Tag: Industry - Page 17
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...
News Sony 'Not at All Finished' Growing PlayStation Studios via Acquisitions
Inorganic growth not done yet
Reinforcing comments made in the past multiple times over, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has once again explained how Sony isn't done with studio acquisitions in order to further expand its first-party portfolio. During the Q&A section of the company's recent business briefing section, Ryan said: "In terms of future...
News Looks Like Sony Will Stop Making PS4 Games by 2025
Maybe sooner
The PS4 has been so successful for Sony that it's been keeping the console going for longer than many expected. PS5 has been doing well, but it's clear that a vast majority of PlayStation's user base is still on the older hardware, and so the platform holder has been continuing to cater for those yet to make the jump. However, at some...
News PlayStation Studios Investment to Be Split Evenly Between Existing and New IP by 2025
More new faces coming
PlayStation has an immense back catalogue of valuable IPs, but part of the company's success is its willingness to explore new territory. Through each hardware generation, we've been treated to brand new worlds and characters, and these new ventures have of course been supported by reliable sequels in popular series. It looks...
News Last Year, Free-to-Play Games Accounted for a Quarter of Total PS Store Spend on PS4
That's a lot
Enthusiast gamers might be exasperated by the ongoing success of free-to-play and live service titles, but there's a very good reason why every publisher is chasing after them. In a nutshell, they rake in a lot of money. We've seen proof of that from all corners of the industry, and Sony's recent investor presentation hammers it home...
News PlayStation Predicts PC Revenue to More Than Triple This Fiscal Year
Ports galore
Sony’s PC strategy is off to a sturdy start, with Days Gone and God of War closing on one million units apiece – and Horizon Zero Dawn already way over two million units. The company pulled a cool $80 million on PC in its fiscal year ending 31st March, 2022 – and it’s predicting revenue in the region of $300 million for the...
News More Than Half of PlayStation's Investment Could Be in Live Service Games by 2025
Follow the money
Sony really isn’t kidding around with this live service strategy it’s been blathering about. As part of an investor relations presentation, the organisation estimated that more than half of its investment into PS5 could be live service by 2025, as it looks to capture growth in the lucrative sector. For those not clued up with...
News Third Party Publishers Probably Ditching Their Own Events This Summer
Go big or go home
The summer months have long been the time for gaming's biggest publishers to strut their stuff in public, but with E3 basically dead and buried, things aren't what they used to be. Over the last couple of years, we've seen third party publishers like Square Enix and Capcom host their own events — and it's fair to say that some...
News Spider-Man Games Could Have Been Exclusive to Xbox
Microsoft turned Marvel down
Sony's Marvel's Spider-Man games clearly play a very important role in the PlayStation portfolio, racking up millions of sales over and over again. But what if the IP was instead exclusive to Microsoft? The head of Marvel Games Jay Ong has revealed how this could have been the case as the company approached both Sony and...
News Juggernaut Publisher EA Planning to Sell or Merge
On the chopping block
How do you like your industry consolidation? We’re not convinced it’s in the best interest of gamers for a handful of conglomerates to own every major developer and publisher, but that’s the path we’re quickly hurtling down – and it looks like even EA is on the market. A report by Puck claims the juggernaut recently...
News Sony Reveals Vision for the Metaverse
PS Homecoming
You’ve probably heard of the metaverse by now. While this is a buzzword for virtually every major organisation on the planet, there are various different definitions of what it actually means. For Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook hellscape, it’s an interactive world in which you’ll socialise and go to work. Sony’s concept,...
News Sony: Acquisition of Bungie Represents a Major Step Forward in Becoming More Multiplatform
Breaking down barriers
Sony has hinted a number of times in recent years that it feels restricted by PlayStation hardware. In an interview late last year, group president Jim Ryan said that he’s “frustrated” that the company’s first-party games reach a relatively small audience. “I think some of the art our studios are making is some of...
News As Silent Hill Rumours Swirl, Bloober Team's Keeping Quiet
Pyramid Head scheme
Anyone else bored of the Silent Hill saga? Make no mistake, we have a long history with this franchise and love it to bits, but the rumours have been rumbling for years now. There was the Japan Studio chatter, before the entire department was shuttered – and there was even the Abandoned nonsense, which
News Bungie Boss Suggests Studio Won't Be Muzzled Following Sony Acquisition
As the fallout from Jim Ryan email continues
Bungie has been one of the most outspoken studios in the industry when it comes to abortion rights in the United States. This, of course, puts an even bigger beacon on an internal email sent by Sony CEO Jim Ryan, in which he urged employees to “respect the differences of opinion” on the matter...
