Earlier this week, it was reported that Microsoft has entered negotiations to shut down, or grant independence to, acclaimed action-game studio Ninja Theory just a mere eight days after the studio revealed its newest title, Senua, at this year’s Xbox Games Showcase. While the potential dismantling of a tenured studio is always tragic, Ninja Theory leaves behind a legacy that goes beyond video games, ultimately shaping Hollywood films that perhaps would not have been made without the studio's ambition.

Founded in 2000 under the name Just Add Monsters, Ninja Theory built itself upon a promise of delivering high-octane action games with unique aesthetics, such as Kung Fu Chaos and Heavenly Sword. The studio emphasized creativity and narrative as its core values and sought to deliver AAA-level experiences despite its smaller team and budgets.

In 2009 after the studio delivered their first Sony exclusive with Heavenly Sword, this ambition led founder Tameem Antoniades and his team to visit numerous Hollywood studios to pitch their next project, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, as a CGI film. The project would be a retelling of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, but set 150 years after mankind has been wiped out in an apocalyptic event. However, Ninja Theory found itself unable to convince a movie studio to fund it. Ninja Theory then began pitching it as a video game and, eventually, struck a deal with Bandai Namco to publish the title.

With development of the game fully underway, the studio then opted to bring on Hollywood screenwriter Alex Garland, who had just begun to make a name for himself for his work on films such as 28 Days Later and Sunshine. Eager to find a way to break into game development, Garland offered his services to help make Enslaved’s story more cinematic. He took an active role in the game’s design, stripping down the exposition in the script and allowing the gameplay and environments to convey information to the player. According to Antoniades, Garland was “intimidating” to work with, but the studio founder later praised Garland's gameplay design choices as the correct decisions in retrospect.

Upon its release, it seemed as though the general public agreed. Enslaved: Odyssey to the West released in 2010 to critical acclaim, with GameSpot’s review calling it, “A great adventure that has just enough excitement and diversity in the gameplay to keep you engaged" and a game with "striking visuals."

For the studio’s next project, Ninja Theory would collaborate once again with Garland. After being impressed with the studio’s previous titles, Capcom reached out to Ninja Theory to reboot its Devil May Cry franchise. Antoniades would write the game’s script with Garland, while the latter would also serve as script and story supervisor. The reboot, DmC: Devil May Cry, marked a drastic departure from the previous, gothic-inspired games in the franchise. Instead, DmC offered a dark and gritty take on the world that was inspired by a grittiness similar to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and British punk-rock sensibilities. The game reworked the series' lore, and served as a refresh of the origin of protagonist Dante as he traversed the world between Heaven and Hell.

DmC released in 2013, and while praised for its gameplay mechanics, was largely reviled by fans of the series and seen as a commercial failure by Capcom. Its biggest criticisms were the disregard for series' lore and the characterization of Dante. However, Devil May Cry series producer Matt Walker praised the game, saying it had “an amazing world all its own that could only have been produced by the amazing artists and imaginations at Ninja Theory.”

Alex Garland would end his relationship with Ninja Theory with DmC: Devil May Cry, opting instead to return to the world of filmmaking. The following year, Garland made his directorial debut with the indie darling Ex Machina; he would then go on to make films such as Annihilation and Civil War, both of which were critically praised. 

Interestingly, though perhaps unsurprisingly, Garland's style of filmmaking features the same storytelling elements that were present in his games, and it features cinematic action sequences that feel ripped straight from a video game.

In a full circle moment, it was announced in 2024 that Alex Garland would write and direct an adaptation of From Software’s Elden Ring for A24. The story goes that, after being impressed while playing through the game, Garland decided to write a 160-page spec script and fly all the way to Japan to directly pitch it to game director Hidetaka Miyazaki, ultimately earning the game studio’s approval.

Alex Garland took what he learned working with Ninja Theory and applied it to a whole different medium of entertainment. Without the ambition and collaborative nature cultivated at Ninja Theory--ideas that challenged what it means to be a AAA action game or a narrative-focused video game--this, presumably, wouldn't have taken place. Ninja Theory helped give filmmaking one of its most ambitious directors, among many other achievements. To see them close their doors would not only be a great loss to Microsoft and Xbox, but to gaming as a whole.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. has acquired Alisha Fernandez Miranda’s memoir My What If Year, with America Ferrera set to produce a feature adaptation. Heidi Schreck (What the Constitution Means to Me) is writing the screenplay, with Connor DeSha to exec produce via his and Ferrera’s Take Fountain banner. Fernandez Miranda will serve as associate producer. Published in February […]

Persona 6 was officially announced this month by publisher Atlus and SEGA during this year's Xbox Games Showcase for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, but with the short teaser showing little, many believe the game is still a ways off. However, the chances of 2027 becoming the year of Persona have increased significantly today, thanks to a discovery made by the starved community. As reported by user HelpfulAdeptness8583 on the Gaming Leaks and Rumors subreddit, a video game translator going by indigozeal on Tumblr shared that they are working on Persona 6's translation, specifically for script translation duties. […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/persona-6-localization-2025-atlus-2027/

I've said it before and I'll say it again: cutscenes are the worst. There I am, sitting down to play a game, ready to tap some keys and wiggle some thumbsticks and click my mouse—when suddenly the game I'm playing decides it's actually a movie and all I can do for the next few minutes is watch.

