Assassin's Creed Hexe probably won't be out before 2028. Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson says sources told him as recently as October that the game had run into issues and was pushed back internally by another year. The claim was tucked into a larger report about two unannounced Assassin's Creed projects, including the Ancient Rome game codenamed Mars, though the Hexe bit is arguably the bigger news for anyone who has been waiting since Ubisoft first announced the game back in 2022. Henderson didn't say what the issues are. Up until now, 2027 looked like the target. A leaker pointed to June 2027 earlier this year, and NateTheHate later said Hexe wouldn't launch before the second half of 2027 at the earliest.

Development hasn't exactly been smooth either. Ubisoft Montreal was reportedly reworking the combat deep into production in February, and around 50 developers were reportedly moved off the project a few months later. Ubisoft's latest official word came in its Fall 2026 franchise update at the end of October. The company said Hexe is making steady progress, though there is "still work ahead of us," and promised the next major update in 2027. That isn't a confirmation of anything, though it does leave room for a 2028 launch. Ubisoft hasn't given Hexe any official release window so far, so readers are advised to treat 2028 as an internal target that could still move.

The last time Assassin's Creed Hexe made news, it was revealed that the combat had been scaled back significantly—after nearly four years in development, at that. Now, an Insider Gaming report, citing internal sources, claims that Ubisoft has removed as many as 50 developers from the project. The developers who have been removed from Hexe have supposedly been assigned to what is known internally as the "Interproject team," where they have up to three months to find a new project to work on or potentially be laid off. It's currently unknown whether this will have an impact on the eventual state of the game, but the move appears to be just the latest in Ubisoft's efforts to cut costs, although less forcefully than previously.

It seems as though the development of Assassin's Creed Hexe may not be going as smoothly as Ubisoft would like, which may be problematic given the expected 2027 launch date. It may also be Ubisoft taking a cautious approach, which would echo what has been reported about the future of Assassin's Creed remake projects. The rumor of a smaller dev team on Hexe comes shortly after Ubisoft officially confirmed that Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced would launch in July of 2026, and leaks revealed that an Assassin's Creed 1 remake is likely also in the works. It was also revealed that the as-yet unannounced cozy life sim, Alterra, was cancelled in a recent cost-cutting measure, which is what the Hexe downsizing seems to be as well.

EK Water Blocks, possibly the most notable manufacturer of DIY PC cooling solutions, has downsized a quarter of its staff in response to a sharp drop in sales. This affects over 60 of the 200+ tech jobs in Slovenia, the home country of EKWB, something it proudly flaunts. EKWB sees its sales principally split in half between the North American and European markets. The company's market-presence in Asia is limited at this time, although it is now a reinvigorated area of interest. The company noticed quarterly sales-drops in steps as big as 20 percent since October 2021, according to Slovenian press reports.

The company is faulting these sales drops on the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically its economic impact, spike in PC hardware prices, and people spending less on premium/novelty hardware that EKWB principally specializes in—DIY liquid cooling solutions. The company also noted the impact of the war in Ukraine causing various commodity shortages for manufacturers in Europe. Matjaž Krč (CEO, EKWB) in a statement even blamed the sociological impact of COVID-19, specifically gaps between pandemic waves that enable people to travel and enjoy the outdoors—not wanting to spend on things that keep them indoors, such as gaming.

Contract prices of NAND Flash products are expected to undergo a marginal drop of 0-5% QoQ in 4Q21 as demand slows, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Hence, the current cyclical upturn in NAND Flash prices will have lasted for only two consecutive quarters. Looking ahead, NAND Flash suppliers' capacity expansion plans will be affected by the outlook on future trends and the supply of other non-memory components. At the same time, attention will have to be paid to the demand projection. At the moment, NAND Flash suppliers appear likely to downsize their capacity expansion activities for 2022, resulting in a 31.8% YoY increase in NAND Flash bit supply next year. Annual bit demand, on the other hand, is projected to increase by 30.8% YoY. With demand being outpaced by supply and competition intensifying among suppliers for higher-layer products, the NAND Flash market will likely experience a cyclical downturn in prices in 2022.

Today DigiTimes reported Acers Chairman JT Wang, announced that the company will be downsizing its product line two-thirds by the end of 2012. Mr. Wangs statement leaned this maneuver as more of a streamline process rather then a downsize citing he expected sales to increase by 10% or higher within the next year. Mr. Wang also stated that this downsize will not effect its outsourcing partners. However, Acer's major partners including Quanta Computer, Compal Electronics, Wistron and Pegatron Technology have decline to comment. One cannot help but wonder how many other manufactures will follow suit in these hard economic times.