Tag: Industry - Page 5
News Microsoft One Step Closer to Activision Buyout as CMA Approves of Deal Changes
It's almost over?
Microsoft's bid to purchase Activision Blizzard King for an enormous $69 billion is now closer than ever to finding approval from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority. Thanks to a change in the proposal, whereby the rights to stream Activision's games via the cloud would be entrusted to Ubisoft, the CMA looks to have changed...
News Tomb Raider Developer Crystal Dynamics Hit with Layoffs as Embracer Crumbling Continues
Fool me once
Crystal Dynamics, the developer behind the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise, has been hit with a round of layoffs. This follows the ongoing crumbling of Embracer Group, which announced a large-scale restructuring of its assets in June, resulting in layoffs, closures and cancellations. Back then, Crystal Dynamics stated that it would be
News Callisto Protocol's Glen Schofield Announces Departure from Striking Distance Studios
Founder and CEO will "pursue new opportunities"
Glen Schofield, co-creator of Dead Space and director of The Callisto Protocol, is leaving developer Striking Distance Studios. Schofield founded the studio and served as CEO, which was opened in conjunction with publisher KRAFTON in 2019. As reported by
News Battlefield Takes Priority at Need for Speed Developer Criterion Games
Role of the DICE
Criterion Games has been through so many changes already, and now it's going through yet another shift. The studio, best known for the Burnout series and later its contributions to the Need for Speed franchise, is now primarily a Battlefield support studio. As reported by Eurogamer, the UK-based studio will be putting the majority...
News Apple Insinuates iPhone 15 Pro Will Be a Better Games Console Than PS5, PS4
"It's going to be the best"
The hook with the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro is not only that it’s an outstanding multipurpose device, from phone to full-scale camera – but it also has the power to run modern console games natively. That includes the likes of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, a release originally funded by Sony, as well as Assassin’s...
News Xbox Almost Flashed Its Cash At Warner Bros, Sees Nintendo As the Holy Grail
"It'd be a good move for both companies"
A genuinely dystopian email sent by Xbox chief Phil Spencer in mid-2020 reveals that the company was eyeing up Warner Bros Interactive in addition to Bethesda as a potential acquisition. Even more concerningly, the executive talks about buying out Nintendo as a “career moment” and “good for both...
News Unity Promises Changes to Controversial New Policy After Causing 'Confusion and Angst'
Update coming later this week
After a week of intense criticism and backlash, Unity has apologised for the "confusion and angst" caused by the announcement of its unpopular Runtime fee policy. In a post to social media, the company has promised to make changes following the strong reaction from the development community. Unity is a game engine...
News Unity Closes Multiple Offices, Cancels Town Hall Following Death Threat
Sigh
Update: Polygon reports that a "reporting party" told responding San Francisco police "an employee made a threat towards his employer using social media.” According to the police, the employee who allegedly made the threats works in an office outside of California. Following the announcement of a controversial new policy just two days ago,...
News Poor Immortals of Aveum Sales Leads to Significant Lay-Offs
Nearly half the entire studio is gone
Almost half of the entire workforce at Ascendant Studios has been laid off as a result of poor sales for its magical FPS Immortals of Aveum. Speaking to Polygon, three employees at the developer said "nearly half of its staff" was let go on Thursday, with bad sales of the game cited as one reason why. Sources...
News Developers Rally Together as Unity Attempts to Clarify Controversial Install Fee Policy
Too little, too late
Unity Technology's decision to announce a controversial new install fee policy went over with the video game development community about as well as you might imagine. And while the company has released the inevitable mea culpa, which does "acknowledge the confusion and frustration" the announ
News Unity's Newly Announced Install Fee Policy Already Causing Disharmony Amongst Devs
Pay to play
Unity Technologies, developer of the cross-platform game engine Unity, today announced a policy that will sting developers with a fee based on truly wild things like how many times a game has been installed. This one's likely to develop quickly, but we'll catch you up on the story so far. In a blog post (spotted by Game Developer), the...
News Borderlands Studio Gearbox May Be Sold by Embracer Group, It's Claimed
After a tough few months for the company
Embracer Group, the company that has gobbled up developers and IPs over the past few years, is reportedly looking at selling off Borderlands developer Gearbox Entertainment. The Swedish firm's fortunes have taken a turn for the worse over the past few months, so despite only purchasing the publisher just over...
News Another Nail in E3's Coffin as Events Collaboration Falls Through
Show being reworked for 2025
The ESA (Entertainment Software Association), the organisation behind E3, has parted ways with ReedPop after 2023's show failed to get off the ground. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, the two parties had signed a multi-year contract to collaborate on the industry exhibition in an attempt to bring it back to its former...