News Insomniac Sends 60-Page Dossier to Sony Following Jim Ryan Abortion Email
Pledges $50,000 donation, which manufacturer will match
The fallout from PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan’s misjudged email on women’s reproductive rights looks set to continue, as first-party developer Insomniac Games has compiled a “near 60-page” dossier from staff and sent it to PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst, demanding leadership “do...
News PS Plus Could Be About to Land Bloober Team's Catalogue
Polish dev signs significant license and distribution agreement with Sony
A document dating back to 18th April, 2022 suggests select games from Bloober Team’s catalogue could be coming to PS Plus in the future. The paperwork, which describes a “significant license and distribution agreement with Sony Interactive Entertainment” alludes to...
News Final Fantasy 14 Is the Saviour of Square Enix's Latest Financial Report
Endwalkin'
Square Enix has published its financial report for fiscal year 2021, and although the publisher is still reasonably healthy overall, its net sales were down almost ten percent on fiscal year 2020 — and it could have been worse if not for the continued success of Final Fantasy XIV. The MMORPG really is the company's biggest money maker...
News SEGA Says Loads of New Games Are Coming This Year, Including Remakes and Remasters
Gotta go fast
SEGA's just had its fiscal year briefing, and the company's doing quite well for itself. The Japanese firm recorded increased profits over fiscal year 2021, mostly thanks to strong software sales. Good stuff, but it's the publisher's promise of even more games that has us interested. Over the next 12 months or so, SEGA has plans to...
News Sony Is Still Gaming's Second Biggest Money Maker, But Looks Set to Be Overtaken
Microsoft's deep pockets will make a difference
Sony held onto its position as gaming’s second biggest money maker for the financial year ending 31st March, but it looks set to fall a position once Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is finalised. PlayStation pulled in $18.2 billion in revenue for the previous fiscal term, which was...
News PlayStation Staff Angry About Jim Ryan Email on Abortion Rights
Executive urges respect for differences of opinion
According to Bloomberg, a number of PlayStation staff are “seething” about an email sent by CEO Jim Ryan today, in which he urged employees to “respect the differences of opinion” when it comes to abortion rights. A recent leak from the US Supreme Court put the issue into sharp focus, after...
News Konami Just Had Its Most Profitable Year Ever
Profit to surpass Metal Gear
With all of the negative press that Konami tends to get in the gaming sphere, it's easy to overlook the fact that it's actually doing well for itself these days. Okay, so maybe eFootball was a bit of a disaster, but have you seen this latest company-wide financial report? Konami just had its most profitable year ever,...
News Criterion Games and Codemasters Cheshire Merge into One Need for Speed Studio
Ex-Evolution team to join Criterion
The next Need for Speed is still shrouded in mystery, but we do know one thing for certain: Criterion Games is leading development on the project. Rumoured to be current-gen only, the upcoming racer will be yet another refresh for the series, which has struggled to align itself properly for years. Hopefully this...
News Despite FTC Investigation, Sony Expects Bungie Acquisition to Close This Year
And that'll be that
Here’s your weekly reminder that, yes, Sony is still buying Destiny developer Bungie. While the iconic studio will remain largely independent, the platform holder hopes that the purchase will help inform its output on numerous upcoming live service games. And while the billion dollar buyout is
News FIFA Announces Plans to Release EA Sports FC Rival and More
President claims FIFA games will still be the best
Following the news that EA Sports will ditch the FIFA branding for its football simulation games after the release of FIFA 23, the organisation has confirmed its plans to create a rival to EA Sports FC. FIFA says it is currently "engaging with leading game publishers, media companies and investors...
News PS Plus Subscriber Count Slightly Down Year-on-Year to 47.4 Million
New PS Plus just around the corner, though
According to Sony's latest financial report, PS Plus is still going strong, though the number of subscribers has been fluctuating. Year-on-year, the current figure sits at 47.4 million users, which is a small decrease from 47.6 million in the same period of FY 2020. Of course, that's not the full story...
