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Sherbytes: Industry News Megathread, v.1

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LFG. Game looks bonkers. I’ve been doing my best to catch up on lore so I don’t miss the little quips and storylines they’re talking about.

 
Bioware are laying off 50 people and have cut ties with Keywoards a playtesting group who recently unionized

https://blog.bioware.com/2023/08/23/an-update-on-the-state-of-bioware/

As part of this transition, we are eliminating approximately 50 roles at BioWare. That is deeply painful and humbling to write. We are doing everything we can to ensure the process is handled with empathy, respect, and clear communication. With that last point in mind, I want to take a moment to explain how we got here, what we're doing to support our colleagues, and what this means for BioWare's current and future games.
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https://venturebeat.com/games/eas-b...es-with-unionized-keywords-playtesting-group/

A spokesperson for EA said that the company was unable to come to an agreement with a part of Keywords, a big game services firm, that provides playtesting services. In June 2022, this small part of Keywords had a group of contractors who voted to unionize.

EA said it was unable to create a new contract and so will let that current one expire on September 27. It's not clear what will happen to the contractors without the EA contract, but it's fair to guess that some jobs will likely be lost over at Keywords unless they find other work.

An industry source said EA has renewed work orders with Keywords Studios since their employees voted to unionize in June 2022. But the source added that, in this instance, the two companies simply couldn't agree to terms. The Keywords contract requirements exceeded what EA/Bioware needed given the change in development approach at the studio.
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New article from GamesIndustry.biz on current video game industry growth, hardware supply health, subscription fatigue, headset popularity, cool graphs for takeaway data points, and more. Good read, so take a few minutes, kick back, and give a look-see.

Hardware did much of the heavy lifting in getting the market back to growth over the past 12 months. Sales of new hardware products contributed $7 billion of the $57 billion in total video game spending in the US market over the past 12 months, 19% higher than the same period a year ago.

(...)

Despite the supply constraints early in the generation each console is comparing well to prior hardware releases. On a comparative basis, PlayStation 5 is now trending 5% above PlayStation 4 and 87% ahead of PlayStation 3 in time aligned units sold life-to-date, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 10% yet leads Xbox 360 by 6%.

Switch has also continued to perform strongly in 2023, helped by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In fact, the US lifetime sales of Switch hardware finally surpassed those of Wii in the US market during July 2023. Switch lifetime sales now trail Xbox 360 by less than one million units, and PlayStation 2 by fewer than five million.

We are, however, seeing a shift in the customer base for new video game hardware. Circana’s Checkout service has uncovered that high income households (those earning over $100k/year) are contributing most to current video game hardware sales, a significant shift from where the market was at the beginning of 2020. Higher prices in everyday spending categories such as food and gas, as well as a shift from Switch towards more expensive PlayStation 5 consoles are likely contributing factors, among others.
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Full read here. (External)
 
Valhoven said:
New article from GamesIndustry.biz on current video game industry growth, hardware supply health, subscription fatigue, headset popularity, cool graphs for takeaway data points, and more. Good read, so take a few minutes, kick back, and give a look-see.

Hardware did much of the heavy lifting in getting the market back to growth over the past 12 months. Sales of new hardware products contributed $7 billion of the $57 billion in total video game spending in the US market over the past 12 months, 19% higher than the same period a year ago.

(...)

Despite the supply constraints early in the generation each console is comparing well to prior hardware releases. On a comparative basis, PlayStation 5 is now trending 5% above PlayStation 4 and 87% ahead of PlayStation 3 in time aligned units sold life-to-date, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 10% yet leads Xbox 360 by 6%.

Switch has also continued to perform strongly in 2023, helped by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In fact, the US lifetime sales of Switch hardware finally surpassed those of Wii in the US market during July 2023. Switch lifetime sales now trail Xbox 360 by less than one million units, and PlayStation 2 by fewer than five million.

We are, however, seeing a shift in the customer base for new video game hardware. Circana’s Checkout service has uncovered that high income households (those earning over $100k/year) are contributing most to current video game hardware sales, a significant shift from where the market was at the beginning of 2020. Higher prices in everyday spending categories such as food and gas, as well as a shift from Switch towards more expensive PlayStation 5 consoles are likely contributing factors, among others.
​

Full read here. (External)
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Xbox Series console lifetime to date sales are behind the One yet ahead of the 360??? What???

Back when I was in law school everyone and their dog had a 360. I barely know anyone that had a One or has a Series. How could the Series be ahead of the 360 after almost 3 years? By this point in time the 360 had already had some of its biggest hits like Halo 3, Gears of War and Mass Effect. This doesn’t make any sense.
 
Embracer News......

First Violtion Studios has been closed down

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/voli...T/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

1693499419800




And then have had layoffs at Gearbox Publishing

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/report-embracer-has-made-layoffs-at-gearbox-publishing

According to former staffers' Linkedin profiles, a series of layoffs have reportedly been conducted at Gearbox Publishing. Former employees throughout the summer and as recently as this week revealed they were let go from the publishing arm of the Borderlands developer.


