Tag: Industry - Page 38
News Konami Claims That Hideo Kojima Is Just on Holiday
But photo of leaving party emerges
This story gets crazier. A report on the New Yorker last night revealed that Hideo Kojima left Konami on 9th October, but the publisher has denied that thi
News Apparently, Hideo Kojima Has Already Left Konami
End of an era
Hideo Kojima is no longer a Konami employee. That's according to award-winning journalist Simon Parkin, writing for the New Yorker. While the report hones in on the mechanisms behind the auteur's departure from Konami – mobile games, exploding console budgets, and so on – it states that the Metal Gear Solid maker left his wor
News XSEED: We Love the Vita and Will Continue to Support It
Get a room
Sony's slowly dropping support for the PlayStation Vita, but it remains flush with Japanese titles and indie ports. This puts the portable in a unique position: it remains incredibly relevant – but only among a very specific niche. Fortunately, publisher XSEED – the organisation responsible for bringing the likes of Akiba's Trip:...
News Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Boss Departs Dev Due to Illness, Industry Issues
The mourning tree
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture was an acquired taste, and it was also a nightmare for The Chinese Room's co-head Jessica Curry to make. As part of a frank and eye-opening blog post, the luminary announced that she will be stepping down from her current position, and cited illness, sour publisher relations, and sexism as the...
News Microsoft Just Bought the Tech Powering a Ton of PS4 Games
But there's nothing to worry about
We're going to assume that the majority of you reading this article have heard of Havok. Even if you don't know what the mysterious technology does, its logo has appeared during the boot sequence of so many titles that we'd be shocked if you haven't seen it before. In the simplest of terms, the engine essentially...
News Konami: Metal Gear Solid Can Continue without Kojima
Company's not ditching consoles, apparently
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is very likely the last game in the series from Hideo Kojima, and it could be the final entry in the franchise full stop. However, speaking with Game On Daily at EGX 2015 last week, community manager Graham Day stressed that the company's committed to continuing the...
News Even Xbox's Boss Is Planning for a PS4 Price Drop in North America
But how low will Sony go?
We always thought that the PlayStation 4 would get a price drop this year, and it seems to be happening. Sony revealed at TGS 2015 this week that it will be reducing the device's cost right across Asia, with the UK also seemingly getting in on the action. However, nothing has been announced for North America just yet –...
News PS4 Censorship to Blame for Sucky Chinese Sales, Says Sony
Bans proving problematic
Sony's struggles with the PlayStation 4 in parts of Asia are well documented, but TGS 2015 proved this week that the system's Japanese sales are sure to soar eventually. It'll now be turning its attention to China, then – a brave new world that seemed incredibly lucrative when a lengthy ban on dedicated gaming boxes was...
Interview Bandai Namco on Bringing Its Japanese Properties West
Journey to the West
It's no secret that Bandai Namco has been on a localisation spree since the PlayStation 4 launched almost two years ago. It's been busy pumping out translated titles right, left, and centre for months, so we thought that it'd be interesting to get a little more insight into the publisher's strategy. If you cast your mind back to...
Rumour There Are No Plans for Another Major Metal Gear Solid
Konami's ditching AAA titles entirely
Konami's all but done with consoles, a report has revealed. According to French website Gameblog – with backup from Eurogamer.net – the Japanese company currently has no plans to make another Metal Gear Solid game. This
News The Witcher 3 Developer CD Projekt Red Slices Rumours of Being Bought to Pieces
Done and dusted
Rumours surfaced yesterday that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's developer, CD Projekt Red, was in the process of signing some sort of contract with EA - presumably to sell itself off to the publisher. This lead to outbursts around the internet, but these virtual riots only lasted around half an hour before they were calmed by the studio,...
News EA Wants More Diversity in Game Development
"It can't all be white males"
EA's Peter Moore is back again with some more highly quotable, er, quotes. This time, in an interview with Fortune, the likeable exec states that the publisher is actively seeking diversity when it comes to its employees, ensuring that both men and women are well represented within the company. "We've gone from the...
News Koei Tecmo Is Switching Its Attention to Unannounced PlayStation 4 Exclusives
Will the rest of Japan follow?
According to Yosuke Hayashi, the producer of Dead or Alive, Japanese publisher Koei Tecmo is working on several PlayStation 4 exclusive titles. In other words, the company may be starting to switch its attention to Sony's newest console rather than holding games back so that they can be released on the PlayStation 3 as...
