Tag: Industry - Page 40
News Amazon Coughs Up $970 Million for Streaming Site Twitch
Someone's rich
Twitch has been acquired for a whopping $970 million – but not by Google as originally anticipated. Instead, it’s mega retailer Amazon that’s coughed up the extraordinary amount of cash required to purchase the streaming site, with its bidding rival
News PlayStation Boss Gets Punished for All of E3's Boring Bits This Year
This is for Powers
Regardless of whether or not you liked the content, Sony’s big Gamescom 2014 press conference was much better paced than its E3 2014 one. The folks at SCEE cut out all of the fat, and peppered the organisation’s media briefing in Cologne with trailers, announcements, and very little corporate gobbledygook. SCEA boss Shawn...
News The Man in Charge of Mass Effect Has Boarded the Normandy SR-2
Veteran hangs up his N7 armour
PlayStation 4’s first Mass Effect game didn’t look in a particularly mature state at Comic-Con earlier this year, so it’s concerning to learn that Casey Hudson – the man in charge of the franchise – has departed BioWare before the sequel’s even been properly announced. In his
News Sony Pulls the Plug on Android Support for PlayStation Mobile
That honestly wasn't much fun while it lasted
PlayStation Mobile has been dead for a good while now, but Sony’s more or less pulled the cord today. Originally intended to offer a curated content hub on PlayStation-certified phones and tablets, the platform holder quietly announced this morning that there’s a “possibility that content may not...
News PS4's Homefront: The Revolution Development to Be Finished by Dambuster Studio
Deep Silver digs deep to acquire cursed brand
We’re not entirely sure why anyone would want to own the Homefront franchise at this point, as in addition to being a property with very little to differentiate itself from the wealth of other modern military brands on the market, it also appears to carry a curse. After killing off THQ a couple of...
News Sony Wants to Win Nintendo Wii Owners with the PlayStation 4
For all of the players
Sony has always been a pioneer in the video game space, but sometimes a lack of conviction has let its consoles down. In many ways, the PlayStation 2 was ahead of the casual gamer curve, with titles such as Buzz, SingStar, and EyeToy Play appealing to families in a way that traditional hardcore games hadn't. However, the...
News Saints Row's Stupidity Will Almost Certainly Return on PS4
Loud and proud
Since the success of Saints Row IV on the PlayStation 3, developer Volition has been a little secretive. There were rumours coming out of E3 2014 that publisher Deep Silver was about to announce a new entry in the stupid sandbox series, but that turned out to be the equally ridiculous Dead Island 2. Alas, the aforementioned outfit...
News Will PS4 Win the Battle for China? Our Survey Says...
Ker-ching
Now that the Chinese government no longer believes that video games will rot the mind of its teens like teeth cleaned with Coca-Cola, both Sony and Microsoft are scrambling to release their next-gen consoles in the region. It’s easy to understand why: the untapped nation represents a potential audience of over one billion. So, who will...
Talking Point Are Publishers Taking Pre-Order Bonuses Too Far?
Spoilt for choice
Pre-order bonuses used to be exactly that: pre-order bonuses. Retailers would compete over little knick-knacks such as t-shirts, keyrings, and action figures in order to secure your business, and you’d shop at the store that was giving away the specific goodie that you wanted. It was a largely harmless practice, with the...
News European Developers Favour PlayStation 4 Ahead of Any Other Console
Stop us if you've heard this one before
A study conducted by GDC Europe is the second in less than a week to find that the PlayStation 4 is currently the console of choice for most developers around the continent. In a poll quizzing about 400 studios about their platform preferences, 18 per cent of respondents said that they are currently making...
Talking Point Should More Games Try to Teach Us Something?
Swat the swots
Edutainment is a dirty word. We typically associate the embarrassing portmanteau with low budget trash such as Mario Teaches Typing and Donkey Kong Jr. Math – or worse still, the borderline archaic Flash and Shockwave minigames that litter government websites. However, are we letting bad examples impede the true potential of...
News Guerrilla Games' Co-Founder Combines with Cliff Bleszinski in New Venture
Bet they're making a shooter
Much like Transformers’ colossal Constructicon combined death bot Devastator, veteran developers Cliff Bleszinski and Arjan Brussee are joining forces to launch brand new start-up Boss Key Productions. The former is best known for the Gears of War series, of course, while the latter helped co-found PlayStation...