News There's a Lot to Look Forward to At Tokyo Game Show This Year
And it's happening soon
Tokyo Game Show is coming back with a bang this year, and it looks like there’ll be a lot to look forward to throughout the extended weekend. Scheduled to start on 21st September through 24th September, organisers the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association have been billing this as the biggest TGS in some time,...
News Saints Row May Be Free on PS Plus Soon, But Its Developer Is No More
Volition shuttered with immediate effect
Well, this is a terrible shame. The recent reboot of Saints Row will be free on PS Plus this month, and we’d hoped it’d give embattled developer Volition a shot in the arm. Unfortunately, having completed its DLC and post-release assignments for the title, it’s now been shut down. You may recall its...
News Alan Wake 2 May Look Unreal on PS5, But the Dev's Done It with a Tiny Team
"We are very, very far from first parties"
On the evidence of its various Gamescom showings, Alan Wake 2 looks absolutely incredible. It’s even more impressive, then, that Remedy has seemingly achieved the impossible on a tiny team. You may be aware that most AAA productions require hundreds upon hundreds of developers these days – in fact, that...
News Shadow Gambit Team Mimimi Forced to Close Over Rising Genre Costs
Patches, new content still planned
Mimimi Games, the team behind this month's Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew and 2020's Desperados III, has shared the unfortunate news it will be closing down. This is because the dev's "future production costs are growing faster than potential revenues of our genre. The increased financial pressure and level of risk...
News PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Spending Has Completely Plateaued in USA
Future imperfect
Discussion at the start of the generation was dominated by Sony’s reluctance to release its flagship first-party software into subscriptions like PS Plus, and how this decision was going to bring an end to its market leading position. That hasn’t panned out, however, and data from Circana (formerly NPD) shows that consumer...
News Sony to Acquire Audio Tech and Headphone Specialist Audeze
Will operate independently
Sony Interactive Entertainment, or SIE if you're running late, is set to acquire Audeze, a company specialising in audio technology and headphones. The cost of the acquisition hasn't been disclosed. If you're unfamiliar, Audeze manufactures several lines of high-end headphones, including gaming headsets. It also develops...
Random Gamescom Opening Night Live Interrupted By Stage-Invading GTA 6 Fan
No answers, just more questions
Gamescom's Opening Night Live event was briefly derailed when a man invaded the stage, interrupting host and producer Geoff Keighley. The man appeared to repeat the phrase “Bill Clinton wants to play GTA 6" several times before being led away by security. The phrase is apparently in reference to Matan Even, AKA...
News Sony Patent Plots Movie Theatre Co-Op Experiences for Hundreds
Massively multiplayer
Sony may be exploring a way it can bring co-op experiences to the masses in cinema-sized sessions for potentially hundreds of players. While the platform holder posts a lot of patents that rarely ever come to fruition, this massively multiplayer solution is interesting enough to warrant reporting on – even if it’s unlikely...
News Microsoft to Sell Activision Blizzard Streaming Rights to Ubisoft in Revised Deal
Happy now, CMA?
Microsoft has announced it has restructured its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard in a bid to appease the UK's Competition and Markets Authority. The CMA has been against the deal for a long time, with a monopoly on gaming via cloud streaming services being its biggest concern. Microsoft's revised deal addresses this...
News EA Shrugs Off Tiny FIFA Ultimate Team Gambling Fine Issued by Austrian Court
Pocket change
Electronic Arts will not be contesting the $11.7k USD (€10.8k, £9.2k) fine it got hit with after an Austrian court ruled that FIFA's loot boxes violate the nation's gambling laws. In 2023, after covering all operating expenses, EA reported a net income of $802 million and total assets amounting to $13.4 billion. Sony got wrangled...
News Embracer's Broken $2 Billion Verbal Agreement Was Reportedly with Saudi-funded Savvy Games
No reasons, only more questions
Embracer Group is currently undergoing major internal reorganisation after apparently overextending, with hard-working employees bearing the cost in the ensuing layoffs and closures. This restructuring has already begun, but a new report has shed some further light on how the situation all came about.
News 8BitDo's Latest Gadget Lets You Play PS1, PS2 with Your PS5 DualSense
Doing the essential work
8BitDo has been putting out some seriously cool tech for years now, and its various controllers are lauded as some of the best 3rd-party offerings out there. For its next trick, the company might have just crafted its coolest gizmo yet: the 8BitDo Retro Reciever for PS is a dongle you can plug directly into a PS1 or PS2 that...
