Tag: Industry - Page 15
News Nintendo Switch Was The Best-Selling Console In The US In July 2020
Switch tops the year-to-date hardware sales, too
The NPD Group has revealed various games industry sales charts for last month and 2020 so far. According to the industry analysts, Nintendo's Switch was the best-selling console for July 2020, and also remains the best-selling console hardware for the year-to-date. NPD analyst Mat Piscatella shared...
Random Epic Goes To War With Apple, Asks Players To "Join The Fight" And "Free Fortnite"
After permanently discounting V-Bucks and real-money offers
If haven't already heard the news, Epic Games - the company behind the battle royale juggernaut Fortnite - is taking legal action to end Apple's "anti-competitive restrictions" on mobile device marketplaces. It all kicked off when Epic introduced a new (and more direct way to pay) on iOS...
News Sonic's Much-Loved Social Media Guy Is Moving Into A New Position At Sega
Update: He's taken on a new role with Sega of Japan
Update (Fri 14th Aug, 2020 01:35 BST): It's official, Aaron has taken on a new position within Sega of Japan as Director of Strategy, Studio & Community relations. Here's his full message via Twitter: I’m excited to share that I’ve accepted a new role with SEGA of Japan as Director of...
News Rare Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary
Making games since 1985
The iconic UK-based developer Rare this month celebrates its 35th anniversary. For any Nintendo fan, arguably its best years were around the time of the N64 generation when it released one hit after another. We're talking Banjo-Kazooie, the first-person shooter Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, and how could you forget the...
News Nintendo Provides Another Update About Its Development Schedule
It may be impacted
Earlier this week, Nintendo released its annual report. We found out about the average age and salaries of the company's employees, and also discovered Nintendo's directors earn a relatively modest wage compared to other industry executives. In addition to this, it's revealed how its production, shipping, product supply, and...
News Ubisoft's Second E3-Style Broadcast Will Take Place This September
Moving forward
A few weeks ago, third-party video game giant Ubisoft hosted its "E3-style" showcase titled Ubisoft Forward. During the event, the company revealed it would be hosting another broadcast in the near future. According to an update from Ubisoft CEO, Yves Guillemot, this second event will take place at some point in September. No exact...
Talking Point Are You Prepared To Spend $70 On The Latest Games?
It wouldn't be the first time
It might not feel like it--especially with the avalanche of titles across all platforms constantly threatening to whittle our bank balance to zero given the chance--but video games remain one of the best value forms of entertainment going. Bloated summer blockbusters might deliver three hours of entertainment for the...
News Nintendo Reveals Average Age And Salary Of Its Employees (As Of March 2020)
So that's how much our uncle earns!
Ever fancied a job at Nintendo? Ever wondered what it'd really be like working at the house of Mario? Well, Nintendo's latest annual report gives us a quick insight into daily life inside those hallowed halls. A portion of the report focuses on its employees, providing a few quick statistics about its workers...
News Nintendo's Directors Earn A Relatively Modest Wage Compared To Other Industry Execs
How much do Nintendo bosses get each year?
In a new annual financial report, Nintendo has revealed just how much it pays out to some of the biggest names at the company. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa is listed in the report, along with company directors Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi, revealing the total amount of compensation each...
News Phil Spencer Shuts Down Idea Of Xbox Game Pass Coming To Other Platforms
They "aren't really that interested in having a full Xbox experience"
Last year, you might recall how the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, spoke about bringing Microsoft's Game Pass service to more platforms. While the company has now achieved this within its own ecosystem, these comments have still got many people questioning if the subscription service...
Guide Summer Video Game Events: Times And Dates For E3 2020 Alternatives - Full Conference List
All the digital presentations this summer
The cancellation of E3 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year created a vacuum in the middle of the 2020 video gaming calendar. Various online E3 'alternatives' have sprung up to fill the void and this guide is designed to help you navigate a summer schedule that has become quite busy. Below you'll...
News Metacritic Implements 36-Hour Delay On User Reviews, To Ensure "Gamers Have Time To Play"
Paper Mario is one of the first titles to trial this new system
Review-bombing has become a serious problem on the review aggregate website Metacritic. Over the past few years, we've seen user scores for a number of high profile Nintendo Switch games plummet on release. This happened to Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! in 2018,...
