Tag: Industry - Page 2
News Atari To Acquire 'SteamWorld' Dev Thunderful
Amid studio struggles
Today, gaming giant Atari has announced that it is entering into an agreement to invest in Thunderful Group, the studio responsible for developing the SteamWorld series of games. Confirmed in a press release, Atari will become the majority owner of the company, which was founded in 2017 and was essentially a merger between...
News Sony Acquires 2.5% Stake In Bandai Namco As Part Of New "Strategic Partnership"
Focused on expanding anime IP and more
In some more Sony news, the PlayStation maker has this week acquired a 2.5% stake in Bandai Namco. It's described as a "strategic business alliance agreement" with a focus on "expanding the fan community for IP such as anime and manga around the world and strengthening engagement". It reportedly sets Sony back...
News Sony Job Listing Suggests More PS5 Games Could Get A Nintendo Release
Going "beyond" PlayStation
Sony surprised the video game community earlier this month when it revealed it would be bringing Arrowhead's multiplayer hit Helldivers 2 to Xbox. Now, in another development, a new job opening has been spotted for PlayStation's head office, and it's apparently searching for a director to lead PlayStation's exploration of...
News Around 1 In 3 Switch 2 Owners Bought New Pro Controller Despite High Price Point (US)
Pro sales
We know the Switch 2 has sold incredibly well worldwide, with the console shifting 1.6 million units in June 2025 in the US alone. Now we have an idea of just how well the pricey, but excellent, new Pro Controller has done, too. Game File's Stephen Totilo has shared Circana's estimated Switch 2 Pro Controller sales, and it's around...
News Julian LeFay, The 'Father Of The Elder Scrolls', Has Passed Away
Former Bethesda dev had battled cancer
Julian LeFay, the man often referred to as "the father of the Elder Scrolls" and co-founder of the indie developer OnceLost Studio, has passed away after a years-long battle with cancer. The announcement was made by his studio earlier today on social media. He was 59 years old. LeFay was instrumental in the...
News Switch 2 Launch Helps Boost US Video Game Spending To Record June High
The new console sold 1.6 million units in June
We already know the Switch 2 has broken sales records in the US — just last month, Nintendo's upgraded hybrid console reportedly hit an "all-time launch week unit sales record for video game hardware". And now, Circana's Mat Piscatella has more data to back up that info. Sharing the stats on Bluesky,...
News Grounded "Is Not Going Anywhere" As Obsidian Gears Up For Survival Sequel
Peer to peer = lessen your fear
We reviewed Obsidian's excellent Grounded back when it released on Switch last year, giving it a 6/10 [Correction: We originally wrote that we scored this game a 7/10, which was an error. We have since corrected this] and remarking that it was really only the game's performance on the console that held it back from a...
News Gender Split & Average Ages Of Japanese Nintendo Players Revealed Via New Survey
180,000 players involved
A brand new survey of 180,000 players aged 15-69 years old in Japan has been conducted by GEM Partners, and there are some interesting stats on gender and age splits across multiple Nintendo franchises. Posted by Nikkei (via Nintendo Patents Watch and MyNintendoNews), the huge survey reveals that, comp
News Switch Port Specialist Virtuos Confirms 270 Layoffs
It released Oblivion Remastered earlier this year
The Switch port specialist Virtuos – known within the Nintendo space for its work on games like The Outer Worlds – has officially laid off 270 employees across its studios worldwide. This is "approximately 7%" of the company's "global workforce", with 200 roles in Asia and 70 roles in Europe...
News Romero Games "Is Not Closed" Following Xbox Layoffs
Update: Reassessing staffing, but the studio is not shutting down
It's been another tough week for the video game industry and the fallout from Microsoft's layoffs led to funding cuts at John and Brenda Romero's studio, Romero Games. Now, following some claims the independent studio had completely shut its doors, Irish publication The Journal has...
"What a colossal waste of talent."
Last week's layoffs at Microsoft and Xbox Games were shocking to say the least, with over 9,000 people losing their jobs, including veterans at Rare, Romero Games, and the cancellation of big projects such as Perfect Dark. This comes despite the fact that the tech giant reportedly made $26 billion in the last...
