Tag: Industry
News Xbox Series X|S Console Sales Down Almost 30% In The US Compared To 2023
Fresh data from Circana
In what should no longer be surprising news to read, fresh US data from analyst firm Circana has revealed that Xbox Series X|S console sales are down almost 30% year-on-year. This latest set of figures looks at November 2024 hardware sales in comparison to November 2023, where Xbox Series X and S sales have dropped by 29%...
News Gears Of War: Judgment, Outriders Dev Lays Off Huge Chunk Of Staff
More than 100 people affected
This week, the CEO of Polish developer People Can Fly has shared some unfortunate news about the Gears of War: Judgment and Outriders studio. As a result of "external market pressures", People Can Fly is "restructuring some supporting teams" - resulting in the loss of 120 employees overall. CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski...
News Ubisoft Buyout Rumours Swirl As Analyst Predicts 'Privatisation And Dismantling' In 2025
What's next for the XDefiant publisher?
A couple of months ago, we heard reports coming out of Bloomberg that Ubisoft was considering potential buyout opportunities on the back of Star Wars Outlaws' disappointing launch - and some fresh reports and predictions have arrived in recent days that hint at a similar future for the French game maker...
News Xbox Analyst 'Doesn't See' Microsoft Ditching Hardware Despite New Marketing Campaign
"I guess it could but I don't see that happening"
Since Microsoft unleashed its new 'This is an Xbox' marketing campaign earlier this month, there's been lots of speculation about what this means for the future of Xbox hardware - but a well-known industry analyst has played down the idea of Microsoft ditching consoles anytime soon. Circana's Mat...
News Microsoft's Xbox Gets Another Revenue Boost From Activision
But console hardware revenue declined
Microsoft has released its Q1 2025 financial results today and once again the company has received a significant boost from its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This includes increases to its gaming revenue and 'Xbox content and services' revenue. The tech giant reported gaming revenue growing by 43%...
News Microsoft Boasts About Owning '20 Franchises That Have Generated Over $1 Billion'
Including ActiBlizz and Bethesda games of course
Microsoft's Satya Nadella has certainly been in the headlines today and not always in the most positive light, but one section of the CEO's recent annual company update at least talks about some of Xbox's more positive achievements in recent tim
News Four Years Later, Xbox Series X Is Now Outselling Xbox Series S In The US
According to fresh sales data
Microsoft's decision to launch two completely different consoles as part of its current-gen gaming strategy was always a bold one, and for a long time, its been the cheaper console that's thought to have sold more units overall. However, according to new data from Circana (NPD Group), Xbox Series X is finally outselling...
News Rare Boss To Become New Head Of Xbox Game Studios
The team's current leader is retiring
Rare boss Craig Duncan is set to become the new leader over at Xbox Game Studios, with current XGS head Alan Hartman set to retire, per GamesIndustry.biz. Hartman only took on the role in 2023 after leading Forza developer Turn 10 for a number of years. Duncan will go down a similar route, af
News Xbox Series X|S Now UK's Second Best-Selling Consoles In 2024 As Nintendo Switch Falls Away
Year-on-year console sales are down
Although Xbox Series X|S sales news hasn't always been the most positive in recent months, a new set of UK data from GamesIndustry.biz shows that the platform is now in 2nd place when it comes to console sales in 2024. Yep, the outlet reports that while PS5 is comfortably in pole position for sales in the region,...
Report Ubisoft Is Considering A Buyout From Tencent & Partners
The Guillemot family said to be involved
You may have read reports recently on the state of Ubisoft and its financials following the release of Star Wars Outlaws - heck, it all seems to have had an effect on Assassin's Creed Shadows and its sudden delay. Well, it sounds like the company could massively change course in the future, if a new
News Xbox Co-Founder Joins Amazon, Says He'll Be Working On 'New Ideas'
He's now VP of devices and services
One of the original Xbox co-founders, J Allard, has joined Amazon as the company's vice president of devices and services. He told The Verge it's "too early" to say what's on the way, but he'll be working on "new ideas" at the tech giant. Interestingly, Allard will supposedly report to the former Windows and...
Rumour Microsoft Employees 'Completely Confused' About New Xbox Strategy, Says Insider
"Most employees I have spoken to..."
Xbox seems to be chopping and changing its overall strategy quite a lot these days, with numerous multiplatform ports marking one of the biggest changes internally over at Team Green. While the almost-constant shifting is proving to be somewhat confusing for the fanbase, as it turns out, it might actually be...
