Tag: Industry - Page 8
News EA Changes Iconic Frostbite Logo, Signaling Philosophical Shift
It's still a hand, though
EA's dynamic Frostbite engine is best known for its incredible environmental destructibility, which is central to its Battlefield franchise. For the last decade, this was represented by the iconic fractured hand logo on the splash screen of games that used the engine. Signalling a new shift in philosophy, EA has announced a...
News God of War Creator Says Kratos Has Lost His Way
The lingering spectre of Sparta
Creator David Jaffe isn't a massive fan of the direction that the modern God of War series, specifically God of War Ragnarok, is taking the character of Kratos. In a video posted to YouTube, Jaffe outlined his thoughts on the older, more contemplative martial deity, arguing that ageing developers pouring their life...
News Legendary Remedy Star James McCaffrey Has Passed, Aged 65
"No one could do what he did better than him"
James McCaffrey, an actor with a career spanning more than 35 years in television, film, and, of course, video games, has passed away following a battle with cancer, surrounded by friends and family. McCaffrey played Max Payne across all three games in the series and most recently voiced Alex Casey in...
News Former Free Radical Devs Offer Tantalizing Look at Cancelled TimeSplitters Concept Art
This is why we can't have nice things
Developers made redundant during the recent closure of UK-based developer Free Radical have begun to update their portfolios, offering tantalising glimpses of a TimeSplitters game that will now likely never see the light of day, from concept art and texture packs to character models and weapon designs. Former...
News Naughty Dog Has 'More Than One' Ambitious PS5 Single Player Game on the Way
"We cannot wait to share more"
Alongside confirmation that it’s cancelled its hotly anticipated The Last of Us Multiplayer project, Naughty Dog sought to reassure fans by confirming it has “more than one” ambitious single player titles in the works. The studio admitted that, had it followed through its live service plans, it would have had to...
News Disney Doesn't Think It Was 'Overly Exclusionary' to Cut Planned PS5 Version of Indiana Jones
Reckons it financially and strategically makes sense
We learned during Microsoft’s attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard that a PS5 version of Bethesda and MachineGames’ Indiana Jones adaptation was originally planned – until the Redmond firm renegotiated the terms with intellectual property holder, Disney. Discussing this matter directly,...
News Hackers Breach Insomniac Games, Marvel's Wolverine Details and Employee Data Up for Ransom
Sony currently investigating
Insomniac Games, the PlayStation first-party studio behind the recent Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and the upcoming Marvel's Wolverine, has been hacked, with sensitive information currently held hostage in a brazen digital heist. Word comes to us from Cyber Daily (thanks,
Game over
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, is officially dead. A statement on the official website simply reads: "After more than two decades of E3, each one bigger than the last, the time has come to say goodbye. Thanks for the memories." In a report by the Washington Post, the Entertainment Software Association — which...
News Free Radical Closure Confirmed as Embracer Shuts Studio Ahead of Christmas
"Sadly, we join an ever-growing list of casualties"
Embracer Group has made good on its promise, deciding the fate of UK-based TimeSplitters developer Free Radical Design after a consultation process that concluded on 11th December. Or at least we have to assume so, the embattled company hasn't made an announcement or anything; Free Radical's...
News Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding Documentary Will Air Exclusively on Disney+
Connecting worlds
The fierce battle for streaming rights rages on, and it looks like Disney+ has conquered when it comes to acquiring exclusivity on Hideo Kojima’s hotly anticipated documentary. Announced a little while ago – and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this summer – Hideo Kojima: Connecting Worlds is scheduled to release...
News Geoff Keighley Agrees Winners Weren't Given Enough Stage Time at The Game Awards
Please Wrap It Up
The Game Awards has come and gone again, with 2023's show proving somewhat contentious, depending on who you ask. Something that became increasingly apparent as the show progressed was the pressure winners appeared to be under to wrap things up. Even Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke, who managed to snag Game of the Year with
News The Game Awards Is Getting Ripped for Urging Award Winners to Wrap It Up
"I'mma let you finish but..."
The Game Awards 2023 largely delivered on its promise of celebrating the games industry, with a veritable smorgasbord of game announcements and trailers. However, one thing that was obvious to anyone watching is that award winners were not given much time on the stage to speak, following Kratos voice actor Christopher...
News Sony Reversing PSN Account Bans, Still Hasn't Offered an Explanation
No answers, just more questions
On Tuesday, we brought word of a widespread spate of seemingly permanent PSN bans hitting PlayStation users, preventing them from logging in and leaving them with seemingly no recourse. The good news is the firm appears to be correcting the mistake, the bad is it has yet to address the issue, which doesn't inspire...
