You need to try harder to surprise players today - Shiro Mouri, Super Mario Bros. Wonder Director

Hey there. Happy Monday, at least for those who believe that such a thing is possible. 😀

Respawn has some job openings, Starfield had a heck of a launch on early access and Ratatan has crushed it on Kickstarter. Also, a horror pinball is coming.

Grab your controller, your mouse or your tarot cards and let’s power-up.

Welcome to The Power-Up #7

Round-up of the day

Even if Volition closed its eyes forever, as Ozzy would say (and as we announced in our previous newsletter), Saints Row games are not forever gone. Volition’s IPs will ‘live on’ at PLAION, whose most recent success exists in the form of Dead Island 2.

Actors union SAG-AFTRA has been striking for a while now, after joining the Writers Guild Of America strike, which began in May. Now video game voice actors could join the strike, over wages and AI.

Spyro: Reignited Trilogy sold more than 10 million copies, and they reached the milestone just before their 25th anniversary.

Ratatan, the spiritual successor to Patapon, is crushing it on Kickstarter, raising over ¥240 million (£1.2 million/$1.5 million/€1.4 million), which is 10 times its original goal.

eFuse launched a Creator League. The creators involved (which include Mr. Beast, Bella Poarch, OpTic Gaming) have more than 220 million followers together.

Over 230,000 gamers dived into Starfield within 2 hours of its early access release on Steam. The game is set to launch on Wednesday, September 6 - though it seems everyone already knows that

Just a rumor, but a nice one: Hogwarts Legacy 2 might be brewing its next magical journey, which is possible, especially after the first installment conjured up $1 billion by May.

Finally, I love the unexpected partnerships in gaming. And Supercell and Chess.com launching a partnership is something I didn’t have on my bingo card for 2023. It includes a Spell Chess variation! Just saying, maybe you want to take a break from Bladur’s Gate 3 or Starfield 😅

Biz Reel

First of all - if you are affected by the recent layoffs/studio closures (The Layoffs wave, as we said in our previous newsletter), check out the job openings at Respawn. Also, Arctic7 opens a new studio in Barcelona, so there might be opportunities there as well.

Alan Patmore, Humble Games' EVP, has teased the possibility of the company diving into studio acquisitions and first-party developments, as they continue to acquire IPs and build close relationships with developers.

Mena Sato Kato, ex - vice president of business development at Sony Interactive Entertainment, has joined Microsoft as director for partnerships at Xbox in Japan.

Veteran game designer Jos Hendriks, who was recently laid off by Bioware, has joined Sucker Punch Productions.

Kabam launches inaugural GameChanger scholarship to drive diversity in the gaming industry.

An unexpected trend continues in Japan, where PC gaming grew 49% in 2022 to about $1.3 billion.

Game Central

CD Projekt Red has revealed what major updates will be included in the free patch and what modifications will come with the paid Phantom Liberty expansion. No unexpected stuff here.

PowerWash Simulator is releasing a Back to the Future DLC pack. Yes, you can clean Doc Brown's van and the Time Machine, among other iconic locations.

For the horror aficionados, Zen Studios is launching a horror-themed pinball, Pinball M, featuring games like Chucky's Killer Pinball and Dead by Daylight Pinball.

Some of the games launching this week:

• September 5 - Chants of Sennaar (Switch, PC), Rune Factory 3 Special (Switch, PC)

• September 6 - Baldur's Gate 3 (PS5), Starfield (PC, Xbox Series X|S) 

• September 8 - Anonymous;Code (PC, Switch, PS4), Fae Farm (Switch), Synced (PC)

That’s it for today. Thank you for reading. Stay powered-up until next time.

Bobby & Andrei