Tag: Industry - Page 2
News After a Tough Few Months, Sony Says It'll Keep Making PS5 Live Service Games
Searching for ways to evolve revenue streams
In a devastating statement issued today, Sony announced the closure of two studios it acquired under co-CEO Hermen Hulst’s tenure – but it’s not deterred it from chasing the live service gravy train. The
News Sony Shuts PS Studio Neon Koi without Ever Releasing a Game
Swimming with the fishes
In addition to shutting down Concord developer Firewalk Studios, the Japanese giant has also closed German developer Neon Koi. This lesser known team was originally purchased as Savage Game Studios in 2022, with the intention of making mobile games.
News PS5, PC Flop Concord Never Returning, Studio Closed Down
Crash landing
In a devastating PS Studios update, bigwig Hermen Hulst has confirmed that following a period of consultation, PS5 and PC gigaflop Concord will never be returning and developer Firewalk Studios has been closed down. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, around 172 people will lose their jobs, although Sony does say it’s trying...
Project Latitude continues
The ongoing will-they-won't-they story surrounding Xbox and its plans to release some of its games on rival platforms continues apace. After some dubious online scuttlebutt, Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, appears to have inadvertently nullified rumours that this strategy is slowing down. A leaker who goes by eXtas1s...
News Sony's Japan Studio 'Forgot What It Feels Like to Have a Hit'
Shawn Layden wasn't surprised by closure
Sony’s shuttered Japan Studio, a much-loved team by PlayStation enthusiasts, was not a hit factory when it closed. The developer worked on numerous fan-favourite franchises – like Gravity Rush and Ape Escape – but many of these failed to resonate commercially, and the department was infamously chaotic...
News The Day Before Dev Cancels Kickstarter Bid, Brazenly Announces Another Game
Try, try, try again
Developer Fntastic, whose exploits we've long chronicled as they once threatened to bring The Day Before to PS5, is back again. Having laid low for a while, the studio emerged last month, attempting to raise funds for a new "project". That didn't work, so the persistent t
News PlayStation, Bungie Still Going Ahead with Internal Live Service Team
Will support all of Sony's live-service titles
There's been little mention of the "SIE Live Service Centre of Excellence" since Sony acquired Destiny 2 team Bungie a few years ago, but it still sounds like the initiative is going ahead in some form. Bridget O'Neill, a lead figure at Bungie Creative Studios, has shared her team will be joining...
News Naughty Dog's Next Game Will Reportedly Put More of a Focus on 'Player Freedom'
Spoiled for choice
In huge news for fans tired of its cinematic schtick, developer Naughty Dog's next game will reportedly feature "a lot of player freedom". That's according to a tantalising tidbit from MinnMax founder Ben Hanson and "somebody very in the know, who worked on the game". Transcribed by VGC, Hanson relayed word of one of the several...
News Ubisoft Labour Woes Spread, Milan Office Strikes in Solidarity
European conflict
In solidarity with the 700 French Ubisoft employees who walked off the job across its Paris, Lyon, Montpellier, and Annecy offices last week, Ubisoft's Milan office downed tools as the unhappy company sentiment spread to Italy. The dispute began over a return-to-work mandate for French employees, with Milanese staff taking...
News Outersloth Indie Fund Partners with Slay the Spire Dev and Mysterious Moneyed Benefactor
Who is [MYSTERY FRIEND]?
Outersloth, the recently-revealed publishing arm of developer Innersloth, the studio behind indie mega-hit Among Us, has partnered with Slay the Spire developer Casey Yano and a mysterious "indie friend" to right at least some industry wrongs. In an era of cancellations and closures, Outersloth has reportedly signed 13...
News Ex-PlayStation Exec Shawn Layden Says There's Been a 'Collapse' in Gaming Creativity
Do you agree?
Shawn Layden, the ex-PlayStation executive who held a number of high-profile roles across Sony Interactive Entertainment, believes there’s been a “collapse” in creativity across the industry due to “studio consolidation and the high cost of production”. Speaking in Singapore at Gamescom Asia, as reported by...
News Don't Nod Financials Result in Reorganisation and Layoffs, Cancelled Projects
French union calls workers to action
More industry pain is coming, with Paris-based publisher/developer Don't Nod announcing a round of layoffs and the cancellation of two indefinitely delayed projects. This news comes alongside the company's latest financial report, which shows an 11% year-over-year drop in operating revenue. Much of the blame, at...
