Sony, The Witcher, Tencent… the business news of the week

news business Sony, The Witcher, Tencent… the business news of the week

Sony buys Haven Studios

Haven joins the PlayStation Studios family. Sony had already invested in this Jade Raymond-led studio when it was founded last year and ordered a new exclusive PlayStation franchise there. So this relationship (already) goes to the next step: “We have been impressed with the growth and progress of the studio”, called Hermen Hulst, Patron of PlayStation Studios.

Based in Montreal, Haven currently employs almost 60 people, mostly veterans who have worked alongside Jade Raymond at Ubisoft, Electronic Arts or Google. Known as a producer (Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell Blacklist…), the Canadian headed Stadia Studios between 2019 and 2021 before embarking on this new adventure.

We know that now The new AAA license that Haven is preparing is a service game “with an ever-changing world of freedom, passion and enthusiasm to keep players entertained for years to come”. As a reminder, after acquiring Bungie in late January, Sony announced its goal of releasing 10 service games by March 2026.

Press release by Jade Raymond

A year ago this month, Haven Studios embarked on an adventure with a small team but big ambitions. Our goal was to build a studio that would allow us to make the games we’ve always wanted to make, games we actually wanted to play!

Thanks to our passionate team and their extraordinary dedication, we have made incredible progress in such a short time. At Haven, we have established a culture based on friendliness, flexibility and the courage to let your creativity run free. Our first franchise for PlayStation is poised to deliver a AAA multiplayer experience with an ever-evolving world focused on freedom, passion and excitement to keep players entertained for years to come.

Today, the Haven team begins a new phase in their adventure by joining the PlayStation Studios family. Working with Hermen, Connie Booth and the entire PlayStation team over the past year has been a career highlight. SIE is a real support who fully understands what the creative process is and what makes a AAA hit. They gave us carte blanche to bring our bold project to life and make our dreams come true. We are therefore pleased to take this opportunity to strengthen our partnership.

As an in-house studio at SIE, we have the opportunity to work with some of the most famous development teams in the world, including studios like Guerrilla, Naughty Dog, Media Molecule or Insomniac Games, the creators of games that have inspired us for years as gamers and developers. We look forward to learning from these world-renowned studios and the exceptional creative, technical and marketing teams whose expertise will enable us to create even more amazing games for gamers.

Thank you to the entire Haven team. This year has been one of the most rewarding of my entire career. We look forward to revealing more to players around the world. We are just beginning what will surely be a wonderful adventure that will span generations.

CD Projekt and Epic Games are partners for the upcoming The Witcher

CD Projekt has announced that the next big The Witcher game is currently in development. This will mark the beginning of one “New Saga for the Franchise”but also a technological partnership with Epic Games. In fact, this new opus is based on the brand new Unreal Engine 5 developed by Tim Sweeney’s company. The Polish studio has therefore dispensed with its in-house REDengine engine, which has been used since The Witcher 2 (2011). A choice meant to save development time and resources, as CTO Paweł Zawodny explains:

It is important for CD PROJEKT RED to have a technical direction for our future game as soon as possible; In the past we have invested a lot of resources and energy to further develop and adapt the REDengine with each new game release. This collaboration is so exciting because it improves development anticipation and efficiency while giving us access to the very latest in art development tools. I can’t wait to see the amazing games we will be making with Unreal Engine 5! Paweł Zawodny, technical director.

Epic built Unreal Engine 5 to give developers the power to create dynamic open worlds on an unprecedented scale and with unprecedented fidelity. We are deeply honored to have the opportunity to work with CD PROJEKT RED to collectively push the boundaries of interactive storytelling and gameplay, and these efforts will benefit the developer community for years to come. Tim Sweeney, PDG by Epic Games.

In its press release, CD Projekt recalls that the REDengine will obviously always be used to develop expansions for Cyberpunk 2077. Finally, the studio clarified that its partnership with Epic Games does not mean that the next The Witcher will be exclusive to Epic Games . Save on computer.

Tencent Games: Record sales in 2021, ahead of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo

Tencent unveiled its financial results for the year 2021. With its video game activity alone, the Chinese giant achieved a colossal sales of 25 billion dollars, even higher than in 2020 (21.6 billion dollars). Enough to surpass every other player in the video game industry, whether it’s PlayStation ($22.5 billion), Xbox ($14.8 billion), Nintendo ($13.9 billion) or even Chinese competitor NetEase Games (12, 4 billion dollars).

The growth of Tencent Games in 2021 can be explained by the Increased sales in foreign markets (outside China). These increased by 31% to 6.4 billion dollars, or 26% of total sales, with the company’s target of reaching 50%. League of Legends, PUBG Mobile, Valorant, Brawl Stars and Clash of Clans are named as major international contributors.

Among international mobile games, we have developed 5 of the top 10 titles based on the number of daily active users. The League of Legends anime series Arcane topped Netflix’s English-language TV series charts in the week following its release. The League of Legends World Championship cemented its lead as the most popular esports tournament, attracting a record roughly 74 million concurrent viewers for the finals. Tencent press release.

In China, Tencent’s gaming revenue grew 6%, despite local government measures to block the release of new games and reduce underage gaming time. Underage player spending accounts for just 1.5% of total revenue. Honor of Kings is still the main source of revenue, but Tencent also cites the achievement of League of Legends: Wild Rift and Fight of The Golden Spatula, a local adaptation of Teamfight Tactics.

Finally, it should be noted that Tencent group as a whole achieved sales of 80 billion dollars and net profit of 32 billion dollars in 2021. In particular, the company owns the multi-service application WeChat, which has more than a billion users in China.

Briefly in the business news of the week

• Maps France – The SELLING unveiled the best physical sales in France for the week of March 7-13. The first two spots in the top 5 are taken by Gran Turismo 7 (PS5 and PS4 versions), followed by Pokémon Legends Arceus, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Mario Party Superstars.
• game pass – On the occasion of GDC 2022, Microsoft revealed several game pass stats. For example, according to the American company, subscribers spend more money (+50%) than non-subscribers. You can find all the details in our dedicated article.
• Xbox x FFF – Xbox is now the official partner of the France men’s and women’s national football teams. In particular, Xbox FC will emerge from this partnership, a program aimed at strengthening the FFF’s support for amateur football through the renovation of the infrastructure of several clubs in France.
• ”’Netflix”’ – The streaming giant has announced the acquisition of studio Boss Fight Entertainment, known for its mobile free-to-play Dungeon Boss. This is the third studio acquisition in six months, following Next Games and Night School Studio.
• ”’ID@Xbox”’ – Since the program launched in 2013, indie developers have earned over $2.5 billion in royalties.