February 2023

Sony: We have not cut PSVR 2 production numbers

1 year 1 month ago

PlayStation says it has "not cut PlayStation VR 2 production numbers", following a report from Bloomberg.

The firm told GamesIndustry.biz that it is "seeing enthusiasm from PlayStation fans for the upcoming launch, which includes more than 30 titles such as Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Call of the Mountain, and Resident Evil Village."

The initial report said that Sony was making a significant reduction in its projections for PlayStation VR 2, and even warned supply partners that manufacturing could decrease as well.

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Author
Christopher Dring

Game Changers becomes a permanent fixture of GamesIndustry.biz

1 year 1 month ago

We said last year that we wanted to go bigger with Game Changers – and we meant it.

When it first began, Game Changers was a series of short profiles crammed into December. This year, we extended this into in-depth interviews – which have been running throughout the past month – looking closer at the work selected groups and individuals are doing to improve the games industry.

And we plan to continue. Just as the work of our Game Changers is ongoing, so too will be our efforts to raise awareness of what they are doing.

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Author
James Batchelor

HR exec says it's on women to solve the industry's sexism problem | 10 Years Ago This Month

1 year 1 month ago

The games industry moves pretty fast, and there's a tendency for all involved to look constantly to what's next without so much worrying about what came before. That said, even an industry so entrenched in the now can learn from its past. So to refresh our collective memory and perhaps offer some perspective on our field's history, GamesIndustry.biz runs this monthly feature highlighting happenings in gaming from exactly a decade ago.

This column has seen some galaxy brain Bad Calls over the years.

Steam is great for the retail PC software market.

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Author
Brendan Sinclair

Nintendo, Sony and Xbox reportedly skipping E3 2023

1 year 1 month ago

At a glance

E3 2023 will feature little to no presence from the three console platform holders, according to a new report.

Sources told IGN that neither Xbox, Sony nor Nintendo will be an official part of E3 2023, or have a booth on the showfloor at the Los Angeles Convention Center, when the annual trade show returns in June.

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Author
James Batchelor

Around 40 Ubisoft Paris staff attended strike for better working conditions

1 year 1 month ago

Update, February 1, 2023: In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Solidaires Informatique confirmed that over 40 people striked at Ubisoft Paris last Friday, but added that "a lot of remote workers told us they were following the strike without reporting it," making it a "difficult number to track."

The union claimed that strikers represented "at least" 15% of the studio's staff.

Concerning the discussion that happened among the physical attendees, Solidaires said that there was a "realisation" among them that "Ubisoft's general strategy is a failure, with unachievable expectations on one hand," and harsh working conditions on the other.

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Author
Marie Dealessandri

Dead Space is No.1, but launch sales lower than The Callisto Protocol | UK Boxed Charts

1 year 1 month ago

It was a busy week for game releases last week, with Dead Space, Forspoken, Goldeneye and Hi-Fi Rush all available.

Hi-Fi Rush was digital-only and available via Game Pass, while Goldeneye was (primarily) limited to subscription services. As a result, these physical retail charts can only tell us so much (digital data comes later in the week, and doesn't include subscription).

EA's Dead Space remake was easily the best-selling game. However, it sold less than half of what The Callisto Protocol managed in its first week back in December (The Callisto Protocol is a very similar game made by some of the original developers of Dead Space). A few key differences is The Callisto Protocol had a lower price point than Dead Space (average selling price of £47 vs £63), and was released during the Christmas window when physical games tend to perform better (due to them being bought as Christmas presents). It was also available on more platforms, as The Callisto Protocol received a PS4 and Xbox One version.

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Author
Christopher Dring

Job cuts in the games industry happen more because of decisions in art, not technology | Opinion

1 year 1 month ago

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Business pundits and analyst investors have hit the airwaves to try and explain why so many jobs in the tech industry have been lost. The consensus is that this is a correction to the wave of hirings done during the pandemic. Back then there was a need to invest in technological solutions to address working from home and technical alternatives to systems that otherwise would not be needed if there was no pandemic. Tech companies needed to hire more people because their businesses were in greater demand. The extra money that went their way resulted with more bodies hired.

