Tag: Industry - Page 6
News Sony Clarifies the Difference Between First-Party, Second-Party, and So On
Now you know
There’s been a raging debate about the meaning of first-party, second-party, and so on among gaming enthusiasts for eons. For the longest time, it was assumed first-party games were those published by the platform holder and made by internally owned studios, while second-party titles were those titles still published by the platform...
News Space Marine 2 Dev Partners with Hasbro, Working on 'Tentpole IP'
Cluedo, perhaps, or My Little Pony?
Family-friendly toy company Hasbro has partnered with Saber Interactive, developer of one of 2024's most violently grimdark, gore-drenched games in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. The two will work together to bring to life one of Hasbro's "tentpole IPs", which does present some intriguing possibilities...
News Phil Spencer Posits Generative AI Tech Preserving Old Games, Called 'Idiotic' by Expert
Muse technology "not a solution" for game preservation
This week, Microsoft unveiled its latest venture into generative AI technology, and it's getting a mixed reaction, you could say. Called Muse, the tech is a first-of-its-kind AI model that's able to replicate a game based upon video footage and player control inputs. Microsoft's AI research...
News PS5's Secret to Growth in China: Make Local Devs Successful Worldwide
Special sauce
One part of the PlayStation puzzle that’s so often overlooked is how brilliant Sony has been at unlocking new markets. The platform holder’s success is built on reaching territories that its competitors don’t necessarily bother with, and it’s maintained that energy with the PS5 with initiatives like China Hero Project, India...
News Sony Hits Back Hard at Bungie Lead's $200 Million Lawsuit
Fighting words
Just before Christmas, one-time Bungie lead and director of Destiny 2 and Marathon, Chris Barrett, filed a lawsuit against Sony Interactive Entertainment, suing the firm for over $200 million. Sony has substantively replied for the first time, presumably getting its legal ducks in a row behind the scenes, and has come out swinging...
News Bad Handling of Demon's Souls PS3 Meant Sony Missed Out on Dark Souls Publishing
Dev disappointed with how it was treated
The way Sony — and former executive Shuhei Yoshida in particular — handled the PS3 release of Demon's Souls is fairly well documented at this point, with Yoshida claiming he didn't understand the game at the time and calling it "crap". The original effort went on to spawn the massively successful Dark...
News Sony Japan Studio Closed Because AA Market 'Disappeared', Says Shu Yoshida
No place for Puppeteer, Gravity Rush
The former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has said that one of the main contributing factors behind the closure of Sony's Japan Studio was the disappearance of the AA market. Speaking on the Sacred Symbols+ podcast (via VGC), Yoshida said that one of his failures during his tenure as the Head of Worldwide...
News Yoshida: I Played The Last of Us Online and It Was Great
Exec suggests teams aren't being forced to make live service
One of the biggest bummers of this entire generation was the cancellation of The Last of Us Online, or Factions as it’s perhaps better known. Naughty Dog announced it was working on a standalone version of its popular The Last of Us multiplayer prior to the release of The Last of Us:...
News CD Projekt Red Staffing Up for Studio's First Original Game
"Project Hadar needs an extraordinary crew"
CD Projekt Red currently has quite a few irons in the fire. The Witcher IV has been officially announced, and then there's the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077; more than enough for any studio to worry about, we would have thought. But then there's the mysterious Project Hadar, which will mark the
News Embattled Publisher Embracer's Sales Tumble 22%
A lot riding on Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's continued success
Embracer Group has released its latest financial results for the nine months ending 31st December 2024, and while not the total bloodbath we witnessed this time last year, the Swedish monolith still has a long way to go to return to some semblance of normality. It's important to note...
News Layoffs Confirmed at Liquid Swords, Avalanche Founder's New Studio
Following pledge to implement a "sustainable work model"
Liquid Swords, a studio started by Christofer Sundberg, who previously founded Avalanche Studios (Just Cause, Mad Max), has confirmed a round of layoffs following a financial review. The company cited "the present challenges of the video game industry" as the reason for the redundancies. The...
News Funko Fusion Developer Reportedly Struck with Layoffs Following Disastrous Launch
10:10 Games loses around 20 people
Last year saw the release of Funko Fusion, an action adventure based on the popular vinyl figures that line the walls where video games used to be in places like GAME. While the collectable Funko Pop! figures continue to be popular, depicting hundreds if not thousands of characters from modern pop culture, the...
