Tag: Business - Page 2
News Hob, Torchlight Developer Runic Games Is No More
Hob gone
Torchlight developer Runic Games has been shuttered by parent company Perfect World Entertainment – and there’s a pun in there somewhere which probably isn’t appropriate to use. Anyway, the studio most recently released the likeable – but, ultimately, overlooked – Hob on the PlayStation 4. It is, however, no more. “I'm sorry to...
News Housemarque Canning Coin-Op After Commercial Flops
Arcade is dead
Housemarque is renowned for its arcade games, but the Finnish developer is moving on from the kind of coin-op experiences you’d typically associate with the company. Writing on its website, CEO Ilari Kuittinen explains that despite high reviews for releases like Nex Machina and Resogun, the studio’s games don’t sell in...
News Sony Is in the Best Financial Shape It's Ever Been In
Expecting record profits
Sony is still on track to record its most profitable year on record, which is mind-boggling when you consider the state the company was in just a few years ago. Ever since Push Square started we’ve been reporting on the Japanese giant’s dire financial straits, but former PlayStation president Kaz Hirai has completely...
News Sounds Like PlayStation's New Boss Is a Fan of Microtransactions
Exploring in-game purchases for exclusives
Uh oh! PlayStation president Andrew House departed recently and has been replaced with John Kodera, a Sony veteran whose previous roles include running Sony Network Entertainment. He’s largely a services guy, which bodes well for future expansion of the oft-maligned PlayStation Network – but it also...
News PS4 Has Shipped 67.5 Million Units, Sony Increases Forecast
Expects PS4 to match PS3's install base in half the time
Sony has shipped a dizzying 67.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles as of 30th September, the manufacturer’s latest financial results reveal. The organisation moved an impressive 4.2 million units in the quarter spanning 1st July to 30th September, meaning that it’s once again up...
News Microsoft Says Single Player Games Are Becoming Complicated
It's complicated, man
Sony’s portfolio is flooded with primarily single player experiences, but as part of a wider discussion regarding the future of solitary releases, Xbox Publishing boss Shannon Loftis believes the economics are becoming increasingly complicated. Speaking with GameSpot, she noted how gamers’ insatiable demand for better...
News Sony Doesn't See Much Potential in Portable Platforms
Game over
Don’t hold your breath for a new portable PlayStation platform, as Sony has suggested that it doesn’t see much potential in the handheld market. Speaking with Bloomberg, group president Andrew House explained that the company doesn’t see a “huge opportunity” for the sector outside of Asia, and that it’s focusing on living room...
News Sony Snaps Up Anime Distributor Funimation for $143 Million
One for the weeaboos
Sony has purchased a 95 per cent stake in anime distributor Funimation for $143 million, essentially acquiring the company. The remaining five per cent will be retained by current CEO Gen Fukunaga, who will continue to serve in his current role despite the takeover. In addition to selling DVDs and merchandise, Funimation...
News PS4 Shipments Pass 63.3 Million As Sony Finds Itself in Good Health
Fine first quarter results for platform holder
Sony has shipped 63.3 million PlayStation 4 consoles globally. The figure comes courtesy of the Japanese giant’s first quarter financial report, which covers the period spanning 1st April to 30th June. We know that, as of 13th June, the console had sold 60.4 million units directly through to...
News Sony: We're Not Frightened of Xbox Scorpio
Company won't be losing any sleep
Sony’s been busy conducting interviews with some of the biggest publications in the industry, and it’s inevitably been asked about Project Scorpio – the upcoming PS4 Pro-esque upgrade for the Xbox One, which is scheduled to release later this year. And it’s admitted that, while it’s eager to see what...
News Sony: We See PS4 and Nintendo Switch Sitting Side-by-Side
Manufacturer thinks console's a “great success for Nintendo”
Sony’s been running a lot of interviews ahead of E3 2017 this week, and PlayStation America boss Shawn Layden’s been chatting a little bit about the Nintendo Switch, which has gotten off to a strong start since its release in early March. Speaking with TIME, the suit said that the...
News Ubisoft Has a New Logo and a Pretentious Explanation for It
French swirl
Ubisoft’s got a new logo that’s… Virtually identical to the old one. The purple swirl that you may have become accustomed to seeing at the start of Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, or Far Cry is now a transparent white swirl. The font’s different, too, so there’s that. But why all this change? Here’s what the publisher had...
