Tag: Industry
News Nintendo Veteran Don James To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
"My career has truly been a wild and fun ride"
While it's common to associate Nintendo with big names such as Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto and Reggie Fils-Aimé, there are plenty of other important people who helped make the company and brand what it is today. As part of this legacy, Nintendo veteran and industry visionary Don James - who joined...
News Nintendo Switch Finally Surpasses PlayStation 2's Lifetime Sales In The US
Just the DS to beat
We thought this day might come, and here it is. According to the latest data from Circana (formerly NPD), the Nintendo Switch has finally surpassed the PlayStation 2's lifetime sales in the United States. The latest ranking shake-up comes from Circana executive director and video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella on BlueSky,...
News Several PlatinumGames Veterans Have Seemingly Left The Studio
Hideki and seek
In 2023, PlatinumGames made the surprise announcement that its co-founder and vice president, Hideki Kamiya, had left the company. One year on, it looks like several other veterans may be following suit. As spotted on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours Reddit forum by user Joseki100 (off the back of an initial post by PlatinumGamesFanboy),...
News Capcom Intends To Continue "Re-Activating Dormant IPs"
Okami and Onimusha are paving the way
Some of the biggest surprises at this year's Game Awards show were provided by Japanese video game giant Capcom with the revival of classic IPs like Okami and Onimusha. In a company press release on its official website, Capcom has now made it clear this is all part of an initiative to focus on "re-activating...
News Surprise Leak Reveals Lenovo Is Releasing Another Switch-Like Gaming Handheld
The LCD screen is reportedly being swapped for an OLED panel
The current Lenovo Legion Go A new leak has revealed Lenovo is seemingly following up its 'Legion Go' handheld gaming device with a "larger" model and it will once again take all sorts of design cues from Nintendo's hybrid system. This new system reportedly keeps the "detachable"...
Random PlayStation's Astro Bot Director Pays Tribute To Mario And Nintendo In GOTY Speech
"I didn't plan to say it, but I'm going to say it anyway"
There have been a lot of comparisons this year suggesting the PlayStation hit Astro Bot is more like a Super Mario or Nintendo game than a Sony one. With this in mind, it seems the game's director Nicolas Doucet might have finally put all of this debate to rest. In a surprising moment during...
News The Game Awards GOTY For 2024 Is Astro Bot
Here's the full list of winners
The Game Awards for 2024 is now over and Asobi's Astro Bot has officially won Game of the Year. It was up against Black Myth: Wukong, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth,
News Nintendo Now Officially Owns 100% Of Monolith Soft
The chronicle continues
The 'Company Profile' section of the Monolith Soft website has been updated and it looks like Nintendo now finally owns 100% of the company (thanks, Automaton West). The Big N first staked its claim in Monolith back in 2007, purchasing 80% of its shares from Namco before increasing its proportion to 96% in 2011. It's unclear...
News Michel Ancel Says Beyond Good & Evil 2 Development Issues Due To "Problems Between Managers"
"I have my share of responsibility"
Former Ubisoft designer and creator of Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil Michel Ancel has lifted the lid on part of Beyond Good & Evil 2's troubled development. In an interview with French outlet Superpouvoir (via
News Ubisoft Reportedly Discussing Buyout Options As Talks Of Going Private Continue
Following yet another wave of staff layoffs
Back in October, it was rumoured that Ubisoft was considering going private after a rough year of releases. Two months on and it appears that the negotiations are still ongoing, with Ubisoft and Tencent apparently engaged in talks about buyout terms. That is according to the latest report from Reuters,...
News Ex-PlayStation Boss Questions Future Of Consoles, But Not Nintendo Hardware
"They live in their Own Private Idaho"
As the video game market continues to evolve there's once again talk about the viability of console gaming. In the same interview with Eurogamer, ex-PlayStation boss Shawn Layden shared his thoughts about this topic. While he has raised alarm about the whole "Xbox versus PlayStation" console market and...
News Ubisoft Closes Two Studios And Will Reportedly Lay Off Hundreds Of Employees
The new free-to-play shooter 'XDefiant' has also been axed
It's been a tough year for the games industry with multiple studio closures and layoffs, and now as we enter December, Ubisoft continues the trend. As highlighted by Game File reporter Stephen Totilo, Ubisoft is shutting down its San Francisco production studio and Osaka, Japan office. It...
News The Game Awards 2024 Players' Voice Nominees Have Been Revealed - Zelda, Sonic And More
Voting is now open
Ahead of The Game Awards next week, the 'players' voice' nominees have now been revealed. This is a "100% fan voted award" that takes place across three rounds. Round one requires players to vote for their 10 favourite games from a list of 30, and ends on 4th December 2024 (aka tomorrow). On the Nintendo front, The Legend of...
