Tag: Industry - Page 5
News Microsoft's AI Obsession Continues with Atrocious Copilot Version of Quake 2
It's bad
We’re not sure we understand why Microsoft has made this atrocious AI-powered version of Quake 2 available to the public. Look, we’re not ones to stand in the way of progress but this version of id Software’s late 90s classic is unplayable. It’s flabbergasting that a demo this bad would be showcased to the world in such a state...
News PS5 Shielded from Trump Tariffs for the Time Being
But could be affected if chaos continues
Forward thinking from Sony will shield the PS5 from US president Donald Trump’s tariffs, but only temporarily. The manufacturer took a series of preventative measures to protect itself from any impending moves by the US government, doubling supply chains and stockpiling hardware in order to give itself a...
News Switch 2 Pre-Order Freeze Underscores Potential Impact of US Tariffs on PS5
And everything else, of course
The United States is on the verge of imposing significantly higher tariffs on all imported goods, and onlookers are concerned about the immense impact this will likely have on the price of PS5. From 5th April 2025, a blanket 10 per cent will be applied to all goods coming into the US, and in addition, greater levies...
News Almost All PS5 Fans Are Against $80 Games
Must be funny
Only 5% of PS5 fans “don’t have a problem” with $80 games. The remaining 95% are against a hypothetical price increase, as could become a reality due to Nintendo’s pricing of Mario Kart World. But of the 1,500 gamers polled, 30% said they would “grudgingly” cough up the increased fee for “select titles”. It’d be...
Talking Point What Are Your Thoughts on Potential $80 PS5 Games?
"I'll buy it at a high price"
Everyone expected it to be Rockstar and GTA 6 to drive up the prices of games yet again, but in an unexpected twist, it’s Nintendo that’s taken the plunge. In case you missed the news, Mario Kart World will retail for $79.99. In fact, so will the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Super Mario Party Jamboree and
News Nintendo Copies the Astro Bot Concept, Sells You Switch 2's Tutorial
One way to do it
Nintendo has been keeping a close eye on Sony, it seems. Astro’s Playroom, which comes pre-installed on every PS5, is a wonderful introduction to the console, showing off its various features across a bright and breezy four-hour platforming romp. Nintendo Switch 2: Welcome Tour is a similar concept, taking you inside your...
News Nintendo Is Raising the Price of Games with Switch 2
What does that mean for PS5?
Are games too expensive or too cheap? It’s a debate that’s been raging for quite some time. In the case of the Nintendo Switch 2, though, the Japanese manufacturer clearly thinks its software doesn’t cost enough. Mario Kart World, the system’s flagship new excusive, will retail for an eye-watering $79.99 in the...
Feature Nintendo Switch 2 Direct - 5 Things for PS5 Fans to Pay Attention To
Switching it up
After months of waiting – perhaps even years for some – the Nintendo Switch 2 will get its long-awaited blowout today. Alarmingly, as we write this, very little has leaked. We know there’ll be a new Mario Kart game for the console, as it was revealed alongside the system itself. Other than that, though, there’s an air of...
News We've Got the Best in the World at Finding Hidden Gems for PS5, Says Sony
Outgoing exec Phil Rosenborg speaks highly of Content Ventures team
PlayStation executive Phil Rosenborg is leaving the company after 20 years. The suit, who will retain his post until the end of 2025, currently serves as the SVP of Global Partner Development and Relations, meaning he’s a big deal when it comes to signing new titles and making...
News Kids Aren't Dreaming of Owning a PS6, Says Netflix Games Boss
Exec weighs in on changing industry landscape
Netflix has been slowly pushing into the games industry, providing a catalogue of mobile software for subscribers to play. It’s actually assembled an impressive array of titles, with the focus generally on smaller-scale, pick-up-and-play experiences. And speaking with new publication The Game...
Better than nothing
Sony has started licensing some of its dormant intellectual property to third-parties. While its relationship with Bandai Namco is most notable in the aftermath of this week’s Nintendo Direct, it’s a practice the platform holder has been engaging in for a little longer. Cast your mind back to 2023’s FantaVision remake,...
News Ubisoft Spins Off Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six into New Subsidiary with Tencent
"A new chapter in Ubisoft's history"
In a complicated corporate move, Ubisoft has announced it’s creating a new subsidiary to house its most important intellectual properties: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. The new company, valued at around €4 billion, will receive a €1.16 billion injection of cash from Chinese giant Tencent,...
News New Batman Game Appears to Be Targeting PS6
It begins
With development cycles so long these days, and the PS5 generation already way beyond its half-way point, it’s perhaps not a surprise to see developers beginning to think about next-generation consoles like the PS6. It’s certainly something that’s on the mind of UK studio Rocksteady, as a new job listing for a Senior Core Engine...
