News Sony Reveals TGS 2017 PS4 Software Lineup
Monster Hunter! Yakuza! Gran Turismo!
Gamescom 2017 PS4 Crime Thriller Hidden Agenda Wins Another Award
Assassin's Creed Origins voted best PS4 game
News Naughty Dog Is Hiring, Like, Everyone for The Last of Us: Part II
Studio on enormous recruitment spree
Industry - News
September2017
News Uncharted, The Last of Us Director Bruce Straley Departs Naughty Dog
Woof
He’s been on sabbatical for a year, but Naughty Dog veteran Bruce Straley will not be returning to the kennel. After spending 18 years at the Californian company, The Last of Us and Uncharted director has called time on his tenure at the award-winning studio. There’s no word on what he’ll do next, but we’re sure that we’ll be hearing...
News Sony Reveals TGS 2017 PS4 Software Lineup
Monster Hunter! Yakuza! Gran Turismo!
Sony’s booth at TGS 2017 will only be dwarfed by those belonging to Japan’s biggest smartphone success stories – but that’s the state of the industry overseas these days. Nevertheless, the platform holder has booked out plenty of space to showcase a slew of PlayStation 4 titles, including local...
News Uncharted 4 Was Almost An Entirely Different Game
Book reveals title's turbulent tale
Do you remember the very early days of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End? There was a mass exodus at developer Naughty Dog, with franchise director Amy Hennig being the most notable departure. Rumour had it that the sequel was in dire straits, and The Last of Us creators Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley were ushered in...
August2017
Gamescom 2017 PS4 Crime Thriller Hidden Agenda Wins Another Award
Assassin's Creed Origins voted best PS4 game
Supermassive Games’ smartphone-powered crime thriller Hidden Agenda is quietly starting to scoop up a sizeable number of awards, having netted the casual game gong at Gamescom 2017 – upon landing a similar statue at E3 2017. In truth, this was a lean year for PlayStation 4 winners at the German...
News Naughty Dog Is Hiring, Like, Everyone for The Last of Us: Part II
Studio on enormous recruitment spree
Looks like The Last of Us: Part II is about to enter full production, as Naughty Dog is hiring for… Well, a frightening number of new positions. The award-winning developer’s looking for everything from artists to programmers to designers to animators to… Well, you get the picture. You can find out more...
News Persona Maker Atlus Finally Found Europe on a Map
There is a God
Atlus fans have had it rough in Europe over the past few years. Persona 5 did just about make it out on time here – primarily thanks to a publishing partnership that the Japanese company signed with Deep Silver – but past releases from the firm have been notorious for their setbacks in the old world. And that’s if they even made...
Gamescom 2017 Sony Looking to Market PS4 to a New Audience
"The core gamer audience is bought in"
Sony wants the PlayStation 4 to appeal to a wider audience now that it’s successfully sold 60 million units. Talking about its new PlayLink line – where the games are controlled using a smartphone rather than a more traditional DualShock 4 – bigwig Jim Ryan believes that appealing to a new market outside...
Soapbox Pixel Art Is Prolific, and That's Pretty Great
Stephen loves modern gaming's diverse art styles
Video games have been around for a while now. We’ve now reached a position where children who played, and were inspired by, games such as Pac-Man, DOOM, or Super Mario Bros are now making games of their own. Chris Davis, creator of The Escapists, puts it like this: “I also happen to be a big...
News NieR: Automata May Very Well Have Saved Platinum Games
2B's bubble butt cushions company to safety
Platinum Games is no stranger to bombas, with practically every title that it’s developed flopping at some point or other. But you may remember that not too long ago, the studio was put in a difficult position: Xbox One exclusive Scalebound was cancelled, and NieR: Automata didn’t look like it was...
Soapbox Why Is Sound So Underappreciated in Games?
Sammy wants you to open your ears
It’s always about the graphics, isn’t it? Video games are, by their very nature, a visual medium – and we tend to judge technical progress by the number of polygons or pixels being displayed on screen. We analyse in deep detail the lighting, the resolution – heck, the rise of Digital Foundry means that even...
"We had no idea it'd be this popular"
We’re going trumpet our own horn a little bit here: we told you time and time again that Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was going to be huge. But it seems even Activision didn’t predict the PlayStation 4 remake’s, ahem, N. Sane success – with CEO Eric Hirshberg admitting during an earnings call that the...
News Four Years After Launch, Grand Theft Auto Online Just Had Its Best Quarter
Gangster's paradise
Grand Theft Auto Online enjoyed its best ever quarter in the period spanning 1st April to 30th June – despite the game being almost four years old. Take-Two confirmed the tidbit during an earnings call earlier today, where it revealed that the mode smashed “sales expectations and was the single largest contributor to...
