Tag: Industry - Page 32
Rumour Sony Looking to Acquire Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania, Silent Hill from Konami
King of wishful thinking
Enthusiast forums and social media are ablaze with speculation that Sony is looking to acquire the Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, and Castlevania brands from Konami in an epic IP raid. The rumour is piggybacking off recent speculation that Sony is developing and fundin
News Platinum Developing Proprietary Engine for Next-Gen Action Games
Bigger, more expressive titles
It’s exciting times at developer PlatinumGames right now, with some huge projects in production, including the upcoming Project G.G. Now the Japanese developer has revealed that, in addition to self-publishing its future titles, it’ll also be creating a proprietary engine to power them. “Our Research and...
News Rockstar the Latest Games Company to Tackle Coronavirus
Implements work from home policies
Rockstar is the latest gaming company to deviate from its day-to-day routine in response to the coronavirus. The developer and publisher revealed its plans in a statement on Twitter, writing that it has now "implemented work from home policies across international offices and studios". It continues: "We are...
News Coronavirus Could Very Well Lead to PS4 Game Delays
It's coming
We’re in uncharted territory, and it doesn’t look like things are going to settle down anytime soon. The current coronavirus epidemic has already claimed several video game casualties, with the cancellation of E3 2020 being the most notable thus far. But with the PlayStation 5 increasingly likely to face a delay, we could also see...
News BAFTA Games Awards 2020 Moving to Digital Show Amid Coronavirus Chaos
Live event cancelled
The upcoming BAFTA Games Awards ceremony, which is due to take place at the start of April, will no longer be a live, red carpet shindig. As with many events across the globe, coronavirus has caused the British Academy to cancel the awards show. Instead, the organisers will be holding a livestream in order to announce the...
News Butthurt PlayStation Fans Taken to Task by Ex-Guerrilla Producer Over Horizon PC Port
"What the hell is wrong with you people?"
If you need a facemask to protect yourself from coronavirus, then you may require a full-body hazmat suit if you dare to read our Twitter replies from the past 48 hours. Since confirmation that Horizon: Zero Dawn is coming to PC – which, we should stress, has been rumoured for months – fanboys from all...
Reaction Coronavirus Could Very Well Have Saved E3
Or killed it, we'll see
E3 has been cancelled, and no one reading the news is surprised. It may be the most noteworthy convention in the gaming calendar, but with famous festivals like Coachella postponed and the Olympics under serious jeopardy, it’s hardly surprising that coronavirus has claimed another victim. Of course, in this
News Ubisoft to Utilise 'Digital Experience' for E3 2020 Conference Replacement
Industry goes digital
E3 2020 has been cancelled and it looks like those who were planning on putting together a live press conference will instead choose to go the digital route en masse. Following in the footsteps of the Nintendo Direct and Sony's State of Play livestreams, French publisher Ubisoft has stated that it is exploring a "digital...
Rumour Harry Potter RPG, Rocksteady's New Game, More Were Planned for Warner Bros E3 Show
Dark times, Harry, dark times
The news we were all kinda waiting for has landed: E3 2020 isn't happening. At least, not in its usual guise. There won't be a big live event in LA, and there won't be any flashy onstage press conferences from the industry's major players. We imagine some will turn to digital presentations in the vein of a Nintendo...
News E3 2020 Has Been Cancelled
It's official
Following reports that the event was on the cusp of being called off, E3 2020 has now officially been cancelled. The ESA, the organisation behind E3, has issued a statement that cites "increased and overwhelming concerns" regarding the coronavirus. "After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety...
News Nintendo Legend Reggie Fils-Aimé Joins GameStop Board of Directors
The GameStop is fun
The man, the myth, the legend that is former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has set his sights on a new career following his retirement from the Big N around this time last year. He'll be helping retailer GameStop get back on track as a member of its corporate board, bringing his vast industry experience to the...
News 2K Sports to Make 'Fun, Approachable' NFL Games for PS5
First down
2K Sports has just issued EA Sports with a two-minute warning, as it’s signed a deal with the NFL to make brand new football games for consoles. You may recall the company previously publishing the NFL 2K series, with NFL 2K5 in particular considered one of the greatest sports games ever made. The title, which launched at $19.99, put...
News Sonic the Hedgehog Panel Adopts New Format After Coronavirus Cans SXSW
Pull the plug
The annual SXSW 2020 show has been cancelled this year by the City of Austin due to coronavirus concerns. It means that SEGA’s anticipated Sonic the Hedgehog panel – which has been a fixture at the festival for a few years now – will adopt a “new format” when it airs at some point in April. Our bet is on some kind of Nintendo...