News CD Projekt Red Reports Third-Best Year of Net Profit without Releasing Any New Games
Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty worth the investment
Polish publisher and developer CD Projekt Red has just released its financial results for 2024, and incredibly, it's the outfit's third-best ever in terms of net profit, despite having no major releases. GamesIndustry.biz went over the numbers, and compared to 2023, CDPR saw a 17.9% drop in...
News Japan's Game Industry on Impressive Rise as Western AAA Development Struggles
Sony and others hitting record highs
Five of Japan's biggest video game companies have just posted record-breaking share prices, strongly suggesting that the country's industry is actually strengthening amongst the global unrest that surrounds AAA development. As reported by analyst Dr. Serkan Toto on Kantan Games, Japan hasn't really felt the...
News The Witcher Dev on a Hiring Spree as Various New PS5 Projects Progress
More than 50 devs hired in the last four months
CD Projekt Red has multiple irons in the fire, from various new entries in The Witcher universe to the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 to the studio's first original IP. As such, it needs talent and has brought on more than 50 devs in just the last four months, with the lion's share of these new personnel...
News Disrespectful Foreign Tourists Force Closure of Japanese Shrine Fixed by Ghost of Tsushima Fans
"Those who consider this place a theme park are not worshippers"
This is the kind of story that makes our blood boil. The Watazumi Shrine on Tsushima Island has been closed to all tourists following “a grave and unforgivable act of disrespect by foreigners”. There’s no information on what exactly occurred, but the incident which forced the...
News Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System Created to Combat the Used Games Market
Second-hand information
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor had a killer feature that made it stand out from its contemporaries — the Nemesis system. While Monolith Productions' clever system is an innovative bit of gaming tech, its origins can actually be traced back to a less creative place. The Nemesis system is a way for a game to track your...
News Before It Imploded, WB Games Was Reportedly Working on a Crossover Kart Racer
Like MultiVersus but Mario Kart
One of the many projects Warner Bros. Games had in the works before things went south was a crossover kart racer. That's according to Colin Moriarty on his podcast Sacred Symbols, citing a conversation he had with "someone once associated with WB San Diego". WB San Diego was one of the studios the publisher recently...
News Early Builds of Several Unreleased Games Reportedly Uploaded to Shadowy Discord Server
Riot Games' 2XKO, ARC Raiders among them
It seems like information regarding some in-development, unreleased games might soon spill out onto the wider internet after early builds of several anticipated games were uploaded to a shadowy Discord server used for datamining purposes. Insider Gaming has been able to verify that builds of the following...
News Video Game Industry Caught in a 'Vicious Circle of Death and Rebirth', Says Helldivers Boss
Publishers take another public lashing
Helldivers 2 creative director Johan Pilestedt has spoken out about the "ridiculous" state of the video game industry, which regularly endures "cycles of death and rebirth" which has become "unnecessarily brutal" in recent years. Speaking at a GDC session attended by Eurogamer, Pilestedt took aim at the...
News Iconic Game Maker Says Japanese Devs Should Stop Trying to Appeal to Westerners
"Keep pursuing the things Japanese people like"
There was a period, perhaps prominently during the PS3 era, where Japanese developers seemed to lose their way and started trying to appeal to Western tastes more and more. This is something we’ve seen a lot less of lately, as franchises such as Like a Dragon and Monster Hunter and Persona thrive on...
News Single Player Games Aren't Dead, 'They Just Have to Be Good', Says Larian Studios CEO
Baldur's Gate, Divinity: Original Sin boss would know
Baldur's Gate 3 remains one of the best single player RPGs released in recent memory, arguably of all time, and is all the better for allowing co-op. Nevertheless, founder and CEO Swen Vincke has taken aim at those who say single-player gaming is dead, a familiar discourse that has once again...
News A New PlayStation Studio Just Got Confirmed on a Podcast
Of all places
Sony would usually make a song and dance about adding a new developer to its roster of teams at PlayStation Studios, but today we turn to an external podcast from Jeff Gerstmann. To be fair, it sounds like Dark Outlaw Games, as it's been named, is very early in the production of a new title, but we now have confirmation that Jason...
News SAG-AFTRA Still 'Frustratingly Far Apart' from Big Game Studios, Publishers on AI Protections
AI continues to divide
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, a union representing more than 160,000 industry professionals, says it's still "frustratingly far apart" from reaching common ground with many prominent video game developers and publishers on "fundamental AI protections for all...
