Tag: Industry
News Sony Steps Up Fraud Prevention After Major PS5 Security Vulnerabilities Exposed
Taking things seriously
A few weeks ago I reported on major PS5 security vulnerabilities which have been causing loyal PlayStation customers to lose access to their accounts. As exposed by Sacred Symbols podcaster Colin Moriarty, lax customer service has resulted in bad actors hijacking various PSN accounts using just a couple of pieces of publicly...
More questions raised than answered
In an interview with Gamertag Radio, Xbox boss Matt Booty has shed a little more light on Microsoft’s ever-changing approach to exclusivity. In case you missed the news earlier today, the Redmond firm said both Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will be
The plan is the plan, etc
Xbox has released a statement clarifying that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution, announced as console exclusives earlier today, are not timed exclusives. They will be available only on Xbox Series X|S and PC. In a statement on
News PS5 First-Party Sales Have Fallen Sharply, But It Doesn't Tell the Full Story
Putting things in context
A paywalled report published by journalist Stephen Totilo’s GameFile has sparked great debate about the fortunes of Sony’s first-party during the PS5 generation. Totilo has aggregated data from the platform holder’s annual financial reports, which shows declining sales of first-party games. However, having looked at...
New bill proposes stricter rules
Stop Killing Games, the consumer movement which has hit headlines several times over the past year, has landed its biggest win yet. Last week, the California State Assembly passed the ‘Protect Our Games’ act, bringing the campaign a step closer to its goal. But it still faces stiff resistance from industry b
News 'Have Fun in the Festering Slop Pit': Hideo Kojima Underfire for Generative AI Short
"Not my Kojima"
Hideo Kojima will stop at nothing to cosy up with his celebrity pals, but this generative AI short starring the Death Stranding maker alongside longtime collaborator Nicolas Winding Refn is proving a bridge too far for many. The six-minute film debuted at the 79th Cannes Film Festival by Prada this week, promoting an upcoming event...
News 'Absurd': Social Media Misquotes Journalist, Erroneously Claims Sony Is Angry at Naughty Dog
Another day at the office
A fairly tame exchange between reliable Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier and a reader has resulted in a bunch of bad actors on social media saying Sony is “angry” with Naughty Dog. It all somehow started on Bluesky a few days ago, when Schreier shared his exclusive report on B
News LittleBigPlanet Dev's Next PS5 Game Could Have Open World Aspects
A tease of what's to come
UK dev Media Molecule’s next game is expected to be more of a traditional adventure, as opposed to a creation engine like the innovative but ultimately ill-fated Dreams. We have absolutely no idea what the first-party team’s working on, however, so this is an interesting nugget dug up by MP1st. It’s spott
News 'It's Nuts': Major PS5 Security Vulnerability Exposed, and We're All at Risk
Social engineering scam uncovered
A major PSN security vulnerability has been exposed, and any one of us could become a victim unless Sony tightens up its processes. Earlier this week, I wrote a story about Sacred Symbols host Colin Moriarty, who was the victim of a social engineering scam which almost resulted in his PSN account
News 'We're Not Standing Still': Returnal Director Forms New Studio to Make Games That Trust You
Harry Krueger establishes Cosmic Division
Harry Krueger, director of Returnal and a 14-year Housemarque veteran, has announced the formation of his new team. Cosmic Division is its name, and it’s already working on its first project: a single player “gameplay-first” experience packing “a story with strong emotional resonance”. It’s...
News Xbox Fans Flock to Online Suggestions Box to Tell Microsoft to Keep Games Off PS5
"BRING EXCLUSIVES BACK PLEASE!!!"
Time is a flat circle, and in lockstep with Phil Spencer’s tenure back in 2014, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has introduced a community suggestions box for fans to submit their ideas for the brand. (By the way, I’m not going to feed Microsoft’s tedious engagement activities and write XBOX here, because that’s...
News Prominent PS5 Podcaster's Account Hacked, Social Engineering Concerns Amplified
Is nothing sacred?
A prominent PS5 podcaster’s PSN account has been hacked, amplifying ongoing concerns of “social engineering” which have been circulating within the PlayStation fanbase. Colin Moriarty, the founder and creator of the Sacred Symbols podcast and ex-IGN PlayStation editor,
News PlayStation Shutting Something Else Down, But It's Not a Studio This Time
Tournament website Repeat.gg closing down
Sony and developer closures have gone hand in hand recently, and the PS5 hardware maker still isn't done. Yet another closure under PlayStation's wing has been confirmed, but this time, it's not a games studio; it's on a much smaller scale. The company acquired a tournament website called Repeat.gg way back...
