Tag: Industry - Page 31
Soapbox Publishers Want You to Pay to Play Early, And It's a Worry
Sammy on the dangers of double release dates
If you’ve ever lived in Europe, you’ll know the pain: the eternal wait for release dates, while the rest of the world gads about in the next great game. It wasn’t so bad during the PSone era: the Internet was less established in those hazy mid-nineties days, and so magazines were the main source of...
News Player Data Paints Damning Picture of Telltale's Efforts
Downward spiral
Telltale Games’ effective closure came as a shock to us all last week, but data shows that it’s been on a big decline since breakout hit The Walking Dead: Season One all the way back in 2012. The creators of True Trophies and True Ac
News Fortnite Players on PS4 Can Now Login on Other Consoles
Full-scale account merging coming in November
It’s all change on the cross-play front, with Sony launching a Fortnite beta that will eventually open the doors for more PlayStation 4 games to interact with the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Of course, one of the big issues with Epic Games’ behemoth Battle Royale back at E3 2018 was that fans who...
News Sony: Cross-Console Play a Major Policy Change
Looking to open up the platform
Sony wasn’t deflecting when it said it was exploring ways to support cross-console play on the PlayStation 4 – it was telling the truth. PlayStation president John Kodera has taken to the PlayStation Blog to announce an extended Fortnite beta which will allow you to play Epic Games’ gargantuan hit across the...
News Sony Bringing Cross-Console Play Beta to Fortnite Today
Play with Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, more
Sony said that it was “confident” of a cross-console play solution on the PlayStation 4, and it genuinely wasn’t lying. PlayStation president John Kodera has taken to the PlayStation Blog to announce an open beta for Fortnite, which will allow “cross-platform gameplay, progression, and commerce...
News The Walking Dead's Clementine Voice Actor Signs Off with Heartfelt Message to the Fans
"A lot of hearts were broken, including mine"
Over the weekend, news broke out that Telltale Games, the studio famous for narrative adventure games like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, was laying off almost its entire staff, effectively shutting down. This has left hundreds of people out of work, and all future projects have been cancelled...
News Reports Say Telltale's The Walking Dead Final Season Is Also Cancelled Following Layoffs
No more episodes
Earlier this evening, news broke that Telltale Games has laid off 285 employees, effectively closing the developer down. However, initial reports suggested that a "skeleton crew" was being kept on to finish up the final season of The Walking Dead, but now new reports are saying that isn't actually the case. Sources have told
News Telltale Games Effectively Shuttered After Enormous Layoffs
The Wolf Among Us 2, Stranger Things seemingly canned
Telltale Games has laid off 285 employees, effectively ending the episodic developer’s operations. The studio is retaining 25 staff to complete the final season of its The Walking Dead adaptation, but online scuttlebutt suggests that its in-production Wolf Among Us and Stanger Things series...
News Square Enix Partners with Deck Nine on New Title
Before the storm
Square Enix has extended its external development partnership with Life Is Strange: Before the Storm creator Deck Nine. The pair will collaborate on a new title, although it’s keeping the nature of the project under wraps for the time being. Our assumption? It’ll have something to do with DONTNOD’s teen series. “The...
TGS 2018 PS Vita Production to Cease Next Year in Japan, Says Sony Boss
Vita means life?
We all knew it was coming. Sony's ill-fated handheld has been winding down slowly, but the PS Vita has continued to sell relatively well in Japan. However, in 2019, the platform holder will be pulling the plug on production in Japan. This comes from a report issued by Famitsu, which Gematsu has translated. Sony Interactive...
News THQ Nordic's Spending Spree Expands to Alone in the Dark
It Carnby true
THQ Nordic is a company with a lot of cash, and it’s buying every dormant intellectual property it can get its greedy little hands on. Next up: survival horror Alone in the Dark, which it’s clawed away from the clutches of Atari Europe for an undisclosed fee. The company also picked up real-time strategy series Act of War, which...
News God of War Creator Reveals Why Sony Is Killing It Right Now
David Jaffe chimes in
It's common knowledge that Sony has been knocking it out of the park this generation, with a steady stream of exclusive titles for PS4, which has been a runaway success. However, what we sometimes lack is the view from the inside. What is it that's giving Sony the edge? God of War creator and infamously outspoken developer...
News Dead Rising Developer Capcom Vancouver Closes Down
Chop till you drop
The developer of the more recent Dead Rising games, and Capcom’s flagship Western studio, has been shut down. In a statement sent to Kotaku, the Japanese publisher said that the decision to shutter the branch was made after a review of its in-production projects. Essentially, it’s opted to bin the lot and “concentrate...