But by 2022 the business cycle began to return to "normal". People left their homes without masks and the pre-pandemic daily routine was slowly, but surely, coming back to life. This also meant the projected increase in revenue for tech companies either slowed or was revised with a lower number. For some, revenues began to reverse.

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Author
Sam Naji

Game Changers | Kirsty Kirby, Lab42

1 year 1 month ago

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GamesIndustry.biz Game Changers is a series of profiles on the groups and individuals going the extra mile to make the games industry a better place. These interviews encompass folks from around the world helping to improve conditions and attitudes towards diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, mental health and more. You can read more Game Changers interviews here.

Kirsty Kirby admits to being rather embarrassed about being acknowledged as a Game Changer, and it’s not just her being modest.

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Author
Alan Wen

UN survey gauges player sentiment on environmental game content

1 year 1 month ago

According to a survey conducted by the Playing for the Planet Alliance, 61.1% of players would be "motivated" to pay for environmental content in games if it adds to the experience.

The survey gathered answers from 389,594 players between March and October 2022. The respondents were players of 11 games from studios that are members of Playing for the Planet Alliance, namely Future Games of London, Oh Bibi, Old Skull Games, Pixel Federation, Space Ape Games, Tilting Point, Ubisoft Barcelona, Ustwo Games and Wooga.

When asked whether they would like to see environmental content in the games they play, the respondents replied "Yes, definitely" at 35.4%, and "Maybe, if it fits the game's universe/narrative" at 46%. That left 13.5% of the players saying "No."

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Author
Marie Dealessandri

Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | This Week in Business

1 year 2 months ago

This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check back every Friday for a new entry.

Did you know that GamesIndustry.biz has never done reviews?

We have a Critical Consensus recurring feature that rounds up other people's reviews, staff Game of the Year write-ups, and our Why I Love series of developer-penned pieces on games, so we're not completely devoid of subjective assessments of game quality. We've even toyed with a non-traditional substitute for reviews.

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Author
Brendan Sinclair

Game Changers | Pixelles

1 year 2 months ago

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GamesIndustry.biz Game Changers is a series of profiles on the groups and individuals going the extra mile to make the games industry a better place. These interviews encompass folks from around the world helping to improve conditions and attitudes towards diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, mental health and more. You can read more Game Changers interviews here.

While a big part of Game Changers is spotlighting the unheralded people working to make the industry better, we would also like to recognize some people who have been doing the work for a while now and may have been heralded previously, but we feel are deserving of further heralding still for their day-in and day-out work over a prolonged span of time.

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Author
Brendan Sinclair

How long can Microsoft float on goodwill? | Opinion

1 year 2 months ago

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It's important to have realistic expectations about how financial reports from games industry companies are going to look in the coming year. We're already well into the realm of tough comparisons; the back half of 2022 saw the first reports coming out which really reflected the end of the pandemic period, and the accompanying drops in revenue that are the hangover to the massive boost video games saw during 2020 and 2021.

Consequently, we should all be wary of reading too much into relatively minor declines. It's actually going to be more informative to compare numbers to the 2019 baseline than to the intervening years, and we're all just going to have to get used to seeing the pandemic as a weird spike on a lot of graphs in the coming decade.

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Author
Rob Fahey

Fntastic delays The Day Before again after trademark dispute, speaks up against scam claims

1 year 2 months ago

The Day Before developer Fntastic was struck by a trademark claim over the name of the game, leading it to be delisted on Steam.

In an announcement shared on Wednesday, the studio claimed that an individual registered the game trademark in the US soon after the announcement of The Day Before in 2021, and got in touch with them on January 19, 2023 with a formal complaint.