News Developers Declare That PlayStation 4 Is the Best Console Right Now
The best place to play and work
We know that Sony supposedly loves developers, but is that affection reciprocated? It turns out that it is, as a slew of studios have voted the PlayStation 4 as the best console currently on the market – beating the Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS, and even the firm’s own PlayStation Vita. The system finished fifth in...
News Murdered: Soul Suspect Developer Seals Its Doors Airtight
Goodbye sequel
If you're one of the many gamers drifting their way through the town of Salem in the recently released Murdered: Soul Suspect, the news that the title's developer Airtight Games has closed its doors may send you to an early grave. Just one month after release, the rumoured closure of the firm has been confirmed by numerous news...
News EA Eagerly Anticipating PS4 and Xbox One's Christmas Clash
"We sit in the sweet spot"
In truth, the console wars can be kind of exhausting. If you spend much time on multiformat sites or message boards, you’ll probably find yourself wading through a lot of bickering before you get to the content that you’re actually looking for. However, this back-and-forth actually excites third-party publisher EA...
News Bungie Blows a Hole in Destiny's Out of This World Production Budget
Billion dollar mystery
How much has upcoming PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 shooter Destiny cost to make? We’re still no closer to knowing the truth, as Bungie has shot down reports claiming that the company has splashed out $500 million in order to produce the sci-fi loot-a-thon. That would make it the most expensive game ever made, but it...
News Tecmo Koei Will Become Koei Tecmo from 1st July in Europe
If you say so
You know it's been a bit of a slow news day when you find yourself writing stories about a Japanese publisher that's reversing its name in Europe, but here we are. After what seems like an eternity of penning 'Tecmo Koei' in every Dynasty Warriors review and news article, we're going to have to break free from the habit starting from...
News High Turnover Of Staff At Crytek UK Casts Doubt Over Homefront: The Revolution
More tales of woe for the studio
Yesterday, we reported on rumours that Crytek is in financial trouble, with staff going unpaid and hints that bankruptcy could be on the cards. Today, there are fresh reports which relate to the company's British studio Crytek UK, which was formed form the ashes of TimeSplitters and Haze developer Free Radical...
News Nintendo Thumps PlayStation in E3 2014 Twitter Head-to-Head
Hashtag haymaker
Sony may be winning the hardware sales war with the PlayStation 4, but it couldn’t overcome Nintendo in the great Twitter battle of E3 2014. According to social media intelligence analytics provider Crimson Hexagon, a whopping 47 per cent of related tweets posted during last week’s convention referenced the Wii U maker, with its...
News Sony: PS4 Is the Best Place to Play for Innovative Intellectual Property and Sports
Platform holder reacts to strong NPD performance
Ever since the dark days of the PlayStation 3, platform holder Sony has refrained from commenting too much on the monthly NPD sales reports for the United States. Indeed, May saw the PlayStation 4 secure a fifth consecutive spell at the top of the hardware sales charts, but the Japanese giant pointed...
E3 2014 Sony Says It Won't Ever Force Microtransactions into Its Games
Cough up
Microtransactions are a mainstay in the current console climate, but Sony says that it won’t ever shoehorn the contentious mini-payments into its games. Speaking with GameSpot, software product development head Scott Rohde coolly claimed that the company will only employ the real world purchases where it makes sense – and even then...
Talking Point How Did the Three Major Manufacturers Fare at E3 2014?
Compare and contrast
E3 2014 is over, and we’re breaking the fabric of time and space in order to celebrate. In this inaugural cross-platform, cross-network, cross-website extravaganza, the editors of Nintendo Life, Pure Xbox, and, er, Push Square have put aside their boxing gloves, and joined forces to bring you this industry wide look at all...
E3 2014 God of War III Director Stig Asmussen Swaps Titans for Titans
Sony Santa Monica veteran joins Respawn Entertainment
God of War III director Stig Asmussen’s rumoured sci-fi PlayStation 4 exclusive may have been cancelled, but the talented developer has wasted no time landing back on his feet, revealing that he has hooked up with Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment. According to
News Journey Composer Austin Wintory is Being Fined $50,000 By His Own Union
Shots fired
Earlier this week, on the day of the big E3 press conferences, critically acclaimed (and personal favourite of ours) game composer Austin Wintory released a video detailing some of the troubles that he may be facing from his own union. You may have heard his name thanks to his work on the superb Journey, or flOw, or any number of his...
News Farewell Old Friend! Sony to Cease Selling the PlayStation Portable
Pocketable platform turned off for the last time
While it’s been a non-entity in parts of the Western world for some time now, Sony has confirmed that it will officially pull the plug on the PlayStation Portable this year. The platform holder’s former flagship handheld format originally launched in Japan on 12th December 2004, meaning that it...
