Tag: Industry
News Tencent, Guillemot Family Reportedly Considering Ubisoft Buyout
Publisher could go private
European publisher Ubisoft is apparently being weighed for a joint buyout between Chinese conglomerate Tencent and the founding Guillemot family. This news comes via a report from Bloomberg, with sources "familiar with the matter". Ubisoft has lost over half its market value in 2024, resulting in various options being...
News Microsoft Is Investigating Why Devs Are Prioritising PS5 Over Xbox
Wants to address "pain points"
A blog post on Microsoft's game developer website has highlighted the firm's intention to learn why Xbox is being skipped over in favour of other platforms. It's no big secret that certain developers have faced struggles with the Xbox ecosystem in recent times. The biggest example is Baldur's Gate 3, which was delayed...
News Hideo Kojima's Dream of Breaking into Hollywood Is Nearly a Reality
A Hideo Kojima Film
Love or leave them, Hideo Kojima's games have a unique directorial flair that is the creator's signature. Over the years, many have accused the auteur of wanting to direct movies, with how extensive some cutscenes became. Kojima makes no secret of his love for film, and now that he's signed with talent agency WME, it seems the...
News Dragon Quest Veterans on Dealing with 'Ridiculous Country' USA Amid Censorship Row
"Who's even complaining about this?"
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima – who played a pivotal role in the franchise’s inception with the late Akira Toriyama – have spoken candidly at the Tokyo Game Show about censorship to the upcoming Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Earlie
News With Timing Being Everything, French Union Calls on Ubisoft Workers to Strike
Guillemot family under siege
With the company's stock price approaching subterranean levels, it feels like something major is about to give over at Ubisoft. Blows have been raining down in the form of Star Wars Outlaws
News Newly Signed Law May Restrict Sony's Use of Terms Like 'Buy' or 'Purchase' for Digital Games
Score one for physical fans
A newly signed Californian law known as AB 2426 will require that digital storefronts operating within the American state (which, if it were a country, would have the fifth largest economy in the world) tell its customers they are licensing goods and not purchasing products. Sony obviously does a lot of business in...
News Ubisoft Board Orders Internal Investigation and Review into Company's Financial Woes
Won't SOMEONE think of the investors?!
The powers-that-be at Ubisoft, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, have announced an internal review and investigation of the company. This follows several setbacks for the firm, including (but not limited to) soft sales of Star Wars Outlaws and a big delay for
News Ubisoft Backs Out of Tokyo Game Show at Eleventh Hour, Cancels Livestream
Laying low for a while
In news unlikely to alter the downward trajectory of its dwindling stock price, Ubisoft has pulled out of the imminent Tokyo Game Show, citing "various circumstances" and apologising for the short notice. Ubisoft Japan made the announcement via press release, which was quickly picked up and translated. Due to these...
News Don't Nod 'Disappointed' by Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, Jusant Sales
Two projects on ice, two more will be "reoriented to reach a wider audience"
Don't Nod, the publisher/developer best known for its Life is Strange series, has revealed that its most recent efforts, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden and Jusant, while critical hits, "disappointed" in terms of sales. Interestingly, the company saw an increase in sales...
News A Massive 75% of UK Game Sales Were Digital Last Month
Up 10% from the previous August
Despite major publishers swearing never to go all-digital, physical game sales continue to slow as more and more people seemingly choose convenience over collection. A massive 75% of all game sales in the UK last month, 1.74 million, were digital, up 10% year-over-year since last August. This occurrence was noted by...
News Annapurna Says Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Still Happening Despite Entire Dev Team's Departure
"P.S. We're hiring"
When the negotiations to spin off into an independent entity broke down, the entire staff of publisher Annapurna Interactive, known for quirky titles like Stray, resigned en masse. This leaves the powers-that-be at billionaire Megan Ellison's larger Annapurna empire in a precarious situation. Still, it appears the entity will...
News PS5's Building Insurmountable Lead Over Rival, Outselling Xbox Almost 3:1
Game over
The buttoned-up folks over at the Wall Street Journal recently published a report on the current state of console gaming (thanks PSLS) and, perhaps unsurprisingly, the PS5 has a commanding lead over its main rival, the Xbox Series X|S. The situation looks completely insurmountable for Microsoft at this point and unlikely to change,...
News Tetsuya Nomura Considers Retirement, and How to End Kingdom Hearts
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
Famous for his love of belts and buckles, legendary video game director Tetsuya Nomura says he's considering retirement after an influential career spanning decades. Nomura started as a debugger on Final Fantasy IV in 1991 and, most recently, was the creative director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Love...
