Category: Video Games

Singularity 6 is the latest studio to be hit by layoffs, with the Palia developer confirming in a statement sent to IGN that it has laid off around 35 percent of its workers.

Reports of Singularity 6’s layoffs emerged Thursday when workers began posting the new on X/Twitter and other social media platforms. They included at least one environmental artist, an engineer, and other developers woking on Palia.

Over the past few months, Baldur’s Gate 3’s developers have used its platform during awards season speeches to advocate for a healthier game industry. This tradition now extends to its publishing director, who, in a recent interview with Game File, shared his thoughts on industry-wide layoffs plaguing developers over the past two years as an “avoidable fuck up.”

Chief among 2024’s massive layoffs include Nintendo announcing its restructuring in March which has the potential to affect over 100 contract workers; Sony laying off roughly 900 employees in February — including developers across studios like Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Guerrilla, and Microsoft laying off 1,900 staff from its workforce in January following its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The complex and avoidable nature of layoffs

Speaking with Game File’s Steven Totilo, Michael Douse likened major gaming companies to massive oil tankers predicated on their ability to steer toward sucess. Should a company fail to plan accordingly, while giving developers proper financial reserves to pivot, fallout via layoffs is sure to come. Instead of feeling like layoffs are an inevitable aspect of the gaming industry, Douse argues that they are avoidable.

“But to prevent these giant operational failures that we call layoffs…they are an avoidable f*ck up. That’s really all they are,” Douse told Game File. “That’s why you see one after the other. Because companies are going: ‘Well, finally. Now we can, too. We’ve wanted to do it for ages. Everyone else is. So why don’t we?’ That’s really kind of sick.’”

Douse went on to note that none of the company’s issuing layoffs are at risk of going bankrupt, but are instead at risk of “pissing off the shareholders.” This shareholder-motivated business mindset was something Larian CEO Swen Vincke called out during his acceptance speech for Baldur’s Gate 3’s Best Narrative award. Douse echoed Vincke’s sentiments, saying companies should instead curb their greed and plan better so that developers have enough financial reserves available to pivot should they need to steer a game in a different direction.

“[Layoffs] a very, very complex and nuanced decision, Douse said. “But the idea that it’s an inevitability that has to happen, It’s just not true.”

Douse credited much of Baldur’s Gate 3’s achievements, namely maintaining a healthy work environment for its employees to Larian Studios being a privately owned company unbeholden to shareholders. When asked whether Larian Studios would ever go public, Douse said it might give them more money but it would be “antithetical to the quality part of what we’re trying to do.”

“So it wouldn’t make our games better. It would just make us rushed,” Douse said. “If you asked us what Baldur’s Gate III would look like, how much it would cost and how it would feel three years ago, I wouldn’t know. We just took it day by day. As an operation, we created reserves. We scoped up based on what we thought we would need and created reserves and fallbacks, just in case we would have to. Luckily, we don’t have to. We’re just nimble. Being nimble is key. Big companies are not nimble.”

Passive marketing vs socially resonate communication

While Douse doesn’t ascribe to the notion that the video games industry is on the verge of collapse, he does think its traditional methods of marketing on social media websites like Twitter/X are becoming less important.

“I mean, for Baldur’s Gate III we didn’t really do a lot of marketing. People talk about the bear scene as a big marketing beat. It wasn’t. It was a communication: Something we decided to do to showcase one extreme of romance in the game, as opposed to the Karlach scene in the restaurant.”

Douse went on to argue that marketing, while a form of communication, doesn’t generate the social resonance online that people want to engage in meaningful conversations over.

“A game’s success is defined by how socially resonant it is,” Douse said. “It’s not defined by a person who decided this game was successful. Which is a brilliant thing.”

Toward the latter half of the interview, Douse drew parallel to Baldur’s Gate 3’s critical and commercial sucess, despite being a a “fucking CPRG” investors would have otherwise never taken a chance on, to the meteoric success of Palworld — who reached 19 million total players less than two weeks after launch.

