Ubisoft's chief creator officer, Serge Hascoët, has resigned. CEO and co-founder of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemot, will cover the post as the company looks for a replacement.

The news came via a statement from the company that also confirmed that head of Ubisoft's Canadian studios, Yannis Mallat, "will be stepping down", along with global head of HR, Cécile Cornet, who "believes [stepping down] is in the best interest of the Company's unity".

The full statement - which is entitled "Ubisoft announces departures and reaffirms its commitment to implementing significant change in its workplace culture" - is as follows:

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Its been almost four months since Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released and while some of you might still be playing diligently each day, my attention for the game has started to wane. Add to this the fact that some people are starting to go back to work and the amount of time that you have to fish, hunt, or do anything in the game might be limited.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could know exactly when your island is going to see rain storms or a meteor shower so you can plan ahead? Here comes MeteoNook to prove that the Animal Crossing community continues to be the most hardcore out there, despite the object of their love being one of the most calming games on the surface.

So how does it work? It requires a bit of effort on your part wherein you report what types of weather you've been having over the course of a few days, as well as times that you have seen shooting stars. It works best with the meteor showers as apparently even during heavy meteor showers, there are minute gaps that help to best determine your weather seed. Earlier this week when I got my first heavy meteor shower in what seems like months, I took an hour, put on a podcast, and wrote down the exact minutes that I saw shooting stars.

With the times recorded and a few weather observations, all you have to do is enter the timeslot that you saw meteors in, then the website will calculate the gaps and go about searching their database for your seed. According to Ash Wolf, the creator and programmer of MeteoNook, there are over two billion possible seeds, so it's always good to have more data to narrow down your specific seed.

Despite any faults it might have, one thing I cannot say about Ninjala is that it lacks passion. This game has more heart than a Time Lord, and it's easy to see how much affection went into creating it. You see it in the characters, the art, the stages, the music, the weapons, and the lore. Nothing about this gives the impression the developers weren't giving it their all to create a game where players can invest themselves in more than just the gameplay.

And that's for the best because the actual gameplay of Ninjala might be the most divisive thing about it.

"How did you track me down? Can you give me more information?"

David Westland has every right to be hesitant. I've just emailed him, out of the blue, to ask about a unique competition prize that he won back in 1984, when he was aged 11. The competition was a collaboration between two mainstays of the ZX Spectrum scene: must-read magazine Crash and renowned developer Ultimate Play the Game. To promote its latest release, Sabre Wulf, Ultimate co-founder Tim Stamper created a special metal amulet which Crash gave away as the top prize in a competition to design the best-looking map of the game. David, his older brother Steven and friend Ian Statham submitted the winning map and the trio were invited to Crash HQ in Ludlow to collect their prize from the mag's art editor Oli Frey.

I reply to David, telling him that thanks to the winners' details printed in Crash, only a little amateur sleuthing was required to reveal his contact details. I suggest there might be an interesting story behind the competition and the amulet, particularly as Ultimate was one of the UK's most enigmatic software houses. I also reassure him that I'm not a crazy person.

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Three Ubisoft execs are departing the company after weeks of allegations about sexual, physical, and emotional abuse have emerged around company leadership. ...

If you like the idea of playing as the shape-shifting creature from John Carpenter's The Thing, you'll want to keep your eyes on Carrion, a Metroidvania-like adventure from Phobia Game Studio. Today, during the Devolver Direct livestream, Carrion was shown and given a July 23 release date for Switch, Xbox One, and PC.

In Carrion, you control a monster that feeds on humans, grows larger, and uses its many tentacles to navigate an underground facility. Playing as a bad guy is one thing, but playing as a bad guy with a form you can't really wrap your brain around is something entirely different. With Maneater, another game that gives you control of a beast, already hitting this year to much success, I can't wait to see what Carrion has to offer.

If you can't wait until July 23 to try it, you can download a "Sneak Peek" demo now on Steam. If you simply want more details, check out our "Four Reasons to Keep an Eye on this Monster Mash" preview.