"No one saw it coming, but my contract and those of my colleagues who started in June had to be terminated," wrote translator Allan Jacquemart in June. "We were simply victims of the group's restructuring."

Gearbox and Embracer
Gearbox is a subsidiary of Embracer, which said at the start of the summer it would cut jobs after spending so much money to acquire various studios and properties. The layoffs (and by extension, the projects cancelled at affected studios) have been made in response to a reported $2 billion deal with Savvy Games that collapsed back in May.

At the start of August, Embracer shut down Danish studio Campfire Cabal, and earlier today announced the closure of Volition.

In 2015, Gearbox began to publish games from third-party studios, with its debut title being the 2016 remaster of People Can Fly's Bulletstorm. Recent releases include Gunfire Games' Remnant II from July and Heart Machine's Hyper Light Breaker for 2024.
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Red Dead Redemption III is in development, reveals Take-Two Interactive president Karl Slatoff.
 
Having sold in excess of 12M units within a fortnight of launch and generating almost 1B USD in revenue, a sequel to Hogwarts Legacy is in the works at Salt Lake City's Avalanche; not yet by pub (Warner Bros) or dev confirmed however, claims insider.
 
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XDefiant dev Ubi San Francisco has been teasing launching this month; grapevine at time of writing is 17 Sep. Clancy fans with CoD or Apex fatigue should ready their trigger fingers and check out the incoming arena shooter looking to bring back OG game movement.

Title will be F2P.
 
Valorant pro Daveeys has died today, family confirms. He died aged only 23 and of what's called decompensation.

While more common in older people, I've read decompensation is when the human heart is no longer able to maintain adequate circulation and can be brought on by extreme stress, fatigue, or acute illness. COVID-19 has come up in the community as a possibility.

Dav.jpeg​
 
Valhoven said:
View attachment 999722

XDefiant dev Ubi San Francisco has been teasing launching this month; grapevine at time of writing is 17 Sep. Clancy fans with CoD or Apex fatigue should ready their trigger fingers and check out the incoming arena shooter looking to bring back OG game movement.

Title will be F2P.
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Nice looking forward to this one. Played the beta a bit and liked what I played.
 
Stray is getting an Movie Adaption

https://ew.com/movies/stray-movie-video-game-chris-wedge-foo-annapurna-animation/

Among other intriguing items on the agenda for the division are plans to adapt video games from Annapurna Interactive, the gaming branch of the indie studio. First up is Stray, the award-winning adventure game from the developers at BlueTwelve Studio.

Released in 2022, Stray puts players in control of a stealthy cat who must traverse an underground city populated by robots and mutant bacteria with the help of a friendly drone, B-12. An animated movie based on Stray is in active development.

"This is a game that's all about what makes us human, and there are no humans in it," he says. "It's a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot, and there's such a hilarious dynamic. So, there's comedy inherent in this, but there's not one human being in this movie. I think it's one of the reasons why the game was incredibly popular, that you are seeing the world through the point of view of an adorable cat. How did they pull that off, and how are we going to pull that off in the movie? We will, even though sometimes it feels impossible, but we know that's the essence of the game and the key to telling the story."
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Ubisoft's much troubled Skull and Bones has lost its 3rd Creative Director and is facing a Union Campaign from Singapore's Creative Media and Publishing Union

https://kotaku.com/skull-bones-release-date-beta-delay-union-ubisoft-1850808766

Ubisoft's open seas pirate fantasy from hell has lost its third creative director. Kotaku has learned that Elisabeth Pellen, who began working with the Skull and Bones team back in 2018, left Ubisoft Singapore to return to the French publisher's Paris headquarters earlier this summer. The game's long-awaited closed beta recently received mixed reactions, and Kotaku now understands that Ubisoft Singapore faces an organized labor campaign by the country's Creative Media and Publishing Union.
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Under the radar launch incoming for Sweden's Starbreeze studio in Payday 3 – 1.5 weeks (21 Sep). Title is FPS and MP.

There will be stealth and loud builds with hacking + gadgets to build around. Each job has a lot of freedom in how you want to grab and extract, I'm seeing. Game was built using UE4 but there's apparently a UE5 upgrade in the works so not 100 what's happening.

Skip around below to check out a heist:

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Embracer are possibly looking at selling Gearbox Entertainment off



LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Embracer is considering options for its U.S. game developer Gearbox Entertainment including a sale as Europe's largest gaming company looks to shore up its finances, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The maker of Tomb Raider video games, whose shares are traded in Stockholm, is working with Goldman Sachs and Aream & Co to explore a sale, the people said.

Embracer is weighing selling the unit, which is known for first-person shooter game Borderlands, after receiving interest from third parties, two of the people said.

Officials from Embracer and Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Aream did not respond to requests for comment.
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rikwebb said:
Embracer are possibly looking at selling Gearbox Entertainment off

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Not surprising given how rapidly they overreached, but it's concerning they are selling off one of their most competent studios first. I'm guessing the Embracer wants to end up more a holding company of IP rights and get out of active video game development for the most part.
 
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