News Mid-Generation Upgrades Like PS5 Pro 'Aren't All That Meaningful', Says Take-Two CEO
Overkill?
Mid-generation hardware upgrades are relatively new territory for console players, and it remains to be seen how much of a splash the still formally unannounced PS5 Pro will make whenever it emerges. Sony's putting up some impressive numbers with PS5 (41.7 million and rising), but not everyone is expecting a mid-gen refresh to set the...
News Devil May Cry's Hideki Kamiya Says Japanese Devs Should Be 'Proud' of the Term JRPG
A different perspective
Hideki Kamiya, the creator of both Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and CEO of PlatinumGames, says that Japanese developers should be "proud" of the term JRPG and thinks it "should be celebrated moving forward". These comments come in response to those made by Square Enix's Naoki Yoshida earlier in the year, who isn't a fan of the...
News Embracer Starts Shutting Studios as the Downsides of Consolidation Surface
Sadly predicted
The Embracer Group is a Swedish video game media holding that, for years now, has been quietly acquiring smaller studios, and a frankly ludicrous number of them at that. With 131 internal video game studios and 15,000 staff worldwide, it seemed too unwieldy to manage, and sure enough, a mass round of layoffs was announced, with the...
News Kickstarter Demands Proof of Humanity, Requires New Projects to Disclose AI Use
Not today, Skynet
Kickstarter has announced a new policy to preserve humanity (in general) and in art (specifically). In response to feedback from creators and backers, the crowdfunding platform unfurled its new A.I. policy, which will require all new projects to disclose the use of controversial te
News Baldur's Gate 3 Dev Larian Studios Has No Interest in Being Acquired
Fears over losing creative choice
Baldur's Gate 3 team Larian Studios isn't interested in being bought by the likes of Microsoft or Sony, as chief executive officer Swen Vincke feels the developer still has so much more to give. In a new interview with
News The Callisto Protocol Studio Hit with Layoffs
32 employees let go
Striking Distance Studios, the developer behind last year's PS5, PS4 title The Callisto Protocol, has been hit with layoffs. In a statement handed to IGN, it's confirmed 32 employees have been let go so the company can "realign the studio’s priorities to better position its current and future projects for success". Those laid...
News Don't Worry, Activision Totally Has the Source Code for Those Awesome PS3 Transformers Games
"When a company eats a company that eats a company, things get lost"
As reported by our sister site Time Extension earlier in the week, the whereabouts of hard drives containing the all-powerful source code for a number of Transformer games was initially in dispute, with both Activision and Hasbro representatives pointing the finger at the other...
News Veteran FromSoftware Composer Yuka Kitamura Departs to Begin Freelance Adventure
Phone likely ringing off the hook
Yuka Kitamura has an impressive resume (and plenty of fans), having composed music for games noted for having great music, such as Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring, to name a few. The composer made an announcement earlier on
Additional accoutrements
Once rumoured and since formally announced, Sony Interactive Entertainment's take on the Earbud still doesn't have a release date. FCC filings might shed some more light on the device in question, however, and it looks like active noise cancellation is on the cards, as well as a USB transceiver for lossless audio and...
News Sony Seemingly Forces Nintendo to Remove Rubbish The Last of Us Ripoff from Switch's Store
Was it all for nothing?
Nintendo Switch’s shameless – and abhorrently awful – The Last of Us knockoff has been removed from the eShop, as Sony has lodged copyright strikes against the game. The Last Hope attracted mainstream attention
News Microsoft Urges UK Regulator to Renege on ActiBlizz Block, Points to PlayStation Deal
"Industry's most powerful player will have the game it considers most important"
It’s been mercifully quiet on the Microsoft front these past two weeks, and may we underline how beautifully blissful it’s been! But of course, the Redmond firm’s well imbursed legal team hasn’t stopped putting in the overtime, as it seeks to overcome the final...
News 100 Layoffs at CD Projekt RED Amid Organisational Changes
Nearly 10% of its workforce
Polish studio CD Projekt RED has announced it'll be cutting "around 100" jobs in the very near future as part of a structural reshuffle. Adam Kiciński, CEO of the company, has put out a press release that goes over what's happening and why. "To meet our own high expectations and ambitions to create the best role-playing...
News Dying Light Studio Techland Set to Be Acquired by Tencent
Will become majority shareholder
Dying Light 2 developer Techland has announced Chinese firm Tencent is setting itself up to become the studio's main shareholder, effectively acquiring the Polish team. Confirmed by founder Pawel Marchewka in a website post, he says the buyout allows Techland "to move full speed ahead with the execution of the vision...
