Tag: Industry - Page 24
News Remember Ouya, the 'PlayStation Killer'? Well Now It's Dead
Almost dead, anyway
Ouya? More like Ounah! Right, guys? Ouya, the little console that couldn't, is now officially dead. You wouldn't be blamed for thinking it's been dead for years because the device itself was discontinued back in 2015, but now its digital game store is set to be closed next month, on the 25th June. The final nail in the coffin...
News Apex Legends Revenue Has Reportedly Dropped Off a Cliff
Analyst estimates huge decrease in earnings
It feels like Apex Legends has been on a decline for a little while now, and new evidence sadly backs that up. The free to play battle royale shooter launched with a bang, attracting 25 million players in its first week. Nowadays, though, interest seems to have fallen dramatically, in part due to
News Worldwide Studios Head Shuhei Yoshida Has Paid a Visit to Housemarque
But it's probably nothing
Update (23rd May 2019): Sony XDev Europe, a support team within Worldwide Studios, has added a little fuel to the fire. Retweeting the below post from Shu, it appears to be hinting at something. It's only a couple of emojis, but it could potentially be a teensy bit more evidence to suggest Housemarque is working together...
News Sony: We Empower Our Studios to Push the Boundaries of Gaming
The results speak for themselves
Not every game in Sony’s first-party portfolio is a smash hit, but between projects like Dreams and God of War, it’s clear that the company gives its studios an unparalleled sense of freedom. Speaking at the Collision conference in Toronto yesterday, Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden touched upon this a...
News THQ Nordic Acquires Piranha Bytes, Along with Gothic, Risen, and Elex IP
Euro jank gets a boost
Another week brings another THQ Nordic acquisition. It really does feel like it happens this often now, doesn't it? This time around, the publisher has purchased Piranha Bytes and IPs the developer has worked on. This means that along with the studio itself, THQ Nordic now owns the rights to the likes of the Gothic, Risen,...
News Sony Music Artists Will Bring Original Songs to First-Party Games
Company also keen on PSVR crossover content
Sony is still eager to unify its various divisions, with PlayStation Productions an example of this. The new media-focused unit is part of Sony Interactive Entertainment, but it will leverage experience from Sony Pictures to bring PlayStation properties to both the small and big screen. According to...
News PlayStation's Future Will Be 'Immersive' and 'Seamless'
Sony lays out its vision
Sony’s settled upon two buzzwords which it will refer to when considering the future of PlayStation: immersive and seamless. Announced as part of an investor relations presentation, the company confirmed that these adjectives will determine the direction of its business moving forwards. It pointed to the processing speed...
Rumour PlayStation Productions Is Working on a Twisted Metal TV Series
Sweet Tooth is back
Sony's overnight investor meeting included a Q&A portion, and according to one thread over on ResetEra, it was announced that the recently formed PlayStation Productions is working on a Twisted Metal TV series. Apparently revealed by Tony Vinciquerra on-stage, the project recently began production - meaning we probably won't...
News Sony to Invest in First-Party Studios 'Through Organic Growth and Acquisitions' for PS5
More purchases along the way
It's a tactic that Microsoft has found great success in during previous E3 conferences, but it looks like Sony is once again stepping up its act when it comes to first-party acquisition. At last night's investor meeting, Jim Ryan stated that PlayStation is planning on investing in its line-up of first-party studios...
News Sony Establishes New Unit to Adapt Games for Film and TV
Inspired by Marvel Studios
It would appear that PlayStation’s fed up with Sony Pictures, as it’s launched its own division designed to adapt games to film and television. The aptly named PlayStation Productions will be led by Asad Qizilbash and overseen by Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden, and has already started work on its first slate...
News PlayStation Team Was 'Caught Off-Guard' by Sony's Tech Partnership with Microsoft
"Managers had to calm workers"
Sony's recent announcement of a tech deal with Microsoft that will see the two companies come together on research of future cloud solutions took a lot of people by surprise, even those who work at PlayStation itself. In a report from Bloomberg, it is stated that talks between
News Shrug Your Shoulders at Quantic Dream's New Logo
Okay..?
Is this really worth drawing any amount of attention to? Who knows, but at least it proves that Push Square isn't just a raving fansite for upcoming masterpiece Dreams. David Cage's dev team, Quantic Dream, has a brand new logo. Check it out above. Best known for its recent work on
New best friends?
Well here's an interesting announcement: Sony and Microsoft have revealed that they're working together on a variety of tech-related ventures. The two companies are obviously competitors in the gaming console space with PlayStation and Xbox, but that hasn't stopped them from forming what they call a "strategic partnership". "The...
