Tag: Business - Page 4
News Nintendo Heirs Buy Majority Stake in U.S. 'Activist Fund'
"We’re very focused on ensuring that the spark of creativity never dies in Japan"
It has been revealed that the investment firm that manages the wealth of Nintendo’s founders has purchased a majority stake in the North America-based Taiyo Pacific Partners. The Kirkland, Washington 'activist fund' is "dedicated to friendly shareholder activism"...
News GTA Publisher Take-Two Thinks NFTs Are A Good "Fit" But Wants To "Stay Away From Speculation"
"We believe in rare goods, we believe in collectibles"
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is the latest big-wig in the games industry to lend support to the notion of NFTs within games – but he admits that the company is concerned with the rampant "speculation" that currently surrounds them. Speaking to investors, Zelnick said: We believe in rare...
News Nintendo Has Interest In The Metaverse But Ponders What "Fun" It Can Provide
Update: More accurate translation now available
Update #2: Nintendo has now released the official translation of the Q&A portion of its financial results briefing, and we can now see Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa's comments in full: The metaverse has captured the attention of many companies around the world, and it has great potential...
News Nintendo Says It Won't Compete With Microsoft And Sony In An Acquisitions Arms Race
"Our brand was built upon products crafted with dedication by our employees"
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has stated that the company won't be looking to buy up external publishers and studios in the same way that Microsoft and Sony have. Microsoft caused shockwaves in the industry earlier this year by acquiring the publisher Activision for...
News Video Game Veterans Start New Fully-Remote Studio, 'Gardens', To Make "Online Experiences"
"We believe a team of diverse voices has the most to say"
A new studio has just been founded on the West Coast of the United States, but it's one that's committed to its workers being fully remote, with unlimited paid time off, 35-hour work weeks, and benefits and perks that vary depending on the country in which you work. It's called Gardens —...
News Team17 Confirms An End To Its 'MetaWorms' NFT Project
"We have listened to our Teamsters, development partners, and our games’ communities"
Team17, the hugely successful UK-based publisher and developer, has been facing a storm of bad publicity since revealing plans for a 'MetaWorms' NFT project. Many details were yet to be revealed, but the negative reaction was swift from some fans of the company...
News Team17's Development Partners Aren't Happy About The Publisher's NFT Plans
NFTs are branded a "grift"
A host of Team17's development partners have spoken out against the publisher's plans to launch a series of NFTs based on its popular Worms franchise. Going Under developer Aggro Crab Games has made the strongest statement, and has said that it will not be working with publisher Team17 on future titles following the news...
News Xbox Boss "Trusts" Nintendo To Not Do Anything That Would Harm The Games Industry
...after Microsoft gobbled up Activision for $70 billion
Unless you're been living under a rock for the past week, you'll be aware that the biggest news in gaming at present surrounds Microsoft's purchase of Activision Blizzard, the publisher of franchises like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Skylanders and Crash Bandicoot. The $68.7 billion acquisition...
News Aardman Animations Working On 3D Action-Adventure Open-World Game
Aaction-Aadventure
Aardman Animations, the UK-based studio behind Wallace and Gromit, appears to be making big moves towards developing their new game, following their 2020 deal with Bandai Namco to create a new IP. As spotted by TechRadar, several new job listings on the company's website have gi
News Microsoft And Activision Will Continue To Support "A Variety Of Platforms" Despite Acquisition
But does that include Switch?
Well, who was expecting that? Microsoft has agreed to acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in a deal thought to be worth $68.7 billion. Announced just a couple of hours ago, the news has already led to much confusion and speculation amongst gaming fans. Is purchasing Activision, which is currently...
News Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard, Now Owns Call Of Duty And Crash Bandicoot
Deal cost a cool $68.7 billion
Microsoft has purchased embattled Call of Duty and Crash Bandicoot publisher Activision in a deal worth a whopping $68.7 billion. To give some perspective on the astonishing size of that figure, Disney paid $4.05 billion for Star Wars studio Lucasfilm in 2012, with half of the money paid in cash and the other half in...
News GTA Publisher Take-Two Buys Farmville Giant Zynga For $12.7B
A record-breaking acquisition
Take-Two Interactive Software is acquiring Zynga in a $12.7 billion deal, the two companies confirmed on Monday, 10th January. That colossal sum includes Take-Two paying $9.86 per share, plus Zynga's debt, in order for the company to make moves into the mobile market. This deal is now the largest sum of money paid out...
