Embracer Group has officially appointed Thomas Kœgler as the new CEO of Asmodee. The move was announced earlier this year when Embracer outlined plans to split into three separate businesses to search for “winning formulas” after a brutal restructuring program. Asmodee, the French board game publisher known for distributing titles like Dobble, Ticket to Ride, and Catan, is an integral part of Embracer’s new-look organization. The company has been listed as a standalone entity after securing €900 million in debt financing that Embracer says will create “a strong foundation for building an optimal capital structure” across its restructured business.

Toadman Interactive, the studio known for developing original titles like Immortal Unchained and plying its trade as a work-for-hire developer, is making layoffs. The company confirmed the news on LinkedIn and explained it would be making some redundancies and shuttering its offices in Stockholm, Visby, and Oslo. “Like many other game companies, we have gone through a tough period over the last 12 months, and, unfortunately, that means that we are shutting down our offices in Stockholm, Visby, and Oslo, as well as having some redundancies in our Berlin studio,” reads the statement.

UK studio Ballistic Moon, the developer behind the upcoming Until Dawn remake for PS5 and PC, looks to have laid off an undisclosed number of employees. Linkedin posts from multiple employees indicate a number of roles have been cut at the studio, with animators, programmers, and designers all seemingly impacted. “Like many others in this wonderful but turbulent industry, I am sadly being made redundant from my role as a Junior Game Designer at Ballistic Moon,” wrote one former employee.

Atari is taking a different approach to publishing. Under the stewardship of CEO Wade Rosen, the company revived the Infogrames label earlier this year to “publish games that fall outside the core portfolio of IP associated with the Atari brand,” while also developing new collections and sequels. Speaking to Game Developer about Atari’s publishing drive at Gamescom 2024, Rosen said the company hopes to position Infogrames as a “preservationist” publisher that can acquire franchises from developers who simply don’t have the resources or bandwidth to support them anymore.

Creative UK has started a fund targeted at small and medium-sized ‘creative businesses’ in North East England. The non-profit organization says its aim is to “give recipients the creative freedom to solely test ideas and develop a new product or service for the benefit of the sector.” The North East Shared Success Fund is aimed at enterprises in North Tyneside, Newcastle, and Northumberland, and offers up to £25,000 in funding for projects such as film, TV, and games.

Valve has added new discoverability features to Steam for studios. These changes, according to Valve, were made based on explicit feedback provided by developers, some during Gamescom earlier in August. Both changes give studios control of what related items appear on a title’s store page. Now, they can choose what studio, franchise, or publisher gets highlighted underneath a written description. For example, PlayStation could opt to put Assassin’s Creed Shadows in the “More Like This” tab under Ghost of Tsushima.

We’re back, and I mean that in a very literal sense. We’ve just returned from Gamescom 2024 where this (rather fatigued) editor had a wonderful time catching up with old faces and new. Most of our week was spent flitting between the business areas, chatting all things video games with developers, publishers, studio leaders, and pretty much anybody PR would let us in a room with. Our ongoing Gamescom coverage is right here, so do tuck in.

Bloomberg is reporting that Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios is about to be shuttered by parent company NetEase. The Japanese studio opened 2020 and hired veteran developers from Capcom and Bandai Namco. It was tapped to handle production on Visions of Mana, a new mainline entry in the popular series published by Square Enix. The action-RPG garnered a positive reception when it launched earlier this week, but NetEase is reportedly looking to shutter the studio responsible for that critical success.

Take This, a non-profit dedicated to decreasing stigma and increasing support for mental health in games, will be forced to shut down unless it can secure vital funding. The organization needs to raise $80,000 by September 30, 2024. After that, it will require “substantive, ongoing support” to become sustainable in the long-term. Take This runs a variety of programs designed to increase mental health awareness within the game industry, including an AFK Program that provides support spaces at major conventions and workshops that aim to educate studio managers and staff on mental health culture.