Long-rumoured layoffs at Activision Blizzard were confirmed yesterday during the company's earnings call.
While CEO Bobby Kotik opened the call with a declaration that the company had seen "record results" that were "the best in our history," he noted that the Activision Blizzard's focus was "de-prioritizing initiatives that are not meeting expectations and reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs across the business."
The result will be an 8% reduction off its work force, equating to around 775 staff. The layoffs will occur across Activision, Blizzard, and King.
King-owned Z2Live studio has been closed completely. The Seattle-based mobile game developer consisted of 78 staff.
In the words of Respawn Entertainment, "cheaters suck."
In an update on the Apex Legends subreddit, the developer noted that over 16,000 cheaters have already been banned from the game.
At the moment players still have to report cheaters through an external site, but the same reddit post describes an in-game reporting feature as "a very good idea :)" so it's likely to be in the works.
THQ Nordic has reason to celebrate after releasing its 2018 financial reports.
For the year ending December 31, Nordic reported net sales of USD$447.6 million. Compared to the previous year's USD$55.1 million, that's a staggering growth of 713%. Not bad.
Much of this growth can be attributed to the acquisition of Koch Media and its publishing arm, Deep Silver.
Anthem might be a week away from total release, but that hasn't stopped EA from whipping up hype with a hot live-action trailer.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie), 'Conviction' describes itself as a "live-action trailer of survival set in the world of Anthem, decades before the events of the game."
Sony has announced that its Deputy President, Jim Ryan will take over the role of President and CEO of SIE as of April 1.
Current president and CEO John Kodera will essentially be swapping roles with Jim Ryan. While Ryan takes the reigns of the company, Kodera will take over the role of Deputy President and will "spearhead the network area to continue creating innovative services and experiences".
Kodera stated "Jim has extensive knowledge around the game business and industry, as well as deep understanding of the PlayStation culture and strengths. I am confident that he will lead us to greater success as CEO of SIE. I will continue to support Jim by contributing to further strengthening user engagement, and to the overall growth of the PlayStation business."
Jim Ryan started with Sony all the way back in 1994 and has inhabited several high profile roles for the entertainment giant during his tenure.
Ryan stated "It's a huge honor to be asked to take on the role of President and CEO of SIE, I've seen the PlayStation business grow and change massively since the very early days, and I hope to be able to put that experience to good use in reinforcing the foundations of the Game & Network Service business, and in evolving the entertainment that PlayStation offers to its engaged and passionate community."
If you missed this morning's Nintendo Direct, fear not, you can catch up on all the major announcements below!
Nintendo touched on several titles we already know about, but also made several surprise announcements shining the spotlight on a handful of brand new titles and a fair share of ports.
Amongst the announcements was Super Mario Maker 2, a remake of The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening, that heavily rumoured Assassin's Creed 3 Remaster, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and news that Dragon Quest 11 is indeed releasing this year.
To celebrate Valentine's Day, Sony has released a new trailer for SIE Bend Studio's upcoming open-world zombie shooter, Days Gone.
We've seen plenty of footage taking place after everything has gone to sh*t, but this is the first we're seeing of protagonist, Deacon St. John before the effects of the global pandemic.
We're treated to the harsh juxtaposition between the two separate times, as the trailer cuts back and forth between Sarah and Deacons wedding day and Deacon standing in the now destroyed church, holding a photo of his wife. I'm going to go and assume this poor lady meets an early demise, thus propelling Deacon and players into the harsh reality of the new world they'll have to fight to survive in.
Rockstar has released details on its upcoming update for Red Dead Online.
Scheduled to release on February 26, the update brings with it a host of improvements and enhancements to the online component to the massively popular Red Dead Redemption 2. Among the changes are a new law and bounty system, weapons balancing and player blips on the map.
Check out the full breakdown below:
With another certain franchise taking on the highlighter apocalypse this week, Bethesda has decided to release an awesome new Rage 2 gameplay video to remind players that they too have a lovely pink infused balls-to-the-wall crazy apocalyptic first-person shooter coming soon.
We've already seen a fair bit of Rage 2, but the gameplay released today is possibly our most significant look yet at the fast-paced mutant murder simulator. The clip shows off several of the powers players will have at their disposal, along with a healthy dose of frenetic visceral combat, set to the backdrop of a vibrant, hostile open-world.
I'm getting some major Bulletstorm and Borderlands vibes from the setting and the hilariously over-the-top powers used to eviscerate the Mad Max-like enemies into giblets.
The first Nintendo Direct of 2019 has been announced, and will stream tomorrow at 11am NZT.
The Direct will feature 35 minutes of information regarding upcoming Switch games, including the anticipated Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
While no other titles have been confirmed for the Direct, Nintendo has a slew of upcoming titles to discuss – including Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion, and Yoshi's Crafted World.
PlayStation 4 battle royale, H1Z1 is getting a spiffy new 50-player free-for-all Deathmatch mode in an upcoming update, set to drop this month.
Releasing on February 21 as the "Beyond Royale" expansion, H1Z1's upcoming Season 3 will also add a new Training Grounds map along with a 100 tier Battle Pass, similar to what we've seen in Fortnite.
The Battle Pass will add 200 new items to the game, including new weapons, emotes, nine new outfits and vehicle skins. Check out the Season 3 trailer below.
Sony's decision not to attend E3 2019 certainly turned some heads last year, with many pundits noting the decline in the expo's appeal and relevancy for the industry.
SIE Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden has now elaborated on the decision in an interview with CNet.
“When we decided to take video games out of CES, back in 1995 during the PlayStation 1 era, E3 served two constituencies: retailers and journalists," Layden explained.
"[Retailers are] making purchasing discussions in February. June, now, is just too late to have a Christmas holiday discussion with retailers. So retail has really dropped off. And journalists now, with the internet and the fact that 24/7 there is game news, it's lost its impact around that.
"So the trade show became a trade show without a lot of trade activity. The world has changed, but E3 hasn't necessarily changed with it."
