Daily Briefing: Friday 23rd July

Dead Space really is getting that remake

Following on from a spate of rumours over the past few weeks, EA Motive's remake of the 2008 sci-fi horror classic was officially announced during yesterday's EA Play Live showcase. We unfortunately didn't get a release date, though it was confirmed that the remake is next-gen specific - meaning PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S only. This hopefully means that it'll be a full bells and whistles remake, which is nice.

• According to the EA Play Live marketing blurb, the Dead Space remake boasts "an improved story, characters, and gameplay mechanics" and will task players with surviving "a living nightmare" onboard the USG Ishimura. EA Motive are best known for their work with the Star Wars franchise having spearheaded the recent Star Wars: Squadrons as well as the singleplayer campaign for Star Wars: Battlefront II. It'll be interesting to see what they can do with a bit of horror.

Borderlands veterans split to start new project

According to a new report from Axios Gaming, a group of seven Gearbox staff will be leaving the studio to start work on a new project together. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said in a statement that the group are leaving "on the best of terms" and, while they were  part of the team working on an unannounced project currently in pre-production, Pitchford says their departure will "cause minimal disruption in our [Gearbox's] current plans."

• It's a pretty sizeable chunk of talent to be leaving a studio all at the same time, though presumably, Gearbox have enough people on payroll that they don't really have to worry. The departing group all have significant experience on Borderlands with some having been with the studio for over ten years, so their new project could be worth keeping a close eye on.

Dragon Age 4 could reportedly release in 2023

That's according to a new report from VentureBeat who, quoting the usual sources "familiar" with the matter, say that BioWare's upcoming fantasy RPG is perfectly on schedule and could potentially release in 2023. EA declined to comment on this speculation but this fiscal year 2023 window was actually mentioned way back in October 2019, so it's not the most outrageous suggestion in the world.

• Dragon Age 4 is still a bit mysterious really but we did get our first trailer in December 2020. At the time, developers BioWare emphasised that the project is still in "early production" but really want to give the community a glimpse of what the team had been working on. Since then all we've really had rumours like all live-service elements being dropped from the game in favour of it being a singleplayer adventure.

Bungie respond to Activision Blizzard harassment lawsuit

Activision Blizzard are currently in the middle of a potentially devastating sexual harassment lawsuit brought by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing. Activision Blizzard responded to the lawsuit shortly after it became public calling it "distorted, and in many cases fault", but the accusations have also drawn a response from Bungie - who say that they have a "zero-tolerance policy" for toxic workplace culture.

• While Bungie obviously aren't explicitly involved in the lawsuit, their response isn't a complete surprise given their near-decade-long development and publishing relationship with Activision Blizzard. Their statement reads that the studio is "built on empowering our people no matter who they are, where they are from, or how they identify." It also says the studio don't want to pretend that it's "perfect" or that no one have ever experienced harassment while working there, but Bungie want it to be known that they "will not tolerate and it and will confront it head-on."