Tag: Business - Page 3
News SEGA Downsizing as It Turns Its Attention to Digital Games
American division relocating
SEGA's sadly been on a downward decline ever since it ditched the Dreamcast, and the company will continue to shrink over the coming months as it offers "voluntary retirement" to around 300 employees. It's not yet clear where the firm will be hit the hardest, but SEGA of America has announced plans to relocate from San...
News Starbreeze Studios Sells Off Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons to 505 Games
A new chapter
Ask anyone who has played Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and they'll tell you that it's a fascinating adventure that culminates with an emotional punch to the gut. Future sequels were hardly implied by this standalone indie title, however, but developer Starbreeze Studios has announced that it has handed the property over to publisher...
News DiRT 4 Stuck in the Mud as Codemasters Cuts Staff
Hoon's going to scratch our gymkhana itch now?
Codemasters' extended emphasis on the PlayStation 3 may be starting to catch up with it, as Eurogamer.net reports that layoffs have hit the legendary British outfit. According to the site, around 50 jobs are being reviewed, with approximately 30 to be made redundant as part of a 30 day consultation...
News Oops, Sony Has Delayed the PS4's Impending Chinese Launch
Raucous red tape
After nearly 14 years of waiting, Sony has delayed the PlayStation 4's impending Chinese launch. The super system was originally planned to release on 11th January, but the firm has cancelled this date, and has yet to announce a new one. Speaking to Reuters, the Japanese giant confirmed that the delay was due to "various factors"...
Rumour Sony's About to Get Really Aggressive in China
Business development
Considering that PlayStation is already enormous in Japan and most of Asia, it was strange to see Sony allow the Xbox One to deploy in China first. Microsoft’s machine launched in the potentially lucrative region earlier in the year, and there’s been very little word from its rival when the PlayStation 4 will follow in its...
News Sony Pegs the PlayStation 4 as Pivotal to Its Future Success
Cuts television and mobile lines
Sony’s doubling down on the PlayStation 4, as it tries desperately to return to profitability. The manufacturer revealed as part of its Investors Day that it will be cutting its television and mobile lines, while focusing on its next-gen platform to pick up the slack. The company also has high hopes for its...
News Oops, Sony Will Be Compensating Vita Early Adopters for Misleading Marketing
Never stop paying
You may recall that a few years back, Sony was embroiled in a legal minefield over its marketing of the PlayStation Vita. If you're interested, and have a head for legal mumbo-jumbo, you can take a look at the US Federal Trade Commission's original charges through here. For the rest of you, though, the basic gist is that the...
News Sony to Enrich PS4 with Fresh Experiences, Functions, and Usability
Organisation outlines business strategy
We all know that the PlayStation 4 is doing incredibly well – after all, this scribe feels like he writes that sentence at least twice every day. The big question, then, is: what’s next for the system? As part of a presentation intended for investors, the platform holder has outlined its strategy for the...
News Crikey, the PS4 Is the Fastest Selling Console in Australian History
That's not a console, THIS is a console
That's right, its time for some more mindboggling PlayStation 4 sales numbers. This time they come courtesy of Michael Ephraim, the head of SCE Australia. "We have been truly humbled by the incredible response to the PS4 from Australian gamers," the big-wig said at a recent press event. "It is my pleasure to...
News Sony's Still Bleeding Money, But PS4's in Beast Mode
Marathon sprint
The reason behind Microsoft’s temporary Xbox One price drop is looking clearer by the minute: Sony has now shipped 13.5 million PlayStation 4 consoles worldwide – and it hasn’t even been out a year yet. The company added 3.3 million units to the system’s total tally in the quarter spanning July to September, boosting game...
News Sony Reckons Project Morpheus Is Seriously Game Changing Technology
Bigger than Ben Hur
At a recent DICE talk attended by Polygon, Sony big-wig Dave Ranyard spoke at length about the firm's upcoming virtual reality headset, Project Morpheus. In particular, he spoke about whether or not the dapper device has the potential to be as revolutionary as sound was for silent films. "Is virtual reality a d
News You Won't Have to Wait Too Much Longer for Sony's VR Headset Project Morpheus
85 per cent complete, says Yoshida
We're of two minds about Project Morpheus. On the one hand, the virtual reality headset seems like a truly nifty piece of tech. On the other, we've yet to see any genuinely compelling pieces of software to support the hardware. However, it looks like we won't have very much longer to
News Despite PS4's Success, Sony Expects to Lose a Lot of Money Again
Just a few billion
Just when things were starting to look up for Sony chief Kaz Hirai, the sky has come crashing down again. The company has quadrupled the amount of cash that it expects to lose for the current financial year, this time blaming its smartphone business on the issue. It described the problem as “the impairment of goodwill in the...