News The Day Before Dev Reportedly Sues Website for Calling Game a 'Scam'
Yakutia.info refuses to delete the associated articles
Fntastic, the developer behind The Day Before (we'll be careful in our phrasing), one of 2023's more disappointing video game releases, is reportedly suing a Russian media outlet for calling the game a "scam", which it claims hurt the firm's reputation. At this rate, we're starting to doubt...
News After Gobbling Two Publishers, Now Xbox Has Been Sniffing Around Ubisoft's IP
According to a disgruntled shareholder
Microsoft has spent close to $100 billion on historically third-party publishers and developers over the past few years, but now it’s been sniffing around Ubisoft’s intellectual property as well. A disgruntled shareholder of the embattled French firm recently accused the company of failing to disclose...
News Horizon Dev Promises It Isn't Trying to Replace Aloy Actress with AI
Ashly Burch weighs in
Sony has been working on an AI prototype of a technology allowing players to interact with virtual characters and have them respond to speech and engage in conversation. An example leaked online, and promptly nuked through various copyright strikes, showed a player chatting with Aloy from the Horizon franchise. Ashly Burch,...
News PlayStation Employs Bulletstorm Dev to Make New PS5 Game Based on Sony IP
Say hello to Project Delta
People Can Fly, the team behind shooters like Bulletstorm and Outriders, has announced it's entered into an agreement with PlayStation to produce a new game based on a current, pre-existing Sony IP. No other details have been confirmed other than its codename: Project Delta. The technical speak confirms People Can Fly has...
News As War on AI Rages, Two Zenless Zone Zero Stars Say They Were Replaced Without Prior Notice
Recast and removed
Two actors from gargantuan HoYoverse gacha Zenless Zone Zero say they found out about their replacements when patch notes for the game dropped alongside its latest update this week. Soldier 11 star Emeri Chase and Lycaon actor Nicholas Thurkettle have had all of their voice lines removed from the game and re-recorded by new...
Under fire once again
Juraj Krúpa, CEO of AJ Investments and a minority shareholder in Ubisoft, is planning a protest and wants to picket the firm's Paris HQ. Krúpa claims that Ubisoft failed to reveal to investors the discussions it had with companies like Microsoft, EA, and others interested in acquiring its valuable IP, and that management is...
News Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake Dev Set for South Korea with New Studio
To work directly on the needs of South Korean market
Virtuos, the developer working with Konami on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, has announced it's expanding to South Korea with a new studio opening in Seoul. The move is designed to expand on the team's work in the country, which has seen it collaborate with the developers behind PUBG,...
News Limbo, Inside Studio Co-Founders' Public Feud Turns Ugly, Legal
"Please stop the bullying"
Playdead, the Danish developer of excellent indies like Limbo and Inside, was founded by Dino Patti and Arnt Jensen in 2006. Patti departed the studio following the release of Inside in 2016, and apparently, there is no love lost between the two. Things have been turning quite nasty behind the scenes, finally spilling into...
News Moon Studios 'Fully Independent' After Purchasing Publishing Rights from Take-Two
Ori, No Rest for the Wicked dev goes it alone
Moon Studios, the developer behind the Ori series and the upcoming PS5 game No Rest for the Wicked, has purchased its independence from GTA publisher, Take-Two Interactive. The move will allow Moon Studios to "execute our vision without restrictions". No Rest for the Wicked, which is currently in Early...
News LEGO to Bring Game Development In-House, New Studio Created
As profits for Danish firm keep rising
LEGO has announced it's setting up its own video game development studio and will be bringing the production of LEGO titles in-house. Previously, the company has employed external teams like TT Games and Studio Gobo to make its brick-based games, but now the process will be handled internally. Via The...
News Sony's AI Leak Reveals a Creepy Sci-Fi Future PS5 Gamers Don’t Necessarily Want
Chatting to you instead of herself
Like most big tech companies, Sony has been experimenting with generative AI tools, and a leaked internal demo has come under scrutiny from enthusiasts. As reported by The Verge, Sony has been working on technology that allows game characters to respond directly to speech from the player and engage in...
News PS6 Could Be the Only High-End Next-Gen Console, As New Xbox Touted to Be a 'PC in Essence'
Update: Massive report reveals Microsoft's plans
Recent comments from Windows Central's executive editor Jez Corden have sparked discussion about when Xbox's next-gen console will emerge, and more interestingly, what exactly it will be. Speaking on an episode of the Xbox Two Podcast, Corden responds to rumours that Call of Duty studios already have...
News Insomniac Delists, Relists VR Catalogue, and Few Even Noticed
Says a bit about the state of VR
In a pretty damning indictment of the current state of the VR scene, it seems that PlayStation first-party studio Insomniac Games first delisted, and has since relisted, its catalogue of high-end virtual reality games available exclusively on the Occulus/Meta store. What's that? Didn't you know Insomniac developed...