News Palworld Struck by Nintendo Lawsuit Days Prior to Predicted PS5 Reveal
Sony Music has also been investing in series
Sony will be keeping a close eye on the courtroom over the coming weeks, as Palworld has been struck by a Nintendo lawsuit overnight. Many had expected the Mario maker to come after the surprise survival game success earlier in the year, after its creature designs appeared to lift directly from the...
News Vince Zampella Defends PS5 Pro Price, Says 'It's Actually Not That Bad'
"Would it be better if it was cheaper? Sure"
EA Studios general manager and Respawn Entertainment co-founder Vince Zampella has defended the price of the PS5 Pro, saying, "It's actually not that bad." With the next Battlefield deep in development, the executive is certain the extra horsepower can be used to "do cooler things," but what those things...
News Sony Pulled Bungie's Head Out of Its Ass, and an Ex-Lawyer Reckons That Was a Good Thing
"It was important to pretend that 'nothing would change'"
A former Bungie lawyer has made some illuminating remarks concerning parent company Sony and its wayward, unruly child. Following its acquisition by the PlayStation platform holder in 2022, Bungie has frequently been in the headlines, but rarely for the right reasons. On that most exciting...
News The Game Awards Host Geoff Keighley and Parody Site Hard Drive Are Beefing
Didn't see that coming
Well, we didn’t have this on our bingo card for 2024: The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley and parody site Hard Drive are having a bit of a spat – and it’s all playing out publicly on social media. While we’re sure there’ll be no grudges held, things have been getting a little juicy all week, ever since the ex-Bonus...
News Annapurna Interactive Exodus Sees Entire Staff Resign
After a failed spin-off attempt
Update: A spokesperson for Annapurna has reached out to us to point out that Hector Sanchez is the President of Interactive and New Media at Annapurna, and has not replaced Nathan Gary as the president of Annapurna Interactive, as previously reported. Original Article: The entire staff of video game publisher...
News Suda 51 Says 'Everyone Cares Too Much About Metacritic Scores'
Shinji Mikami says "unique games" are being drowned out
Japanese video game industry legends Goichi "Suda 51" Suda and Shinji Mikami (of No More Heroes and Resident Evil fame, respectively) aren't huge fans of critical aggregator Metacritic. The storied developers think that the industry practice has a detrimental effect on creativity, which is...
News Palworld Reportedly Poised for PS5 Reveal at Tokyo Game Show
Get your guns on
Incredibly, the Palworld phenomenon occurred in January of this year, with Pocketpair's smash hit being the talk of the town for a good couple of weeks there. In March, we got a pretty blatant tease that the game would be coming to PS5 at some point, and the developer has since stated that ports for other platfor
News Ex-PlayStation Boss Reckons Axed Game Devs Should Just 'Drive an Uber'
"Go to the beach for a year"
In comments that sound so detached from reality they almost beggar belief, ex-Sony Computer Entertainment Europe boss Chris Deering – who left PlayStation in 2005 – has insinuated that those who’ve lost their game development jobs as part of the recent spate of industry-wide layoffs should “drive an Uber” or...
News Ubisoft Investor Calls for Company to Go Private, and CEO Yves Guillemot to Be Replaced
"Shareholders are hostages of Guillemot family members and Tencent"
Ubisoft is not doing so hot, with stock prices plumbing new depths following the seemingly lukewarm reception to Star Wars Outlaws and ongoing XDefiant
News Sony Execs Seem to Think the Company Doesn't Have Enough Original IP
"We don’t have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning"
The topic of original IP is a tricky one for PlayStation at the moment – after all, it just killed a project which has taken years to create and millions to develop mere weeks after it launched. According to Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki, the company is lacking when it comes to...
News Star Wars Outlaws, XDefiant Disappointments Pour Pain on Ubisoft's Share Prices
Nearing a ten year low
Ubisoft’s share prices have plunged and are edging dangerously close to their lowest point in a decade as investors worry about the performance of Star Wars Outlaws and flailing live service shooter XDefiant. While we don’t know how well Massive Entertainment’s open world adaptation has performed yet, reviews have been...
News Jennifer Hale Says AI Is Coming for All of Us
Voice acting luminary weighs in on SAG-AFTRA strikes
Jennifer Hale is one of the most renowned voice actors in games, lending her talents to series like Mass Effect, Baldur's Gate, and Metal Gear Solid. She's also, predictably, not a huge fan of the threat artificial intelligence poses to the industry and made some choice comments on the ongoing...