News Romero Games Hit With Layoffs Following Microsoft Xbox Cuts
Funding for its unannounced FPS has been "cancelled"
Romero Games, the studio co-founded by DOOM co-creator and his wife, John & Brenda Romero, has been hit with layoffs after funding for an unannounced FPS was "cancelled". VideoGamer reports that the upcoming shooter was being funded b
News Microsoft Announces Another Wave Of Layoffs, Over 9,000 Jobs Affected
Update 2: Gregg Mayles, Louise O’Connor, and Wil Overton among departures
Microsoft has begun informing staff of a huge second wave of job cuts this year, and the layoffs are expected to hit over 9,000 employees. In a report published by
*Jurassic Park sunglasses GIF*
EA's CEO, Andrew Wilson, has somehow managed to find himself $5 million richer than usual this year, according to the latest Proxy filing by the company. As reported by Stephen Totilo over at Game File, the extra cash on top of an already very nice annual income, flies directly in the face of how the general...
News Level-5 CEO Sees AI As 'Tool For Communication And Efficiency Improvement'
AI content doesn't make it to the final game
We've been seeing the AI-related opinions a video game creator bandied about a bit already over the past few days, with Smash Bros' director Masahiro Sakurai being ever-so-slightly mistranslated in his thoughts over the use of the new tech in artistic endeavours. Now Level-5's CEO, Akihiro Hino, has been...
News Nintendo Prioritising Switch 2 Dev Kits For Indies Needing "Extra Oomph", Say Devs
"a similar situation to the OG Switch"
As we all know by now, the Switch 2 has been off to a rocket of a start in terms of its hardware sales, however, with regards to its current games lineup — and with a particular eye on its indie offerings — there's cert
News Smash Bros. Director Sakurai Laments 'Unsustainable' AAA Game Dev, Discusses AI And Uncertainty
Mysterious dimension
Over the weekend, a Yahoo Japan interview (geo-locked) with Smash Bros. lead and game dev extraordinaire Masahiro Sakurai has blown up in the West, with reports suggesting that the Kirby creator is advocating for generative AI. However, it seems the nuance of his comments have gotten a little lost in translation. Translated...
News Shuhei Yoshida Says Sony Doesn't Really Consider Nintendo As Competition
But in Japan, "it’s all about Nintendo versus Sony"
Former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida is at it again, sharing thoughts and feelings about the gaming industry at large, including Nintendo. And this time, he's opened up on Sony's thoughts on Nintendo on the Kit & Krysta podcast. Speaking to the duo (thanks,
News Dark Souls Narrator Pik-Sen Lim Has Passed Away
"Heat and cold, life and death..."
Pik-Sen Lim, the Penang-born British actress who most of us gamers will know immediately as the legendary narrator of the Dark Souls series, has passed away at the age of 80. As reported by the Malay Mail (thanks PC Gamer),
News Yooka-Laylee Dev Playtonic Is The Latest Studio Hit By Layoffs
Update: Playtonic releases statement
A handful of staff at UK-based studio Playtonic, best known for creating Yooka-Laylee and for forming the indie publishing label Playtonic Friends, are sharing messages on social media as they have been made "redundant" at the developer. We were first alerted to the news by a Bluesky post from former community...
News Xbox Has Reportedly Sidelined Its First-Party Handheld (For Now)
The third-party one is still expected
Microsoft's gaming division Xbox was reportedly planning to go all-in on handheld gaming with not only a third-party device expected this year but also a first-party product supposedly targeting 2027. Ahead of the Switch 2 launch next week, the tech giant's plans have apparently changed. In an
News Iconic Studio Codemasters Is Safe Following Closure Rumour
Update: Debunked!
It's been a little while since any Codemasters-developed game made its way to a Nintendo system; in fact, the latest one may well have been F1 Race Stars: Powered Up Edition for the Wii U in 2014. But the iconic studio has been a staunch support of Nintendo in the past, developing and publishing games for the Wii, DS, SNES, NES,...
News A24 Bringing Elden Ring To The Big Screen With Ex Machina Director
The real question is: Who will play Miriel?
The rumours were true: Elden Ring is getting a movie adaptation thanks to studio A24, with acclaimed writer and director Alex Garland, best known for Ex Machina, Civil War, and for writing 28 Days Later (and the upcoming 28 Years Later), at the helm. Deadline broke the news late yesterday and also...
News Fortnite Devs Hit With Unfair Labour Practice Filing Following AI Darth Vader Fiasco
SAG-AFTRA hits back
Voice acting union SAG-AFTRA has filed an unfair labour practice charge against Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, and Llama Productions, the game's signatory company, for using an AI-generated voice of James Earl Jones to portray Darth Vader in-game. In a statement posted on its website (via
News Switch 2's Price May Pose "Challenges" For First-Year Sales, Says Furukawa
Hence the lower-than-expected sales forecast
Nintendo has shared the official English translation for its recent end-of-year financial Q&A, in which the board of directors was asked to clarify a couple of details regarding the Switch 2 sales forecast. In case you missed it, Nintendo last week shared that it is expecting to shift 15 million...
