Tag: Industry - Page 18
News Sony Officially Confirms Re-Organisation of Japan Studio
Team ASOBI to build on the popularity of Astro's Playroom
Sony has officially confirmed that it’s “re-organising” Japan Studio, effective 1st April. One of the oldest first-party teams within the platform holder’s stable will be restructured around Team ASOBI, the developer of the recent Astro’s Playroom, as well as Astro Bot Rescue...
News Sony Japan Studio Winding Down Internal Development Efforts, Says New Report
ASOBI Team remains
Sony is gradually winding down development efforts within its iconic Japan Studio, leaving just Astro Bot Rescue Mission developer ASOBI Team and localisation and business staff to fly the flag. That is according to a new report from Video Games Chronicle, which claims the team hasn't been profitable for the past couple of years...
News Two More Sony Japan Studio Devs Depart at the End of This Month
Both worked on Bloodborne
Following in the footsteps of a couple of other departures, two more members of Sony Japan Studio have confirmed they will be leaving Sony Japan Studio at the end of this month. Those being Bloodborne producer Masaaki Yamagiwa and video/cinematics director Ryo Sogabe, both of whom confirmed their exits on Twitter overnight...
News We May Learn What the Future Holds for Bethesda Next Month
Will they, won't they
Will future Bethesda games still release on PlayStation platforms? We know that existing contracts for Deathloop and Ghostwire Tokyo will be honoured, while service-based games like The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 will continue to be supported – but what about beyond that? It’s been a bigger ‘will they, won’t...
News Metal Gear Solid, Death Stranding Creator's Essays on Entertainment to Get English Translation
Insight into an intriguing mind
Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima rarely hides his influences: his games are filled with references and nods to the pieces of media that inspire him. If you’d like to know more about the inspiration behind some of the industry’s most iconic games, though, you may be interested in the ex-Konami man’s novel,...
News Codemasters Welcomed into the 'EA Family' as Acquisition Is Completed
Welcome to the family, son
Racing game studio Codemasters is now officially a part of EA as the publisher confirms its approximately $1.2 billion purchase of the developer is complete. Electronic Arts shared the news as part of a press release as well as on Twitter, where it welcomed the developer into the "EA family". This now means that the DIRT,...
News Job Listings Renew Speculation Regarding Virtual Reality Horizon Spin-Off
Firesprite hiring for VR adaption of massive console IP
Firesprite, the studio behind PlayStation VR’s surprisingly enjoyable survival horror roguelite The Persistence, is recruiting a string of new staff for a “VR action adventure project adapted from one of the most original and successful multimillion-selling console IP titles in the last 10...
News Warner Bros Plotting New AAA Free-to-Play Project
San Diego studio on hiring spree
Warner Bros Games San Diego is on a hiring spree right now, plotting what appears to be a “new AAA, free-to-play, cross-platform game”. That’s according to a job listing for a Game Systems Designer, but there are tons of other posts which reference similar things. The open Senior Combat Designer role, for...
News Yooka-Laylee Studio Playtonic Games Establishes Publishing Label
Playtonic Friends
What's Playtonic Games up to these days? The team behind the Rare-esque 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee has been on the down-low since 2019, when it released its quietly great follow-up, Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. As you might expect, the studio has been busy behind the scenes, but it's emerged with a somewhat surprising...
News Fighting Game Developers are Hosting a Second Online Roundtable This Week
Bandai Namco, Capcom, more
Some of the industry's most prominent fighting game publishers will be taking part in an online roundtable this week, in order to talk about upcoming titles and the current state of the industry. We saw this same kind of event happen in the summer of last year, and it made for an interesting watch, especially if you're big...
News Techland Insists It's Still Independent After Acquisition Speculation Intensifies
Polish studio denies Microsoft buyout reports
Another day, another Microsoft acquisition rumour. This time it’s the turn of Dying Light developer Techland, with speculation rife this weekend that it’s been absorbed by Xbox boss Phil Spencer’s green machine. To be fair, it’s not the first time we’ve heard this rumour in the past year –...
News PS5 Scalpers Reportedly Don't Like All the Bad Press They Get
Argue it's just like any other business
Apparently, some PlayStation 5 scalpers are displeased with their bad public image, and claim what they're doing is justifiable. If you're not aware, PS5s — and other highly sought after items — are being scooped up by scalpers, people who employ sophisticated programs to automatically purchase the...