News Gamescom 2020 Partners Revealed - EA, Ubisoft, Sega And More
Event starts on 27th August
Gamescom 2020 - like everything else this year - might have been cancelled in real life, but in the digital world, the show will go on. The preparations for this event have already begun - with numerous companies now confirming their attendance. Some of the bigger partners that will be making an appearance include...
News Ubisoft Forward: All The Nintendo Switch Announcements From Ubisoft's 'E3-Style' Show
And rewatch the event here
Just in case you missed the Ubisoft Forward showcase, we've put together a handy list of all the announcements related to the Switch, as well as one or two other important things of note. Before we jump into those, though, let's kick things off with the full video. If you're wanting to jump in without anything being...
News The ESA Reminds Us That E3 Will Return
The show must go on
E3 might have been cancelled this year due to the global pandemic, but that doesn't mean it won't be making a return. A fresh new tweet from the official expo account has reminded followers that the convention still exists "thanks to video games" and that it will be back. There's also a short promotional video attached, take a...
News Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Is Reportedly Up For Sale
Update: Microsoft might also be interested
Update (Tue 7th Jul, 2020 07:45 BST): According to a report from The Information (via vg247), Xbox giant Microsoft has shown interest in acquiring Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. This places it alongside Take-Two Interactive, Electronic Arts and Activision-Blizzard. At this stage, no deal has been...
News Square Enix Will Announce Several New Titles Between July And August
Just don't expect a press conference
It's been a very different year for the video game industry so far. Instead of the usual E3 conferences taking place all within the same week, publishers have decided to spread things out and host their own online events. Other companies have been dropping individual announcements. Nintendo, for example,...
News EA Intends To "Double Down" On Star Wars Video Game Development
The force is strong with this one
In a company webinar with investors this week, EA CEO Andrew Wilson spoke about third-party giant's "tremendous relationship" with both Disney and Lucas and how it wanted to "double down" on Star Wars games after experiencing a huge amount of success with titles such as Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Jedi Fallen Order...
News EA Wants To Bring More Games To More Platforms - Including Nintendo Switch
And cross-play is part of the plan
The day after EA Play Live, in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, EA's Chief Studios Officer Laura Miele spoke about how the third-party publisher wanted to make its games more widely available moving forward. "We want players to be able to play our games where they want to, which is why we're bringing more...
News NGPX Post-Show Streaming Schedule Revealed, Featuring SNK, Atlus, SEGA And More
7 hours of deep dives and demos on Twitch
As announced last month, next week the New Game+ Expo digital presentation will showcase "dozens" of new games from a variety of major (mainly Japanese) publishers, including new title announcements. The presentation will be broadcast on Tuesday 23rd June followed by a 7-hour stream on Twitch, and the...
News Nintendo Shares Soar To Highest Point In More Than A Decade
Stock hasn't been this high since the Wii days
Nintendo's share price has risen to the highest point seen in more than a decade, with stock closing at 50,110 yen per share on Thursday, 18th June. As reported by CNBC, this is the first time that Nintendo shares have closed above the 50,000 yen mark since August 2008, a period in which Nintendo was...
News EA Play Live Goes Digital This June - Expect World Premieres, News And Much More
Update: It's now been postponed until 18th June
Update (Sat 6th Jun, 2020 06:00 BST): This year's EA Play was meant to take place next week on 11th June, but due to the current events happening in America and elsewhere, it's now been pushed back to the 18th June. Here's the official announcement from the Electronic Arts Twitter account: Original...
News Limited Run Games Has Postponed Its Upcoming Presentation
Will be broadcast at a "later date"
When this year's E3 was officially cancelled, physical specialists Limited Run Games was one of the first companies to confirm it would still be going ahead with its own digital conference (filled with announcements about upcoming physical releases). The show was scheduled to take place on 8th June, but will now...
News Konami Looking To Fund And Publish More Games Like Skelattack In The West
It's part of a long-term initiative
Earlier this week, Konami surprised many people when it published a brand-new game on the Nintendo Switch and other platforms called Skelattack. If you're still wondering how this came about, it's all part of the Japanese company's new strategy to strengthen its position within the western market. Senior...
News Kirk Scott Leaves Nintendo Of America After Five Years
"The past 5 years have brought incredible joy"
Quite a lot of people have left Nintendo of America over the past few years, and the latest individual to depart is the company's manager for publisher and developer relations, Kirk Scott. If you've tuned into Nintendo's Nindies Showcase in recent years, you've likely seen him promoting a lot of...