News Phil Spencer Talks About Two Activision Games That Xbox Missed Out On Signing
"I've made some of the worst game choice decisions"
During PAX West 2024, Xbox boss Phil Spencer hosted a 'Story Time' chat about the gaming industry, discussing many different aspects of the business - including some of Xbox's history. In that chat, Phil was asked about some of the biggest games that Microsoft 'missed out' on signing up, and the...
News Dragon's Dogma 2 Director Hideaki Itsuno Leaves Capcom After 30 Years
"Please stay tuned for my next creation"
Capcom legend Hideaki Itsuno, known for his work on series like Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry over the years, has announced he's left the Japanese developer and publisher after "30 years and 5 months". In his announcement on social media, he thanked fans for their long-term support and noted how this...
News Valve's Worst-Kept Secret 'Deadlock' Now Has Thousands Of Players
The unannounced game and IP nobody can talk about
Perhaps the worst-kept secret in all of the video game industry right now is Valve's new game and IP Deadlock. There's been quite a lot of drama about the game over the past week (including one outlet sharing its own 'hands on' experience) and although there's not even an official announcement yet...
News Xbox Series X|S Sales 'Holding Close' To Xbox 360 In The US, Says Analyst
"No, the console market isn't doomed."
In recent months, we've heard plenty about Xbox's well-documented hardware sales struggles in Europe, but that isn't necessarily the case in the US; Xbox's primary market. Despite a big drop in worldwide sales last quarter, an industry analyst is on-hand to remind us that the console is still doing pretty well...
News Next Month, It'll Be Four Years Since Xbox Acquired Bethesda
Where does the time go?!
Over the last few years, we've had plenty to write about regarding Microsoft's complex and drawn out purchase of Activision Blizzard, but, remember when things were much simpler? Back in 2020, when a buyout of ActiBlizz would have been a mere fever dream, Xbox acquired ZeniMax Media; the parent company of Bethesda. Well,...
News Bungie Is 'Deepening Integration' With Sony As Layoffs Hit Ex-Halo Developer
"The new path for Bungie"
Bungie has today announced a "new path" for its future in game development, as the team behind Halo and Destiny "deepens" its relationship with owner Sony. This new path unfortunately includes some layoffs, although the team's further integration with the PlayStation maker appears to have dampened the impact of these job...
News Xbox Console Sales Struggling As Hardware Revenue Nosedives At Microsoft
For the 2nd quarter in a row
As a follow-up to this morning's more positive financial news about Xbox, we have some unfortunate figures from the team's hardware division. For the second quarter in a row, Microsoft's console revenue has dropped by a staggering amount, as Xbox Series X|S struggles in the market during 2024 so far. As per the team's...
News Activision Blizzard Continues To Drive Massive Uptick In Revenue For Xbox
Microsoft's latest financials are in
Microsoft has dropped its Q4 financial results for the company's last fiscal year, and the facts and figures make for some interesting reading. The good news is that both 'content and services' revenue and overall 'gaming' revenue are up by huge amounts over at Xbox - driven by the team's acquisition of...
News Xbox Dev Playground Games Opens Another Studio To Work On Fable
Now three in total!
For a while now, we've known that Xbox-owned developer Playground Games has been working on Forza Horizon and Fable simultaneously - and now the team has revealed that the Fable side of the studio is really ramping up. Spotted on LinkedIn, the Playground Games bio now states that three studios are operating at the British...
News Analyst Expects Xbox Game Pass To Bring In 'Almost $5.5bn' In 2025
Once the price rises come into affect
Earlier this month, we heard about the impending launch of Xbox Game Pass Standard, alongside price increases for the existing tiers of Microsoft's subscription service. In the wake of that news, analytics group
News Bethesda's US Workforce Has Unionized To 'Set New Standard' For Game Developers
A "wall-to-wall" union with 200+ devs
Bethesda developers have announced a major union across their US-based studios in Dallas, Rockville and Austin - forming the 'OneBGSUSA' group. The group says that it is "a majority of developers" who "advocate for the betterment of every developer at BGS, setting the new standard for our industry." Microsoft,
News Hi-Fi RUSH Developer Tango Gameworks Has Now Officially Closed Its Doors
One of the employees highlighted the studio's "last day"
Last month, Xbox shared the news it would be shutting down four studios including the developers behind the critically-acclaimed title Hi-Fi RUSH. While things have been looking more positive on the Xbox front over the past week, a now-former Tango Gameworks employee has shared an update on...
News Bethesda Developers Now Have Stronger Employee Rights Within Microsoft
Brand new union
Bethesda's parent company, ZeniMax Studios, has today announced that its workers now have stronger rights within Xbox - as Microsoft strikes a 'labour neutrality agreement' with the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The Xbox owner first entered into such an agreement way back in summer 2022, amidst the whirlwind of Activision...
