Tag: Industry - Page 14
News Sony Shakes Up Corporate Ladder by Promoting Exec Obsessed with Growth
On the up
A barnstorming quarter – which generated a record-breaking $9.6 billion in revenue for the PlayStation division alone – has prompted some shake ups within Sony’s upper-management hierarchy. CFO Hiroki Totoki has been promoted to president, active from 1st April, which marks the beginning of the next financial year. Potentially with...
News Original Director Glen Schofield Thanks Motive for Faithful PS5 Dead Space Remake
Taking the high road
Motive's PS5 Dead Space remake has been out for a week now, and we thought it was pretty darn good. The creator of the original Dead Space, Glen Schofield, thinks so too and has congratulated the development team on their efforts. Replying to a post on LinkedIn (thanks
News PS5 Powers PlayStation to Record Breaking Financial Results
How high can you go?
Sony is only just steadying the PS5’s stock situation, so it’ll be incredibly buoyed by the brand’s overall performance in the quarter ending 31st December. In addition to shipping 7.1 million new-gen systems, the firm enjoyed an eye-watering 53.3 per cent increase in revenue year-over-year, raking in a whopping ¥1,246.5...
Rumour Amazon Buys Tomb Raider for Twice the Price of Embracer's Square Enix Buyout
Property to become big multi-media franchise
Is Tomb Raider now owned by Amazon? Well, nobody really knows for sure, but one website has run a report saying so. According to The Lord of the Rings fansite, Fellowship of Fans, Embracer Group is in the process of selling the iconic IP to the juggernaut company. As part of a wider report about the...
News Activision Blizzard Exec Says Last of Us HBO Proves Microsoft Acquisition Should Go Ahead
Sony is "the first of us"
Well, that's a new tact. Lulu Cheng Meservey, Activision Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, thinks that HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us is great. Like, REALLY good. So good, in fact, that she believes it is proof that Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of...
News Xbox, Nintendo Reportedly Join Sony in Skipping E3
No shows all-round
Platform holders Microsoft and Nintendo will not bother with a presence on the E3 2023 show floor according to a new report from IGN. Joining Sony — who hasn't attended the convention since 2018 — it raises more questions about what the expo will look like as Reedpop takes over manag
News Life Is Strange Dev Will Take You on a Trip to the 90s in New Game
First screenshot is pure vibes
If you lived through the 90s like this particular author, you’ll be familiar with back ache and beer bellies. It turns out the 90s were actually an eternity ago – 30 years! – and certainly old enough to be nostalgic. They’ll also be the backdrop to the next game from the original Life Is Strange team, with...
News XCOM Director Breaks Hearts, Confirms No New Titles Currently in Development
Thats XCOM, baby!
Jake Solomon, creative director of the rebooted XCOM franchise and the recently released Marvel's Midnight Suns, has admitted something that we all knew in our hearts but still stings regardless: the legendary strategy game developer is not currently working on a new XCOM game. Speaking to VGC, Solomon was asked if there were any...
News Actress Annie Wersching, Who Played Tess in The Last of Us, Has Passed Away
Aged just 45
Actress Annie Wersching, who played Tess in the original The Last of Us game, has passed away at the age of 45. The star – known for a variety of television roles, including most famously 24 – had been battling cancer since 2020, but continued to work, and featured most recently as the Borg Queen in Star Trek: Picard. Wershing’s...
News Hogwarts Legacy Co-Developer Studio Gobo Joins Guerrilla Games on Horizon Series
New horizons
Studio Gobo, a UK-based team with co-development credits on Hogwarts Legacy, Redfall, and many others, is partnering with Guerrilla Games to work on future Horizon titles. The company shared this news on social media, where it's also advertising its various open positions: Following the launch of Horizon Forbidden West last year,...
News Microsoft Summons Sony to FTC's Activision Blizzard Court Hearing
Sony requests more time to prepare
Here we go, then. It's been roughly a year since Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for a huge $69 billion. In terms of major industry news, it doesn't get much bigger than that, and the result is a story that's lasted a full 12 months. The saga isn't likely to end any time soon,...
News Ubisoft Boss Apologises for 'Ball Is in Your Court' Comment During Company-Wide Q&A
"I'm sorry this was perceived that way"
Yesterday we brought you the news that a strike might be in the offing at Ubisoft Paris, following head-honcho Yves Guillemot's ill-received "the ball is in your court" comment. Guillemot has since apologised, stating that “I heard your feedback, and I’m sorry this was perceived that way,” while fronting...
