Sony Interactive Entertainment is giving an olive branch to developers in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Its Hero Project incubator program will "identify promising local developers and support them" through mentorship and training programs."The program aims to "drive growth and innovation with developers in the MENA region," and also "lower the barrier of entry and showcase the most incredible talents emerging from this region."Studios based in countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq are eligible to apply. Per the FAQ, project-based funding will be provided for PlayStation 5, PC, and PlayStation VR2 games.Mobile titles will be considered on a "case-by-case" basis, but must have cross-platform features. Regar…
Mystic Forge, a self-styled boutique publisher based in the Netherlands, has secured €2 million ($2.1 million) in funding.The investment round was led by ForsVS and ROM Utrecht Region and will enable the publisher to expand its portfolio.Mystic Forge was founded by Good Shepherd Entertainment vets Paul Hanraets, Randy Greenback, and Vernon Vrolijk, and wants to make and impact within the indie game market by deploying an "innovative collaboration model.""Specializing in strategy, simulation, and RPG games for PC, Mystic Forge adopts a proactive approach, selecting projects meticulously but also initiating collaborations by connecting developers within its extensive network," reads a press release."This strategy allows the company to dedicate substantial resources…
Sony believes PlayStation 5 hardware sales have peaked and will now begin to "gradually decline."The company shared that appraisal in its fiscal report for the year ended March 31, 2024, and explained PlayStation 5 sales over the past 12 months totaled 20.8 million units. That brings lifetime PlayStation 5 hardware sales to 59.2 million units. Sony expects to shift another 18 million consoles during the current fiscal year.Digging into the wider performance of the company's Game & Network Services business, full-year sales increased by 17 percent year-on-year to 4.26 trillion yen ($27.2 billion). Operating income increased by 40.2 billion yen to 290.2 billion yen ($1.85 billion) over that same period.Sony attributed that sales upswing to rising third-party software sales…
Supergiant's Hades 2 has had such a big Early Access launch that it's ended up scaring off Evil Empire and Ubisoft's The Rogue Prince of Persia.Evil Empire's pushed back the Early Access launch of its game (which is also a roguelike) from Tuesday, May 14 to another date. The team noted the change is specifically because of Hades 2."Everyone and their mum is playing that game (including our entire team…and their mums)," it wrote. "We will still be releasing in May, and will be back with a precise date on Monday, May 13."Games get delayed to avoid clashing with other titles often. But it's not every day a specific game is explicitly listed: when Don't Nod delayed Banishers last year, for example, the studio attributed it to the deluge of fa…
Rare's Sea of Thieves comes to PlayStation 5 at the end of the month, having amassed 40 million players in its lifetime.Per executive producer Joe Neate, the game's "amazing" milestone covers all three versions on Xbox (One and Series X|S), Windows, and Steam. It's unclear how that translates into sales, given its prominence on Xbox Game Pass.In 2020, Microsoft reported that Sea of Thieves had 10 million players and dubbed it the studio's most successful new IP. 40 million is fairly high for a six-year-old game and supports Microsoft's reasoning for taking it to PS5.When Microsoft first unveiled its multiplatform plans in February, Sea of Thieves was described as a "community-driven" title. PlayStation's community can boast some pretty high…
A new report from Windows Central alleges longtime Xbox executive Kareem Choudhry is leaving Microsoft after today, April 8.It's alleged that his leave was both amicable and unrelated to and layoffs or restructuring efforts from months earlier. His leave seems to have triggered a major leadership shuffle at Microsoft meant to streamline Xbox's future console and Game Pass plans.Choudry's best known for operating as Xbox's corporate VP. Along with Project xCloud, he was key to Xbox's backwards compatibility efforts, and famously promised the Xbox Series X would "eat monsters (read: the Xbox One X) for breakfast."