News 2K Marin to Be BioShock's Big Daddy Moving Forwards
Hold hands
Despite the disbandment of Irrational Games, the BioShock brand will go on bamboozling fans – this time under the watchful eye of 2K Marin. Those of you with strong memories may recall that the Californian studio was partly responsible for the divisive sequel BioShock 2, which this author actually preferred to the original. Not
Talking Point Is Watch Dogs Proof That You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing?
Greedy guts
There’s no shortage of gamer clichés capable of sending groans through the office each time that we encounter them, but this editor has a particularly vehement distaste to the vapid criticisms pertaining to game length. While we can appreciate that gaming is an undeniably expensive hobby, we find it frustrating that consumers are...
News Sony Expects to Remain in the Red Next Year As Well
Company can't stop losing cash
Sony’s the corporate equivalent of one of those kids that drops a fiver on the floor and refuses to pick it up because that would be deemed ‘uncool’. Despite confirming an expected loss of $1.26 billion overnight, the Japanese giant has admitted that it’ll remain in the red next year as well – predicting a...
News Sony's Square Enix Stock Sales Don't Spell Disaster, Says Final Fantasy Producer
Squarin' up those debts
You may recall a few weeks back that Sony sold all of its 9,520,000 shares in Square Enix. While most were quick to assume that the sale signalled some impending doom for the company, the reasons behind the move were actually much less sinister. Indeed, Final Fantasy series producer Shinji Hashimoto revealed at Comic-Con...
News Sony Bosses Forfeit Bonuses Ahead of Billion Dollar Loss
Hip hip Hirai
There’ll be no wad in the back pocket of Sony gaffer Kaz Hirai this week, as the ex-PlayStation president – along with 40 of the organisation’s top executives – will forfeit their bonuses ahead of this week’s expected billion dollar loss. It’s believed that many of the senior employees will sacrifice a third of their annual...
News Don't Panic, Sony's Already Made Plans for the Next Century of PlayStation
Wait, what?
We always knew that Sony was a forward thinking company, but this is getting ridiculous. Big wigs Andrew House and Mark Cerny will both take to the stage at this year's Develop conference to deliver a keynote on the history and future of the PlayStation brand. Titled '20 years of PlayStation, 40 years of Console Games, and 100 Years to...
News Sony: The Economics Don't Work for Blockbuster Vita Games
Gulp
Despite seeing a strong year-over-year improvement in Japan, the PlayStation Vita continues to find itself in a weak position overseas. The system is incredibly popular among the few that own it – culminating in an outrageous software attach rate – but it’s failed to break into the mainstream, prompting major publishers to back away and...
News Believe It or Not, People Are Actually Joining Naughty Dog
Much wow
In perhaps the most over publicised instance of employee rotation, Naughty Dog has been painted as a doomed developer over the past few months. However, for every high-profile departure
News How's Sony Doing Financially Now That the PS4's Out?
Well, the only way is up
There’s good news for Sony overlord Kaz Hirai: the PlayStation 4 is selling spectacularly. Not even the most optimistic of industry analysts could have predicted that the next-gen system would sell over seven million units in its first six or so months on the market, but that’s exactly what it’s achieved, and it’s...
News The Last of Us' Lead Character Artist Michael Knowland Has Left Naughty Dog
Goodbye and good luck
In a series of events that's beginning to look as weird as the plot from a David Lynch film, yet another Naughty Dog staffer is packing up their bags and jumping ship. Michael Knowland, the incredibly talented lead character artist on The Last of Us, has reportedly left the studio. He's yet to reveal where he plans to peddle...
News Dark Souls Developer From Software Bought by Kadokawa
You are not dead
Niche developer From Software has been purchased by Japanese publisher Kadokawa, according to a report on Siliconera. The latter will apparently acquire 80 per cent of the Dark Souls studio’s stock, as part of a deal that’s set to be completed on 21st May. It’s unclear yet how much money has exchanged hands, but we’re...
News Sony Very Nearly Disbanded Its Entire First-Party Development Division
Sucker punched
Sony’s internal development efforts have always been good, but it wasn’t until the latter half of the previous generation that it really started to transform its first-party products into major selling points. Titles such as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and God of War III were not just great games, they were genre defining – and...
