Latest news with #Skate
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'There has to be a better way than this': Game developers call Microsoft's latest layoffs 'a colossal waste of talent' from a publisher that seems like it's in 'a death spiral'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Yesterday, despite posting $26 billion in profits and outperforming Wall Street forecasts in the last quarter, Microsoft began its latest round of restructuring with a targeted goal of laying off 9,000 employees. Many of those cuts have affected the Xbox gaming division, leading to cancellations of projects like Rare's Everwild and an unannounced Zenimax MMO, and studio closures for teams like The Initiative, which had been developing the now-cancelled Perfect Dark reboot. Microsoft has now laid off over 20,000 people since the start of 2023. On social media, game developers from solo indies to triple-A studio staff and everything in between have shared their dismay over the continued turmoil affecting their peers and colleagues. "It's heartbreaking to watch what's happening to this industry that I love," said Eric Neustadter, former operations manager at Xbox Live and current VP of technology at The Pokémon Company. "The incentives are misaligned so strongly that fun games and profitable teams aren't what matter." BioWare veteran and current Skate narrative director John Epler said that he's "reeling" over the news that's continuing to break about further Microsoft cuts. "18 years in the industry and I can confidently say this is the grimmest shit has been yet," Epler said. "There has to be a better way than this," said Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail. "There has to be a better games industry than this happening to so many people, over and over and over. This isn't good enough." "The games industry is going to turn me into the joker," said award-nominated Civilization 7 and Marvel's Midnight Suns writer Emma Kidwell. Many devs see Microsoft's layoffs as emblematic of an industry trapped in a doomed pursuit of perpetual growth. "Laying off thousands of people so that your numbers look better for the quarter while making many more billions is such a f'd up reality," said Chandana Ekanayake, co-founder and creative director at Outerloop Games. "Making numbers go up forever is not sustainable and never was. What a colossal waste of talent." "When mass layoffs are just a quarterly event, is this not just a death spiral?" asked Bruno Dias, former lead narrative and systems designer on Fallen London, who notes that Xbox seems to be carving up its own publishing portfolio while it's seemingly moving away from hardware. "Xbox behaves like a company that's been sold to private equity and is having the copper stripped out of the walls." Andrew Carl, systems designer at Respawn, said the newest Microsoft cuts are particularly hard to stomach given the company's heavy investment into the "dumpster fire" of generative AI development. "Reminder that all this carnage at Microsoft is coming at the same time as they are financially doubling down on the agentic & generative AI slop that nobody wants because it lies to you, has terrible security issues, & has untenable energy costs," Carl said. Microsoft said in January that it intends to spend $80 billion on AI this year. Even Seamus Blackley, creator and designer of the original Xbox who left Microsoft in 2002, said that Xbox's current strategy—assuming there is one—is self-defeating. "Think of the number of great games that had troubled development histories. All of them?" Blackley said. "Now consider how often executives cancel troubled games. Smooth development comes only when you take no risks. Greatness comes only when great risks are braved. Do the math." When one of his followers joked that "the math is being done by Copilot," Blackley said "Then it will be wrong, and it will insist it's right." Elsewhere, Firaxis narrative director Cat Manning said what felt like a summation of the entire industry's exhaustion: "I just want to make things that get players excited, man."
The Verge
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
revival launches in early access at the end of the summer, developers Full Circle
Skate to wind down the summer. EA's free-to-play Skate announced on Tuesday. If you want to try it sooner, sign up for the Skate insider program before June 27th. I've spoken with the development team twice to discuss things like why the game is free to play and about the enduring cool of skateboarding games.