News Lead Bungie Staff Fear 'Total Sony Takeover' After Layoffs, Delays
IGN report claims
Developers at Destiny 2 studio Bungie are said to be fearful of a "total Sony takeover" following missed revenue targets, layoffs, and product delays, a new IGN report claims. According to sources speaking to the outlet, higher-ups within the studio have hinted the shared power it enjoys with Sony following last year's acquisition...
News Sony: It's Important People Who Don't Play Games Access Our Content
Breaking the traditional console business boundaries
Sony wants to reach beyond the traditional boundaries of its PlayStation walled garden, and is eager to ensure non-console owners have access to its content. We’ve slowly started to see this strategy in motion: the company has commissioned television and movie adaptations of its biggest...
News Armello Developer League of Geeks Reduces Studio Headcount by Half
Jumplight Odyssey delayed indefinitely
"Triple-i" developer League of Geeks is one of Australia's most renowned, best known for its excellent tabletop-inspired strategy game, Armello, through which the award-winning studio found success. Today, it was announced that more than half of the studio's headcount had been made redundant, and development on...
News Layoffs Confirmed at F1 Developer Codemasters
The extent remains unknown
In more unfortunate layoff news, UK-based developer Codemasters has confirmed an unknown number of redundancies. The veteran studio is best known for its high-quality racing series, F1 and WRC, and was purchased by EA back in 2021. An EA spokesperson provided a statement to IGN, which attributes the "small-scale organiz
News Players Reporting PSN Account Bans in Seemingly Widespread Issue
Asleep at the wheel
Something strange seems to be happening with PSN, with widespread reports of players suddenly being suspended from their PSN accounts in the last few hours, handed harsh and permanent suspensions with little explanation. Occam's Razor suggests this is just some account glitch rather than an overt malicious act from Sony...
News Just One Day Later, Microsoft Has 'No Plans to Bring Game Pass' to PS5, PS4
Conflicting comments from Xbox higher-ups
Yesterday, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart said Microsoft wants Xbox Game Pass on "every screen that can play games", including "what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo". One day later, Xbox boss Phil Spencer told Windows Central: "We have no plans to bring Game Pass to...
Talking Point Is Bungie Really the Right Developer to Aid Sony's Live-Service Push?
A live-service centre of excellence, apparently
When was the last time you read a news story about Bungie and Destiny 2 that was genuinely positive about the game? If you only get your gaming news here at Push Square, it would be last week: the new armour set themed around The Witcher 3 looked pretty cool. It was then pointed out you could actually...
News Microsoft Still Wants to Put Xbox Game Pass on PS5, PS4
Play Microsoft first-party games on Sony hardware
Xbox Series X|S maker Microsoft has once again expressed a desire to release its membership service Game Pass on to PS5, PS4, allowing first-party titles like Starfield and Forza Motorsport to become available to a wider audience. Xbox CFO Tim Stuart made the comments during the Wells Fargo TMT...
News Sony's Probably Not Done Partnering with Korean Devs
More alliances were hinted earlier in the year
Around six months ago, Korean media reported that Sony was sniffing around the region’s local talent in order to shore up content from emerging studios. In the past few weeks, it’s signed deals with Stellar Blade developer Shift Up and MMO make
Random Yes, Netflix Really Is Getting GTA for Christmas
The most wonderful time of the year
We reported earlier in the year that Netflix had big-brain ideas for the oft-overlooked gaming arm of its business, and here’s the bombshell: the streaming subscription will add all three entries from Rockstar’s remastered GTA Trilogy on 14th December. While not strictly PlayStation news in the purest sense,...
Reaction PlayStation's Finally Poised to Penetrate the Mobile Market in the Right Way
Phone stars
You may not like playing mobile games, but millions upon millions do. Estimates indicate approximately three billion people enjoy some kind of interactive experience on their smartphone, which is almost half the entire planet’s population. That’s a staggering statistic, and it’s not hard to understand why Sony would want to...
News Embracer CEO Confirms TimeSplitters Dev Could Close Before Christmas
Consultation continues
Following reports in November that Free Radical Design, the UK-based developer tasked with resurrecting TimeSplitters, would be next on the Embracer chopping block, CEO Lars Wingford has acknowledged the studio's precarious position. While the company has said nothing publicly yet, VGC reports that employees recei
News Sony Confirms Strategic Partnership with South Korean Publisher NCSOFT
A mobile phone focus
Sony has today announced it's signed a new "strategic partnership" with South Korean publisher NCSOFT, which has put out games like Guild Wars and Blade & Soul. The deal allows the two firms to "collaborate in various global business fields, including mobile", with NCSOFT employing more than 5,000 people worldwide. A press...
