In a surefire sign Hollywood has reached the desperation stage of its insatiable hunger for video game properties to swallow up and spit out in dubiously recognisable big-screen form, Atari has somewhat improbably announced a deal with Universal Pictures to produce ten movies based on classic retro games from its expansive backcatalogue, including Pong, Breakout, and more.
Sega is the latest publisher to make its views about physical media clear, in the wake of Sony's controversial decision to kill off the manufacture and sale of discs by 2028. The president of the Japanese publisher, Shuji Utsumi, noted that he believes physical media is still important, though digital distribution is "crucial", mostly thanks to the "steadily increasing" number of people playing on PC.
Since 1st July, when Sony announced its intent to move away from the production and sale of physical media, we've seen plenty of backlash from both consumers and those working within the video game industry. There's plenty of evidence of this, but the most vocal and visceral has come from comments on pretty much anything Sony has posted online in the days since the announcement.
Assassin's Creed Black Flag is going from strength-to-strength for Ubisoft. After netting 2m sales in its opening few days (and then ascending to 3m within a week), Ubisoft has just announced that the game has sold through an impressive 3.5m units - meaning the remake has "exceeded annual expectations within its first 14 days", per a new financial report from the publisher.
The Rockstar Game Workers Union (RGWU), which was formed earlier this year in response to the Grand Theft Auto 6 developer's massively controversial job cuts, now has "more members than it ever had before".
Kingdom Hearts might be beloved by millions of players around the world, but it apparently didn't have a lasting impact on arguably one of the most important people involved in its creation: former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner has admitted he can't remember why he approved the pitch for Square Enix's legendary video game series.
He's been saying it for years: blockbuster game development is unsustainable today, and given that Shawn Layden used to lead PlayStation's entire roster of first-party studios, he likely knows a fair bit about the issue. "Every generation it costs twice as much to build a game," he told Tom Phillips more recently.
When Master Chief first sets foot on the unknown ringworld known as Halo, he is fighting for his life. Harried and ambushed by countless enemy ships, Chief's commanding officer scuttles their intergalactic craft upon the ringworld - assuming the human troops will fare better on this structure than face a cold, indifferent death in the vacuum of space. But once they set foot upon Halo, they realise all is not what it seems; here, they are trespassing on the work of a culture that has come before. They are treading on the face of a masterpiece. Interfering with greatness. I can't help but see the parallels to Halo Studios and Bungie.
The European Union has approved the controversial $55bn acquisition of Electronic Arts by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), private equity company Silver Lake, and investment company Affinity Partners. He's been saying it for years: blockbuster game development is unsustainable today, and given that Shawn Layden used to lead PlayStation's entire roster of first-party studios, he likely knows a fair bit about the issue. "Every generation it costs twice as much to build a game," he told Tom Phillips more recently.
Call of Duty has brought matchmaking back into the conversation. Activision has announced that Black Ops 7 is introducing a new matchmaking system, available to players today with the launch of Season 5.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has chimed in on the debate surrounding Sony's planned shift away from physical disc production, stating he doesn't think it will "disturb" the industry too much.
Xbox has announced a test for an ad-supporting streaming service for its Xbox Insider program. It will allow players to stream select games from their library for free for one-hour sessions, with advertisements playing before play sessions.
If you're among the millions whose Steam wishlists have been accumulating games for years, and you're too scared to venture in, Valve's latest Steam update should help.-his-phone-is-Resident-Evil-movie-trailer.jpg?width=690&quality=85&format=jpg&auto=webp)
A new trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil movie has been released, introducing the call-to-action for our protagonist's journey into the dark and spooky world of bio terror. It also features a nice little easter egg for keen-eyed fans of the games.
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