Last Tuesday, founder and creative director of Avalanche Studios Christofer Sundberg had to announce that he’d served notice to around 20 employees. Coming only seven months after Avalanche laid off 77 of its 160 staff, the news shows the severe pressures under which such large, independent developers are currently operating.
Sweden-based developer Grin is rumoured to have laid off between 100 and 160 staff.
Kotaku says it has been informed by numerous sources that the company behind Bionic Commando and Terminator: Salvation is in the process of closing its Gothenburg and Barcelona offices and reducing the headcount at its Stockholm headquarters.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said that he expects set-top boxes to become gaming platforms to rival traditional consoles.
Speaking as Ubisoft reported its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, he also suggested that Apple will release new gaming hardware.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has said that he expects set-top boxes to become gaming platforms to rival traditional consoles.
Speaking as Ubisoft reported its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, he also suggested that Apple will release new gaming hardware.
Format: PS3
Release: TBA
Publisher: SCE
Developer: Japan Studio
Trash Panic represents the first attempt in 25 years to remake Tetris without the abstraction. Here the line-clearing, tidy ‘em up ethos is made literal, blocks transformed into the detritus of contemporary living, broken lightbulbs, dirty dishcloths and empty pens, the receptacle into which they descend now an open-top dustbin.
38 Studios has acquired Rise Of Nations developer Big Huge Games from publisher THQ, including all of the company’s proprietary IP, tools, technology, assets and works-in-progress.
While specific financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, 38 Studios labelled the acquisition “a critical step” in its strategy to deliver a broad range of entertainment products centred on its original fantasy IP, codenamed Copernicus.
Over two million unique users have registered for Sony Online Entertainment’s free-to-play, family-friendly MMO Free Realms.
The PC game has hit the milestone in just one month, with 75 percent of registrants under the age of 17 and 46 percent under 13, while nearly a third of players are female.
Ubisoft has reported a €31 million decline in net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, despite enjoying a 14 percent annual sales increase.
Net income dropped from €109.8 million to €68.8 million ($95.8m/£59.6m), while sales rose from €928.3 million to €1.06 billion ($1.5b/£918.7m).
Distributor Tectoy has shipped the download-only Zeebo console to retailers throughout Rio de Janeiro ahead of a wider Brazilian launch in June.
The console, which effectively uses the same Qualcomm chipsets contained in high-end smartphones, together with 1GB of flash memory, three USB slots and a proprietary dual analogue gamepad, will be available this week in more than 200 retail locations for a suggested price of $249 (499 Brazilian Reals).
One in 12 gamers has an addiction to playing, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney.
The study was based on an online poll of 2,000 gamers who answered a series of questions regarding duration of play and their experience of negative side-effects, including declines in work related performance, interrupted sleep patterns, cravings and weight change, reports TVNZ.
Lord Of The Rings Online creator Turbine has announced the appointment of a new vice president of corporate and business development.
Nate Jones will be responsible for overseeing worldwide content and licensing partnerships, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions at the company.
Jones was previously vice president of strategy and corporate development at Glu Mobile, where he oversaw the acquisitions of Mig and Superscape.
THQ has announced that its executive vice president of publishing, Scott Guthrie, has resigned with immediate effect.
Guthrie had been responsible for overseeing North American sales, distribution and marketing at the company.
“THQ has a deep and experienced global sales and marketing team and we continue to execute on our focused product strategy,” said THQ CEO Brian Farrell. “We wish Scott well in his future endeavours.”