News 19.3 Million PS5 Consoles Have Been Shipped So Far
Forecast missed thanks to supply issues
Sony has released its financial report for its 2021 fiscal year, of course including a rundown of how things are going in the land of PlayStation. Within the last 12 months, the company has shipped 11.5 million PS5 units. Added to the figure from FY 2020, that brings lifetime shipments to 19.3 million units...
News PS5 Fans Hope Mind Blowing Unreal Engine 5 Demo Is a Glimpse of the Future
Viral clip gives a taste
Epic Games’ outstanding Matrix Awakens tech demo has already given us a taste of what to expect from Unreal Engine 5 on the PS5, but this viral video has pulses racing all over social media. The clip, which is based on a real-life Japanese train station, was uploaded to Art Station earlier in the week, and has been shared...
News 'Multiple Sources' Said Sony Is Buying Square Enix, Allegedly
But who knows, huh?
Remember when there was big chatter about a Sony acquisition, specifically from industry veterans Jeff Grubb and Greg Miller? Both were talking about Square Enix. “When I talked about the three rumours I’d heard, and one was an acquisition, this is the one I’d heard,” Miller finally revealed on an episode of his
News Sony's Bungie Buyout to Be Investigated by the FTC
Investigation could push acquisition back by six months
As is typically the case for billion dollar acquisitions, Sony’s mammoth $3.6 billion buyout of Bungie will be investigated by the Federal Trade Commission, or FTC for short. While you could be forgiven for forgetting that PlayStation had dug deep to purchase the Destiny developer, this is a...
News Sony Dumps Funds into Live Service Software Firm
PlayStation splurges on tech startup
Sony loves live service games. We’re yet to see the fruits of its labour, but apparently it has ten Fortnite-esque ongoing online multiplayer games in production – and it just spent billions buying Bungie and investing into Epic Games. Now the platform holder’s put its hand in its pocket once more, invest
News PS5 Stock Issues Could Last Into 2024 as Chip Shortages Continue
Chippin' out
Sony's PS5 production woes look set to continue for quite some time yet, based on what Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has said about the ongoing chip shortages. Speaking to CNBC, Gelsinger warns that the aforementioned ship shortage could last into 2024 — a scenario that would no doubt force companies like Sony and Microsoft into once again...
News Sony Buying Square Enix Was the Big Acquisition Rumour, Apparently
Here we are again
Remember back in March when PlayStation was rumoured to have a huge week of news? And then nothing much happened, aside from the official reveal of the new PS Plus tiers? Well, one of the most prominent rumours was that Sony was preparing an industry-shaking b
News Square Enix Retains Just Cause, Life Is Strange, Outriders IPs
Embracer Group scoops up the rest
Western production of Square Enix games isn't closing up shop entirely despite the publisher selling the vast majority of its studios outside of Japan to the Embracer Group this morning. It has been confirmed the Japanese firm will retain the rights to the Just Cause, Life Is Strange, and Outr
News As Bargain Bin Tomb Raider Goes to Embracer, PlayStation Seeks Acquisition Expert
Responsible for driving long-term value for firm
Is anyone else surprised Sony seemingly wasn’t in the market for Square Enix’s western studios, specifically Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider franchise? The company may have Uncharted these days, but Lara Croft is still a top ten globally recognised gaming icon, and the character would fit...
News Embracer Group to Buy Multiple Square Enix Studios and IPs in Huge Acquisition
Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, much more
Embracer Group, the enormous company that's always scooping up studios and franchises, is set to close its latest big deal, and it's a doozy. The conglomerate is about to acquire several developers and IPs from Square Enix. The acquisition will include studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and...
News Sony's Game Preservation Team May Not Be Quite as Exciting as It Sounds
New engineer explains
Update (27/4/22): This story has of course done the rounds this week, with many PlayStation fans excited about the prospect of game preservation meaning more legacy games hitting PS Plus Premium. In response, Garrett Fredley has made attempts to clarify his new role at the company. The senior build engineer has provided a...
News British Gas Blasted for Advising Customers to Turn Off Consoles Like PS5, PS4
Quoted numbers don't add up
Whether you live in the UK or anywhere else in the world, energy prices are rising at an unprecedented rate. The costs – which have skyrocketed in recent weeks – threaten to plunge millions of families into poverty, and energy firms like British Gas have been releasing “advice” to help soften the squeeze on...