July2017
News Ubisoft Games Are Selling Way Better on PS4 Than on Other Platforms
PS4 share sees a jump over 2016
Ubisoft games have always performed well on the PlayStation 4, and going by the publisher's latest financial report, that fact's not going to change anytime soon. In this quarter of 2016, 31 per cent of Ubisoft's game sales were on PS4 -- an already big share that's actually jumped this year. Sony's console accounted...
News Gaming Greats Pay Respects to George A. Romero
Filmmaker passes away aged 77
George A. Romero, the legendary director behind the Living Dead series of movies, has passed away. The veteran – who appeared as a character in Call of Duty: Black Ops – is considered by many to be the father of the zombie genre, and his enormous influence can be felt all over the video game industry. It’s...
June2017
News E3 2017's Game Critics Awards Miss Some Heavy Hitters
Best of the rest
The nominees for the E3 2017 Game Critics Awards are in – and they’re missing a significant number of games. So the thing here is that the media had to be able to play at least five minutes of a title for it to be eligible, meaning that the likes of God of War, Spider-Man, Monster Hunter: World, Shadow of the Colossus, and...
News Industry Is Better When Nintendo Is Strong, Says Sony
Platform holder doesn't think it'll be easy for Xbox One X
Sony’s weighed in once again on the early success of the Nintendo Switch, stressing that it believes the increased presence in the space is a “good thing”. PlayStation Europe president Jim Ryan spoke earnestly about the positive reception the hybrid hardware has received, noting that...
News Well, May As Well Get the E3 2018 Tag Started, Right?
Next year's show dated
The industry’s barely had time to put a full-stop on E3 2017, but already it’s time to turn our attention to E3 2018. Good god! Anyway, the Entertainment Software Association – the group responsible for organising the annual show – has confirmed that next year’s event will take place between 12th June and 14th June,...
Reaction Curtain Closes on Ill-Tempered E3 2017
Forgettable show has been feisty
Well, this one won’t live long in the memory, will it? E3 2017 has been fine, but it’s been far from vintage, and we’re struggling to think of any one announcement or theme that we’ll remember in the days to come – yet alone years. In fact, if there’s any one defining feature that’s really stood out,...
Report Konami Still Freakin' Hates Hideo Kojima
The publisher's not happy
Hell hath no fury like Konami scorned, apparently. A report in Japanese newspaper Nikkei has revealed that the ongoing feud between the Japanese publisher and Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima is ongoing – despite him having left the company years ago following the release of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Back then...
News Sony: We're Not Frightened of Xbox Scorpio
Company won't be losing any sleep
Sony’s been busy conducting interviews with some of the biggest publications in the industry, and it’s inevitably been asked about Project Scorpio – the upcoming PS4 Pro-esque upgrade for the Xbox One, which is scheduled to release later this year. And it’s admitted that, while it’s eager to see what...
News Sony: We See PS4 and Nintendo Switch Sitting Side-by-Side
Manufacturer thinks console's a “great success for Nintendo”
Sony’s been running a lot of interviews ahead of E3 2017 this week, and PlayStation America boss Shawn Layden’s been chatting a little bit about the Nintendo Switch, which has gotten off to a strong start since its release in early March. Speaking with TIME, the suit said that the...
News PS4 Is Still Crushing the Competition, Especially in Europe
Sony shares new numbers
The PlayStation 4 is still well on track to being one of the most successful consoles that Sony has ever launched. Over the last few years, the current-gen machine has shown now signs of slowing down, and fresh comments from PlayStation bosses Shawn Layden and Jim Ryan only nail that point home. In an interview...
May2017
News Ubisoft Has a New Logo and a Pretentious Explanation for It
French swirl
Ubisoft’s got a new logo that’s… Virtually identical to the old one. The purple swirl that you may have become accustomed to seeing at the start of Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, or Far Cry is now a transparent white swirl. The font’s different, too, so there’s that. But why all this change? Here’s what the publisher had...
News PlayStation Chief Shawn Layden Doesn't Enjoy Gaming Exec Fame
Meme streak
They get turned into superheroes in GIFs and some even idolise them, but it’s important to remember that gaming executives are exactly that: gaming executives. They’re hired to make difficult (and, honestly, often boring) business decisions – not act like rock stars. And in a wide-ranging interview with Polygon, current PlayStation...
