Best of Game Development — December 2025

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    Article
    Avatar of gamesindustryGamesIndustry.biz·21w

    Open letter claims mobile gamedev is "ignored" because industry perceives it as a "world of predatory monetization and low quality"

    Midjiwan AB CEO Christian Lövstedt published an open letter criticizing the gaming industry for overlooking mobile games despite representing 55% of the global gaming market. He argues mobile gaming is dismissed due to perceptions of predatory monetization and low quality, pointing to award bodies like BAFTA and D.I.C.E. rarely recognizing mobile titles. Lövstedt contends that industry awards and media shape cultural narratives and calls for acknowledging mobile as the largest and most creative gaming platform.

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    Video
    Avatar of clearcodeClear Code·22w

    Recreate Stardew Valley in Godot & and master advanced Godot concepts

    Comprehensive tutorial covering advanced Godot features by recreating Stardew Valley mechanics. Demonstrates animation trees, state machines, blend spaces, enums, tile map layers with terrains, and resource management. Walks through implementing player movement, tool switching, farming systems, and level design using autotiling. Includes practical exercises for mastering complex animation logic and input handling patterns.

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    Article
    Avatar of 80lv80 LEVEL·21w

    Steam: $16B+ in 2025, Nearly Half of 19,000 Games Got Under 10 Reviews

    Steam generated over $16.2 billion in revenue during the first eleven months of 2025, marking its strongest year ever. However, nearly half of the 19,000 games released on the platform received fewer than 10 reviews, indicating severe discoverability challenges. Only 6.2% of releases surpassed 500 reviews, a threshold for broader visibility. The data reveals a platform thriving commercially through a small number of successful titles while the majority of games struggle to gain traction, creating a difficult environment for smaller developers.

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    Article
    Avatar of phoronixPhoronix·18w

    Open-Source Crown Game Engine v0.60 Released

    Crown Game Engine version 0.60 has been released. Crown is an open-source game engine that serves as an alternative to more well-known options like Godot Engine in the open-source game development space.

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    Article
    Avatar of phProduct Hunt·22w

    Gamelabs Studio: Vibe-code your game animations and spritesheets

    Gamelabs Studio is a text-to-asset platform that enables game developers to generate images, animations, and spritesheets using natural language descriptions. The platform offers both a standalone Studio interface and VSCode integration through MCP, with a free tier providing 10 credits to get started.

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    Article
    Avatar of 80lv80 LEVEL·20w

    Metacritic Reveals the 10 Worst Video Games of 2025

    Metacritic released its list of the 10 worst video games of 2025, with MindsEye from Build a Rocket Boy scoring lowest at 28 points based on critic reviews. However, user scores tell a different story, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 receiving the lowest player rating at 1.6/10, while familiar titles like EA Sports games and Football Manager 26 also ranked poorly. The significant discrepancy between critic and user scores highlights the divide between professional reviewers and actual players in evaluating game quality.

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    Article
    Avatar of 80lv80 LEVEL·21w

    Assassin's Creed Black Flag Remake is Now Confirmed by PEGI

    PEGI has officially listed Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, effectively confirming the long-rumored remake after over a year of leaks and indirect confirmations from Ubisoft employees. The game received a PEGI 18 rating, with concerns arising over the inclusion of in-game purchases not present in the original. An official announcement is expected at The Game Awards.

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    Article
    Avatar of gamesindustryGamesIndustry.biz·23w

    Team Cherry says it's "unfortunate" that Silksong launch disrupted other indies

    Team Cherry acknowledged that Hollow Knight: Silksong's surprise release announcement disrupted other indie game launches. The studio revealed the release date only two weeks in advance, forcing competing developers to reschedule their games. The launch was so popular it temporarily crashed major digital storefronts including Steam, Nintendo eShop, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms. The developers admitted they had little control over timing, learning the date just weeks before announcement while rushing to complete the game after years of fan anticipation.

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    Article
    Avatar of 80lv80 LEVEL·19w

    GTA in Tokyo "Almost Actually Happened"

    A former Rockstar technical director revealed that a GTA game set in Tokyo nearly happened but would have been developed by an external Japanese studio using Rockstar's code. The project never materialized, and the developer explains that as GTA budgets have grown into the billions and development cycles stretch to 12 years, the studio is unlikely to take risks on non-American settings. Other considered locations included Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Istanbul, and Bogota, but financial stakes make familiar American cities the safer choice.

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    Article
    Avatar of 80lv80 LEVEL·19w

    Take-Two Takes Down Browser Version of GTA: Vice City

    Take-Two Interactive issued a DMCA takedown notice to DosZone, forcing removal of a browser-based version of GTA: Vice City. The company cited its strict policy against unauthorized modifications, derivative works, emulations, or alternative implementations of its games. The browser version, which allowed users to play the classic game directly in a web environment, has been taken down and replaced with a link to the developers' Telegram channel.

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    Article
    Avatar of gamedeveloperGame Developer·20w

    Backlash over Larian CEO's AI comments is a leadership problem

    Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke faced backlash after describing the company's use of generative AI for tasks like placeholder text, reference images, and QA automation. The controversy stems not just from AI ethics concerns, but from power dynamics where employees feel pressured to adopt tools they oppose. Former employees confirmed internal pushback exists despite Vincke's claims workers are "more or less OK" with it. The situation highlights broader industry tensions where leadership mandates AI adoption while workers face difficult choices between compliance and job security, especially given Larian's demanding hiring process requiring international relocation and extensive unpaid tests.

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    Article
    Avatar of freecodecampfreeCodeCamp·20w

    Create a 2D Pixel Art Game in Unity

    A 10-hour video tutorial teaches how to build a complete 2D pixel art tower defense game in Unity from scratch. The course covers setting up tilemap levels, animating pixel art characters, implementing tower and enemy wave systems using Scriptable Objects, designing multiple themed levels (forest, lava, jungle), and exporting builds for Windows, Android, and web platforms.

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    Video
    Avatar of gamefromscratchGamefromscratch·18w

    January 2026 FREE Game Assets Giveaway!

    Epic Games is offering three free game asset packs until January 13th, 2026: a sci-fi corridor low poly environment with 250+ modular pieces, an ancient temple ruins modular environment using Nanite and Lumen, and a sci-fi mega spiky character pack with two rigged characters and 30 animations. The first two are Unreal Engine exclusive but exportable to other engines, while the character pack supports both Unreal Engine and Unity natively.

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