News Microsoft Bigwig Implies PS5 Is Losing Marketshare to Xbox
Naa-naa-na-naa-Nadella
As the latest round of NPD results in the United States already underlined, Sony has a serious headache when it comes to PS5 stock – or the lack thereof. While, ironically, things have started to improve in the past few days, the dream of transitioning PS4 players at “
News Ubisoft Shuts Down Online Servers for Dozens of Old Games
Including PS3 and PS4 titles
Ubisoft has announced the termination of online services for nearly a hundred of its older games. The publisher is clearly doing a bit of housekeeping, shutting down online multiplayer servers for software that's, let's be honest, well past its sell-by date. Among the list of 90 games are 40 that appear on PlayStation,...
News Sony Experimenting with Ads in Free-to-Play PS5, PS4 Games
Kiss my ads
Advertising is relatively rare in video games, outside the obvious inclusions like hoardings in sports titles and crossovers like the kind you see in Fortnite. But it appears Sony is cooking up technology to add a unified advertising system to free-to-play games, perhaps similar to what you see in many mobile releases right now...
News Kojima Productions Not Being Bought by Sony, Says Hideo Kojima
Will remain "an independent studio"
Yesterday's online speculation of Sony potentially buying Kojima Productions picked up enough attention overnight that Hideo Kojima himself felt the need to comment on the rumours. On Twitter, the Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator put a
News PS Plus Deal Devastates Oddworld: Soulstorm Developer
Negative effect
As platform holders intensify the importance of subscription services, Oddworld Inhabitants bigwig Lorne Lanning has described his company’s PS Plus deal as “devastating”. The industry veteran – whose company launched Oddworld: Soulstorm into Sony’s sub on the PS5 – was speaking candidly as part of an Xbox podcast, and...
News Crash Trilogy, Tony Hawk Remake Dev Now Officially Merged with Blizzard
Caught in the storm
Vicarious Visions, the clearly talented development team behind Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, is now officially a part of Blizzard Entertainment. This merger was announced over a year ago — not long before we learned that Vicarious Visions would be developing Diablo 2 Resurrected. So
News Sony Invests a Further $1 Billion into Fortnite Maker Epic Games
Funding for the metaverse
Sony has invested another $1 billion into Fortnite developer Epic Games in order to deepen its relationship with the firm "in the metaverse field". This increases the funding provided by the PlayStation 5 manufacturer to a total of $1.45 billion, as Sony made two other payments of $250 million in July 2020 and then
News Unfortunately, Ubisoft Isn't Also Abandoning NFTs
"Future drops coming with other games"
Ubisoft might be scrapping Ghost Recon: Breakpoint support moving forward, but that doesn't mean its criticised NFT initiative is dying with it. The French publisher has confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that NFTs will still be part of future games. The full statement reads: "Stay tuned for more update
News PS3 Emulation Allegedly in Production for PS5
It only does everything
Sony “might be” working on hardware level PlayStation 3 emulation for the PS5, according to talkative Games Beat scribe Jeff Grubb. The industry observer – who’s proven to be well-connected – cited sources who’ve indicated that the platform holder is exploring support for its last-last-gen console, although it...
News PlayStation Boss Promises More Acquisitions Are Planned
Corporate consolidation to continue
In a rare podcast appearance, PlayStation bigwig Jim Ryan has promised that more acquisitions are planned. This follows heavy rumours earlier in the week from industry pundits Greg Miller and Jeff Grubb, in which they alluded to a “really big” buyout. Ever since Microsoft purchased Bethesda a couple
News E3 2022 Has Been Completely Cancelled
Another nail in the coffin
There will be no E3 2022 at all. The show’s organisers, the ESA, had already ruled out a physical event, but was floating the idea of a digital broadcast similar to last year. However, according to IGN – who corroborated a tweet sent out by Razer’s PR lead Will Powers – the plug has been pulled on that as well. It...
News Rumour Mill Points to 'Really Big' Sony Acquisition, But It's Just Speculation
"Very difficult to pin down"
The huge week of PlayStation news that everyone on the Internet was teasing? Eh, it wasn’t so big, right? Obviously we got official confirmation of PS Plus’ revamp, but many of the details had already leaked, and Sony failed to elaborate
News Game Devs More Excited for PSVR2 Than Any Other Headset
Level up
The promotional rollout for PSVR2 has been a bit bizarre. We’ve seen the headset and controllers now, but we know very little about its software lineup, and we’re still waiting to go eyes-on with the device. Sony has been shipping a lot of development kits, however, and the word on the street is that game makers are extremely...