News EA Boss Peter Moore Compares Kojima and Konami to a Rocky Marriage
"They’ll kiss and make up"
Ah, good old Peter Moore. The EA executive is always throwing out some great quotes, and speaking with GameSpot, he's now commented on the supposedly sour relationship between Hideo Kojima and Konami. "I just think both of them should kiss and make up," he joked. In a more serious manner, Moore goes on to say that "from...
News Oh Dear, British Industry Head Tries to Promote Games and Gets It Horribly Wrong
"Nobody is going to play a game designed by a spotty nerd"
Here in the UK, the government's promoting various subjects in education in order to supposedly entice young people into studying them. These subjects include Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths, but since the current government seems hell-bent on phasing out more artistic pursuits,...
News 345,000 People Made It to Gamescom 2015
Annual show's popularity increases
It was a successful Gamescom this year if these newly released figures are anything to go by. According to official numbers, 345,000 people attended to German event, which is 10,000 more than 2014's total. Apparently, attendees came from 96 different countries - which is a particularly impressive statistic. We...
News Microsoft: Sony's Buying Lots of Third-Party Exclusives for PS4
Xbox focusing on first-party, apparently
If there's one thing that Xbox chief Phil Spencer likes to do it's chat about the competition – although, to be fair, he was asked on this occasion. In a fairly wide-ranging interview with GameSpot, the ex-Microsoft Game Studios head insinuated that Sony's buying up plenty of third-party exclusives for the...
News Nikkei Report Paints a Dark Picture of Konami
Metal Gear Solid V budget over $80 million
You may hate your job, but at least you don't work for Konami. An article published by respected Japanese newspaper Nikkei has shed a little light on conditions at the Japanese company of late, and there's some mind blowing stuff in here. This follows the news that Kojima Productions has been disbanded and
News SCEUK Gaffer Fergal Gara Says Ta-Ra to PlayStation
Off to pursue a new professional venture
Since taking charge of SCEUK in 2011, Fergal Gara has successfully steered PlayStation back to the top of the gaming pile in the notoriously competitive nation. It's perhaps fitting that the former Asda executive has decided to bow out while the company's very much on top, then, with the popular honcho...
News PS4 Prints Money as System Shipments Surpass 25 Million Units
Sales over double those of Xbox during the same period
How's the PlayStation 4 doing now that the dust has settled on the device's launch hype? The answer: outrageously good. Sony has released its financial report for the first quarter of its financial year which ended on 30th June, and the results are pretty darn staggering. Indeed, the console has...
News After Attacks From Hackers, Daybreak's CEO Steps Down
Will be taking another job in the company
Daybreak Game Company, formerly Sony Online Entertainment, will be getting a new president. John Smedley, who was head of the firm for over a decade, is stepping down as president and chief executive officer, and taking on a new role in the company. Smedley's future position has not yet been made public, but...
Talking Point Should More AAA Titles Adopt a Service Approach?
Increasing engagement
Once upon a time, gaming was quite a disposable pastime. You'd shell out for the latest blockbuster from your nearest store, run through it a couple of times, and then trade it back in – often in exchange for the next best thing. And so the cycle would repeat. However, the PlayStation 3 generation mixed things up, with the...
News Yager Development Won't Be Working on Dead Island 2 Anymore
Get back in that grave
Dead Island 2 has seen its fair share of development troubles, but things are now coming to a temporary close, as publisher Deep Silver has announced that it's cutting ties with German developer Yager Development. No specific reasons were given, but it's easy to infer that the title's quality was a big problem. "With Dead...
News Ubisoft's Jade Raymond Joins EA, Forms Motive Studios
Motive, means, and opportunity
Jade Raymond, the producer on the original Assassin's Creed and the former managing director of Ubisoft Toronto, has joined Electronic Arts. The industry veteran will be building a new studio under the publisher's umbrella named Motive Studios, which will be based in Montreal, Canada. It'll start by supporting Visceral...
News PlayStation Pays Its Respects to Nintendo's Satoru Iwata
Rest in peace
There are days for debate and discussion – and then there are days for respect and reflection. Nintendo confirmed the premature passing of CEO Satoru Iwata overnight, and while he spent his entire career at the House of Mario, his incredible influence can be felt across the entire industry at large. As a consequence, many of...