News Tech Journalist Teases "Revolutionary" Scoop In Next Week's Famitsu, Possibly Concerning Sega
"It’ll rile up the games industry"
If this new tease is to be believed, it looks like next week is set to bring with it a pretty significant announcement for the world of gaming. Japanese technology journalist Zenji Nishikawa has hinted at a "huge scoop" during a live stream on YouTube. The news is set to be published in the 4th June issue of...
Exclusive reveals, developer diaries, and more
E3 2020 might have been officially cancelled, but that doesn't mean there won't be any other announcements taking place. In its place this year are a bunch of online events. The latest one announced is the Indie Showcase by The Escapist, in partnership with GOG.com. This digital event will run from...
Tencent becomes the primary shareholder
Japanese developer and publisher Marvelous has announced that it is set to enter into a 'capital and business alliance' with Image Frame Investment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese tech giant, Tencent (thanks, Famitsu). The decision to team up with Tencent - the company which helped Nintendo to launch...
News New Game+ Expo To Feature 14 Publishers This June, Including SEGA, Atlus And SNK
Livestream event to include KOEI TECMO, AKSYS and Inti Creates
E3 may be skipping 2020, but other bodies are stepping up to fill the summer video game vacuum. There's Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest, which will be delivering news and announcements throughout a four-month window, but there's also a new Expo in town, and it's got some big names...
News Unreal Engine 5 To Support Current-Generation Consoles And Mobile Platforms
Full release planned for "late" 2021
Update: Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter shared his own thoughts (via Eurogamer) and believes UE5 will "run on anything" - including Switch, just don't expect it to be on par with the "next-gen" experience revealed: UE5 gets its first public release early in 2021 with franchise juggernaut Fortnite...
News Devolver Digital's 2020 Direct Is Happening, It's Just Not Sure When
"due to these uncertain times"
Devolver Digital has made a name for itself over the past number of years hosting pre-recorded parody presentations around the time of E3. Although the biggest gaming event of the year has been cancelled, the show will go on for the edgy and often over the top video game publisher. Following on from its update in...
News Ubisoft Forward Announced - A Brand New "E3-Style" Showcase Airing On 12th July
Expect news, reveals and more!
Following the cancellation of this year's E3, major first and third-party video game companies have decided to host their own events. Ubisoft - best known for series such as Assassin's Creed - has now announced its own digital conference. It's called 'Ubisoft Forward' and will take place on 12th July, which is a month...
News Tokyo Game Show 2020 Officially Cancelled, Will Be Replaced By An Online Event
Another one bites the dust
It's official, like every other video game convention before it, this year's Tokyo Game Show has been cancelled to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The show, which was scheduled to take place between 24th - 27th September, will now be replaced by an online event. Here's the official statement: Due to the outbreak of...
News Geoff Keighley Announces Summer Game Fest, Four Months Of News And Events
An "industry-wide celebration of video games"
Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley has announced the Summer Game Fest. It is a new "industry-wide celebration of video games" that runs from May until August. According to Geoff, it'll share news, in-game events, and playable content from the entire video game industry. There'll also be panels and...
Random Switch Fans React To EA's Partnership With Google Stadia
Will bring three games to the cloud service
Google's video game cloud service Stadia admittedly received a lukewarm reception when it launched in select locations last November. Since then, the search engine giant has revealed more than 120 games are on the way to the platform in 2020. Now, to add to this, EA has announced it's teaming up with...
Talking Point We Should Brace For A Huge Games Industry Knock-On Effect Following The CERO Shutdown
Down to CERO
Today's news that Japanese video game rating organisation CERO--that's the 'Computer Entertainment Rating Organization'--is closing temporarily in response the COVID-19 pandemic will likely have far longer lasting repercussions on the video games industry than recent cancellation of annual events such as E3 and GDC. Japan's response to...
News ESA Locks In The Dates For E3 2021, Will Take Place Next June
And this year's digital event seems unlikely
Following on from IGN announcing its own 'Summer of Gaming' event yesterday, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has locked in the dates for its next E3 conference. With this year's E3 officially cancelled, the next "reimagined" version of it will be taking place between 15th - 17th June 2021...