News Bruce Straley Wasn't Credited in HBO's The Last of Us, Calls for Unionization
Credit where credit is due
Bruce Straley, one of the veteran game directors responsible for The Last of Us and its Left Behind expansion (not to mention much of the Uncharted series), has called for unionization in the video games industry. Straley was not credited for his role in shaping the setting and characters featured in HBO's hugely popular...
News Destruction AllStars Dev Now Helping Out on Sea of Thieves
From the track to the sea
Destruction AllStars team Lucid Games has today confirmed it's helping first-party Xbox studio Rare with the making of content for Sea of Thieves. According to a tweet, it sounds like the developer has been aiding development for a little while, but now the UK studio has made its support public as it produces more updates...
News French Trade Union Calls on Ubisoft Paris Workers to Strike Following CEO's Comments
"The ball is in their court"
Following the surprise announcement of Skull and Bones' delay and the cancellation of three unannounced games last week, it looks like publisher Ubisoft has once again found itself in troubled waters. French trade union Solidaires Informatique has called on employees of Ubisoft Paris (which serves as the company's...
News New AAA Studio Formed Out of Forza Horizon 5, EA Talent
Maverick Games is its name
Talent from Forza Horizon 5 developer Playground Games, EA, and Sumo Digital has come together to form a new AAA team based in Leamington Spa, England. It's called Maverick Games, and the studio is already making "a new, premium open-world game for consoles and PC". It is probably safe to assume PS5 is one of the systems...
News PlayStation's Jim Ryan Named Among 500 Most Influential Global Media Business Leaders
PS Studios boss Hermen Hulst also honoured
Jim Ryan, the CEO of PlayStation, has been named by Variety as one of the top 500 “most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry”. The British born executive – who also featured in the 2020 and 2021 incarnations of the same list – is credited for completing the acquisition of...
News Square Enix Commits to Business Consolidation in 2023 as Sony Buyout Rumours Start Again
We've heard this one before
Square Enix is placing a heavy focus on the consolidation of its business in 2023, according to a newsletter from president Yosuke Matsuda. The Japanese publisher has a busy year ahead, with a lot riding on the likes of Final Fantasy XVI, the continued evolution of Final Fantasy XIV, and maybe even Final Fantasy VII...
News Motorsport Legend Ken Block Dies in Tragic Accident
Star of many DIRT games has passed away
Ken Block, the legendary American rally driver, has died. His team, Hoonigan Racing, confirmed the news on social media this morning. Block died from injuries sustained during a snowmobile accident. He was aged 55. "Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and husband,"...
Soapbox More Publishers, Including PlayStation, Should Celebrate Their Catalogues Like Atari 50
Rose tinted glasses
I’ve always enjoyed retro games, but I don’t think I ever considered myself a Retro Gamer™ until this year. At just 34-years-old, I’m certainly not old – but I am getting older, and I’m beginning to appreciate how this shapes my perspective. For example, I was around for the entirety of the PS1 era – I even attended...
News Infamous Internet Leaker Retires from Snitching on Major Games
Game over
Infamous video game leaker The Snitch is giving up the riddles and retiring from rumourmonging. The notorious whistle blower unleashed a slew of cryptic clues for a variety of games, spanning everything from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion’s remaster through to Monster Hunter Rise’s impending conversion to PS5 and PS4. His...
News Tencent Acquires Stake in Dev of Korean PS5 Console Exclusive Stellar Blade
Shift up
SHIFT UP, the Korean company behind PS5 console exclusive Stellar Blade, has been partly acquired by Tencent. The Chinese juggernaut announced a 20 per cent stake in the studio today, and will become the second-largest shareholder in the firm, behind founder Kim Hyung Tae. Tencent already has ties to the team, as it’s the worldwide...
News Horizon Online Multiplayer to Feature New Characters and Unique Stylised Look
Guerrilla confirms project with recruitment push
There have been many rumours circulating about the Horizon franchise. Apparently, Guerrilla has partnered with another studio to make a mobile spin-off, and of course there's the scuttlebutt about a potential Horizon Zero Dawn PS5 remaster. One rumour that's persisted for a while, though, is an online...
News Industrious Horror Dev Bloober Team Signs with Private Division for New Project
Bloober trap
You may be forgiven for thinking Polish developer Bloober Team has a lot on its plate, what with its Silent Hill 2 remake and soft reboot Layers of Fears. But no, apparently the developer is up to its neck in jump scares, as it’s signed a third project with publisher Private Division. This will be a brand new survival horror property,...
