Originally Posted by road doggy dogg (Post 5629979)

this might've been the most "meh" Nintendo Direct in a while. nothing really caught my interest at all

Originally Posted by Destor (Post 5629977)

I am stunned by it. Someone with good business savy should see hpw suicidal this is. They dont have the marketshare for this maneuver. Lets say a microsoft in 10 years via gamepass has successfully driven its competitors out of market. Then this move makes sense. Or even if they had 90% of the market. Maybe. But theyre a distant no2 to unreal and their customer base has a large percentage thats start ups. Its baffling.

Originally Posted by Destor (Post 5629989)

TTYD = 10000% best direct ever

Originally Posted by Destructoid

A former gaming industry writer himself, Francis has decided not to mince any words in his recent blog post: “I just wanna spell out exactly what my issue is,” he said. Five years into the production of Tactical Breach Wizards, his first Unity project, Francis and his team have had to invest both time and money into learning the engine. The decision to work with Unity, said Francis, was based on the understanding that it wouldn’t take any share of the game’s post-release income. An understanding that is, as it turns out, no longer valid.

The gist of Francis’ argument rests on Unity’s own (out-of-date) Terms of Service: “When you obtain a version of Unity, and don’t upgrade your project, we think you should be able to stick to that version of the TOS.”

Indeed, Francis’ team uses Unity 2019.3: “In the last 4 years, the only additional value Unity have provided us is bug fixes to that version. But that’s OK! I’m happy to pay a large fee up front to avoid having our income skimmed forever,” Francis wrote. “It wasn’t on my radar that the most reputable indie engine might be silently laying the groundwork for a moustache-twirling betrayal.”

As access to Unity is a subscription, rather than a single-purchase product, Francis himself admits that he’s bound to have accepted an updated TOS with the previously outlined addendum removed from the mix. Dropping Unity isn’t an option: “By this point,” said Francis, “we’re trapped in [Unity’s] platform to the tune of 5 years’ work.”

“This is why I am not remotely mollified by reassurances that the current profit-skimming terms won’t sting me in particular too badly. That’s not the f*ckin’ headline! The headline is that you (surprisingly) can and (staggeringly) will change how much of our revenue you wish to take at any time after we’ve already committed,” explained Francis.

“My thing is, if you offer me Unity 2019 at $150 a month, it’s a scumbag move to wait til I’m too far invested to switch, then change it to a per-install deal even if I keep using the old version,” Francis concluded. As per Unity’s latest statement to Axios, there are several caveats to the engine’s intended monetization scheme, but it’s not hard to see that the Unity brand may have been permanently marred for years to come. Francis, from the looks of it, doesn’t intend to leverage Unity after Tactical Breach Wizards launches, and it’s likely that he’s not alone in this line of thinking.

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5629530)

* Nintendo is currently rumored again to be working with Universal Studios on the production of a live action Legend of Zelda film.
Link: https://mynintendonews.com/2023/09/1...ndo-universal/

Originally Posted by Destructoid

In an open letter to its community, Unity has revealed its reworked free structure and controversial runtime fee changes. Under the new structure, the Unity Personal edition will remain free and incur no runtime fee. The new cap before the fee starts has been increased from $100,000 to $200,000, and no game with under $1 million in trailing 12-month revenue will be subject to the fee. Interestingly, the new Runtime Fee will only apply to the next version of Unity that is shipping in 2024. Already shipped and current in-development projects will not be subject to the fee unless they upgrade to the 2024 version of Unity. In the post, Marc Whitten, leader of the Unity Create team apologized for what has transpired in recent weeks.

"I want to start with this: I am sorry.

We should have spoken with more of you and we should have incorporated more of your feedback before announcing our new Runtime Fee policy. Our goal with this policy is to ensure we can continue to support you today and tomorrow, and keep deeply investing in our game engine.

You are what makes Unity great, and we know we need to listen, and work hard to earn your trust. We have heard your concerns, and we are making changes in the policy we announced to address them.

Marc Whitten, Unity Create Lead"

Developers using Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise that are subject to the runtime fee will also have the option of opting for a revenue share instead. Under that plan, a 2.5% revenue share or a “calculated amount based on the number of new people engaging with your game each month” would apply. Whichever amount is less will be the amount that is billed.

