Games Industry News Roundup - November 24, 2025

Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.

That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. This week, our gallant gal reporter Marcy is here to fill in for news boy Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson with all of the news you can use.

GAMA Names New Interim Executive Director

Just announced yesterday via an email to members, GAMA, The Tabletop Game Association, released the news that the Rev. Zaria Davis, Ph.D., would be taking on the position of Interim Executive Director. During her tenure, Davis will be working with the GAMA board to find a permanent replacement for the position. Alongside the announcement of Davis' appointment, GAMA also announced that Jessica Fisher would be GAMA's new committee coordinator, and that the first Board of Directors Meeting would be held on Dec. 18th and is open for all GAMA members to attend.

For those unaware, GAMA is a non-profit organization that works within the hobby gaming industry, looking to help industry professionals and encourage personal and professional development across the hobby space. Davis' appointment as interim executive director is being hailed as the continued promotion of those goals, lauding her achievements and work within restorative practices, organizational development, inclusivity, and her previous work with other nonprofits.

Saudi Public Investment Fund Running Low on Cash

Following the announcement a few months back of EA's buyout and other consistently encroaching investments into the gaming sphere, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Program announced this week that it would be pulling back from investing currently following what the New York Times reported as "financial distress". Perhaps a somewhat comical announcement given the discomfort felt by numerous gaming communities in the wake of Saudi investment into spaces that are openly and often queer and diverse, but the PIF pulling back and that it will be "unable to allocate" very likely spells little good for the entities that have been consumed by the program already as unrealistic goals seem to be plaguing the fund.

The PIF was behind the purchase of EA, and also has its hands in Niantic, Nintendo, Embracer Group, Nexon, Capcom, and the Saudi attempt at hosting the "Olympic Esports Games" before the IOC terminated the contract earlier in November. What this means for any of the investments made by the PIF or continued investments by them remains to be seen, but many of the concerns about PIF and Saudi investment have been from those asking what will happen to communities whose success is essentially being bought in a bid to force Saudi participation and recognition into them, and with the IOC loss and now pausing investments, how that plays out from here remains to be seen.

Ubisoft Announces Earnings

Ubisoft has been in the news a bit lately, as last week they confusingly and suddenly announced that they would be delaying their earning results and a desire to halt share trading. This week, they have announced that their H1 earnings are supposedly "ahead of expectations", and that their 1.15 billion euro deal to partner with Tencent was on track. Nestled into these earnings was the loss of 1500 employees since 2024, and 700 of those within the last 6 months.

Ubisoft successfully announced an overall increase of 20% in profits, pulling in 772.4 million euro during the first half, from 2025-26. This news seems to have also helped Ubisoft in securing the closing of their deal with Tencent for Vantage Studios, which will house the "big" titles that Ubisoft survives off of, namely Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry, with Tencent being given 25% ownership in those for their 1.16 billion euro investment.

Ubisoft touted the "overperformance" of Assassin's Creed Shadows, but also The Division 2, while Rainbow Six Siege, which has recently undergone a bit of a transformation to "Rainbow Six Siege X" and free to play, had missed revenue expectations in the shift to free to play. As a long time Siege player, I was shocked at how honest Ubisoft was in noting that this was not due to the game becoming Free to Play, but because of the increased amount of cheaters who plagued (and continue to plague) the game in the new F2P iteration, leading long-time players (such as myself) to drop the game and withhold money.

Warhammer Opens Up to Palm Springs and Maastricht

Games Workshop announced that 2026's Warhammer Open will be spread between Palm Springs, California, and Masstricht, Netherhlands, with the Open coming to California in January 2026 from the 16th-18th, and Maastricht from the 24th-26th of April. Perhaps most notably in this announcement is that Maastricht marks the first time the Open Series has traveled to Europe. Tickets are currently available for both events, and Games Workshop goes on to state that the Masstricht event will be held at the MECC in a "highly-accessible" classic European City.

The announcement of these two events is somewhat surprising for another reason: the Palm Springs event is less than 60 days away, making travel and other considerations likely very difficult and sudden for those wishing to travel to it, particularly only about two weeks after the holiday season. How well attended the Palm Springs event will be will surely be an interesting development as players scramble to determine eligibility and ability to travel to the Open, and possibly desire to do so from outside of the United States.

This comes on the further change from 2025, in which Games Workshop officially changed the "US Open" to the "Warhammer Open" after running events in both the United States and Canada, and although no explanation for the move to 2 events from 4 is given, there is also the question as to whether the increasingly hostile nature of travel to the United States motivated the change in events to one American and one European event. Whether further events will be announced or how this will reflect in the World Championship remains to be seen for 2026, but it is likely that there will be further events announced in the future.

Steam Black Friday Sale

As a little bit of light and possibly fun news of note, Steam is currently having their Black Friday sale, and while there are numerous other deals and sales that will very likely be taking place over the coming days into to the Black Friday weekend, Steam has decided to start the process a little earlier than others. Although there are likely to be more sales and more deals to come, the Steam Sale has a few notably decent deals going on for anyone looking for something to play during some downtime over the weekend or into the holiday season. If you were perhaps waiting to pick up Space Marine II, then the good news is that it is part of the sale at 60% off.

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Tags: Games Industry News | Games Industry News Roundup