News Suicide Squad Studio Hit with Layoffs After Poor Sales
Rocksteady's QA team cut in half
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League team Rocksteady Studios has suffered an unconfirmed number of redundancies across its QA department following the live-service game's poor sales and critical reception earlier this year. Sources in contact with Eurogamer state the QA team has been cut by more than 50 per cent,...
News Test Drive Unlimited Developer Joins Spiders in Strike Against Nacon
Both studios encountering similar issues
The developer behind the upcoming Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown and past titles in the WRC series has confirmed it's joining GreedFall studio Spiders in a strike against their publisher, Nacon. Citing similar issues with the company, the studio said it's "expressing our solidarity with our colleagues at...
News Failing Manufacturers Are Pushing the Narrative That Consoles Are Dying, Says Ex-Xbox Exec
"They'll never die in my opinion"
There’s a strong sentiment among gaming enthusiasts and the industry at large that consoles are a failing product and nearing their death knells. This opinion has been pushed broadly on social media and across specialist websites, despite it never really aligning with reality. It’s true that profit margins have...
News Legendary Devil May Cry, Dragon's Dogma Director Hideaki Itsuno Leaves Capcom After 30 Years
"Please stay tuned for my next creation!"
Hideaki Itsuno has announced his departure from Capcom, over thirty years after he first joined the company. Itsuno is perhaps best known as the guy who got Devil May Cry back on track. He directed the awesome Devil May Cry 3, and much more recently, the superb Devil May Cry 5. He also brought us Dragon's...
Start saving
The thorny issue of game prices always proves controversial. There are some, raised in the early 90s, who recall the hundred of notes they dropped on Super Nintendo cartridges like Street Fighter 2 Turbo. There are others, raised on a diet of PS2 in the noughties, who remember getting a full physical game for about $50, and it didn’t...
News Visions of Mana Dev Basically Shut Down Just as the RPG Releases
Chinese companies having doubts over Japan
Ouka Studios, the Tokyo-based team that just brought us Visions of Mana, is reportedly on the brink of being closed down. To be clear, the new Mana title is published by Square Enix, but Ouka Studios — the game's primary developer — is a subsidiary of Chinese colossus NetEase. The outfit was first...
News Management Says Spiders Strike Allegations Are 'False and Even Defamatory'
They "don't reflect the reality" of working for the company
Yesterday, we brought you word of brewing trouble at Greedfall and Steelrising developer, Spiders. Staff have announced a strike, alleging poor working conditions at the Parisian studio. A French union helped broadcast a public letter that was signed by nearly half of the studios' almost...
News Kratos Actor Chris Judge Claps Back at Amazon Exec's Gaming Dig
Those are fighting words
Legendary Teal'c actor Chris Judge is not known for his restraint. However, in his starring role as God of War's modern Kratos, it seems he's learned how to control the Spartan rage within. When Amazon Games boss Christoph Hartmann made the outrageous allegation that video games "don't really have acting", Judge quickly set...
News Bungie's Making Headlines for All the Wrong Reasons Yet Again
When it rains, it pours
When will it end for poor embattled developer Bungie? The iconic outfit – which Sony scooped up for billions to lead its floundering live service charge – went through an enormous round of layoffs earlier this year, with the PlayStation maker seemingly enforcing some management authority over the subsidiary. And
News Workers at Greedfall, Steelrising Dev Spiders Are Striking, Calling Out Nacon in Public Letter
French devs are taking to the streets
Developers at the Paris-based studio Spiders, known for RPG GreedFall and revolutionary Soulslike Steelrising, have announced they will be going on strike in the coming days, starting 2nd September. A committee representing workers at the Nacon-owned studio has published an open letter alleging a litany of...
News Crash Bandicoot 5 Reportedly Cut in Favour of More Live Service Games
The Crash, Spyro teamup that could have been
In news that will likely come as a gut punch to fans of precocious marsupials, a new report from gaming historian Liam Robertson (thanks, VGC) alleges that Crash Bandicoot 5 was in development at Toys for Bob but was cancelled after Activision pulled funding in favour of live-service multiplayer...
Rumour Sony Paying Close Attention to Handheld Market After PS Portal's Shock Success
"So you're saying there's a chance?"
