2023-07-02 15:00:02
News business Sony testifies and reveals itself before the FTC while Niantic and Scavengers fire… Business news of the week
Published on 02/07/2023 at 17:00
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The business news of the week is once once more marked by Microsoft’s lawsuit once morest the FTC, but we also had some sad news from the developers of Season: A Letter to the Future and from Niantic, who obviously had eyes bigger than his stomach.
Summary
FTC vs Microsoft: Sony testimony and new revelationsSeason: A Letter to Future is a commercial failure and forces Scanvengers to lay offThe party is over at Niantic (Pokémon Go)Brief in the news of the weekOur other business articles of the week
FTC vs Microsoft: Sony testimony and new revelations
This first season of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King by Microsoft continues to receive new episodes. The legal battle with the FTCwhich, let us remember, wishes to obtain the definitive blocking of racat, started recently, and we were able to learn a lot of things, whether around the takeover, but also actions of Microsoft and Sony at the industry level. At the bottom of this article you will have several links to news dedicated to specific points in the case, but here is an anthology of what this week of hearings will have taught us while awaiting the verdict. And there is something very very heavy, in particular thanks to the Sony testimonial via Jim Ryan :
Microsoft asserts, email in support, that Jim Ryan was certain to see Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles in the years to come despite the public declarations of the boss of Sony Interactive Entertainment. The company claims that gamers are on PlayStation and that it would be counterproductive to make COD an outcast. In addition, the main market would be mobile, with 148 billion in turnover worldwide. Satya Nadella and Phil Spencer ensure that the license will remain multiplatform, but also that the acquisition of Zynga has been considered.Jim Ryan Wasn’t worried before COD talks broke down. He added that the proposed agreements lacked titles such as Diablo IV and Overwatch 2. He also thinks that the Game Pass is frowned upon by publishers who would see it as a loss of earnings and a “value destroyer”. That being said, he conceded that the Starfield and Redfall exclusives, while he didn’t like them, weren’t anti-competitive. 2019Matt Booty sent an email in which he indicated that Microsoft had the means “to eliminate Sony” through buyouts and Game Pass. But keep in mind, this goes back to before Activision started its takeover process and that this commercial aggressiveness no longer seems to be appropriate.Microsoft sought to buy Square Enix in 2019 ! The objective was to establish itself much more directly in the Asian market and to strengthen its presence on mobile. In May 2022, email exchanges between Phil Spencer and Jim Ryan took place regarding Activision games. The heart of the problem obviously comes from the arrival of day one games in Game Pass and the status of agreements already signed between Activision and Sony. We also learn that before the promises of a 10-year agreement, Microsoft planned to place the end date of the contract at December 31, 2027. This date corresponds to the estimated year of release of the 10th generation of consoles. $220 and $212 million. In view of the twist, this would exclude distribution and marketing costs Microsoft would have was interested in the idea of buying SEGA. The Japanese firm has officially reacted, indicating that it has rejected the idea for the moment, but has some used to strengthen ties commercial
Season: A Letter to by Future is a commercial failure and forces Scanvengers to lay off
At the end of January, Season: A letter to the future, developed by Scanvengers Studio, was released. Critics generally received this narrative adventure very well, and we might hope that the title would meet with quite honorable success. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and we learned that a large part of the studio had been laid off. It all started with a LinkedIn post from one of the 3D artists, which indicated that he was dismissed along with many of his colleagues. We were then talking regarding 60,000 copies soldwhich seemed consistent with the low number of ratings on Steam.
A figure confirmed since by the director of the studio, Amélie Lamarche, who takes the opportunity to specify that this is far too low to guarantee the sustainability of jobs. At the time of writing, there are only 16 left to work at Scavengers, but all is not lost. The remaining employees are currently working on a new project “aiming to create gameplay-driven games that bring people together”. But following the failures of Darwin Project as well as Season: A Letter to the Future, we feel that this future project serves as a last chance.
The party is over at Niantic (Pokémon Go)
Like many companies, Niantic significantly expanded its business during the pandemic. The return to a “normal” situation, associated with high inflation, brought everyone face to face with the reality of the market. From Meta to Microsoft, these are thousands of people who have been made redundant. In Niantic’s case, the situation is clear: the company overspent relative to revenue. As a result, 230 people were thankedincluding the entire studio located in Los Angeles
The answer is simple: we let our expenses grow faster than our income. In the wake of the revenue explosion during Covid, we have increased our headcount and spending to more aggressively prolong growth, expanding current games teams, our AR platform work, new games and posts that support our products and our people. After the Covid, our revenues returned to pre-pandemic levels and new projects did not generate revenues to match these investments, says John Hanke, the CEO.
John Hanke also highlights the fact that the augmented reality market is growing slower than expected and that a number of investors have jumped the bandwagon. If the economic slowdown is partly responsible, he admits that these are the decisions made which led to this situation. The NBA All-World game, launched last January, will close its doors, while the title Marvel : World of Heroes was canceled even before arriving on our mobiles. Efforts will obviously focus on Pokémon GO, Niantic’s only real cash machine, but Pikmin Bloom retains the studio’s confidence. As for the future Monster Hunter Now, it is still on track today.
Briefly in the news of the week
BioWare has formalized the fact of no longer being responsible for the future of the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, entrusted to Broadsword Online. The studio wants to focus on its solo games Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and Mass Effect 5 (provisional name). Layoffs are planned. The organization of E3 2021 reduced ESA’s accounts by $6 million. Remember that the Entertainment Software Association denied the cancellations of the 2024 and 2025 editionswithout formalizing their outfit. An update to The Callisto Protocol updated the end credits, adding a number of “forgotten” people. Physical sales value in France: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom dominates the 24th week of the year, in front of F1 23 (PS5), Diablo IV (PS5), F1 23 (PS4) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which, obviously, will never leave the ranking.Hi-Rez (SMITE, Paladins ) laid off just under 30 people following the launch of a restructuring process.
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