Author: Zach Barbieri

According to a new report from the Washington Post, Sony has acquired the exclusivity rights to the Final Fantasy VII trilogy as the series moves toward its final act. While the possibility of this has been assumed for quite some time, the second act Rebirth, was marketed as having only three months of exclusivity before it could be ported to other platforms. While there have been no details as to what this major deal entails, it appears that at least for the Xbox platform, this seemingly confirms that there will not be any ported version of the series to appear…

During a recent Morgan Stanley speaking event, the head of Warner Bros. Discovery’s gaming J.B. Perrette discussed the strategy for the company moving forward. This strategy focused on live service, free-to-play, and mobile titles. He stated: We’re doubling down on games as an area where we think there is a lot more growth opportunity that we can tap into with the IP that we have and some of the capabilities we have on the studio where we’re uniquely positioned as both a publisher and a developer of games. He addressed WBD’s recent output of gaming, which has focused on AAA…

Microsoft has announced an Xbox Partner Preview in the year, announcing that the event will be on March 6th. According to the official press release the event will feature 12 new trailers from Xbox partners including companies like Capcom, Nexon, EA, as well as others over around 30 minutes. Games that have been specifically mentioned to be part of the showcase are the upcoming 2D platforming game Kenzera: Zau from EA, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess from Capcom, and The First Berserker: Khazan from Nexon. Anything else will remain a mystery until the showcase is officially aired. Microsoft stated: Our…

It’s been a very long time since we have had a game that requires a large number of disks for a physical version. In recent years two disks have become rare, such as in the case of Horizon Forbidden West and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, but do happen from time to time. In the case of Baldur’s Gate 3 however, it appears that a total of four disks are required for the physical edition on the Xbox Series X. The retail version of 2023’s game of the year-winning RPG which uses the 5th edition Dungeon & Dragon ruleset was originally…

In a year proving to offer even less job security than the year prior, Sony is the latest company to announce they are cutting a large number of jobs across several of their company. In total, around 900 jobs, or 8% of its employees will be terminated. Soon to depart Sony Interactive Entertainment President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ryan sent out a note on Tuesday, announcing the decision to cut these jobs to the staff of Sony. It stated: After careful consideration and many leadership discussions over several months, it has become clear changes need to be made to…

Announced as part of the Pokemon Presents event for Pokemon Day, the next major release in the Pokemon series will be Pokemon Legends Z-A, and it is scheduled to release at some point in 2025. This will be the first major title from the Pokemon Company and Game Freak since 2022 saw the release of the well-liked Legends Arceus earlier that year, and the next mainline entries Scarlet and Violet ending the year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXyVd6Ly_h0 The trailer itself offers very little information to go off of about the game. The trailer begins with papers in the in-universe language being translated for…

The long-awaited expansion to Elden Ring, entitled Shadow of The Erdtree, has finally received a trailer thanks to its developer FromSoftware, as well as publisher Namco Bandai. The trailer is 3 minutes long and showcases both narrative elements as well as gameplay elements to be featured in the expansion to 2022’s Game of The Year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLZenOn7WUo In the opening moments of the trailer, we are told of an enemy who uses love to “shrive clean the hearts of men,” and that “There is nothing more terrifying.” Since the world of Elden Ring is already dark, the idea that love is…

As pointed out by Phil Spencer during Xbox’s business update, four previously exclusive Xbox titles will be coming to other platforms. He was unable to name them that day, having stated that announcement deals were previously put in place. Around the same time, a rumored Nintendo Direct was stated to have been pushed which seemed to line up with the idea that Nintendo would announce some. As it turns out, Nintendo has confirmed two of the rumored titles during the direct, though not necessarily the two we all thought. Starting the event, Nintendo showcased Grounded a live-service-esque RPG from developer…

Industry analysts have suggested that a more powerful version of the PlayStation 5, expected to continue the naming trend as the PlayStation 5 Pro, can be expected later this year. This news comes through CNBC which quoted Tokyo-based games analyst Serkan Toto as saying there is a “broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024.” The report cautions that Sony is not likely to see an uptick in PS5 sales year-on-year, as a result of a potential Pro model launching. Additionally, there is little expectation…

After several outlets reported that Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM was planning to lay off several staff members, the company has now confirmed that they will indeed be laying off staff. These reports stated that the company planned to fire a quarter of the staff, which will affect around 24 employees overall. In an interview with Insider Gaming, the undisclosed number of lay-offs at the studio were addressed by stating: As with all studios, we adapt the size of our team to the work underway, growing when we start a new project and shrinking if one is cancelled. It is always…