News business Sony, Remedy, Konami: the business news of the week
,
Sales figures, studio buyouts, financial reports, developer transfer windows, investments … if these topics are of interest to you, you’ve come to the right place. We offer you an update on last week’s economic news.
Konami and Bloober Team (The Medium) announce partnership
The Japanese publisher Konami and the Polish studio Bloober team merge: The two companies have founded “a strategic cooperation agreement”that will include jointly developed content and an exchange of know-how. “Significant changes are expected in the digital entertainment industry in the future. We look forward to combining the qualities and strengths of Bloober Team with our own to create high quality content.”said Hideki Hayakawa, President of Konami Digital Entertainment, in one communicates. “For me this is a historic day and the highlight of my many years of work. The fact that a well-known company like Konami has chosen to work strategically with Bloober Team means that we are also a leader in video games, and that we have become. ” an equal partner for the main players in the market “, also commented Piotr Babieno, CEO of Bloober Team.
For now, no further details about this collaboration, the revives rumors about the Silent Hill license. Bloober Team was founded in Krakow in 2008 and specializes in the development of psychological horror games. We owe him Layers of Fear and its sequel Observer, Blair Witch or, more recently, The Medium, a title that is rightly presented by its creators as a “love letter to Silent Hill”. Also remember that in early 2021 the CEO of the Polish studio said Worked for a year on a horror game “from a different license” with “a very well-known publisher”.
Remedy signs a multiplayer spin-off from Control with 505 Games
Le studio Remedy a display the start of a new partnership with 505 Games, publisher of Control, for the Production of a multiplayer spin-off. In response to the code name Condor, the title is suggested more precisely Four-player PvE co-op and will be released on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC on a date that is not yet known. The initial development budget is 25 million dollars, with development and marketing costs being split equally between 505 Games and Remedy, as is the income from the game.
In a post by Blog, director Mikael Kasurinen confirms that “Multiplayer will arouse skepticism”. However, he explains that if the studio is known for its solo productions (Quantum Break, Alan Wake …), it has many fans of multiplayer games in its ranks. “I believe we can create shared experiences without compromising the unique DNA of who we are or the stories we want to tell. Yes, we need to rethink our points of view, our techniques and our way of thinking, but we are seeing this as an exciting challenge: what would a multiplayer remedy game look like? “, we can read. Let’s keep that in mind too as a team from Remedy (vanguard) has been working on another cooperative multiplayer game for several years. “The two games will be different examples of how you can experience our worlds together”, soulful Kasurinen.
The announcement doesn’t end here: Workaround and 505 games too “defined the terms of a collaboration to expand the control franchise with a control game with a larger budget”. So we can imagine that a “Control 2” type of the first, which has been sold more than two million times since its release in August 2019, will see the light of day. One thing is certain, the studio and its around 280 employees are between these new projects, their work on the single-player FPS CrossfireX campaign, but also the two games financed by Epic Games, which are rumored to be Alan Wake Remastered and Alan Wake 2.
Sony acquires Housemarque (Returnal) and Nixxes Software Studios Software
Things are moving on the side of PlayStation studios. In this week, Sony has successively announced the purchase of the studios House brand and Nixxes software, for indefinite amounts. The first is a long-term partner of the manufacturer who has worked on several PlayStation exclusives such as Dead Nation, Alienation, Resogun and most recently Roguelite Returnal, the first big budget game from the Finnish studio founded in 1995. “This latest title proves that the studio has an incredible vision and the ability to create new, unforgettable games that will resonate with our community.”, commented Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios.
If the Housemarque acquisition comes as no surprise, that of Nixxes Software is rather unexpected. This Dutch studio was founded in 1999 and has never developed a solo game since its inception specializes in co-development and porting, especially to PC. In the past he mainly worked with Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal on licenses such as Legacy of Kain, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex or Marvel’s Avengers. “They are passionate about optimizing games and giving players the best possible experience. Nixxes will be a great addition to all PlayStation Studios and help our teams focus on their most important goal,” which is unique PlayStation content of the best possible quality “
“Like on TV” ads in console and PC games soon?