News Microsoft's Mixer Could End Up Being Beamed to PlayStation
Twitch must be twitching in its boots
Microsoft wants to switch Twitch users to its own Mixer platform, and it’s open to bringing the app to PlayStation if that will help its cause. For those of you who don’t know, the streaming site formerly known as Beam is basically an alternative to more popular games broadcasting destinations – it’s the...
Soapbox Why Did Sony Ditch Two of the Best Games of the Year?
Sammy's worried about Sony's portfolio
PlayStation’s enjoying one of the most prolific periods in its history. The start to 2017 has seen the release of several high-profile first-party games, like Gravity Rush 2 and Horizon: Zero Dawn. But being a glass half-empty kinda guy, I feel it could have been even better: what the heck happened with What...
News PSN Surges to 70 Million Monthly Active Users
Have some MAU
Sales numbers are important, but engagement metrics are just as meaningful in this social media age. Sony has revealed, then, that the PlayStation Network currently has 70 million monthly active users. To be clear, this statistic is not restricted to paying PlayStation Plus subscribers – it accounts for anyone who’s logged in to...
News Ubisoft Hints at New IP for 2018-2019 Release
Four AAA titles to release next financial year
Ubisoft has published its earnings report for the last financial year and outlined its plans for the near future, revealing that – in the financial year starting on 1st April 2018 and ending on 30th April 2019 – the French giant will publish four new AAA games. Three of those will be from...
News Square Enix Makes Shock Decision to Sell Hitman Developer
Wacked
Well, this is a bolt from the blue: Square Enix has announced its intention to sell Hitman developer IO Interactive. The studio – behind one of the best games of the previous year – was believed to be working on a second season of stealth missions, but now the much-loved brand’s future has been put in jeopardy. In a note to investors,...
News Job Simulator Studio Snapped Up by Google
Will continue to support PlayStation VR
Google has bought Owlchemy Labs, the developer behind the excellent PlayStation VR launch title Job Simulator. The news comes shortly after Sony teamed up with the American company to release its tongue-in-cheek virtual reality title at retail. Fortunately, the acquisition will not prevent the developer from...
News EA Axes Mass Effect as BioWare Montreal Is Scaled Down
Reaper what you sow
You should know the saying by now: release a sub-par game and EA’s going to make you pay the price. Not heard that one before? No, us neither, but it sounds like Mass Effect: Andromeda’s mixed reception may have temporarily put a nail in the coffin of the once excellent sci-fi series. The ever-reliable Jason Schreier of...
News Ex-Fable Chief Joins Sony to Lead AAA PlayStation VR Projects
From Lionhead Studios to London Studio
The former chief of Microsoft’s shuttered Lionhead Studios has been headhunted by Sony’s own London Studio to lead the development of AAA PlayStation VR projects. Stuart Whyte, who’ll begin work this coming Monday, has a long and storied history in the industry, having held positions at legendary UK...
News EA Expects Digital to Account for Almost Half of Game Sales Soon
The digital future is coming
You may not like it, but the digital future is coming. While physical still very much has its place – and publishers are doing pretty cool things with their retail products these days – the reality is that purchases on the PlayStation Store are on the rise, and it’s only a matter of time before digital transactions...
Poll Should Sony Allow Early Access Games on PS4?
Pay now, finish later
The terribly named multiplayer phenomenon PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was announced for the PlayStation 4 this week, but the reveal was met with real scepticism. Sony’s policy on Early Access is a bit confused: in 2014 it said it was looking into ways of su
April2017
News Ubisoft May Be Taken Over by Vivendi Before the Year Is Out
Money talks
For quite a while now, mega media company Vivendi has slowly but surely been buying up shares in Ubisoft - the French publisher behind the likes of Assassin's Creed and Ghost Recon. Once Vivendi owns 30 per cent of Ubisoft's shares - it currently holds 25 per cent - it'll be required by French law to make the publisher an offer,...
News Sony Shares Surge Ahead of Predicted Best Profit in 20 Years
Holding out for a Hirai
Sony is expected to record its best profit in two decades this week, which has caused the company's shares to surge. The firm's stock closed 3.84 per cent higher in Japan amid chatter that the organisation may be on the verge of reporting its strongest profit since 1998. The organisation recently indicated that its upcoming...
News Square Enix Running Life Is Strange Focus Groups in London and New York
We're totally cereal
It looks like the sun hasn't set on Life Is Strange, as Square Enix has invited fans to focus groups in London and New York next month. Scheduled to take place on 3rd May and 5th May respectively, the sessions will presumably be used to pitch fans on potential sequel ideas – or at least get some feedback on where followers see...