“They took a bunch of mechanics they knew people liked, made a game that was unbothered by what a game should be, and they gave it directly to players who decided to buy it. That’s really fucking simple. It’s not rocket science,” Douse said. “The analysts are confused, because they didn’t see it coming. And they want basic data sets and predictability. They’re gonna be confused a lot in the future. Me, too. I like being confused. We work best in chaos.”

Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh

When you host a weekly in-person board game night, or you run a digital board game server, choosing the game of the evening (or which to start) can often be a dizzying endeavor. Deck-building games can be a solid choice for the evening–especially ones with multiple versions and expansions to change up the game for seasoned and unseasoned players. It’s what made Dominion and its tapestry of different expansions one of my absolute favorites for game night… and pretty much any night, as you never get the same game twice.

Dominion was released in 2008 by Rio Grande Games. It’s an award-winning deck-building game that many have come to think of as a model for the genre. Since its initial release, it has added a whopping 15 expansions. Each expansion adds depth with different cards and featured elements to the game based on themes. The last expansions, Allies and Plunder, were released in 2022. Games generally last between 20-30 minutes but can go longer depending on the number of players, their experience playing, and their play style. Games range from 2-6 players but are often best played with 3.

The Base Game

• MSRP: $44.95 USD
• 2-4 Players (best with 3)
• 20-30 minutes
• Ages 13+

The base game of Dominion introduces players to the core elements of deck building as a process. It includes Kingdom cards that allow players to exercise different series of actions and Action Cards that the player can use to purchase Treasure Cards and eventually Victory cards. You need this base set to play further expansions and get a handle on how gameplay goes. Once you have the core game and are familiar with how it plays, you can start mixing it up with expansions.

Dominion Expansions

Dominion’s many expansions add different elements to the game on top of the original base. It’s where the fun really starts to emerge as each expansion adds cards and new mechanics that vastly change player strategies.

With so many opinions on favorite expansions, it took a lot of work to determine which mine was. However, after mass deliberation, the following expansions are my top picks for ones that you should consider adding to your buy list.

Dominion: Seaside Expansion

Contents: 300 cards, including 26 new kingdom cards featuring new elements

• MSRP: $44.95 USD
• 2-6 Players
• 20-30 minutes
• Ages 13+

Seaside is a whole boatload of adventure for those looking to jump into the murky and dangerous waters of battles in addition to their base game. It is consistently the top choice in all my board game hangs in person and online. It adds nautical-themed cards such as pirates and sea witches and the concept of duration cards.

Dominion: Plunder Expansion

Contents: 500 cards, including 40 new kingdom cards featuring new elements

• MSRP: $44.95 USD
• 2-6 Players
• 20-30 minutes
• Ages 13+

Plunder is one of the newest expansions, and I’ve found it enjoyable throughout my gameplay. It is also the top choice of Theresa Duringer, the CEO of Temple Gates Games, who worked on creating the digital version of the game. Plunder adds even more pirates, along with loot, events, and traits. Gaining loot (also used as treasures) can be fun and exciting as there are several different loot cards with different abilities that one can randomly end up with. These treasures can do things like add additional buying power, attack other players, gain even more loot, and many other actions.

Dominion: Nocturne Expansion

Contents: 500 cards, including 33 new kingdom cards featuring new elements

• MSRP: $44.95 USD
• 2-6 Players
• 20-30 minutes
• Ages 13+

Fans of stories of vampires, fairies, and witches will also thoroughly enjoy the Nocturne expansion. The game adds the concepts of Night cards, Boons, Hexes, and Heirlooms. It’s a whimsical set of cards that goes from the lighter to darker sides of the game, surprising players in delight and horror.