News Far Cry 5 and Rainbow Six: Siege Are Both Absolute Monsters, Ubisoft Reaffirms
Top seller and billion dollar earnings respectively
It's no secret that Ubisoft has some absolute juggernauts this generation. Far Cry 5 smashed sales records for the franchise and was one of last year's best selling games, while Rainbow Six: Siege has been slowly gathering momentum for over three years. In a recent earnings call, the publisher has...
News Square Enix Financial Forecasts Suggest Final Fantasy VII Remake Won't Launch Before March 2020
The Avengers, too
After having seen new gameplay from Final Fantasy VII Remake last week, many hopeful onlookers were wondering whether the game might actually release later this year. It is, after all, going to be chopped up into multiple instalments, and it's confirmed to be at E3 2019
News Ubisoft Has Three Unannounced Blockbusters Lined Up
Watch Dogs 3 will be one
Ubisoft will release three unannounced games during the fourth quarter of its current fiscal year, meaning that it’s planning a trio of AAA titles between the beginning of January and the end of March. The ginormous French publisher confirmed the tidbit in a slide to investors, also acknowledging
News PS5 May Be the Last Console Before Streaming Takes Over, Says Ubisoft Boss
Next-gen, last-gen?
Never one to shy away from reasonably bold claims, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reckons that the next console generation will be the last of its kind. Once it's done and dusted, Guillemot expects hardware to shift towards streaming services. "I think we will see another generation, but there is a good chance that step-by-step we...
News Raising Kratos, the God of War PS4 Documentary, Is Available to Watch Now on YouTube
Grinding axes
Santa Monica Studio's hotly anticipated making of documentary has just debuted on PlayStation's YouTube channel. Raising Kratos is a two-hour look behind the scenes of God of War, one of PlayStation 4's biggest and best exclusive games, and it's available to watch now. You can watch it above. Expect to see lots of motion capture...
News Sony Just Had Its Best Financial Year Ever, PlayStation at the Heart of Success
Games easily biggest earner for tech giant
We all know that the PlayStation 4 has been an immense success for Sony, and it seems that hasn't slowed down over the last 12 months. The platform holder has just posted its results for the financial year 2018, and ultimately, it was the best in the company's history in terms of profit, and that's largely...
News PS4 Is Closing in on 100 Million Units Sold, and It's Inline with the All-Conquering PS2
It's at 96.8 million, Sony says
The PlayStation 4 has been a beast since its launch in 2013, and it's still pretty much flying off the shelves. The now five-year-old console just had a great quarter (January to March 2019) and its total sales are now edging extremely close to the hallowed 100 million mark. This info comes from Sony's latest...
News Sony Wants to Give Devs Time to Adjust to PS5's Capabilities
Studios already have devkits
Sony surprisingly announced the official existence of the PlayStation 5 today, outlining various details about the next-gen console. And tucked away in Wired’s article is confirmation that developers already have access to the device – and that the company is ramping up the deployment of devkits in order to ensure...
News Sony's Censorship Guidelines Tackle Sexually Explicit Depictions of Underage Characters
Company concerned about global reputation
As has been obvious for some time, Sony is cracking down on sexually explicit material as it pertains to questionably aged characters. While the specifics of its regulations remain underwraps, a Wall Street Journal report on the recently introduced policy reveals that the Japanese company has become...
News Sony Has Been Building PS5 for Four Years Already
Much more than a "mere upgrade"
Sony has been working on the PlayStation 5 for the past four years, meaning that work got underway at some point in 2015 – little over a year after the PlayStation 4 launched. According to a new Wired article, the system is not being built as a “mere upgrade” like, say, the PS4 Pro before it. Instead, the...
News People Are Panicking Over Ghost of Tsushima's Progress
Job listing leaves fans in a frenzy
Sucker Punch is looking for a narrative writer to help flesh out Ghost of Tsushima’s open world, and it’s got some fans in a frenzy. The Seattle-based studio is after a scribe who can write “high quality dialogue under tight deadlines for a diverse cast of characters who live in the world of 13th century...
News Guerrilla Appears to Be Making a Multiplayer Game
Studio spearheading Sony's online push?
Guerrilla Games may have etched its name into the top game developer stage with single player role-playing title Horizon: Zero Dawn, but its back catalogue is packed with online multiplayer experiences. And with Sony suggesting that it’d like to do a little more in the online space, it looks like Dutch...
