ReportWire

Tag: Video game industry

  • Sony ups PlayStation 5 prices in U.S., citing tariff uncertainty

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    NEW YORK CITY, New York: Sony increased the price of its PlayStation 5 consoles in the U.S. by about US$50 from August 21, citing tariff uncertainty and rising costs as the video game industry navigates a slow recovery.

    The Japanese electronics giant announced the changes in a blog post on August 20. All three PS5 models will be affected, with the top-end PS5 Pro now priced at $749.99.

    The move follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from countries including Japan and China, which have sparked fears of supply chain disruptions and higher material costs for electronics manufacturers.

    Sony raised console prices in several European markets in April. A month later, Microsoft followed suit, increasing prices for its Xbox consoles and accessories in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and the UK.

    Industry analysts had expected 2025 to be a strong year for gaming hardware sales, supported by blockbuster titles like Grand Theft Auto VI from Take-Two Interactive and Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2. But with Sony’s latest hike and the delay of GTA VI to next year, optimism about the industry’s growth trajectory has dimmed.

    The PlayStation 5, first launched in late 2020, has been a key driver of Sony’s gaming revenue, though demand has cooled following initial pandemic-era shortages. Analysts say higher price tags could further dampen sales just as new premium games were expected to spark renewed console buying.

    Sony stressed that the changes apply only to U.S. consoles. Prices in other global markets, as well as accessories for the PS5, remain unchanged.

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  • EA Lays Off Almost 800 People Weeks After Posting Huge Profits

    EA Lays Off Almost 800 People Weeks After Posting Huge Profits

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    Image: EA

    Publishing giant Electronic Arts announced today that approximately 6% of its global workforce, or between 700-800 people, will be laid off as the company drives “greater focus across our portfolio”.

    This Mini Sega Arcade Cabinet Packed With Retro Games Would Make A Great Gift

    In a post on EA’s website, CEO Andrew Wilson writes that the publisher has taken a look at its upcoming projects, restructured some teams and even reviewed their “real estate footprint”. In the wake of that, the decision was made to lay off “approximately six percent of our company’s workforce”.

    As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams. These decisions are expected to impact approximately six percent of our company’s workforce. This is the most difficult part, and we are working through the process with the utmost care and respect. Where we can, we are providing opportunities for our colleagues to transition onto other projects. Where that’s not possible, we are providing severance pay and additional benefits such as health care and career transition services. Communicating these decisions began earlier this quarter and we expect them to continue through early next fiscal year.

    Electronic Arts generated approximately $7 billion in net revenue last year, as reported on January 31, 2023, with gross profits of over $5 billion (an increase of 18% over the year before). In 2022 CEO Wilson, who described this move as “the most difficult part”, made approximately 172 times the median EA employee’s total compensation. Or 636 times what some customer service staff had been paid (before they were laid off, anyway).

    This announcement comes just a month after 200 testers working on the company’s Apex Legends series were laid off via Zoom call (though given Wilson’s comments that “these decisions began earlier this quarter”, those may have been part of this overall count).

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    Luke Plunkett

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  • Report: Callisto Protocol Devs Left Out Of Credits Despite ‘Intense’ Work

    Report: Callisto Protocol Devs Left Out Of Credits Despite ‘Intense’ Work

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    A man in a space suit appears exhausted with the lack of proper crediting in video games.

    Image: Striking Distance Studios / Krafton

    Some developers on the space horror blockbuster Callisto Protocol say they were omitted from the end credits sequence despite extensive work on the game and key contributions to the finished product. The claims come amid a renewed push throughout the video game industry to fix a broken crediting system that often punishes lower-ranking employees and those who leave prior to the final release date.

    In a new report by GamesIndustry.biz, former employees at Striking Distance Studios say they believe around 20 developers were left off Callisto Protocol’s long end-of-game credits roll. Many were surprised by the omission, and say the studio never formally communicated a policy of leaving developers off the credits if they left before the game shipped. A few regard it as punishment for taking a job somewhere else.

    “[The credits omission] felt like an obvious F-U to those who were left out,” one source tells GamesIndustry.biz. “Somebody wanted to send a message, and the message was, ‘Next time have a bit more loyalty to us.’”

    Striking Distance was formed by former Dead Space director Glen Schofield in 2019 after leaving Call of Duty studio Sledgehammer Games. Late last year as its debut game was finishing development, Schofield was criticized for a tweet that endorsed crunch culture, celebrating sacrifice and long overtime hours.

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    While he later deleted the tweet and apologized, Bloomberg subsequently confirmed that at least some developers at the studio had crunched during production. Schofield told Bloomberg that some staff were “working hard for a few weeks” but that no overtime was mandatory.

    Some former developers now tell GamesIndustry.biz that studio management would make promises to address crunch culture in the very same meetings where it would praise the long hours people had put in. “My issue is those of us who took part in that culture, who put in that time, and worked intensely to help craft this product, were punished with a credit omission for not going the extra mile…to stay until it shipped.”

    The International Game Developers Association announced a plan last August to try and standardize how developers are credited for their work, and foster the spread of tools that can make it easier to update end credits scrolls when they are missing someone or contain other inaccuracies. “Game credits are hard, particularly in AAA,” former Naughty Dog communications manager, Scott Lowe, tweeted in reaction to today’s GamesIndustry.biz report. “But the answer is easy: credit everyone. Gating by time and subjective assessments of value/impact is messy and cruel.”

    Striking Distance Studios did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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    Ethan Gach

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