News GameStop Is Betting The Farm On NFTs, And Investors Are All For It
Stock value rises in wake of report
Embattled North American video game retailer GameStop plans to build an NFT marketplace where players can buy, sell and trade NFTs and virtual in-game items, it is being reported. According to The Wall Street Journal, GameStop is building an internal crypto division and has already hired 20 staff for this...
News The Studio Behind Excite Truck And Excitebots Has Been Acquired By iRacing
Monster Games will "bring another level of expertise" to the company
Monster Games, a studio Nintendo fans will likely know from the Wii days thanks to Excite Truck and Excitebots, has been acquired by iRacing Motorsport Simulations, it's been announced. The developer, which released games exclusively on Nintendo platforms for almost a decade...
News Updated Nintendo Policies Push For Increased Transparency And Diversity
Also expands procedures for dismissal of Directors
Recent weeks and months have brought a lot of attention to allegations of misconduct at Activision Blizzard, with a leaked email from Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser reacting and explaining that "every company in the industry must create an environment where everyone is respected and...
News NEO: The World Ends With You Has 'Underperformed Expectations', Square Enix Says
Square's net sales and operating income see year-on-year drop
Square Enix has revealed that NEO: The World Ends With You hasn't met the company's early sales expectations, despite being well received by fans and critics alike. In a newly published results briefing covering the first half of the financial year, the company notes that net sales and...
News Epic Games Acquires Harmonix, Makers Of Rock Band, To Work On Fortnite
Rockfort Bandnite
In the latest tale of giant-company-buys-smaller-studio, Epic Games has acquired Harmonix — a "monumental" deal that will welcome the 26-year-old Rock Band developer into Epic's growing stable of studios that also includes Rocket League developer, Psyonix. In a developer blog published on Tuesday, 23rd November, Harmonix...
"We are thrilled to democratize these industry-leading tools"
Unity Technologies, the company behind the game engine of the same name, is purchasing the tech assets of Peter Jackson's Weta Digital VFX house, it has been revealed. The two firms have entered into a definitive agreement that will see Unity acquire Weta Digital's proprietary technology...
News Square Enix Is The Next Company To Embrace NFTs And Blockchain Gaming
"NFTs have high affinity with our assets"
With the likes of Sega, Ubisoft and EA all looking to leverage the potential of 'non-fungible tokens' and blockchain gaming, it's inevitable that others will follow – and now it's the turn of industry veteran Square Enix. The company
News Nintendo Share Value Continues Downward Trend As Major Investor Reportedly 'Dumps' Stock
A 28% slide since February
While it's not necessarily at the top of everyone's list for fascinating gaming news, this has been a year with a fair amount of activity around Nintendo's share value. Unsurprisingly the value of the company rose along with its profits in 2020 as the demand for gaming entertainment rocketed; the reverse has been happening...
News Nintendo's Stock Price Sees Biggest Fall In Two Years Following Earnings Report
"Nintendo will have another tough time ahead"
Nintendo's stock price fell by as much as 8.8% on Friday, the biggest daily drop the company has experienced since February 2019, Bloomberg reports. The drop comes despite a seemingly positive earnings report shared yesterday; while Nintendo's profits are down year-on-year, which is to be expected...
News Nintendo's Directors Receive Increased Pay After The Past Year's Success
Still modest executive income compared to Western contemporaries
Nintendo has enjoyed a very successful year, with the Switch and various key titles excelling in 2020 and so far in 2021 - the company was able to maintain strong production of hardware, while titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold huge numbers as increasing numbers of players...
News Miyamoto Discusses Minions Producer's "Outside Director" Role At Nintendo
"Chris's input... will be of great help to us in the future"
The translation of Nintendo's recent Q&A meeting with shareholders has been published and shows the official translation of comments from company president Shuntaro Furukawa and representative director and fellow Shigeru Miyamoto on the appointment of Chris Meledandri as an...
"This is capitalism"
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of millions of people all over the world in a variety of ways. Some of us have had to put up with the relatively mild inconvenience of stores being shut and schools closing, while others have seen loved ones succumb to the virus – or have even tragically lost their lives...
News Nintendo Underlines Its Commitment To Diversity And Inclusivity
And details its new Partnership System
As part of its newly-published Corporate Social Responsibility report, Nintendo has clarified its stance on diversity and inclusivity, detailing the ways in which it aims to "create a work environment that supports and empowers each and every one" of its employees. A two-page spread in the annual report...