News PS5 Boss Says He's Seen the Future of Gaming, and It's 'Unbelievably Positive'
"There are no dire times for the industry ahead"
There’s a malaise around the gaming industry right now that’s difficult to ignore, no matter how positive your personal outlook. Layoffs, rising prices, and consternation about where exactly the industry’s going have all understandably prompted cynicism among players. But Sony’s third-party...
News What a Twist! Ex-Tekken Boss Harada Opens New Studio Under Fatal Fury's SNK
Tekken the p*ss
When Katsuhiro Harada — commonly referred to the godfather of Tekken — announced his departure from Bandai Namco late last year, we were left wondering whether he'd remain in gaming. As it turns out, the answer to that question is a resounding 'yes'. Harada's gone on to establish a new development outfit named VS Studio — and...
Dare to dream
This year’s Tokyo Game Show will be its biggest ever, with organisers CESA describing it as the “longest five days of non-stop play”. Historically the convention, held at Chiba’s iconic Makuhari Messe, has consisted of two business days and two consumer days. But this year there’ll be a third public day, aligning with a...
No, thank you
GameStop, the US physical games retailer, made bizarre advances on eBay last week – an organisation almost four times its size. That play has since been rejected by the online auction site, with Paul S. Pressler, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, describing the gaming store’s proposal as “neither credible nor...
News SEGA Cancels Super Game Project and Moves Away from Live Service
Classic franchise reboots are still alive
SEGA has announced the cancellation of its live service Super Game project and that it is lowering the priority of having Games as a Service in its portfolio for the future. The news was buried in the company's latest financial earnings results, and sees five years of work scrapped before any of it could...
News PS2 May Survive the Switch's Assault on Gaming History
"They had us in the first half, not gonna lie"
Sony’s decision to quietly increase the PS2’s sales to 160 million a few years ago may have proven a master stroke: the console should just about hang on to its status as the best-selling console of all-time. While the Switch is agonisingly close to the PS2’s record with 156 million units sold,...
News Giant Enemy Crabs, $599, Ridge Racer: Sony's Wild E3 2006 Is Now 20-Years-Old
Remember the best memes
Can you believe it’s been over 20 years since Sony’s infamous E3 2006 press conference? It was a low point for the brand which made PS3’s first few years particularly tricky for the platform holder to navigate. The younger among you may not be familiar with the E3 press conferences of old, which were not the polished...
News Physical Game Fans, Beware: Digital Downloads Hit an Astonishing 85% on PS5, PS4 Last Quarter
Boxed in
An astonishing 85% of PS5 and PS4 games were purchased digitally in Sony’s most recent financial quarter, which covered the three month period ending 31st March. That means the average for the financial year as a whole tallied 78%, an increase of 2% year-over-year and a record high for the brand. Digital sales represented just 19% a...
News PlayStation's AI Push Raises a Bigger Question: Where Do You Draw the Line?
AI don't know
In a presentation aimed at investors earlier today, PlayStation announced its intention to use AI to “deliver a cutting-edge entertainment experience” for its players. Unsurprisingly, its comments have already attracted significant blowback from some corners of social media, but it’s important to first reflect on what boss...
News Is Bungie Sony's Worst Ever Acquisition After $765 Million Write-Down?
Marathon under the microscope
Sony has reported an eye-watering $765 million impairment loss on Bungie, raising the question: is this the platform holder’s worst ever acquisition? This includes a $204 million impairment loss late last year, meaning the value of the developer has plummeted
News PlayStation's Lofty Preservation Efforts 'Not Stopping Anytime Soon'
Senior engineer shares work with Sony suits
We've known for a good while now that Sony has established a team within PlayStation that's specifically concerned with preservation. Spearheaded by Garrett Fredley (Senior Build Engineer, IP Preservation), the team's work is predominantly about archiving PlayStation's historical games and related...
News 'Human Creativity Must Remain at the Centre': Sony Talks AI within PlayStation
AI "not a replacement for artists or creators"
During a Q&A session following the release of its latest financial results, Sony and PlayStation's top brass have outlined plans for the use of AI technology within the business. It seems that the through-line guiding the company's approach is that AI should serve as a tool to aid creators and make...