News Square Enix Considering Flogging Hitman
The stealth series could be leaving along with IO
Now that Hitman developer IO Interactive is parting ways with Square Enix, the future of the flagship franchise is hanging in the balance – and a possible sale of the Hitman IP could be on the cards. In a financial briefing, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda hinted that the license for...
News Roughly 40 Per Cent of PSN Users Subscribe to PlayStation Plus
Equals a lot of revenue
Earlier we reported that the PlayStation Network has 70 million monthly active users, and now Sony has followed up with a presentation confirming that as of 31st March, a whopping 26.4 million were subscribed to PlayStation Plus. That means that just under 40 per cent of people who log in to PSN at least once a month are pa
News Square Enix Makes Shock Decision to Sell Hitman Developer
Wacked
Well, this is a bolt from the blue: Square Enix has announced its intention to sell Hitman developer IO Interactive. The studio – behind one of the best games of the previous year – was believed to be working on a second season of stealth missions, but now the much-loved brand’s future has been put in jeopardy. In a note to investors,...
News PS4 Shipments Pass 60 Million as PlayStation Nears Record Profit
Forecasts predict PS4 install base will reach 78 million next year
Sony managed to ship an outrageous 20 million PlayStation 4 consoles between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017, putting total shipments of the console up to 60 million units worldwide. As of 1st January the device had sold 53.4 million units directly to consumers, so it's probably...
News Sony Shares Surge Ahead of Predicted Best Profit in 20 Years
Holding out for a Hirai
Sony is expected to record its best profit in two decades this week, which has caused the company's shares to surge. The firm's stock closed 3.84 per cent higher in Japan amid chatter that the organisation may be on the verge of reporting its strongest profit since 1998. The organisation recently indicated that its upcoming...
News Peripherals Manufacturer Mad Catz Has Used Up Its Nine Lives
Company files for bankruptcy
Peripherals maker Mad Catz has been bagged up and tossed in the river of bureaucracy like a litter of new-born kittens: the struggling company has filed for bankruptcy and all of its directors have resigned. The firm's been in dire financial trouble for a while after it threw all of its eggs in the Rock Band 4 basket –...
News Sony to Stick with Movie Division Despite Billion Dollar Loss
Will look to better leverage PlayStation properties
Sony will stand by its embattled movie division despite the group registering a near-billion dollar loss in its latest financial report. The firm revealed that the subsidiary would register a $913 million loss prior to its latest financial report, attributing the sum to a reduction in the value of...
News Merry Christmas! Crytek Closes a Whopping Five Studios
In Crysis
Crytek, the major developer perhaps best known for the Crysis series, has broken silence on rumours regarding its inability to pay staff, confirming that it's closing down a whopping five of its wholly owned studios. The move means that its Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China), and Istanbul (Turkey)...
News Sony Dismisses Sony Pictures and PlayStation Merger Rumours
Thank God
Sony has rubbished rumours that it's on the verge of merging its movie division with its gaming business. The story, which broke on the New York Post, proposes a plan in which the Sony Pictures and Sony Interactive Entertainment subsidiaries would be merged into one entity under the leadership of current PlayStation chief Andrew House...
News Sony Profits as PS4 Sales Continue to Surge
PlayStation offsets earthquake disaster
Sony is still in the black, though it can thank PlayStation for offsetting the costs inflicted by Japan's recent earthquake disaster. Profits plunged 42 per cent year-over-year in the three month period ending 30th June, with the company racking up ¥56.2 billion ($542 million) in operating income. The...
News Pokémon Go Makes Nintendo More Valuable Than Sony
And we don't just mean the PlayStation business
Pokémon Go fever is so obnoxiously enormous that even we've been relegated to writing about it, as Nintendo's stock has climbed so high over the past couple of weeks that the company's currently more valuable than Sony. And, to be clear, we're not just talking about the PlayStation division – we're...
News Sony CEO Kaz Hirai Is Absolutely Raking in the Cash
Exec's salary more than doubles
According to Variety, ex-PlayStation president and current Sony CEO Kaz Hirai received a salary of $4.9 million for the fiscal year which ended 31st March – more than double his compensation from the previous year. It's the most the company has paid to a CEO since the firm was forced to reveal the wages of its top...
E3 2016 Attendance Drops as E3 2017 Is Dated
Ready to go again?
Whether you enjoyed E3 2016 or not, we're going to do the whole damn thing all over again next year. The ESA has confirmed that E3 2017 – we suppose we better get the tag ready – will run between 13th June and 17th June in 2017, which is more or less identical to this year's show. That's despite attendance for this year's...