News Ex-Xbox Boss Says Console War Has Lost Its 'Feistiness' as Microsoft Goes Multiformat
"If Microsoft had the choice, would they make hardware? No"
Peter Moore – famous for his stints at both SEGA and Xbox – has admitted in a Gamertag Radio interview that he “encouraged” the rivalry between Sony and Microsoft because he felt the console war was “healthy for the industry”, but believes his former employer has lost its...
News AMD Hypes Up PS6 Collaboration, FSR 4 Upscaling Tech
The origins of a new generation
In December, PlayStation architect Mark Cerny essentially confirmed the PS6 when he revealed Sony would be partnering with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Project Amethyst. This initiative will see the two tech companies collaborate to achieve various mutually beneficial outcomes involving machine learning. Today is...
News Respawn Entertainment Cancels Mysterious FPS Game
"Incubation Team" is seemingly no more
With the rate at which AAA developers are canceling video game projects, we might all need to content ourselves with our backlogs in future. Respawn Entertainment, a subsidiary of EA and the developers of Titanfall and Apex Legends, has canceled its unannounced "multiplayer first-person shooter experience"...
News New PlayStation Studio Hiring for AAA Title, Seems to Feature Co-Op Multiplayer
Better together
A freshly spotted job listing at PlayStation's new LA studio reveals that the team is crafting a "high-profile AAA console title" — and it may revolve around co-op multiplayer. Said job listing is for a "game systems designer", which basically covers all kinds of player interaction on a fundamental level. The description reads:...
News PS5 Consoles May Cost More and Physical Games Could Be Killed by US Tariffs, Analysts Warn
Bleak
As pledged, the US government has introduced tariffs on goods imported from China, Canada, and Mexico. According to analysts, these measures will have a profound impact on the games industry at large, including PS5 games and consoles. For those who haven’t been following the news, the United States has placed 25% tax on virtually all...
News Until Dawn Remake Dev 'Effectively' Closed, Says New Report
Studio down its bare bones
Ballistic Moon, the developer that worked with Sony on its PS5, PC remake of Until Dawn, has "effectively closed" down, according to a new report from Insider Gaming. The outlet suggests, after speaking to sources "with knowledge of the situation", that the studio is down to its bare bones following a quiet round of...
News SEGA to Have a Quieter Year as It Focuses on Growing Sonic, Persona, Like a Dragon Teams
Fewer full games in 2025
SEGA's plans for its financial year 2025 have been outlined in its latest earnings call, and in a nutshell, the publisher is planning fewer game releases and investment in its core studios. When asked about its plans for FY25, which for SEGA is April 2025 to March 2026, SEGA revealed it will be launching a smaller number of...
News PlayStation Struck by More Layoffs in the Aftermath of Multiple Cancelled PS5 Games
Update: PS Studios Malaysia also affected
Sony may be healthier than ever when it comes to its balance sheets, but the pursuit of more profits never truly goes away. Sadly, that’s resulted in more job losses at PlayStation’s acclaimed Visual Arts division, a first-party development group which provides motion capture, art, animation, and much...
News Tencent Increases Stake in FromSoftware Parent, Closing the Gap on Sony
"Part of a capital business alliance"
Chinese holding company Tencent, the biggest firm in the video game industry in terms of investment and revenue, has increased its stake in Kadokawa, the Japanese parent company of our beloved Soulslike maker, FromSoftware. Purchasing an additional 1.1% of Kadokawa's total shares, it now holds a 7.97% stake...
News Could the Next Xbox Get a Head Start on PS6?
Rumourmonger claims devkits are already out
A rumour doing the rounds on social media today claims the next Call of Duty is currently in development at Infinity Ward, and will release in 2026 on various platforms – including a supposed next-gen Xbox. The rumourmonger, TheGhostofNoHope, is said to be well-connected when it comes to the...
News Yoshi-P No Longer Sits on Square Enix's Board of Directors
Final Fantasy XIV, XVI director's name quietly removed
Naoki Yoshida, affectionately known to his legions of fans as Yoshi-P, no longer sits on Square Enix's board of directors. After making changes to its management structure, Yoshida has seemingly been demoted to executive officer; as the creative director has often chafed at being tied up with...
News Still Wakes the Deep Publisher Goes Solo After Sumo Group Buyout
Secret Mode under new ownership
Secret Mode, the UK publisher of games like Still Wakes the Deep and A Little to the Left, has purchased its independence from Sumo Group, which, in turn, is a subsidiary of Tencent. Secret Mode's current leadership team, including co-founder James Schall and VP of publishing, Ed Blincoe, partnered with investment...