News Days Gone Dev Sony Bend Moving to New Digs After Rapid Expansion
Studio has more than doubled in size
As work on Days Gone continues, Sony Bend is growing at a rapid pace. A report published by Oregon newspaper The Bulletin notes that the infamously low-profile firm is to occupy a new office this fall, as it begins to outgrow its current digs. Apparently, the studio has expanded from 45 to 103 employees recently,...
News Sony Set to Smash Forecasts as Kaz Hirai's Recovery Mission Continues
Back on track
Sony may not be the giant that it used to be, but former PlayStation president and current CEO Kaz Hirai's recovery mission cannot be understated. There was a time not too long ago where the company was making loss after loss after loss; now preliminary reports suggest that it's about to smash its fiscal year forecasts by a significant...
Soapbox Sony Should Pinch the Nintendo Direct Format
Sammy reckons there's mileage in Nintendo's marketing
I did something I rarely do this week: I watched a Nintendo Direct. To be honest, I have a weird relationship with the Big N's pre-recorded events: I've watched the E3 ones before and I've always felt that, for everything they gain in pacing and structure, they lack the kind of energy that you...
News Watch As Two of PlayStation's Most Prominent Names Chat Candidly
Neil Druckmann and Hermen Hulst get together
This is actually a brilliant little video: Sony put Guerrilla Games' managing director Hermen Hulst and Naughty Dog's creative director Neil Druckmann in an up-market coffee shop and filmed them chatting for 25 minutes. The conversation mostly centres around Horizon: Zero Dawn, but it does deviate to...
News Quantum Break Maker Adds PS4 Support to Game Engine
Will release next game on Sony's system
After a prolonged period of Xbox exclusivity, Max Payne maker Remedy Entertainment has revealed its intent to release its next game on the PlayStation 4. The developer – most recently behind slow seller Quantum Break – has said that it's adding support for Sony's system to its proprietary Northlight...
News Unlike Atlus, Square Enix Sees the Value in Streams
Imagine being outsmarted by Square Enix
Square Enix may act like the stupidest organisation on Earth sometimes, but it's not quite as dumb as Atlus when it comes to gameplay videos and streams. You may remember the latter causing something of a stir recently when it decided to block the share button in Persona 5 on the premise of spoilers. It then...
March2017
News Peripherals Manufacturer Mad Catz Has Used Up Its Nine Lives
Company files for bankruptcy
Peripherals maker Mad Catz has been bagged up and tossed in the river of bureaucracy like a litter of new-born kittens: the struggling company has filed for bankruptcy and all of its directors have resigned. The firm's been in dire financial trouble for a while after it threw all of its eggs in the Rock Band 4 basket –...
News JonTron's Yooka-Laylee Cameo to Be Patched Out by Playtonic
In the aftermath of controversial comments
Playtonic has announced that it will patch out popular YouTube personality Jon 'JonTron' Jafari's cameo from platformer Yooka-Laylee as part of an update. The game – which recently went gold ahead of its 11th April launch date – has presumably already been submitted to platform holders for printing and...
News Telltale Chief Kevin Bruner Reportedly Steps Down
Telltale will remember that
Telltale gaffer Kevin Bruner has reportedly stepped down from his position of CEO this week, according to sources close to Kotaku scribe Jason Schreier. This is big news because Bruner actually helped found the company which has gone on to become a major household name, following its success primarily on The Walking Dead...
Talking Point Could 2017 Be Gaming's Greatest Ever Year?
GoaT mad
So here's the thing: we've never known a start to the year quite as strong as what 2017 is turning out to be. Last year was a fine year for games, but it was by-the-numbers – few games exceeded expectations and even fewer will live long in the memory. The past two and a bit months have been the opposite, though: exciting, fresh, and so...
News 40% of UK's Game Industry Consider Relocation After Brexit
UKIE looks into the impact of the referendum
Britain remains in flux following last year's European Union referendum, and that impacts all industries – including the video games sector. Already challenged due to rising costs and attractive international tax breaks, we've seen many UK developers shut up shop in recent years, with Sony's own...
News Naughty Dog Co-President Christophe Balestra Retires
Leaving the kennel
When Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra replaced founders Jason Rubin and Andy Gavin as the co-presidents of Naughty Dog, many commentated that they had big shoes to fill – but they still managed to turn the Californian studio into one of the greatest in the industry today. It's with sadness, then, that we can reveal that...
