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How purple skin and a Spanish phone number almost sank The Rogue Prince of Persia
Game Updates

How purple skin and a Spanish phone number almost sank The Rogue Prince of Persia

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The Rogue Prince of Persia celebrated its 1.0 release yesterday with a remarkably honest behind-the-scenes video from developers Evil Empire, detailing the ups and downs of a year-long Early Access period, including the decision to completely overhaul the game’s art style and redesign its purple-skinned protagonist.

The video opens with the admission that this Roguelike take on the wall-jumping, time-rewinding Prince suffered multiple blows upon its Early Access release in May 2024. The first of these was the surprise drop of heavyweight Hades 2, which also launched in May and stole most of the Prince’s limelight. The second was the negative player response to both the game’s lack of content and its colourful visual style, which was inspired by Persian miniature paintings and the artwork of Mœbius/Jean Giraud.

Watch on YouTube

Notably, the decision to give the titular Prince and all NPCs a purple skintone was met with confusion. In a developer diary from 2024, it was revealed that this was intended as a direct ode to the PC CGA port of Prince of Persia from 1990, which featured neon skin for all due to a limited 4-colour palette. Unfortunately, this homage went over the heads of most players.

“During a brainstorming session about skins, our art director had raised a seemingly innocent question,” says Evil Empire Marketing Manager Matthew Houghton in the video. “Are we sure that making the Prince purple won’t be a problem? At the time, everyone told him no. He was overthinking it; colours are cool, they’re stylish, it adds a bit of fantasy! Well…now we all know how that turned out.”

The Prince’s purple look, along with its original inspiration. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Evil Empire/Ubisoft

The rest of the footage details how Evil Empire not only packed The Rogue Prince of Persia with additional content, but also revamped the art style – a decision that is now conveyed in more detailed levels and a decidedly less-purple Prince adorning everything from the game’s key art to the album cover of its impressive soundtrack by Persian American musician ASADI. Alas, even this visual update faced unexpected friction in the form of a bizarre Steam issue which required the devs to use a Spanish phone number to get their own product updated.

“Through all those problems and roadblocks,” Houghton continues, “we’ve had a great community giving us a helping hand the whole way. Even when it was clear we had a tonne of work to do, they’ve been there giving us support, feedback and encouragement. So a special shoutout to you guys for sticking with us on our crazy journey.”

Despite these nice words, Houghton acknowledges that the game has faced a low player count during its Early Access. The 1.0 release is now considered final, and throughout the video there does seem to be a slight feeling of “well, we sure hope more folks play this, or else we’ll never make a sequel.” Which would be a shame, considering that last year’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was a superb effort that Ubisoft sent out to die with poor promotion before disbanding the team behind it.

I intend on giving the Rogue Prince of Persia a proper go this weekend and am looking forward to it. I also liked the purple Prince look, because I can’t help but admire unorthodox art design decisions, especially when they’re an ultra-niche homage to computer colour schemes that existed when I was a kid. But I can see how his grape skin along with the game’s more cartoony and dreamy original visuals failed to latch onto players, and it does feel as if the final result is actually a tad more reminiscent of the Persian miniature inspiration.

Most of all, however, I’m sticken by the frankness of Evil Empire in this video. Despite taking over Dead Cells DLC from Motion Twin, Houghton consistently acknowledges that the team was inexperienced in certain regards, and that this was their first fully-fledged project. It’s rare to see admissions of setbacks that aren’t couched in corporate industry speak (particularly for a gaming brand owned by Ubisoft). I only hope that the Rogue Prince of Persia manages to catch a few more eyes because of it.



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Africa Is Buying a Record Number of Chinese Solar Panels
Gaming Gear

Africa Is Buying a Record Number of Chinese Solar Panels

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While overall sales to African countries are still small compared to these traditional export markets, the Global South appears to be at a turning point in how it thinks about energy. For decades, energy-starved countries largely had one default option when they wanted to add new power supply: import coal and gas. Now, for the first time, solar energy is emerging as the cheaper and greener way forward, so there’s no need to sacrifice the environment for development.

Familiar Story

What’s happening in Africa right now might sound familiar, especially if you know anything about the global green energy industry. We’ve seen several versions of this story before, most notably in Pakistan last year.

In 2024, Pakistan installed about 15 Gigawatts of solar panels; for context, the country’s total peak electricity demand is about 30 Gigawatts. Households put so many panels on their rooftops that Pakistani cities now look visibly different on satellite maps. The trend is threatening the future of Pakistan’s national grid because people are using their own panels to generate power, reducing the need to buy electricity from the grid. And almost all of this happened because the country was mass-importing solar panels from its neighbor and ally, China.