Serge Hascoet, Yannis Mallat, and Cecile Cornet--three senior executives at Ubisoft--are stepping down amidst widespread accusations of abuse and promotion of a toxic work culture levelled at the company and these specific individuals.

In a statement issued to GameSpot, Ubisoft confirmed the departures, saying that Hascoet has "chosen to resign from his position as chief creative officer, effective immediately." Although he may not be as public-facing as other Ubisoft executives, Hascoet held significant influence within the company, essentially having the power to green light game development projects and also make key creative decisions. Of course, this also meant that he had significant influence over staff, which numerous people have indicated he abused to the point of encouraging a toxic work environment. The role vacated by Hascoet will be taken up by Yves Guillemot, co-founder and current CEO of Ubisoft, in the interim.

Yannis Mallat, who was managing director of Ubisoft's Canadian studios, will be stepping down and leaving Ubisoft too. Ubisoft statement reads, "The recent allegations that have come to light in Canada against multiple employees make it impossible for him to continue in this position." Much like Hascoet, Mallat is accused of enabling a culture of abuse that created a pervasively toxic working environment.

“I can’t quite get what Weird West is as a game, but I bloody love the aesthetic,” our Nate said last month. He’d just seen a notE3 trailer which had plenty of mood but not much of the game. It’s an action-RPG with some immersive sim-ish bits, yeah? From some folks formerly of Dishonored and Prey devs Arkane? I’m still not quite sure about the shape of the game but a new trailer from Devolver Digital’s stream tonight shows more than I’d seen before.

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Serge Hascoët has resigned as Ubisoft’s chief creative officer after weeks of damning accounts of sexual misconduct throughout the company’s various studios, according to a Saturday evening press release. Yannis Mallat, the powerful head of Ubisoft’s Canadian studios, is also out effective immediately, as is the…

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The Devolver Direct 2020 showcase was as wacky as we've come to expect over the years, but this time they took it a step further!

The post Devolver Direct 2020 Roundup: Explore the Virtual Ghost of an Abandoned Marketing Expo appeared first on Siliconera.

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best user-created offerings from the last week! I know this is something many do not want to hear, but as Rorie mentioned during the last two co-op community corners, all signs point to the staff not going back to the office before the end of summer. I know for many, watching the staff return to their normal routine with studio-quality videos is something people have been asking for, but these are extraordinary times. Please, be kind and polite to the staff as they try new things and attempt to make the best of the incredible situation they are in right now. Also, let's not forget, the amount of content that is being posted to the site has increased dramatically since the lockdown, and that's worth remarking upon as a community. Regardless, let's jump into the site housekeeping!

It’s been quite fun to get some of that old E3 self-indulgent and money-wasting spectacle today in Devolver Digital’s own notE3 showcase/short film. D3: Devolver Digital Direct continued the indie publisher’s absurd years-long story of company executives, exploding heads, and the future’s future. As we enter the fifth week of an endless online marketing experience filling in after E3 was cancelled by the pandemic, I am tired. Devolver devoting most of a 45-minute presentation to a fictional corporate power struggle might stretch jokes thin but hell, after so many hours-long streams, it almost feels concise. And, y’know, it’s fun.

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Bandai Namco is making a monster-raising game called Tabe Ouja. In it, you cook food to create new monsters.

The post Bandai Namco’s Tabe Ouja Turns Food Into Monsters appeared first on Siliconera.

Pascal, Animal Crossing’s cute and chill otter, has returned in the most recent summer update for New Horizons. So in honor of his arrival, I asked you all to create some fun images featuring this adorable critter.

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A Super Mario Bros NES cart just broke the record for the highest-value sale for an individual video game, at $114,000.

The post Rare Super Mario Bros. NES Cart Sells for a Record-breaking $114,000 appeared first on Siliconera.

[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/07/09/the-best-open-worlds-of-all-time"]

You can check out the video above, click through the gallery below or scroll down the page for the full list. Let us know in the comments what was on your list that didn't make ours!

