Tag: Industry - Page 4
News Iconic Devs Say the Industry Feels 'Crashier' Now Than the Actual Video Game Crash of the 80s
The Romeros reflect on industry troubles
John and Brenda Romero, best known for their work on DOOM and Wizardry respectively, have passed comment on the current state of the game industry. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, the couple — who founded Romero Games about 10 years ago — speak about the current difficulties the medium is facing,...
News PlayStation Studios' Mobile Push Seems Dead as Layoff Reports Continue
Phone it in
Reports of layoffs at PlayStation are doing the rounds again, with the suggestion being that Sony's push into the mobile gaming space is on the verge of collapse. Last week, news broke that PlayStation Studios was shuttering Dark Outlaw Games, before the outfit had even shipped its first title. However, news of additional layoffs —...
News Ex Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Dev Says They Were Fired and Replaced with AI
Human localisation reportedly replaced with AI
Max Hejtmánek, a former Czech-to-English translator at the Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios, claims they were fired from the studio and their role has been replaced with AI. In a post to the game's Reddit page, it's reported Hejtmánek was called into a meeting and told his...
News More Industry Concerns as Indie Dev Forced to Close Over Lack of Funding
Ivy Road shuts down 31st March
Ivy Road, the studio behind Wanderstop, will have to close its doors tomorrow, 31st March 2026, as it's failed to secure funding for the team's second project. The developer calls the current industry climate a "tough time for raising game funds", as it shopped its new concept around to publishers, but a deal never...
News Epic to 'Solve' Life Insurance After Terminally Ill Employee Was Laid Off
"Sorry to everyone"
This weekend, a heart-breaking story started doing the rounds about an employee laid off from Epic as part of its big round of redundancies. For those who missed the story, the Fortnite maker cut over 1,000 jobs after it revealed it was struggling. The company said it was a necessary step to help it stop “spending...
News After PS5 Price Hikes, Sony Suspends Memory Card Sales Due to Supply Crisis
For the foreseeable future
In a story that’s unlikely to affect video games directly but further demonstrates escalating global issues, Sony has temporarily suspended sales of its various memory cards, primarily used by digital cameras. As first reported by PetaPixel, it’s paused production of both CFexpress and SDXC/SDHC memory cards, although...
News PS5 Pro Buyers Rush to Beat $899.99 Price Hike Next Week
Gotta go fast
What a truly bizarre month it’s been for the PS5 Pro. Sony’s supercharged system attracted critical acclaim at the start of March for the introduction of its new PSSR 2 upscaler, an upgraded model which fixes all of the problems with its predecessor. But it’s ending the month with confirmation
News PS5 Pricing Strategy Gives Flexibility for Deals if 'Things Surprisingly Get Better'
"Sony's gone for one substantial increase"
Sony shocked the world with its PS5 price increases today, even if a French source had telegraphed them 24 hours earlier. As it stands, a Digital Edition console will now cost $599.99, an eye-watering $200 more than at launch over five years ago. Meanwhile, the PS5 Pro will increase to $899.99, putting it...
News Further Evidence of PSN's Rebrand Uncovered on the PS5 Console
PSN references removed
Sony is scrapping the PSN brand and it doesn’t look like it’ll be getting a new name. Earlier this week, we pointed out how the PSN Status Page on PlayStation.com was edited late last year to remove any mention of the PlayStation Network. And now we’ve noticed a similar thing in the PS5 settings. I
News 'This Is Unsustainable Madness': Modern Video Game Budgets Are Out of Control
Many US games now cost $300m or more
The cost of making AAA video games on America’s west coast, where some of Sony’s most prestigious first-party devs like Naughty Dog and Santa Monica Studio are based, is out of control. Musing on social media site BlueSky, reliable Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier said that while it’s “tough to...
News Despite PS5 Hits, Sony Sinks to 21st in Metacritic's Publisher Rankings
A mixed Metascore bag
Sony had a couple of outstanding games in 2025, namely Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei. But a mixed slate meant it struggled to really make any kind of impact on Metacritic’s latest publisher rankings. Despite awkward naming conventions, the aggregator is looking at the Metascores of all titles released...
News 'I Have Done So Much for This Company': Axed Fortnite Dev Can't Believe He's Been Laid Off
Unreal
With over 1,000 jobs cut at Epic today, we’re beginning to hear from some of those affected. One startled employee has taken to X (or Twitter) to share their story, stating they’re “confused and bewildered” by the layoffs. Ex-Fortnite Principal Engineer Evan Kinney wrote: ??