Business Mayor
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Mayor
The enduring cool of skateboarding games
More than 25 years after the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater put skateboarding games on the map, developers are still finding new ways to explore skating in video games, especially in 2025. Skateboarding fans are about to have some promising new games to play, with Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake releasing in July and EA is set to launch its online-only, free-to-play Skate revival this year. In 2022, my colleague Andrew Webster wrote that we're in a golden age for skateboarding games, and things haven't really slowed down. So what is it that makes skateboarding so good for video games, and allows so many different expressions of the sport from different studios? 'I think skateboarding is one of those things that's just always cool,' THPS 3 + 4 game director Kurt Tillmanns tells The Verge . 'It's an evergreen fantasy, in both real life and games. Being a skateboarder is a sign of what and who is cool.' He says 'there's a reason that we're all in awe of what these people can do.' Part of what makes skateboarding cool is the music, fashion, and art, and video games let people experience that skateboarding culture, too, Tillmanns says. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4. Image: Activision Also, 'it's safer,' jokes Andrew Schimmel, a senior producer at Snowman, the creators of the Skate City series. He says there's a lot of people that would probably love to try skateboarding but don't want to risk breaking a bone. 'Being able to dive into a fantasy world where you can act that out and see the gnarly consequences and not have to suffer from them is like immediately appealing.' Read More Riot doubles down on music for Valorant Champions Tour 2023 It helps that games take so many different approaches to skateboarding. 'The skate community is so diverse, so it makes sense that there's an appetite for all different types of games — some more realistic, some more arcade, some more casual,' says Skate executive producer Mike McCartney. For the new Skate , 'it's all about re-creating a skateboarding experience that reflects the freedom of exploration, discovery, and expression you see in skate culture. We really wanted to respect the roots of the franchise, while bringing the game forward.' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games will always have what's in the title: 'They've got Tony Hawk, and they've got pro skaters,' Tillmanns says. That includes things like their styles and their personalities — even the special tricks for the skaters are a representation of their style in real life. Tony Hawk is very involved, too, even with the 3 + 4 remakes. Hawk 'is where the culture comes from' and he has a 'real eye for detail' about what goes in the games. 'He knows that this game is the lexicon for skaters for the next few years,' according to Tillmanns. The THPS series also strikes a nice mix of an arcade-y experience and a skateboarding simulation. It has generally realistic physics and locations, but also lets you pull off outlandish tricks, strive for video game-y goals (S-K-A-T-E, anyone?), and play as some not-real characters in wacky places. For the Skate City games, the Snowman team had to think a lot about how to make skateboarding work on mobile. The first launched as an Apple Arcade exclusive, and Skate City: New York is currently an exclusive there, too, so the Snowman team had to figure out a mobile control scheme that 'feels novel and fits the sport' that's also approachable enough to serve a wide audience, Schimmel says. Your two thumbs represent your front and back foot, and you flick your thumbs to emulate flick tricks with skateboarding. Read More vWii Homebrew Channel with Gamepad Support - Skate City: New York. Image: Snowman Developers I spoke with think there's still a lot of ways skateboarding games can grow, too. 'Skateboarding never stops evolving and neither will our game,' Skate 's head of creative, Jeff Seamster, says. 'The creativity of skaters consistently blows my mind. The spots they find, the tricks they're (still) inventing, the vibrant style… we couldn't have imagined today's scene from where we were standing 15, 10, or even five years ago. So, who knows what we'll see tomorrow?' 'Multiplayer and online can always be the next frontier,' Tillmanns says. THPS 3+4 will have crossplay, and the team is excited about 'increasing that pool of online players to something that we've never seen before in a Tony Hawk game.' Schimmel points to games like OlliOlli World (a cartoony, side-scrolling skateboarding adventure) and Skate Story (a psychedelic-looking skateboarding game set to launch this year) that are highlighting skateboarding in different ways. 'In terms of what hasn't been done, I think there's probably lots to explore,' he says.