News Wow, This New Unreal Engine Tech Is Mind Blowing
The human touch
Epic Games has announced MetaHuman Creator, a new cloud-based extension of the Unreal Engine which will allow developers to design high-fidelity models faster than ever before. Think of it like the most advanced RPG character creator you could possibly ever imagine, and you’ll pretty much be on the right track. The results are...
News Ubisoft Enjoys Strongest Quarter in Company History, Assassin's Creed Valhalla Leads the Charge
"By far"
Ubisoft's most recent financial results are in, and it's been one heck of a quarter for the French giant. In fact, it was the company's strongest quarter ever, "by far", according to the publisher's official statement to the press. Crazy. A busy release schedule formed the backbone of this success, spearheaded by the record-breaking...
News E3 Wants Digital Event This Summer, But It Has to Convince Publishers First
Good luck
Hey, remember E3? It used to be the biggest annual event on the gaming calendar, before publishers (like Sony, specifically) started pulling out and hosting their own online showcases. And then the coronavirus pandemic hit and put an end to any kind of hope for a gathering of companies, press, and gamers in Los Angeles last year. In short,...
News Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest Looks Poised for a Second Run
Here comes the sun
In many ways, the pandemic turned out to be a blessing in disguise for E3 2020, as the show was sounding like a disaster before lockdown put the event out of its misery. Summer Game Fest, which was created by Geoff Keighley and established as a multi-month industry celebration, was supposed to fill the convention’s space...
News PS5 Stock Problems to Persist as Semiconductor Shortages Continue
Sony doing everything it can
Sony was able to sell 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles in 2020, which more or less matched the total achieved by the PlayStation 4 over seven years ago. However, there’s no question the Japanese giant could have sold more – but it’s seriously struggling to meet demand instead. That’s led to all kinds of issues...
News Japanese Media Giant Kadokawa Corporation Forms Alliance with Sony
Conglomerate owns FromSoftware
Sony’s going gung-ho with its anime business, as the company sees it as a potential pillar moving forwards. It recently acquired Crunchyroll, but it already owns Funimation and Aniplex. It’s not surprising, then, to see media conglomerate Kadokawa Corporation partner with the Japanese giant for “mutual...
News Gearbox Acquisition Will Not Impact 2K's Role As Borderlands Publisher
After Embracer Group scoops studio and publishing arm
Update: 2K Games has commented on Gearbox's acquisition by the Embracer Group today, explaining that it will not affect its role as the publisher of the Borderlands games or "any other projects" the pair may be working on. A spokesperson said: "As the proud publisher of the Borderlands...
News Sony Plots Highest Ever Profits As Transition to Entertainment Pays Dividends
Anime, gaming, and music doing big business
Sony may be known historically for its tech products like televisions and the Walkman, but the company has slowly been transitioning towards entertainment for years. And while its electronics business has been faring well recently – posting a ~$1.06 billion profit for the quarter ending 31st December –...
News This Is Why PS5, PS4 Microtransactions Won't Be Going Away
Extraordinary revenue drivers
Microtransactions are extremely controversial in enthusiast gaming communities like Push Square, but Sony’s financials show why they won’t be going away. According to the Japanese giant’s record-breaking report, 29 per cent of PlayStation’s overall revenue was generated by DLC, expansion packs, and, yes,...
News PS5 Ships 4.5 Million Consoles in First Quarter of Availability
Sony games division sees record profit
From its November launch through until the end of 2020, Sony has shipped 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles to stores and consumers across the globe. The statistic matches that of the PlayStation 4's launch across the very same quarter in 2013. The strong sales of the PS5 will have played a helping hand in Sony...
News PS Now Competitor Google Stadia Ceases Internal Game Development
Pivoting business focus to publishers
Well, it's happening. Google has just taken its first big step towards removing the Stadia streaming service from the market as it shuts down two internal studios originally set up to produce exclusive games. The news broke via a Kotaku report published minutes before the official confirmation, which claimed the...
News PlatinumGames Dismisses Claims of PS5 Abandoning Japan
"PlayStation is international"
There’s been intense conversation, of late, regarding PlayStation’s status in Japan. Sales statistics show that, launch aligned, the PlayStation 5 is performing worse than the Nintendo Wii U – although the console is sold out worldwide. Some think that the small hardware shipments signal a lack of interest in its...
News Yakuza's Toshihiro Nagoshi Retires As SEGA CCO As Publisher Restructures
Industry veteran to assume the role of creative director instead
Yakuza’s notoriously tanned creator Toshihiro Nagoshi will retire from his role as chief creative officer at SEGA, assuming the position of creative director from 1st April. The news comes as part of a significant shake-up at the Japanese firm, which will effectively see it split its...