News Hideo Kojima Won't Stop Fultoning Konami Staff
Poached
We thought everyone hated Konami, so consider our surprise when we spotted £50 Bomberman smirking at us among the UK sales charts top ten today. Whatever. It seems that Hideo Kojima is still busy poaching staff from his ex-employer, as Horizon: Zero Dawn's credits list a number of names from the new Kojima Productions. Included in the...
News PlayStation's Still Patting Nintendo on the Back
Corporate congrats
Sony congratulated Nintendo on the success of Zelda's reviews yesterday, and it's returned to acknowledge the release of the Switch today. Writing on its official Twitter account to over 13 million followers, it shared the following message: "Today's a big day for Nintendo! Congratulations on launch, we can't wa
News PlayStation Congratulates Nintendo on Zelda Success
Claims it's an "amazing time for gaming"
In the latest edition of advertising disguised as a pat on the back, PlayStation UK has publicly congratulated Nintendo on the success of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The game, which has frankly set a Metacritic benchmark which will never be beaten in this editor's opinion, received a raft of...
News Horizon: Zero Dawn Cost a Reported €45 Million to Make
That seems kinda cheap these days
Development budgets have soared so much over the past decade or so that we're sitting here surprised at the price tag that's been placed on Horizon: Zero Dawn's head. A report in a Dutch national newspaper claims that the PlayStation 4 exclusive cost over €45 million (~$47 million) to make, and while the exact...
February2017
News Liverpool FC Signs EA's Peter Moore For an Undisclosed Fee
Signing of the summer
In a rather bizarre turn of events, EA boss and all-round entertaining industry figure Peter Moore will be taking on the role of CEO at Liverpool Football Club. The talkative gaming veteran, who was born in Liverpool, is a lifelong supporter of the team - so this is basically the 61-year-old's dream job. We suppose...
News BioShock Creator Ken Levine's New Studio Is Named Ghost Story, Sci-Fi RPG in the Works
Levine la vida loca
Ken Levine and the folk behind BioShock have revealed the name of their new studio: Ghost Story. Essentially, this is BioShock developer Irrational Games rebranded, and although the team has been hanging around since Irrational shut down in 2014, it's only just decided to formally introduce itself. Well, when we say 'hanging...
News Tomb Raider Dev Crystal Dynamics Moves to New Studio
Avengers assemble
Having focused on Tomb Raider for the past ten years or so, Crystal Dynamics is about to embark on a new adventure with The Avengers – and it'll be making the journey in a new studio. The developer has announced that it moved into a fresh office last week, and it sounds like it's kitted out with some cool features. "We have some...
News Stolen PS4 Story At Least Has a Happy Ending
Children's cancer ward gets consoles back
Whenever you think humanity has reached its lowest ebb, always remember that there are more good people out there than there are bad. You may recall last week we reported on the theft of a PlayStation 4 from the children's cancer ward at Wellington Hospital. The console was used by nine-year-old Angus Little...
Talking Point Are 'Live Games' Really What You Want on PS4?
The future
Ubisoft insinuated this week that it cancelled production on a more "traditional" game in order to bolster the content pipeline for its suite of "live games" – titles like The Crew, Rainbow Six: Siege, and The Division which are being iterated upon with regularity. But while this is clearly the future that publishers see for the PlayS
News Ubisoft to Release Fewer Games as Focus Shifts to Long-Term Support
Publisher apparently 'happy' with Watch Dogs 2
Ubisoft has admitted that Watch Dogs 2 didn't get off to the best start in life, but proving yet again that a (watch) dog is for life and not just for Christmas, the title's fortunes have improved of late thanks to positive word of mouth. The hack happy outing is now trending better than Assassin's...
News E3 2017 Will Be Open to the Public for the First Time Ever
Times are changing
For the first time in its storied history, E3 2017 will be open to the public. Previously only open to those in the industry, the Entertainment Software Association – which organises the event every year – has announced that an initial allocation of 15,000 tickets will be made available to the public starting Monday, 13th...
News Sony to Stick with Movie Division Despite Billion Dollar Loss
Will look to better leverage PlayStation properties
Sony will stand by its embattled movie division despite the group registering a near-billion dollar loss in its latest financial report. The firm revealed that the subsidiary would register a $913 million loss prior to its latest financial report, attributing the sum to a reduction in the value of...
News GameStop May Be Lying to You About New Games
Bonkers initiative puts staff in impossible position
A new program established by GameStop management may be forcing humble store clerks to lie to you about the availability of brand new games – and it's kinda crazy. Reddit has been bubbling over with reports of the retailer's 'Circle of Life' initiative for a few days now, but Kotaku's...