Dominion: Intrique Expansion

Contents: 300 cards, including 26 new kingdom cards featuring new elements

• MSRP: $39.95 USD
• 2-4 Players
• 20-30 minutes
• Ages 13+

Like the first expansion, Intrigue is beloved by many. The spy-themed expansion adds more Victory cards to the game. It adds cards that allow for multiple actions, spying, and gossiping, which does indeed get you places in this expansion. There’s even a card that helps prop up for the poor player who draws a few treasure cards in their hand. My personal favorite cards in this expansion include the Minion, the Shanty Town, and the Courtier. Feel free to tell us which ones yours are in the comments below.

Dominion: Menagerie Expansion

Contents: 400 cards, including 30 new kingdom cards featuring new elements

• MSRP: $44.95 USD
• 2-4 Players
• 20-30 minutes
• Ages 13+

Animals are our friends in this expansion. A menagerie of different animals, from falcons, sheepdogs, camels, black cats and horses, will help you in your quest for victory here. They bring in the elements of horses, ways, and exile cards. While this expansion does not add any mythical medieval animals, it allows the player to interact with their action cards in a mechanic called Ways. Through Ways, you’ll be able to tap into the energy of an assortment of animals, from seals, ox, chameleons, moles, butterflies, and even… a worm? Yes, even a worm.

Other Dominion Expansions

If you enjoyed the above expansions and want to learn about others, you’re not going to run out of expansions anytime soon. Buddy, there are a lot. The others are listed below (note that some are difficult to find in print). Several of these games are also very good as they add their own layers to the game, which can create fun ways to play it.

A note of caution, however, for folks looking at Dark Ages: that particular expansion dips into the concepts of poverty and can include language in the cards that some may find less enjoyable to experience in the game due to the names of the cards.

• Alchemy
• Prosperity
• Dark Ages
• Hinterlands
• Cornucopia & Guilds
• Adventures
• Empires
• Renaissance
• Allies

More Ways to Play

Like many board and card games, you can play Dominion in several different ways, physically and digitally. The game is incredibly accessible.

A digital version of the game developed by Temple Gates Games came out on Steam in February 2024. The base game is free to play on Steam. Expansions cost different amounts, ranging from $4.99 for Intrique to $5.99 for Alchemy, Cornucopia, and Guilds to $10.99 for all other expansions. You can also buy all the expansions in a launch bundle for a reduced price on Steam. You can play the game, with or without expansions, online on Steam against the computer on different levels of AI: very easy, easy, medium, and hard. They also have a daily game where you can play the AI, giving all users a way to play the game and see several different cards in expansions for free.

For folks who want to play against other humans on Steam, there are multiple ways to do that. For groups of up to six who are already friends on Steam and have exchanged friend codes for Dominion, once one player in a group has access to an expansion, everyone that the player plays with will also be able to play the player with those cards. Online play also allows folks to play random players who may or may not have access to other expansions.

Dominion.games is another way to play the game in your browser with friends. This game was done by a different team and is operated on the Shuffle iT platform. Like the Steam edition, the base game for the browser edition is free. However, if you’d like to play expansions, there is a monthly cost. The Core Subscription, for what these developers feel are “the simpler half of the cards”, costs €2.15 per month. With all card expansions, the Complete Subscription costs €4.30 per month. All of those purchases are priced in Euros. Only one player per game needs to buy a subscription to have access to cards so that everyone in a game team can play alongside the player with the cards.

Bottom Line

With a 7.6 rating on Board Game Geek, several board game enthusiasts like me will swear their love to Dominion, but even a few of my friends in my dedicated board game group have not found themselves fans of the game. While the game can be beginner-friendly, it can also feel incredibly complex to folks not experienced with deck-builder games, even without multiple expansions. It can take a few games to learn the game’s groove. (In my experience, this is often when trying to show the game to a player online vs in person, as deck-building is an easier understood process when one can see it visually and tactically.) However… once you do, if you do, it can be a loved game that will always be different every time you play it.

For more, be sure to check out our picks for the best board games to play right now, as well as the best solo board games. And if you’re looking for other deep dives into expansions, take a peek at our Betrayal at House on the Hill Buyer’s Guide.