News Konami Insists It Has Not Closed Its Video Game Business
Restructuring will facilitate faster decision making
There were reports earlier this week that Konami had effectively closed down its entire video game business, following an internal restructuring plan announced on its corporate website. As part of a press release, the Japanese publisher revealed that it intends to dissolve three production...
News Crash Bandicoot and Tony Hawk Remake Developer Merged into Blizzard, No Longer a Lead Studio
"Fully dedicated to existing games"
Vicarious Visions, the studio behind Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawks' Pro Skater 1 + 2 — both excellent remakes — has today been merged into the Blizzard side of Activision Blizzard. From this point forward, the developer will be "fully dedicated to existing Blizzard games and initiatives". This...
News Naughty Dog 'Making Something Very Cool' as Hiring Spree Advertised
A new IP? The Last of Us 3?
Want to work for Naughty Dog? Join the queue because we have to imagine the developer will be inundated with CVs for the open positions it has to offer as part of its next big project. Shared by the team's official Twitter account and then retweeted by Neil Druckmann, lots of different production sectors are hiring staff,...
News EA Primed to Purchase Codemasters as Take-Two Withdraws Offer
Need for even more speed
Just before the end of 2020, a bidding war began for Codemasters, the big, racing-focused publisher and developer. Take-Two Interactive put in an offer to acquire the company, but a few weeks later, Electronic Arts made a significantly larger bid. Now, it looks like the latter has strong-armed the former out of the deal...
News Remothered Dev Recruits Top Talent for New, Next-Gen IP
Horizon Zero Dawn writer included
Remember last year's Remothered: Broken Porcelain? We'd rather not, but it's just about all we have to go on as far as Stormind Games is concerned. The Italian studio has now confirmed its development efforts have shifted towards a new IP for next-gen consoles and has picked up some top talent along the way. The...
News The Name Lucasfilm Games Will Accompany Star Wars Games Moving Forward
New year, new name
The Star Wars licence is now firmly back in the mainstream following Disney's acquisition and a new movie trilogy, and the games haven't been bad lately either. With the franchise in good shape, it seems the powers that be are preparing for the future, and that includes a new label for all software going forward. Lucasfilm Games...
News Epic Acquires Rad Game Tools, Creators of Oodle Compression Technology
More middleware
Epic Games has been on a middleware shopping spree of late, and it’s just added Rad Game Tools to its collection of software services. You’ll no doubt be familiar with the organisation for its Bink Video program, which was a hallmark of the PlayStation 2 era. However, the company also created the Oodle texture compression...
News Bloodborne, Demon's Souls PS5 Producer Leaves Sony Japan Studio
To keep making new IPs
Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, and Soul Sacrifice producer Terujuki Toriyama has announced he will be leaving Sony Japan Studio at the end of December. He departs for a new company with the aim of "creating new game IPs". The news follows shortly after Silent Hill veteran Keiichiro Toyama confirmed he also left the company along...
News The Game Awards Viewership Up 83% Year-Over-Year, Peaked at 8.3 Million Concurrents
Staggering numbers
The Game Awards attracted over 83 million livestreams in its 2020 incarnation, although we’re still trying to figure out exactly what that metric entails. According to creator Geoff Keighley, viewership was up an impressive 83 per cent year-over-year, and perhaps most impressive of all, it peaked at 8.3 million concurrents. To...
News Sony Commits to Safer Gaming Environments Alongside Xbox and Nintendo
Respect and safety at its core
Sony has today committed to a partnership alongside Microsoft and Nintendo to provide users with safer gaming environments as more and more games share the same communities online via cross-play compatibility. Detailed in an Xbox Wire news post, the three companies believe that "all players deserve to have fantastic...
News EA Speeds Past Take-Two's Bid for Codemasters with Huge Counter Offer
The race is over?
In a surprising twist, Electronic Arts is now set to acquire Codemasters. Last month, news came out that Take-Two Interactive had proposed an offer to purchase the hugely successful racing game specialists. If it all went through, the 2K Sports publisher would buy out Codies for roughly $973 million in cash and shares. However,...
News Neil Druckmann to Continue Writing and Directing at Naughty Dog as Co-President
Top dog
Update: Newly minted Naughty Dog Co-President Neil Druckmann has commented on his promoted role at the company. He said that he'll continue "writing and directing" at the studio while "helping to mentor the next wave of creators". He also congratulated Alison Mori and Christian Gyrling in their new roles as Vice President. We can't wait...