Originally Posted by Kotaku

There’s a new gang on the dark web that claims it’s breached all of Sony’s systems in a ransomware attack.

According to a September 25 article from Australian cybersecurity publication Cyber Security Connect, the PlayStation maker was cracked open by Ransomed.vc, a new outfit of hackers that’s only been operating since September—though the publication suggests the gang has connections to previous dark web forums and groups. Cyber Security Connect reports that the hack allegedly unearthed screenshots of Sony’s internal log-in page, an internal PowerPoint presentation outlining test bench details, several Java files, and a document tree of the entire leak housing 6,000 files.

“We have successfully [compromised] all of [Sony’s] systems,” Ransomed.vc proclaimed. “We won’t ransom them! We will sell the data. Due to Sony not wanting to pay. DATA IS FOR SALE. WE ARE SELLING IT.”

Within those 6,000 files are supposedly a bevy of documentation, including unknown “build log files,” a swath of Java resources, and HTML data. Many of the files are reportedly in Japanese. While Ransomed.vc hasn’t listed a price for the data, the group left contact details for Sony to get in touch and listed a “post date” of September 28, which might be when Ransomed.vc will just post it all.

Interestingly, Ransomed.vc seems to be a ransomware operator and a ransomware-as-a-service organization. That means that alongside these large-scale hacks of major corporations, Ransomed.vc (which VGC claims operates out of Russia and Ukraine) also reportedly works with the EU’s general data protection and regulation (GDPR) and other data privacy laws to report vulnerabilities in company systems and violations in the laws. According to Cyber Security Connect, the group is leveraging laws to reportedly bully victims into submission.

Sony has not publicly commented on the breach or the nature of Ransomed.vc’s impact on the company just yet. Kotaku reached out to Sony for a statement.

This isn’t the first time Sony has been hacked. Back in 2011, the company’s PlayStation Network suffered a massive breach that saw some 77 million registered accounts compromised and online features totally inoperable. It was so bad that Sony not only had to explain to Congress what happened but also began giving away games and money a few years later as compensation.

Originally Posted by Destructoud

Hollywood has been brought to a near screeching halt due to the SAG-AFTRA strike which concerns many pressing issues in the entertainment industry, including payment for streaming residuals and worries regarding the ethical use of AI.

As reported on September 25, 98.32% of SAG-AFTRA members approved a video game strike. This does not mean that a strike has been called, though it does give SAG-AFTRA greater bargaining power during the next round of negotiations which will take place from September 26 to 28.

According to SAG-AFTRA, since 2022 it has been in negotiations with several gaming studios that had signed the Interactive Media Agreement. SAG-AFTRA claims the negotiations have been unsuccessful and “companies have refused to offer acceptable terms on some of the issues most critical to our members, including wages that keep up with inflation, protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence, and basic safety precautions.”

Gaming, film, and television have some overlap as they all rely on writers and performers. Hence, the three industries do occasionally find themselves with shared goals. This is explained by chief contracts officer Ray Rodriguez who states that because of the “exploitative uses of AI and lagging wages, those who work in video games are facing many of the same issues as those who work in film and television.”

If negotiations aren’t fruitful, we could face an industry-wide strike that would slow down the development of video games. These studios are part of the negotiations: Activision Productions Inc., Blindlight LLC, Disney Character Voices Inc., Electronic Arts Productions Inc., Epic Games, Inc., Formosa Interactive LLC, Insomniac Games Inc., Take 2 Productions Inc., VoiceWorks Productions Inc., and WB Games Inc. The three main issues SAG-AFTRA is discussing are:

• AI protections around consent, control, transparency and compensation.
• Wage increases that reflect compensation erosion due to inflation.
• Safety for on-camera performers and vocal stress protections for voice artists.

We aren’t facing a strike just yet, as there are a few more days of negotiations left. However, with the approval, there is authorization to call a strike at any time. The growing encroachment of AI on the entertainment industry cannot be ignored, and the outcome of these discussions will determine whether this technology’s impact is positive or destructive.

