Daily Briefing: Tuesday 21st December

Ubisoft facing staff exodus

That's according to a new report from Axios which, citing interviews with numerous current and former employees, suggests that Ubisoft are currently in the grips of severe staff falloff. A wave of departures in the last 18 months is referred to as "the great exodus: or "the cut artery" by people within the company. According to a bit of LinkedIn trawling by the outlet, Ubisoft's attrition rate is around 12% across their 20,000-strong workforce. This is significantly higher than competitors like Epic Games (7%), Take-Two Interactive (8%), and EA (9%). Though it is still distinctly lower than Activision Blizzard's 16%, so at least that's something.

• The timeframe for Ubisoft’s attrition problem of course overlaps with the pandemic and a phenomenon known as The Great Resignation - whereby (primarily US) staff voluntarily resign their jobs en masse in response to government refusal to promote adequate worker protection and stagnating wages in the face of rising cost of living. Ubisoft management seemingly aren't worried, saying only that the attrition rate is still within industry norms despite admittedly being a little higher than the company is typically used to and citing positive employee surveys.

The Game Awards 2021 breaks more viewership records

The Game Awards (aka Geoff KeighleyFest) has consistently smashed viewership records these past few years and, thanks to some newly published figures, it looks like this year was no exception. The eight edition of one of what is now one of the biggest events in the industry calendar returned to an in-person format at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles, California after last year's all-digital green screen-fuelled extravaganza. It was some production, featuring a suite of musical performances, celebrity guests, game reveals, and even a few actual awards sprinkled in whenever there was time.

• As for those viewership numbers. This year's show   saw a record 85m global livestreams, up from 83m last year and almost double the 45.2m of the year before. The official YouTube livestream of the show also set a new watchtime record with 1.75m watched on the mainline feed, a 14% increase over 2020's show. Fan votes were also up a reported 27% on last year, with over 23m votes cast across the various award categories. The Game Awards get bigger every year, so it'll likely be full steam ahead toward the 2022 show.

Double Fine have multiple new projects in the works

They may just be fresh off the back of the acclaimed Psychonauts 2 but the folks at Double Fine are already hard at work on their next project, or should that be projects? According to a new update on the studios various crowdfunding platforms, Double Fine currently have "multiple new projects" on the go, and have split their teams in an attempt to explore various new "ideas" and "visual styles."

• The update reads: “the studio is already splitting up into various teams and starting different projects that we think you’ll enjoy. We like experimentation here at Double Fine. Every game is a chance to explore new ideas, new visual styles or gameplay, emotions, and more.” Double Fine were acquired by Microsoft back in 2019 and, with the success of Psychonauts 2, it's no surprise that the studio are already aiming for their next thing. As for the immediate future, Double Fine's update reiterates that the Max and Linux ports of Psychonauts 2 are incoming alongside a "making of" documentary comprising over six years of footage.