Gaming - Page 307

It sounds like Bungie is helping guide Sony on which live games could make the cut and which games should get the axe.

Sony acquired Bungie for $3.7 billion in 2022 specifically to help lead the new PlayStation live games initiative. Sony has seen other companies make billions of dollars from games like Fortnite, Genshin Impact, Call of Duty Warzone, and Apex Legends for many years and now Sony wants in on the action.

The acquisition has created a symbiotic relationship between the two: Bungie is helping Sony with its live service games, and Sony is helping Bungie market its lucrative IPs, including efforts to expand Bungie IP to Europe and Asia. In a recent investors briefing, Sony gives a better idea of how Bungie is assisting with PlayStation's new online-driven segment.

Sony's transmedia focus has paid off big time, with The Last of Us TV show on HBO driving up game sales of Naughty Dog's grisly survival epic.

The Last of Us television adaptation was a massive hit. Millions of people signed up to HBO Max and tuned in to watch the show every week, but the engagement didn't end there. Every new episode was also accompanied by an incredible surge in The Last of Us game sales on PS4 and PS5.

In a recent company strategy meeting, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Jim Ryan confirmed that The Last of Us TV show led to a significant spike in franchise game sales.

Sony is prepared to raise prices of its gaming hardware, software, and services if the company believes an increase is "justified and necessary."

Back in August 2022, shortly before the holiday season, Sony decided to raise the price of its PlayStation 5 console in nearly all worldwide markets except for the United States. The price hike helped Sony earn a record-breaking $8.3 billion from hardware, driven by a strong 19 million PS5 shipments made during Fiscal Year 2022. Sony had also been instrumental in raising the retail price of new PS5 games to $69.99.

It's possible Sony could raise the prices of its products once more. In a recent PlayStation gaming business meeting, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan was asked if management could raise prices of its content, hardware, and services in an attempt to drive up the LifeTime Value (LTV) of PlayStation 5 owners.

Sony's games division is doubling-down on cloud gaming in an attempt to help guide this nascent market using its tried-and-true technologies.

Cloud gaming makes up about 1-3% of the global games market, but it's been a major hurdle for the Microsoft-Activision merger. Regulators like the CMA and FTC have found that Microsoft combining with Activision could produce anti-competitive effects in the cloud gaming segment.

With all eyes now on cloud gaming, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan now says that PlayStation has some interesting new strategies for the early cloud sector.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick uses the age-old "a rising tide lifts all boats" aphorism to describe how AI will affect the interactive entertainment market, but says any efficiencies may be short-lived as devs re-define what is capable in terms of quality.

The AI gold rush is upon us. Everyone is getting into AI, especially Microsoft and Google, who have spent billions to accelerate this new data-scraping market in the hopes of revolutionizing tech industries and ad-delivery. While AI poses a threat to specific existing jobs, it can theoretically ease the burdens of traditionally cumbersome jobs like game development for studios, including those under Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two Interactive.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Technology, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick shares his thoughts on AI and says that artificial intelligence could indeed help streamline games production in a number of ways. That being said, the effects may be short-lived as developers simply double-down on trying to push the quality bar as high as possible.

Intellivision's new CEO Phil Adams delivers an update on the company's controversial Amico games console...and things don't sound great.

After record highs during the pandemic, the games industry is being hit by a great contraction point that has led to mass layoffs across multiple companies and entertainment sectors. Digital giants are laying off thousands of workers, and gaming has also been hit hard by current inflation-driven market economics, leading giants like Electronic Arts and Microsoft to make staff reductions.

The current market is making it harder for new entrants to break in, especially those that aspire to make their own video games console like Intellivision. Much like the Atari VCS, the Intellivision Amico always sounded like an iffy bet, and it didn't help that Intellivision had also made significant layoffs while also previously delaying the Amico console refunds.

The video games industry boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic as more consumers bought games and interactive entertainment during lockdown periods, but those record highs have cooled due to inflation.

Driven by pandemic spending sprees, the global video games market hit new all-time highs in 2021...but it didn't stay there. Data created by IDG and presented by Take-Two Interactive indicates that the global interactive software market delivered $216 billion in 2021 (excluding hardware), and then dipped to $204 billion in 2022, representing about a -5.5% year-over-year decrease.