News Rare's N64 Shooter 'GoldenEye 007' Officially Inducted Into The Video Game Hall Of Fame
Alongside a handful of other titles
[Fri 7th Mar, 2025 00:55 GMT]: Every year, The Strong Museum announces its 'World Video Game Hall of Fame' finalists and for 2025 and after missing out in 2023, Rare's iconic Nintendo 64 first-person shooter GoldenEye 007 is back. It's up against some tough competition including the following list of games: Age...
News Palworld Dev Announces "Disappointing" Game Changes Resulting From Nintendo's Lawsuit
"We have had to make certain compromises"
Late last year, Palworld developer Pocketpair announced that it was scrapping the Poké Ball-like summoning mechanic from its game as a result of its ongoing Nintendo lawsuit. Well, it looks like the changes aren't stopping there, as the dev has today announced that more "disappointing" changes are yet to...
News Nintendo Expects To Sell 15 Million Switch 2 Consoles This Financial Year
As Switch 1, predictably, grinds to a halt
Nintendo forecasts Switch 2 sales of 15 million units by the end of the 2025/26 financial year. The company also expects triple that number of software sales (45 million), excluding bundled software such as the Mario Kart World bundle launching alongside the base model on 5th June. This forecast comes from...
News Former Rockstar Dev Throws Shade At Mario Kart World, Says New GTA Will Be Worth The Price
"You think Mario Kart competes with a game like this"
Rockstar Games blew up the internet this week with the second official trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI and it's led to all sorts of discussion about the current state of the industry including the future pricing of games (yes, it's come up again). Former Rockstar animator Mike York, who...
News Former Assassin's Creed Lead Isn't Happy About Switch 2's Game-Key Cards
"I hate it. I think it's sort of lame"
An awful lot of talk out of the Switch 2 Direct has focused on the console's new Game Key Cards, whether they are a good thing for the industry and if anyone will actually buy the damn things. Now, in a new interview with VideoGamer, the Creative Director on Assassin's Creed III and
News Xbox's Latest Multiplatform Release Has Been Announced
Now how about a Switch 2 release?
Over the past year, Xbox has been publishing more first-party IP on other platforms, and in the latest update it's now announced this mission is set to continue with Gears of War: Reloaded. Not only is this remaster of the first game coming to Xbox and PC platforms, but it will also be getting an official release...
News Shuhei Yoshida On Higher Switch 2 Game Prices: "It Was Going To Happen Eventually"
"The heart of the matter lies in production costs"
Ex-Sony and PlayStation veteran Shuhei Yoshida has been talking a fair amount about the video game industry since his retirement earlier this year. But he's had a few things to say about the Switch 2 in particular in recent weeks. And the former president of SIE Worldwide Studios has done it again,...
News Astral Chain Director/Nier Automata Lead Designer Quits PlatinumGames
Another big departure for the legendary studio
It's been announced in the latest issue of Famitsu Magazine that PlatinumGames designer Takahisa Taura is parting ways with the developer in order to start work on his own company, Eel Game Studio. As revealed in a post by Genki, and spotted by the folks over at VGC, Taura stated on a few social media...
News 8BitDo Suspends Shipping From China To US In Wake Of Ongoing Tariff Saga
"only products from our U.S. warehouse are available"
Yes, it seems as though the United States' bewildering tariff tactics are not through causing issues for gamers. Not by a long-shot, we'd imagine. Following on from the Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order debacle that's been occurring Stateside, popular peripheral maker 8BitDo has confirmed via its...
Random Clair Obscur Director Celebrates Amazing Switch RPG Which Launched On Same Day
"After your Expedition, check out The Hundred Line"
Goodness gracious, RPG fans have been spoiled over the past few years, right? In fact, let's point to last week specifically. In the space of two days, three huge RPGs launched across various platforms — Oblivion Remastered, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and, for those of us with a Switch, The...
News EA And Respawn Hit By Hundreds Of Layoffs As New Project Cancelled
Between 300 to 400 people have lost their job
Electronic Arts is reportedly laying off between 300-400 staff, with 100 of those coming from Apex Legends and Star Wars: Jedi developer Respawn,
News Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Is Out Now, But Switch 2 Is Unconfirmed
It looks so nice, too
Bethesda is set to officially reveal The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered tomorrow, 22nd April 2025. A livestream will kick off at 8am PT / 11am ET / 4pm BST / 5pm CET / 1am AET (Wed) during which we presume a trailer will be showcased to reveal all of those tasty visual upgrades. It's also speculated that Bethesda may...