Originally Posted by road doggy dogg (Post 5631563)

lol, massive layoffs and a price hike on top of it. GFY Epic

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Team17, the publisher of works such as Blasphemous 2, Gord, and Moving Out 2 has entered “a period of consultation,” meaning the company will seek to identify potential redundancies in the organization.

Eurogamer first reported that “significant job losses” at Team17 are expected, with the majority impacting the internal QA, and that company CEO Michael Pattison is leaving. Team17 confirmed that it’s “amicably parted ways” with Pattison in a statement via VG247 ...

Employees were reportedly made aware of potential layoffs in a letter following an emergency town hall. In the letter, the company reportedly praised employees for the company’s significant growth in the first half of 2023 ...

This past March, Team17 experienced layoffs impacting its art and design teams, via Eurogamer. If this current consultation period results in layoffs, this will be the second round this calendar year. In the report by VG247, an unnamed source claims Team17’s marketing department looks to be shrinking by a range of “20-30%,” in addition to the loss of around 50 QA department roles reported by Eurogamer.

Filling the vacant CEO role will reportedly be Ann Hurley, the commercial operations director for Team17. Pattison joined Team17 in 2021 after serving for over eight years at PlayStation.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Five former Ubisoft executives have been arrested following an investigation into sexual assault and harassment at the company. As French publication Libération reports, three of the arrests were made yesterday, and two were made today.

It is not known yet whether the arrested individuals have been charged, and if so for what. However, it is reported that the arrests come following an investigation of complaints by the Solidaires Informatique union and two victims. According to one of the plaintiff’s lawyers, Maude Beckers, the case encompasses more than individual behavior and also concerns “systemic sexual violence.”

Thus far, only two arrested individuals have been named. The first is former Ubisoft chief creative officer Serge Hascoët, and the other is former editorial vice president Tommy François. Both individuals left Ubisoft in 2020.

Over the years, reports emerged painting a pattern of sexual harassment at Ubisoft. When these allegations began making headlines, Ubisoft claimed it would launch an investigation and take the appropriate disciplinary actions. Since then, many higher-ups have stepped down or been terminated from the company, including those former execs and others. The allegations were enough to also trigger a legal investigation.

In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft said: “”Ubisoft has no knowledge of what has been shared and therefore can’t comment.”

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5633635)

Today's News:


* According to a report from Bloomberg, Disney advisors are currently pushing Disney CEO Bob Iger to move Disney into a new direction in the gaming industry from being just a game license distributor into becoming a new major gaming publisher. One of the plans reportedly involves Disney buying up studios and companies with EA being targeted as a potential future acquisition. It was reported that Iger is currently against the idea but this is believed to be something he might eventually relent based on how a similar situation took place when it came to sports gambling through ESPN.
Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...wall#xj4y7vzkg , https://www.destructoid.com/disney-c...-gaming-giant/

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Spotted by Twitter user Timur222 and reported by Game World Observer it appears that the latest to be affected by layoffs within Embracer Group and the video game industry in general are Cryptic Studios and Zen Studios.

The news has come as a result of multiple employees within the studios updating their Linkedin profiles to seek new employment opportunities. Because of this, it’s unknown just how many are affected by these layoffs, which appear to have happened last week, and Embracer has not released a statement to clarify.

Cryptic Studios rose to prominence with the development of City of Heroes (my favorite MMO) and continues to maintain Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Neverwinter. Meanwhile, Zen Studios is the developer behind the Zen Pinball and Pinball FX series.

The layoffs are part of a continued cost-cutting campaign by Embracer Group. The company had previously launched an aggressive acquisition campaign and bought out a number of developers, large and small. This seems to be related to a $2 Billion dollar investment that reportedly fell through earlier in the year.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

In what’s already been a crazy 2023, it appears another big studio has undergone layoffs. An email sent to Bungie employees from Bungie CEO Pete Parsons indicated staff would be “hearing some news today” and that a team meeting scheduled for later would “discuss today’s events”. Jason Schreier at Bloomberg saw and reported the circulating email.

As of now the exact number of employees affected by the layoffs is unknown, but Twitter is already full of Bungie employees sharing the news that they have been laid off.