"we are charged up and full of talent"
Port specialist Virtuos has made quite a name for itself during the Switch generation - helping bring across games like Starlink: Battle for Atlas, Dark Souls: Remastered and L.A. Noire. The company's vice president of games, Elijah Freeman, has also previously told other developers not to treat Nintendo
News IGN Announces Its New 'Summer Of Gaming' Digital Event, An E3 Replacement Starting This June
Multiple third-party publishers involved
Last month, E3 2020 was officially cancelled due to "increased and overwhelming concerns" about the coronavirus outbreak. Various video game companies, such as Nintendo, responded to the news with official statements saying they would explore other ways to engage with fans and share new announcements. Now,...
News GameStop Is Temporarily Closing All Of Its Storefronts
Will continue to process orders digitally
The struggling video game retailer GameStop has tried everything possible to remain open during the COVID-19 outbreak, but as of 22nd March will be closing all access to physical stores across the US. An official PR explains how for all locations not already closed in accordance with state and local orders,...
News GameStop To Stay Open During COVID-19 Outbreak Because It Is 'Essential Retail'
"Due to the products we carry"
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the United States, stores across the country deemed non-essential are temporarily shutting up shop. According to IGN, struggling video game retailer GameStop has decided not to comply with these ordinances. Leaked internal memos, sent from GameStop corporate, inform stores to...
News GDC Organisers Reveal New Three Day Summer Event For August
The show must go on
At the end of February, this year's Games Developers Conference – scheduled to take place this month, in March – was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. A statement on the GDC website said the plan was to host the annual event later on in summer. Everything has now been sorted and in place of the original conference...
News Square Enix "Exploring Other Options" To Share Its Games, Now That E3 2020 Has Been Axed
"More to come, stay tuned"
Square Enix put on quite an impressive show at last year's E3, so how is it going to back it up now that this year's expo has been officially cancelled? The Japanese publisher and developer has released a statement (via Twitter), saying how it is "exploring other options" to share its 2020 and next-gen line-up with fans...
News E3 2020 Is Officially Cancelled
Update: Statement confirms
Update (Wed 11th Mar, 2020 15:40 GMT): Well, that's it then... E3 2020 is officially cancelled. Event organiser Entertainment Software Association has issued the following statement confirming the news: "After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry –...
News Former Nintendo Of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé Joins GameStop's Board Of Directors
"The gaming industry needs a healthy and vibrant GameStop"
Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has been appointed to GameStop's board of directors. He'll be teaming up with Bill Simon and J.K. Symancyk. Simon has worked in retail executive roles over the past 30 years and Symancyk is the current president and chief executive of...
News Nintendo Scores Publisher And Platform Of The Year Awards At MCV/Develop 2020
Here are all the winners
Last night, Thursday 5th March, saw the MCV/Develop Awards 2020 take place at The Brewery in central London, UK. Dating back almost 20 years, the MCV and Develop Awards were combined this year into a single event, aiming to "bring together every aspect of our multi-faceted, multi-talented industry". Nominees for the awards...
News GDC 2020 Postponed Due To The Coronavirus Outbreak
"we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer"
After close consultation with partners and the game development industry and community, this year's Game Developers Conference – scheduled to take place in March – has now been postponed. A statement on the GDC website said the plan was to host the annual event later on in summer and...
News Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Talk Announced For GDC 2020
Presented by Hisashi Nogami and Aya Kyogoku
The Game Developers Conference has announced it will be hosting a special talk about the creation of Animal Crossing: New Horizons on the Nintendo Switch. This session will be presented by the game's producer Hisashi Nogami and director Aya Kyogoku. Here's a brief description of what will be covered...
News The Witcher 3 Switch Dev Saber Interactive Snapped Up By THQ Nordic Parent Company
In a deal worth up to $525m
Embracer Group, the parent company of THQ Nordic, has bought Saber Interactive, the development studio behind Switch ports of games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Vampyr. The deal consists of an initial $150m fee with a maximum earn-out of $375m, depending on the fulfilment of agreed milestones. It also means that...
News Untitled Goose Game Grabs Game Of The Year At DICE 2020 Awards, Here Are All The Winners
Nintendo takes several awards, too
Overnight, the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards (Design Innovate Communicate Entertain) took place with some of gaming's best titles being recognised for their tremendous achievements over the past year. Taking the most prized award of all - Game of the Year - was the one and only Untitled Goose Game. The honky little indie...