Tag Archives: GamesIndustrybiz

Take-Two reportedly shuts down Roll7 and Intercept Games, Private Division suffers layoffs – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. Take-Two reportedly shuts down Roll7 and Intercept Games, Private Division suffers layoffs GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Take-Two Interactive Shuts Down Two Game Studios Bloomberg
  3. “A completely cruel and baffling decision”: Industry anger over GTA 6 publisher’s closure of two acclaimed studios despite commercial successes and CEO’s $26 million pay rise Gamesradar
  4. Update: Take-Two confirms Kerbal Space Program 2 is safe despite Seattle layoffs Game Developer
  5. Kerbal Space Program 2 Studio Apparently Shuttered Amid Layoffs, Take-Two Responds [Update] IGN

Read original article here

Palworld sales hit 4m and boasts the fifth highest concurrent Steam players ever – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. Palworld sales hit 4m and boasts the fifth highest concurrent Steam players ever GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Palworld Has Huge Weekend, Sells 5 Million and Overtakes Cyberpunk 2077 in Steam’s Most-Played Games List IGN
  3. Palworld lead shoots down legal concerns following Pokemon comparisons: “We have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies” Gamesradar
  4. Palworld has sold over 3 million copies in just 40 hours VGChartz
  5. ‘Palworld’ Just Passed ‘Dota 2’ As Steam’s Third Biggest Game Ever – How? Why? Forbes

Read original article here

League of Geeks: “We’ll fight till the last breath” – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. League of Geeks: “We’ll fight till the last breath” GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Armello studio lays off over half its staff and ‘indefinitely’ pauses development on its ongoing early access game because ‘almost all funding and investment has evaporated from the videogame industry’ PC Gamer
  3. Jumplight Odyssey development suspended indefinitely as League Of Geeks face redundancies Rock Paper Shotgun
  4. ‘Armello’ Developer League Of Geeks Lays Off Over Half Its Staff Nintendo Life
  5. League of Geeks announces mass layoffs and halts Jumplight Odyssey development – will distribute 50% of early access profits to employees until work resumes TechRadar

Read original article here

The Escapist staff resign following termination of editor-in-chief Nick Calandra – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. The Escapist staff resign following termination of editor-in-chief Nick Calandra GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Video series Zero Punctuation is seemingly ending following The Escapist staff exodus | VGC Video Games Chronicle
  3. Zero Punctuation Ends As ‘The Escapist’ Faces Mass Resignations After EIC Firing Forbes
  4. Zero Punctuation creator resigns from The Escapist, employees resigned and fired | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site news.com.au
  5. The Future of Zero Punctuation: A New Chapter Begins Game Is Hard
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Pokémon Go hit $34.7m in April, its lowest monthly sum in five years – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. Pokémon Go hit $34.7m in April, its lowest monthly sum in five years GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Pokémon Go monthly earnings reportedly plummeted to their lowest in five years | VGC Video Games Chronicle
  3. Pokémon GO April Earnings Drop to Lowest Monthly Earnings in 5 Years | Pokémon GO Hub Pokémon GO Hub
  4. Pokémon Go developer dismisses “incorrect” report that claimed revenue down to lowest since 2018 Eurogamer.net
  5. Pokémon Go developer denies that its earnings have dropped to a five-year low | VGC Video Games Chronicle
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Microsoft welcomes CMA U-turn on Activision deal, Sony decries “irrational” decision – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. Microsoft welcomes CMA U-turn on Activision deal, Sony decries “irrational” decision GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Xbox Activision Deal: Sony Calls CMA’s Reduced Concern ‘Surprising, Unprecedented, and Irrational’ IGN
  3. Jim Ryan Fears ‘Serious Damage’ If Xbox Degrades Call Of Duty For PlayStation Pure Xbox
  4. Sony Says UK’s U-Turn On Microsoft-Activision Deal Is “Surprising, Unprecedented, And Irrational” GameSpot
  5. Sony pounces on Redfall exclusivity drama in latest response to Microsoft’s Activision acquisition Eurogamer.net
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Blizzard, NetEase partnership reportedly broke down over misunderstandings – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. Blizzard, NetEase partnership reportedly broke down over misunderstandings GamesIndustry.biz
  2. Bobby Kotick says Sony’s being a baby about Microsoft deal: ‘They would just like to prevent our merger from happening’ PC Gamer
  3. How Miscommunication Over Microsoft Acquisition Led To Activision Blizzard-NetEase Split – Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) Benzinga
  4. Activision Ditched Chinese Partner Over Microsoft Deal – Report PlayStation LifeStyle
  5. Blizzard’s shutdown in China may have stemmed from a misunderstanding Dot Esports
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