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The new trailer for Serious Sam 4 coming out of Devolver Digital’s notE3 stream today didn’t show much of the game, but what it did show looks like Serious Sam to me. Wacky cartoon monsters roaming around arenas in real-world-ish locations? Yup. Quite a few of those monsters at once? Quite. Unnecessary story? Seriously. Explosions, lasers, and gibs? Oh my! Check out the trailer below.

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This week on Snapshots: More Last of Us Part 2 photos, a creepy swamp, a big skull, an impressive deer, and a biker in the stars.

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Those rapscallions at Devolver Digital have stepped up their E3 shitposting this year with Devolverland Expo, a free game recreating the horrifying spectacle of a video games show. And surprise, it’s out right now. Made by Shadow Warrior developers Flying Wild Hog, it sends us into a cancelled video games expo to steal trailers while fighting security systems. You know, so you can watch trailers for video games inside a video game.

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Devolver Digital has unveiled the retro action game Olija with a new trailer, providing a glimpse at its gameplay, art style and more.

Streamed during the Devolver Digital Showcase held on July 11, the game is developed by Skeleton Crew and drops players into the castaway Faraday’s journey through the inhospitable land of Terraphage. Using a spear and the assistance of a woman named Olija, he’ll need to surpass obstacles, elude dangers and fight his way toward an as of yet unknown goal.

Doing all of this is easier said than done though. Around most every corner are more and more hostile threats, from a mob of enemies out to rip him limb from limb or skewer him with a rain of knives to menacing traps out to crush him into dust for trespassing on god knows what.

Specifics on other parts of the story were not revealed, though the trailer does end with Faraday encountering another ally. They appear to be an old man, and offer Olija a large blade which she then conducts a ceremony with.

It’s all presented in a retro 8-bit style aesthetic which, aside from the silky smooth movements, are a throw-back to action titles of old.

It’s an interesting concept that many an indie fan will be drawn to. Don’t take our word for it though; the full trailer can be viewed down below.

Temmie Change, the Undertale artist, released a new, experimental game called Dweller’s Empty Path. It also has music from Toby Fox.

The post Undertale Artist Temmie Chang Releases Dweller’s Empty Path appeared first on Siliconera.

During today’s Devolver Direct, a new trailer was shown for Serious Sam 4, the violent first-person shooter that has you mowing down all kinds of extraterrestrials.

Although Serious Sam 4 was teased back in 2013, it wasn’t officially announced until 2018. The game is releasing on Steam and Google Stadia this August, and later in 2021 for PS4 and Xbox One.

Serious Sam is made by the Croatian developers Croteam who has mainly focused on the Serious Sam franchise. However, they also made a puzzle game in 2014 called The Talos Principal.

The game’s description says-

Croteam returns with a high-powered prequel to the Serious Sam series that scales up chaos to unprecedented levels. The classic Serious Sam formula is revamped by putting an unstoppable arsenal up against an unimaginable number of enemies that requires players to circle-strafe and backpedal-blast their way out of impossible situations.

Did you miss not having a Devolver Digital experience during E3 this year? Well they have fixed that for you by releasing Devolverland Expo, a free-to-play first-person game that lets you explore the abandoned convention center and Devolver Digital show floor experience on Steam.

Devolverland Expo comes from developer Flying Wild Hogs, who are also the creators of Shadow Warrior 3 shown off first in the Devolver Direct.

The steam page has this to say about the game:

Devolverland Expo is a first-person ‘marketing simulator’ set within an abandoned convention center after the annual Devolver Digital game expo was mysteriously canceled. Break into the convention center and avoid the advanced security systems to watch and retrieve all the trailers, gameplay demo videos, and other secrets lost in the expo’s cancellation.

And if you’re worried about some of the game’s content, you’re in luck, and there’s this adorable little nugget:

While the game itself features no violence or gore, there are trailers and gameplay videos for other games that players can view that contain gore and violent scenes.

You can see the trailer (for a game that has trailers in it) below:

Today, at the very end of the Devolver Direct livestream, Devolver Digital had a rather special guest, No More Heroes 3 creator Goichi “Suda 51” Suda.

