2024-05

Square Enix, the developer-publisher behind this year's Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, is set to lay off an unspecified number of employees across its U.S. and European offices, which are headquartered in California and the United Kingdom, respectively, this week. According to those in attendance, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu delivered this news in a company-wide meeting, as first reported by VideoGamesChronicle.  Layoffs such as these were suspected following Square Enix's latest financial earnings report, which includes a three-year company reboot plan with an "aggressive" multiplatform release strategy after a slide mentioned "structural reforms." You can see the slide below:  As you can see above, as part of Square Enix's plan to rebuild its overseas business divisions from the ground up, the company "began optimizing costs at its European and American offices via structural reforms." After more than 10,000 layoffs across game...

Assassin’s Creed Codename Red now has an official title: Assassin’s Creed Shadows. We’ll also get our first full-length look at the series' first Japanese entry this week.  Ubisoft announced on X that the game’s cinematic world premiere trailer will air on May 15 at 9 a.m. P.T./12 p.m. ET. Ubisoft’s use of the word “cinematic” suggests that this trailer will not include gameplay. If that’s the case, Ubisoft could be saving a gameplay reveal for its Ubisoft Forward presentation less than a month later, on June 10. Assassin's Creed Codename Red becomes Assassin's Creed Shadows. Tune-in for the Official Cinematic World Premiere Trailer on May 15, 9 AM PT.#AssassinsCreedShadows pic.twitter.com/GF0BWqVOhS — Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) May 13, 2024 Assassin’s Creed Shadows was first announced in 2022 and will be the first entry set in feudal Japan. At the time, Ubisoft described the game as...

Square Enix is rebooting itself, "aggressively" pursuing a multiplatform strategy that includes PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC in the process. This comes from the company's latest financial earnings report, which details Square Enix's three-year reboot plan for long-term growth.  Within that three-year reboot plan, Square Enix lists four pillars:  Enhance productivity by optimizing the development footprint in the Digital Entertainment (DE) segment Diversify earnings opportunities by strengthening customer contact points Roll out initiatives to create additional foundational stability Strike a balance between shareholder return and growth investment when allocating capital  As part of this plan, Square Enix "will aggressively pursue a multiplatform strategy that includes Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs," according to the financial report. "Especially, in regards to major franchise and AAA titles including catalog titles, it will build an environment where more customers can enjoy these...

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Marvel Studios has cast Ralph Ineson as the planet-eating Galactus for The Fantastic Four. PlayStation 5 players might recognize that name as the voice of Cidolfus Telamon, aka Cid, in Final Fantasy XVI. This casting comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which reports that the production will begin shooting mid-summer in England.  Ineson, whom you might also know from The VVitch, The Northman, and The Creator, joins a star-studded cast for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first film about Marvel's First Family, which features Pedro Pascal (HBO's The Last of Us) as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear), as Ben Grimm/The Thing. Joining Ineson is a female Silver Surfer played by Julia Garner (Ozark). Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai) and John Malkovich...

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Earlier this week, Xbox closed four Bethesda studios, including Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, the team behind last year's Hi-Fi Rush. While each of the four studios affected, which also included Mighty Doom developer Alpha Dog Games and Bethesda support studio Roundhouse Games, released a statement about the closures, Xbox remained silent.  However, four days later, Bloomberg's Dina Bass interviewed Xbox president Sarah Bond and asked her about the Bethesda closures, to which Bond cited a desire to keep the Xbox business healthy in the long term, even through hard transition periods.  Here's what Bond said:  "It's always extraordinarily hard when you have to make decisions like that. I'll go back to what I was saying about the industry, and when we look at those fundamental trends, we feel a deep responsibility to ensure that the games...