As a result of the situation, Fntastic announced that it was delaying the game's launch to November 10, as well as the release of its first gameplay trailer. The Day Before was initially due to release on March 1, and had already been previously pushed back.

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Author
Marie Dealessandri

Elden Ring and Stray are tied for this year's Game Developers Choice Awards

1 year 2 months ago

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Game Developers Conference organizers Informa Tech have unveiled the finalists for this year's Game Developer Choice Awards.

For the award show's 23rd year, FromSoftware's Elden Ring and BlueTwelve Studio's Stray are tied with six nominations each. Both are up for the Game of the Year award.

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Author
Jeffrey Rousseau

Slow and steady wins the race: How Dwarf Fortress reinvented itself after 20 years

1 year 2 months ago

Dwarf Fortress is an oddity across the games industry.

The life's work of brothers Tarn and Zach Adams (under the name Bay 12 Games), it has been in active development since 2002.

Released in public alpha in 2006, the original Dwarf Fortress reached the status of cult classic over the years, with a dedicated, hardcore community.

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Author
Marie Dealessandri

Where are people going to advertise games in 2023?

1 year 2 months ago

When we ask Gamesight CEO Adam Lieb and CMO Nicole Yang what's the big story in the world of game advertising, the answer they give is very clear: TikTok.

"TikTok went from having virtually no publishers working with it two years ago to a platform now that is in almost every game marketer's budget somewhere," Lieb says. "I don't know I've ever seen anything grow as fast, in terms of both prevalence and the percentage of companies on TikTok, as well as the size of budgets folks are putting into that platform."

TikTok was big last year. He says it will be big in 2023. And he says the scale of the platform is now large enough that it's doesn't even need to grow much more in order to stay relevant.

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Author
Brendan Sinclair

Xbox to host summer showcase in Los Angeles later this year

1 year 2 months ago

Microsoft has confirmed it will hold a physical showcase of its upcoming games in Los Angeles this summer.

The news was revealed at the end of a blog post summing up the announcements from last night's Xbox Developer Direct.

While it gives no details or specific dates, the reference to the "return [of] our yearly showcase" suggests it's highly likely to be held in June around the same time as E3.

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Author
James Batchelor

Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct Showcase reveals Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush

1 year 2 months ago

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During the Xbox and Bethesda Developer Direct Showcase, new exclusives and launch dates were unveiled.

Among the announcements was Tango Gameworks' newest action title Hi-Fi Rush. The title is available via Game Pass on the Xbox Series X|S consoles and PC.

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Author
Jeffrey Rousseau

Game Changers | Tetiana Loktionova

1 year 2 months ago

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GamesIndustry.biz Game Changers is a series of profiles on the groups and individuals going the extra mile to make the games industry a better place. These interviews encompass folks from around the world helping to improve conditions and attitudes towards diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, mental health and more. You can read more Game Changers interviews here.

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine.

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Author
James Batchelor

Xbox Q2 revenues down 13%, but declines offset by Game Pass growth

1 year 2 months ago

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Despite increases in its overall revenue, Microsoft has posted declines from its Xbox division for the latest quarter of its financial year.

While the company does not share specific revenue figures for each of its segments, it did report that gaming revenues were down 13% for the three months ended December 31, 2022, as were Xbox hardware revenues, with Xbox content and services revenues down 12%.

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Author
James Batchelor

An introduction to choosing colors in game VFX

1 year 2 months ago

Video game effects are often remarkable for their intense explosions of color and bright, magical appearances. Trying to find that perfect combination of colors for your own effects can be difficult.

We've taken the game FX design pipeline and broken down color into four major tips that you can use to help give your effects extra pop and cohesion.

It might feel a little counterintuitive, but one of the best ways to make sure your colors will pop in the long run is actually to start with what might be colloquially considered to be "no color" (ie. grayscale).

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Author
Jason Keyser and Patty Ruhnke

The games industry isn’t in crisis. It’s a reality check | Opinion

1 year 2 months ago

Another set of financials, another bunch of arrows pointing downwards and another batch of bleak-sounding headlines.