Sony is allegedly keeping a close eye on the handheld market, following the surprise success of the PS Portal. Despite being panned pre-release in public opinion polls on sites like Push Square, the Remote Play accessory has gone on to become a bit of a sensation,
News Xbox on Bringing Exclusives to PS5: The Industry Is Changing for All of Us
Spencer continues to talk
Xbox boss Phil Spencer never misses an opportunity to speak publicly, and at Gamescom today he’s been chatting as part of an official livestream. Asked specifically about his company’s decision to bring Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to PS5,
News Embracer CEO Says PC, Console Segment the 'Bad Guy', Video Games a 'Volatile' Business
Points to unavoidable "lumpiness"
Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors has always had a way with words and graced us with some choice ones during the company's latest investor Q&A. Wingefors said that the "volatile" PC / Console segment of the company was "the bad guy" and that the "lumpiness" of the video game industry makes the future hard to...
News PS5's Lack of Tentpole Exclusives Isn't Hurting Engagement, Says Sony
Breaking records despite alleged drought
While some enthusiasts would strongly disagree, Sony doesn’t feel like the lack of “tentpole” exclusive titles have impacted engagement with its PS5 console this year. While the platform holder has published titles like Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade, it hasn’t released a major sequel since...
News GTA 6 Won't Be on Subs Like PS Plus at Launch Because Take-Two Makes 'Rational' Decisions
Zelnick doesn't think much to the model
Microsoft has changed consumer’s perceptions on Xbox Series X|S. By committing all first-party games to its Game Pass Ultimate membership, including the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, it’s cultivated an audience less likely to pay full-price for new games. This has affected software sales on its...
News The Order: 1886 Dev Ready at Dawn to Close After VR Stint
Meta shutters studio with immediate effect
Ready at Dawn, the studio best known to PlayStation fans for the divisive PS4 exclusive The Order: 1886, will be closed by Meta effective immediately. Android Central reports the closure is related to ensuring Reality Labs can stay within its budgetary constraints and make a "better long-term impact" in VR...
Reaction PS5 Needs a Price Cut
Sticker shock
Don’t let the discourse tell you otherwise: the PS5 is doing very well. Tagging another 2.4 million units to its total in the quarter concluding 30th June, the system now sits at 61.7 million units sold. That’s a phenomenal feat when you consider all the chaos Sony has had to circumnavigate: the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent...
News Larian Studios' Next Two RPGs Sound Ridiculously Ambitious
"The machine was meant to make large games"
Developer Larian Studios set the new benchmark for ludicrously detailed RPGs with its revolutionary Baldur's Gate 3, which was developed in a somewhat unique situation (given the time and resources to achieve the developer's vision, with input from the community). It should come as no surprise, then, to...
News Sony Subsidiary Aniplex Ignores PS5 for Fate/Stay Night Remastered
Based on the PS Vita version
Sony subsidiary Aniplex is bringing TYPE-MOON’s iconic visual novel Fate/Stay Night outside of Japan for the first time, but it won’t be available on PS5 at all. The sub-division of Sony Music Entertainment is instead releasing the visual novel on Nintendo Switch and PC, and it’ll be available as early as next...
News Bungie Accused of Overselling Itself to Sony, Promising Success It Couldn't Deliver
"Sony overpaid for Bungie"
It seems as though more and more in-the-know people are weighing in on the deeply unfortunate situation at Bungie. Following on from the news that the studio has shed 220 of its employees — with another 155 being integrated into positions at PlayStation — the Destiny developer has now been accused of overselling itself...
News A Big Bungie Project Has Been Cancelled, But It Wasn't Destiny 3
That's Payback
There’s turmoil at developer Bungie following another brutal round of lay offs which saw over 200 employees let go, and a further 150 or so reallocated roles within parent company Sony. Speaking about the drama on his Game Mess Mornings podcast this week, snoopster Jeff Grubb said that a major new project named Payback had been...
Pete Parsons in the firing line
Back when Sony acquired Bungie for $3.6 billion, the deal repeatedly stressed that the Destiny developer would continue to remain independent, and would operate adjacent to PS Studios, rather than underneath it. However, there were apparently performance targets in place which meant if the studio missed them,...
Reaction Sony's Billion Dollar Bungie Buyout Is Looking More and More Like a Blunder
Destiny's wild
Back when Sony announced its $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie, we didn’t quite understand it. Sony was under intense pressure at the time, as Microsoft was still in the midst of its corporate consolidation storm, and didn’t look likely to stop until it owned most of the industry. Acquiring the legendary Halo creator always...
News Sony to Establish Brand New PS Studios Team for PS5 Sci-Fi Action Game
Born out of Bungie
Update: Journalist Jason Schreier reports that it's around 40 employees moving from Bungie to form Sony's new studio, not the previously reported 75 staff. Original Article: The complicated news coming out of Bungie today confirms that there’ll be a new first-party team established under the PS Studios umbrella, as one of the...