Simulmedia, a television advertising company, is preparing to launch its Record player WON after this Accomplished tests For many months. His goal : Bring big brands in touch with development studios to integrate commercials directly into your games and generate additional income. Concrete, Players have the option to watch 15- or 30-second video ads similar to those broadcast on television, which allows them to unlock in-game rewards such as skins or virtual currency. An already common practice in the free-to-play mobile market. We are talking about PC and console games which, with the exception of a few product or brand placements, especially in sports games such as UFC 4 and NBA 2K21 (an example opposite), have so far remained relatively unaffected. Last month, it was Facebook that announced the arrival of ads in the game Oculus Blaston … previously trace back given the scolding of the players.
The Simulmedia initiative is clearly on the road to success, because fruit the company has already signed with “several large publishers”, not Electronic Arts and Hi-Rez Studios (Smite)as reported Axios. A dozen games – unspecified – should advertise thanks to playerWON by the end of 2021.
Also read: Advertising integrated into video games: a public reception with variable geometry
Sony targeted by independent developer reviews
In this week, several independent developers have expressed frustration with Sony’s policy towards them
It is mainly Difficulty communicating with representatives from PlayStation, marketing tools “not existent” and the lack of visibility in the PlayStation Store that are weeded out. In fact it is impossible to be featured in the Sony store without spending a large sum ($ 25,000 minimum) with Nintendo and Xbox offering free options. This lack of visibility is compounded by the fact that Sony doesn’t give developers the flexibility to implement price cuts for their games whenever they want. This requires receiving an invitation, which Nintendo and Xbox do not. Result, lower sales on PS Store than other platforms as shown Here by Matthew White of Whitethorn Games or was by Cristian Botea de These great guys.
“Draugen has been on consoles for over a year. When was the last time he got promoted? And it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. It’s daunting. Are a fairly established developer, but honestly, I have no idea who I’m talking to should turn me. ” to qualify for a promotion on this console “, testify Ragnar Tørnquist from Red Thread Games. “Yeah, PlayStation sucks for independent developers. Our sales are poor compared to other major consoles.”, adds Jay Tholen, developer of Hypnospace Outlaw. According to Jason Schreier de Bloomberg, The PlayStation team dedicated to helping independents is severely understaffedhence the difficulty for the studios to get answers to their inquiries. Sony has not yet responded to press inquiries about this affair.
Coming soon in the week’s business news
- According to journalist Jeff Grub from Venture beat, Hideo Kojima and Microsoft have signed a letter of intent in which both parties agree the details of a Release agreement for a future Xbox game developed by Kojima Productions.
- Three months after the Magic: Legends beta started Perfect World and Cryptic Studios throw in the towel. Multiplayer action RPG closes on November 1st, 2021.
- Blizzard veterans (David Kim, Jason Hugues, Zhongshan Zhang) founded the Uncapped Games studio with financial support from Tencent. Their goal: to make “the next great real-time strategy game on the PC”.
- Another studio birth: that of Humanoid Studios, directed by Casey Hudson, former head of franchise development for Mass Effect and CEO of BioWare, who left last December. His new team is preparing an unprecedented license.
- Final Fantasy Type-0 and Final Fantasy 15 director Hajime Tabata is working on two new role-playing games with his studio JP Games, which he founded in early 2019.
- Funcom has acquired The Outsiders studio, which is preparing the release of rhythmic FPS Metal: Hellsinger for this year.
- The Persona saga now has more than 15 million sales, including 1.8 million for Persona 5 Royal (PS4), 1.5 million for Persona 5 Strikers (PS4, Switch, PC) and 1 million for Persona 4: Golden (PC).
- Microids announced that Gear.Club Unlimited and its sequel, available only on Switch, have exceeded a million sales.
- The Singularity 6 studio raised 30 million dollars for the development of its MMO Palia.
Table of Contents