4J Studios and five others argue Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard should go ahead in the UK – GamesIndustry.biz

  1. 4J Studios and five others argue Microsoft’s bid to buy Activision Blizzard should go ahead in the UK GamesIndustry.biz
  2. The UK published 7 responses to the Microsoft-Activision Xbox deal — only one company opposes Windows Central
  3. Microsoft isn’t happy with a UK regulator’s math on its Activision Blizzard deal The Verge
  4. Random: Xbox’s Phil Spencer Finds The Humour In Ridiculous Call Of Duty Meme Pure Xbox
  5. Sony says Microsoft could make Call of Duty a “de facto exclusive” in latest attempt to block Activision deal Gamesradar
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News

Read original article here

Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard | GamesIndustry.biz

Microsoft has reached a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, the company confirmed today.

Sarah E. Needleman with the Wall Street Journal broke the news this morning, saying the outlet’s sources told it the Xbox maker was nearing an agreement to buy the Call of Duty company.

Six minutes later, Bloomberg’s Dina Bass put a dollar figure on it, saying sources put the value of the deal at nearly $70 billion.

That’s a significant premium over Activision Blizzard’s market cap of nearly $51 billion, but like many game outfits, the Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher’s share price has been trending downward over the last year. Activision Blizzard has also been the subject of immense public criticism since a July lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleged pervasive gender discrimination at the publisher.

Microsoft soon confirmed the deal had been reached, and put a price point of $68.7 billion on the deal, with a $95 per share agreement representing a 69% premium over Activision Blizzard’s Monday closing price of $65.39.

“This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse,” the company said.

Microsoft added that the addition of Activision Blizzard would make it the world’s third-largest game company by revenue, behind only Tencent and Sony.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

In November, Xbox head Phil Spencer sent an email to employees saying Microsoft leadership was “disturbed and deeply troubled” by what happened at Activision Blizzard, adding that he was “evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments.”

Microsoft has said that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will continue to serve in that position, but will report to Spencer after the deal closes.

“With Activision Blizzard’s nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises, this acquisition will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry,” Microsoft said in announcing the deal.

Microsoft did not say whether Activision Blizzard’s franchises would be made exclusive to Xbox platforms.

“Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog,” Spencer said in a blog post. “We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.”

When Microsoft struck a deal to acquire Bethesda in 2020, Spencer insisted it wasn’t done to keep the Skyrim maker’s games away from other companies. However, within a week of the deal’s final closing, Spencer was talking about it differently, saying, “this is about delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists.”

Spencer’s post also alluded to the scandals surrounding Activision Blizzard and Kotick himself, saying, “As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.”