News GTA Stage Invader Prompts The Game Awards to Shore Up Security
Busted
Both at The Game Awards last year and at Gamescom Opening Night Live earlier this year, there have been stage invaders interrupting the Geoff Keighley hosted events. While these can be eyebrow raising moments at the best of times, they genuinely raise legitimate questions about the safety of those people on stage. Obviously, it’s something...
Reaction You Really Shouldn't Be Surprised Kids Want PS5, PS4 Game Currencies for Xmas
Sign of the times
Gaming is changing, and there’s probably no going back to the “good old days” at this point. For many of you reading this article, Christmas was very likely defined by the carefully wrapped boxes nestled preciously under your tree. You’ll all have your own memories, of course, but for this author it’s The Legend of Zelda:...
News US Children Want Subscriptions and Currencies for Christmas, Not Games
Fewer than one in four will ask for a game
Parents in the USA are more likely to find Roblox subscriptions or Call of Duty points at the top of their child's Christmas wishlist than any physical video games this year, an ESA survey says. Having polled 501 children aged between 10 and 17, video game-related presents returned the most responses at 72...
News Embracer Exec Says Headcount Reduction Process Has Been 'Agonizing', but 'Necessary'
"It's something that Embracer really feels for"
Embattled publisher Embracer Group announced back in June that layoffs, cancellations and closures would be required in order to continue operations after apparently vastly overextending. Estimated, then, to employ 17,000 staff across dozens of studios, with ambitions to release some 234 games before...
News Rockstar OGs Compel Former GTA Developer to Pull Insightful Blog
"Something about ruining the Rockstar mystique"
Yesterday, we brought you word of a wonderfully insightful blog penned by former Rockstar Games technical director Obbe Vermeij, which reflected on his time at the studio as well as revealing delicious gamer tidbits to a ravenous audience. For example, we learned the fate of long-lost PS3 exclusive...
News PlayStation's Mobile Games Studio Rebrands Following Multiple Departures
Savage
It's often forgotten about, but part of Sony's long-term plan is to establish itself in the mobile gaming space. a PlayStation Mobile Studios division exists, and back in 2022, the company acquired Savage Game Studios as its first sizeable, dedicated mobile developer. The team has been making a "new unannounced AAA mobile live service action...
News Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake Reportedly Deader than Alderaan
Too soon?
Hopes of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake returning balance to the Force have been thoroughly dashed, with Giant Bomb journalist Jeff Grub reporting that "full stop, this game is not being worked on in any way at any studio." Grub's comments come in response to those of Embracer Group boss Lars Wingford, who refused to...
News Returnal Director Is Leaving Housemarque After 14 Years
Harry Krueger out
Housemarque, Sony's Finnish studio that brought us PS5's excellent Returnal, has announced the departure of a long-serving member of the team. Harry Krueger, director of the aforementioned game, will be leaving the studio after 14 years. Krueger joined Housemarque in 2009 as a gameplay programmer, and quickly made his way up the...
News One of PSVR2's Biggest Developers, nDreams, Has Been Bought Up for $110 Million
Mo money less problems?
Virtual reality has a few major players, and the development house named nDreams is one of them. Having released many well-regarded VR games across various platforms, the studio has just been acquired for about $110 million. The buyer is Aonic, a "diversified video gaming group" which previously invested $35 million into...
News Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann to Receive NYVGCC Legend Award
Past recipents include Hideo Kojima, Phil Spencer, Reggie Fils-Aimé
Naughty Dog co-president and lead creative Neil Druckmann is being honoured with a prestigious Andrew Yoon Legend Award, which will be presented by the New York Video Game Critics Circle at the 13th annual New York Game Awards, airing on 23rd January, 2024. The award, which...
News 900 People Laid Off from Embracer Group During Its Second Quarter of 2023
Company confirms impact
As has already been reported, Embracer Group is among the many businesses in the industry cutting back its workforce in 2023. However, we now have a figure; during its second quarter, ending with September, the holding company has let go of 900 employees. To put that in perspective, this number represents just five per cent...
