A salute to a blogger of quirky gaming facts
Hey readers,
In the past few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about a fun blog called Supper Mario Broth. It’s a regularly updated collection of obscure, often silly, and surprisingly compelling niche facts about the Super Mario franchise.
Unfortunately, the author behind this blog recently announced that he is struggling with major health issues. Even so, he committed to continuing his work, stating that "only blindness or death will result in me no longer posting Mario facts." I’m wishing this writer the best, and I hope everyone reading this will check out this charming corner of the internet.
Now, our big news story for the week.
This issue will fill you in on:
As awards season approaches, the makers of Big Walk admit to AI usage
A screenshot from Big Walk. image source: House House
LLMs were used in the “final stretch” for bug fixes
The open-world multiplayer game Big Walk was celebrated by several critics and players (including this newsletter), but it’s now the center of ongoing online debates after studio House House admitted that AI tools played a role in the final stages of production.
Developers told outlet Aftermath that they used large language models “sparingly” for “difficult technical challenges and bugs,” estimating that less than 0.1% of the game’s code came from AI usage. House House added that AI wasn’t utilized for any other aspect of the game’s development. Big Walk noticeably did not have any disclosure related to its use of AI tools when it launched on Steam, as the platform doesn’t require such a disclosure for code or chatbot usage.
But House House insists that this isn’t an endorsement of AI tools in game development, and it makes the disclosure now out of “public interest.” The studio continued:
"We have some concern that voluntary disclosures like this might contribute to the normalisation of this technology, or its treatment as 'inevitable'. We support the work of those who are trying to limit the harm generative AI is doing to videogames and our world, and apologise that Big Walk’s LLM usage may not meet their standards."
This comes after a group of 19 jurors from the 2027 Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards (there are around “50-or-so jurors in total) made it clear that they wouldn’t vote for any game that used generative AI in its making.
Naturally, this whole situation has developers and video game enthusiasts debating where to draw a line. Is Big Walk’s use of AI tools minuscule enough to be forgiven and forgotten? Is there such a thing as an “ethical” use of AI in game development, or in any context? Should any use of AI in game development be rejected?
These are deeper conversations to be had outside of a relatively brief newsletter, so here are some thoughts coming from some of those IGF jurors:
From game writer Austin Walker (with extended thoughts here):
From Her Story and Immortality creator Sam Barlow:
One other tidbit to mention: this isn’t the first time that AI-related controversies have popped up around gaming awards season. Last year, the Indie Game Awards (unrelated to the IGF) rescinded the Game of the Year award from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, as the game included backgrounds generated by AI, even though they were removed from the game days after its launch.
Replay: What else happened?
An image from World of Warcraft: Forever. Image source: Blizzard Press Center
Other news hits
A report suggests that Unity, the popular game development engine, is in talks with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and private equity firm Silver Lake about a potential acquisition. PIF and Silver Lake are part of the consortium that now controls publisher EA.
Originally set to launch in February, the upcoming PlayStation 5-exclusive God of War Laufey has been delayed to May 20, 2027. Sony’s Santa Monica Studio said that it’ll take the extra time for “finishing touches” and bringing the game to its “fullest potential.”
There’s unfortunately quite a bit of layoff-related news from the games industry:
Following Skydance’s merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., the mega conglomerate has laid off at least 30 (likely more) workers from its gaming division.
Star Wars Zero Company developer Bit Reactor laid off an unspecified number of workers. This comes after 80% of the studio were furloughed, after which at least 50% of staff returned to work on the successful strategy game.
Killing Floor studio Tripwire laid off 36 staff members, saying that it was “not an easy decision” but “necessary” for the company. The studio is still working on the shark-starring RPG (you read correctly) Maneater 2, set for a 2027 release.
Just in time for the holiday season, Nintendo will soon let you gift Switch and Switch 2 games—though only to people in your Nintendo Switch “family group.” There are also some other odd restrictions, like an unclear limitation on how many gifted games you can purchase in a (yet-to-be-defined) period of time.
Former Halo and Destiny composer Marty O’Donnell lost his bid to represent Nevada’s 3rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives by a landslide. O’Donnell, who ran as a Republican with the endorsement of Donald Trump, only garnered 38.1% of the vote. His opponent’s response was quite funny.
Big new game releases include…
Continuing the franchise’s dominance of the MMO genre, World of Warcraft: Forever (PC, Mac) is a new version of the classic online game but set in an alternate timeline and featuring loads of different content. Think of it as a “Classic+” version of the game. Unsurprisingly, WoW: Forever’s launch was massive, being the biggest WoW launch ever.
Living up to the original game’s reputation, the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Switch 2) has sold over 5.2 million copies and received stellar reviews, ranking in Metacritic as one of the best games of 2026 (and ever!). Just remember that auto-jump has been replaced with a manual jump button, or else you’re gonna give poor Link a bad time.
I’ve been playing this myself in the past week! As someone who had a mixed reaction to the initial reveal of the remake’s graphical and art style, I’ve gradually gotten used to how the game looks. It looks mighty impressive on a television, and the redone musical score has surprisingly prompted some emotional reactions.
Vampire Survivors fans might want to check out Warhammer Survivors (PC, PS5, Switch 2, Switch, Xbox Series X/S, mobile), an official collaboration between Vampire Survivors developer poncle and Warhammer 40,000 Boltgun studio Auroch Digital. It features the same “bullet heaven” gameplay of autoattacks while you focus on movement and upgrades, but with countless characters and weapons from the Warhammer universe.
That’s it for this week. We’re barreling toward the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6, which you can now pre-load if you pre-ordered it.
Laters,
Chris Compendio
