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industry

23 stories tagged industry

Frontier Signs Disney for a New Game - Fully Self-Funded, and Framed Entirely Around the Planet Coaster Playbook

Frontier Developments told the London market on September 3 that it has signed an agreement with Disney for a new game drawing on Disney's IP portfolio - funded entirely by Frontier and pitched squarely at the Creative Management Simulation genre behind Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo and Jurassic World Evolution. No title, no platforms, and a fourth unannounced Planet game confirmed in the same filing.

news2 weeks ago

The Journey Studio Is Now a Publisher - thatgamecompany Launches thatgamepublisher, Funded by Sky: Children of the Light Profits and Open to Everyone From Solo Developers to AA Teams

thatgamecompany announced thatgamepublisher on August 25, a full-service label funded by Sky: Children of the Light's profits that will back games which 'move people through play' - offering funding, marketing, platform strategy and IP development to teams of any size, with a couple of projects already signed.

news3 weeks ago

Deus Ex Creator Warren Spector Is Retiring From Game Development: Not As Much Fun For Me Anymore

Warren Spector says he is retiring after 44 years, 17 games and roughly nine add-on packs, from Ultima Underworld and Thief to Deus Ex, Epic Mickey and this year's Thick As Thieves. He cites age, health and an industry that has stopped being enjoyable - and admits there are still three games he would like to have made.

news3 weeks ago

Sony's CEO Says the PS6 Still Has No Launch Date - and PlayStation Spent the Same Day Selling the PS5's Present

Hiroki Totoki told the Wall Street Journal that the PlayStation 6's launch timing - and therefore its price - has not been decided, with AI-driven component costs complicating the maths. Hours later, PlayStation launched a new It Happens on PS5 campaign.

news3 weeks ago

Amazon Is Getting Out of MMOs Entirely - Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark Go Back to Their Developers

Amazon Games will hand Throne and Liberty to NC by the end of Q4 2026 and Lost Ark to Smilegate in early 2027. Neither game is closing, player data carries over, and Amazon's MMO publishing era ends after New World's wind-down.

news3 weeks ago

Supermassive Games Is Cutting Up to 75 Jobs - Its Third Round of Layoffs in Two and a Half Years

The Until Dawn and Dark Pictures Anthology studio has begun a redundancy consultation covering up to 75 roles, following roughly 90 cuts in February 2024 and 35 in July 2025. Supermassive reported 172 staff at the end of 2025, and the cuts follow Directive 8020's soft launch and CEO Robert Henrysson's exit.

news1 month ago

Elder Scrolls Online Pushes Its Warden Overhaul, a New Trial, and Update 52 Into 2027 After Xbox Layoffs Gut ZeniMax

ZeniMax Online Studios is delaying three major Elder Scrolls Online features - the long-requested Warden class overhaul, the Crimson Veldt Trial, and Update 52 - into 2027, after Xbox's restructuring laid off 213 ZeniMax Online staff, including the game's former director and studio head. New game director Nick Giacomini says Update 51 still ships September 28 and insists 'ESO is here to stay.'

news1 month ago

EA's $55 Billion Sale to a Saudi PIF-Led Group Clears Its Final Hurdle - Deal Closes August 4

Electronic Arts says every regulatory approval needed for its $55 billion buyout by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has now been obtained, with the deal expected to close on August 4 - making it the largest leveraged buyout in history and taking EA private for the first time since 1990.

news1 month ago

Bethesda Says The Elder Scrolls 6's Roadmap Is 'Unaffected' by Xbox Layoffs

Facing concerns that Xbox's latest round of layoffs would delay The Elder Scrolls 6, Bethesda told YouTuber MrMattyPlays directly: 'No, the roadmap is unaffected.' Jason Schreier's own reporting still pegs the game at two to three years from completion.

news1 month ago

Double Fine Lays Off 23 Staff Days After Regaining Independence From Xbox

Tim Schafer confirmed Double Fine Productions has laid off 23 employees, just weeks after the Psychonauts 2 studio was spun off from Xbox as an independent company. Double Fine keeps its IP and catalog, with Xbox funding future projects, but the studio says it had to resize to survive on its own.

news1 month ago

Marathon Game Director Joe Ziegler Leaves Bungie, Four Months After the Extraction Shooter's Rocky Launch

Joe Ziegler, the public face of Bungie's Marathon reboot, confirmed July 17 was his last day at the studio after nearly four years. Del Chafe III steps up as game director alongside creative director Julia Nardin, as the team pushes on following a launch that fell well short of Bungie's sales expectations.

news1 month ago

ZA/UM Lays Off Up to 32 Staff After Zero Parades: For Dead Spies Fails to Sell, Despite Strong Reviews

Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM has issued redundancy or at-risk notices to up to 32 employees, two months after Zero Parades: For Dead Spies launched to strong critical acclaim but weak commercial performance. It's the studio's second round of layoffs since 2024.

news1 month ago

Sony Calls AI a 'Foundational Technology' for PS6 - While Hideo Kojima Says He's 'Not Interested'

PlayStation CEO Hideaki Nishino told investors AI is now a core pillar of Sony's PS6 strategy, already powering tools like the facial-animation system Mockingbird. Weeks earlier, Hideo Kojima said in a Washington Post profile that he isn't interested in AI making art. Together, the two moments capture where the industry's biggest players actually stand on AI right now.

news1 month ago

Nintendo Switch 2 Outsells the PS5 by a Million in the Latest Quarter - But the Lifetime Race Tells a Different Story

A year into its life, the Switch 2 is outrunning the PS5 quarter-to-quarter and dominating the US market - even as Sony's console keeps a commanding lifetime lead. And a Switch 2 price hike is now on the horizon.

news2 months ago

PlayStation Will Stop Producing Physical Discs for New Games in January 2028 - Sony Confirms the Digital-Only Future While Promising Existing Discs and Disc Drives Are Safe

Sony Interactive Entertainment will stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation games from January 2028, moving new releases to digital distribution. Existing discs, disc drives, and games launching before the cutoff are unaffected, but the move sets a firm end date for the physical era of new PlayStation games.

news2 months ago

Xbox Raises Series X and Series S Prices Worldwide on August 1 - and Retires the 2TB Console as Memory Costs Soar

Microsoft is hiking Xbox Series X and Series S prices worldwide from August 1 - up to $799.99 for a disc Series X and $499.99 for the Series S - while discontinuing the 2TB model, blaming a 2.5x surge in memory and storage costs.

news2 months ago

Luna Abyss Was a Hit - Then Its Whole Team Got Laid Off: Kwalee Labs Shut Down 26 Days After the Bullet-Hell Shooter's Acclaimed Launch

Just 26 days after the acclaimed bullet-hell shooter Luna Abyss launched to an 81 Metacritic and a day-one Game Pass deal, developer Kwalee Labs has laid off its entire nine-person team. CEO Hollie Emery called the decision 'completely outside of our control.' The studio, formerly Bonsai Collective, spent seven years building the game.

news2 months ago

Xbox Braces for Another Round of Layoffs and Studio Closures - Ninja Theory Reportedly Shutting Down as Compulsion and Double Fine Fight to Survive

Microsoft's Xbox division is bracing for another wave of layoffs and studio closures as its fiscal year ends June 30. Ninja Theory (Hellblade) is reportedly being shut down, while Compulsion Games and Double Fine negotiate to spin off - and XGS head Craig Duncan is said to be stepping down.

news3 months ago

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Calls Showing PS5 and Switch Logos at Xbox Showcases 'A Miss' - The New Xbox Boss Publicly Contradicts Content Chief Matt Booty and Promises to Rethink the Multiplatform Logo Policy for Future Shows, Even as the June 7 Games Showcase Keeps Them

New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has called the decision to display PS5 and Nintendo Switch logos during Xbox showcases 'a miss,' contradicting content chief Matt Booty on the same day and promising to rethink the policy for future shows - though the June 7 Xbox Games Showcase is still set to keep them.

news4 months ago

Takashi Tezuka, the Quiet Architect of Mario, Zelda, and Yoshi, Just Announced He's Leaving Nintendo on June 26 — More Than 150 Game Credits, 42 Years on the Job, and a Final Bow That Closes One of the Industry's Greatest Careers

Co-creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. Director of A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island. Producer of Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Pikmin 4. After more than four decades and over 150 credits, the 65-year-old Takashi Tezuka is retiring from Nintendo on June 26, 2026.

news4 months ago

Forza Horizon 5 Is Carrying Xbox on PS5 — But the Rest of Microsoft's Multiplatform Gamble Is Reigniting the Exclusivity Debate

Forza Horizon 5 has reportedly pulled in over $300M and 5M+ copies on PS5, but Microsoft's other multiplatform ports are quietly underperforming — and combined with a 33% hardware revenue collapse, it's pushing Xbox to actively reconsider exclusivity ahead of the May 7 Project Helix reveal.

industry5 months ago

Sony Raises PS5 Prices by Up to $150 Amid Global Memory Chip Crisis

Sony has hiked PS5 prices by $100–$150 globally starting April 2, citing a severe DRAM shortage driven by AI infrastructure demand. The PS5 now costs $649.99 and the Pro hits $899.99 in the US.

industry5 months ago

Epic Games Lays Off Over 1,000 Staff as Fortnite Engagement Slips

Epic Games has confirmed layoffs affecting over 1,000 staff, citing a prolonged decline in Fortnite engagement that has strained the company's finances.