News Visions Of Mana Director Joins Square Enix After Leaving NetEase's Ouka Studios
To the other side
Visions of Mana director Ryosuke Yoshida has announced that he left the NetEase-owned Ouka Studios at the end of October and has since taken up a position at Square Enix. Yoshida's formal departure follows a report from earlier this year that NetEase was cutting all but a handful of jobs at the development studio soon after...
News ININ Games Acquires Shenmue 3 Publishing Rights, Teases Announcement
Fans are already calling for a Nintendo release
Nintendo's platforms have hosted all sorts of iconic series over the years, but one we haven't seen just yet is Shenmue. While nothing has admittedly changed on this front, a recent announcement has reignited hopes. ININ Games has revealed it has now "officially acquired" the publishing rights to...
News Nintendo Is Ranked The Third Most Sought-After Employer In Japan
Gee, wonder why?
A new survey conducted by Japanese employment agency Gakujo reveals that Nintendo is the third most sought-after employer in the region. This comes via Otaku Soken (thanks, Automaton) and is based on responses from 5,476 university students across Japan. Nintendo is the highest company from the entertainment sector, and is only...
News Lizardcube Co-Founder Leaves To Start New Game Company
"my vision has been less aligned with the team"
Omar Cornut, one of the co-founders of developer Lizardcube, has announced his departure from the company after his own aspirations and vision became less aligned with the wider team. Lizarcube is known for its work on Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap and Streets of Rage 4, with Cornut and Ben Fiquet...
News Composer Grant Kirkhope Joins Davide Soliani's New Indie Studio
"There’s no way out now."
Davide Soliani, the director of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, recently revealed his new indie studio, Day 4 Night. Focused on delivering "deeply heartfelt and original games that innovate in storytelling and design", its a bold new venture for the creator who had previously spent 25...
News Palworld Dev May Have Found An Unexpected Ally In Nintendo's Lawsuit: An Old GTA 5 Mod
Trevorlution
Earlier this month, Palworld developer PocketPair detailed the patent infringement claims that make up Nintendo's ongoing lawsuit. The case itself is still underway, with both parties building their arguments, but a new prediction from a Japanese patent attorney suggests that PocketPair may be finding support in the most unlikely of...
News Mario & Luigi's Future In Doubt As A Potential Sony Acquisition Emerges
Update: Kadokawa acknowledges Sony's offer
A new report from Reuters has emerged that reveals Sony is potentially in talks to purchase Kadokawa, a Japanese media conglomerate that serves as parent to dozens of entertainment companies. In the gaming space, Kadokawa owns Spike Chunsoft, Acquire, Gotcha Gotcha Games, and FromNetworks, while also...
News Expansion Packs And DLC Are Now "Eligible In All Categories" At The Game Awards
This also includes remakes, remasters and new seasons
Ahead of the nominees being revealed for The Game Awards this year, it seems there's some debate online about the new eligibility rules. According to the FAQ on the official website, "expansion packs, new game seasons, DLCs, remakes and remasters" are now eligible to be nominated across "all...
News Thunderful Announces Its Second Restructuring Program In One Year
Up to 100 redundancies expected
Publisher Thunderful has confirmed that it is launching another restructuring program aimed at reducing its workforce by up to 100 employees. As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Thunderful is looking to “increase its focus on t
News Saudi Arabia's PIF Further Reduces Its Stake In Nintendo
Sovereign wealth fund now has a 6.3% stakehold
Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has reduced its stake in Nintendo for the second time in as many months. As reported by Bloomberg (thanks, The Edge), a new filing in Japan shows that the PIF's stake in the Japanese video game firm now stands at 6.3%, down from 7.54%. This follows an earlier 1.04%...
News RiME And 'Song Of Nunu' Developer Tequila Works Has Filed For Insolvency
Following "prolonged market conditions"
Tequila Works, the development studio behind the likes of RiME, GYLT, Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story and The Sexy Brutale, has announced that it has been forced to file for insolvency. The Madrid-based studio's founding members have each stood down from their respective positions, leading to Térence...
News Capcom's Hideaki Itsuno Helms New LightSpeed Development Studio In Japan
There's a Buzz around this LightSpeed
LightSpeed Studios, the team behind PUBG Mobile and survival RPG Undawn, has launched a new game development studio in Japan helmed by none other than Capcom legend Hideaki Itsuno (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz). Itsuno announced that he was stepping down from Capcom back in August, after over 30 years working at...