News Sony's Latest State of Play Set a New Viewership Record for a PS5, PS4 Livestream
Peaks at over two million concurrent viewers
Despite pretty strong criticism since its inception, Sony’s been gradually growing its State of Play brand. And according to Streams Charts, its latest livestream set a new record for the series, peaking at over two million concurrent viewers. This data takes into account co-streamers across YouTube...
News Xbox Boss Says He's Given Up Trying to Convince PS5 Players to Switch Systems
"Let's just allow more people to play"
Talkative Xbox executive Phil Spencer says he’s given up trying to convince PS5 owners to switch to Microsoft’s machine, as his company increasingly becomes multiformat. “I’m not trying to move [PS5 players] over to Xbox anymore,” he told the XboxEra podcast. “We’re all so invested in where our...
News Ubisoft Revenue, Net Bookings Decline 31%
These are not happy numbers
All eyes are on Ubisoft, one of the biggest publishers in the industry, as it finds itself in something of a fiscal pickle. The French firm has released its financial results for the nine months ending 31st December 2024, and they don't paint a pretty picture. Now more than ever, Ubisoft seems to be counting on the...
News Paradox Interactive Adds Jagged Alliance 3 Dev to Its Strategic Arsenal
A.I.M. is back online
Probably the largest publisher of admittedly niche strategy games in the industry, Paradox Interactive has acquired all shares in Bulgarian developer Haemimont Games, perhaps best known as the developer of Tropico 5 and, more recently, the revival of the mercenary tactical series with Jagged Alliance 3. In a press release,...
News Liege-Lord Embracer Pleased with Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Continued Success
Fuedal obligations
We hadn't heard from the once-flailing Embracer Group in a minute, but with the success of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, developer Warhorse Studios' liege-lord has come forth to take the glory and gold due it by feudal right, as the parent company of its publisher, Deep Silver. Nearing two million sales in just two weeks, Embracer...
News PS5, PS4 Attracted the Most Players in PlayStation History in December
That's impressive
More people played PS5 and PS4 in December 2024 than they have since Sony started tracking the data. An incredible 129 million players logged in during the month, an increase of 5% year-over-year. What does this tell us? Well, despite the constant doom and gloom around home consoles, it means more people are playing PlayStation...
News Sony Reiterates Major PS5 First-Party Games Will Launch in 2025, Anticipates High Performance
A good year ahead
Sony enjoyed a record-breaking holiday with PS5, but it believes business could improve even further as it edges towards a new fiscal year. As part of its financial presentation, it reiterated that major first-party titles Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Ghost of Yotei are slated to release this year. <related...
News Crysis 4 Put on Ice as Crytek Announces Significant Layoffs
An actual crisis
It's not looking good for Crysis 4, folks. Developer Crytek has just announced layoffs that will impact 15% of its 400-strong workforce, and it turns out that the long-awaited sequel has been "on hold" since last year. The company's statement on its current situation is rather frank. It outlines "unfavourable marketing dynamics",...
News Korean Dev Shift Up Had a Record Breaking 2024, Powered by Stellar Blade
Plans to increase workforce
Rising developer Shift Up had an outstanding 2024, powered by the success of PS5 console exclusive Stellar Blade. In its first financial results since going public, the outfit announced it achieved record revenue in Fiscal Year 24, registering ₩219.8 billion (~$151 million). That’s an increase of over 30%...
News Former SEGA Dev Relic Outlines Future Strategic Planning
Company of Heroes studio still standing
Relic Entertainment, the developer behind the Company of Heroes series and many licensed strategy games, has outlined its plans for the future following an amicable split with parent company SEGA last year. Expect a greater focus on publishing smaller titles, as well as some remasters from its back catalogue...
News Sony Quietly Pulls 'Eslop' Titles in Face of Mounting Pressure
Draining the swamp
Last week, IGN published a report on the increasing amount of "eslop" cluttering up digital storefronts, a cause we here at Push Square were only too willing to throw our own, only slightly less formidable weight behind (at least, as far as the
News SEGA Revenue Declines 8%, Despite a Seemingly Strong Year
Sale of Amplitude Studios, Football Manager 25 blamed
SEGA, a subsidiary of parent company SEGA Sammy Holdings, has published its financial results for the nine months ending 31st December 2024, in which it cancelled Football Manager 25. Despite an 88% increase in profit for its Entertainment Contents Division (attributed in part to the success of...
News Take-Two Boss Says 'Artificial Intelligence Is an Oxymoron'
Strauss Zelnick on AI
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick says that while "the video game business will probably be on the leading, if not bleeding, edge of using AI", the entire concept is an "oxymoron". While the controversial tech is already being used to enhance the development of games, Zelnick says that firm guardrails are already in...
