iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris Bratt @chrisbratt.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Posts like these are becoming far too common, but if you're an Xbox / Halo Studios worker impacted by the layoffs today and want to share your story confidentially, please do reach out. Can also answer any questions you have about speaking to press. Email in bio. DMs open. Signal: kerrblimey.43

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🧵Thread from one of the original reporters of the WSJ investigation here, again reiterating that their work was never corrected or altered, despite Kotick/Clare Locke pressuring other outlets to consider it "debunked".

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

NEW: A WARN notice filed by Microsoft shows 277 workers assigned to its HQ in Redmond, Washington, have been laid off. That number includes 25 remote positions. Among those impacted are numerous game producers and designers. Other job titles shown are vague and studio names are not disclosed.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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Final two cents on the PMG x Kotick story: It is paramount that you support the journalism you want to see in the world. Outlets like PMG continue to raise the bar, BUT if you want even more of that probing journalism you have to give reporters the runway and financial backing to produce it.

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BREAKING: Candy Crush maker King has signed a collective bargaining agreement with Swedish unions Engineers of Sweden and Unionen meaning a strike that was due to begin tomorrow has been scrapped.

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Had a few of these in my time, usually demanding I remove sentences like 'Bobby Kotick has been accused of enabling harassment at Activision Blizzard' from stories covering the publisher during his time at the helm. Truly, the actions of someone with no skeletons in their closet.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Watching the HBO documentary on Theranos (‘The Inventor’) and it’s a stark reminder of how brave sources willing to speak out and fearless reporting can topple cutthroat actors in a ruthless, exploitative industry. Reminds me of another industry close to my heart…

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As always, Hit Points is bang on the money.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I'm convinced this would not exist without the Bill Gates impersonator in Nathan For You.

youtube.com

You Can See Everything | Official Trailer HD | A24

YouTube video by A24

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Microsoft hasn't made it easy to gauge the health of its internal studios, but account filings submitted by Hellblade developer Ninja Theory in the UK show the company was profitable as of June 2025 (although turnover declined and operating expenses were cut by Microsoft during that fiscal year).

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Chris Plante @plante.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Undead Labs confirms a ‘significant’ number of layoffs over on LinkedIn after regaining its independence from Xbox. Sounds like a carbon copy of the situation Double Fine was forced to reckon with in July.

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Do y'all know of any game historians/journalists/academics with expertise on the history of Valve?

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

UPDATE: An email sent to Blizzard workers confirms the division is not impacted by "today's announcements," but that phrasing doesn't exactly close the door on future cuts. Again, Booty noted Xbox is around 75 percent of the way through its layoff round. More bad news to come before June 2027.

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Hello! I would be curious to know how Bungie workers feel about today’s pivot and how the studio is being managed in general. If you’re a company employee with views on the matter, please do get in touch. Happy to chat confidentially. DMs open. Signal: kerrblimey.43

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The Verge @theverge.com · 21/09/2026

As revealed in recently unsealed court documents, Microsoft’s Director of Applied Science calls ChatGPT and Copilot’s harvesting of data the “largest theft of labor in human history” and says that Microsoft’s defense makes a “complete mockery of the idea of ‘fair use.’”

theverge.com

OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were starting a ‘doom loop’ for the web

OpenAI and Microsoft knew they were driving us toward Google Zero, and they did it anyway.

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Riley MacLeod @rcmacleod.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There's a lot of talk the last few days about the depressing stuff in the games writing space, but sometimes something like this unexpectedly moving story by @wantonelli.bsky.social comes over your desk and you're like, eh maybe it's worth it

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I don't need to tell you to hire Nicole because her catalog of excellent work speaks for itself, but I will say it was an absolute pleasure to help shepherd some of her vital reporting to Game Developer over the past year. Now, go snap her up!

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Nicole Carpenter @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

like @danielleri.bsky.social, @diegoarguello.bsky.social, and @kerrblimey.bsky.social, i will no longer be contributing to game developer. it was an absolute blast working with this team on my twice-a-month column! that means i’ve got more time to report and write for you!!!! hit us all up, really✨

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danielleri @danielleri.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I wrote it in here, but lol, here's the neon sign: I'm OPEN TO WORK. Anything involving writing or editing words, editing video, teaching (I've been teaching college since 2009), and hey, I'm an EMT and got my phlebotomy cert a couple years back. I'm versatile!

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danielleri @danielleri.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Have some BIG NEWS, and it really is wild that today is also the anniversary of the Fanbyte Apocalypse. But my time at Game Developer is done, and hence, my time as a full-time game journalist has come to an end. 20 years in a career sure is something. www.tumblr.com/danielling/8...