News E3 2020 Showfloor Creative Team Drops Out, Spelling More Doom for the Show
"We wish the organizers the best of luck"
Upon its original pitch earlier this year, E3 2020 was planning on revitalising its showfloor experience with the likes of experimental zones, access to insiders and influences, and digital programming. Video game merchandiser iam8bit was the creative director tasked with putting all of that together, but...
News E3 2020 Cancellation on the Cusp as Coronavirus Causes State of Emergency
Lights out
The writing was on the wall for E3 2020 when Sony and a slew of other big names decided to pull out of the annual convention, but coronavirus may yet put a stop to the show entirely. Host city Los Angeles announced a state of emergency
News Yumi Yang Promoted to Head of Santa Monica Studio Following Shannon Studstill Departure
"A 19-year PlayStation veteran"
Earlier today, it was announced that Google Stadia is opening a new game studio, with industry legend Shannon Studstill set to lead the team. Previously heading up Sony's own Santa Monica Studio, she leaves behind some big boots to fill, but PlayStation has wasted no time in putting forward a fitting replacement. The...
News Sony Santa Monica Boss Shannon Studstill Leaves to Lead New Google Stadia Studio
Good luck
Sony Santa Monica boss Shannon Studstill has been poached by Google to lead a new Stadia development studio in Playa Vista. The industry veteran, who helmed the team which would go on to produce 2018’s undisputed Game of the Year in God of War, will recruit a group responsible for creating “exclusive games” for the embattled...
News Sony Closes European Offices Due to Coronavirus Concerns
"An abundance of caution"
Reports are coming in that Sony has closed three of its European offices due to concerns over the coronavirus. Offices in London (UK), Paris (France), and Gdynia (Poland) have been shuttered for the rest of the week as a precautionary measure. Sony says that none of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus,...
News Death Stranding and Control Lead the Way in 2020's BAFTA Games Awards Nominations
Trophy hunters
It's time once again for BAFTA's video game awards, one of the industry's glitziest awards ceremonies. This year, the British Academy is clearly infatuated with two of 2019's most peculiar games; Death Stranding and Control have each received 11 nominations. The latter even receives a nod for Best Game, while Kojima Productions' game...
News BAFTA to Honour Death Stranding's Hideo Kojima with Highest Award
King of the world
He’s one of the most famous faces in the industry, and now Hideo Kojima’s career will be recognised by BAFTA with its highest award. During the BAFTA Game Awards ceremony on 2nd April, the Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator will receive the BAFTA Fellowship, an accolade designed to reward outstanding contributions to...
News PlatinumGames' Third Reveal Is a New Studio Focused on Games as a Service
Based in Tokyo
Off the back of The Wonderful 101 Remastered's Kickstarter and the reveal of Project G.G., PlatinumGames has unveiled the third of its four planned announcements. It's not a video game, however. In fact, it's an entirely new development studio named PlatinumGames Tokyo which will focus on making experiences we have given the title...
News A Member of the Dreams Community Has Already Had a Job Offer in the Games Industry
Making it
Due to the nature of Media Molecule's titles, you hear about members of the community being headhunted for video game jobs every now and again. LittleBigPlanet was responsible for many people going pro, and we're starting to hear about similar stories with Dreams on PlayStation 4. It was inevitable that this would happen at some stage, but...
News Facebook Kills Chances of Sly Cooper Sequel from Sanzaru Games with Acquisition
To develop VR games
If Sony ever does decide to bring the Sly Cooper franchise back from the dead, it won't be doing it alongside Sanzaru Games anymore. That's because the developer of PlayStation 3 exclusive Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time has just been bought by Facebook for an undisclosed fee. In a move similar to that of Beat Games, the studio will...
News How Did Dreams on PS4 End Up with an ESRB T Rating?
An age rating nightmare?
Dreams is out on PlayStation 4, and it's wonderful. We're still very much in love with Media Molecule's PS4 exclusive, swapping between building things ourselves and playing a delightfully unpredictable collection of user-made stuff. We've yammered on about the game enough, but we haven't been able to get one particular...
News Microsoft Confirms 12 Teraflops for Xbox Series X, 120 FPS, Quick Resume
Backwards compatability support
It was a seemingly quiet Monday afternoon when all of a sudden Microsoft dropped a bucket load of new details for its next-generation console, the Xbox Series X. The team in green has confirmed that the system will boast of 12 Teraflops, support for 120 frames per second, DirectX Raytracing, and a Quick Resume feature...