"Several" Switch games are coming
Forever Entertainment was responsible for last year's Panzer Dragoon remake. Forever Entertainment SA has announced a new publishing deal with Nintendo which will see the studio receive financial backing to launch "several" games on Switch. Details of the agreement have been shared in a new report filed today,...
News EA Insists It Won't Turn Codemasters Into "Another Electronic Arts Studio"
Will be similar to how it works with Respawn Entertainment
Back in February this year, EA announced it had acquired the British racing specialist, Codemasters. The deal was valued at $1.2 billion and adds IP such as Formula 1, DIRT, Project CARS and GRID to the EA family. Naturally, some fans are concerned about the future of the company und
News Sega Looking To Release Brand New "Super Game" In The Next Five Years
As well as reviving "dormant" classics, like Crazy Taxi and Virtua Fighter
Sega has revealed that it's planning on releasing a new "super game" in the next five years (thanks, VGC). The plans were published as part of the company’s recent financial results briefing, which also outlines precisely what Sega has planned for its short-term future...
News Sega Wants To Release Atlus Games Simultaneously Worldwide
Yakuza: Like A Dragon paid off
Sega's Yakuza: Like A Dragon has become the most successful title in the series' history, and it's apparently thanks to its global launch. As a result, Sega is now keen to see its subsidiary, Atlus - best known for series like Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, release its games simultaneously around the world, rather...
News EA Has Acquired The Super Mega Baseball Developer Metalhead Software
Fan favourite franchise joins the EA Sports line-up
Third-party video game giant EA - known for blockbuster AAA series such as Battlefield, Need for Speed and the Mass Effect series - has bolstered its sports line-up, with the acquisition of the Canada-based developer Metalhead Software. This is the same studio behind the Super Mega Baseball series...
News Sega Will Start Selling NFTs Based On Its IPs This Summer
Want to pay a fortune for a JPEG?
Sega has announced a collaboration with game developer Double Jump.Tokyo that will see the company begin to sell NFTs (non-fungible tokens) based on its intellectual property this summer. According to a new statement (Japanese), the two companies will launch NFT content relating to Sega's classic and current IPs,...
News GameStop CEO Reportedly In Line For A $179m 'Goodbye' Deal This Summer
Shares linked to tenure, not performance
The GameStop stock market drama from the beginning of the year certainly had its share of dramatic ups and equally dramatic downs, but it's fair to say that prospects for the video game retailer have been gloomy for several years now. The rise in digital purchases and alternative online retailers over the...
News Square Enix Says It's Not For Sale, Shoots Down Acquisition Rumours
Update: Square Enix responds
Update: Square Enix has now responded to Bloomberg Japan's report, shutting down claims that it could be on the brink of being bought out. In a new statement released to press, Square Enix explains that it isn't considering selling off the company, and hasn't received any offers. You can read the full statement below...
News Former Nintendo Of America President Reggie To Step Down From GameStop's Board Of Directors
One of eight members expected to depart
Last March, Reggie Fils-Aimé joined GameStop's board of directors. Now, just over a year later, it's been announced the former Nintendo of America president is one of eight members expected to leave the company after its annual meeting in June. This information comes via a GameStop filing, which also reveals...
News Nintendo Will Release Its 2020-21 Fiscal Year Earnings Results In May
Updates on best-selling games and hardware sales
Nintendo has revealed that its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2021 will be shared on 6th May, falling in line with the company's usual annual timeline of earnings report releases. Typically, these reports provide us with the latest official figures for both hardware and software...
News EA Acquires Racing Game Specialist Codemasters
"Welcoming Codemasters to the family"
Since the end of last year, there have been reports about the third-party giant EA buying the UK developer Codemasters. It's now official - with EA announcing the creator of titles such as Formula 1, DIRT, Project CARS and GRID has joined the family, in a deal believed to be valued at $1.2 bil
News Bandai Namco Appoints New President, Will Begin Division Restructure This April
Toy and game divisions are being merged into one unit
We're witnessing some significant changes across existing publishers lately. After Konami clarified its restructuring plans two weeks ago and Sega revealed it will be splitting up its divisions, changes are afoot at Bandai Namco, too. Announced within its latest finan
News Sony's MLB The Show Is No Longer A PlayStation Exclusive, But Where's The Switch Version?