“I’ve been laid off from Bungie. A surreal thing to write as I sit here pondering what went wrong. I’m still processing it all and while my first instinct is anger I know I’d regret what I’d say. Thank you to everyone at Bungie who helped make my last 5+ years the best ever.”
– Griffin Bennett, Social Media Lead at Bungie

According to Bloomberg, employees also indicated delays across the board at Bungie. Upcoming Destiny 2 expansion The Final Shape has been pushed from February 2024 to June 2024. Also, Bungie’s next game, a sci-fi extraction shooter titled Marathon has been delayed to 2025.

Bungie joins a huge list of studios that have cut employees this year, which has led to one of the more tumultuous waves of layoffs the industry has seen in a while. The growing list includes Epic Games, Striking Distance Studios, CD Projekt Red, multiple studios owned by Embracer Group including Beamdog and Crystal Dynamics, Ubisoft, BioWare, Relic, Riot, Firaxis, Microsoft, Twitch, Naughty Dog, and Team17. This year has also seen the shutdown of several studios including Dang!, PixelOpus, Vanpool, and Volition Games.

Originally Posted by road doggy dogg (Post 5635836)

It's kind of depressing that most of these daily updates lately are about "company making billions of dollars hand over fist has laid off ____ hundred employees"

the world sux

Originally Posted by drave (Post 5635865)

I don't buy that for a single solitary moment.

I understand that they fell 45% short, but how is that on the workers in any capacity? It isn't. It's more corpo puppetry man.

I was let go from a tech job and was cited a similar BS line. Yet the company was VERY profitable, full stop.

The people doing the projections are to blame. In regards to the Bungie specific scenario, they overshot with their expectations on Lightfall. It is barely an "expansion" in it's own right. On top of that, you had to pay a 2nd time just to get access to the new dungeon.

Pay to get access to new stuff, then pay again for more access. They have put themselves in microtransaction hell and the consumers are no longer buying. That's why their product took a big shit.

Next up:

Delaying all projects due to "recent cutbacks" and needing "more time" to work with more intimate headcount. This will be defined as "right-sizing".

Fuck them all for upending the lives of (mostly) every day people. The fucking people at the top should be held accountable for shitty business decisions.

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5635859)

Its pretty much the gaming industry trying to get back to pre-COVID pandemic levels in terms of cutting back on the over-hiring and the massive sums of money they were spending like crazy. Same thing is happening in the tech industry as well over the same issues.

That only happened due to a combo of the big sums of money the government gave to prevent massive layoffs during the pandemic and consumers spending more on gaming and less elsewhere for their entertainment.

Even the retro gaming industry got hit hard once things started to go back to normal with people cutting back on the massive spending for old games and consoles and flooding the market with them getting rid of that stuff.

Originally Posted by VGC

Nintendo has announced that it will develop a live-action film of The Legend of Zelda.

The film will be produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, representative director and fellow of Nintendo and veteran Hollywood producer Avi Arad, the former chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment.

The film will be produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc., and directed by Wes Ball, the director behind the Maze Runner trilogy and next year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

The film will be co-financed by Nintendo and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., with more than 50% financed by Nintendo.

“By producing visual contents of Nintendo IP by itself, Nintendo is creating new opportunities to have people from around the world to access the world of entertainment which Nintendo has built, through different means apart from its dedicated game consoles,” the company said.

“By getting deeply involved in the movie production with the aim to put smiles on everyone’s faces through entertainment, Nintendo will continue its efforts to produce unique entertainment and deliver it to as many people as possible.”

Shigeru Miyamoto said in a statement: “I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films.

“I have asked Avi-san to produce this film with me, and we have now officially started the development of the film with Nintendo itself heavily involved in the production. It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.”

Nintendo’s first modern Hollywood production, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was a co-production between Illumination (Minions, Despicable Me) and Nintendo. So far it has generated over $1.3 billion at the global box office since its early April release.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Today, Ubisoft will lay off 124 employees as part of a cost cutting strategy. These departures are happening across several of its departments, including many at its Canadian offices.

The layoffs are hitting a variety of departments at Ubisoft, including some administrative teams, Ubisoft IT, and Hybride, the company’s SFX studio. In a statement to Kotaku, the company explained the reasoning behind the move.