News Sony CEO Kaz Hirai Is Happy with the PS4's Success, But Wants to Do More in Japan
Hip hip Hirai
When he's not taking buckets of icy water to the head, Kazuo Hirai is fulfilling the presumably important role of Sony CEO. In a recent interview, the gaffer spoke about the PlayStation 4's remarkable success. What's more, the big-wig stated that the company learned a lot from the PlayStation 3, and that it has carried these lessons...
News Wow! Sony Gaffer Kaz Hirai Knows How to Take a Bucket of Icy Water
Wet and smiles
Kaz Hirai may be a shrewd businessman, but he’s also quite a fun character. The current Sony chief executive – who worked his way up through the ranks at PlayStation – has taken the ice bucket challenge after being nominated by brand founder Ken Kutaragi, and, unsurprisingly, he deals with the arctic drenching like a boss...
News You'll be Able to Play PS4 Games on Sony's New Xperia Smartphones
Using remote play, of course
Do you long to play PlayStation 4 games while using the bathroom, but don't want to invest in a PlayStation Vita? Well, Sony now has the solution for you, as its recently announced that its new range of Xperia smartphones will be compatible with remote play. That's right, one of the Vita's most unique features is now...
News Watch as God of War Dev Santa Monica Studio Relocates to a Brand New Office
A new beginning
Whoever though that changing buildings could be such an emotional process? As you may recall, Sony Santa Monica - the studio behind the God of War series, as well as several other smaller delights - has been going through a bit of a transformation of late. First, the developer gave its logo a much needed redesign, and now it's moved...
News Amazon Coughs Up $970 Million for Streaming Site Twitch
Someone's rich
Twitch has been acquired for a whopping $970 million – but not by Google as originally anticipated. Instead, it’s mega retailer Amazon that’s coughed up the extraordinary amount of cash required to purchase the streaming site, with its bidding rival
News PlayStation Hardware Sales Leave Xbox in the Dust
PS4 reverses firm's fortunes
It’s no real secret that the PlayStation 4 is a runaway success, and that’s been reflected by Sony’s latest hardware sales figures. In the platform holder’s most recent financial report, the company claims that its gaming business has seen a 95.7 per cent increase in revenue year-over-year, with the division...
News PS4's Homefront: The Revolution Development to Be Finished by Dambuster Studio
Deep Silver digs deep to acquire cursed brand
We’re not entirely sure why anyone would want to own the Homefront franchise at this point, as in addition to being a property with very little to differentiate itself from the wealth of other modern military brands on the market, it also appears to carry a curse. After killing off THQ a couple of...
Rumour Google Gets Twitchy and Acquires Streaming Site for $1 Billion
Paranoid Android
You can’t blame Google for wanting to flash a little cash – after all, with corporate competitors Apple and Facebook both splurging some spare change of late, the search engine giant must have been feeling left out. Fortunately, it’s reportedly managed to find a use for the coins stashed down the side of its office sofa – by...
News Will PS4 Win the Battle for China? Our Survey Says...
Ker-ching
Now that the Chinese government no longer believes that video games will rot the mind of its teens like teeth cleaned with Coca-Cola, both Sony and Microsoft are scrambling to release their next-gen consoles in the region. It’s easy to understand why: the untapped nation represents a potential audience of over one billion. So, who will...
News Sony's Considering a Steam-Style Early Access Program, Says Adam Boyes
Let the games begin
It seems that Steam's famous Summer Sales may not be the only thing Sony's thinking about borrowing from the digital download service. In a recent interview, SCEA big-wig Adam Boyes suggested that the firm may be adopting an early access program. If implemented, it would allow studios to release unfinished games for purchase as a...
News Don't Panic, Sony Hasn't Forgotten About Its VR Headset Project Morpheus
The device has seen "significant investment"
Apart from a few demos behind closed doors, Sony's virtual reality headset Project Morpheus was notably absent from the Japanese giant's E3 presence this year. If the nifty piece of tech's no-show has you worried that the firm has completely forgotten about it, you've no need to fear. In a recent...
News Blimey, Only Four in Ten PlayStation Games Actually Make Money
Whelp
Many of us play video games, but very few of us can fully appreciate just how harsh the business surrounding our hobby can be. As it turns out, releasing a piece of interactive entertainment is an incredibly risky gambit, and in a recent interview, Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida revealed just how dicey the industry can get. "We...