January2017
News Namco Founder Masaya Nakamura Passes Away at 91
Rest in peace
Namco's founder Masaya Nakamura passed away on Sunday, 22nd January, publisher Bandai Namco has announced. The executive was 91-years-old at the time of his death. A private wake and funeral with close family and relatives has already been held, with the deceased requesting that the news of his passing be kept private until after the...
News Take a Look Inside Kojima Productions' Sci-Fi Studio
Seeing is believing
Hideo Kojima has opened the doors to the new Kojima Productions for the first time, revealing the futuristic studio space where Death Stranding will be made. The company, which the auteur founded in late 2015 following his departure from Konami, is almost ready to begin full production on its PlayStation 4 exclusive project –...
News Ex-Witcher, Hitman, Dying Light Devs Form a Fresh Studio Named Strange New Things
Face the strange
We don't usually write about the opening of a new studio until we know that it's working on something PlayStation related, but the newly formed Strange New Things already sounds too promising not to mention. Made up of developers who have worked on The Witcher series, the most recent Hitman game, Dying Light, and more, the outfit...
News Ubisoft Acquires DJ Hero Developer from Activision
FreeStyleGames becomes Ubisoft Leamington
Here's a surprise: Ubisoft has acquired DJ Hero developer FreeStyleGames from Activision. The UK-based team – which most recently made Guitar Hero Live – will be renamed Ubisoft Leamington, and will be headed up by Ubisoft Reflections chief Richard Blenkinsop. Presumably the developer will be...
News Kojima Productions Is Quietly Poaching the Top Talent from Konami
Brain drain
Hideo Kojima has departed Konami – and he's bringing all of the top talent with him. The new Kojima Productions, which will launch Death Stranding exclusively on the PlayStation 4 as its first project, has quietly been fultoning high-ranked employees and adding them to its office. We already know that art director Yoji Shinkawa,...
News Sony Set to Close Guerrilla Cambridge Studio
MediEvil developer shut down after 19 years
It's always sad when we have to report on a studio closure, but it's even worse when it's a developer that, over the last 19 years, has clearly shown it has real talent. Game Industry reports that Sony is going to shutter Guerrilla Cambridge, the UK branch of Killzone and Horizon: Zero Dawn developer...
Talking Point Has Holiday 2016 Devalued New Games?
Cheap as chips
Booting up a £19.99 copy of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare over the Christmas break, we couldn't help but ponder whether this holiday gone has seriously devalued new games. All games get price drops eventually, of course – some sooner than others – but this feels different. On the European PlayStation Store right now you can...
News PS4 Physical Game Sales Increase As UK Industry Suffers Blow
Overall sales down 13.4 per cent
Worryingly, the PlayStation 4 was the only home console to see sales of physical software in the UK increase year-over-year in 2016. The Nintendo 3DS also built upon its previous year's tally, but every other platform shrunk. That's resulted in a 13.4 per cent decline in game sales compared to 2015 in Britain, with...
December2016
News Merry Christmas! Crytek Closes a Whopping Five Studios
In Crysis
Crytek, the major developer perhaps best known for the Crysis series, has broken silence on rumours regarding its inability to pay staff, confirming that it's closing down a whopping five of its wholly owned studios. The move means that its Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria), Seoul (South Korea), Shanghai (China), and Istanbul (Turkey)...
Rumour Warner Bros Montreal Scraps Suicide Squad Game
Harley fin
Word is that Warner Bros Montreal has scrapped its long-in-development Suicide Squad game – despite it being in production for two years. The title – which would have seen you take control of the eponymous band of anti-heroes – was never formally announced, but was rumoured to be a co-op title. Apparently, it failed to impress...
News Westworld Writer Recruited to Help Pen 'Intense' The Last of Us: Part II
Halley Gross brought on board
Neil Druckmann won't be the sole writer on The Last of Us: Part II, as the director will be aided by Westworld's Halley Gross. According to IMDB, the American is credited with writing episodes such as 'Trompe L'Oeil' and 'The Adversary', while she's worked as an editor on several others. Writing on Twitter, Druckmann...
News Bruce Straley Will Not Co-Direct The Last of Us: Part II
Astray
This is a little bit of a bummer: Bruce Straley will not co-direct The Last of Us: Part II. The veteran game director, who's been with Naughty Dog for many years but is best known for his partnership with Neil Druckmann on The Last of Us and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, is taking a year-long sabbatical from game development after many years...
November2016
News Advertising Standards Passes Judgement on No Man's Sky, Says It Didn't Mislead Customers
Off the hook
We were wondering when we were going to hear about the outcome of this. Back in September, it was revealed that the UK's Advertising Standards Authority was looking into No Man's Sky following complaints that the game's marketing and pre-release media didn't represent the finished product. Since then, developer Hello Games has...