Metro
07-05-2025
- Business
- Metro
EA game prices will not increase as Battlefield 6 release window confirmed
Despite the rising costs of games across the industry, EA has said it has no plans to change its current pricing strategy yet. The rising costs of games looks set to be a big sticking point over the coming months, with Microsoft and Nintendo both causing a ruckus over their increased prices. This will likely be amplified even further when the expected high price of GTA 6 is announced, but for now, EA has said that it doesn't have any plans to increase the cost of its games… at least not yet. During a Q&A in the company's latest earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was asked whether the company would follow Nintendo and Xbox in upping the price of its new games slated for this year. 'Our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago,' Wilson said. 'In a world where everything we did 10 years was about selling shiny discs in plastic boxes in retail shelves, while that's still a part of our business it's a significantly smaller part of our business, and we now have pricing representing everything from free-to-play all the way to deluxe editions and beyond. 'At the end of the day, whether we're doing something that costs a dollar, or we're doing something that costs $10, or we're doing something that costs $100, our objective is always delivering incredible quality and exponential value to our player base. 'And what we've discovered over the course of time is whether we can marry quality and value together, our business is strong, resilient and continues to grow.' In the most crucial detail, EA chief financial officer Stuart Canfield clarified there are 'no changes in the current strategy at this point'. While this might seem reassuring, the 'at this point' suggests EA could still bump up the price of the inevitable EA Sports FC 26, when it's officially announced, or any other game on its 2025 slate. Although given the disappointing sales for EA Sports FC 25 they're likely to hold off on that for now. One of EA's key future titles is the next Battlefield, which the publisher confirmed will release before March 2026, after a summer reveal. Wilson also said the Skate reboot will arrive within the same window. The next Battlefield, which is already being playtested by fans, is co-developed by DICE, Criterion, Motive, and Ripple Effect under a new 'Battlefield Studios' umbrella. Speaking in the same Q&A, Wilson was asked how the company felt about the Battlefield launch window following Rockstar's delay of GTA 6 to May 26, 2026. After suggesting it would be difficult to 'take advantage' of a 'less competitive window', Wilson said he was positive about Battlefield launching before March 2026, two months clear of GTA 6. The most likely release date is this autumn but given the declining fortunesof recent Battlefield games it's probably unlikely that EA will charge more than £70 for that either. In that sense, the company's statement, that it has no plans to increase prices, is more likely due to the specific nature of their next two big games, rather than a general aversion to raising prices. 'Relative to Battlefield, what we have said all along is we've been building towards a window that we thought made the most sense for Battlefield, but we wouldn't launch into a window that we thought truncated the value that we've invested into the franchise, or the value that we think our players will derive from it once they jump in and start playing,' he said (via VGC). More Trending 'I think now, without going too far, we believe that window is clearer than it was before and we feel very good about launching Battlefield in [financial year] 2026.' A summer reveal suggests Battlefield could pop up during next month's Summer Game Fest, which begins on June 6. Elsewhere in the earnings call, EA announced Split Fiction has sold nearly four million copies, ahead of its launch on Switch 2 next month. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Elden Ring movie with Alex Garland is happening after all says insider MORE: Xbox handheld pic leaks in new photos of collaboration with Asus MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 is less than a month away – here's where you can pre-order
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Skate reboot isn't even out yet, but it already has an EA specialty: microtransactions
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. EA is rebooting its beloved skateboarding series as just 'skate.' and an insider program has already given a select number of fans access to an exclusive playtest, which just got updated with an EA speciality. EA formed developer Full Circle to exclusively work on its upcoming sports game that's aiming to launch into early access this year. The Skate reboot doesn't have a concrete release date yet, but since the series is going down the free-to-play path, an in-game store and microtransactions and premium currencies were always inevitable. What's a little more surprising is that Full Circle added them to Skate's alpha playtests so early. "To ensure we achieve these goals at Early Access we have enabled the option to purchase and use virtual currency (San Van Bucks) in our ongoing Closed Alpha playtest," Full Circle wrote in a message to players this week. "Your feedback will be greatly appreciated in providing a great experience at Early Access launch." Full Circle also notes that account progress might be reset multiple times before launch, so whatever you purchase will be converted back into San Van Bucks before the next Skate game properly comes out as long as you use the same EA account for both the playtests and the full game. Between Battlefield, The Sims, and its long slate of other sports games, EA is no stranger to bolting a digital storefront onto its games. And since the free-to-play model actively affects what progression and customization looks like in any given game, it makes sense that Full Circle would want to test its own freemium fluff in the context of all its hopefully-rad skating. At least there'll be no loot boxes in Skate 4.