News As H1Z1's Servers Come Back Online, Lizard Squad Continues Harassment
Now offering money for someone to deface CEO's father's grave
After the ridiculous drama that went down this week, Daybreak Game Company is starting to get its games' servers back online. Although PlanetSide 2 is still unplayable for many, H1Z1 appears to be back in working order. However, there's a lot more than video games going on right now. John...
News Kojima Productions Has Disbanded, Says Solid Snake Voice Actor
The End
It's been a while since we heard anything from Kojima Productions, but according to a not-so cryptic tweet made by Akio Otsuka – the Japanese voice actor for Solid Snake – the developer has officially been disbanded. Writing on Twitter, the veteran larynx lender posted a heartfelt goodbye to the studio that turned him into a star among...
News This Kid Clearly Wishes He'd Won a PS4 at Comic Con
Yay
When companies give away consoles, they do so with the intention of building positive press. Microsoft is on the showfloor at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend, handing out Xbox Ones among various other prizes. But while this winner may have gifted the Redmond firm a viral video, it's not quite the Nintendo 64 sequel that the organisation may...
News PS4 Doubles the Competition When it Comes to Ubisoft Game Sales
A French favourite
Without an early 2015 blockbuster release, Ubisoft's revenue has taken a hit this year. According to the publisher's latest financial report ending the 30th June, sales have declined by 73 per cent year-on-year. Despite the drop, though, the PlayStation 4 has proven to be the popular choice when it comes to the French company's...
News SEGA: We Want to Win Back Gamers' Trust
Quality over quantity
SEGA's reputation as a game publisher has been all but completely tarnished over the past ten or so years, thanks to a slew of lacklustre Sonic the Hedgehog sequels and an astoundingly poor job at importing Japanese hits to the Western market. The company seems to be trying to turn things around, though. In an interview with...
News Sony: Reclaiming Japanese Gamers Is a Focus for Us
The PS4 is showing some "upward swing," says Yoshida
Numbers don't lie: the demand for video games and video game consoles in Japan has dropped significantly over the past few years. But while much of the market is turning its attention to the mobile industry, Sony is trying to breathe life into the PlayStation 4 with new games. That's what Shuhei...
News Sony 'Really Wanted' That Call of Duty: Black Ops III Deal with Activision
Destiny deal helped as well
Whether you realise it or not, Sony teaming up with Activision for Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a big deal. It marks the end of a partnership between Xbox and Activision that lasted nearly an entire console generation, it probably cost Sony a fortune, and – while it won't necessarily guarantee the Japanese giant the...
News Sony: PlayStation TV Is Hard to Explain
Live and learn
PlayStation TV was always an odd product; it was very niche in its capabilities, but never did anything particularly well. It's no surprise, then, that the peripheral sold rather poorly. Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, seems to agree with us. "It didn't capture the consumers' imaginations," the executive...
News Sony: We Aren't Making Vita Games Because of Consumer Expectations
Say what?
Don't hold your breath for any big budget PlayStation Vita games. Sony stopped seriously supporting the handheld long ago, but its executives are getting to a point where they're so blunt it hurts. Speaking to Game Informer, Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said that the real reason the Vita isn't being supported is because...
News Here Are the Dates for E3 2016
Prep time
Have you enjoyed watching trailers, reading impressions, and debating video games all week? Good! Now that this year's E3 has come to a close, you can get ready to do it all over again in 2016. Next year's expo will, as always, be at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, and will take place from 14th June to the 16th. Thanks to Geoff Keighley...
News Take-Two Isn't Interested in Yearly Releases, Says CEO
Strauss Zelnick strikes again
Strauss Zelnick is back. Yes, the mythical CEO of Take-Two Interactive is starring in yet another Push Square article. We've been through our fair share of ups and downs over the past few weeks: from the executive denying that Grand Theft Auto V was ever supposed to get story mode DLC to his saying that the
E3 2015 Ready at Dawn Ditching PS4 for Oculus Rift Exclusive
Moving on
Remember that recent Ready at Dawn interview where the Californian company referenced an unannounced piece of hardware? We suspect that it was talking about the Oculus Rift, as it's currently working on an exclusive for the device. The Order: 1886 developer was listed alongside PlayStation alumni Insomniac Games during the virtual reality...
