Update (05/17/24): Singularity 6 has told Game Developer it has laid off 36 staffers to navigate through a "tough economic period." The studio said it will continue supporting Palia following the job cuts."Unfortunately we have had to restructure and reduce the size of our team as we stay focused on supporting Palia and serving our community long term. We had to let 36 of our colleagues go yesterday, in an effort to navigate this tough economic period," reads a statement issued by a company spokesperson."We thank our departing team for all their work; we are committed to providing the best assistance and transition we can. We hope the industry will provide homes for these talented colleagues."Original story: According to reporting by Polygon's Nicole Carp…
Update (5/3/24): Per a new press release from Madfinger, Grey Zone Warfare has now reached over 500,000 sales. DLC editions have surpassed 250,000 units."This incredible achievement would not have been possible without the unwavering support of dedicated players, press, and creators, and we are overflowing with gratitude," wrote Madfinger."As we celebrate this milestone, we are reminded of the journey that brought us here and the exciting and challenging road ahead. We remain committed to delivering engaging content, listening to player feedback, and continuing to push the boundaries of what Gray Zone Warfare can offer."Original story: Tactical MMO shooter Gray Zone Warfare has topped 400,000 sales after two days in early access.Madfinger Games' first-person shoote…
Change is coming to Beat Saber this year in the form of dropped support for the original Meta Quest. Come November 2, the VR rhythm game will leave the headset behind.Put plainly, Oculus wants to "focus our efforts in the right direction." With the game also on PC and the two PlayStation VR devices, something had to give.On its website, Oculus assured that players will still be able to play it on that device, but multiplayer will stop entirely. Leaderboards, it added, "might" be shut off later down the line.Oculus further told players they can bring the game and any DLC they paid for to other VR headsets like the Meta Quest 2, 3, or Pro. The process is automatic, and nothing needs to be done on their end.
Microsoft, the $3 trillion tech company that recently spent $68.7 billion to acquire sprawling conglomerate Activision Blizzard and prior to that nabbed ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, will likely continue cutting jobs within its first-party Xbox Game Studios to become a leaner operation.That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which claims the company is offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, QA testers, and others at ZeniMax as part of an ongoing cost-cutting program.Microsoft announced it would be laying off 1,900 workers across its video game divisions earlier this year, with those cuts already impacting workers at Bethesda, Blizzard, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, and others.Studio closures within ZeniMax followed those redundancies, with Microsoft closing …
Microsoft, the $3 trillion tech company that recently spent $68.7 billion to acquire sprawling conglomerate Activision Blizzard and prior to that nabbed ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, will likely continue cutting jobs within its first-party Xbox Game Studios to become a leaner operation.That's according to a report from Bloomberg, which claims the company is offering voluntary severance agreements to producers, QA testers, and others at ZeniMax as part of an ongoing cost-cutting program.Microsoft announced it would be laying off 1,900 workers across its video game divisions earlier this year, with those cuts already impacting workers at Bethesda, Blizzard, Sledgehammer Games, Infinity Ward, and others.Studio closures within ZeniMax followed those redundancies, with Microsoft closing …
EA, the sprawling publisher that laid off 5 percent of its workforce in February, has reported net bookings of $7.43 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. That's a 1 percent upswing-year-on-year and was largely driven by the company's roster of live service releases such as EA Sports FC and Madden NFL.Net revenue for FY24 increased by 2 percent over that same period to $7.56 billion. Live service titles delivered $5.54 billion of that total. Full game titles pulled in $2.02 billion, with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor highlighted as a major contributor.EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the company managed to produce "bigger, bolder world class entertainment" during the fiscal year and engaged "hundreds of millions of players and fans."He claimed EA will "co…
In the year since Dead Island 2's launch, the game has amassed "well over" 7 million players.Developer Dambuster Studios revealed the milestone in celebration of the game's first birthday. Similarly, those players have taken out 24 billion zombies across PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and PC."All of us at Dambuster Studios are humbled and thrilled by the outstanding response of our passionate slayers!" it wrote. "It’s been a truly memorable year for the Dead Island franchise."It's unclear how that translates to sales, but the game was successful almost immediately. It opened to 1 million copies sold in its opening weekend, and 2 million within a month.Likewise, Dambuster didn't highlight a particular system it did well on, …
Software developer Yellow recently raised $5 million in seed funding from A16z Games to build out its 3D modeling tool YellowSculpt, which is powered by generative AI.As Yellow explains, the tool lets artists and designers create "clean, animatable, pre-rigged 3D character meshes" in minutes. Its aim is for YellowSculpt to make 3D creation more accessible and help prepare 3D characters to be used in games proper.In its press release, Yellow noted how genAI tools are typically made for 2D art and characters. To founder Mandeep Waraich, YellowSculpt will help 3D artists and also "further our societies" as more people use the tool.A16Z's Jack Soslow gave a similar sentiment, saying Yellow's focus is on "empowering human creativity through AI…[and] making …
Xbox president Sarah Bond claims Microsoft's decision to shutter key studios such as Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks is about ensuring the company's video game business is "healthy for the long term."Bond was addressing the closures during an interview at Bloomberg Live and described the decision to wind down major studios as "extraordinarily hard." In justifying the move, she claimed Microsoft has a "deep responsibility" to ensure its games, devices, and services can survive moments of transition within the game industry. "The news we announced earlier this week is an outcome of that," she said.Bond said the industry has been "flat" over the last year despite a lot of "tremendous releases" in 2023. "The growth di…
What could help triple-A games get even bigger right now? According to EA CEO Andrew Wilson, the answer lies in ads.During a recent earnings call Q&A, Wilson was asked by an analyst about "dynamic ad insertion" in triple-A titles as a means of revenue. While he thinks it's "still early" for that, he noted its potential as a "meaningful driver of growth" for the publisher.In fact, internal teams at EA are already exploring "very thoughtful [ad] implentations," Wilson revealed. For him, the important thing is to build up communities in games, then figure out how ads are potential growth drivers."We have looked over the course of our history to be very thoughtful about advertising in the context of our play experiences. […] As we start t…
Blizzard Entertainment revealed it's canceled this year's BlizzCon, where it typically shows off big reveals for its current and future games.The axing was made after "careful consideration," and was one the studio says it didn't make lightly. It marks the fifth cancellation following the ones in 2022 (due to the studio's workplace harassment allegations), 2020 (COVID), 2012, and 2006.In the showcase's absence, Blizzard says it'll reveal more information on its games at events like Gamescom. It also plans to have several in-person events around the world specifically to commemorate the Warcraft series, which turns 30 years old.Blizzard hopes those appearances will "carry the same spirit of celebration and togetherness.""Our hope is tha…