News Busted! The Game Awards Stage Invader Arrested After Bill Clinton Interruption
An eventful end
The Game Awards proved more eventful than ever last night – and not just because of World Premiere trailers for Death Stranding 2 and Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon. After Kratos voice actor Christopher Judge’s victory speech for Best Performance appeared to meander for an eternity, the show seemed to go off without a hitch,...
News US Government's FTC Will Attempt to Block Microsoft's Activision Buyout
Points to repeatedly withholding content
The FTC (USA's Federal Trade Commission) has confirmed it will attempt to block Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty developer Activision. In a statement on its official website, the FTC pointed to Microsoft's record of buying other developers to suppress content from its rivals. "Microsoft...
News Microsoft Invites Sony to Sign Its Own 10-Year Call of Duty Deal
As Nintendo and Steam sign up
Microsoft is inviting Sony to sign an agreement that would see the Call of Duty series appear on PlayStation platforms for another 10 years. Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed this morning Nintendo has already agreed to the deal, which takes effect should Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision go through. It now wishes...
News PS5 Games Likely to Remain $70 as Xbox Bumps Prices
Pressure's off
Any hope of Sony feeling pressured into reducing the price of its first-party releases looks over, as Microsoft has announced plans to increase the cost of its own exclusives. While the dynamics aren’t directly comparable – Xbox owners will point to Game Pass as an alternative, cheaper means of playing the Redmond firm’s output...
News This Video Will Make You Want a Job at Horizon Dev Guerrilla
Delve deep inside studio's Amsterdam office
Recruitment is highly competitive in the video game industry right now, with major AAA studios competing for top talent to realise their visions. This clip published by Guerrilla Games will likely be used by the Dutch developer to attract employees to its team – and, to be fair, it does a pretty good...
News Summer Game Fest and E3 Go Head-to-Head in 2023
It's getting hot
The sunny video game shindig Summer Game Fest 2023 will beat the revamped E3 2023 to the punch, as host Geoff Keighley preps an 8th June video game fiesta – complete with a live audience at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles and, yes, World Premieres™. The new E3 2023 will run 13th June to 16th June at its old home of the LA...
Random Build Your Own Arcade Game with Google's Doodle of the Day
Celebrating the life of industry legend Jerry Lawson
While we focus on PlayStation at Push Square, it’s always important to remember the origins of the industry we love – after all, without trend-setters like Atari, Nintendo, and SEGA, we doubt Sony would have ever even entered the space. One person who played an important role in helping to...
News Square and Enix Joined Forces 20 Years Ago Today
To create Square Enix, obviously
Square Enix, the juggernaut Japanese publisher that we all know today, was pretty much birthed on this date 20 whole years ago. As the name suggests, it was a merger between Square and Enix — two prominent gaming companies who, as our friends over at Time Extension point out, were actually rival businesses before...
News Everybody's Favourite Exec Shuhei Yoshida Says Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest Saved PlayStation
Making money moves
Shuhei Yoshida, head of Independent Developer Initiative at Sony Interactive Entertainment by day and adorable YouTuber by night, has made an interesting comment regarding two old venerable JRPG franchises and their effect on PlayStation's trajectory in the 90s. Speaking at the BIG Conference in Bilbao, Spain (thanks...
News Microsoft Admits Its Games Are Worse Than Sony's
Interesting stance
Microsoft's outrageously large bid to purchase Activision Blizzard has resulted in a protracted, painful period of negotiations. Without getting too into the weeds with all this, the short version is Sony is trying to prevent the deal from going through, and the Xbox firm is of course pushing for regulators to let it happen. The...
News It Looks Like FPS Valorant Might Be Heading to Consoles
Competitive shooter could hit PS5
Is Valorant coming to consoles? Well, currently, Riot Games' multiplayer first-person shooter isn't available on anything other than PC, but it's starting to look like that'll change. The FPS has been available since 2020, and is a fast-paced, competitive game that's proven very popular. With it doing so well on...
News New AAA RPG Dev Rebel Wolves Secures 'Strategic Investment' From Chinese Juggernaut NetEase
Adding to the pack
Back near the start of the year, we reported on a freshly opened studio named Rebel Wolves. Based in Warsaw, Poland, the developer is creating a 'AAA' dark fantasy RPG for "next-gen consoles", with some of its team having previously worked on titles like The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 at CD Projekt Red. Going by the initial...
News Electric Cars from Sony Honda Mobility May Feature PS5 Consoles
An entertaining drive
Unless you've been keeping up with the world of electric vehicles, you may not know that Sony and Honda have joined forces to develop cutting edge cars. The new company, which is focusing on innovative new tech, is aiming to have its first vehicle on the road by 2025, and by the sound of it, you may be able to take your gaming...