News As Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero Explodes, Bandai Namco Is Reportedly Cutting Staff and Projects
Apparently pressuring employees to resign
Video games publisher Bandai Namco has been culling both projects and staff due to "lackluster demand". That's according to a new report from Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources "familiar with the matter". According to the report, Bandai Namco's approach to reducing staff is not to make them redundant, but...
Random Hideo Kojima's Chronic Back Pain Symptom of Carrying Video Game Industry, Fans Say
Back Hurtman's done his back again
Beloved video game designer and industry icon Hideo Kojima has hurt his back again. For those of you who are not closely monitoring the situation, Kojima first publicly reported back pain on 24th September. While we are not medical doctors, in our opinion, this could be a flareup of that original injury, but the...
News Lawsuit Alleges Ubisoft Illegally Shared Users' Data with Meta
Sharing is caring
Another day, another fire for the folks over at Ubisoft to put out. The French firm is now facing a class action lawsuit that alleges it illegally shared personally identifiable information harvested from users of the Ubisoft Store with Meta, formerly Facebook. As
News Ubisoft Comments on Buyout Reports, Says That It 'Regularly Reviews Options'
Corporate machinations
After reports suggested the founding Guillemot family and Chinese publisher Tencent were in talks to take Ubisoft private, Reuters noted a 30% jump in the firm's floundering stock price. It's clear investors have an appetite for such a move, so the French publisher has been forced to comment on recent "press speculation". In...
News SEGA Has Been Quietly Killing It This Year, Regularly Publishing Bangers
Credit where it's due
Plucky Japanese publisher SEGA has had quite a tumultuous journey over the 64 years since the company was founded. From early coin-operated machines to its own tilt at the console market, these days, the firm is a publisher of games, and it's been putting out some real bangers of late. As noted in a thread on ResetEra, if you...
News Tencent, Guillemot Family Reportedly Considering Ubisoft Buyout
Publisher could go private
European publisher Ubisoft is apparently being weighed for a joint buyout between Chinese conglomerate Tencent and the founding Guillemot family. This news comes via a report from Bloomberg, with sources "familiar with the matter". Ubisoft has lost over half its market value in 2024, resulting in various options being...
News Microsoft Is Investigating Why Devs Are Prioritising PS5 Over Xbox
Wants to address "pain points"
A blog post on Microsoft's game developer website has highlighted the firm's intention to learn why Xbox is being skipped over in favour of other platforms. It's no big secret that certain developers have faced struggles with the Xbox ecosystem in recent times. The biggest example is Baldur's Gate 3, which was delayed...
News Hideo Kojima's Dream of Breaking into Hollywood Is Nearly a Reality
A Hideo Kojima Film
Love or leave them, Hideo Kojima's games have a unique directorial flair that is the creator's signature. Over the years, many have accused the auteur of wanting to direct movies, with how extensive some cutscenes became. Kojima makes no secret of his love for film, and now that he's signed with talent agency WME, it seems the...
News Dragon Quest Veterans on Dealing with 'Ridiculous Country' USA Amid Censorship Row
"Who's even complaining about this?"
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima – who played a pivotal role in the franchise’s inception with the late Akira Toriyama – have spoken candidly at the Tokyo Game Show about censorship to the upcoming Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Earlier
News With Timing Being Everything, French Union Calls on Ubisoft Workers to Strike
Guillemot family under siege
With the company's stock price approaching subterranean levels, it feels like something major is about to give over at Ubisoft. Blows have been raining down in the form of Star Wars Outlaws
News Newly Signed Law May Restrict Sony's Use of Terms Like 'Buy' or 'Purchase' for Digital Games
Score one for physical fans
A newly signed Californian law known as AB 2426 will require that digital storefronts operating within the American state (which, if it were a country, would have the fifth largest economy in the world) tell its customers they are licensing goods and not purchasing products. Sony obviously does a lot of business in...
News Ubisoft Board Orders Internal Investigation and Review into Company's Financial Woes
Won't SOMEONE think of the investors?!
The powers-that-be at Ubisoft, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, have announced an internal review and investigation of the company. This follows several setbacks for the firm, including (but not limited to) soft sales of Star Wars Outlaws and a big delay for
News Ubisoft Backs Out of Tokyo Game Show at Eleventh Hour, Cancels Livestream
Laying low for a while
In news unlikely to alter the downward trajectory of its dwindling stock price, Ubisoft has pulled out of the imminent Tokyo Game Show, citing "various circumstances" and apologising for the short notice. Ubisoft Japan made the announcement via press release, which was quickly picked up and translated. Due to these...