This story will be updated with additional details as they are made available.

if (window.gaDone) return;

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

var args = { "trackingId": "UA-5699723-1", "cookieDomain": ".gamesindustry.biz" };

if(anonymous) { args["storage"] = "none"; }

ga('create', args); ga('require', 'displayfeatures'); ga('require', 'linkid', 'linkid.js');

if(anonymous) { ga('set', 'anonymizeIp', true); }

ga('set', 'dimension5', 'europe'); ga('set', 'dimension6', 'none');

ga('set', 'dimension1', 'article'); ga('set', 'dimension2', 'publishing, development'); ga('set', 'dimension3', 'Brendan Sinclair'); ga('set', 'dimension4', 'no'); ga('set', 'dimension12', 'no');

ga('send', 'pageview');

if ( window.location.href.substr(-11) == "#justposted" ) { ga('send', 'event', 'Comments', 'Posted', '2022-01-18-report-microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard', { 'dimension1': 'article', 'dimension2': 'publishing, development', 'dimension3': 'Brendan Sinclair' }); }

window.gaDone = true;

}

function runComscore() { var _comscore = _comscore || []; _comscore.push({ c1: "2", c2: "8518622" }); (function() { var s = document.createElement("script"); el = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; s.async = true; s.src = "https://sb.scorecardresearch.com/beacon.js"; el.parentNode.insertBefore(s, el); })(); }

window.PARSELY = window.PARSELY || { autotrack: false, onReady: function() { PARSELY.updateDefaults({ data: { user: 'unregistered' } }); PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView(); } };

function runParsely() { if (window.parselyDone) return;

(function(d) { var b = d.body; var e = d.createElement('script'); e.id = 'parsely-cfg'; e.src="https://cdn.parsely.com/keys/gamesindustry.biz/p.js"; b.appendChild(e); })(document);

window.parselyDone = true; }

function runFacebookPixel() {

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n; n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script','//connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');

fbq('init', '1863210500478936'); fbq('track', 'PageView');

}

function runLinkedinInsights() {

_linkedin_partner_id = "2840722"; window._linkedin_data_partner_ids = window._linkedin_data_partner_ids || []; window._linkedin_data_partner_ids.push(_linkedin_partner_id);

(function() { var s = document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0]; var b = document.createElement("script"); b.type = "text/javascript";b.async = true; b.src = "https://snap.licdn.com/li.lms-analytics/insight.min.js"; s.parentNode.insertBefore(b, s); })();

}

function runTwitterPixel() {

!function(e,t,n,s,u,a){e.twq||(s=e.twq=function(){s.exe?s.exe.apply(s,arguments):s.queue.push(arguments); },s.version='1.1',s.queue=[],u=t.createElement(n),u.async=!0,u.src="https://static.ads-twitter.com/uwt.js", a=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0],a.parentNode.insertBefore(u,a))}(window,document,'script');

twq('init','o5k31'); twq('track','PageView');

}

const frames = window.frames; for (let i = 0; i < frames.length; i++) { frames[i].stop(); } function sandboxIframes() { const iframes = jQuery('iframe[src]:not([data-src])'); jQuery.each(iframes, function() { const iframe = jQuery(this); const src = iframe.attr('src'); // Youtube iframes are exempt from being sandboxed // as long as we swap them for the Privacy Enhanced player if (src.match(/^(https?:)?//(www.)?youtube.com/embed//i)) { iframe.attr('data-src', src); iframe.attr('src', src.replace('youtube.com', 'youtube-nocookie.com')); } else { iframe.attr('title', 'Please accept cookies to see this iframe.'); iframe.attr('data-src', src); iframe.removeAttr('src'); } }); } function sandboxScripts() { const scripts = jQuery('script[src]:not(.ignore-script)'); jQuery.each(scripts, function() { const script = jQuery(this); script.attr('type', 'text/plain'); script.attr('data-src', script.attr('src')); script.removeAttr('src'); }); } function runIframes() { const iframes = jQuery('iframe[data-src]'); jQuery.each(iframes, function() { const iframe = jQuery(this); iframe.attr('src', iframe.attr('data-src')); iframe.removeAttr('title'); iframe.removeAttr('data-src'); }); } function runScripts() { const scripts = jQuery('script[data-src]:not(.ignore-script)'); jQuery.each(scripts, function() { const script = jQuery(this); script.attr('src', script.attr('data-src')); script.attr('type', 'text/javascript'); script.removeAttr('data-src'); }); }

Read original article here