Talking Point Why Are Fall's Biggest Blockbusters Flopping?
Signs of decline
It's not been a good few months if you pay attention to the UK sales charts. There have been a handful of success stories: Mafia III, against all odds, exceeded expectations – while Battlefield 1 has done well for itself. But by and large, it's been a quarter of catastrophic sequels: Titanfall 2? Down. Gears of War 4? Down. Call...
October2016
News Media Molecule Opens Satellite Studio in Brighton
Pier we go
Media Molecule's borderline cringe working culture has culminated in the creation of a new satellite studio based in Brighton. The Guildford-based organisation has opened the new workspace in order to accommodate a group of devs who have been commuting from the seaside town for many years. While those on location will still make regular...
News Sleeping Dogs 2 Hopes Put Down as United Front Games Shuts Shop
You won't be seeing Wei Shen again
Sleeping Dogs deserved so much more. The Hong Kong-based, pork bun-wielding cult classic didn't exactly set the cash registers alight, but it was universally adored by those who played it – primarily because it was essentially Grand Theft Auto without crap controls. While many held out hope for a sequel,...
September2016
News PS4 Pro Requires Very Little Investment from Developers
One or two people working on Sony titles
CD Projekt Red's decision not to update The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the PlayStation 4 Pro has prompted some people to ponder just how many resources developers need to commit to the new machine. According to Digital Foundry, the answer is very few, as it's reporting that just one person from Sony Bend is...
News Job Losses at London Studio as PlayStation VR Worlds Dev Is Completed
Team restructuring around new projects
Sony San Diego's not the only team in the platform holder's stable to sadly lose staff this week, as London Studio has also been struck by a round of layoffs. The first-party team has led the charge on PlayStation VR over the past few years, and it's behind one of the peripheral's showpiece launch titles:...
News MLB The Show Survives as Sony San Diego Restructures
Drawn to Death not dead either
Sony San Diego has seen a large number of layoffs – thought to be in the region of 40 to 50 employees – but the MLB The Show team has been unaffected. Despite being one of the Japanese giant's lower-profile exclusives, the baseball series sells strongly every year in the United States – and is widely considered...
Rumour MLB The Show Developer Sony San Diego Shuttered?
Caught out
MLB The Show rarely gets much coverage on websites like ours, but it's a strong seller for Sony in the United States every year. However, reports are swirling that the studio may have been shut down. Not exactly the kind of news that will go down well at a time when the Japanese giant seems to be attracting waves of negative press. We...
August2016
News Sony: We Don't Discriminate Between AAA or Indie
"It's all about great games"
Sony often gets criticised for paying too much attention to so-called "smaller" games, but speaking at Gamescom 2016, likeable PlayStation exec Jim Ryan has said that the platform holder primarily cares about great titles – regardless of whether they're made by massive studios or minuscule ones. Asked if the company...
News Buzz! Developer Relentless Software Shuttered
X
In the days before the Nintendo Wii, it was actually Sony that ruled the casual games space – especially in Europe, with franchises like Singstar, EyeToy Play, and… Yes, Buzz!. For those of you who don't remember it – the series only seemed to be popular in the Old World – it was essentially a multiplayer quiz title, where you controlled...
July2016
News Sony Profits as PS4 Sales Continue to Surge
PlayStation offsets earthquake disaster
Sony is still in the black, though it can thank PlayStation for offsetting the costs inflicted by Japan's recent earthquake disaster. Profits plunged 42 per cent year-over-year in the three month period ending 30th June, with the company racking up ¥56.2 billion ($542 million) in operating income. The...
News Burnout Makers Begin Work on New Racing Game
Burn rubber
Three Fields Entertainment recently released Dangerous Golf, a kind of twist on Burnout's very popular Crash mode. But while the title offered a nice warm-up for the UK-based studio, we've all been waiting for it to begin work on a racing title really. Fortunately, the outfit announced yesterday that work has begun on a "driving game"...
News Ex-Sony Exec Adam Boyes Enters the Lang Zone at Iron Galaxy
Oh Boyes
In news that will elate Giant Bomb fans, ex-Sony executive Adam Boyes has joined Iron Galaxy as its CEO, replacing founder Dave Lang, who will continue to have a very active role in the studio's business development. Iron Galaxy, for those who don't know, is perhaps best known for Killer Instinct on the Xbox One and Windows 10 – but it...