News PlayStation Beats Nintendo and Xbox By Some Distance in UK, US Brand Recognition Surveys
#4ThePlayers and all that
It's really common sense, but mind share counts for a lot when it comes to big business. You obviously want your brand to be as recognisable as possible, and it looks like PlayStation's currently doing a great job placing itself in the public consciousness. According to Prophet's Brand Relevance Index for 2018, PlayStation...
News FIFA Ultimate Team Card Packs May Have EA in Trouble with the Law
Belgium launches investigation
As you may or may not have heard, Belgium declared loot boxes in video games a form of gambling earlier this year. Basically, if a game allows players to spend real money on randomised in-game items, then it has to be categorised as gambling and highlighted as such. However, unlike other publishers, EA apparently...
News Kingdoms of Amalur Remaster Isn't Guaranteed, Despite THQ Nordic Buying IP
EA still owns it as publisher
Last week, everyone got hyped because it looked like Kingdoms of Amalur could be making an eventual comeback. Publisher THQ Nordic announced that it had acquired the rights to the property, immediately conjuring images of a remaster or even a sequel. Reviving Kingdoms of Amalur may not be as straightforward as we...
News Hope for a New Kingdoms of Amalur Game Revived as THQNordic Acquires IP
Yes please
Publisher THQNordic has announced that it's acquired the rights to Kingdoms of Amalur, sparking hope in the hearts of those who have been eager for another game in the series -- ourselves included. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was an action role-playing game that launched on the PlayStation 3. While it wasn't a gigantic hit or anything,...
News God of War Director Suggests Sony First Party Devs Get Together for a Video, and Now We Want It
'Dinner with the Directors'
Whenever we see industry types congratulating each other on their successful projects, it's hard not to crack a smile. Bryan Intihar, the creative director of Marvel's Spider-Man, expressed his relief and gratitude in light of the positive response to Insomniac's latest game, and Shuhei Yoshida jokingly asked if he...
News EA to Support Jacksonville Victims' Families with $1 Million Donation
Livestream planned next week
EA has pledged a $1 million contribution to the families of the victims involved in the shooting in Jacksonville last week. For those of you who don’t know, players had gathered to play Madden NFL 19 as part of a qualifier event for the publisher’s Madden Classic series when a gunman fired off shots, killing two...
News European Ratings Board PEGI to Introduce In-Game Purchases Warning on Physical Game Boxes
In place by the end of 2018
Microtransactions are becoming more and more common these days, and they aren't just limited to free-to-play games anymore. Many AAA titles have been criticised for asking consumers to fork out for a full price tag, only to find that you then need to spend more to get ahead of the pack. Of course, not all games with...
News David Cage Offers Behind the Scenes Look at Detroit: Become Human's Complex Branching Narrative
Endless possibilities
Making any game is a massively complicated undertaking, but have you ever wondered what goes into a game like Detroit: Become Human? Quantic Dream's branching narratives have huge scripts, but what about on the technical side? The studio's main man, David Cage, has given us a brief glimpse into how its myriad possible outcomes...
News Xbox Gamers Are More Hardcore Than PlayStation, Says Microsoft
You filthy noobs, you
Microsoft’s getting stomped globally by the PlayStation 4, but it believes that “hardcore gamers” gravitate towards the Xbox One ahead of Sony’s system. Aaron Greenberg, one of the marketing bigwigs at the Redmond firm, told IGN Italia at Gamescom 2018 that he believes the most engaged players prefer to game in green...
News Onrush Director Joins Project CARS Dev Slightly Mad Studios
Safe landing
Following a bout of layoffs at the Codemasters studio responsible for Onrush, the ill-fated game's director, Paul Rustchynsky, has revealed where he's heading next. In short, he's sticking to what he knows, as he begins work on a new game at Slightly Mad Studios, the team behind the Project CARS series. Rustchynsky was game director...
News Shuhei Yoshida was 'Horrified' When He First Played God of War on PS4
First prototype didn't impress
President of Sony's Worldwide Studios, the lovable Shuhei Yoshida, was apparently very unimpressed by God of War when he played an early version for the first time. Cory Barlog recounted the tale during his talk at Devcom, and it's pretty amazing to hear the Shu was so negative about a game that would become a huge...
News PS5 Will Launch Late 2019, Says Japanese Analyst
Unless production snags prevent it
Predictions are all over the place as to when Sony's follow-up to the PS4 will be released. Some were initially predicting late 2018, which obviously isn't happening, while others think the PS5 is further away, in 2020 or 2021. The latest on this subject comes from Japanese firm Ace Economic Research Institute,...
