Game industry business news

The PlayStation Vita remains a viable platform for publishers, Ubisoft has argued. Sony lowered its sales expectation for the machine for the fourth time earlier this week, leading many to write it off as a commercial disaster. But Ubisoft says that there is money to be made with the right …

The Mass Effect game currently in development will not star Commander Shepard and will likely not be a prequel or a sequel to the existing trilogy. "To call the next game Mass Effect 4 or ME4 is doing it a disservice and seems to cause a lot of confusion here," …

Outspoken CEO Bobby Kotick has admitted that his company Activision Blizzard had expected Wii U do fare better than it has for in its short life in the market. "We were somewhat disappointed with the launch of the Wii U,” he told investors when speaking about Nintendo’s machine and what …

Call of Duty and Skylanders lead the charge for publishing giant

Hungama and Gameshastra have entered into a joint venture to create games for the Indian audience across multiple platforms. The venture will combine Hungama’s strengths in content development for digital platforms with Gameshastra’s prowess in console and iOS/Android game development to create games based on Hungama’s original and licensed IP. …

Activision Blizzard has released its full year financial report for 2012, recording revenue of $4.8bn thanks to Call of Duty, Diablo, and Skylanders. For the past quarter, ending on December 31st of last year, net revenue was a record $1.77bn – up from 2011’s net revenue of $1.41bn during the …

Rayman Legends, which was revealed as a Wii-U exclusive and was scheduled for release this month, is set to got multi-platform. The successor to the brilliant Rayman Origins has been pushed back to September and will now release simultaneously for Wii-U, Xbox 360 and PS3. We heard from many Xbox …

Android-based, Kickstarter-backed home console Ouya isn’t even out yet and its makers are already planning annual revisions of the device. The plan mimics hardware trends seen in the smartphone and tablet markets, and the company plans to take advantage of newer technologies and lower costs to up the console’s performance …

LittleBigPlanet 3 is reportedly in development at UK studio Sumo Digital, and apparently has been for more than a year. VG247 claims multiple sources have stated via email that the developer is working on the third major (and sixth total) release in Sony and Media Molecule’s franchise – with the …

In a surprise move, Ubisoft has revealed that the next Assassin’s Creed game will feature a new protagonist and a new setting, and will be created by a new team. Assassin’s Creed 3 released last year and featured new hero Connor Kenway, with the game set during the American Revolution. …