Tag: Industry - Page 16
News PS5's Star Wars KOTOR Remake Handed to a Different Studio
Embracer Group uses the force
The troubled PS5 remake of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic has been handed to a different developer, according to reliable Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. The project – which had been in production at Aspyr Media – will now be led by one of Saber Interactive’s Eastern European teams. Maybe they should...
Like sheep to slaughter
God, how do these rumours gain traction? It would appear that people are incapable of using their brains. Following on from Microsoft’s insinuation that Sony is paying to keep games off Xbox Game Pass – a notion that’s already misleading, as the Redmond firm is really referring to bog-standard marketing deals – a...
News This Is Every Game Dev the Embracer Group Owns
Extend, embrace, extinguish
Swedish juggernaut corp Embracer Group woke up feeling dangerous – and purchased another enormous chunk of the video game industry as a result. The holding company now has approximately 120 game developers under its umbrella, spread across a vast array of divisions and subsidiaries all over the globe. We thought, given...
News Embracer Group Buys The Lord of the Rings IP, Maneater Dev, Limited Run, and More
Plus another mystery developer
The ever-growing Embracer Group has announced another wave of acquisitions that sees it take ownership of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit IPs via Middle-earth Enterprises. It has also bought Maneater studio Tripwire Interactive, Teardown team Tuxedo Labs, the physical game publisher Limited Run Games, and the...
News This Unity Tech Demo Running on PS5 Is Super Impressive, and We Ain't Lion
Roarsome
Engine tech demos give us a glimpse at what's to come in the world of video game visuals. We've already seen several examples, with Unreal Engine 5 being a prime example with its amazing ancient city and that playable Matrix demo. However, Unity has been in on the action too; in March it released its
News Microsoft Accuses Sony of Paying to Block Games from Xbox Game Pass
Sony pays "block fees" to publishers
Microsoft has claimed Sony pays publishers and developers "block fees" to stop them from putting their titles on Xbox Game Pass. In response to Sony's assertions that the Call of Duty franchise influences "users' console choice" and lacks a proper rival, the Xbox Series X|S maker has said Sony is stalling the...
News Tencent Poised to Take Major Stake in French Publisher Ubisoft
Chinese titan en route to seal deal
Tencent looks poised to become the largest shareholder in Ubisoft, as it flies to France to secure a deal with the Guillemot family, who founded the firm and currently control 15 per cent of its shares. According to a report by Reuters, the Chinese juggernaut is aiming to become the largest single shareholder of...
News EA Insists Single Player Is Important, and May Have More Marvel on the Way
Stark contrast
Remember when EA tried to poke fun at single player games and the Internet kicked its ass? Well, the publisher has changed its tune. Speaking during a quarterly financial call, the company said that solo adventures are a “really, really important part” of its product mix – and, to be fair, that is reflected in its current...
News EA Squashes Rumours of Acquisition, Will Remain Independent
"I don't think we could be in a stronger position"
Electronic Arts is one of the largest video game publishers there is, but as evidenced by Microsoft's enormous takeover of Activision Blizzard, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll remain independent. Earlier this year, we heard reports that the Californian company had been in talks with major...
News Sony Sounds Shook by Xbox's Activision Buyout, Says Call of Duty Has No Rival
Reckons series "influences users' console choice"
Sony sounds terrified of Xbox’s unprecedented Activision Blizzard buyout – and it’s easy to understand why. While the Japanese giant has historically had its own way in the console business, it now finds itself up against a competitor with unrestricted access to its parent company’s trillion...
News Sony Coy on Potential PS5 Price Increase
"There is nothing specific to share"
Sony has failed to rule out a potential PS5 price increase, as it said there is “nothing specific to share” on the subject. Speaking to investors in an earnings call earlier in the week, the company was asked about a hypothetical hike after it bumped the MSRP of a number of its home electronics, including...
News Sony to Take Action as PS5, PS4 Owners Play Less Than Anticipated
Firm forecasted much better engagement
One of the key details from Sony’s quarterly financial report today – which also confirmed that the PS5 has shipped 21.7 million consoles – is that PS5 and PS4 owners are playing less than they were a year ago. The manufacturer noted that total gameplay time is down a sizeable 15 per cent year-over-year...
News 21.7 Million PS5 Consoles Shipped by End of June 2022
Projected profit lowered by $0.4 billion
Sony has shipped 21.7 million PS5 systems to retailers as of 31st June 2022, the firm confirmed in its financial results for Q1 of fiscal year 2022. 2.4 million consoles were shipped during that three-month period, which represents a slight increase of 100,000 across the same period for the previous fiscal...