News DONTNOD and Focus Home to Join Forces Again Following Vampyr's One Million Sales Milestone
Let's go again
It feels like DONTNOD's vampiric adventure game Vampyr flew way under the radar last year, but in a new press release, it seems like it did pretty well for itself. One million sales is certainly nothing to sniff at, and it's a huge success for publisher Focus Home Interactive. No wonder the two companies are partnering once again on...
News Bluepoint's Next Project a Re-Envisioning Beyond Shadow of the Colossus
Will it touch our Souls?
Bluepoint’s sublime Shadow of the Colossus remake is one of the finest games you can play on the PlayStation 4, but with its next project, the Austin-based outfit is looking to push itself even further. Speaking as part of a GDC presentation, the studio shed a little more light on what it’s up to, describing its new...
News Half of Video Game Software Bought in the UK Last Year was Digital
UK games market now worth nearly £6 billion
UKIE, the trade body that provides us with sales and chart information for the UK games industry, has conducted extensive research into the value of the country's games market. It's produced some pretty interesting results, showing that digital accounted for about 50 per cent of gaming software spending...
Soapbox Sony's Server Shutdown Strategy Is Making the Publisher a Laughing Stock
Sammy's dismayed by the DriveClub debacle
If our gaming future is to exist largely online, then I’m becoming increasingly sceptical of whether Sony deserves my money. The company has built the PlayStation Store into an unparalleled empire, but it’s about to gut popular racing game DriveClub and wipe it from its servers. If you already happen to...
News Saviour of Sony and King of Memes, PlayStation Legend Kaz Hirai Announces Retirement
End of an era
Kazuo Hirai is retiring. The 58-year-old has been the director and chairman of Sony for roughly a year, after he stepped down as CEO back in April 2018. Perhaps most commonly known for all the internet memes -- something that Hirai himself acknowledged during a press conference in 2016 -- it's very likely that Sony wouldn't be the...
News Senran Kagura Producer Quits, Largely Blames Rise in Gaming Censorship
A bum note
Although he'll continue to finish up titles still in development, Senran Kagura producer Kenichiro Takaki has left Japanese developer Marvelous. Takai was a veteran at the company, with his career there lasting a lengthy 13 years. However, Takai didn't just quit because he fancied a crack at something else -- he was apparently growing...
News Sony Renews Patent That Hints at Digital Game Trading for PlayStation Users
That growing digital maket
What's all this, then? A US patent that Sony first filed back in 2015 has been renewed, and it's already sparked a load of speculation across the web. The patent's wording is rather technical, but the gist of it is that Sony has been investigating the possibility of digital game trading. Supposedly, this could even work...
News EA Makes 350 Redundant As It Aims to Be World's Greatest Games Company
"We're not there right now"
EA is laying off an eye-watering 350 people in its marketing, publishing, and analytics departments. Kotaku managed to obtain an internal email from marketing chief Chris Bruzzo, in which he said that the staffing adjustments were designed to improve the publisher’s customer support, and optimise its global strategies...
News Sony to Cease Selling Full Game Digital Download Codes at Retail
PSN credit going no where, though
Sony will pull full game digital download codes from retail beginning 1st April, a leaked GameStop memo has revealed. This means that you’ll no longer be able to purchase the digital versions of full games from brick and mortar stores, although shops will continue to sell PlayStation Network credit in various...
Poll Do You Think Google Stadia and Streaming Are the Future of Video Games?
Check that connection
Is streaming the future of video games? Google certainly wants you to think so. Earlier this week, the company revealed its plans for Stadia, a streaming platform that, in theory, allows for the instantaneous streaming of big, AAA, modern video games through any device supported by Google. On paper it's an impressive concept...
News Ex-PlayStation Executive: Google Stadia Starts Inevitable Shift Away from Consoles
Phil Harrison believes the end is near
There was some speculation prior to Google Stadia’s announcement this week that the tech giant was preparing a console that would compete directly with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. As it happens, it revealed a product potentially more threatening: a cloud-based service running on top of YouTube, which will...
News Quantic Dream's Detroit: Become Human Heading to PC
Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls also lined up for Epic Games Store
Humanity has a price, and Epic Games is willing to pay it. Quantic Dream’s trilogy of ex-PlayStation exclusives are coming to the PC, which means that Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human will no longer be tethered solely to Sony’s systems. Controversially, the...