News Shuhei Yoshida Doesn't Understand People Who Don't Like Indie Games
Neither do we
If the last two E3s are anything to go by, Sony's continued efforts to court indie developers are paying off. What's more, the Japanese giant seems pretty chuffed with this outcome, as Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida stated in a recent interview. "Almost every week you see an indie game coming out digitally on PS4. Some of...
News Sony Spends More on US TV Ads for the PS4 Than Microsoft Does for the Xbox One
Apparently it's working
The PlayStation 4 is selling like hotcakes – this much we know. However, a much more interesting discussion can be had around how the console has managed to maintain this market dominance. Some argue that the PS4's lower price point has been instrumental in its success, while others point to
News The PS4 Dev Team Were 'Dancing in The Aisles' After The Xbox One's Price Reveal
So were we
A lot has been said about the performance of the two major players at last year's E3. Regardless of your view, it's no secret that Sony's super system has been going gangbusters when it comes to numbers. And while it certainly wasn't the most crucial element, the PlayStation 4's significantly cheaper price tag can certainly take a lot of...
News Crytek Denies It Is On The Verge Of Bankruptcy Following Reports Of Staff Not Being Paid
"We continue to focus on development and publishing"
Crytek — the studio behind the Crysis series and CryEngine — has been forced to issue a statement today regarding claims in the German media that it is on the verge of bankruptcy. German magazine Gamestar is the source of the claims, and says that the Frankfurt-based firm's problems have...
E3 2014 A Staggering Number of Xbox Fans Have Converted to PS4, Says Sony
The tide has turned
While Sony's E3 2014 press conference may have been bogged down by needless corporate numbers, there was just no way that we could pass up on this juicy statistic. Speaking with Kotaku, PlayStation America marketing executive John Koller stated that the PlayStation 4 has
News Farewell Old Friend! Sony to Cease Selling the PlayStation Portable
Pocketable platform turned off for the last time
While it’s been a non-entity in parts of the Western world for some time now, Sony has confirmed that it will officially pull the plug on the PlayStation Portable this year. The platform holder’s former flagship handheld format originally launched in Japan on 12th December 2004, meaning that it...
News Sony's Relying on Strong PS4 Numbers to Help Drive Its Network Services
Safety net
The PlayStation 4 is many things: a video game console, a massive cash-cow, a convenient broadcasting device, and, most importantly of all, a Resogun machine. However, it seems that Sony is also hoping that its super system will serve as a convenient
News Kaz Hirai: PS4's Success Will Be Determined by Continued Install Base Growth
Platform already profitable
There’s no doubt that the PlayStation 4 has raced out of the blocks in fifth gear, but Sony overlord Kaz Hirai reckons that the company is not resting on its laurels yet. While the firm is extremely satisfied with the success of its next-gen device to date, the intelligent executive noted that the system will be...
News Sony Finally Reveals Its Plans to Bring the PlayStation Brand to China
Boom and bust
After 14 long years, China is finally lifting its state-enforced ban on video game consoles. The end of this tyrannical veto on happiness undoubtedly sees Sony keen to enter into an emerging and potentially lucrative market. Indeed, we've known about the platform holder's plans in this area for
News Blimey, Half of All PS4 Users Are Subscribed to PlayStation Plus
Money, money, money
The PlayStation 4 is selling like hotcakes – this much we know. But what about the Japanese giant’s premium subscription service? Have people been opening their wallets for PlayStation Plus with similar speed? Well, at a recent investors meeting, Sony president Kaz Hirai revealed that around half of all PS4 users are...
News Sony Expects to Remain in the Red Next Year As Well
Company can't stop losing cash
Sony’s the corporate equivalent of one of those kids that drops a fiver on the floor and refuses to pick it up because that would be deemed ‘uncool’. Despite confirming an expected loss of $1.26 billion overnight, the Japanese giant has admitted that it’ll remain in the red next year as well – predicting a...
News Sony Bosses Forfeit Bonuses Ahead of Billion Dollar Loss
Hip hip Hirai
There’ll be no wad in the back pocket of Sony gaffer Kaz Hirai this week, as the ex-PlayStation president – along with 40 of the organisation’s top executives – will forfeit their bonuses ahead of this week’s expected billion dollar loss. It’s believed that many of the senior employees will sacrifice a third of their annual...
News Don't Panic, Sony's Already Made Plans for the Next Century of PlayStation
Wait, what?
We always knew that Sony was a forward thinking company, but this is getting ridiculous. Big wigs Andrew House and Mark Cerny will both take to the stage at this year's Develop conference to deliver a keynote on the history and future of the PlayStation brand. Titled '20 years of PlayStation, 40 years of Console Games, and 100 Years to...
