Tag: Industry
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
News Californian Law Dictates Storefronts Be Honest About Digital Game Ownership
A license to kill your purchase
A new Californian law will come into effect in 2025 that will effectively force digital storefronts to disclose that buyers don't actually own their digital puchases, but rather simply licensing the content. Naturally, we suspect that most of our audience will already be aware of this, but it's entirely possible that...
News Indie Publisher Merge Games Closes Down After 15 Years
Update claims it's actually been "integrated within Maximum"
Another video game company has announced its closure this week. This time it's Merge Games, who is apparently "closing down" after a 15 year run. In a now-deleted post, it was mentioned how the indie-focused team was made up of "incredible" people who "worked their hardest". "Starting...
News PlatinumGames Gains 'The Wonderful 101' Trademark From Nintendo
How wonderful
Developer PlatinumGames has gained full ownership of the trademark for The Wonderful 101 from Nintendo after a document was spotted detailing the transfer. The document in question was picked up by Joseki100 on Reddit and relayed by the folks over at
News Analyst Is Certain Nintendo Will Win Its Lawsuit Against Palworld Developer
"Nintendo took its time to really build the case"
While everyone is patiently awaiting news from Nintendo regarding its upcoming Switch successor, the company made another, undoubtedly more surprising, announcement. Months after Palworld's release, Nintendo has now filed a patent lawsuit against developer Pocketpair, claiming that Palworld...
News Ex-Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aimé Is Keen To Discuss The State Of The Industry
"Let’s talk"
It's safe to say that the games industry is in somewhat of a volatile state at the moment. Projects are taking longer to complete, budgets are becoming unsustainable, and development staff worldwide are being made redundant left, right, and centre. Indeed, it seems as though Nintendo is really one of the only major companies...
News Penny's Big Breakaway Dev Downsizes Due To "Volatile Market Conditions"
"It is now an unavoidable reality for us"
It's been a tough week in the video game industry with Microsoft announcing another round of layoffs at its Xbox division and staff resigning at Annapurna Interactive. Now, to unfortunately add to this, Penny's Big Breakaway developer Evening Star has announced it's had to
News All Annapurna Interactive Staff Resign Following Failed Spin-Off Negotiations
Entire workforce followed executive departure
The entire workforce of publisher Annapurna Interactive has resigned following a dispute with owner Megan Ellison. As reported by Bloomberg, the publisher had been in negotiations with its owner to spin the gaming arm into an independent entity. Ellison reportedly walked out of these talks, leading to...
News New AI Model Can Recreate Super Mario Bros. Footage, But It's Full Of Glitches
Let's-a not!
Researchers from tech company Virtuals Protocol have published a paper on a new text-to-video AI model, MarioVGG, which can simulate Super Mario Bros. footage via some basic text inputs (thanks, ArsTechnica). The model was fed over 737,000 Mario Bros. frames,
News Bayonetta Star Jennifer Hale On The SAG-AFTRA Strikes: "AI Is Coming For Us All"
"Now you’re using technology to take away our ability to feed our kids.”
The topic of AI is seemingly becoming more and more heated as time goes on at the moment, with creatives in particular speaking out against the technology as coporate big wigs look to streamline their operations and, ultimately, line their pockets. One actor who recently...
News Mario + Rabbids Producer Leaves Ubisoft Milan After "16 Incredible Years"
Following the creative director's exit in July
It seems to be the end of an era for Mario + Rabbids, with producer Cristina Nava announcing her departure from Ubisoft Milan. This follows the exit of the series creative director David Soliani, who announced in July he would "embark on a new adventure'. Nava spent "16 incredible years" at Ubisoft and...
News Mario Party Dev NDcube Has Officially Changed Its Name
No, not to GameCube
Long-time Nintendo subsidiary NDcube, the studio behind Mario Party since Mario Party 9, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics, has changed its name. In a statement posted on its website, the company revealed that from 1st September, it will be officially known as
News Nintendo Of Europe Announces Leadership Changes As President Resigns
Welcome, Mr. Pereña
Nintendo of Europe has announced a few changes to its management structure after Stephan Bole stepped down from his role as President. Bole served as President for NoE for six years after succeeding Satoru Shibata in 2018, and has being an employee at the company for more than 35 years. According to the announcement, Bole has...
News Capcom's Hideaki Itsuno Leaves After 30 Years, Starts New Role In September
"I will start developing a new game in a new environment"
The Japanese video game director Hideaki Itsuno has announced he'll be leaving Capcom after "30 years and 5 months" and it's effective immediately. In a brief message on social media, he thanked fans for their long-term support of the games and characters he's been responsible for over the...
Guide Gamescom 2024 Opening Night Live: Everything You Need To Know - Date, Time, Where To Stream
It's that time again
It's the middle of August, which means it's time for another glimpse at the future of video games with the upcoming Gamescom 2024. As always, the festivities will kick off with the Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase in Cologne, Germany, during which regular host Geoff Keighley will reveal new trailers and information for some...
News Yes, Gamescom Opening Night Live Will Include "New Game Announcements"
Last year's event was more focused on existing announcements
Gamescom kicks off next week and ahead of Opening Night Live, the show's host and producer Geoff Keighley has reassured everyone it will definitely include "new game announcements". Yes, apart from existing announcements like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Monster Hunter Wilds and Sid Meier's...
News Tango Gameworks Survives, Reviving The 'Hi-Fi Rush On Switch' Dream
Krafton saves the day
Tango Gameworks, the acclaimed studio behind the likes of Hi-Fi Rush, The Evil Within, and Ghostwire: Tokyo, lives to see another day. After being unceremoniously shut down by Microsoft earlier this year, the Japanese studio has been swooped up by South Kore
News Sega's Gamescom 2024 Line Up Includes 'Global Premier' Of Unannounced Project
Sonic X Shadow Generations will also be playable
Sega has announced its video game line up for this year's Gamescom, which is taking place in Germany later this month. It will lead with the October 2024 release Sonic X Shadow Generations. This game will be publicly playable in Europe for the first time and is being joined by the Atlus fantasy RPG...
News Sega Profits Boosted By Angry Birds Creator Acquisition
Video game sales are up while net sales are down
Sega has released its Q1 financial report for the three months ending 30th June 2024, and while net sales are down 3.2% year-on-year, the company's entertainment division (which includes video games) is up 34% (via GamesIndustry.biz). A large part of this increase has been attributed to
News Warner Bros. Is Reportedly Looking To Sell A Stake In Its Games Business
In an effort to reverse tumbling share price
Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly looking to sell a stake in its video game business. As relayed by VGC, sources speaking to Financial Times claim that the media conglomerate is considering offloading smaller assets of its business in an effort to reverse its falling share price since the merger of...