News Sounds Like It's Time for TimeSplitters 4 as Koch Media Acquires Licence
Future perfect
The TimeSplitters series was beloved back on the PlayStation 2, but it sadly fell by the wayside as Free Radical Design began to struggle. The licence for the franchise has rested with Crytek for some years, but nothing has been done with it, despite vocal fans calling out for it, and even attempting to forge remake themselves...
News Electronic Arts Executive Patrick Söderlund to Exit
The legend leaves
Patrick Söderlund, the somewhat scary Electronic Arts executive who you will almost certainly recognise from various press conferences over the years, has decided to depart his role as Chief Design Officer at the publishing giant. The Swedish suit got his start as CEO at developer DICE, but eventually worked his way up the...
News Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Dev The Chinese Room Bought by Sumo Digital
Sumo expanding
The studio behind the PS4 walking simulator Everybody's Gone to the Rapture has been purchased by Sumo Digital. The Chinese Room, which only consists of its co-founders Dan Pinchbeck and Jessica Curry after last year's layoffs, will become a new studio within the group, which is going through a period of growth. Pinchbeck will stay...
News Crystal Dynamics Expands with New Studio, Hires God of War's Lead Combat Designer
Named after Kanye and Kim's kid
Crystal Dynamics’ upcoming Avengers is probably going to have some pretty bad ass Thor gameplay, as the Square Enix subsidiary has just opened a brand new studio and hired God of War’s lead combat designer Vincent Napoli. The all-new satellite studio is based in Bellevue, Washington, and has been imaginatively...
News Bethesda Backtracked on Its Controversial Review Policy
10/10 backtracking
Some time ago, you may remember reports coming out on Bethesda's overhauled review policy. The publisher essentially stopped dishing out review code early to gaming sites like Push Square, effectively eliminating any reviews of its games before they released. By many, this was viewed as an anti-consumer act, since people looking...
News Shadow of the Tomb Raider's Devs Not Worried About Spider-Man
"Only one game has Lara Croft"
In a year that’s already been packed to bursting point with big games, September will seriously up the ante with a sequence of huge releases. Two major titles, Marvel’s Spider-Man and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, are scheduled to deploy within days of each other – a harrowing prospect for publisher Square Enix and...
News Bethesda Defends Legal Action Against a Man Who Tried to Resell a Game
Used and abused
A strange story started circulating on Polygon overnight involving a man who attempted to resell a sealed copy of The Evil Within 2 as a “new” product on Amazon Marketplace. Bethesda’s law firm Vorys took issue with the listing, and threatened legal action against the individual. The company’s view is that there’s no way to...
News Streaming Devices Will Kill Traditional Consoles Within the Next 10 Years, Says EA
Here we go again
Games and streaming, two words that a lot of people don't seem to want to see in close proximity -- but the conversation about streaming services eventually replacing traditional video game consoles is only going to grow over the next few years and beyond. Just a couple of months ago, Ubisoft caused a bit of an uproar when it said...
News Capcom Knew Monster Hunter Would Be a Hit in the West 'On the Right Platform'
And it was correct
Monster Hunter: World's gigantic success is well documented by this point. The seriously addictive action role-playing title has been crowned Capcom's best selling game of all time, but before it launched earlier this year, some doubted that it would leave a mark here in the West, with many long time fans of the series...
News Capcom Wants 'Games That Get 9s But Sell Less' Over the Likes of Resident Evil 6
Capom's chasing quality
Capcom's tact has certainly changed over the last few years, and many would argue for the better. The company is currently riding a wave of unprecedented profit thanks to hugely successful titles such as Monster Hunter: World, and the Japanese publisher has said that it wants to continue pushing for high quality games...
News New Chinese Game Console Rivals the Power of the PS4 Pro
Power trip
A brand new machine is entering the console arms race -- in China, at least. AMD, the electronics company who produces the PS4's Jaguar CPU, has partnered with Zhongshan Subor to build a console for the Chinese market, and the details released so far put it on a level with the PS4 Pro, possibly even surpassing it. All the information...
News PS Plus Subscribers Dip Slightly Compared to Previous Quarter
Retention detention
Sony lost around 300,000 PlayStation Plus subscribers in the quarter ending 30th June, with 33.9 million users maintaining an active membership, compared to 34.2 million earlier in the year. It’s not exactly a significant decrease, but considering one of the company’s primary goals is to retain subs, it won’t be overjoyed...