Throughout 2022 and 2023, we've seen entertainment companies tighten their belts against the economic shifts that have occurred due to rising inflation costs. Consumers in particular are choosing to spend more money on necessities than on things like entertainment, which has led to a reduction in overall game sales on Sony's PlayStation platform, and the trends have prompted multiple CEOs to comment that consumers are choosing to buy blockbuster titles instead of riskier unknown games.

Ubisoft's untitled Star Wars game will release in the next 12 months, sources have told Kotaku's Ethan Gach.

In 2021, Ubisoft announced that its Massive Entertainment studio was developing a new Star Wars game. The Division 2 developer promised the Star Wars project would be an open-world title with story-driven beats that was developed in the studio's proprietary Snowdrop Engine.

It's been quite some time since Ubisoft has updated fans on the Star Wars game, but new reports indicate the project could be a part of Ubisoft's Fiscal Year 2024 slate. That means the Star Wars game could release from now until March 2024. In its recent report, Ubisoft did say that "another large game" would be a part of its FY24 timeline.

Alan Wake 2 has been in development for the better part of a decade, and now with the help with Epic Games, the sequel is coming out in 2023. Thanks to an accidental spoiler, we also know when the survival horror game will come out.

In a recent interview with podcast Monsters, Madness, and Magic, Alan Wake actor Matthew Porretta has inadvertently announced the release window for Remedy's new sequel. According to Porretta, Alan Wake 2 is due out sometime in October 2023, putting it firmly within spooky season.

"I've been working on [Alan Wake 2]...that's supposed to come out in October. We're in the middle of working on it now. In fact, I was just in Finland the last week--that's where the company is from, Remedy. They are amazing people," Porretta said in the interview.

Sony Corp. has made plans to explore a spin off its Financial Services segment to raise more capital for strategic investments in entertainment and image sensors.

In its 2023 Corporate Strategy Meeting report, Sony outlined tentative plans to spin off its financial unit through an initial public offering (IPO). The goal with this IPO is to raise more working capital that can be used to invest in Sony's largest businesses, including entertainment (which generated over 50% of total Sony Corp. FY22 earnings) and its lucrative I&SS image sensors group.

"In order to expand our growth over the medium to longer term, we will need the ability to invest in image sensors and the entertainment business at a completely new level," Sony Corp. President Hiroki Totoki said in a recent press meeting in Japan, the Financial Times reports.

Rockstar Games is 'seeking perfection' while developing Grand Theft Auto 6, parent company CEO Strauss Zelnick says.

Rockstar is known far and wide for creating some of the most incredibly detailed worlds in gaming. From Grand Theft Auto V's in 2013 to Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018, Rockstar has re-defined what's possible for open-world third-person action-adventure games. Now the devs are aiming to set a new bar with Grand Theft Auto 6.

In a recent interview with The Aarthi and Sriram Show, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick delivered brief comments about Rockstar Games' process while developing new Grand Theft Auto games, including GTA VI.

Square Enix approached multiple companies regarding Final Fantasy XVI development and licensing deals, and ultimately chose to make the game exclusive to PS5 because Sony made the best offer.

PlayStation is known for pretty much dominating Xbox in terms of JRPGs, and there's multiple reasons for this. For one, Sony is a domestic Japanese games/technology company, two, PlayStation has a much larger installed based worldwide and in Japan than Xbox, and three, Sony is apparently willing to invest in game projects via licensing and royalty fees as well as giving third-party developers closer access to console technology.

In a recent interview with Game Informer, Final Fantasy XVI game producer Yoshi-P discussed the process that Square Enix's Creative Business Unit III goes through in order to make these deals.

Having trouble exploring Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom? Build this quick and easy flying machine to dramatically change your gameplay experience.

Tears of the Kingdom offers tons of potential for creative and unique construction, whether it be elaborate flying machines, crazy AT-ST-style Chicken Walkers, cruel torture devices to punish Koroks, or orbital death laser arrays.

The best vehicle in the game dispels with all of these complications and keeps things incredibly simple. Anyone can make the best vehicle, and in this article we'll show you how.

Microsoft is starting to deliver on its 10-year licensing deals that it made with cloud gaming competitors, with Xbox PC games arriving on Boosteroid soon.

A bit ago, Microsoft announced it was starting to bring its Xbox PC games over to NVIDIA's GeForce Now service. Today, the company is starting to do the same by offering similar titles on Boosteroid, a competing cloud game streaming platform headquartered in Ukraine. Both subscriptions are getting access to a handful of games starting with Gears 5, one of the most technologically-advanced Xbox titles that leverage the full power of the Xbox Series X system.