News Hellblade 2 Developer Ninja Theory Thanks Fans For 'Incredible Response'
"We've loved hearing your impressions"
It's been another big week in the land of Xbox with UK-based studio Ninja Theory launching Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 on the Series X|S, PC, Cloud, and also Game Pass. It's already one of the highest-rated Xbox games of the year and with this in mind, the team has now issued a brief message on social media,...
News Activision Is Opening A New Studio To Build 'Genre-Defining' Games At Microsoft
'Elsewhere Entertainment' is a-go
Microsoft's newly-acquired Activision team has today announced the opening of a brand-new development studio in Poland. The team, which is confirmed to not be working on Call of Duty, is setting out to build a "state-of-the-art and next-generation gaming experience" at 'Elsewhere Entertainment'. The studio also...
News Xbox Talks Sustainability Efforts As Rare's New 'Solar-Powered Studio' Is Unveiled
Earth Day 2024 brings new Xbox innovations
As part of Earth Day 2024, Microsoft has broken down a number of new initiatives going on at Xbox right now - including a brand-new "solar-powered studio" at Sea Of Thieves developer Rare. This new studio, also known as 'Barn X', opened last year - and it's since been "certified LEED GOLD for its design...
News Embracer Group Is Splitting Into Three Companies Following Recent Layoffs
"This is the start of a new chapter"
Embracer Group has today announced its intention to split into three separate companies - 'Asmodee Group', 'Coffee Stain & Friends' and 'Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends'. The three companies will handle different aspects of Embracer's operations, as explained in a new blog post from the huge gaming ent
News Former Xbox Exec Likes The Idea Of 'Tipping' Developers After Beating Their Games
"Some games are that special"
The price of AAA games has been a hot topic recently, especially with the move to $70 releases, but one former Xbox & Blizzard exec has taken to social media to express that they'd actually like the option to give devs more money for their releases. Yep, Mike Ybarra — who left X
News Xbox Game Pass Indie Deals Have 'Come Down In Scope', Claim Devs
"The Gold Rush is over"
Game Pass has proven to be a huge success for Xbox and developers since its inception, but supposedly the "gold rush is over" for indie developers looking to achieve major funding deals from these kinds of services. Speaking to PC Gamer at this year's Game Developer Conference, the development teams behind Xbox Game Pass...
News Halo Support Studio Certain Affinity Axes 25 Jobs
The first major layoff in its "17+ year history"
There have already been a bunch of layoffs this year and now Certain Affinity (known for helping out with Halo and Call of Duty) has let go of 25 US-based employees. In a message on its official website, the company announced it had made the "extremely difficult decision" to eliminate these roles. It...
News Xbox Bolsters Ranks With Another Experienced Recruit
"I have always been a fan of Xbox's commitment"
It's a new year and although Xbox axed a lot of employees earlier this year, it's still recruiting new (and experienced) talent. The latest individual to join the team is Jairo Lopes, who has taken on the role of third-party business development management for Xbox's global content partnerships. He...
News Xbox Game Pass Hit Hi-Fi RUSH Just Won Another Award
This time for "best audio"
One of Xbox's biggest success stories of the previous year was the shadow drop of Hi-Fi RUSH on Game Pass. Since then it's been played by millions of Xbox users, has been ported to other platforms, and has even won some awards. Now, to add to this, it's taken out 'best audio' at this year's
News The Legendary Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Has Passed Away
His work included video games
News has just broken in Japan about the passing of manga artist and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. He died on March 1st, 2024 at the age of 68 from acute subdural hematoma. Apart from his influence on the manga and anime industry, Toriyama had a huge impact on the video game industry over the years - not only...
News Sea Of Thieves Co-Developer Lays Off 'Handful' Of Employees
"This situation is heartbreaking"
It's been another difficult week for the video game industry in 2024 and now the UK indie developer Radical Forge has announced it's laying off a "handful of people". It's reportedly six employees to be exact. The same team, which worked alongside Flix Interactive and Rare on the free update Sea Of Thieves: A...
News Toys For Bob Is Becoming An Indie Studio, Leaving Xbox And Activision
It's already exploring a "possible partnership" with Microsoft
Just weeks after the news that Crash Bandicoot and Spyro developer Toys for Bob wouldn't actually be shutting up shop, the studio heads Paul Yan & Avery Lodato have now dropped some surprising news - revealing the team is going independent. This "opportunity" will apparently allow...
News EA Shuts Down Battlefield Campaign Studio Ridgeline Games
Halo's co-creator recently left the studio
Earlier this week, Battlefield director (and former Halo co-creator) Marcus Lehto made an abrupt departure from Ridgeline Games, and while it wasn't entirely clear what was going on behind the scenes at the time, EA has now confirmed mass layoffs. As part of this, EA has announced the closure of this...