News Sonic Creator Yuji Naka Reportedly Arrested in Alleged Insider Trading Scheme
Along with two other former Square Enix employees
Sonic creator and former head of Sonic Team, Yuji Naka, has reportedly been arrested in relation to an insider trading scheme involving a new Dragon Quest game. As reported by Japanese news site FNN Prime Online, Naka is the latest suspect in an ongoing case regarding suspicious stock purchases in...
All in good time
It looks like the Legacy of Kain series could be set to make a comeback, some 19 years after the last entry was released. Following its purchase of the venerable vampire IP in recent months, developer Crystal Dynamics polled fans on whether or not they would like to see the series return, and what form that return should take. The...
News Saints Row Team Will Be Folded into Gearbox
As game reception disappoints
Saints Row studio Volition will now be led by Gearbox Software, the Embracer Group has announced. This is because the game "did not meet the full expectations and left the fanbase partially polarized". As the studio works to improve the open world title — something it has already begun with
News Embracer Group Has 234 Games Planned to Launch by March 2026
25 of which are AAA
Embracer Group is a huge holding company that owns countless publishing brands, studios, and video game IPs. Over the last few years, its rapid expansion has been fascinating to see. To name just a few, it has splashed cash on the likes of Perfect World Entertainment, 4A Games, Flying Wi
News Iconic Batman Voice Actor Kevin Conroy Has Passed Away
Aged 66-years-old
Kevin Conroy, renowned for his stint as Batman in both the excellent animated series and Rocksteady’s Arkham series, has passed away. The star was 66-years-old, and died following a short battle with cancer. For many, Conroy is Batman, having voiced the character for all 85 episodes of the award-winning animated series’ stint,...
News One of the People Who Designed Fortnite's Battle Pass Has Just Joined Naughty Dog
Sony studio hires principal monetisation designer
It's no secret that a notable portion of PlayStation's first-party catalogue going forward will dip into the world of live service and multiplayer. One of these titles will almost certainly be Naughty Dog's upcoming multiplayer shooter, thought to be called The Last of Us Factions. We've heard next...
News The New Witcher Trilogy From CD Projekt Red Has Found Its Director
So it begins
A new trilogy of Witcher games is now in pre-production at developer CD Projekt Red, with the first entry currently known as Project Polaris. Now we know who will be helming the endeavour, with lead animator Sebastion Kalemba (who served in that capacity during the development of both The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077) taking...
News Kojima Productions Isn't for Sale, Despite Ridiculously High Offers
"As long as I'm alive, I won't accept"
Unsurprisingly, the independent Kojima Productions established following auteur Hideo Kojima’s unceremonious departure from Konami has been the subject of multiple acquisition offers, but isn’t for sale. Speaking during an episode of his Brain Structure podcast, the veteran developer admitted he’d...
News Embracer Group Already Closing Newly Acquired Montreal Studio
Just weeks after renaming to Onoma
The Embracer Group is closing the Montreal-based developer it recently acquired from Square Enix just weeks after the studio rebranded as Onoma. Best known for Hitman GO, this is the team focused on mobile experiences rather than big-budget titles for consoles, which the company says it wants to fully focus on. As...
News Three Marvel Games to Be Developed by EA After Striking Deal
Iron Man title already announced
Electronic Arts has struck a deal that allows it to develop three games based on Marvel superhero properties. The first has already been announced: an Iron Man game from Dead Space remake team Motive Studio. It's going to be a single player, third-person experience that "taps into the rich history of Iron Man". The...
News Death Stranding Would Not Exist without Band Low Roar
As lead singer passes away aged 40
Death Stranding’s soundtrack, with licensed music from Icelandic outfit Low Roar, is iconic. The sad news of lead singer Ryan Karazija’s passing has hit auteur Hideo Kojima hard, then. Karazija died over the weekend at just 40-years-old, after a “short illness” relating to pneumonia associated...
Random Video Game News Posting Machine Nibel Quits Twitter
Good bye, good luck
Chances are, if you like video games and use Twitter, you’ve heard of Nibel. The veteran social media news scraper has been collating content for years, and his “fastest finger first” approach garnered him an audience of approximately 450,000 followers. But now, he’s decided to quit the platform. “After some...
News Naughty Dog and Sony's Newest Studio Are Co-Developing Project Based on a 'Beloved Franchise'
The smart money says Sully is making a comeback
Last week we brought you word that Sony is building a new internal development team in partnership with PSS Visual Arts. Based in San Diego, this secretive support studio previously contributed to the recently released The Last of Us: Part I, fro