News PlayStation's Disastrous First-Party Leadership Culminates in Yet Another Studio Closure
Dark Outlaw Games dead
In an increasingly dark day for video games, Sony’s disastrous leadership of first-party studios has taken yet another casualty. Dark Outlaw Games, led by Treyarch veteran Jason Blundell and officially acknowled
Not epic
Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, has announced mass layoffs, affecting over 1,000 people. In a note sent to employees today, 24th March 2026, the firm says these cuts are being made in light of a "downturn in Fortnite engagement that started in 2025", which has resulted in the company "spending significantly more than we're...
News Embattled Publisher Nacon's Three Biggest Dev Teams Are Now in Trouble Too
Studios "placed in receivership"
Earlier this year, French publisher Nacon announced that it has filed for insolvency, and things are unfortunately getting worse for the teams involved with the company. While the publisher is undergoing a financial restructuring, the three largest studios under the Nacon umbrella have now also filed for insolvency...
Will the publisher use the tech?
Generative AI's role in video game development is a thorny issue right now, and we expect it'll stay that way for a good while yet. Whether you like it or not, we presume developers and publishers at all scales are at least experimenting with the technology to see if it brings any value to their production...
News Crimson Desert's Mixed Reviews See Dev's Share Price Drop Almost 30%
Abyss
The first batch of reviews have been rolling in for Crimson Desert, and while they're pretty good, they aren't quite as hot as many expected. The open world action game is much anticipated, and is seemingly on track to be a big hit this year. That's likely to still come true, but it seems that there's been a very mixed reception from critics...
News Nvidia Says You're All 'Completely Wrong' About Its Controversial AI Upscaler DLSS 5
Devs have full control, it says
The hot topic this week is DLSS 5, a recently revealed AI upscaling technology from Nvidia. The company has been one of the frontrunners for AI upscaling, but its upcoming iteration takes the whole thing a step further, and the reaction to early examples has been divisive to say the least. Nvidia claims the tech...
News 'It's a Laughable Notion': AI Can't Generate Hit Games Like GTA 6, Says Take-Two CEO
Strauss Zelnick reiterates doubts about AI's potential
Save for any further delays, Rockstar Games is set to release GTA 6 later this year, and it'll easily become one of the biggest hits of this console generation. The level of anticipation is off the scale; the open world action adventure title will sell by the bucketload. This sort of excitement...
News PS5 Game Devs Collectively Clown on Nvidia's Controversial DLSS 5 Tech
Meme time
Nvidia's just-announced DLSS 5 technology has caused a big upset, with a very strong reaction from fans pointing out how different character models look with the AI upscaler enabled. There's a lot of distaste for the effect, and it's a view shared by many game developers — going by our X feed, at least. We've found many examples of...
"It all looks like generated slop"
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, but it seems somewhat suspicious to us that Nvidia decided to announce its new DLSS 5 upscaler on the day Sony revealed plans to roll out its new PSSR 2 upscaler. The highly anticipated upgrade for PS5 Pro, a collaboration between PlayStation and AMD as part of its Project Amethyst...
News As Warner Bros' Future Looks Uncertain, Gotham Knights Dev Reportedly Cuts More Staff
More layoffs at WB Games Montréal
Warner Bros. is in an odd place at the moment, its fate hanging in the balance as it looks like Paramount is poised to acquire the entire business. It's a deal worth a whopping $110 billion, and while the main attraction is the conglomerate's vast movie and TV empire, its video game business is of course part of...
News Crimson Desert's Mandatory PS5 Update Sparks Debate About Games Which Break Street Date
"Hopefully this becomes the norm"
You won’t be able to play physical copies of Crimson Desert without downloading an update. According to the game’s official FAQ, once you’ve pulled this data from Sony’s servers, the title will be fully playable offline. But it’ll need that initial connection in order to boot. This has sparked lots of...
News 'What the F*ck Are We Doing Here?': PS5 Fans Slam Square Enix for Sloppy Multiformat Strategy
Inconsistently incosistent
Square Enix has been telling us for quite some time that it’s going full multiformat, with its strategy seemingly shifting after “disappointing” sales of timed PS5 exclusives, like Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. The publisher’s presumably realised that releasing its games elsewhere at a later date...
Jeff Kaplan explains his departure
Jeff Kaplan, who worked at Blizzard for almost 20 years, has explained the main reason why he left the company in 2021. This comes from a much wider interview via Lex Fridman, going over Kaplan's whole career, including his role as game director of the original Overwatch. We've time-stamped the moment he talks...