News EA Is Laying Off 5% Of Its Workforce
Estimated to impact about 670 employees
It's already been an incredibly difficult week for the industry and now Electronic Arts has revealed it's laying off 5% of its workforce. This roughly equates to about 670 employees. EA CEO Andrew Wilson cited "accelerating industry transformation" as part of this decision with the company planning to sunset...
News Another Dev Is Laying Off Employees, Cites 'Worsening Market Conditions'
Deck Nine co-developed last year's release 'The Expanse'
It's been an incredibly tough year for the industry so far with mass layoffs across multiple studios. Sony yesterday added to this - announcing it was axing 900 jobs, and now on top of this another developer has had to make a "difficult decision". Deck Nine Games (The Expanse: A Telltale...
News Toys For Bob Office Closing, But There's Apparently No Need To Worry
The Crash & Spyro dev is not actually "closing down"
There have been a lot of rumours doing the rounds this week about Xbox's future, and earlier today, there were claims Activision developer Toys for Bob was potentially "closing down" following Microsoft's announcement of mass layoffs. While the future of the studio is still somewhat unclear,...
News Disney Invests $1.5 Billion In Epic To Create New Universe Connected To Fortnite
"Disney's biggest entry ever into the world of games"
Disney and Epic Games have announced an "all new games and entertainment universe" connected to Fortnite to expand the reach of key IP. As part of this, Disney is also investing $1.5 billion to acquire an equity stake in Epic Games alongside this "multiyear" project. Disney's Chief Executive...
News Fable's Narrative Lead Joins Cyberpunk 2077 Follow-Up 'Project Orion'
The new game is entering its "early stages of development"
New information has surfaced about Playground Games' former Fable narrative lead Anna Megill, who left the company last August. As highlighted by Eurogamer, she's now joined CD Projekt Red North America to work on its Cyberpunk 2077 follow-up, codenamed 'Project Orion'. This project is...
News Xbox's Blade Developer Arkane Lyon Offers Support After Mass Layoffs
"I've been through a studio closure once"
The biggest surprise of last year's Game Awards show was arguably the reveal of Marvel's Blade by the Xbox-owned developer Arkane Lyon. The industry has experienced some mass layoffs in recent weeks and in response to this, the game's director Dinga Bakaba has now offered some support to anyone who recently...
News Day Of The Devs Is Now Officially Non-Profit, Announces Fundraiser
Tim Schafer and co have "big plans for 2024 and beyond"
The Double Fine Productions and iam8bit established indie showcase 'Day of the Devs' has announced it's now a non-profit organisation. In a special video announcement, the team explained how it had essentially "always run things as a non-profit" - relying heavily on industry sponsorship and...
News Microsoft Hits Historic $3 Trillion Valuation On Same Day Of Xbox Layoffs
It's the second company after Apple to achieve this
Microsoft announced 1,900 jobs had been axed in the Xbox division earlier today, with MS Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explaining how the goal going forward is for leadership to "align on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure" to support the whole of its growing business...
News 'People Can Fly' Reportedly Cuts 30 Devs From Unannounced Square Enix Project
The same team has a new triple-A collab with Microsoft
People Can Fly, the Polish developer associated with titles like Outriders and Gears of War: Judgement, has reportedly axed 30 developers who were working on a new "unannounced" Square Enix title, codenamed Project Gemini. The company's developer director told Kotaku it was a result of "budget...
News Major Nelson Reveals The Next Chapter Of His Post-Xbox Career
He's now an advisor of a publisher backed by Microsoft
Earlier this year, Xbox legend Major Nelson (also known by his real name Larry Hryb) said goodbye to Microsoft after 20 years. He mentioned at the time how he would take a step back to work out the next chapter of his career, and now in an update, he's revealed he's joined the board of Midwest...
News Bungie's Independence Reportedly Under Threat After Layoffs & Destiny 2 Expansion Delay
Sony could step in and "swallow Bungie whole"
There's unfortunately some more concerning news making headlines today about Destiny 2 and original Halo developer Bungie. According to an update from IGN's Rebekah Valentine, the studio remains a "fully independent subsidiary of Sony" but it's been suggested that the "split between Sony and Bungie"...
News Gabe Newell Reflects On Exiting Microsoft To Go Make Half-Life
"On the surface, we should have failed"
Valve is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of its iconic first-person shooter Half-Life, and as part of this, it's released a lengthy documentary discussing the entire history of the project. It also happens to have a segment touching on the co-founders' departure from Microsoft. This includes both...