News PlayStation Could Have Fresh Competition in Stadia, Google's New Game Streaming Platform
The power of the cloud
Google just announced Stadia, its new streaming platform for playing video games. In a lot of ways, this could be our first real look at a next-gen console -- except it's not actually a console. The gist of it is that with Stadia, you'll be able to play full games, like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, immediately through the power...
Talking Point PS Now's Delivering Our Streaming Future, So Why Is Sony the Underdog?
Every cloud and all that
PlayStation’s history is pocked with missed opportunities. Sony was first to the casual game boom with PlayStation 2 party games like SingStar and Buzz, but it allowed Nintendo to waltz in with the Wii and take that audience away. It was doing controller-less gaming long before anyone at Xbox had even uttered the words...
News Google Poised to Announce Potential PlayStation Competitor
A new challenger approaches
Google will make a gaming announcement at the Game Developers Conference tomorrow which could rock the industry to its core. Of course, it could also turn out to be another footnote in the tech giant’s list of failed experiments, but there’s no doubt that the top brass at Sony will be tuning into the organisation’s...
News Sony Says There's No Truth in Take Two Acquisition Rumours
Hostile takeover out of the equation
Sony was apparently in advanced board level discussions to acquire Take Two this week, which would grant it ownership of blockbuster franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption, and BioShock. Of course,
Rumour Sony in Advanced Board Level Discussions to Acquire Take Two
Push square to doubt
There’s eff all happening in the games industry at the minute, so how about a hot rumour to rustle your jimmies this evening. Market Watch is reporting that stock in Take Two interactive is up following speculation that Sony is in “advanced board level discussions to acquire [the publisher] in a mostly cash deal”. This...
News Ex-Uncharted Movie Writer Joe Carnahan Calls Neil Druckmann a 'Jerkoff'
Says he "stole credit" for Naughty Dog series
The history of the Uncharted film is a long, rocky road. The adaptation has been in the works for such a long time, and various people have come and gone from the project. One such person was Joe Carnahan, a Hollywood writer on action flicks like Smokin' Aces and The A-Team. He hopped aboard the...
News Guerrilla Games Has Doubled Its Women Workforce in a Year
Aloy's influence
Guerrilla Games has doubled the number of women under its employment since last year’s International Women’s Day, meaning that there are more talented ladies within the Amsterdam studio’s ranks than ever before. Managing Director Hermen Hulst revealed the tidbit on Twitter, alongside a photograph of some of its team members...
News Sony Spotlights Some of Its Top Talent on International Women's Day
A look behind the curtain at Worldwide Studios
As part of International Women’s Day, Sony has released a pretty cool trailer peeking behind the curtain at several of its first-party teams. The inspirational clip, which naturally focuses on ladies, spotlights employees from a variety of different disciplines, including programmers, artists,...
News God of War Was Almost Called Something Totally Different, Says Creator David Jaffe
Title was luck of the draw
Say what you want about outspoken game designer David Jaffe, but he was one of the key creators behind what is now a series synonymous with PlayStation. God of War was a hit from the very start, with gorgeous visuals, a larger than life story, and blood-soaked gameplay. The latest game in the series, the PS4 exclusive...
News THQ Nordic Issues Apology for Asinine AMA with 8chan
Publisher regrets ridiculous incident
It’s been almost a week since THQ Nordic bafflingly hosted an AMA on ethically questionable website 8chan, prompting an unprecedented backlash due to the forum's connections with racism, hate speech, and, unthinkably, child pornography. The organisation apologised at the time, claiming that it was unaware of...
News THQ Nordic Did Something Crazy, And It Didn't Involve an Acquisition
Publisher hosts AMA on site banned from Google
Just when you thought the games industry couldn’t possibly get any dumber, THQ Nordic hosted an AMA (or Ask Me Anything) on infamous website 8chan. For those of you who don’t know, the site’s “infamous” because it’s been delisted by Google due to its suspected inclusion of child pornography...
The game... Is fun
Reggie Fils-Aimé, one of the most well known figures in modern gaming, has announced his retirement. Reggie has been at Nintendo since 2003, working his way up to the position of President of Nintendo of America. He may be leaving, but we'll always remember the memes. Jokes aside, Reggie has long been an inspiration to just...
News Former EA Boss Details New Studio, Gives Early Look at Co-Op, Free-to-Play Sci-Fi Title
Embark on something new
Patrick Söderlund, former EA executive who left the publisher last year, has dropped some details on what he's doing right now -- and they make for quite an interesting read. Upon leaving his position at EA, Söderlund created a new studio based in Stockholm, Sweden. The developer is named Embark, and since its inception...