News Microsoft Extends Deadline of $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Acquisition
"Excited about bringing more games to more players"
We’ve reached the point with Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard where it’s likely only a matter of time before the deal closes, but the trillion dollar tech titan still has some hurdles to overcome with the UK’s regulator. While it’s returned to the...
News Won't Someone Think of the Children? UK Moves to Protect Kids from Loot Boxes
Something had to be done
Children will find it much harder to go on sugar-fueled loot box binges in future, as the UK games industry has agreed to a set of 11 guidelines which should restrict the little tykes' access to in-game loot boxes moving forward. This series of "improved protections for children, young people and adults following concerns...
News If Sony Does Ever Make a PS Vita 2, It'll Probably Need Replaceable Batteries
Party like its 1989
If Sony ever were to release a hypothetical Vita successor (not likely, and yet still we dare to dream), it would need to feature replaceable batteries, at least in order to comply with new regulations laid down by the Council of the Europen Union. The decree aims to "regulate the entire life cycle of batteries" and
News Every Little Helps! UK Giant Tesco Will Stop Stocking Physical Video Games
You won't find PS5, PS4 software on shelves
Colossal UK supermarket chain Tesco has announced plans to stop stocking video games entirely in its 2,800 stores, contributing to the spiralling death of physical software. According to Games Industry.biz, the firm will begin phasing out boxed PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox games immediately, meaning...
News Sony and Microsoft Sign a 'Binding Agreement' to Keep Call of Duty on PlayStation
Update: Deal will last for 10 years
Update: Sony has now confirmed to outlet Axios that the "binding agreement" with Microsoft ensures the Call of Duty series will appear on PlayStation hardware for the next 10 years. Original article: With Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard set to close in the coming days following an
News FTC Fails to Delay Microsoft's $69 Billion Buyout of Activision Blizzard
"Another step closer to the finish line"
In expected news, the Federal Trade Commission has failed in its attempts to delay Microsoft’s eye-watering $69 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard. Earlier this week, the US regulator lost its court case against the trillion dollar tech titan, meaning it was unable to impose a temporary injunction on the...
News HoYoverse Urges Recording Studio to Resolve Voice Actor Payment Issues
Update: After stars had claimed they'd gone months without pay
Update: Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse has issued a response to reports that some of its voice actors have gone months without being paid for their work. In a statement to Eurogamer.net, a spokesperson said: "We truly regret to learn about the ongoing situation. Genshin Impact...
News Destruction AllStars Dev Gobbled Up by Tencent Subsidiary
Light speed
Lucid Games – the developer of PS5’s well-intentioned but ultimately ill-fated destruction derby-style outing Destruction AllStars – has been gobbled up by LightSpeed Studios, a subsidiary of Chinese behemoth Tencent. The latest in a long, long line of gaming acquisitions, the Liverpool-based outfit says it’ll continue to operate...
News Sony Is Increasing R&D Costs to Fuel Live Service Games, Report Claims
10% increase this financial year
A new report from Nikkei claims Sony will be increasing its monetary investments into Research & Development sectors by around 10 per cent this financial year to aid its push into the live service space. This investment will total around 300 billion yen ($2.13 billion) and represents roughly 40 per cent of the...
News The FTC Officially Files an Appeal Against Microsoft-Activision Court Victory
Not over 'til it's over
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) isn't giving up without a fight, it seems. After losing its courtroom battle for a preliminary injunction against Microsoft's intended purchase of Activision Blizzard, the government body has officially filed an appeal. The court's decision in favour of the Redmond corporation's acquisition...
News UK Regulator 'Still Stands' by Decision to Block Xbox's $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Buyout
Talks with Microsoft in their infancy
It feels like, one way or another, Microsoft will now acquire Activision Blizzard for an eye-watering $69 billion, following the outcome of US regulator the Federal Trade Commission’s failed temporary injunction attempt earlier this week. In the immediate aftermath of this week’s court ruling, the UK’s...
News Sony to Showcase Big PS5, PS4 Indies at Kyoto Convention
BitSummit Let's Go!!
With Sony's most recent Showcase dividing fan opinion, to put things mildly, we could at least see some indie gems out of Kyoto, which would be nice. Japan's largest indie game festival is BitSummit, or "BitSummit Let's Go!!" if you prefer, and it is being held over the weekend, from 14th-16th July. Shuhei Yoshida, as Sony...