I want more multiplayer games like Kiln

Over the last couple of weeks, I've put some time into Kiln, the latest game from Xbox Game Studios developer Double Fine Productions.

Kiln has you customize your own pottery, with towering vases having different abilities compared to small, nimble teacups. It's been a fun (if simple) experience, and more than anything, it's made me appreciate a small fact: I like that it's just a simple multiplayer game!

This week, I wanted to share my thoughts in another quasi-review (disclaimer, I received a review code from Xbox) about why I'm enjoying a game that's inherently limited by design.

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Relaxing, just a bit

Kiln is fun, and I enjoy playing it. I enjoy throwing together lovely new pieces of pottery and watching them get smashed apart in matches. I enjoy counting how many various ungodly abominations other players concoct (spoiler: it's a lot) or seeing some beautiful vase that I need to add to my collection.

Even so, I probably won't be playing Kiln for long, regular hours, certainly not like Marathon or many other multiplayer games. You unlock new customization options as you level up, but there's no rewards pass or extensive microtransactions.

Double Fine has a roadmap of updates for Kiln, with things like new maps and a photo mode scheduled for throughout the year, but there's no traditional aggressive live-service plan to speak of. That's a relief! I miss the days of a multiplayer game being allowed to just exist. Not being exhausted at the concept of missing out on a time-gated battle pass is a strange feeling that I've missed having.

I understand why this isn't usually the case. Games are increasingly expensive, and multiplayer games have additional costs but also additional potential compared to single-player fare, which encourages increased monetization. It's just nice to see something get to mostly eschew those ideas, and it makes me wish more games to do the same.

I'm hoping to see Kiln attract a wide audience, and I'll definitely be recommending it as a party game when I'm hanging out with my friends. It won't be a replacement for getting a squad together to hop on Marvel Rivals, but that's okay for me.

Obviously, I have no idea what this game's budget or expectations were, so I'm not going to bother speculating what kinds of sales and/or players on Game Pass it needs to do for Double Fine and (more importantly) Xbox to be happy.

For now, I'm simply happy that Kiln exists as it is.

Double Fine Productions is unionizing!

That was going to be the end of this week's Campaign Mode, but as I was putting the finishing touches on this newsletter, there was some important and quite relevant breaking news: Double Fine Productions is unionizing under Microsoft!

This is a big deal, as even though numerous teams at Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard King and ZeniMax Media have unionized with the Communication Workers of America (CWA), there haven't been any teams joining a union under Xbox Game Studios, until now.

Per the filing (first spotted by Aftermath), this union includes 42 full-time employees, and naturally excludes anyone in a supervisory role.

It's thrilling news, and I'm hoping to see similar union efforts follow at other teams across Xbox Game Studios.

Assorted news

Price hikes, continued AI headlines, and other union news dominated the week in gaming.

• The Nintendo Switch 2 is getting a price hike across the globe, going from $450 to $500 in the U.S. Interestingly, the new pricing doesn't go into effect until September, so potential purchasers have a bit of time to grab one before it goes up.
• Sony reported a number of interesting details for the PlayStation business, including how it's taking an impairment loss for Bungie and is using AI across PlayStation Studios. PlayStation leadership noted that Marathon has received high praise from players and critics alike, and Bungie is continuing to work on updates to attract more players.
• Wizards of the Coast management has chosen not to voluntarily recognize the union of developers at the company working on Magic: The Gathering Arena. The union is now looking to an election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which will be held in the near future.
• Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced that the company is canceling its plans for Copilot on consoles and mobile devices. This came alongside some leadership shake-ups, pulling in former Microsoft CoreAI execs Jared Palmer and Tim Allen to work across the Xbox product and design teams.

Housekeeping

As I previously mentioned, I'm keen on checking out Supermassive Games' Directive 8020, the latest entry in the Dark Pictures Anthology. I've previously enjoyed playing these kinds of games with a friend or one of my brothers, which I'll probably repeat.

Notably, Directive 8020 has had a far longer development cycle than the prior four entries in the anthology, so I'm really looking forward to playing it when it launches on May 12.

Outside of continuing to cruise along through Starfield and checking into the Lose Everything factory at Marathon, I'll also be playing Mixtape, the new game from Beethoven & Dinosaur and Annapurna Interactive. It's received rave reviews, which doesn't surprise me after the stellar demo I played at Summer Game Fest last year.