Game industry business news

Kinect voice commands will always remain available on Xbox One

Xbox One’s voice commands will continue to be available even in games where developers have chosen to use the recently freed Kinect GPU power for other tasks. Microsoft recently granted developers the power to use bandwidth normally reserved for the no-longer-mandatory camera for other tasks. However, that doesn’t mean an …

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Battlefield ‘isn’t necessarily’ an annual franchise, EA says

Visceral’s entry into the world of Battlefield doesn’t automatically mean that gamers can expect a new Battlefield title every year. The Dead Space developer was named as the studio behind this year’s Battlefield: Hardline. The presumption being that the series had been put into a two-year development cycle with DICE …

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50% of Xbox One owners have played Forza 5

Microsoft’s Xbox One launch title Forza 5 has won itself a very impressive attach rate. I was humbled and flabbergasted when I learned that one out of every two Xbox One player profiles had played the full version of Forza Motorsport 5,” Turn 10 creative director Dan Greenawalt told IGN. …

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David Braben awarded an OBE

David Braben has been appointed OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. TheBBCreports that the honour was given for his services to the UK’s game and computer industries. Braben, who runs UK developer Frontier, co-created space sim Elite with Ian Bell in 1984, which went on to win huge critical …

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Game of Thrones series 4 finale sets new online piracy record

Last night’s series four finale of Game of Thrones has set a new record for illegal downloads. The tenth episode of the highly popular TV series was downloaded by over 1.5 million file sharers in the 12 hours following its transmission on American screens on Sunday night, according toTorrent Freak. …

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Capcom investors abandon takeover protection scheme

The door has been opened for a possible acquisition of Japanese publisher and developer Capcom. That’s one interpretation of the news that in its most recent investor meeting Capcom chose not to renew a ‘takeover defence plan’ that was first implemented in 2008. The measures were designed to stop a …

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Destiny’s PlayStation exclusives detailed

The exclusive content offered to PS4 and PS3 owners who play Bungie’s Destiny has been listed. At launch, PS4 and PS3 owners will get exclusive access to a unique co-op Strike located on Mars, an exclusive competitive map, and a slew of exclusive guns, gear, and ships,” PlayStation Blog reports. …

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PewDiePie makes over $4m per year

YouTube superstar Felix ‘PewDiePie’ Kjellberg is reportedly making in the region of $4m per year. That’s according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites the figure – apparently derived from ad sales and representing ‘mostly’ pure profit – in a rare interview with the Swede. It’s cool to have this …

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Oculus picks up Supergiant senior programmer Chris Jurney

Oculus VR has scooped up another industry veteran, as Supergiant’s senior programmer Chris Jurney has announced his hiring at the Facebook-owned VR company. "I’m joining [Oculus] at the end of the month to help make VR awesome," the former Double Fine lead programmer said on Twitter. Jurney, one of the …

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