The prolific developer had a small (very small) surprise for the fans as he displayed a super-brief glimpse of gameplay of No More Heroes 3, with Travis seen from behind in front of the motel we all know and love.

This is not the first time Suda51 comes up with something like this, as he provided another look at gameplay obscured by his own face at the recent New Game+ Expo.

Below you can watch a recording (please don’t expect much). 

If you’re unfamiliar with  No More Heroes 3, here’s an official description.

After a ten-year hiatus, everyone’s favorite “assassin action game” is back with the latest entry in the official numbered series.        

The all-American #1 ranked assassin Travis Touchdown returns to the Garden of Insanity once again.

In lieu of E3, the folks at Devolver Digital shared their latest nightmare look at the world of video games through a special “direct” presentation today. Here’s everything they showed off.

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Publisher Devolver has done something a little different to market its upcoming games this year - it's released a first-person "marketing simulator" for free on Steam.

Devolverland Expo is set within an abandoned E3 convention center: "Break into the convention center and avoid the advanced security systems to watch and retrieve all the trailers, gameplay demo videos, and other secrets lost in the expo's cancellation."

It's from Flying Wild Hog, which is making first-person ninja Doom game Shadow Warrior 3 for Devolver. So yes of course you'll find the new trailer for that game, as well as the likes of Carrion and the just-announced Olija.

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A day ahead of Ubisoft Forward, a deleted ad on Instagram has leaked the release date for Assassin's Creed Valhalla. The Viking-themed installment will launch on November 17 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.

The ad, which was posted by the game's official Italian account, showed no new gameplay but did end with the release date front and center. We've known since its reveal that Valhalla was scheduled to launch sometime this year, but now we have an exact date.

Ubisoft has struggled containing its announcements to its own event, taking place on July 12. Far Cry 6, staring Breaking Bad's Giancarlo Esposito, was leaked with a premature listing on PSN, and later confirmed with a short teaser by Ubisoft. Since then the full reveal trailer has leaked too, which will likely be shown at Ubisoft Forward.

EA Sports UFC released the official reveal trailer for UFC 4 earlier today, with cover athletes Israel Adesanya and Jorge Masvidal taking center stage.

In the trailer, each fighter is given a brief section in which they narrate over their in-game counterparts, showing off UFC 4’s intense grappling physics all the while.

Plenty of other interesting new elements stand out in the trailer, especially when it comes to the different arenas that you’ll step into. The first shot we see in the video is an overhead of a makeshift backyard ring.

The entire trailer gives off a “Street Fights,” make it from anywhere type of vibe – which isn’t surprising considering the background of fighters like Jorge Masvidal and the late Kimbo Slice.

Nigerian born Israel Adesanya also gets to show off his own unique ring and look in the reveal, sporting cord-like boxing wraps as golden cobras loom in the background.

The official press release had the following to say regarding everything new UFC 4 has to offer:

Devolverland Expo

Shadow Warrior 3

Olija

Fall Guys

Carrion

Serious Sam 4

Blightbound

Weird West

It was announced during the Devolver Direct today that Carrion, a “reverse horror game” in which you play as an amorphous evil creature, will be released later this month.

Carrion, which is coming from the developer Phobia Game Studio, was first announced during Devolver Digital’s E3 conference last year in 2019, where we saw a first look of the game.

In today’s digital event, we received a brand new trailer for Carrion that showcased some of the gameplay that you can expect, and we also learned the game’s release date. It will be coming sooner than you might think, releasing later this month on July 23.

In the trailer, we see various clips of how you assume the role of the amorphous creature in order to chase and consume the human NPCs who are in the facility.

Your goal is to evolve the creature to grow in size while creating chaos. The creature can acquire devastating abilities, such as a web-like ranged attack, that help you take over the facility.

In Carrion, you progress through different parts of the facility that become accessible as you evolve your creature and learn new abilities, giving it a Metroidvania-like play style, though the backtracking required is minimal.

If you want to learn more about Carrion, you can read about the game on Devolver Digital’s website right here.

Carrion will be releasing for the Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch on July 23. It is already available for pre-purchase on Steam for $19.99.