avoid Confusion
Larian Studios confirmed it will refrain from using generative AI tools during concept art development on Divinity to eliminate doubt about the origin of the art. The decision followed backlash and confusion after earlier discussions around AI use for exploration and iteration. Leadership clarified that no AI-generated art would appear in the final game.
At the same time, the studio acknowledged it still wants to improve iteration speed and experiment with AI across departments. Any use of AI for in-game assets would rely on training data the company owns and has consent to use. The line being drawn centers on transparency and control rather than outright rejection of the technology.
🦊 Kiki: This reads like “please stop yelling at us” more than a real philosophical stance. I get why they’re doing it. The internet is ready to assume the worst. But let’s be honest. AI is already in development everywhere. The real issue isn’t touching it. It’s replacing people, hiding usage, and muddying ownership. Pretending you’ll never use it is just optics.
🍪 Chip writes “clear rules matter” on a sticky note and refuses to move it.
Hooded Horse Adds a Hard Ban on GenAI Assets
Publisher Hooded Horse has added contract clauses prohibiting generative AI assets entirely, describing the technology as something that infests production pipelines. The policy extends beyond final assets, with the company advising developers to avoid genAI even for placeholders or prototypes due to the risk of something slipping into a shipped build.
The stance reflects growing anxiety around accidental AI usage making it into releases and turning into legal or reputational disasters. It also highlights how polarized the conversation has become, with some publishers opting for zero tolerance while others continue to invest heavily in AI tools.
🦊 Kiki: Everyone wants to sound righteous right now. I understand the fear. One AI asset slipping through can blow up an entire launch. But calling it cancerous feels like moral panic replacing policy. The problem isn’t the tool. It’s understaffed teams, rushed pipelines, and zero room for mistakes. If studios were healthier, this wouldn’t feel so terrifying.
🍪 Chip guards a build labeled “FINAL FINAL REAL FINAL.”
Roblox Rolls Out Facial Age Verification for Chat Access
Roblox has begun a global rollout of facial age verification, positioning it as a barrier between users and chat features. The system estimates age using facial scanning and enables age-based chat restrictions designed to limit communication between adults and children under 16. Additional rules apply for younger users, including parental permission for those under nine and defined age ranges for chat among teens. Users over 13 can also verify age using ID.
Roblox says images used during verification are deleted immediately and provides an appeal process for users incorrectly categorized. The company frames the system as a major step toward safer communication, following sustained scrutiny over child safety on the platform. At the same time, facial age verification has already shown weaknesses elsewhere, with users frequently bypassing or confusing similar systems.
🦊 Kiki: Facial age checks look responsible until you see how easily they break. People trick them, lighting throws them off, faces get misread, and suddenly you’ve got false confidence instead of real safety. Roblox added appeals and ID options, which helps, but this still feels like a surface-level fix to a deep problem. Safety needs enforcement and design changes, not just a scanner.
🍪 Chip watches the system confidently guess his age wrong.
Stay sharp like players who actually read the numbers
Keep pushing like workers who are tired of being treated as disposable
And remember safety, trust, and creativity don’t come from PR, they come from systems that hold up under pressure
If this one hit home, share it with someone who’s still trying to make sense of where the industry is heading.
🦊 Kiki · 🍪 Chip · ⭐ Byte · 🦁 Leo
