My sleep schedule does not exist. It is an illusion—and also the consequence of spending a week in San Francisco, careening around GDC and Day of the Devs fuelled by nothing but coffee, pastries, the odd banana, and greasy diner breakfasts. Shout out to Pinecrest (and that one person who complemented my Wallace & Gromit backpack pin).

I'm still working through some of the stories I brought back from that side of the Atlantic. It was a breakneck week, and you might have noticed we skipped Patch Notes last Friday. My initial plan was to curate a selection of GDC-themed content for your leisurely consumption, but the prospect of writing a newsletter on Friday was simply too much to bear.

By way of an apology, I've cobbled together a bumper edition this week filled with headlines from the past FOURTEEN DAYS—including some news straight from the GDC Festival of Gaming show floor. Once you're done with those, you can find all of our GDC coverage right here.

Related:Xbox hardware now costs a lot more in the UK and Europe

There'll be more where that came from in the weeks ahead, so don't be a stranger.

IOI Partners no longer wants anything to do with MindsEye

via Game Developer // Where do you even start with MindsEye? The critically panned title has now been disowned by publisher IOI Partners, but only after developer Build A Rocket Boy laid off huge swathes of its workforce and claimed the title's underwhelming (to put it mildly) launch was the result of corporate espionage. But of course.

Ubisoft names new Creative House and Creative Network leaders

via Game Developer // Ubisoft has tapped Tencent Games Global head of development, Julien Bares, to lead two of its newly-formed Creative Houses. Massive Entertainment managing director Thomas Andrén will also be taking charge of the company's new studio-wide Creative Network. The news comes with the publisher in the middle of an organisational restructure that will result in €200 million worth of cost cutting over the next two years.

Krafton to invest $1 billion into South Korean defense company partnered with the U.S. navy

via Game Developer // You might have missed it, but mere days before losing its high-profile legal battle with the founders of Subnautica developer Unknown Worlds, Krafton decided to announce a $1 billion partnership with AI, robotics, and defense firm Hanwha Aerospace. The PUBG maker said the collaboration is part of an effort to invest in physical AI, but surely there are ways to do that without sinking cash into a company known for advancing the development of "precision-guided munitions and multiple rocket launchers."

Related:PlayStation 5 sales have topped 95 million units worldwide

Krafton loses lawsuit, is ordered to reinstate ousted Unknown Worlds CEO

via Game Developer // As mentioned above, Krafton spent the week hosting a masterclass in how to tank your reputation. Shortly after penning a deal with the munitions maker behind the esteemed K9 'Thunder' self-propelled howitzer, Krafton was told to reinstate ousted Unknown Worlds founder Ted Gill as CEO of the studio and hand over "full operational authority." Krafton said it "respectfully disagrees" with the ruling handed out by Delaware Vice Chancellor Lori Will, and said it is evaluating its options to determine a path forward. The ruling did not cover allegations relating to an earnout tied to the early access launch of Subnautica 2.

Ubisoft Laying Off 100+ Staff and Ending Game Development at Ghost Recon Studio Red Storm Entertainment

via IGN // This story broke while I was in the middle of writing Patch Notes, and well, it's bleak. Ubisoft has seemingly gutted North Carolina studio Red Storm Entertainment after deciding it should stop developing video games and focus instead on supporting the company's proprietary Snowdrop Engine. Around 105 workers will purportedly be laid off at the studio, which worked on cancelled shooter XDefiant and VR title Assassin's Creed Nexus.

Related:EA clears US regulatory approvals in take-private deal

Unionized game workers launch petition to protect immigrants from ICE agents

via Game Developer // UVW-CWA, the direct-join video game industry union launched last year, is demanding employers commit to protecting staff from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) agents by reaffirming their status as a fourth amendment workplace. Union workers described the issue as a "critical matter" and stressed that "immigrants are game workers too" when speaking to Game Developer at GDC.

Pokemon Pokopia has topped 2.2 million sales in four days

via Game Developer // Cutesy (and slightly horrifying) post-apocalyptic life-sim, Pokemon Pokopia, managed to shift 2.2 million copies in four days. It's a metric that becomes even more impressive when you consider the spinoff launched exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2. It'll be interesting to see whether it had the juice to become a bona fide 'system seller' when Nintendo releases its next financials.

Here are the Nebula Awards nominees for Best Game Writing

via Nebula Awards // The sci-fi and fantasy aficionados behind the Nebula Awards have honored a cluster of truly great video games with nominations in the Best Game Writing category. This year's cohort includes Blue Prince, Hades II, Dispatch, Hollow Knight: SIlksong, Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, and Spire, Surge, and Sea. Lovely stuff.

Jensen Huang says gamers are 'completely wrong' about DLSS 5 — Nvidia CEO responds to DLSS 5 backlash

via Tom's Hardware // After Nvidia's recently announced AI-powered DLSS 5 technology was roundly mocked for promising to deliver "photoreal computer graphics" while actually just turning game characters into grotesque looksmaxxers by excavating all traces of humanity, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has decided the company's critics are all wrong, actually. I guess you can't with argue that.

We Spoke To Game Devs And All Of Them Hate DLSS 5: What The F***, Nvidia?

via Kotaku // Wait! It turns out you CAN argue with that. Kotaku spoke with a number of developers about Nvidia's new tech and let's just say there aren't many kind words on the page. One developer said DLSS 5 "embodies the disconnect between what we as developers and gamers want and what the nasty freaks who are destroying the world and consolidating all wealth into the hands of the few using GPUs think we want." I wonder how they really feel.

Microsoft lifts the lid on Project Helix at GDC Festival of Gaming

via Game Developer // We learned a little bit more about the next-generation Xbox console, codenamed Project Helix, at GDC Festival of Gaming. During a keynote presentation, Microsoft shared some interesting technical tidbits and outlined plans to get alpha versions of the device into the hands of developers starting in 2027. The top line? Microsoft claimed Project Helix will deliver a "massive uplift" in performance and has been designed for the "next generation of neural-assisted rendering."

Game Developer and GDC are sibling organizations under Informa Festivals.