News Disney Infinity Dumped as Avalanche Software Shuttered
Company will license out brands
Disney Interactive is exiting the video game business for what feels like the umpteenth time. The publisher has announced today that it will no longer self-publish console titles, meaning that it's shuttering Avalanche Software and ditching toys-to-life release Disney Infinity. The latter will result in around 300 job...
News Sony Has Now Shipped a Staggering 40 Million PS4 Consoles
Beast mode
PlayStation helped propel Sony to a very profitable financial year, with the company's operating income up 329 per cent to ¥294.2 billion (~$2.7 billion). The company's gaming division played a huge part in that, its own sales up 11 per cent, with profits doubling to ¥88.7 billion (~$819 million). For a snapshot of just how well the...
News PSN's Raking in More Cash Than the Entirety of Nintendo
It's true
Remember the days when Sony perpetually felt like one flop away from financial catastrophe? This author does – after all, Push Square was founded during some dark times for the Japanese manufacturer. The company's doing much, much better under the leadership of Kaz Hirai, however, and PlayStation especially is in a positive place. One...
News Sony Computer Entertainment Officially Rebrands As Sony Interactive Entertainment
Not an April Fools' joke
Yes, it's still 1st April in some parts of the world – though the period of pranks is surely over globally at this point – but the formation of Sony Interactive Entertainment is no joke. You may remember us reporting on this a few weeks ago – well, now the deed is done, the documents are signed, and the new logo is...
News Sony's Doing Pretty Darn Well at the Moment
Company smashes earnings expectations
For a huge chunk of this site's life, we've reported on Sony's financial losses. You could guarantee that each quarter without fail, the firm would be in the red. But ever since Kaz Hirai took the helm, the company's trajectory has started to change. And, while it's nowhere near the juggernaut that it once was,...
News Konami: Metal Gear Solid Can Continue without Kojima
Company's not ditching consoles, apparently
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is very likely the last game in the series from Hideo Kojima, and it could be the final entry in the franchise full stop. However, speaking with Game On Daily at EGX 2015 last week, community manager Graham Day stressed that the company's committed to continuing the...
Rumour There Are No Plans for Another Major Metal Gear Solid
Konami's ditching AAA titles entirely
Konami's all but done with consoles, a report has revealed. According to French website Gameblog – with backup from Eurogamer.net – the Japanese company currently has no plans to make another Metal Gear Solid game. This
News PS4 Prints Money as System Shipments Surpass 25 Million Units
Sales over double those of Xbox during the same period
How's the PlayStation 4 doing now that the dust has settled on the device's launch hype? The answer: outrageously good. Sony has released its financial report for the first quarter of its financial year which ended on 30th June, and the results are pretty darn staggering. Indeed, the console has...
News Take-Two Isn't Interested in Yearly Releases, Says CEO
Strauss Zelnick strikes again
Strauss Zelnick is back. Yes, the mythical CEO of Take-Two Interactive is starring in yet another Push Square article. We've been through our fair share of ups and downs over the past few weeks: from the executive denying that Grand Theft Auto V was ever supposed to get story mode DLC to his saying that the
News It Looks Like Digital Is the Future for Capcom
Publisher expects digital sales to take off
The digital versus retail discussion has been dragging on for years now, but Japanese publisher Capcom is expecting to see an undeniable turn towards the former in the near future. The company reckons that digital sales will count for the majority of its overall unit sales in the fiscal year ending March...
News Sony Picks Up 140 Patents from Cloud Rival OnLive's Carcass
"We have a formidable patent portfolio in cloud gaming"
OnLive is shutting down – and Sony's whipped out its cheque book. The platform holder's announced today that it's purchased 140 patents off the closing cloud gaming company, a move which it stresses has earned it a "formidable patent portfolio" in the emerging sector. It's unclear how much it...
News PS4 Takes Centre Stage in Sony's Big New Three Year Strategy
Growth driver
It's been obvious for a while, but Sony will continue to bet on the PlayStation 4 to put it back in the black. As part of a corporate strategy meeting earlier this week, the Japanese giant labelled its gaming business as a "growth driver", and recognised it as pivotal in its ambition of raising ¥500 billion ($4.2 billion) in earnings...
News Colossal PS4 Sales Propel Struggling Sony to Profitability
Job done
If you wondered why Sony was doubling down on PlayStation across the board, then its financial report for the quarter ending 31st December should give you some idea. According to data released by the Japanese giant overnight, the company turned a rare profit over Christmas – aided significantly by staggering PlayStation 4 sales numbers...