A similar trend happened in South Africa in 2023. The utility infrastructure in both countries is not resilient enough to meet peak demand, causing consistent blackouts that pushed consumers to look for alternative energy sources. The government introduced policies that made solar especially attractive, like tax breaks for buying panels or paying people for transmitting excess energy to the grid.

But across the board, the main thing driving the popularity of solar is simple: the cost to purchase and install Chinese panels has gotten so low that the world has reached an inflection point. Even if a country isn’t particularly worried about climate change, it simply makes economic sense to generate energy from solar, says Anika Patel, China analyst at Carbon Brief, a climate policy publication.

“A lot of African nations right now just need more electricity. And the fact that there is this option to install solar plants at a fraction of the cost of building a new coal or gas plant is attractive,” she says.

Price is an especially important factor for African countries, because it’s harder to get a loan to fund a solar power plant project there than in developed countries, says Léo Echard, policy officer at the Global Solar Council and the author of a report on Africa’s solar market. Since Chinese solar companies have significant price advantages over manufacturers in other countries, they are always the go-to option for supplying Africa’s solar demand.

From Massive Plants to Rooftops

There are two types of demand driving the solar boom in African countries, Echard says. In North Africa, countries like Algeria and Egypt are building massive utility-scale solar power plants that require large numbers of panels. But in Sub-Sahara Africa, the panels are being imported by more rural communities in places that traditionally haven’t been connected to the grid at all.

Just like in Pakistan, this network of distributed rooftop solar panels is transforming the energy landscape. People are getting access to energy, and that access isn’t dependent on government spending or foreign loans. Instead, it spreads organically, household by household, as long as the panels are cheap enough.



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Cloud Chamber lays off "unspecified" number of staff as Rod Fergusson is parachuted in to lead troubled BioShock 4 production
Esports

Cloud Chamber lays off “unspecified” number of staff as Rod Fergusson is parachuted in to lead troubled BioShock 4 production

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Update, Wednesday August 20, 2025: 2K Games has confirmed it has “reduced the size of the development team” working on BioShock 4.

Sharing an internal Cloud Chamber memo with our sister site, Eurogamer, 2K president David Ismailer told staff “we’ve made the decision with studio leadership to rework certain aspects that are core to a BioShock game, and in doing so are reducing the size of the development team to focus on this work.”

“BioShock is woven deeply into the fabric of 2K,” Ismailer wrote. “It’s one of our most beloved franchises and respecting its legacy and meeting our fans’ expectations is critical to its future success.

“Work on the next BioShock game has been underway for several years. While we’re excited about the foundational gameplay elements of the project, we’ve made the decision with studio leadership to rework certain aspects that are core to a BioShock game, and in doing so are reducing the size of the development team to focus on this work and give the game more time in development.

“I know this is tough news for everyone. If your role is being affected, you’ll hear from your manager or studio leadership today with details on severance, career services and support resources. There is no easy way to do this, but we hope to do whatever we can to support you through this. I want to thank each of you for your dedication and hard work.”

“I recognise that today is a day of mixed emotions,” Ismailer concluded. “We’re excited to have Rod [Fergusson] joining us, and are equally grateful to everyone at Cloud Chamber who has helped us get this far. These changes are rooted in 2K’s firm confidence in BioShock as one of the most beloved franchises, and our commitment to deliver the best game in franchise history.”

2K did not confirm how many developers have been impacted by the cuts.

Original story:BioShock 4 developer Cloud Chamber has reportedly appointed former Diablo boss Rod Fergusson as studio head and laid off an “unspecified number of staff.”

Firaxis veteran Kelley Gilmore departed earlier this month after Take-Two Interactive reportedly overhauled parts of the upcoming BioShock and reshuffled its leadership team following a failed internal review by publisher 2K Games.

At the time, “people familiar with the situation” claimed the next entry in the BioShock series “recently failed a review by executives at 2K Games,” with the game’s narrative highlighted as needing improvement.

Now, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reports layoffs at the BioShock 4 developer as Rod Fergusson takes over as Cloud Chamber’s new studio head.

Fergusson announced his departure from Blizzard on August 8. While there’s been no formal confirmation that he has joined the BioShock production, he was similarly parachuted in to lead the troubled BioShock Infinite project, staying at Irrational just eight months before moving on.

In a post on social media, Fergusson wrote: “Would you kindly allow me to share some news? Some of you guessed it, I’m returning to 2K to lead a series that means a lot to me as the new Head of the BioShock Franchise. I’ll be heading up Cloud Chamber and overseeing development of the next BioShock game, along with franchise extensions like the in-development Netflix movie.