You might think I'm too fidgety, too impatient, or that I simply don't have the attention span to sit there doing nothing while a cutscene plays. But you'd be wrong! It's the cutscenes that are the problem. They simply suck.

Except when they don't suck, of course, like in Dave the Diver, which is the only game I can remember playing where I was left wishing there were more cutscenes instead of zero cutscenes. Dave the Diver's cutscenes were so energetic, so fantastically animated, so surprising and funny and occasionally kinda horny that I loved every one of them and wished there were more.

Well, I got my wish. For the past week or so I've been playing Dave the Diver's new DLC, In the Jungle, which is not only completely rad but has some amazing cutscenes that are somehow even more wild, and more horny, than the cutscenes in the base game.

Rather than watching them, I'd urge you to actually play the DLC and discover them for yourself—but I'm not your boss, so sure, go and have a look below a few cutscenes I've selected from Dave's new adventure. First up, check out what a skeptical villager thought of the alligator tail meal Bancho cooked up for her:

I mean… Wow. That lady definitely had a massive orgasm while tasting that dish, right? It's not subtle, it's not subtext, that food was so good she straight-up nutted. That's not the only horny cutscene in Dave the Diver: In the Jungle, but it's definitely the horniest. It also made me realize I haven't really had a great meal in a long time. Maybe I need to try some new restaurants.

Aside from people climaxing while eating, there's a new character, Muna, sort of a gadget-maker who enjoys her work to an extremely high degree. From time to time Dave will have to approach her about upgrading his "jungle gun," which he uses to assassinate fish. Muna really dives into her work and her scenes are all incredibly animated and fun. Here's just one of several weapon upgrade scenes:

Dave's little shiver at the end. Do you think he… nah.

There are lots more excellent cutscenes in the DLC, which is surprisingly hefty for just a $10 price tag. There are naturally several scenes of Bancho dramatically enhancing recipes, there's a lovely boat ride scene at the start, a great car chase scene in the middle, and a rather dramatic cutscene near the end—but I won't show you any of those. I don't want to spoil any more than I have to!

OK, fine, here's one more of my favorites. I won't give you the context, all I'll say is you won't be able to guess what it signifies without playing the DLC, yet it makes perfect sense in the game itself. Enjoy!

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Thick As Thieves developers OtherSide Entertainment have laid off 17 employees following the cancellation of a multiplayer immersive sim dubbed Argos: Riders on the Storm. The studio's helmed by Looking Glass Studios veterans Warren Spector and Paul Neurath - key figures in shaping the likes of Deus Ex and System Shock 2 - said via a spokesperson that they believe Argos "could have been a huge success in normal times".

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Bungie knows that Destiny 2 players have worked their magic once more to deal a lot of damage in ways they shouldn't, but is happy to let it ride for one week before fixing it.

Having played Destiny and its sequel for many, many years, there are a few things you get used to. One is players breaking things to make farming a gun or armor piece easier, and the other is breaking things to make beating an enemy easier – which sometimes leads to getting a gun or an armor piece, coincidentally.

That in mind, it feels somewhat fated that Destiny 2's final update has led to players breaking stuff. This time around, a bug has been discovered that allows players to stack multiples of the same seasonal Artifact perks to achieve near-infinite damage.

Something like this was always going to happen in an update as large as Destiny 2's final one, but Bungie is stepping in regardless – someone has to think of the many monsters in the space MMO that have been turned into mere punching bags.

Like a teacher dealing with class in the last week of the term, Bungie says to enjoy it while it lasts because things will go back to normal soon.

"So, we've been seeing some interesting videos where Guardians are doing near infinite damage to bosses thanks in part to unintended Artifact perk stacking," the developer writes on Twitter. "Quite hilarious to watch, to be honest!

"While we're planning a fix (next week likely), we think this is a bit fun. Go ahead. Get out there, beat up on Atheon. Destroy some bosses. Do your thing."

Bungie goes on to note that Artifacts are being disabled in Crucible and Gambit to protect other players from, well, other players. But otherwise, developers are amused by the situation.

"All in all, it's Monument of Triumph," the post ends. "Do some crazy stuff. Send us your videos. Have some fun. Be Brave."

Funnily enough, speaking of Destiny 2 players doing what they do best, they have also managed to find a way to push bosses off a cliff, which means they're ending their time with the game exactly as they started it. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Destiny 2 and Bungie as a whole were "very close" to closing before Sony buyout, according to ex-community lead: "It was an emergency acquisition."