News Europe Is Putting Harsher Age Restrictions on All the Things You Hate About Modern Gaming
PEGI turning up the heat
Pan-European Game Information, or PEGI as it's known, is the video game age classification organisation for most of the continent, and it's about to introduce some pretty major changes. As reported by Eurogamer, PEGI has outlined a number of new rules and regulations that aim to protect players from some of modern gaming's...
News SEGA's PS5 Games Get Good Reviews, So Why Aren't You Buying Them?
Good scores don't always mean good sales
SEGA's recent software lineup has been enjoying overall very strong reception from critics — but that has "yet to translate into a further increase in unit sales", the publisher has said. This comes from a recent Q&A all about the company's Q3 financial results. In response to a question about "scaling...
News PS5 Players Could Get Compensation as Sony Slammed for Monopolistic Practices in UK Court
"Excessive and unfair"
A UK court hearing accusing Sony of “monopolistic” practices couldn’t have come at a worse time for the PS5, as its walled garden is set to be threatened by the open ecosystem of Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Helix. A £2 billion (~$2.7 billion) class-action lawsuit argues that the Japanese giant is treating its millions...
News As PS6 Delay Rumours Swirl, Fans Debate Ray Tracing's Worth
Ray to go
A slew of viral posts on social media overnight have sparked a debate about the merits of ray tracing. As far as we can tell, the discussion was started by PlayStation power user Pyo, who some of you will be familiar with if you use X (or Twitter). He said: “Hot take but ray tracing is one of the most unnecessary things implemented to...
News Sony Rated the Best Big Game Company to Work for in Japan, Beating Nintendo, Capcom, More
So says employee data
Sony — or more specifically, Sony Interactive Entertainment — is pretty much the best major gaming company to work for in Japan. Apparently. That statement's based on employee satisfaction data, as collected by analytics firm OpenMoney (via Automaton's translation). Said data highlights three important factors: average...
News The Until Dawn PS5 Remake Studio Is Officially Gone for Good
Ballistic Moon is no more
Ballistic Moon, the UK developer that worked with Sony to remake Until Dawn for PS5, has been officially dissolved and now no longer exists. A final gazette notice was issued at the start of February 2026, meaning the company will be dissolved within the three months that follow 3rd February 2026. Just over a year ago, it...
News 'Exclusives Are Absolutely Not Happening': Xbox Helix Will Share Library with PS6
"The plan's the plan until it's not the plan"
Inconsistent messaging from manufacturer Microsoft has prompted fresh speculation about whether it’ll continue to release its games on PlayStation. With new information on Xbox Helix expected at GDC this week, comments from CEO Asha Sharma have prompted a fresh wave of speculation about whe
News Record Breaking Battlefield 6 Sales Not Enough to Prevent Layoffs
Job losses across all four studios
After over seven million copies sold worldwide and becoming the USA's best-selling game of 2025, EA has responded to the success of Battlefield 6 by laying off staff. An unspecified number of staff across Battlefield Studios (EA DICE, Criterion, Ripple Effect, and Motive Studio) have lost their jobs as part of a...
News Study Claims Sony's PS5 Games Are Leaving Big PC Sales on the Table
Late to the party
Flagging sales of Sony’s PC ports have been blamed on the platform holder’s reluctance to port games day-and-date, according to research from Newzoo. Up until recently, the manufacturer followed a strategy whereby its tentpole titles would debut first on the PS5, before deploying on storefronts like Steam at a later date...
News Yakuza Creator's Promising New PS5 Game May Soon Be Sleeping with the Fishes as Funding Is Cut
NetEase walks away
Industry legend Toshihiro Nagoshi’s promising Yakuza spiritual successor Gang of Dragon may not see the light of day, as publisher NetEase plans to pull funding on the project. The Chinese juggernaut had headhunted the SEGA veteran to start his own studio in 2021, but a slew of strategic changes mean it’s ceased bankrolling a...
News Physical Game Sales Hit All-Time Low in the US
Discless wonder
In 2025, physical game spending dropped to a new low in the US. This is according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, who reports that based on tracked data — which dates back to 1995 — sales reached just $1.5 billion. Again, an all-time low. Now, obviously, physical games still make money — it's not like physical media is...
News Shocking: PlayStation Studios Are Hiring for New Games
No way
We hope you're sitting down for this: Some of Sony's developers are hiring for their next projects. It's hard to believe, we know, but just take a moment and let it sink in. Take a quick breath, have a think about Sully's moustache, and you'll be alright. Okay, sarcasm out of the way, it has indeed been pointed out that a number of PS...
