Hello Indie Game Fan Reader!

​Hideo Kojima's Physint has moved from PlayStation to Xbox, but the fallout could be huge.

rat king 🐀 @MikeIsaac goddamn. sony kills the kojima relationship, likely bc sales flagged on last exclusive, tries to say “don’t worry we still love each other” kojima posts tweet that basically all but says “fuck yall” xbox says “we love kojima san!” thank christ his new game still gets made 3:53 AM • Sep 10, 2026 52 Retweets 1816 Likes Read 11 replies

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Yeah...

​Bloomberg's Jason Schreier read on the why

1. The two Death Stranding games didn't hit Sony's revenue expectations
2. Physint was missing deadlines and tracking well over budget despite being years from release
3. Concord's failure had already pushed PlayStation into stricter production milestones that Physint couldn't meet.
4. There's also the awkward math of the Death Stranding model, being a PlayStation exclusive that later goes multiplatform. Sony isn't the publisher on Xbox and less from a game it funded.

Xbox's response was the opposite temperature entirely: "Betting on Kojima-san is an easy call." They now have both Physint and OD but does the bet make sense, given Xbox's own fortunes?

So tell me, do you have a favourite Kojima game or do you not care / have not played any? (you can reply directly to this email)

Get the list of games from my Fall Showcase.

​Upcoming Games of 2026

Indie games of interest

1. ​Sea Sniffers - A unique take on fish collecting, in that you are a seal who throws a mean punch. Dive, punch, catch, and document over 100 species including rare mythological ones. From the developers of Mighty Goose.
2. ​AOKAKI - Pixel art action platformer where you're a disgraced isopod ronin in a feudal Japan of insect samurai. Parry to build a counter, pogo off enemies and torches to climb, or curl into a speeding ball. Demo is live.
3. ​Full Belly Breakout - You've been captured and the only way out is to eat. Every dish hides something deadly, so you identify the danger, finish every bite and escape.
4. ​Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles - The dice-building rogue-lite turned three and marked it with 50 new Blessings, 10 new Sentinels, 10 new events and 5 new run modifiersMad Ever After - A co-op FPS for up to four, that has you tearing through twisted fairytale realms with shapeshifting magic staffs, stacking spells and upgrades until the run goes completely off the rails. Playtest is live.
5. ​Okko The Exiled - A pixel art side-scrolling action platformer where you stomp, launch, deflect and bash through a land of demons, linking attacks into combos that send enemies flying. Out on 30 September, so very soon.
6. ​Tooth and Tail - A brand new unit for a nine-year-old game. The Raccoon gathers food passively while outside friendly territory, which makes it the first unit that both fights and earns.
7. ​Fangstorm - One orc demigod against endless goblin sieges. First-person melee where you also build the kill zones, then grind a persistent progression tree until YOU become the problem.
8. ​Metroid Ravenous* - Not indie, but if you're on this list you probably care, since this is a new side-scrolling Metroid for Switch 2, so if you love Metroid Dread and want more, definitely keep an eye on this
9. ​No Man's Sky - Ten years in and here's another FREE update in COSMOS, overhaulling space, where you can salvage derelict husks, or build player-owned space stations and star bases

​Best games of 2026 so far​

My videos this week

1. ​Top 25 Best Indie Games of July 2026 - Games you should play!
2. ​We NEED to talk about Generative AI in Indie Games - I want your opinion on this one
3. ​Indie Gaming This Week: 07 - 13 September 2026 - The weekly roundup.

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News & Articles

1. ​Rockstar had a mole in the union Discord for two and a half years - At least 26 meetings between an HR manager and a junior employee feeding him screenshots, recordings and union membership numbers. Yeesh
2. ​Devolver Digital leaves the stock market this Wednesday - Shareholders voted 90% in favour, last day of trading is the 15th, delisting takes effect 7am on the 16th. The board's stated reason is unusually blunt: development timelines are unpredictable and that "has not been readily compatible with the requirements of the market for semi-annual reporting with an emphasis on predictable, sequential growth."
3. ​Level-5's CEO has admitted generative AI was used in the Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch reveals - Players spotted it across the showcase. Akihiro Hino says it was "entirely due to the desire to make the presentation more spectacular", apologised, and insists scenarios, character designs and basic settings are still human-made and no "simplistic AI-generated output data" ships in the games. Directly relevant to what I was talking about this week.
4. ​Blizzard says it announced Diablo V and a StarCraft shooter this far out "to convey confidence" - Diablo V is 2029, the open-world StarCraft shooter is 2030, with major announcements for WoW and Heroes of the Storm is also getting a new character?? The full list from the event is here.
5. ​Newzoo says almost every established live-service game was flat or down in H1 - So much for "people only play those forever games" Digital revenue fell year-on-year across six Western markets. Their read is that GTA 6 is the only reason console revenue won't be flat this year
6. ​Netflix says the GTA 6 Extended Look pulled 31.1 million views in four days - Biggest game in the world. Do you care?
7. ​Don't Nod says it may not be able to operate beyond January 2027 - Revenue down 56% in H1, a €4.3m operating loss, and cash down from €15.4m to €8.0m in seven months. Uh oh
8. ​Polyarc is shutting down after 12 years - Nooooo
9. ​Roblox creators will be able to ship their games as standalone apps - On PC, console and mobile, with Roblox powering it underneath. Interesting.

Indie Game of the Week

​The Talos Principle 2 - A first-person puzzler that hands you laser connectors and jammers and then asks what you actually are, and suprsingiyl, is from Croteam, the people behind Serious Sam, and impressive with the first game and continued to do so with the sequel. Grab it at 70% off!

Poll!

My name is Clement and I love indie games! As such, I make videos on indie games big and small, highlighting my favorites & supporting developers so that they can make more cool stuff.

Support my work on Patreon!

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