A Sunday of exits and non-answers. A director leaves a game that only just came out, a beloved actor steps back to look after herself, and Xbox declines to answer the one Fallout question anyone actually asked. Let's go.
Marathon's director leaves Bungie four months after launch
Joe Ziegler, the director of Bungie's extraction shooter Marathon, has left the studio after three and a half years, according to Eurogamer and VGC. Ziegler confirmed the departure himself. The game he steered launched barely four months ago.
A director leaving three and a half years in isn't inherently alarming. A director leaving one financial quarter after his game shipped is the kind of timing that makes you read the sentence twice. Nobody's said why, and I'm not going to invent a reason, but "four months after launch" is doing an awful lot of quiet work in that headline.
Jennifer English steps back from Tides of Annihilation for her health
Jennifer English, the actor behind Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3 and Maelle in Clair Obscur, has withdrawn from Eclipse Glow Games' Tides of Annihilation to "look after [her] mental and physical health." The news is carried by Eurogamer, Kotaku and VGC.
Nothing to be clever about here. Two of the most talked-about performances of the last few years came out of that voice, and she's chosen to look after herself. That's the right call, full stop.
Xbox announces new Fallout games, forgets to answer the obvious question
Xbox and Bethesda have confirmed Fallout 5 and more titles are coming, but as Polygon points out, they still won't say whether any of it is Xbox console exclusive. The one detail everyone wants after the Microsoft–ZeniMax era of "it depends" remains a shrug.
This is the new Xbox house style: announce the game, then hold the platform question hostage for a future press release. The silence isn't an oversight, it's a strategy. My guess is the answer is "wherever we can sell it," and they'd just rather you find out one confusing tweet at a time.
The Call of Duty movie will, of course, be set in the Modern Warfare universe
The long-gestating Call of Duty film will be set in the Modern Warfare continuity, per Eurogamer and Polygon, which notes even the movie has to have a Modern Warfare hook attached.
Given the alternative was setting a blockbuster war film during the jetpack years or the zombies, this is the safe pick to the point of being no pick at all. Modern Warfare is the sub-brand Activision reaches for whenever it needs a decision made for it. The movie is now officially part of that reflex.
A modder built Vice City inside GTA 3 inside San Andreas
Someone made Grand Theft Auto: Vice City playable as a texture inside GTA 3, which is itself playable as a texture inside GTA: San Andreas, Kotaku reports. Grand Theft Recursion.
Rockstar has spent years failing to ship a working remaster trilogy while one person turned the entire series into nesting dolls for fun. There's a lesson in there about who actually loves these games, and it isn't the people who priced the last collection.
Game of Thrones: War for Westeros slips to early 2027
The Game of Thrones strategy game has been delayed into early 2027, Polygon reports, framing it as the PC game fans have been waiting for after a long run of franchise misfires.
The headline calls it "finally," which is optimistic for a game that just moved further away. Given the show's own track record with endings, a Westeros project taking extra time to not fumble the landing feels like the correct anxiety to have.
Six stories, and the only person who came out ahead is the modder who did it for free.
Sources
- Eurogamer — Marathon director Joe Ziegler leaves Bungie just four months after launch
- VGC — Marathon's director confirms he's quit Bungie, four months after launch
- Eurogamer — Baldur's Gate 3, Clair Obscur actor Jennifer English withdraws from Tides of Annihilation
- Kotaku — Baldur's Gate 3 And Clair Obscur Actor Jennifer English Pulls Out Of New Fantasy Game Over Health Concerns
- VGC — Clair Obscur star Jennifer English exits Tides of Annihilation over health concerns
- Polygon — Xbox still isn't revealing if the new Fallout games are console exclusives
- Eurogamer — Call of Duty movie will be set in the Modern Warfare universe
- Polygon — Even the Call of Duty movie needs to have Modern Warfare connection
- Kotaku — Modder Makes GTA: Vice City Playable Inside GTA 3 Inside GTA: San Andreas
- Polygon — Game of Thrones is finally getting the PC game we've been waiting for next year
Compiled from 10 publicly published sources, all linked above. Drafted and fact-checked automatically against those sources; corrections welcome — see our editorial policy.