Random Sony Bend's Bespoke Office Arcade Cabinet Has Us Green with Envy
Gabe over
The cool thing about working at a video game studio is – well, it’s a video game studio. That means the company is able to surround all the boring stuff – y’know, computers and kitchen appliances – with ridiculous, morale improving paraphernalia. Case in point: Sony Bend’s new bespoke arcade cabinet is a real treat. The case...
News Ex-CDPR Devs Form Dark Passenger, Multiplayer Ninja Title in Development for PS5
The hunt is underway
Dark Passenger is a brand new studio formed by former CD Projekt Red developers who worked on cinematics for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. They are hiring for their first project, an online multiplayer game set in feudal Japan that will feature co-op, PVE and PVP. The studio was founded by Jakub Ben, Magdalena...
News Capcom's Winning Streak Continues as It Expects Tenth Consecutive Year of Income Growth
Capgod
At this point we all know that Capcom is doing especially well for itself — and has been for years. The Japanese publisher has enjoyed hit after hit in recent times, washing away the difficulties that the company faced during the PS3 generation. Games like Monster Hunter World propelled Capcom to record profits, and it's been riding that...
News Ex-Square Enix Dev Heard Rumours of Sony Buyout
Here we are again
So, you know all those rumours from a while back about Sony snatching up Square Enix? Well, a new interview with Games Industry has added some fuel to the fire all these months later. Ex-Eidos Montreal developer Stephane D'Astous says that he had heard "rumours" of the aforementioned acquisition. According to D'Astous, Square...
News Our Survey Says! Sorry, Gaming Isn't Good for You After All
Feelin' GreyStation
Sorry folks, but there’s “little to no evidence” that gaming is good for you after all. A new study – which contradicts a similar report in 2020 – claims that the average player would need to play for at least 10 hours more per day to notice any difference to their well-being. This – according to the report which...
News Ubisoft Bins Four Games, Including Free-to-Play Ghost Recon Frontline
Splinter Cell VR also on the chopping block
What is going on at Ubisoft right now? We’re getting bad vibes from the publisher at the minute, so we hope all is okay on the inside. Following on from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s delay, the French publisher has confirmed that it’s cancelled four games – including the free-to-play Ghost Recon...
News Uncharted, The Last of Us' Bruce Straley Making Game Unlike Any Before
Founds new studio Wildflower Interactive
Naughty Dog veteran Bruce Straley departed the company almost five years ago, having burned out on AAA development following the release of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The co-director is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Neil Druckmann on The Last of Us, which went on to become one of Sony’s...
News Sony Set to Buy Esports Tournament Tracking Platform Repeat.gg
GGs
Sony, or more specifically PlayStation, is set to acquire Repeat.gg — a platform that hosts and tracks esports tournaments. The purchase falls in line with Sony's continued interest in all things esports, what with its acquisition of Evo — the world's largest fighting game event — last year. Repeat.gg is designed to be as accessible as...
News Naughty Dog Writer, Animator Josh Scherr Departs After 21 Years
Worked on Jak & Daxter, Uncharted, and The Last of Us
Josh Scherr, a bit of a Naughty Dog legend, has left the developer after a 21 year run which saw him ship games like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and The Last of Us 2. In total, the veteran contributed to a total of ten games, including Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Uncharted 3:...
News Sony Officially Acquires Bungie, Accelerates Vision to Create Generation-Spanning Entertainment
Welcome to the family
The ink has dried and the deal has closed: Sony officially owns legendary developer Bungie. The acquisition – worth a reported $3.6 billion – will see the Halo creator retain its independence, and “accelerate its vision to create generation-spanning entertainment”. A statement said: “Today, Bungie begins our jour
News Genshin Impact, Elden Ring Among Twitter's Most Talked About PS5, PS4 Games
Hashtag heroes
Ah, Twitter – the social media platform for hot gaming takes rather than sweaty gym pics. (Do you even lift if you don’t film it for the ‘Gram?) We’ve been spending less and less time on social media of late – it’s not quite the engaging novelty it once was, is it? – but plenty of gamers are still taking to sites like...
But no word of materials being ransomed
Bandai Namco has reportedly had its content ransomed, and in a statement the organisation has admitted that it “experienced authorised access by third-party to the internal systems of several Group companies in Asian regions”, excluding Japan. “After we confirmed the unauthorised access, we have taken...