“While I’m excited to get started in the coming weeks, I recognize the studio restructuring is a difficult time for the team. I’m deeply grateful for the work done so far, and I’m committed to building a BioShock game we’ll be proud of and that our players will love. For now, the firehose of onboarding awaits, and I look forward to sharing more when I can.”

The fourth mainline entry in the BioShock series was confirmed to be in development at 2K Games-owned studio, Cloud Chamber, back in 2019. This upcoming entry will be the series’s first new entry since BioShock Infinite’s release in 2013.



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Popular third-party Switch 2 case suffers manufacturing defect in small number of orders, producer promises it's "working on it"
Game Updates

Popular third-party Switch 2 case suffers manufacturing defect in small number of orders, producer promises it’s “working on it”

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Popular gaming peripheral manufacturer Dbrand has acknowledged a defect affecting a small number of its Project Killswitch Nintendo Switch 2 cases.

This defect impacts the lip attaching the joycons to the Switch 2 screen, disconnecting when the console is held up by a singular joycon. Speaking to influencer Nintendo Prime, the company has stated it’s in the process of fixing the issue.

“Yep, we’re definitely working on it. Ultimately, this is a manufacturing tolerance issue on the small lip keeping the Joy-Con Grips attached to the Joy-Cons (some were a hair too thick),” Dbrand told Nintendo Prime. “We’ve got a replacement program set up already, where anyone who is affected is able to email robots@dbrand.com with ‘July Joy-Cons’ in the subject to be added to the list for replacement stock in July.”

Check out our video review of the Nintendo Switch 2!Watch on YouTube

According to Nintendo Prime, Dbrand also acknowledged this problem was replicable among a “small number of units from their run”. Nintendo Prime didn’t share the exact number he was told, but reemphasised any defective Killswitch cases could be replaced for free in July.

There are plenty of great third-party accessories for the Nintendo Switch 2 – Dbrand’s Killswitch included! These enhance the play experience on what is already a pretty rad console. The only real negative being the battery life, which can drain fairly quickly.

The Switch 2 has proven so tempting, one bloke pilfered over $10,000 worth of Switch games from libraries, one can only assume because he was so excited to play them all on more powerful hardware. It’s not like third-party publishers couldn’t do with the help, as their games struggle to ship in spite of record breaking console sales.



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Following their hat and pricing controversies, Splitgate 2 studio 1047 Games have laid off an unspecified number of devs
Game Updates

Following their hat and pricing controversies, Splitgate 2 studio 1047 Games have laid off an unspecified number of devs

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Unfortunately, it’s that time of the month again. Yesterday, Splitgate 2 developer 1047 Games shared a post on LinkedIn announcing that layoffs had taken place at the company. It was described as a “small group of valued 1047 Games team members,” but as is par for the course for games industry layoffs, there was no mention of how many have been laid off – though of course the usual spiel about “redirecting resources” to make the game better. You know, classic corporation speak.


Notably, co-founders Ian Proulx and Nicholas Bagamian have apparently “opted not to take salaries as we lock in to deliver the next phase of the project.” This is normally where I’d say something like “credit where credit is due”, because Proulx’s father Tom Proulx is literally the co-founder of Intuit, a huge American software company, so I don’t imagine him to be particularly hard done by with this decision. And, you know, this is the same guy who wore that ridiculous hat at Summer Game Fest, so you’ll be hearing no compliments from me.


It’s unclear as to whether this means Splitgate 2 is underperforming at all at the moment. The hat thing wasn’t the only controversy the shooter faced, as the game also launched with some pretty ridiculous prices for some of its in-game items. A one-two punch of a bad PR move and extortionate prices does not a healthy community make. In any case, as always I hope everyone that’s been affected by the layoffs is able to land on their feet.



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Still Wakes The Deep developer The Chinese Room has seemingly made a small number of layoffs
Esports

Still Wakes The Deep developer The Chinese Room has seemingly made a small number of layoffs

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Still Wakes The Deep developer The Chinese Room appears to have made a small number of layoffs following the release of the BAFTA-winning game’s Siren’s Rest DLC this week.

A lighting artist and level designer from the studio have posted notices that they’re looking for work on LinkedIn over the past 48 hours (those posts are not linked here out of discretion, but have been verified by GamesIndustry.biz).

At a glance, around 10 staff with the studio listed as their current employer have the ‘looking for work’ label on their LinkedIn profiles – though this is not a reliable metric by itself.

When reached for clarification from GamesIndustry.biz, the studio did not confirm the number of layoffs, or directly confirm that layoffs had occurred.