News Embattled US Retailer Trolls Customers for Picking Digital During PSN Outage on PS5, PS4
"Bet y'all want physical games now"
US retailer GameStop – whose entire flagging business model is built around customers buying physical games – took a swipe at customers during the PSN outage this weekend, as it mocked players for overwhelmingly purchasing digital games. “Bet y’all want physical games now,” it said in response to the...
News Wonder Woman Game in Turmoil, Is Still 'Years Away from Release', New Report Claims
Nemesis system removed from the game
The Wonder Woman title in development at Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions is said to be facing significant issues and is in fact still "years away from release", according to a new report from Jason Schreier of Bloomberg. First announced in December 2021, the DC project has struggled...
News Hi-Rez Studio Suffers Significant Layoffs, Drops Everything But Smite 2
One basket
Hi-Rez Studio, the team behind several popular free-to-play online games, is currently going through a round of heavy layoffs. As part of this restructuring, ongoing support for Smite 1, Paladins, and Rogue Company has been shelved in favour of fully prioritising development on Smite 2. "In light of challenging market conditions, Hi-Rez...
News PlayStation to Absorb Dev Tools Division SN Systems
Company was acquired in 2005
SN Systems is not a name that will necessarily be familiar to PlayStation fans, but it’s been creating development tools for Sony since the early 90s, and was acquired by the company in 2005. Despite being a wholly owned subsidiary, it’s remained an independent entity, working exclusively on creating software for...
News Your Ninja Gaiden, Dead or Alive PS5 Imports Will Not Be Affected by US Postal Service Changes
Play Asia says it's business as usual
In news you’re almost certainly already aware of, the US Postal Service has stopped accepting parcels shipped from mainland China and Hong Kong. This obviously has various consequences for those in the US hoping to import items, but one common concern we’d seen is what this means for physical pre-orders of...
News PlatinumGames Seemingly Spills More Top Bayonetta, Astral Chain Talent
NieR we go again
While the announcement of Ninja Gaiden 4 has given reason to be optimistic about the future of PlatinumGames, the publisher has seemingly spilled more top talent. In a video spotted by VGC, ex-PlatinumGames Vice President and industry veteran Hideki Kamiya appeared to confirm that Yusuke Miyata (Bayonetta 3), Takahisa Taura (
News Sackboy Dev Cancels New IP to Focus on Game Production for Partners
Sumo Digital refocuses business efforts
Sumo Digital, the UK developer behind PS5 launch title Sackboy: A Big Adventure, has announced it is cancelling a new IP it had in the works to focus entirely on game production for external partners. The LittleBigPlanet spin-off is just one example of the work the studio believes is its "core strength and the...
News Report Investigates Why PS5's Store Is Still Drowning in 'Eslop'
'I could make Fart Fart Boobie Fart: The Game'
Stop us if you've heard this one before, but the PS Store is a complete mess, full of low-effort "simulator" games boasting AI-generated artwork and misleading gameplay claims. It's gotten so bad that (we'll say it) more legitimate games are getting bumped from the front page every day, and Sony has...
News Reassigned BioWare Staff Might Not Get to Go Back to Developer
Now they're permanent moves, says Jason Schreier
The employees from BioWare that EA temporarily moved to other internal teams might not actually be given the chance to go back, a new report claims. Jason Schreier of
News Ex-Sony Boss Says Xbox Can Find Multiplatform Software Success, Just Like SEGA
At the cost of console "FOMO"
Former Sony exec Shawn Layden, who has never been shy about sharing his thoughts on one-time nemesis, Xbox, says Microsoft is incredibly well-positioned to become a multiplatform powerhouse like SEGA, provided the company ditches those pesky consoles. An interview podcast we find ourselves increasingly citing, one that...
News Browse a Colossal Library of Classic US Video Game Magazines Now
Including old-school PlayStation mags
The Video Game History Foundation has opened its digital library, which includes thousands of classic video game magazines, archived in their entirety with full text search support. The project – which also expands to other pieces of ephemera, such as old event guides, tips books, and press materials –...
News Former Rockstar Animator Doubtful GTA 6 Will Run at 60fps on PS5
The future is now
As Rockstar's eagerly anticipated GTA 6 still doesn't even have a release date, we can reasonably assume it will push some bold new video game boundaries, considering its developer and how long it's been in development. Add to that the fact the baseline PS5 is already showing its age; now, it sounds like even the PS5 Pro might...
