Despite the recent successful launch of Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero, which sold 3 million units in 24 hours, it looks as though Bandai Namco is pressuring 200 of its 1,300 employees in Japan to voluntarily resign in what is being called a short-sighted move to boost profits. According to a recent Bloomberg report, the Japanese game developer is skirting strict labor laws in Japan by removing all work responsibilities from 200 of its employees. Allegedly, nearly 100 of those staff being pressured into resignation have already left the company. Along with the layoffs, Bandai Namco has apparently cancelled three new games that were in development, namely, new Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto games.

This shift at Bandai Namco comes in spite of a booming Japanese game industry, which will reportedly grow by 6.66% annually until 2029. Game Developer attributes Bandai Namco's coerced "voluntary" layoffs to the losses generated by the consistently underwhelming performance of the company's online division, which supposedly generated a net loss of an equivalent to $51.35 million in the last fiscal year. If our recent reporting is any indication, there seems to be a shift in the overall gaming market, in which younger audiences predominantly seem to prefer multiplayer (specifically PvP) games. Second to PvP is single-player gaming, which was consistently the preferred game type for more than 30% of gamers, regardless of age groups. This latter niche is seemingly where Bandai Namco's strengths and audience seem to lie, along with many of its other Japanese game studio competitors, like From Software, Nintendo, and Capcom.

After 10 years, we return to fight once more. This is where your souls belongs. The reviews are in. Armored Core is back. Ready to take Rubicon by storm? Suit up, Ravens. Success in Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon comes from tinkering with highly customizable mech builds, a signature feature of the series, and learning the right strategies and techniques such as staggering enemies with the right weapons, combining ranged and melee attacks, and taking every advantage in battle.

A new action game based on the concept of the Armored Core series that uses the knowledge gained from FromSoftware's recent action game development. Combining FromSoftware's longstanding expertise in mech games with their signature action gameplay, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon brings a brand-new action experience to the series.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, the latest high-octane action game by FromSoftware, Inc. and Bandai Namco Europe S.A.S. will release globally on August 25. Combining the 25 years of experience developing the ARMORED CORE franchise and action games in the Elden Ring, and Dark Souls franchise, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is full of mech action, including fast-paced battles, in-depth customization, and thrilling boss fights. The game is coming to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam, and is now available to pre-order at participating retailers and on Bandai Namco Store.

A mysterious new substance called "Coral" was discovered on the remote planet, Rubicon 3. As an energy source, this substance was expected to dramatically advance humanity's technological and communications capabilities. Instead, it caused a catastrophe that engulfed the planet and the surrounding stars in flames and storms, forming a Burning Star System. Almost half a century later, Coral has resurfaced on Rubicon 3, a planet now contaminated and sealed off by the catastrophe. Extra-terrestrial corporations and resistance groups fight over control of the substance. The player infiltrates Rubicon as an independent mercenary and finds themselves in a struggle over the substance with the corporations and other factions.

Elden Ring launched in late February to rave critic and consumer reviews. The game is an excellent showcase of From Software's gaming design ethos, but ultimately proves that the company's rendering engine still requires work after years of installments due to widely-reported stuttering issues - irrespective of hardware configuration. A fix for Elden Ring's stuttering issues has surfaced on late Monday - courtesy of Valve and its Proton wrapper, and only applicable to the Steam Deck. In a way, this turns Steam Deck into the smoothest device to play Elden Ring on.

The issue with Elden Ring's stuttering has been linked to the games' continuous shader loading. Apparently, Elden Ring allows users to enter its vast open-world without pre-compiling the required shaders (something that we've seen other games do through usually lengthy boot-up processes) for the specific hardware. This forces the game to constantly compile shaders as they're required (due to world loading, animation loading, among other triggers), which is responsible for the stuttering issues gamers on PC have been encountering.

If you're a fan of From Software's games - and that requires that you have slight masochistic tendencies and enjoy evocative world building more than most - there are good news for you. From Software has confirmed that the game will be released come January 21st 2022 in all major platforms - including the all-dominating PC sphere. The game's worldbuilding has been crafted by both From Software's veteran Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R. R. Martin (of Game of Thrones fame), and will feature an open-world game with horse riding and the usual From Software design philosophy. Check out the game's trailer after the break, and as always: prepare to die.

Fans of From Software's grueling worlds of tactical button prompts, perfect timing with animation triggers, and the oh so sweet taste of hard-wrought victory are in for another treat from the studio. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice doesn't surprise anyone by now; its existence has been made very well known, and is very well known, despite a pretty silent marketing campaign for the game. But From Software doesn't have marketing needs: their games, as their audience, are of the strong, silent type.

The new launch trailer for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is action-packed, showcasing some of the game's verticality and head-to-head combat. If you're into the whole feudal Japan theme, and a bit into the masochistic side of the equation, you have to do yourself a favor and take a look at this game. Knowing From Software, it will be an evocative world building experience like few exist in the gaming world.