News Don't Nod 'Disappointed' by Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Jusant Sales
Two projects on ice, two more will be "reoriented to reach a wider audience"
Don't Nod, the publisher/developer best known for its Life is Strange series, has revealed that its most recent efforts, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant, while critical hits, "disappointed" in terms of sales. Interestingly, the company saw an increase in sales...
News A Massive 75% of UK Game Sales Were Digital Last Month
Up 10% from the previous August
Despite major publishers swearing never to go all-digital, physical game sales continue to slow as more and more people seemingly choose convenience over collection. A massive 75% of all game sales in the UK last month, 1.74 million, were digital, up 10% year-over-year since last August. This occurrence was noted by...
News Annapurna Says Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Still Happening Despite Entire Dev Team's Departure
"P.S. We're hiring"
When the negotiations to spin off into an independent entity broke down, the entire staff of publisher Annapurna Interactive, known for quirky titles like Stray, resigned en masse. This leaves the powers-that-be at billionaire Megan Ellison's larger Annapurna empire in a precarious situation. Still, it appears the entity will...
News PS5's Building Insurmountable Lead Over Rival, Outselling Xbox Almost 3:1
Game over
The buttoned-up folks over at the Wall Street Journal recently published a report on the current state of console gaming (thanks PSLS) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the PS5 has a commanding lead over its main rival, the Xbox Series X|S. The situation looks completely insurmountable for Microsoft at this point and unlikely to change,...
News Tetsuya Nomura Considers Retirement, and How to End Kingdom Hearts
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
Famous for his love of belts and buckles, legendary video game director Tetsuya Nomura says he's considering retirement after an influential career spanning decades. Nomura started as a debugger on Final Fantasy IV in 1991 and, most recently, was the creative director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Love...
News Palworld Struck by Nintendo Lawsuit Days Prior to Predicted PS5 Reveal
Sony Music has also been investing in series
Sony will be keeping a close eye on the courtroom over the coming weeks, as Palworld has been struck by a Nintendo lawsuit overnight. Many had expected the Mario maker to come after the surprise survival game success earlier in the year, after its creature designs appeared to lift directly from the...
News Vince Zampella Defends PS5 Pro Price, Says 'It's Actually Not That Bad'
"Would it be better if it was cheaper? Sure"
EA Studios general manager and Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella has defended the price of the PS5 Pro, saying, "It's actually not that bad." With the next Battlefield deep in development, the executive is certain the extra horsepower can be used to "do cooler things," but what those things...
News Sony Pulled Bungie's Head Out of Its Ass, and an Ex-Lawyer Reckons That Was a Good Thing
"It was important to pretend that 'nothing would change'"
A former Bungie lawyer has made some illuminating remarks concerning parent company Sony and its wayward, unruly child. Following its acquisition by the PlayStation platform holder in 2022, Bungie has frequently been in the headlines, but rarely for the right reasons. On that most exciting...
News The Game Awards Host Geoff Keighley and Parody Site Hard Drive Are Beefing
Didn't see that coming
Well, we didn’t have this on our bingo card for 2024: The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley and parody site Hard Drive are having a bit of a spat – and it’s all playing out publicly on social media. While we’re sure there’ll be no grudges held, things have been getting a little juicy all week, ever since the ex-Bonus...
News Annapurna Interactive Exodus Sees Entire Staff Resign
After a failed spin-off attempt
Update: A spokesperson for Annapurna has reached out to us to point out that Hector Sanchez is the President of Interactive and New Media at Annapurna, and has not replaced Nathan Gary as the president of Annapurna Interactive, as previously reported. Original Article: The entire staff of video game publisher...
News Suda 51 Says 'Everyone Cares Too Much About Metacritic Scores'
Shinji Mikami says "unique games" are being drowned out
Japanese video game industry legends Goichi "Suda 51" Suda and Shinji Mikami (of No More Heroes and Resident Evil fame, respectively) aren't huge fans of critical aggregator Metacritic. The storied developers think that the industry practice has a detrimental effect on creativity, which is...
News Palworld Reportedly Poised for PS5 Reveal at Tokyo Game Show
Get your guns on
Incredibly, the Palworld phenomenon occurred in January of this year, with Pocketpair's smash hit being the talk of the town for a good couple of weeks there. In March, we got a pretty blatant tease that the game would be coming to PS5 at some point, and the developer has since stated that ports for other platfor
News Ex-PlayStation Boss Reckons Axed Game Devs Should Just 'Drive an Uber'
"Go to the beach for a year"
In comments that sound so detached from reality they almost beggar belief, ex-Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Chris Deering – who left PlayStation in 2005 – has insinuated that those who’ve lost their game development jobs as part of the recent spate of industry-wide layoffs should “drive an Uber” or...