What a difference a year makes. Last January saw three multi-billion-dollar acquisition announcements. First, Take-Two and Zynga. Second, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. And then sneaking in at the end, Sony and Bungie. Back then video games seemed like an unstoppable force. Today? Nerves are on show.

To understand what’s really going on, it’s worth taking a step back.

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Author
Christopher Dring

League of Legends source code exposed in Riot cyberattack

1 year 2 months ago

Riot Games has received a ransom email after hackers stole source code for League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics.

The attack also targeted its legacy anticheat platform, the company said in a tweet explaining the incident.

"Needless to say, we won't pay," Riot said of the ransom email. "While this attack disrupted our build environment and could cause issues in the future, most importantly we remain confident that no player data or player personal information was compromised."

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Author
Marie Dealessandri

Justin Roiland resigns as CEO of Squanch Games

1 year 2 months ago

Justin Roiland has resigned from his position as CEO of Squanch Games.

In a tweet announcing the news, the High on Life studio said his resignation was received on January 16.

Squanch Games added that it will continue to support High on Life, which released on December 13, 2022, and "keep developing games we know our fans will love."

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Author
Marie Dealessandri

Washington Post reportedly shutting down gaming section

1 year 2 months ago

The Washington Post is making a round of layoffs, and cutting its video game label Launcher in the process, according to Axios media reporter Sara Fischer.

Fischer posted to her Twitter account a memo Washington Post executive editor Sally Buzbee sent to staff today saying that the outlet is laying off 20 people from the newsroom and will not fill an additional 30 open positions that had been listed.

While the memo does not mention Launcher, Fischer cited two sources with saying the Post is sunsetting both the gaming label and KidsPost, a section written for students in grades 2 through 7.

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Author
Brendan Sinclair

Tunic and Betrayal at Club Low tie for IGF 2023 nominations

1 year 2 months ago

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Game Developers Conference organizers Informa Tech has unveiled the finalists for this year's Independent Games Festival.

Tunic Team's Tunic and Cosmo D Studios' Betrayal at Club Low are leading with three nominations each. Both titles are among the nominees for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

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Author
Jeffrey Rousseau

Proletariat unionization vote request dropped

1 year 2 months ago

Activision Blizzard has scored perhaps its biggest victory yet in its ongoing fight with unionizing employees, as the Communication Workers of America said it is withdrawing its request for a unionization vote at Proletariat.

"Unfortunately, Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak chose to follow Activision Blizzard's lead and responded to the workers' desire to form a union with confrontational tactics," the union said. "Like many founders, he took the workers' concerns as a personal attack and held a series of meetings that demoralized and disempowered the group, making a free and fair election impossible.

"As we have seen at Microsoft's Zenimax studio, there is another path forward, one that empowers workers through a free and fair process, without intimidation or manipulation by the employer. We will continue to advocate alongside workers in the video game industry for better working conditions, higher standards and a union voice."

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Author
Brendan Sinclair

Forspoken | Critical Consensus

1 year 2 months ago

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The Luminous Productions-developed Forspoken is not only a new IP and but a rarity. Its star Frey Holland, portrayed by Ella Balinska, a Black woman, is the lead actress of a AAA JRPG.

Frey is going through some hard times in life, and then she finds herself spirited away to the world of Athia. There she and the magic arm bracelet Cuff set off to help the people of the land.

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Author
Jeffrey Rousseau

Merriam-Webster acquires word game Quordle

1 year 2 months ago

Wordle-like web game Quordle has been acquired by Merriam-Webster, as spotted by our sister site Rock Paper Shotgun.

"I can't think of a better home for this game," the Quordle Twitter account said in announcing the move. "Lots of new features and fun to come, so stay tuned!"

Merriam-Webster has already added Quordle to its website, where it joins Blossom and Name That Thing, as well as an assortment of vocabulary-based quizzes.

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Author
Brendan Sinclair