Business

Team Asobi Striving For Unique Game Experience

Published

7 months ago

August 16, 2022

Anthony DiMoro

Team Asobi, the team behind Astro’s Playroom which was really fun during the launch of the Playstation 5, is now looking to make games in a very specific way; “We want our games to feel like they’re made in Japan”.

The team was also behind the acclaimed Astro Bot: Rescue Mission for PlayStation VR, and now they aim to move outside the world of virtual reality to do something different.

“Of course [Astro’s Playroom] was a showcase of the DualSense, and a love letter to PlayStation, but one of the goals was: can we live up to making a TV game? A classic non-VR game? And do character controls and all that? Are our skills sufficient?” Team Asobi creative and studio director Nicolas Doucet said, according to GamesIndustry.biz.

“Making a VR game for PS4 means doing PS3 quality-levels in terms of assets, because you’re on a tight [technical] budget. But when you jump to PS5… are we able to go to that level? So we got some confidence out of this.

“It’s very nice to know that whenever a PS5 is bought, Astro is going to get played. It was a big responsibility, because if you make something that’s a little bit without flavour, then you run the risk of making the console feel that way.”

The company is growing, and the expectation is that they will reach around 100 people in the near future.

“We have a current production, and that’s going fine,” Doucet said. “But we want to have another group for R&D, and we want enough in this group to explore as many areas that are interesting. And to potentially start other projects.

“But we’re not giving ourselves any limits. If good people want to join Team Asobi, then we will be willing to talk to them. There is always stuff to do. There is always new projects to begin. We are not limited by any money or time. If we could double the studio just like that, we would find work for everybody.”

Read the entire interview over at GamesIndustry.biz

Business

Epic Games Store Hits $820 Million in Player Spending During 2022

Published

6 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Epic Games has officially released financial data related to it’s growing marketplace on PC, showing that $820 million was spent on the Epic Games Store during the 2022 year, and promised support for third-party subscription services and new ‘content hubs’ to help companies promote their titles.

According to the data:

The numbers

Total users of Epic Games Store PC: 230 million (up 19% year-on-year)
Epic cross-platform accounts: 732 million
Daily active users peak: 34.3 million
Monthly active users: 68 million (up 10%)

Total spending, incl. Epic’s games: $820 million (down 2%)
Spending on third-party games: $355 million (up 18%)
Free games claimed: 700 million
Number of new PC releases: 626
Total library of PC games: 1,548 (up 68%)

Epic Games stated on it’s blog that more PC games launched during the 2022 year than in any year prior.

Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto 5, Rocket League, Genshin Impact, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands were among the most popular titles related to player engagement and player spending, and Epic Games looks to deepen their focus in 2023 as they aim to improve the store launcher’s performance.

Epic Games also aims to add support for subscription services from third-party publishers and live service products by the end of the 2023 year, adding that they are also working on ‘content hubs’ which will be separate from product pages and will enable publishers to “share information with users in a robust editorial format.”

Business

California Judge Dismisses Gamers Lawsuit Filed Against Microsoft

Published

6 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that the group of 10 plaintiffs “[lacked] allegations” in their lawsuit filed last year that claimed Microsoft’s ownerships of Activision Blizzard would harm consumers and competition in the video games market, according to a filing shared by Reuters.

While US District Judge Jacqueline Corley dismissed the case, she also gave the plaintiffs 20 days to refine their lawsuit and resubmit it, and the group’s lawyer, Joseph Saveri, said that there are plans to officially submit an amended lawsuit with “additional factual detail” that will address the judge’s concerns.

It marks a victory for Microsoft, but their battles are far from over as they still face a hearing over the Federal Trade Commission’s legal complaint, which is currently slated to take place in August of this year.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard originally expected the transaction to be complete by June 30, 2023.

Business

Super Evil Megacorp Expanding Team for Netflix Project

Published

6 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Catalyst Black developer Super Evil Megacorp has expanded their team following the announcement of their new partnership with content streaming platform Netflix, which include new additions from big name brands like Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Rockstar Games, according to MobileGamer.biz.

These are some of the appointments:

Tim Hume – lead gameplay tech engineer
JC Simbulan – lead animator
Steven Goodwin – senior technical engineer
Jurie Horneman – lead narrative engineer
Cassandre Beaumier – production director
Milo Casali – senior level designer

Netflix’s vice president and head of external games Leanne Loombe commented on the new title in the works for Netflix.

“It’s a big bet for us and we’re very much focused on creating an ecosystem around the streaming content and the game,” Loombe said. “It’s really a transmedia play for us in this brand new IP.”