Game industry business news

Following up on a fan favourite franchise after a seven years hiatus is never an easy task. But imagine the pressure when the main character of that series has been a key (unofficial) PlayStation mascot for the past two decades. With 18 games over the span of 14 years, Naughty …

A game that sold itself on the chance to earn a Platinum Trophy in record time has been removed from sale on the PS4 store. The game, which was called ‘????? 1000 Top Rated’, appeared on PSN earlier this week but lasted less than two days before it was pulled. …

The studio behind the Age of Wonders and Overlord series has a new owner. Paradox Interactive has acquired Triumph Studios for an undisclosed sum. Founders Lennart Sas and Arno van Wingerden will both remain, and work on current projects will continue. Triumph Studios is a developer of our own heart,” …

Retailer GAME has told investors that its full year profits will be substantially below previous expectations”. It is blaming the performance on what it has for a long time described as market challenges”, but also specifically this time on the Nintendo Switch stock situation. Consumer demand for Nintendo Switch has …

This week, we talk to Microsoft and Sony about their E3 announcements and what’s to come for the platform holders. In the blue corner, Sony Worldwide Studios’ senior VP Michael Denny discusses PlayLink and how it’s looking to utilise casual gamers’ familiarity with smartphones as a recruiting tool for multiplayer …

One of the developers of breakout hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has seemingly left the door open for other console versions of the game. An Xbox port was confirmed at E3 and was described as a console exclusive. Speaking to VG247, however, executive producer Chang Han Kim said: We definitely do have …

PQube has teamed up with LA-based hardware development company Hyperkin to bring the SmartBoy mobile phone accessory to European retail through the Samsung Mobile Accessory Partnership Program. Priced at 59.99, the SmartBoy attaches to Android smartphones to turn them into handheld gaming devices, but it’s also compatible with NTSC and …

While the dust has largely settled regarding the disagreements over Steam’s refund policies, the extent of their impact has been illustrated by Garry Newman. The developer has revealed that his sometimes controversial survival sandbox Rust has revealed that the game has in total been refunded 329,970 times, which in total …

Virgin Media is to host the UK’s firstDestiny 2gameplay event next month in collaboration with Activision and Bungie, the internet service provider has announced. Taking place on July 17th and 18th at a secret central London locationjust before the official beta starts on PS4, Virgin Media Vivid Gamer customers will …

A new reports from IHS Markit has predicted that the Chinese video game success story is going to become even more important over the next few years. In 2016, the Chinese video game market was worth $25.6bn, and this is expected to grow to $29bn this year. This makes it …