Tag: Industry - Page 5
News Worms Publisher Team17 the Latest to Suffer Layoffs, CEO Exits
UK company cutting jobs in restructure
Team17, the UK-based developer of Worms and publishing label for the likes of Overcooked, Dredge, and Blasphemous, is the latest games company to be cutting jobs. Initially reported by Eurogamer and subsequently confirmed to
News PS5's Knights of the Old Republic Remake Is Being Wiped from the Internet
Update: Sony says it's due to music licensing
Update: Sony says the reason the Knights of the Old Republic trailers are being removed from its YouTube and social media accounts is due to music licenses expiring. In a statement to IGN, the organisation said: “As part of normal business, we delist assets with licensed music when the licenses...
News Epic Games Laying Off Almost 900 Employees, Fall Guys Dev Hit Hard
Roughly 16% of workforce gone
Fortnite developer Epic Games is set to lay off 870 employees as it seeks to lower costs, a Bloomberg report reveals. In a memo sent to workers
News Xbox Boss Praises 'Fierce Leader' Jim Ryan Following News of PlayStation CEO's Retirement
Why can't we be friends
With Sony announcing that PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan will be retiring in April of next year, this kind of message from Phil Spencer was inevitable. The Xbox boss has taken to Twitter in order to praise 63-year-old Ryan's impact on the industry, as you'd expect. "Jim Ryan has been a great contributor to our industry and a...
News Delete PlayStation Account Search Traffic Rockets Following Alleged Security Breach
A way out
Google Trends data has a registered a 277 per cent increase in “delete PlayStation account” searches following an alleged data breach earlier this week. A ransomware group claimed to have “successfully compromised all of Sony’s systems”, with the stolen data purportedly up for sale. The Japanese giant has responded by insisting...
News Who Is PlayStation's New CEO, Hiroki Totoki?
The dawning of a new age
After almost 30 years at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), not to mention being president and CEO since 2019, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has announced his retirement. He will hand over the reins of corporate power to Sony Group Corporation president and COO Hiroki Totoki on 1st April 2024, who will take on the role of...
News Jim Ryan Retires as PlayStation Boss in March 2024
Hiroki Totoki assumes Interim CEO position
Sony has announced PlayStation boss Jim Ryan will be retiring from his role in March 2024. To help with the transition, Hiroki Totoki will assume the position of Chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment from next month. "Mr. Totoki will work closely with Sony Group Corporation Chairman and CEO Kenichiro...
News Statue Manufacturer Accuses Sony of Forcing It to Destroy All PlayStation Products
Including paid pre-orders, allegedly
Controversial collectible toy and statue manufacturer Gaming Heads claims that Sony has forced it to “destroy” its inventory of PlayStation products, including paid pre-orders of products waiting to be shipped to customers. In an email shared on social media, the Hong Kong-based firm said that its merchandise...
News Microsoft Documents Show How PlayStation Now Saved Fallout 76
Fallout shelter
Microsoft boss Phil Spencer thought about pulling support for Fallout 76 back when the platform holder acquired developer Bethesda as part of the larger purchase of parent company ZeniMax. In a revealing email, Spencer suggested that if the game couldn't manage 10 million monthly average users (a number it would ultimately surpass),...
News A Video Game Actors Strike Could Happen Following Union Vote for Action
SAG-AFTRA members ready to strike
The actors union group SAG-AFTRA has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a potential strike against the games industry. Members were nearly unanimous, with 98.32 per cent of the vote being in favour of a strike — if a strike is necessary. SAG-AFTRA's vote for a strike is in relation to the Interactive Media...
News Don't Worry About Microsoft Buying Capcom Any Time Soon
Based Capgod
As the dust from the monstrous Microsoft leak begins to settle, the various players and publishers in the industry are making their positions known on the subject of acquisitions. It might seem like hubris, but Xbox chief Phil Spencer was privately musing about acquiring Warner Bros Interactive, Nintendo, or even Valve, which does put...
News Indie Firm Devolver Digital Rejected PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass Deals Over 'Undervalued' Games
Multiple deals turned down
New fiscal results belonging to indie publisher Devolver Digital have revealed the company is beginning to reject deals from Sony and Microsoft to put titles on Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus. Building on
News Bayonetta Director Hideki Kamiya to Leave PlatinumGames
He departs next month
Hideki Kamiya has confirmed he will be leaving Japanese studio PlatinumGames on 12th October 2023. The director of classics like Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, and Okami, Kamiya shared the news on Twitter and explained the decision was "based on my own beliefs and was by no means an easy decision to make". It sounds like...
News Unity Apologises, Partially Walks Back Contentious Monetization Scheme
"I am sorry"
After doing a terrible job of communicating a controversial new pricing scheme (which culminated in an allegedly self-inflicted bomb threat), Unity Technologies has again apologised for the "
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...