News Capcom's Having a Great Year Off the Back of Monster Hunter: World's Huge Success
Roarsome
Capcom's in a pretty good place right now, going by the company's latest financial report. The publisher's operating income is up a rather staggering 550 per cent year-over-year, while net sales are up 46 per cent. In other words, Capcom's raking in some significant dosh -- and Monster Hunter: World is the main reason why. Launching...
News Indie Devs Are Finding Their Feet with Cheap Platinum Trophies
"A lot of people will buy it"
There’s no doubt that the PlayStation 4’s audience is changing, and indie developers are finding it harder than ever to ensure their games stand out against both AAA blockbusters and their many contemporaries. This is particularly problematic for new studios, who don’t have a major hit to their name or an existing...
News Quantic Dream Loses Employment Case Amid Photoshop Scandal
First of several cases to rule in employee's favour
The controversy surrounding Quantic Dream rumbles on, as the Parisian developer has lost a court case against a former employee, who quit their job following an image manipulation scandal
News The West Likes Yakuza Because It Doesn't Pander to Western Tastes, Says SEGA
Preach
SEGA has come a long way since the days of removing parts of Yakuza 3 because western audiences wouldn't "get it". Speaking to GameIndustry, SEGA Europe boss John Clark says that Yakuza has found its footing here in the West because it doesn't shy away from its Japanese roots. "We're not turning every Yakuza title into an open-world...
Interview From Psygnosis to Persistence - Reassembling Studio Liverpool into Scouse Scares
We fire up Firesprite's studio history
In our third article following Push Square’s visit to Firesprite, we sent one of our retro enthusiasts who was particularly eager to learn more about the links between its studio’s history with Psygnosis and Studio Liverpool. In time for the launch week of the sci-fi horror game The Persistence we also...
News Amazon UK to Stop £2 Prime Discount on Game Pre-Orders
Less bang for your buck
One of the benefits of an Amazon Prime membership was a small discount when pre-ordering games, but it seems that will be ending very soon. In an email sent to all Prime members, the giant online retailer stated that it will be putting a stop to the £2 discount. We would now like to inform you that we will no longer offer...
Feature How Sony's First-Party Turned Critical Success into Commercial Success
On the up
It’s almost been ten years since LittleBigPlanet released, a PlayStation 3 exclusive that would record a 95 on Metacritic and eventually go on to sell around 4.5 million units as of 2010. It was a success, but like so many of Sony’s games at the time, its numbers didn’t really match its reception. Uncharted 2: Among...
News The Culling 2 Flopped So Badly That It's Been Scrapped After a Week
And the dev's returning to work on the original game
The Culling 2 released on the PlayStation 4 last week, and it’s been removed from the PlayStation Store this week. The game, a kind of Battle Royale, was basically a disaster – and developer Xaviant Games has been forced to address its community on YouTube. In a refreshingly frank video,...
News Horizon: Zero Dawn Dev Guerrilla Expanding, Moving to New Five-Floor Office
Studio targeting 400 full-time employees
Guerrilla Games has always been one of Sony’s most important developers, but with the release of Horizon: Zero Dawn its stocks have risen dramatically. The studio is now one of the most recognised games companies in the world, working on one of the most promising new intellectual properties. The problem? It...
News Germany Bans Pre-Orders for Games that Don't Have a Set Release Date
A good thing?
This is a pretty interesting story. Over in Germany, products that don't have a set release date -- including video games -- are no longer allowed to be pre-ordered. This means that, for example, you can't go ahead and pre-order something like The Last of Us: Part II, since it has a vague "coming soon" release date attached. The...
News Sony Completes Turnaround with 10 Year Stock High
The biggest electronics maker in Japan
Kaz Hirai will probably be remembered by most for his goofy E3 presentations, but in truth the ex-Sony CEO proved his business credentials by transforming the encumbered organisation back into a global juggernaut. A new article from Hollywood Reporter reveals that the conglomerate’s stocks have hit a 10 year...
News PSN Credit Is Inexplicably Unavailable Again at Amazon
Saga rumbles on
Amazon’s spat with Sony appears to be rumbling on, as for the second time this year, PlayStation Network credit is unavailable at the popular online retailer. This includes all denominations of the virtual currency, although the issue appears to be limited to the United States branch for now;
News Shuhei Yoshida Wishes Sony Was More Successful at Making Multiplayer Games
Forever alone
Shuhei Yoshida has been in Brighton recently to pick up the Develop Legend Award for his achievements in the industry. While he was there, he spoke at Develop:Brighton with editor of Edge magazine, Nathan Brown. When asked about Sony finding success with its large single player games as the industry trends towards multiplayer, Shu...