News After Selling Pokémon GO For $3.5 Billion, Niantic Spatial Is Now Laying Off Employees
68 workers will lose their jobs next month
Niantic is laying off 68 employees next month, following its multi-billion dollar sale of its gaming division which includes the AR mega-hit Pokémon GO, Game Developer reports. The outlet spotted a
News A New Turn-Based Tactics Star Wars Game Has Been Announced
A collab between former XCOM devs and Respawn
Star Wars will be getting a new single-player turn-based tactics game officially titled Star Wars Zero Company. Although a Nintendo release hasn't been mentioned, there's always a chance with the Switch 2 on the horizon. This new game is being developed by the independent studio Bit Reactor (partly made...
News Rime Developer Tequila Works Is Auctioning Off Its Game Rights After Bankruptcy
Including some in-development titles
Tequila Works, the developer behind the lovely puzzler RiME, horror cinematic platformer Deadlight, and adorable League of Legends spin-off Song of Nunu, is auctioning off a number of its game rights and IPs. 19 different listings can be found on the auction website
News UK Retailer GAME Is Selling Off Goods And Fixtures As Head Office Shuts Down
Ovens and card holders are up for grabs
UK high street chain GAME is auctioning off a number of unusual items from its warehouse and head office in Basingstoke, which is closing down. Eurogamer has found a number of listings on NCM Auctions for items, ranging from standard warehouse units such as palette units, metal shelves, and fridges, and...
News Crash And Spyro Dev Wants To Partner With Team Xbox For A Crack At Banjo
"Banjo's been hibernating long enough, right?"
Having helmed well-received entries in the Spyro/Skylanders and Crash Bandicoot lines, developer Toys for Bob has form with 3D platformers featuring beloved childhood characters. Perhaps unsurprisingly, according to a new interview, the team would be interested in reviving another fan-favourite series:...
News Ex-PlayStation Boss Comments On Switch 2's "Hefty" Price Hikes
"Exclusivity kind of mitigates the sticker shock"
There has been all sorts of commentary about Nintendo's $80 price tag on Mario Kart World and how this could potentially impact the industry and consumers going forward, and now the former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has shared his thoughts. Appearing on the 'PlayerDriven' YouTube channel and...
News Nintendo's Bowser Comments On AI And Its Uses
"It's not the only method of game development"
It's one of the hottest issues in the gaming industry right now, so it was only a matter of time before Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser was asked about the rise of AI in game development in his series of Switch 2 interviews. Fortunately, his response was refreshingly pro-human. Bowser (not...
News Nintendo Shares Plummet In Wake Of Trump Tariff Action
US pre-order postponement woes
In the wake of Nintendo's decision to delay opening its Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders in the US following upheaval and uncertainty around newly-imposed tariffs, the company has seen a 10% drop in its Tokyo-listed shares, reports Bloomberg. Nintendo made the call to hold off on opening pre-orders in the US last week,...
News Switch 2 Support To Be Made Available Soon In Unity Game Engine
Helping developers target the launch
This isn't exactly a surprise, but it's been confirmed the game engine Unity will be providing developers with official support for Nintendo Switch 2. Here's some PR about how this platform will be "made available soon" in Unity 6 for approved Switch 2 developers targeting the launch of the platform: "Support...
News Nintendo Is (Kinda) Returning To Region-Locking With A Cheaper Japanese Switch 2
Priced 49,980 yen, which is around $333 USD
After the Switch 2 Direct wrapped up, Nintendo put out a press release announcing its pricing in different regions, including Japan. However, it appears that Japanese gamers will have an extra, cheaper option if they're happy to have a Japanese-language-only Switch 2. "The Japanese-Language System" is...
Rumour More Switch 2 Development Kit Rumours Emerge Following Report Of "3-Phase Launch Plan"
Third-party games will reportedly be the second stage
Ahead of Nintendo's Switch 2 broadcast this week, new reports and rumours about third-party access to development kits have emerged. This follows a report last week claiming the Switch 2 would have a "3-phase" launch plan, with third-party games believed to be the second stage. According to...
News Ubisoft Opens New Subsidiary Backed By Tencent For Assassin's Creed And Other IP
"A new chapter in its history"
Nintendo has shared all sorts of new and exciting reveals for the Switch this week, but it's not the only company that's been busy. Third-party developer and publisher Ubisoft has announced it will be "accelerating its transformation" with a new dedicated subsidiary for Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and the Tom Clancy's...
News Game Informer Revived By Blockchain Firm Gunzilla Games
The "entire team" is back less than a year after the closure
As you might recall, last week the US publication Game Informer was spotted teasing a possible return less than a year after its closure and today it's been made official with the "entire team" back. The outlet is now backed by the blockchain developer Gunzilla Games after GameStop ended...