News Dying Light, Mortal Kombat X, and The Witcher 3 Push Warner Bros to the Top Publisher Spot
Batman: Arkham Knight should keep the momentum going
Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment is taking the spot of top dog in the first half of 2015, according to The NPD Group. Thanks to the likes of Dying Light, Mortal Kombat X, and the more recent The Witcher 3, the company has risen to be the top-grossing US gaming software publisher of 2015 thus...
Soapbox Why So Many E3 2015 Announcements Are Being Spoiled
Sammy Barker likes surprises, but reckons early reveals make sense
I never tentatively tore the corners of my Christmas presents in order to get a sneaky first look inside. I had friends who claimed to know the contents of all of the gifts nestling beneath their fake fir trees, but I always preferred to wait. In fact, as I got older I tended to...
News The Order: 1886 Maker Is Planning a Multiplatform Future
Developer wants to build, own, and publish its own IPs in the future
The Order: 1886 was met with a mixed reception, and seeing as we haven't heard a whisper about its sales, we're guessing that it flopped at retail, too. It's not an enormous surprise, then, that developer Ready at Dawn now wants to release games on more than the PlayStation 4...
News Take-Two Boss Says PS4 Hasn't Hit Its Full Potential
Greatness awaits
Things are only going to get better for the PlayStation 4 – or at least that's what Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick had to say at the 43rd Annual Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference in New York this past week. "We have yet to see entirely what the technology can allow," the executive said, talking about Sony's new gaming...
News Konami's Really Sorry You Don't Like Its Mobile First Future
But it's going ahead anyway
Konami's finally broken silence on the turmoil that's very publicly taken place inside the organisation of late. As part of an enormous, grovelling statement sent to IGN, it apologised for the anxiety which "conjecture" surrounding its future has caused, and stressed that it will continue to create console games – even...
News Sony Admits PS4 First-Party Lineup Is Looking a Little Sparse This Year
Firm's working hard with third-parties to fill the gap
Sony understands the importance of PlayStation 4 exclusives as it highlighted them in its investor relations presentation earlier today – but president Andrew House is well aware of the fact that the platform holder's first-party lineup is looking a little light this year. "Our first-party...
News Sony's Success Strategy Involves More PS4 Exclusives
A pleasant reminder
Sony, by and large, is starting to turn around its fortunes under the leadership of former PlayStation president Kaz Hirai. While it's still got some way to go, it's a much leaner organisation these days – and it's getting closer and closer to turning a profit. The
News It Looks Like Digital Is the Future for Capcom
Publisher expects digital sales to take off
The digital versus retail discussion has been dragging on for years now, but Japanese publisher Capcom is expecting to see an undeniable turn towards the former in the near future. The company reckons that digital sales will count for the majority of its overall unit sales in the fiscal year ending March...
News Japanese Game Sales Hit a Whole New Low Last Week
The beginning of the end
Japan may be responsible for our love affair with video games, but the country is quickly going off the consoles that it helped to popularise. You may remember the dire Media Create figures that we posted earlier in the week – well, they are worse than you think. Much worse. According to the organisation, last week's...
News So, Looks Like Sony's Already Working on the PS5
A whole new world
While the PlayStation 4 is likely to be around for many years yet, we'd expect Sony to be starting to think about the future right about now. It's already set out its stall with the likes of PlayStation Now, but with Internet infrastructure not quite up to speed, we suspect that there'll be at least one more traditional console...
News Capcom: PS4 Remasters to Represent Key Part of Our Catalogue
Gulp
We hope that you're not fed up of re-releases, as put upon publisher Capcom has revealed that PlayStation 4 remasters are set to represent a significant part of its business moving forwards. The iconic Japanese company recently found significant success by porting Resident Evil – itself based upon the GameCube overhaul of Shinji Mikami's...
News Sony's Seemingly Forming a Fresh First-Party Studio for Project Morpheus
Time for something completely different
Project Morpheus certainly has plenty of promise, but if it stands any chance of succeeding, it will need Sony's full support. The organisation must provide the peripheral with a steady stream of bespoke software, so it's perhaps a good thing that it's seemingly creating a new first-party studio to do just...
News Metal Gear Solid May End Up Being a Mobile Franchise, Says Konami
"Mobile is the future of gaming"
We sincerely hope that you haven't used up all of your hate on Konami over the last couple of months, because we've got a corker for you this afternoon. Translated by NeoGAF member HGH, the Japanese company's new CEO reckons that "mobile is where the future of gaming lies". Surely you can see where this is going?...