News Palworld Developer Details Patent Infringement Claims From Nintendo's Lawsuit
Nintendo and TPC seek 10m Yen in damages
News on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair had gone quiet over the past few weeks, but a new statement from the latter studio has shed some more light on the complaint — specifically, the patents Nintendo claims have been infringed upon and the prescribed fine...
News Take-Two Boss Shares Thoughts On 'Switch 2' And Backwards Compatibility
"I never count Nintendo out"
Nintendo this week put the rumours to rest (well, kind of) with the announcement its Switch "successor" would support backwards compatibility. So, how are third-party partners reacting to this? GamesIndustry.biz asked Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick what he thought and he's all for it: "Backward compatibility is good for...
News Take-Two Sells Private Division To Undisclosed Buyer
Deal includes "existing and unreleased titles"
The video game publisher Take-Two has officially sold its smaller label Private Division to an unnamed buyer for an undisclosed sum. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told Variety how "the buyer purchased substantially all of Private Division's existing and unreleased titles". He added how this was a...
News Nintendo Would Rather "Organically Expand The Organisation" Than Rely Solely On Acquisitions
Not that any future mergers are off the table, mind
As a part of its recent Corporate Management Policy Briefing for FY2025, Nintendo has reiterated its stance on mergers and acquisitions. Namely, while future acquisitions are never off the table, it would rather "organically expand the organisation". This, the briefing note claimed, is so that new...
Talking Point Nintendo's Latest Financials Make One Thing Abundantly Clear
Echoes of Switchdom
Blimey, has it already been three months since the last lot? Yes, it's time for another round of Nintendo financial results, and we can soon expect the usual investor Q&A with Shuntaro Furukawa and co. deflecting questions about the Switch "successor" and then explaining how the Nintendo Music app is one example of the...
News Here Are The Top Ten Best-Selling Nintendo Switch Games As Of September 2024
Two games switch places
Nintendo has released its latest financial data covering the first six-month period for FY2025 and, as part of that, it has updated the top ten best-selling games list once more. The only major change we can see with this one is that The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has usurped Super Mario Party to claim the eighth...
News Nintendo Lowers Its Hardware Forecast As Switch Sales Slow To A Crawl
Still, 146 million ain't bad
Nintendo has released its six-month financial data for FY2025 Q1/Q2, revealing that the Switch family of systems has now topped a whopping 146.04 million units. The downside of this is that the console's momentum has undoubtedly slowed down, selling just 2.64 million more than the 143.42 reported in August this year...
News Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Confirms Involvement With New Ubisoft Project
And hopes 'The Lost Crown' team can reform for a sequel
After Ubisoft confirmed Michel Ancel would be a consultant on its new Rayman project last month, the creator of the series has now acknowledged this in a post on Instagram. He mentioned how he's "very happy to have been consulted" and confirmed it's a "real pleasure" to know Rayman and his...
News Nintendo Clarifies No Layoffs Are Happening At 'Mario Club' Subsidiary, Despite The Rumours
Not today, rumour mill
Earlier this week, Japanese outlet Leakpress published a report claiming that 150 employees of Nintendo debugging subsidiary Mario Club Co., Ltd. were being laid off across various teams. Fortunately, Nintendo has today released a statement to Eurogamer to set the record straight. The layoff reports are "untrue," Nintendo's...
News Microsoft Talks About Extending Its Gaming Content To 'New Platforms'
It recently released fan-favourite titles on Switch
Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella this week released his annual letter to shareholders and in the "gaming" segment, he spoke about how the company had continued to extend its content to new platforms. He also acknowledged how Microsoft and its gaming division Xbox had recently brought multiple fan...
News Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown Dev Team Disbanded By Ubisoft
Update: Ubisoft confirms members have "shifted to other projects"
Update [Wed 23rd Oct, 2024 13:00 BST]: Ubisoft has confirmed that most of the team that worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown have indeed been moved onto other projects internally, and that the game is at the end of its post-launch roadmap. In a statement provided to our sister...
News SEGA Seeks 1 Billion Yen In Damages From Developer Of Mobile RPG 'Memento Mori'
Allegations of patent infringement
Bank of Innovation — the Japanese developer behind the idle mobile RPG Memento Mori — has received a lawsuit from Sega Corporation, which seeks damages for multiple alleged patent infringements. As reported by Gamesindustry.biz (via the Otaku Research Institute), Sega — obviously most famous for Sonic the...
News The Entire Tales Of Kenzera: Zau Team Has Been Put On Redundancy Notice
While studio seeks funding for its next project
Surgent Studios, the team behind metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, has put all team members on notice of redundancy as it seeks funding for its next game (thanks for the heads up, VGC). The development studio, headed by House of the Dragon actor Abubakar Salim, released a statement on Twitter...