“Ubisoft is proceeding with a collective dismissal in its Montreal establishment within the framework of a reorganization of its production support services across Canada, by consolidating these functions Canada wide, Ubisoft will be able to optimize its resources to be more sustainable in the long term.”

The company also said it is “providing comprehensive support for our colleagues who will be leaving Ubisoft during this transition” and emphasized that the current restructuring won’t have an effect on its production teams.

Ubisoft as a whole has been facing challenges lately. Lengthy delays for games like Beyond Good and Evil 2 and xDefiant have undoubtedly affected the company. Just this May, Ubisoft let go dozens of employees at its North Carolina and Newcastle locations. Employees at the time said they were given no notice that they would be losing their jobs.

Sadly this is part of an ongoing trend in the gaming industry this year. In September Epic Games cut 16% of its workforce. Just last month Naughty Dog and Telltale Games were hit by a wave of layoffs. More than a dozen different companies have faced layoffs in the back half of 2023 alone.

Originally Posted by Bloomberg

Rockstar Games, a division of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., plans to announce the next highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto game as early as this week, according to people familiar with its plans.

The company plans to then publish a trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI next month to celebrate Rockstar’s 25th anniversary, said the people, who asked to not be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. A spokesperson for Rockstar didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent after business hours ...

Last year, hackers released hours of early footage from Grand Theft Auto VI. Rockstar blamed a “network intrusion” and said it “will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready.” Two UK teens were convicted of the hack in a London criminal trial earlier this year.

The game is set in a fictional version of Miami and features two protagonists, a man and a woman, Bloomberg News has reported.

Take-Two is scheduled to report earnings on Wednesday.

Originally Posted by Emperor Smeat (Post 5636631)

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Rockstar is currently expected to officially announced GTA VI as early as this week.

It was reported that the first official trailer for the game is expected to be released next month to coincide with Rockstar's 25th anniversary.


Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...dsFo5JjTaKz2PA

Originally Posted by Destructoid

Valve has just announced the Steam Deck OLED, due to release in very short order on November 16. Effectively an upgrade to the baseline Steam Deck model, the OLED variant will even have a substantially upgraded battery, making the device that much more appealing.

What’s particularly interesting here is that as the OLED model of the Steam Deck rolls in, Valve is phasing out the 64 GB and the 512 GB variants of the original device. As of right now, these version of the Deck are only going to stay in stock while supplies last (with an appropriate price drop), and new buyers will be able to purchase the following versions of the device in the future:

256 GB LCD version of the Steam Deck at $399
512 GB OLED version of the Steam Deck at $549
1 TB OLED version of the Steam Deck at $649

... Aside from the obvious boon of a 7.4″ OLED display with HDR support which is “designed from the ground up for gaming,” according to Valve’s press release, the device also features the following upgrades compared to the previously available model:

6nm APU for improved gaming efficiency
Wi-Fi 6E for better download speeds
50Whr battery delivering up to 12 hours worth of gameplay

The top-spec 1 TB version of the Deck comes with its own set of exclusive boons, including the premium anti-glare etched display that was previously reserved for the 512 GB version, a special carrying case with removable liner, an exclusive startup movie, and an exclusive virtual keyboard theme. All in all, quite the bundle of goodies.

Originally Posted by Destructoid

2023 has been an utterly miserable time to be working in the video game industry. Announcements of layoffs from some of the biggest names around have been dominating news sections lately. While we already knew Embracer Group was one of them, we now know the figures.

In the most recent sales report from the Crystal Dynamics and Gearbox Software owner, the company has said it experienced a 13% increase in net sales between July and September of this year (Q2 of their 2023-2024 fiscal year).

It then goes on to acknowledge that “around 900” people were part of the “reduction in headcount.” This equates to 5% of the whole workforce. That’s quite an astonishing amount of people to let go. Embracer Group said it’s also “reduced the number of projects” being worked on and is focussing on “improving the projected return on investment within PC/Console.”

The report goes on to say that CEO Lars Wingeford would like to “put on record a special thanks to the people who have left Embracer in the quarter.” Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to bring much comfort to those who have lost their jobs.

Originally Posted by M-A-G (Post 5644184)

Game Informer shut down and closed as a publication.