News How's Sony Doing Financially Now That the PS4's Out?
Well, the only way is up
There’s good news for Sony overlord Kaz Hirai: the PlayStation 4 is selling spectacularly. Not even the most optimistic of industry analysts could have predicted that the next-gen system would sell over seven million units in its first six or so months on the market, but that’s exactly what it’s achieved, and it’s...
News Dark Souls Developer From Software Bought by Kadokawa
You are not dead
Niche developer From Software has been purchased by Japanese publisher Kadokawa, according to a report on Siliconera. The latter will apparently acquire 80 per cent of the Dark Souls studio’s stock, as part of a deal that’s set to be completed on 21st May. It’s unclear yet how much money has exchanged hands, but we’re...
News Whoa, Sony Is Selling All of Its 9,520,000 Shares in Square Enix
A lightning sale
Here's an odd one: Sony Computer Entertainment has recently announced that it has decided to sell its 9,520,000 shares in Square Enix to Japanese financial company SMBC Nikko Securities. The sale will furnish the firm with a flabbergasting ¥4.7 billion ($47 million) of wallet-filling financial gains. While it's certainly not going...
News Looks Like Sony's Getting Ready to Release the PS4 in China
New opportunities
Now that China no longer considers consoles to be the spawn of Satan, it seems that Sony is stepping up its plans to release the PlayStation 4 in the potentially lucrative region. Previously, the nation put in place a ban on home systems, blocking their sale due to the perceived impact that they could have on youngsters. However,...
News Ubisoft: We Will Continue to Support PS3 for Foreseeable Future
Life in the old dog yet
Assassin’s Creed: Unity, the next entry in Ubisoft’s stab happy series, will climb over current generation consoles. The sequel – which was announced last week – will be exclusive to systems such as the PlayStation 4, meaning that those who haven’t upgraded yet will miss out on the romp during the French Revolution...
News You Should Expect to See More British Developed Games in the Future
God save the games
When you think of British developers, studios such as Grand Theft Auto's Rockstar North and the Batman Arkham series' Rocksteady pop into mind. However, in the near future, the development of more AAA titles from this land of rolling green hills and royalty may not be so uncommon following tax breaks announced last week. Games...
Weirdness Developer Marvelous AQL's New Logo Certainly Makes an Impact
For better or for worse
While many developers are worshiped by an army of dedicated fans, others are met with humble logo recognition while players hammer at the start button waiting for a main menu to appear. Marvelous AQL, the developer of niche titles such as New Little King's Story and co-developer of the grotesque Soul Sacrifice, may fall into...
News The Developer of Strider's PS4 Reboot Just Got Bought by, Er, Amazon
What the blades?
Double Helix Games is a developer that’s on the rise. Or at least, it was. Having dallied around with awful movie tie-ins such as G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra and Battleship, the company – made up of former Foundation 9 employees – got the opportunity to flex its creative muscles with Microsoft’s recent Killer Instinct reboot...
News PS4 Propels Sony Back to Profitability, but Kaz Hirai Vaporizes Vaio
All change in the television business, too
Oh no, it’s not financials day, is it? This disgruntled editor may have studied business for several years, but can’t seem to bring himself to look at a balance sheet these days. Nevertheless, our favourite electronics manufacturer has dropped a bit of a humdinger today, confirming that it’s dumping...
News Blimey, PS Plus Subscriptions Have Tripled Since the PS4's Launch
Triple the fun
PlayStation Plus may just be the best thing since sliced bread. Ok, not really – Resogun is obviously the best thing since sliced bread. But the premium subscription service comes in at a very close second, providing core gamers with a way to get more out of their expensive consoles. And it seems that the public at large mostly...
News Sony Santa Monica Aiming to Encourage Collaboration in Colossal New Office
Expanding workforce in the process
The sunny Californian city of Santa Monica may be right at the heart of God of War creator Sony Santa Monica’s name, but the first-party developer has outgrown its current home and is moving south to Playa Vista this summer. The news comes on the back of a massive recruitment drive, which the studio hopes will...
Weirdness Sony Plans to Buy a Factory That Produces Parts for the Wii U
Wii U expecting that?
Sony has recently finalised its plans to purchase a new semiconductors factory, reports Japanese national TV channel NHK. What makes this acquisition slightly more interesting, however, is that the plant in question is most notable for producing the DRAM chip for the Nintendo Wii U. Our beloved Japanese giant plans to plonk ¥7...