The only way is up
After an unprecedented year of financial loss for the Japanese developer TOSE (a team that has co-developed countless projects for the likes of Nintendo, Square Enix, Capcom and more), the studio expects 'Switch 2' to turn things around in 2025 (thanks, Automaton). Back in July, TOSE's Q3 financial report posted a nine-month loss...
News League Of Legends Developer Riot Games Confirms Another Wave Of Layoffs
A further 32 members of staff affected
After axing 530 jobs across the company this January, League of Legends developer Riot Games has announced that a second wave of layoffs has put a further 32 members of staff out of work. In a statement released to Eurogamer, a Riot Games spokesperson confirmed that the majority of those affected come from the...
News Final Fantasy Composer Nobuo Uematsu Says Fantasian Neo Dimension Is His "Final Project"
Update: But he's not actually "retiring from video game music work"
Update [Wed 16th Oct, 2024 02:55 BST]: Nobuo Uematsu has followed up this brief message clarifying he's "not retiring from video game music work". He mentions how there's apparently been "some misunderstanding" and he wants to cut back on this music so he has more time to make his...
News Bandai Namco Reportedly Cancels Nintendo-Commissioned Project
Amid workforce cuts
Bandai Namco Holdings — the conglomerate of which video game publisher and developer Bandai Namco Entertainment is a part — is reportedly making a swathe of cuts to its workforce, which includes cancelling or pausing a number of projects. According to a report by Bloomberg (paywalled), a Nintendo-commissioned project is...
News Tales Of Kenzera Director Slams Publishers' Desire To Create "The Next Fortnite"
"It shouldn’t be about money, it should be about expression"
Abubakar Salim, actor and director for the 2024 metroidvania Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, has recently slammed publishers' desire to create "the next Fortnite". In speaking with Dexerto, Salim commented on the state of the games industry at the moment and his desire for companies to start...
News Saudi Public Investment Fund Reduces Its Stake In Nintendo
Update: Contrary to reports which had suggested a possible increase
Update [Tue 8th Oct, 2024 12:15 BST]: Following articles over the weekend that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund may seek to increase its investment in Nintendo over and above the 8.58% stake it owned, CNBC now reports that the PIF has, in fact, cut its stake in the Japanese...
News No, Tomonobu Itagaki's Game Studio Hasn't Shut Down, It's Just Had A Name Change
(Devil's) Third time's the charm
For a brief moment yesterday, it appeared that Tomonobu Itagaki's game studio had been dissolved. But fear not, the Devil's Third creator still has his dev team, albeit under a slightly different name (thanks, Gematsu). A company dissolution notice was published in Japan's government gazette yesterday, with the...
News Ubisoft's Disastrous 2024 May Lead To The Company Going Private
It lost half of its market value this year alone
Tencent and the Guillemot family are reportedly considering taking Ubisoft private as part of efforts to stabilise the company amid a tumultuous 2024. Acording to Bloomberg, both parties have reportedly been speaking with advisors on how best to bolster Ubisoft's value after multiple gaffs ov
News Mario + Rabbids Director Davide Soliani Launches New Studio, Working On Original IP
With the help of former Red Dead Redemption lead designer
Back in July, the Mario + Rabbids creative director Davide Soliani announced he would leave Ubisoft after 25 years, with 11 of those years dedicated to his Nintendo-exclusive series. Now, in an update, it’s been announced he’ll be opening a brand new studio called Day 4 Night alongside...
News Dragon Quest's Creator Criticises 'Mistranslation' Of DQ3 Remake Costume Comments
It continues
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Shonen Jump editor Kazuhiko Torishima, co-hosts of radio show KosoKoso Hōsō Kyoku, have addressed the recent controversy surrounding comments made by the pair on a talk show appearance during Tokyo Game Show 2024. According to the statement, the pair's comments — which focused on...
News Dragon Quest Creator Chimes In On Characters Showing Less Skin In Upcoming HD-2D Remake
"I really wonder, who's even complaining about this?"
Ahead of the release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake this November, series' creator Yuji Horii has addressed the changes to the female characters in the game, who are now showing less skin than the original version of the game. Speaking during an interview at the Tokyo Game Show (and translated...
News Nintendo Patents Filed After Palworld's Release Suggest Lawsuit Prep Started Months Ago
Pika your battles
Last week, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced that they were filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. While the latter studio claimed it was "unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon," online speculation soon began to throw out various plausible-sounding submis