News Bandai Namco Reportedly Subjected to Ransomware Attack
Elden Ring publisher's data held hostage
Bandai Namco, the major Japanese games publisher, has apparently fallen victim to a cyber attack. That's according to vx-underground, a group reporting and gathering information on malware and cybercrime (thanks, VGC). Little is known about the alleged attack, but it's reported that the publisher has...
News Until Dawn, The Quarry Dev Acquired by Nordisk Games
Offers security and chance to grow
Supermassive Games, the developer of horror titles like Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures Anthology, has been acquired by Nordisk Games. The publisher took out a 30.7 per cent stake in the company last year, but has upped it now to a full 100 per cent. This is all being done "to increase our support to...
News No Crunch on The Last of Us PS5, Says Environment Artist
Hot takes incoming
We suppose the gags will write themselves with this headline, but restrain yourself before you get reductive in the comments and belittle a bunch of hard work. Naughty Dog, notorious for its crunch culture, appears not to have overworked on The Last of Us: Part I. The studio – which is renowned for its obsessive attention to...
Strongly condemns the spread of fake news
Earlier this week, a 41-year-old man named Tetsuya Yamagami shot dead the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a political rally with a handmade firearm. As the news reverberated through social media – and, subsequently, national television stations – photographs of Metal Gear Solid creator...
News E3 2023 Returns with the Promise of Titanic AAA Reveals and Earth-Shaking World Premieres
PAX production company ReedPop at the helm
Like the line from the end of every James Bond movie, E3 will return – and this time, they really mean it. Beleaguered industry establishment the ESA (or Entertainment Software Association), perhaps recognising it needs external help, has partnered with PAX and New York Comic Con production company...
News Tokyo Game Show 2022 Confirms Major Publishers, But Sony Presence Seems Limited
TGS returns
Tokyo Game Show 2022 has opened its official website, which confirms a whole bunch of exhibitors, including a number of heavyweight publishers. Said publishers will be part of the 'General Exhibition', meaning that they're going to have a relatively significant presence during the event. However, going off this initial list, it seems as...
News Gaming Spend Will Continue to Decline in US as Living Costs Increase, Says NPD Report
Alongside other factors
It doesn't come as a huge surprise, but the trend of people spending less and less money on all things gaming is set to continue for the rest of the year. This is according to the US-based NPD group, which points the finger at increased living costs, and the fact that people are becoming more active again now that pandemic...
News Deus Ex, Guardians of the Galaxy Writer to Lead Narrative on the Next Mass Effect
I'm Commander Shepard, and this is the best news I've heard in a long time
Rejoice, Garrus stans! Mary DeMarle, award-winning writer of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and most recently Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, will be joining BioWare as Senior Narrative Director. DeMarle will be joining the Mass Effect team, lending...
Quite the technical feat
Do you ever wish you could hook that dusty old EyeToy up to your shiny new PS5? Us neither, but the use of older peripherals with modern hardware appears to be something Sony is interested in, according to a recent patent filing spotted by Game Rant. The patent (which is absurdly tech
News Sony Studios Collectively Speak Out in Support of Reproductive Freedom
After landmark case is overturned
Earlier today, the US Supreme Court overturned a landmark 50-year-old ruling that legalised abortion as a constitutional right nationwide. This was expected following an unprecedented leak earlier in the year, and it’s now anticipated that over half of US states will introduce restrictions or bans on the procedure...
News PlayStation Won't Be at Gamescom This Year
SIE will not be in the building
PlayStation won't be at Gamescom this year, according to a statement issued to the German outlet Games Wirtschaft, in which a spokesperson for Sony Interactive Entertainment confirmed the company would not have a presence at the August convention. Recently, Nintendo announced it would not be attending Gamescom, and...
News Take-Two Boss Believes New PS Plus Is the Right Approach to Subscriptions
"We can't afford to turn our business upside down"
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick is on board with Sony’s approach to its revamped PS Plus, reiterating that he believes subscriptions are better off focusing on catalogues rather than day one releases, because “we can't afford to turn our business upside down in a way that doesn't make sense...
News Xbox Appeared to Embargo PS5, PS4 Versions of Some Showcase Games
For at least 48 hours
Some of the games announced during Microsoft’s big Xbox Showcase on Sunday are coming to the PS5 and PS4 – but it would appear you weren’t supposed to know for at least 48 hours. It seems that the Redmond firm enforced embargoes on some of its partners, including Atlus and Koei Tecmo. We received press releases from both...
