Shawn Layden has looked at the last two years of strife within the game industry and come to a conclusion: publishers need to relax.Talking to GamesIndustry for its new GI Sprint podcast, the ex-PlayStation boss decried the industry for being so quick to shut down a studio or lay off employees. It's "real frustrating" for newer studios, he added, since they don't get a real chance to grow."When you bring completely new things that people have not seen before," he said, "the publishing industry doesn't have patience now to nurture these things, and they feel they need the quick big win."Layoffs have been hitting the industry hard since 2023, particularly newer studios. Some have closed down before their debut project was revealed (much less relea…
According to The Information (and spotted by Ars Technica), Apple is already looking at getting a cheaper version of its $3,500 Vision Pro headset out the door.A lighter, more affordable iteration of the augmented reality device (which released in February) is such high priority, development on its more high-end successor was halted. This reduced Vision Pro is being eyeballed at a reported price point of around $1,600.It sounds like a steal, but there'd be some tradeoffs: namely, less cameras and speakers. The outlet further claimed the tech giant hoped to release it alongside the original Pro (like it does with phones), but it's now set to arrive before the end of 2025.Pricing always matters when it comes to tech, but especially so for mixed reality headsets. Meta has played aro…
In a post today on the Paradox forum, the publisher noted developer Double Eleven is leaving the Prison Architect series after nine years. The first numbered sequel, Prison Architect 2, will be finished and launched with the help of co-development studio Kokku, which Paradox notes has been working on since last year, and "supported" by Double Eleven.In the juiciest bit of an otherwise matter-of-fact post, Paradox notes that Prison Architect 2 passed certification and the contract was fulfilled, but "…We could not find a commercial agreement that worked for both parties moving forward and mutually agreed to part ways."Reading a bit into the game's delay, a number of technical issues popped up in final testing (and we can surmise that the publisher is weary after p…
Ubisoft's full-year financial results for the fiscal year 2023-2024 have landed (alongside a trailer unveiling Assassin's Creed Shadows, set in Feudal Japan, due out this fall), and they're filled with good news for the company.Thanks to the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and Assassin's Creed series, the company saw a 33.5 percent increase in net bookings, pulling down €2.3 billion (about $2.5 billion) for the full year.Its full-year IFRS operating income was €313 million.That titanic number is a new record for Ubisoft. The company also reported a slight increase in "unique active users" from last year across console and PC. That number rose four percent to a total of 138 million unique active users.That success is rather impressive given that Ubisoft'…
Ghost of Tsushima is a month away from its PC launch, and its arrival brings some changes to how PlayStation interacts with the platform.As Sony explains, Tsushima's port will have a brand-new overlay that will let players see their profile, friends, and trophy list. It functions effectively the same as Xbox's PC overlay, and brings PlayStation's ecosystem deeper into the PC fold.Players can also earn PlayStation trophies that carry over between the console and PC versions, provided accounts are linked. Trophy sets are the same, and the game will have "full support" for Achievements on Steam and the Epic Games Store.All of this is optional, said Sony, though PC players wanting to play the co-op Legends mode (either on PC or via cross-play) will need a PlayStation N…
Update (4/24/24): In an email to Game Developer, the ESA called claims of the game industry shutting down libraries' preservation attempts as "simply not accurate.""[We] have long been committed to the preservation of video games and support efforts by cultural institutions to build physical video game collections," it wrote. "It’s important to note that ESA and its members are committed to the historical preservation of games."Pointing to the Copyright Office already allowing "legitimate" libraries and institutions archiving rights, the ESA stressed it's in favor of preservation, so long as it doesn't violate developers' rights under copyright law."The industry’s creative and economic vitality depend on strong copyright …