News Don't Panic, Shu Yoshida Has Reclaimed His Twitter Account
And he's living the life of riley in Montpelier
Normal service has resumed on Shuhei Yoshida's Twitter account, after it was hacked earlier today by a group of ne'erdowells. The cheerful chap didn't seem to be too bothered by the infiltration, though, as he spent his afternoon supping wine and scoffing snails in the idyllic French city of...
News Pokémon Go Makes Nintendo More Valuable Than Sony
And we don't just mean the PlayStation business
Pokémon Go fever is so obnoxiously enormous that even we've been relegated to writing about it, as Nintendo's stock has climbed so high over the past couple of weeks that the company's currently more valuable than Sony. And, to be clear, we're not just talking about the PlayStation division –...
News Ubisoft Solves a Mystery That's Bugged Mankind Since the Beginning of Time
Finally
It was alluded to in Homer's Odyssey and it was brought up in the Bible, but now Ubisoft has attempted to solve a mystery that has cursed mankind since the beginning of time: just how do you pronounce the company's name? It's not You-Bee-Eye-Soft that's for sure. Muppets!
News Popular PlayStation Suit Adam Boyes Is Leaving Sony
Getting back to game development
Adam Boyes has one of the most recognisable faces at PlayStation – but the Vice President of Developer and Publisher Relations is moving on. The suit – perhaps best known for announcing Final Fantasy VII Remake and Shenmue III at last year's E3, as well as featuring in
June2016
News Sony Reveals Over 20 Million Users Are Subscribed to PlayStation Plus
Not bad, that
The PlayStation 4 continues to perform beyond even Sony's expectations, we know that much, but how's PlayStation Plus doing these days? The premium service, which is required to play most PS4 games online, has had its fair share of critics over the years, but the Japanese company has always been keen on racking up more profit in the...
News Criterion's Teased Racing Game Has Been Cancelled
Project burnt out after two years of silence
Back at E3 2014, Burnout creators Criterion Games showed some early footage of its multi-vehicle racer, showing players switching mid-race between ATVs, wingsuits, planes, helicopters, jet-skis, and other vehicles, exciting many people. However, it seems that, after two years of uncertainty on the...
News Sony CEO Kaz Hirai Is Absolutely Raking in the Cash
Exec's salary more than doubles
According to Variety, ex-PlayStation president and current Sony CEO Kaz Hirai received a salary of $4.9 million for the fiscal year which ended 31st March – more than double his compensation from the previous year. It's the most the company has paid to a CEO since the firm was forced to reveal the wages of its top...
E3 2016 Attendance Drops as E3 2017 Is Dated
Ready to go again?
Whether you enjoyed E3 2016 or not, we're going to do the whole damn thing all over again next year. The ESA has confirmed that E3 2017 – we suppose we better get the tag ready – will run between 13th June and 17th June in 2017, which is more or less identical to this year's show. That's despite attendance for this year's...
Soapbox Let's Be Honest, E3 2016 Was Disappointing
Sammy's not feeling all that stoked
In the cold, hard light of day – with more than four hours sleep under my belt – I've come to a bold, brave conclusion: E3 2016 was a bit disappointing, wasn't it? Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the spectacle of Sony's conference and the banter that accompanied the bad ones – but it's hardly been a vintage...
E3 2016 Sony's Added a New Studio to Its First-Party Family
Well, sort of
Sony has no shortage of first-party studios, but it looks like a new team has been officially recruited to the Worldwide Studios family. SIE San Mateo has always had a light role in game development – it houses various internal technology groups and Entwined developer PixelOpus – but it seems like it's going to have more...
News Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards Will Return on 1st December
On every gaming screen and VR
Oh, great. As we mentally prepare ourselves for a week of exorbitantly late night streams, industry icon Geoff Keighley has revealed that we can look forward to one more on 1st December, when The Game Awards will return. We thought that last year's show was just about as good as one could reasonably expect an awards...
News Is an Until Dawn Sequel Unlikely Now?
Supermassive Games eyeing multiformat move
We'd always assumed, following the surprise commercial success of Until Dawn, that Sony would have signed up a sequel straight away – but it sounds like developer Supermassive Games has other plans. Despite being one of the Japanese giant's closer partners, the developer has expressed interest in...
News Quantum Break Dev's Next Game Could Come to PS4
Studio working on new game with new partner
Remedy released Quantum Break to a somewhat muted response a couple of months ago, but now the Finnish firm is beginning to look to the future. And its outlook may include the PlayStation 4, as it's stated on its website that it's "developing a brand new game with a new partner". The company has been...
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