News BioWare Downsizing as It Focuses on Next Mass Effect, Some Staff Moved to Other EA Teams
Studio is in between "full development cycles"
BioWare has announced it's downsizing and moving "many" staff members over to other teams inside EA as it looks to streamline its workload following the shift in focus to the next Mass Effect instalment. Since the developer is no longer working on two RPGs simultaneously after the release of Dragon Age:...
News Xbox Was December's Biggest Publisher, and 64% of Its Sales Were on PS5, PS4
Your PlayStation is an Xbox
For the month of December, Xbox was the biggest video games publisher in the world — according to a recent number-crunching analysis. The data comes from Ampere, which states that $465 million was spent on games owned and published by Microsoft, making it the largest publisher of them all last month. This shouldn't...
News Sony's Stocks Fly As Market Responds to New Corporate Hierarchy
Company is in good health
Sony’s stocks soared to a record breaking ¥3,527 (~$22) today in the aftermath of its corporate reshuffle announcement. <related ids="177426"> Earlier, the Japanese manufacturer confirmed that celebrated executive Hiroki Totoki will take over as the organisation’s CEO from 1st April. Having already steered...
News Hermen Hulst No Longer PlayStation Co-CEO, Still in Charge of First-Party
Hideaki Nishino takes sole control
A dramatic shake up of the Sony hierarchy has seen PlayStation ditch its dual CEO approach less than a year after it was introduced. Ex-Guerrilla Games managing director Hermen Hulst was appointed co-CEO alongside Platform Business Group bigwig Hideaki Nishino following the departure of Jim
News Legendary 'Father of Final Fantasy' Returns to Make One Last Game
The spiritual "successor to Final Fantasy VI"
Hironubu Sakaguchi, the legendary "father of Final Fantasy", isn't done with game development just yet. While the first-on-mobile JRPG, now on PS5 and PS4, Fantasian Neo Dimension was supposed to be his last game, it seems he's got one more grand adventure in him, and he's shooting for the stars;...
News $100 for GTA 6 Is 'A Bridge Too Far' Even for Rockstar, Says Analyst
You gotta pump those numbers up; those are rookie numbers
Last week, analyst Matthew Ball of the firm Epyllion resurrected the contentious question of AAA video game prices, suggesting that there's "hope" in the industry that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 will break the "key price barrier" that currently keeps them at around $70 (or your local...
News Xbox Boss Wants to Beat PS6 on Hardware Capabilities, Not Necessarily Games
"Let’s build innovative hardware that people want to use to play"
The gap between the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 is growing dramatically, and there’s a good chance it’ll get even bigger in 2025. Microsoft, in response, has effectively ripped off the band aid and is in the process of rebranding as a third-party publisher. Last week, boss
News Studio Closure, Layoffs at Ubisoft in 'Targeted Restructuring'
185 European employees affected
Whatever the future holds for Ubisoft, significant changes are underway. Around 185 roles have been made redundant, and the company's UK studio in Leamington will be permanently shuttered. The French company confirmed that European teams based in Düsseldorf, Stockholm, and Newcastle will be downsized. A small number...
News Fans Are Buying Fewer Boxed Video Games Than Ever in the US
This is only going one way
Sales of boxed video games in USA slumped to their lowest point in over 25 years in 2024, according to data released by market research organisation Circana. According to the data, revenue generated by physical software has more than halved since 2021, and is a whopping 85% below its peak in 2008. It’s obviously no...
News Capcom Seems Sold on Using AI to Help Out with Game Development
Conceptually speaking
Capcom appears to be pushing forward with plans to implement AI in its game development process. As per a recent interview with Google Cloud Japan (as translated by Automaton), Capcom technical director Kazuki Abe seems pretty positive on the use of AI programs — especially during th
News EA Stock Price Plummets After Dragon Age: The Veilguard, FC 25 Disappointments
Vast hoards of speculative treasure, gone
Following the formal news that, in light of the underperformance of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and FC 25 (amongst other things), publisher EA would be forced to lower its expected financial forecast, the real blood-letting happened later on the
News Spyro, Ratchet, Resistance Creator Ted Price to Retire from Insomniac
Replaced by three new studio co-heads
Ted Price, the founder of Sony first-party developer Insomniac Games, has today announced he will be retiring from the studio. Having formed the developer in 1994 (then under the name Xtreme Software), he has helped create the Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance franchises. It's announced in a...
News Concern Proposed Tariffs Could Accelerate Downturn in Physical PS5 Games
And potentially push prices higher
On the PS5, there’s still a small market for physical games, which means the vast majority of major titles still release at retail. However, there’s concern that proposed tariffs on imported goods from Mexico could accelerate the rate at which boxed games go away. Speaking at his inauguration earlier this...