News Ubisoft Investor Calls for Company to Go Private, and CEO Yves Guillemot to Be Replaced
"Shareholders are hostages of Guillemot family members and Tencent"
Ubisoft is not doing so hot, with stock prices plumbing new depths following the seemingly lukewarm reception to Star Wars Outlaws and ongoing XDefiant
News Sony Execs Seem to Think the Company Doesn't Have Enough Original IP
"We don’t have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning"
The topic of original IP is a tricky one for PlayStation at the moment – after all, it just killed a project which has taken years to create and millions to develop mere weeks after it launched. According to Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki, the company is lacking when it comes to...
News Star Wars Outlaws, XDefiant Disappointments Pour Pain on Ubisoft's Share Prices
Nearing a ten year low
Ubisoft’s share prices have plunged and are edging dangerously close to their lowest point in a decade as investors worry about the performance of Star Wars Outlaws and flailing live service shooter XDefiant. While we don’t know how well Massive Entertainment’s open world adaptation has performed yet, reviews have been...
News Jennifer Hale Says AI Is Coming for All of Us
Voice acting luminary weighs in on SAG-AFTRA strikes
Jennifer Hale is one of the most renowned voice actors in games, lending her talents to series like Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, and Metal Gear Solid. She's also, predictably, not a huge fan of the threat artificial intelligence poses to the industry and made some choice comments on the ongoing...
News Suicide Squad Studio Hit with Layoffs After Poor Sales
Rocksteady's QA team cut in half
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League team Rocksteady Studios has suffered an unconfirmed number of redundancies across its QA department following the live-service game's poor sales and critical reception earlier this year. Sources in contact with Eurogamer state the QA team has been cut by more than 50 per cent,...
News Test Drive Unlimited Developer Joins Spiders in Strike Against Nacon
Both studios encountering similar issues
The developer behind the upcoming Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown and past titles in the WRC series has confirmed it's joining GreedFall studio Spiders in a strike against their publisher, Nacon. Citing similar issues with the company, the studio said it's "expressing our solidarity with our colleagues at...
News Failing Manufacturers Are Pushing the Narrative That Consoles Are Dying, Says Ex-Xbox Exec
"They'll never die in my opinion"
There’s a strong sentiment among gaming enthusiasts and the industry at large that consoles are a failing product and nearing their death knells. This opinion has been pushed broadly on social media and across specialist websites, despite it never really aligning with reality. It’s true that profit margins have...
News Legendary Devil May Cry, Dragon's Dogma Director Hideaki Itsuno Leaves Capcom After 30 Years
"Please stay tuned for my next creation!"
Hideaki Itsuno has announced his departure from Capcom, over thirty years after he first joined the company. Itsuno is perhaps best known as the guy who got Devil May Cry back on track. He directed the awesome Devil May Cry 3, and much more recently, the superb Devil May Cry 5. He also brought us Dragon's...
Start saving
The thorny issue of game prices always proves controversial. There are some, raised in the early 90s, who recall the hundred of notes they dropped on Super Nintendo cartridges like Street Fighter 2 Turbo. There are others, raised on a diet of PS2 in the noughties, who remember getting a full physical game for about $50, and it didn’t...
News Visions of Mana Dev Basically Shut Down Just as the RPG Releases
Chinese companies having doubts over Japan
Ouka Studios, the Tokyo-based team that just brought us Visions of Mana, is reportedly on the brink of being closed down. To be clear, the new Mana title is published by Square Enix, but Ouka Studios — the game's primary developer — is a subsidiary of Chinese colossus NetEase. The outfit was first...
News Management Says Spiders Strike Allegations Are 'False and Even Defamatory'
They "don't reflect the reality" of working for the company
Yesterday, we brought you word of brewing trouble at Greedfall and Steelrising developer, Spiders. Staff have announced a strike, alleging poor working conditions at the Parisian studio. A French union helped broadcast a public letter that was signed by nearly half of the studios' almost...
News Kratos Actor Chris Judge Claps Back at Amazon Exec's Gaming Dig
Those are fighting words
Legendary Teal'c actor Chris Judge is not known for his restraint. However, in his starring role as God of War's modern Kratos, it seems he's learned how to control the Spartan rage within. When Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann made the outrageous allegation that video games "don't really have acting", Judge quickly set...