News Bungie Was a $765 Million Thorn in Sony's Side in 2025
Big impairment on Marathon maker
Sony's financial results for its fiscal year 2025 reveals a hefty impairment of Bungie that's had a big impact on PlayStation's operating income. What that means in a nutshell is that, last year, Sony reduced the Marathon studio's value by $765 million, a loss measured against net income for the period. Despite...
News From Failed Rice Cookers to PS5, Sony Turns 80 Today
Make believe
Sony is 80-years-old today. The company – founded on 7th May, 1946 in post-war Japan – was originally named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, or Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp. It started out without a product or a plan, and immediately set to work making rice cookers, which didn’t have much success. But it would eventually land...
News MindsEye Saga Hits a New Low as Mass Layoffs Cripple PS5 Flop's 'Comeback'
Break A Rocket Boy
Just when you thought MindsEye couldn't become much more of an unmitigated disaster, fresh reports say that developer Build A Rocket Boy has just laid off roughly 170 employees. It's a massive number that apparently brings the studio's total headcount down to around 80 people, according to Kotaku sources. You know that classic...
News Fallout Co-Creator Says Gamers Are Letting Influencers Tell Them What to Think
Modern media
Fallout co-creator Tim Cain has had some pretty fascinating things to say about the world of influencers, and how it’s changing the way players form opinions about games. It’s important to note that the industry veteran – who recently rejoined Obsidian, where he’s working on an unannounced project – was not necessarily being...
News Another Highly Regarded PSVR2 Dev on the Brink After Mass Layoffs
Survios loses most of its staff
Alien: Rogue Incursion and CREED: Rise to Glory studio Survios has reportedly lost most of its employees in a round of layoffs. Picked up by Game Developer, a series of LinkedIn posts suggests most workers have lost their jobs. Combat designer Dylan Ralston said the LA studio will be "essentially shuttered" and all...
News Gamers Still Pick Consoles for Exclusives, New Data Finds
Who'd have thought?
According to Circana data, the number one reason gamers choose to buy a particular console is because of exclusive games. The Game Business reports that 41% of US players said they picked their platform of choice because of exclusives. The figure was closer to 50% a year ago, but it’s still the number one decision maker for...
News These Numbers Explain Why Sony Is Stopping Porting PS5 Games to PC
They ain't great
It’s really no wonder Sony’s backing away from bringing its single player games to PC. We’ve felt for a while that the novelty of the platform holder’s ports has been wearing thin, but now we have Ampere estimates to back up that theory. And, honestly, they’re not particularly pretty. The Game Business
News Steelrising, GreedFall PS5 Dev Spiders Confirms It's Closing Its Doors
Studio moving into liquidation
Spiders, the French game studio owned by Nacon, will soon close its doors. That's according to a new report from Origami, which claims the developer will move into liquidation tomorrow — 29th April 2026 — following serious financial troubles at the publisher. The report says Nacon had been searching for a buyer...
Not ready to commit to a timeline
Earlier today we wrote extensively about Xbox leadership’s inability to stop speaking, and lo and behold, here’s another interview. That’s right, fresh from incoming CEO Asha Sharma’s address to the nation earlier this week – in which she confirmed the company is “
News Vampire Survivors Dev Doesn't Need to @ Us, It's Working on 15 Projects
Definitely not 15 games
Poncle, the maker of Vampire Survivors, released its new card-based game Vampire Crawlers this week – and we love it. But the studio has a lot more in the pipeline, 15 projects to be precise. Those of you on social media may have noticed earlier today that The Game Business published a report saying the studio was working...
News Koei Tecmo Is Absolutely Killing It Right Now as Hits Like Nioh 3 Smash Sales Expectations
Nioh yeah
In an age where it can feel like the entire gaming industry is collapsing in on itself, it's always nice to report on some good news. This time, it's Koei Tecmo's turn in the spotlight, as the Japanese publisher's just made some major revisions to its earnings forecast; it's now expecting record revenue and profit thanks to significantly...
News The MindsEye Saga Never Ends as Devs Accuse Studio of Violating Their Privacy
TeramindsEye
Another week, another depressingly concerning development in the MindsEye saga. We're close to a full year out from the initial release of the frankly dreadful open world title, and we're still being presented with bad news. This time, unionised employees at developer Build A Rocket Boy are taking legal action against the studio,...