News Sony Cancels GDC 2020 Appearance Amid Coronavirus Concerns
That makes two
After scrapping its plans to attend PAX East in Boston later this month, Sony has now confirmed that it won't be attending GDC -- once again citing the coronavirus as the reason why. Facebook joins the company in skipping the show while Oculus has announced that its announcements will take place online. In a statement given to Gam
News THQ Nordic Parent Company Acquires World War Z Dev Saber Interactive
Starting at $150 million
If you thought that the ever-growing THQ Nordic was done snapping up developers after it decided to set up its own team in the form of Nine Rock Games, then you might want to reconsider. Embracer Group, the parent company of the publisher, has acquired World War Z developer Saber Interactive for an initial $150 million. The...
Guide All DICE 2020 Award Winners
Worthy winners
The D.I.C.E. Awards (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) took place overnight, awarding the best video games of 2019 with worthy trinkets for the teams' mantelpieces. Each category is arranged and voted on by industry professionals, so taking the top spot is a fairly prestigious honour. The likes of Control and Death Stranding were...
News Quantic Dream to Self-Publish Future Projects, Take Full Advantage of PS5
Uncaged
Detroit: Become Human developer Quantic Dream may have become a household name due to its collaborations with Sony, but the French studio is now planning a future where it will self-publish. As part of a blog post celebrating its 23rd anniversary, the studio suggested that it’ll be looking to support other companies, in addition to...
News One-Of-a-Kind Nintendo PlayStation Prototype Could Be Yours
If you can afford it
Remember that ultra-rare Nintendo PlayStation prototype that was a thing of legend until someone discovered it a few years ago? Well, you can own it, as it’s been put up for auction. The bidding concludes on 27th February, but unsurprisingly it’s already up to $48,000 – expect that figure to rise much higher over th
News Disney Wants to Empower Game Developers to Leverage Its Intellectual Property
Going for the kill
Marvel’s Spider-Man and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have been gigantic hits for both Sony and EA respectively, and the success has encouraged Disney to “empower” more developers to leverage its enormous stable of intellectual property. Considering the company commanded an eye-watering 35 per cent of the film industry as of...
News Ubisoft Revives Prince of Persia, But Not As You Hoped
At least it's not a smartphone game
There are only two franchises we want out of Ubisoft right now: Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia. The former’s looking unlikely right now, while the latter’s making a comeback – as a virtual reality Escape Room experience. To be fair, Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time sounds neat: you’ll work...
News Yet Another Blow to E3 as Presenter Geoff Keighley Skips Show for First Time in 25 Years
Ain't what it used to be
E3 is not the juggernaut event that it once was -- that much is becoming abundantly clear. Sony skipped the convention last year and it's doing so again in 2020. But if there's anything that truly points towards the show's decline, it's the absence of Geoff Keighley. The man behind The Game Awards has participated in E3 for...
News Criterion to Get Need for Speed Franchise Back on Track
Ghost Games to become support team
The Need for Speed series has had a rocky road lately, and that's no secret. Need for Speed Heat was an improvement, but it wasn't quite the comeback the franchise sorely needed. Not since the days of Criterion's take on Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted has the franchise been truly great. Developer Ghost Games, which...
News E3 2020's First Press Conference Announcement Comes From the Most Unlikely Source
#LimitedRunSavesE3
When we think of E3 press conferences, our minds immediately turn to the likes of Sony, Ubisoft, Bethesda, and EA. Some of those publishers will be attending E3 2020 with their live show announcements surely planned for the next couple of months, but they've all been beaten to the punch by a completely different company. That's...
News 2K Silicon Valley Now Named 31st Union, Working on a New IP
Expands to Spain, too
2K Games has officially announced the new name of one of its youngest development studios. What was once known as 2K Silicon Valley is now named 31st Union. The studio was founded last year and is headed up by Michael Condrey, previously of Sledgehammer Games. In 2K's statement, Condrey seems pretty excited about the company's...
News Sony Reportedly Paid $229 Million in Insomniac Games Acquisition
Is it a bargain?
Sony set social media alight when it completely overshadowed Gamescom Opening Night live 2019 with the acquisition of Insomniac Games, to the point where even Geoff Keighley felt the need to address it live on stage. It was a memorable moment, but until now, we have had no knowledge of how much the Japanese giant actually paid the...
News THQ Nordic Opens Up New Studio to Make a Shooter in the Survival Genre
Nine Rock Games
Instead of acquiring a developer, THQ Nordic has actually gone and set one up itself. The publisher has gained a bit of a reputation for purchasing smaller studios putting out big games over the past few years, but this move could signal a change in approach for the Austrian company. Nine Rock Games is the name of its new team with...
News Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Doesn't See Sony As Competition Going Forward
Convenient
Enthusiast forums may be focused on the ongoing battle between Sony and Microsoft, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer sees Amazon and Google as its big competitors moving forwards. The talkative executive dropped the soundbite during an interview with Papers Owl, in which he dismissed PlayStation’s ability to implement a cloud-based...
News Sony Shuts Manchester Studio Before It Ships a Game
Gone too early
Sony has shut down Manchester Studio before it even had the opportunity to announce a game. The virtual reality-based developer was formed in 2015 and was working on an unannounced project, but the Japanese giant has decided to call time on the team “as part of our efforts to improve efficiency and operational effectiveness”...
News PSone Crushed the N64 Because of Depressing Games and Lonely Players
According to late Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi
Many factors have been attributed to Sony’s success with the PSone, from the format’s financially friendly CD-ROMs through to the manufacturer’s guerrilla marketing tactics. However, according to Hiroshi Yamauchi, the Nintendo president of the time, the platform outpaced the Nintendo 64...
News PSN Earned $12.48 Billion for Sony in 2019
That's a lot of money
How big is the PlayStation Network? Well, it’s $12.48 billion big, according to data crunched by ResetEra via Sony’s latest sales report. The Japanese giant raked in an eye-watering $9.28 billion in 2019 through the PlayStation Store, with the sale of full games, add-ons, and microtransactions. It then made a further
News Astro Bot Rescue Mission Director to Head Up SIE Japan Studio for PS5 Generation
It's in safe hands
The folks over at Sony Interactive Entertainment's Japan Studio have had a leadership shakeup which sees Astro Bot Rescue Mission director and producer Nicolas Doucet step into the leading role. Word of what happened to former head Allen Becker hasn't gotten out just yet, but the change will mean that Doucet now leads Sony's group...
News Taipei Game Show 2020 Called Off Following Coronavirus Outbreak
Postponed to summer
The annual Taipei Game Show (which takes place in Taipei, Taiwan), was set to begin next week on the 6th February -- but the event has been cancelled and pushed back to an unspecified date in the summer of 2020. According to organisers, this is due to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus -- the potentially deadly illness that...
News Microsoft NieRly Stopped Platinum from Developing on PS4
Xbox was looking to buy Japanese dev
Platinum Games recently acquired significant investment from Chinese juggernaut Tencent, securing the Japanese studio’s future as it explores self-publishing. However, the outcome was almost very different, as Microsoft was allegedly looking to buy the Bayonetta developer last year. This tidbit comes courtesy...
News E3 2020 Will Be 'a New and Revitalized Experience' Filled with Celebrities and Insiders
New security firm for sign-ups
Remember when it sounded like E3 2020 would be drastically changing its image following a rebrand to a fan, media, and influencer festival? Well, it looks like that's exactly what's happening. The ESA (Entertainment Software Association) has issued a statement detailing its plans for this y
News Former SIE Chairman Considers Insomniac Purchase One of His Best Achievements at PlayStation
Shawn Layden weighs in
We're most likely never going to find out the reasoning behind Shawn Layden's departure from Sony last year, but at least we can rest easy in the knowledge that the two parties parted ways on good terms. The former chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios has consistently tweeted about Sony's efforts since his surprise exit,
News Ex-Splinter Cell Director Reportedly Returns to Ubisoft
A hint of things to come?
The idea of a modern Splinter Cell game has been flying around for what feels like an eternity. The series has been MIA since Blacklist on PlayStation 3, and that released nearly seven years ago. Aside from a surprising cameo appearance in Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Sam Fisher has been out of action for the whole PS4...
News NHS Wants Devs to Think of the Children as Loot Boxes Prep Kids for Gambling Addiction
Never-ending story
The loot box back-and-forth rumbles on, with British health organisation NHS urging game developers to think more carefully about so-called “surprise mechanics” which could lead children into gambling addictions. A strongly worded statement from mental health director Claire Murdoch called for a crackdown on loot boxes in...
News Even More Sony Bigwigs Spotted in San Francisco as PS5 Reveal Nears
All good in the neighbourhood
Update (18th January): In addition to the executives outlined in the original article, Naughty Dog staffers Arne Meyer and Scott Lowe have also been spotted at PlayStation HQ, as the Japanese giant is clearly holding a summit ahead of the PS5's reveal. Original Article: Excuse us while we go gossip colum