Boosteroid subscribers will get access to four Xbox PC titles including Gears 5, Deathloop, Grounded, and Pentiment starting June 1, offering a mix of premium experiences with stylish indies and an online-driven multiplayer title.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan talks about Sony's plans to release more first-party games onto PC.

PC gaming has become increasingly more important for Sony's PlayStation brand, with the company generating $2.5 billion in its Other segment revenues thanks in part to PC game sales on Steam and the Epic Games Store. In a recent interview with Japanese games magazine Famitsu, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan reiterates the company's plans to continue releasing its PlayStation 5 games onto PC in a staggered cadence.

In the interview, Ryan says that "more is better" when it comes to PC gaming's affect on the overall market, especially in Japan.

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson discusses how the current inflation market is affecting consumer purchasing habits on video games.

EA's been in the games business for 41 years, so the company has seen various contractions and inflations of the global economy. With basic cost of living on the rise, now is one of those moments in time when consumers are becoming more selective on the entertainment purchases they make. These trends have led to a shift towards major blockbuster AAA game brands, which are reinforced by the higher $70 price tag for new titles.

In a recent Fiscal Year 2023 earnings call with investors, EA CEO Andrew Wilson lends more insight on how the current economic landscape is affecting overall game purchases. Wilson essentially says gamers are more likely to spend on titles in big franchises rather than take risks on smaller, more unknown games.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick comments on the new $70 price point for current-gen games in today's inflation-driven macroeconomic environment.

Our findings indicate that the new $70 price of games has led to a reduction in unit sales. The current inflation market has forced consumers to more carefully weigh spending on nice-to-have entertainment products like video games as they struggle to make ends meet. As a result, gaming's top platform-holder (Sony) has sold less titles but generated record revenues on the games sold, indicating that consumers are responding to the new $70 price for games by buying fewer titles but spending more on the games they buy.

We've seen publishers like SEGA, Capcom, and Nintendo talk about the new $70 price point during this tough market, with Capcom indicating it may not raise prices, SEGA saying that it's not yet sure on the price hike, and Nintendo confirming that $70 wouldn't be the base price for its new games. But what about other games companies like Take-Two Interactive, who publishes breakout hits like Grand Theft Auto?

Overwatch game director Aaron Keller gives more insight into the decision to cancel parts of Overwatch 2's PVE mode, and how the original team's ambition blinded their present day responsibilities.

Blizzard recently decided to cancel Overwatch 2's anticipated Hero Mode, which would have been a significant part of the game's promised PVE content. The move was extremely controversial and has caused mountains of bad press and heated responses from fans.

Now in a recent blog post, Blizzard's Aaron Keller talks more about what happened with Overwatch 2's phase shift. According to Keller, the Overwatch team had always considered itself an MMO team from the onset. This makes sense considering the original hero shooter released in 2016 was a kind of phoenix resurrection of a cancelled MMO-FPS hybrid called Project Titan.

Red Dead Redemption 2 has now sold-in more than 53 million copies, and Take-Two Interactive management says they are pleased with the game's continued strong sales performance.

Rockstar's tragic outlaw sim Red Dead Redemption 2 has broken new sales milestones with 53 million shipments worldwide. The company's latest FY23 report confirms RDR2 managed to sell 3 million copies in the fourth quarter period from Jan - March 2023. This pushed total Red Dead franchise sales past 75 million, and Arthur Morgan's gunslinger adventure makes up 70% of total series sales.

In a Q4 earnings call, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said that Red Dead Redemption 2 helped the company deliver earnings beyond its projections, with Red Dead Online also seeing a nice increase in new players.

New updated figures from Take-Two Interactive indicate that GTA trilogy remaster sales are slowing down.

Take-Two Interactive just published its Fiscal Year 2023 earnings report that outlines total sales of major franchises like Grand Theft Auto. The numbers show that the GTA series has now sold-in 400 million copies worldwide, up 5 million units from last quarter. GTA V is also up about 5 million shipments from Q3 as well, and this indicates that the controversial GTA remaster trilogy may have sold less than 1 million copies.

That's not to say the trilogy has delivered lackluster sales by any means. According to our figures, the Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition collection has sold-in at least 19 million copies since launching in November 2021, and could have sold as many as 21 million units across digital and physical channels.