Update: Xbox edition confirmed, but no sign of a Nintendo edition
Update: It's official, Sony is publishing a game on the Xbox, with MLB The Show 21 coming to the Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One in April. This isn't massively shocking as it was pr
Move will "accelerate global business development"
Japanese game giant Sega is making some pretty sweeping changes at the moment, splitting its video game and amusement divisions and shifting CCO Toshihiro Nagoshi into the position of creative director, effective 1st April. Both of these new businesses will remain under the ownership of SEGA Sammy,...
News No, Konami Isn't Exiting The Video Game Business
"We have not 'shut down' our video gaming division"
While video games seem to be fairly resilient to the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that hasn't stopped some companies from taking a good, hard look at how they operate – one of which is Japanese giant Konami, the firm behind titles like Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, Pro Evolution...
News Reggie's Joining A Twitch Industry Roundtable With His Former PlayStation And Xbox Rivals
Nintendo Of America's former president to chat with Jack Tretton and Robbie Bach
Reggie Fils-Aimé might not be Nintendo of America's president anymore, but he's kept himself pretty busy since stepping down in 2019. Popping up between Rogue Games, Brunswick Corporation,
News New Nintendo Twitter Account Will Share Corporate And Financial Announcements
Follow Nintendo's latest business news
Nintendo Co., Ltd has unveiled a brand new Twitter account today which will update fans on the company's business and financial news. You can find and follow the account at @NintendoCoLtd if you're interested; it appears to be primarily set up for a Japanese audience, although a welcome tweet has been...
News EA Looks Set To Buy Codemasters As Take-Two Withdraws Its Bid
Take-Two "will continue to pursue selectively organic and inorganic opportunities"
EA looks certain to gobble up UK publisher Codemasters following the confirmation that rival bidder Take-Two has withdrawn its previous offer. Take-Two announced that it was attempting to buy Codemasters – which is one of the UK's longest-running games companies...
News Animal Crossing Helps UK Video Game Revenue Pass £4 Billion For The First Time Ever
FIFA 21 was top, however
We all know that video gaming is big business, but how big? Well, the UK video game market passed the £4 billion marker in 2020 – the first time it has ever happened (thanks, MCV). Video gaming generated a massive £4.2 billion in revenue in the region last year, according to preliminary data compiled by the Ente
News Family Office Of Former Nintendo CEO Backs Plans For Takeover Of Japan Systems
Plans in place to spend billions of yen to see management buyout completed
The Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office is supporting a management buyout of software firm Japan Systems Co., Bloomberg is reporting. While this news doesn't directly impact Nintendo, it's an interesting development which involves the legacy of one of the firm's most important...
News Nintendo Is Buying Luigi's Mansion Studio Next Level Games
Deal will mean an "improvement in development speed and quality"
Nintendo is buying Canadian developer Next Level Games, it has been announced. The studio – which has created titles such as Luigi's Mansion 3, Mario Strikers Charged, Punch-Out!! and Metroid Prime: Federation Force – will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nintendo. Next Level...
News EA Has Swooped In To Steal Codemasters From Under The Nose Of Take-Two
Micro-machine-transactions?
Not so long ago, we reported on the news that publishing giant Take-Two Interactive was poised to purchase UK studio Codemasters, famous for its stable of excellent racing titles. Take-Two – which owns GTA maker Rockstar – tabled an offer of $994 million last month, and with Codemasters' board of directors advising...
News Wallace And Gromit Studio Aardman Is Teaming Up With Bandai Namco To Create Brand New IP
Deal will secure the studio's reputation as a "multi-disciplinary creative hub"
UK animation studio Aardman Animations – famous for its Wallace and Gromit series – has inked a deal with video game publisher Bandai Namco to create a brand new IP which will cover a wide range of mediums, including video games. While details on this new property...
News The Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Is Now SNK's Largest Shareholder
Update: Deal will eventually gobble up 51% of the company
Update #2 [Fri 27th Nov, 2020 12:40 GMT]: The Mohammad bin Salman Charity Foundation has confirmed that it is investing 813 million riyals ($223 million) in SNK, giving it a 33.3% stake in the company. That values the company at $669 million (thanks,
News Nintendo Adding Sharp As Switch Manufacturing Partner Could Boost Q4 Sales Year-On-Year
Switch is in for a decent final quarter
Bloomberg is reporting that Nintendo has increased Switch production by partnering with a manufacturing site based in Malaysia owned by Japanese tech giant Sharp. According to sources close to the matter, Nintendo has taken on this additional production stream to satisfy demand and future-proof against any...