News PlayStation Maker Ken Kutaragi Complimented Shuhei Yoshida Twice
And that was more than most
Ex-PlayStation president Ken Kutaragi may be the ‘Father of PlayStation’, but he had a tenuous relationship with his employees at best. Speaking as part of a question and answer session conducted by PlayStation 4 architect Mark Cerny, Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida recalled the discussion that preceded his...
News There's an Entire Team Working on PS4 Shooter The Division's Guns
Secret weapon
Ubisoft is known for its gigantic global development operations, but the recruitment of Red Storm to PlayStation 4 shooter Tom Clancy’s The Division is a little bit ridiculous. According to an official blog post on the French publisher’s website, the legendary Rainbow Six creator has been enlisted to design the ambitious online...
News First Mover's Advantage Key to Sony's Indie Lead, Says Curve Studios
A curve that sets things straight
The list of Curve Studios games available on PlayStation hardware is really quite impressive. So impressive, that we're about to demonstrate it to you in list form: Velocity Ultra PS3, Stealth Inc: A Clone in the Dark, Thomas Was Alone, Lone Survivor: Director's Cut, and
News It's Time to Start Making Plans for This Year's EGX London
Start queuing for The Order: 1886 now
With the indie titles of EGX Rezzed now little more than a distant memory – and a list of scribbled thoughts on this editor’s rather grubby notebook – our friends over at Eurogamer.net are already turning their attention to EGX London, the next major event hosted by the Gamer Network. Set to take place in...
News Ubisoft: We Will Continue to Support PS3 for Foreseeable Future
Life in the old dog yet
Assassin’s Creed: Unity, the next entry in Ubisoft’s stab happy series, will climb over current generation consoles. The sequel – which was announced last week – will be exclusive to systems such as the PlayStation 4, meaning that those who haven’t upgraded yet will miss out on the romp during the French Revolution...
News You Should Expect to See More British Developed Games in the Future
God save the games
When you think of British developers, studios such as Grand Theft Auto's Rockstar North and the Batman Arkham series' Rocksteady pop into mind. However, in the near future, the development of more AAA titles from this land of rolling green hills and royalty may not be so uncommon following tax breaks announced last week. Games...
News Uncharted PS4's Director Justin Richmond Departs Naughty Dog
Could the last one please turn out the lights?
Whip out your Sony studio boss bingo sheet, as yet another high-profile developer has bit the dust. The latest in the long line of executives to exit the manufacturer is Justin Richmond, who was acting as Uncharted PS4’s game director. His departure follows in the footsteps of Amy Hennig, who worked...
News High Profile Designer Seth Killian Has Resigned from Sony Santa Monica
Dropping like flies
Get out a pen and a mug of Horlicks – it's time to play Sony developer departure bingo. Most recently, Sony Santa Monica staffer Seth Killian has decided to jump ship, confirming the news mere weeks after the studio was ravaged with dismissals. The designer was famously involved w
News DriveClub Developer Evolution Studios Struck by Layoffs
Two other UK teams affected
We’re approaching the end of the fiscal year, which means that Sony’s still going through the process of downsizing some of its teams. Following redundancies at God of War developer Sony Santa Monica earlier in the month, the platform holder has now confirmed that there have been casualties at three of its British...
News The Lead Designer of inFAMOUS: Second Son Has Left Sucker Punch
Another one bites the dust
It's been a tough few weeks for Sony's Worldwide Studios. With the recent departures of several high profile developers, including Uncharted series director Amy Hennig, we're starting to notice a bit of a worrying trend. And it seems that yet another creative has joined the causality list, as Jaime Griesemer – the lead...
News Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Director Koji Igarashi Exits Konami
Whipping up a new studio
Koji Igarashi, the legendary developer best known for his work on the Castlevania franchise, has parted ways with his long-term employer Konami. According to an IGN report, the luminary’s last day with the Japanese company was on 15th March. He now intends to start his own studio, with a Kickstarter campaign no doubt...
News In Some Parts of the World, the PS4's Price Is Increasing
Going the wrong way
Price drops are common in this industry. It’s becoming increasingly regular for new releases to be discounted – both physically and digitally – shortly after launch, with patient players often rewarded with a bargain. Moreover, console cost adjustments frequently factor into a manufacturer’s hardware marketing roadmap,...
News SCEA President Jack Tretton Won't Be Dropping the Mic At Any More Sony Pressers
Goodbye old friend
Sony may have hit a homerun with the PlayStation 4 over the past few months, but it's undergoing a bit of an employment overhaul at the minute. Hot on the heels of layoffs at Sony Santa Monica and the departure of Uncharted creator