News Sony Says PS Portal Wasn't Designed to Make a Profit
It's all about engagement
The PlayStation Portal is Sony's popular new handheld remote-play machine, which is currently dividing enthusiast opinion. Apparently, the device was never designed as a profit-making product. Instead, the firm says, the goal of the brave little device is to increase PS5 engagement. Speaking to Japanese outlet
News SEGA Isn't Surprised That Companies Want to Acquire It
"We have attractive IPs and potentials"
SEGA is a company that comes up all the time when PlayStation and Xbox fans try and fantasy book the gaming firms they want their console of choice to purchase, but the Japanese company has gone on record to say it's not interested in an acquisition. It can understand why it's being targeted, though, as a new...
News 505 Games Parent Company Digital Bros Cuts 30% of Global Workforce
"With the predominant portion concentrated within the studios"
Digital Bros, which publishes games under its subsidiary brand, 505 Games, is laying off roughly 30% of its global workforce. The company has 442 employees and offices in Italy, the United States, the UK, France, Spain, Germany, the Czech Republic, China, Japan, Australia, and Canada...
News GTA Publisher Lays Out Complex Entertainment Per-Hour Pricing Algorithm
How much is your hype worth?
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has expressed his stance on how entertainment, specifically video games, should be priced, a contentious topic at the best of times. According to the executive's philosophy, this can be calculated by a seemingly simple algorithm, though its nebulous nature makes its efficacy...
News Naughty Dog Head of Technology Leaving Kennel After 17-Year Career
One of the pack
Naughty Dog has announced that head of technology Christian Gyrling is leaving the Kennel after an impressive 17-year career. Gyrling began work at the studio as a programmer on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, eventually serving as studio vice president in 2020 and being appointed head of technology earlier this year. The studio,...
News Konami Is Creating a New Silent Hill Production Team
The rebirth of Team Silent?
Konami appears to be laying the foundations for a successor to its former internal studio Team Silent, which developed the first four Silent Hill games. A recruitment page is advertising roles for a newly formed Silent Production Team, and is giving those picked the "chance to be involved in game production in a...
News AI Could Make Grand Theft Auto NPCs 'Really Interesting and Fun', Says Take-Two CEO
Traditional scripted NPCs "not very interesting"
Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has apparently sided with the machines in the ongoing AI debate currently consuming the entertainment industry. He thinks the innovative new technology could improve the next Grand Theft Auto by adding more variety to dialogue trees to entice lapsed players back...
News Baldur's Gate 3 Dominates Golden Joystick Awards, Wins Game of the Year
The first of many
This year's Golden Joystick Awards are over, and Baldur's Gate 3 has walked away the big winner. The superb RPG snagged the all-encompassing 'Ultimate Game of the Year', beating out the likes of Alan Wake 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy 16, and many more. Larian's universally acclaimed title also scooped the win in six...
News Suicide Squad Backlash Doesn't Stop Warner Bros from Doubling Down on Live-Service Games
Wants more players spending more money
The backlash aimed at the live-service elements featured in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League forced Rocksteady into a near-year-long delay, but that's not stopping Warner Bros from investing heavily in the space. In the firm's latest earnings call, CEO David Zaslav explained the focus is to transform its...
News Sony Delays Six Live Service PS5 Games, But Company Remains Committed to Model
Wants the games to be enjoyed for a long time
Sony’s slashed its live service plans, announcing that six of its 12 in-production projects will not release by March 2026, as previously planned. The platform holder was plotting to launch the dozen or so titles by the end of its 2025 Fiscal Year, but in an earnings call, Sony bigwig Hiroki Totoki...
News The Marvels Director Was Inspired by 'Amazing' Final Fantasy Movie
PlayStation exclusives also helped shaped vision
By all accounts, The Marvels ain’t bad. Okay, so it’s currently a commanding a 59 on Rotten Tomatoes which isn’t exactly glowing, but it’s better than other recent Marvel joints like Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Disney+ TV series Secret Invasion. Perhaps that has a little something to...
News Embracer Collapse Continues, with TimeSplitters Dev Allegedly Next on the Chopping Block
Free Radical allegedly under threat
Embracer’s well-documented collapse looks poised to claim another casualty, with VGC reporting the re-established TimeSplitters dev Free Radical could be next on the chopping block. As you may already know, the Swedish firm went on a massive acquisition spree for several years, but a collapsed contract has...
News Embracer COO Announces Departure Following 'Rough' Year for Company
"Embracer will come out stronger and with a long, bright future ahead of them"
Embattled IP hoarder Embracer Group has announced the departure of Chief Operations Officer Egil Strunke, who leaves the company amidst a larger restructuring comprised of layoffs, cancellations, and studio closures. In a statement, Strunke confirmed the news of his...