It did, however, offer the following statement from studio director Ed Daly. “The Chinese Room will share news on changes for the studio in the coming weeks.”

The company is owned by Sumo Group, which in February announced it was refocusing its business on development services.

Still Wakes the Deep won three BAFTAs earlier this year, including two for performers Alec Newman and Karen Dunbar, and an award for New Intellectual Property.



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Squid Game Fortnite
Esports

Fortnite drops mysterious Squid Game phone number for secret audio clues

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Fortnite has just shared a phone number you can call to get a secret message regarding its Squid Game crossover.

Epic has just dropped the teaser for the upcoming Squid Game collab, and it’s safe to say that it’s unlike any other. Generally, a lot of collabs in Fortnite usually get leaked by dataminers early, followed by Epic releasing teasers or trailers shortly before they go live.

Alternatively, devs may also add Easter eggs in-game that suggest a particular character is coming, such as the case with Hatsune Miku’s leek back in Chapter 6, Season 1.

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While the Squid Game collab has already been officially confirmed, Epic has now caught fans off guard by suddenly sharing a new cryptic teaser that mimics the hit Netflix series.

You can call this phone number from Fortnite for a secret Squid Game message

The teaser itself wasn’t exactly announced in a social media post; it was actually a reply to a post by well-known leaker HYPEX.

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Without elaborating much, Epic dropped an image of a card with the iconic Llama logo as well as the number “121334 81760” next to it. These aren’t just regular numbers, though, as you can actually dial them to receive a message.

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Those who have watched the series will likely be instantly familiar with this reference, given that it looks similar to the invitation to the games.

If you call this number, instead of hearing someone speak, you’ll hear several sound effects, including the sound of a rift opening and faint applause in the distance, for about 30 seconds.

But wait, there’s a twist. As pointed out by leakers, running this audio through a visualizer reveals a secret message consisting of the following:

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When you call the new Squid Game x Fortnite phone number you get a ~25 second teaser audio where a rift can be heard in the background.

When put into a visualizer it reveals a secret message: pic.twitter.com/WXKVhrw1kn

— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) June 12, 2025

  • Red Greens
  • Square Meals
  • Affluent Arrivals
  • June 27

June 27, 2025, is precisely when Season 3 will premiere, and now that the message has been decoded, it’s confirmed that this is when the collab will be dropping as well. 

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It’s still a while until then, but if you’re really excited, there are several Squid Game maps you can try out in the meantime.





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The Latest 'Sinners' Deleted Scene Showcases a New Musical Number
Gaming Gear

The Latest ‘Sinners’ Deleted Scene Showcases a New Musical Number

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As Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is now available to rent or buy on digital, and its Blu-ray release date approaches, some of the special features have started to trickle out. Last week, a deleted scene showed the construction of Smoke and Stack‘s juke joint—a fluidly edited montage without dialogue that’s entertaining to watch, but ultimately feels kind of superfluous. The most recent deleted scene release, however, is more illuminating, putting a spotlight on Delroy Lindo’s Delta Slim as he takes a solo turn at the piano.

The song is “My Preachin” and in the extended shot, Delta Slim sings in profile close to the camera as Miles Caton’s Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore watches admiringly in the background. You can also spot Pearline (Jayne Lawson) and Mary (Wunmi Mosaku) listening closely too.

It’s a slower, moodier moment tinged with mischief—maybe the sort of song Delta Slim would tend to launch into at the end of a long, boozy night, rather than while the party is still fully raging, as it would be at this moment in Sinners.

Even though it was probably cut for pacing reasons, the scene is still a powerful one, tying into Sinners‘ themes about how music acts as a bridge between generations and enables emotional expressiveness, whether you happen to be a human or a vampire. It’s also quite a lovely showcase for the veteran actor before his character makes his heroic last stand in act three.

Sinners‘ physical release arrives July 8 on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K; you can rent or buy it now on digital platforms.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.



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Niantic Spatial lays off "small number" of employees
Esports

Niantic Spatial lays off “small number” of employees

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Niantic spin-off company Niantic Spatial has announced further layoffs.

As reported by Game Developer, Niantic confirmed that a “small number” of employees had been let go from Spatial which is building a geospatial AI model.

“As a result of reorganisation of Niantic Spatial, we identified a small number of additional positions that were unfortunately no longer required in the new company.”

Game Developer spotted that five employees had been let go via a WARN notice published by the State of California’s Employment Development Department.

Niantic Spatial was previously hit with layoffs in April, when 68 employees were affected by job cuts.

This came after Scopely’s $3.5 billion acquisition of Niantic. Scopely later clarified that “it will not be making any workforce reductions” in Niantic’s gaming segment following the purchase.



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