After 20+ years of writing professionally about games, including time at Polygon and Idle Thumbs, launching Waypoint, serving as editor in chief of Fanbyte and finally as EIC at Game Developer, my time is done. I'm officially out at Game Developer. Given the state of game journalism, this obviously means leaving the profession, at least as a full-timer.

I'm out, with respect to my colleagues, and a lot of love for the site as it was. We've published work that I'm extremely proud of, particularly our reporting on labor and on how workers are finding things in a miserable, gutting moment in the game industry. I'm proud of the dev-authored features we had for so many years, the resources and knowledge and bits and pieces of know-how that I still use, to this day, in my own game design courses.

What's next? Well, I'm not leaving games. I'll always be making and teaching and writing about games, it just can't be my full time gig anymore. I've actually been doing narrative design on a game since 2022, with a team I really believe in, and I can't wait until I can show that off properly. I am also OPEN TO WORK. Anything involving writing or editing words, editing video, teaching (I've been teaching college since 2009), and hey, I'm an EMT and got my phlebotomy cert a couple years back. I'm versatile!

For full-time employment, I am eventually going to try my hand at medicine. I've served as an EMT here in NYC since 2016, and I've been taking science courses post-bac since January 2025, usually 2 or more at once concurrently with... the full time job, my part time adjunct job, and volunteering on said ambulance. Exhaustion set in years ago, lol, so I've settled into something beyond that at this point. I feel like I've been climbing a mountain, and trying to make many things work at once. I had a pretty good rhythm going, truth be told, despite all the burnout. I'm proud of myself for that.

I'd really like to be a physician assistant one day, or potentially a nurse practitioner. It's a very, very long and hard road to either of those paths, but I'm going to make my way as best as I can.

How do I feel? Again, devastated was years ago. We're pretty far past that at this point. What's happened to journalism in America is... a topic for a very depressing, very well-researched book. I hope someone writes that one day. What happened to game journalism... well, it's more of a niche, but I can say only that reporting honestly on layoff after layoff and corporate malfeasance writ large and executives gambling the whole industry down the drain was tough, but somebody had to do it.

But it's not something one can do without editorial independence.

It's dramatic, but I'm going to mourn this career. Twenty years of my life, at 42, is just about half of my days alive. I put a lot, and I do mean *a lot* of myself into this. I tried at all times to lead with empathy and care for the human beings around me and to be as honest and frankly honorable as possible in my work. I really, really tried to live my values in my work in this career, and the only way I can keep that reputation is the path ahead of me.

So there it is. Expect to see me making games, making art, teaching game design, writing about games from time to time @VeeGeeBees. Expect to hear more about my adventures as an EMT, and hopefully, soon as a PA student, and eventually, as an advanced practitioner. I've kept telling myself, in the darkest and worst days of the last few years, that I'll fly again, somehow. It'll just look very different.

To sign off, and pull an old favorite out of my pocket: be good, and be good at it.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Press friends: Is anybody else trying—and failing—to access the Rockstar employment tribunal virtually? I haven't been able to attend for three days straight due to connection issues. Glasgow Tribunals Centre staff are unbothered. They insist this is simply how it is with high-profile cases. Wild.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

More like World of Phwoarcraft right??

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Here's the full story on the above for those of you who (understandably) don't want to sift through a Bluesky thread:

gamedeveloper.com

The core arguments behind the Rockstar union busting trial

Both parties have set out their stall in legal documents obtained by Game Developer.

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

NEW: I've seen a bit of chatter about the defamation claim Rockstar has levelled at the union workers it fired last year—specifically as to whether or not calling your boss a Very Bad Word would actually violate UK defamation law. So, I spoke with a solicitor to better understand the legal nuance:

gamedeveloper.com

An honest opinion or defamation? Here's the legal nuance

Rockstar has accused a group of former workers of defaming the studio on Discord—but what does that term actually mean in a legal sense?

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

It's been incredibly rewarding working with Diego for the best part of two years! I'd implore anybody looking for a b2b reporter with the ability to properly scrutinise PR gubbins to snap him up PRONTO. That's a rare quality, these days!

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Okay! Here’s the opening statement provided by the fired Rockstar workers. Key points: -There was allegedly a ‘mole’ in the union Discord server for over a year who funnelled info back to R* -It’s claimed R* only acted shortly after union members passed the 10% threshold for statutory recognition

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woah the new AL gaming festival is legit

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*me to the chump whose car I just stole* "I'll sell it you back at 30 percent under market, buddy!"

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Nintendo responding to the tariff refund lawsuit with a 'customer appreciation sale' is wild. www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/...

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