News Sony Quietly Decided to Scale Back PC Ports Last Year, Insider Claims
"No longer a priority"
We’re yet to receive official word from Sony, but by all accounts, it’s scaling back its PC publishing strategy. The news comes by way of a flurry of notable leakers, all of whom have been proven to have knowledge of PlayStation’s plans in the past. Among them are
News Amazon Walks Away from Open World Racing Game from Ex-Forza Horizon Devs
It's still being made though
Amazon Game Studios is dropping its involvement with Maverick Games, a studio that's been busy making a brand new, open world racing game. According to a report from The Game Business, the company will no longer be publishing the title, which has yet to be formally revealed. However, that doesn't mean the game is...
News 'The Plan's the Plan Until It's Not the Plan': Xbox All Over the Place on Future PS5 Ports
"I need to learn"
We’re not sure why new Xbox boss Asha Sharma is conducting exclusive interviews with Windows Central little more than 24 hours into her tenure, but as we’ve all observed over the past few years, Microsoft executives tend to love to talk. So, while she openly admits she needs to “learn [about the business] candidly”, here...
News Things Sure Aren't Sounding Good for French Publisher Nacon
Firm files for insolvency
With the announcement of next week’s Nacon Connect, you may be forgiven for thinking all is well with the French publisher. That’s unfortunately not the case. In a letter published today, the firm has filed for insolvency. To cut to the chase, its majority shareholder Bigben Interactive recently defaulted on its...
News Original Xbox Creator Shares Brutal Opinion of New Leadership, Believes This Is the End of Xbox
"Xbox is being sunsetted"
"Xbox, like a lot of businesses that aren't the core AI business, is being sunsetted. They don't say that, but that's what's happening." This is the frankly brutal take of original Xbox co-creator Seamus Blackley, who believes that the Team in Green's recent leadership change all comes down to Microsoft's continued chase...
News Don't Worry, Team Ninja Split Doesn't Impact Nioh, Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive Dev
Like a Gust of wind
In a bid to bolster its most effective development teams, publisher Koei Tecmo is in the process of reshuffling its studios. It's a move that's currently making headlines, because at a glance, it suggests that Team Ninja is being split apart and reassigned. While the overhaul will see an entire division of Team Ninja be...
News Kingdom Come: Deliverance Director Ditches Game Development to Work on Medieval Movie
Kingdom came and went
Kingdom Come: Deliverance developer Warhorse Studios is (technically) losing one of its most prominent figures, as director and writer Daniel Vávra steps away from the beloved RPG series, and games in general. Instead, Vávra will help lead the Kingdom Come: Deliverance movie project, which makes for an interesting twist...
"Fire Hermen Hulst"
Sony has seemingly ceased all social media activities following the devastating news involving Bluepoint this week. In the immediate aftermath of the unfortunate news breaking about the Demon’s Souls remake dev, a scheduled post on Marathon was published across all of PlayStation’s accounts. While it’s likely the post had...
News Origins, Black Flag Creative Director Made Head of Assassin's Creed Franchise
History repeats
Following a significant shakeup of its overall business and production pipelines, Ubisoft has revealed that three franchise veterans will be responsible for Assassin's Creed going forward, under its new Vantage Studios umbrella. Given that this news has been broken by Variety magazine of all things (alongside Ubisoft's own
News Incoming Xbox Boss Promises a 'Renewed Commitment to Console', and 'Hears' Fans on Skipping PS5
But Nadella says "we're a top publisher across all platforms"
Upper-brass Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are both out at Xbox with immediate effect, and new CEO Asha Sharma is in. This all raises interesting questions about the future of Microsoft’s gaming division under new leadership, as it’s spent the past 18 months or so pivoting to...
News Phil Spencer Stepping Down, Sarah Bond Leaving Microsoft in Huge Xbox Shake-Up
End of the line
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft's gaming division, is retiring from the role. Additionally, Xbox president Sarah Bond is exiting the company. These two departures are part of a big shift in leadership at the top of Xbox, announced today via emails from those at the top. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has announced that Asha...
News Roblox Is Being Played More Than PlayStation and Steam Combined
Engagement figures are insane
You may have seen a recent report (from Matthew Ball) that reveals gaming is losing people to mobile apps and other sources of instant gratification entertainment. Even within just video games, though, PlayStation is up against crazy competition — not only from other platforms, but
News Saudi Arabia's Qiddiya Takes Full Control of Iconic Fighting Game Tournament Evo
We're not Qiddin'
In a muted announcement that’s perhaps not all that surprising considering the direction the wind’s been blowing, Saudi Arabia’s Qiddiya now owns all of the iconic fighting game tournament, Evo. You may recall Sony and RTS rescuing the esports event several years ago. The former sold its stake to India’s NODWIN Gami