News PS4 Oddity Octodad Has Laid Its Tentacles on Lots of Money
Cash cephalopod
Octodad: Dadliest Catch may have been something of a one-trick pony, but there is money to be made by tailoring your title to popular YouTuber PewDiePie. According to developer Young Horses, its curious cephalopod-starring parenting simulation has racked up $4.9 million to date, which is extraordinary when you figure that only nine...
News Sony Online Entertainment Drops PlayStation Exclusivity as Part of Acquisition
Now named Daybreak Game Company
Who wants a bombshell to shake them out of their Monday slumber? Sony Online Entertainment, the company behind EverQuest, has announced that it has been acquired by a New York-based investment company named Columbus Nova, meaning that the internally founded outfit will be going multiplatform in the future. The...
News SEGA Downsizing as It Turns Its Attention to Digital Games
American division relocating
SEGA's sadly been on a downward decline ever since it ditched the Dreamcast, and the company will continue to shrink over the coming months as it offers "voluntary retirement" to around 300 employees. It's not yet clear where the firm will be hit the hardest, but SEGA of America has announced plans to relocate from San...
News Starbreeze Studios Sells Off Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons to 505 Games
A new chapter
Ask anyone who has played Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and they'll tell you that it's a fascinating adventure that culminates with an emotional punch to the gut. Future sequels were hardly implied by this standalone indie title, however, but developer Starbreeze Studios has announced that it has handed the property over to publisher...
News DiRT 4 Stuck in the Mud as Codemasters Cuts Staff
Hoon's going to scratch our gymkhana itch now?
Codemasters' extended emphasis on the PlayStation 3 may be starting to catch up with it, as Eurogamer.net reports that layoffs have hit the legendary British outfit. According to the site, around 50 jobs are being reviewed, with approximately 30 to be made redundant as part of a 30 day consultation...
News Oops, Sony Has Delayed the PS4's Impending Chinese Launch
Raucous red tape
After nearly 14 years of waiting, Sony has delayed the PlayStation 4's impending Chinese launch. The super system was originally planned to release on 11th January, but the firm has cancelled this date, and has yet to announce a new one. Speaking to Reuters, the Japanese giant confirmed that the delay was due to "various factors"...
Rumour Sony's About to Get Really Aggressive in China
Business development
Considering that PlayStation is already enormous in Japan and most of Asia, it was strange to see Sony allow the Xbox One to deploy in China first. Microsoft’s machine launched in the potentially lucrative region earlier in the year, and there’s been very little word from its rival when the PlayStation 4 will follow in its...
News Sony Pegs the PlayStation 4 as Pivotal to Its Future Success
Cuts television and mobile lines
Sony’s doubling down on the PlayStation 4, as it tries desperately to return to profitability. The manufacturer revealed as part of its Investors Day that it will be cutting its television and mobile lines, while focusing on its next-gen platform to pick up the slack. The company also has high hopes for its...
News Oops, Sony Will Be Compensating Vita Early Adopters for Misleading Marketing
Never stop paying
You may recall that a few years back, Sony was embroiled in a legal minefield over its marketing of the PlayStation Vita. If you're interested, and have a head for legal mumbo-jumbo, you can take a look at the US Federal Trade Commission's original charges through here. For the rest of you, though, the basic gist is that the...
News Sony to Enrich PS4 with Fresh Experiences, Functions, and Usability
Organisation outlines business strategy
We all know that the PlayStation 4 is doing incredibly well – after all, this scribe feels like he writes that sentence at least twice every day. The big question, then, is: what’s next for the system? As part of a presentation intended for investors, the platform holder has outlined its strategy for the...
News Crikey, the PS4 Is the Fastest Selling Console in Australian History
That's not a console, THIS is a console
That's right, its time for some more mindboggling PlayStation 4 sales numbers. This time they come courtesy of Michael Ephraim, the head of SCE Australia. "We have been truly humbled by the incredible response to the PS4 from Australian gamers," the big-wig said at a recent press event. "It is my pleasure to...
News Sony's Still Bleeding Money, But PS4's in Beast Mode
Marathon sprint
The reason behind Microsoft’s temporary Xbox One price drop is looking clearer by the minute: Sony has now shipped 13.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide – and it hasn’t even been out a year yet. The company added 3.3 million units to the system’s total tally in the quarter spanning July to September, boosting game...