News Veteran Mass Effect and Dragon Age Producers Leave BioWare
New games still in development
In news that's sure to set tongues wagging, veteran BioWare employees Casey Hudson and Mark Darrah have announced that they're retiring from the company. This is actually the second time that Hudson has left BioWare. After spearheading the Mass Effect trilogy, his first departure came in 2014, but he returned to the...
News Silent Hill, Gravity Rush Veterans Leave Sony Japan Studio to Form New Team
Bokeh Game Studio is its name
Silent Hill, Gravity Rush, and Forbidden Siren creator Keiichiro Toyama has left Sony Japan Studio to team up with two other Japanese development veterans and create their own independent development house. He is joined by Kazunobu Sato, who was a producer for The Last Guardian
News Veteran Sony Bend Directors Depart After Decades
They've gone
Two veteran Sony Bend directors dating all the way back to the Syphon Filter days have departed the first-party studio. John Garvin, who’s written every single one of the developer’s games, announced on Twitter that he actually left over a year ago, but this is the first time he’s commented on his decision. In a series of...
News Sony's Secret San Diego Studio Probably Hasn't Closed
Uncharted territory
Update: All the attention on John Baustita's Twitter account earlier today prompted him to come out and make a comment. In a follow-up message, he explained that he left Sony's unannounced San Diego studio due to "personal circumstances", and as far as he's aware the team still exists: Now we wait for the platform holder to...
News Embracer Group Just Casually Bought Another 13 Developers
Flying Wild Hog the most high profile
Whilst we're sat at the dining table eating our breakfast in the morning, we like to imagine the CEO of Embracer Group was up and ready to go three hours before us preparing plans to buy yet another developer. And they do this every single day of the week. Yes, the company that THQ Nordic and Koch Media both...
News Games Journalist Alanah Pearce Joins Sony Santa Monica
New recruits
Alanah Pearce, an ex-IGN games journalist who most recently worked for Rooster Teeth, has joined Sony Santa Monica as a writer. The Australian scribe – who has a massive social media following, including a YouTube channel with over 500k subscribers – announced the news on Twitter earlier today. “I’m finally allowed to
News Bethesda's 'Will They, Won't They' Relationship with PS5 Rumbles On
"No intentions of pulling all Bethesda content"
Microsoft hasn’t completed its acquisition of Bethesda yet, but there’s only one question fans wanted answered: will future games come to the PlayStation 5? To be fair to the Redmond firm, it probably genuinely doesn’t know right now, but there’s been conflicting information emerging from...
News Devastating Capcom Ransomware Attack Exposes Game Details, Employee Data
New Ace Attorney collection leaked
Capcom has confirmed that it’s been subject to a devastating ransomware attack, which has exposed game details, employee data, and much more. As part of a press release published earlier today, the Japanese publisher explained that it’s been the victim of a “customised ransomware attack”, with upwards of...
News Looks Like Codemasters Will Be Acquired by Take-Two
Deal to go through early next year
We knew that talks were taking place between Codemasters and Take-Two, but now it looks like the acquisition will be going through. According to a VGC report, the DIRT 5 developer has reached an agreement with the 2K Games parent, and will be acquired early next year in a deal valued at around £750 million ($98
News Codemasters in Talks with Take-Two Over Takeover
F1 2K21?
Codemasters, the legendary British publisher behind the recently released DIRT 5, has confirmed that it’s in talks with Take-Two over a possible takeover. Video Games Chronicle reports that an internal statement revealed conversations were taking place between the firm and 2K Games’ parent company. The figure currently being thrown...
News Kojima Productions Hiring Up for New Project
What's Kojima up to this time?
Kojima Productions is working on something new. That's it. That's the article. After the launch of Death Stranding on PlayStation 4 and the subsequent PC port, it seems work has finally begun on the next project from Hideo Kojima and his team. What kind of game is the Tokyo-based studio making next? Unfortunately,...
News Ni no Kuni Dev Level-5 Reportedly All But Ceases NA Operations
Game releases outside Japan no longer certain
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom developer Level-5 has reduced its North American presence to a skeleton crew. According to sources close to the website and familiar with the situation, both Level-5 International America and Level-5 Abby began laying off the majority of its...
News Rockstar Acquires Ruffian Games, Rebrands Rockstar Dundee
Rockin' out
In a move that’s almost sure to guarantee more Grand Theft Auto Online content, Rockstar Games has acquired Ruffian Games, the developer of Crackdown 2. As is standard procedure for the juggernaut label, it’s rebranded the studio Rockstar Dundee – and you can see confirmation of that courtesy of a Companies House listing on the UK...