News Sony Studio Firesprite Lets Colossal Liverpool Office
It's over 20 times larger than its current premises
Sony first-party studio Firesprite is moving to a new office – and an absolutely gigantic one at that. The team, which currently occupies the roughly ~2,000 square foot Vanilla Factory, is moving to the former Bibby Line headquarters in Liverpool, UK’s Ropewalks district – and it’s taking...
News Xbox on Acquisitions: The Last Thing We Want to Do Is Take Games Away from PS5, PS4
Doesn't want to cut communities into pieces
Microsoft, still meticulously navigating its way through the legal red tape required to seal its Activision Blizzard acquisition, has once again insinuated that it will not make the publisher’s games exclusive. Earlier in the year, it was very clear that “great titles like
News Saudia Arabia's Public Investment Fund Purchases a $1 Billion Stake in Embracer Group
As you do
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (or PIF) has made a series of high-profile investments in recent times, and they just made another, dropping a ludicrous $1.05 billion to purchase an 8.1% stake in the Swedish video game and media holding company, Embracer Group. This stake makes the PIF's Savvy Gaming Group the second-largest...
News Sony Bend Hints at New IP During Its Logo Unveiling
Will build on Days Gone with multiplayer
It turns out Sony Bend had slightly more in store for fans today than just the grand unveiling of its new logo. We have known for a while the Days Gone developer is working on a new IP, but it has now attached some concrete details to the project. Taking to the PlayStation Blog, online community specialist...
News E3 Will Return in 2023, Says Expo Organiser ESA
We've heard that one before
E3 will return in 2023. That's according to the ESA — the organisation behind the Lost Angeles-based expo. Quoted in The Washington Post, ESA CEO Stan Pierre-Louis stated: "We’re excited about coming back in 2023 with both a digital and an in-person event". The ESA's intentions are clear, then. Of course, we've been...
News It Looks Like Square Enix Won't Be Betting the Farm on the Blockchain After All
NFT No more-a
In a turnaround so rapid it's likely to cause whiplash, it looks like Square Enix may not be staking its future on NFTs and the blockchain after all. In its most recent financial report, the venerable purveyor of fine JRPGs has walked back its intentions somewhat. In an outline of the results, translated into English, Square Enix...
News Megaton Incoming! Sony Bend Will Reveal Its New Logo Tomorrow
Please be excited
Wow, the week that is "not actually E3 but kind of is" truly hots up tomorrow! Days Gone team Sony Bend has confirmed it will reveal its new company logo tomorrow. Phwoar! Posting on Twitter, the developer says you can catch a livestream at 8pm BST / 12pm PT / 3pm ET where "we unveil our new Bend Studio logo". What a truly...
News EVO, Sony, and Epic Working to Reduce Fighting Game Input Latency
A response
If you’re a pro player, milliseconds matter. The reality is that the vast majority of us wouldn’t notice input latency unless it’s especially aggressive, but when you’re playing fighting games at a professional level, it’s a problem. Here’s the rub, then: Sony is one of the co-owners of the popular EVO fighting game...
News PS5 Has Now Sold Over 20 Million Units as Sony Plans to Ramp Up Production
The only way is up
Sony Interactive Entertainment has revealed that it's now sold more than 20 million PS5 consoles worldwide. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the platform holder has reached this figure not long after its last financial reports in early May. At the time, Sony stated it had shipped 19.3 million units, but it's now crossed over the...
News DONTNOD Entertainment Is Now Named DON'T NOD, Has Six Games In Development
New logo, too
DONTNOD Entertainment, the studio that brought us Life Is Strange and Vampyr, has been around for 14 years now. Its anniversary has just passed, as a matter of fact, and to celebrate, the company has undergone a visual overhaul, and a slight name change. It's now called DON'T NOD, and it has a spiffy new logo to go along with the new...
News Sony and Bungie Will Create a Live Service Centre of Excellence Once Acquisition Closes
New department to oversee PlayStation's fresh direction
One of the things lost in Sony’s investor relations report last week, and brought back to our attention by ResetEra, is the company’s integration plan for acquisition target, Bungie. While the deal is yet to close, the platform holder expects the ink to b
News Hangar 13 Faces Layoffs as Development Shifts to More Mafia
Oh, and Top Spin, apparently
Hangar 13, the development studio famed for the Mafia series, has recently suffered yet another round of staff layoffs. As reported by Kotaku, the studio, which is spread across three locations, is set to lose another 50 members of staff. This follows the recent resignation of studio head Haden Blackman, as well as...