News 'IP That Will Captivate the World': A New Juggernaut Has Just Entered Japanese Game Publishing
Toei joins the fray
If you're into Japanese cinema or anime, then you've probably heard of Toei, one of the country's longest-standing entertainment companies. At least here in the West, Toei is perhaps best known for its animation studios, gathered under the banner of Toei Animation. Over its 80-ish year history, the company's produced...
News 'I Didn't Listen to Him': Ex PlayStation Boss Shu Yoshida on Why Jim Ryan 'Fired' Him
"He asked to do some ridiculous things"
The former PlayStation lead Shuhei Yoshida has revealed more on the story behind his switch from the President of SIE Worldwide Studios to bossing an indies initiative within Sony. Speaking during an ALT: Games panel, an Australian video games festival, Yoshida recounted his career and shared that he was...
News Silent Hill Dev Bloober Team Is the Busiest Horror Studio in the Business Right Now
Anything but silent
It's all go at Bloober Team right now. The studio, which specialises in horror games and is perhaps best known for its remake of Silent Hill 2, is expanding its leadership, GamesIndustry.biz reports. It seems the main reason behind the growth is to evolve Bloober Team into a multi-game studio. According to the report, the...
Naughty naughty
Naughty Dog, one of Sony's most highly valued development studios, is pretty notorious for its crunch culture, with extended working hours the norm during certain periods of a game's production. Crunch is a problem throughout the medium, but Naughty Dog is arguably one of the worst culprits, and that's because it's given up trying...
News GTA 6 Dev Confirms Another Data Breach, Hackers Demand Ransom
"This incident has no impact on our organisation or our players"
Many of you may remember Rockstar was hacked several years ago, resulting in several devastating GTA 6 leaks which culminated in the arrest of a 17-year-old. That individual was senten
News 'I Saw How It Was Getting Damaged': Ex-Bethesda Exec Goes to Town on Xbox's Mistreatment
"That shouldn't be a surprise to you"
In a brutal and damning section of a wider interview, ex-Bethesda boss Pete Hines has put Microsoft on blast, without specifically mentioning the Redmond firm by name. As part of a chat with journalist Kirk McKeand, he implied his former employees are not part of something “authentic” or “genuine”, and...
News Legendary Guilty Gear Creator Offers a Warning to AAA Game Developers
"It's very dangerous"
The main brain behind Guilty Gear, Daisuke Ishiwatari, has recently expressed some concern for the direction of AAA game development — and it's difficult to downplay said concerns when the man's such a creative icon. Speaking to 4Gamer (as translated by Automaton),
Opinion Sony's 'Playerbase' Is a Weak and Weird Way to Celebrate PS5 Fans
What are we doing here?
Sony announced The Playerbase today, a kinda competition designed to put people like you – yes, you – in some of its biggest first-party games. I understand the company wants to establish a closer relationship with its core players, but is this the best it could come up with? This reminds me of
News 'I Was Convinced It Could Never Be Done': Dev Praises 'Breakthrough' in PS3 Emulation
"Amazing work"
Emulating games older than the PS3 is fairly straightforward these days; even practically all PS2 games, barring a few exceptions, will play on a modern Android handheld. But Sony’s last-last-gen console remains a headache for developers, largely due to its complex architecture. Readers will know that the Cell processor was...
News Ni no Kuni Dev Level-5 Confirms New Vision Showcase for This Week
Expect a DECAPOLICE re-reveal
Level-5, the Ni no Kuni team that's made a bit of a revival over the past few years, has announced it'll share what titles it has planned next in its Level-5 Vision 2026 showcase at the end of this week. The livestream shall take place this Friday, 10th April 2026, and the studio president and CEO Akihiro Hino is not...
He's not a big gamer, though
In a rare English language interview with Bloomberg, Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki has talked about his company’s transition from consumer electronics to entertainment. The Japanese giant is best known for its history making products like televisions and CD players, but recently it spun off its Bravia business as part of a...
News Following CEO's AI Doubts, Take-Two's AI Team Is Shrinking
But we doubt the tech is gone for good
Take-Two Interactive, publisher and parent company of Rockstar Games, has made layoffs among its team dedicated to researching and implementing artificial intelligence. Most notably, the head of AI at the company, Luke Dicken, has been let go, along with an undisclosed number of people within the division...
