370°

Sony studio Firesprite has been shedding talent amidst accusations of toxic culture, staff say

Eurogamer writes: "Sony-acquired studio Firesprite has recently suffered high profile exits amid accusations of a toxic workplace culture, Eurogamer has been told, as part of an investigation into the studio begun ahead of the layoffs announced by Sony this week."

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eurogamer.net
Neonridr92d ago

I hope whatever unannounced project they have going for them is still moving forward. Would hate to see this studio go down the drain as that would be a huge blow to the PSVR2 headset.

Abnor_Mal92d ago

PSVR2 already suffered a huge blow already with the closing of London Studio, anymore closures and the headset will just be good for PC users.

Kane2292d ago

neither studios were making PSVR2 games. so it didn't hurt PSVR2 at all

Abnor_Mal92d ago

@Kane22 While correct neither studio was currently making a PSVR2 game, it still hurts the PSVR2 because now Sony has one less in-house VR developer.

Now we will never get a PSVR2 update to Blood and Truth, which some people were looking forward to hearing some kind of news.

Cacabunga91d ago

Sony has reached an all time low this gen with their management and lack of 1st party games

ModsDoBetter91d ago

PSVR2 is a failure.

No matter what the fanboys in denial say, the proof is there.

anast91d ago

It wasn't a huge blow for VR games.

Babadook791d ago (Edited 91d ago )

“PSVR2 is a failure.

No matter what the fanboys in denial say,”

No it’s not but your beloved Xbox sure is. PSVR2 is how I play almost all my content and it’s been a phenomenal first year. It’s not a failure yet and if Sony keeps it up it never will be.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 91d ago
purple10192d ago (Edited 92d ago )

Best to always spread positivity mate
Even when times are hard, or news is bad, try

VincentVanBro91d ago

??? you completely misunderstood the comment you replied to lol

senorfartcushion91d ago

That stuff isn't going to ever happen to me so I don't care

Why are you so afraid though?

Anyway, you're ok. This is only something that happens in high-paying jobs. I doubt you have a high paying job

InUrFoxHole91d ago

Whelp... You gave it the old college try. Maybe next time?

CrashMania92d ago

If hope this can get sorted out, seemingly way too many egos and power trip people in gaming.

Duke1991d ago

Seriously - its wild how seemingly big of a problem it is in the gaming industry. Almost every article on the topic seems include some level of toxic culture.

Fishy Fingers92d ago

"While sources say Sony dismissed these complaints as a misunderstanding, Eurogamer understands some of those involved explored legal options to take the matter further, and have since received a financial payout from Sony. "

Ooof

ModsDoBetter91d ago

Sony dismissing complaints.
Not a good look.

91d ago
mastershredder91d ago

Firesprite not being able to handle their own environment and people is not the good look. Don't pass the buck.

ModsDoBetter91d ago

Pass the buck?
Had this been an Xbox studio, you know fine well what narrative you'd push @shredder.

Have some consistency.

92d ago Replies(3)
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190°

Former Activision studio Toys for Bob partners with Xbox to publish its first game as an indie

Former Activision studio Toys for Bob partners with Xbox to publish its first game as an indie. This is something of a homecoming, as Microsoft owns Activision.

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engadget.com
Obscure_Observer12h ago

Very very early in development. Still, fantastic news!

Let´s GO!!!

Lightning7710h ago

I guess.

How come they didnt either let them go or sell Tango and others to another publisher? Not saying Ubisoft, EA would be any better. (Capcome would of treated them right )

At least it wouldn't be MS of all ppl destroying them.

MS really should let go Tango go like they did TFB here.

darthv729h ago(Edited 9h ago)

one was under Bethesda (Tango) the other under Activision (TFB). Clearly each one handled the separations of their subordinates differently.

Obscure_Observer9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

"How come they didnt either let them go or sell Tango and others to another publisher? Not saying Ubisoft, EA would be any better. (Capcome would of treated them right )"

Perhaps because Zenimax and ABK handles such matters differently based on their own internal policies as "independent" publishers.

Whoever, chances are it´s simply because MS didn´t wanted Tango or Austin to be acquired by competitors and develop new bangers for them, giving MS a bad rep in a possible future. Which could also be the reason why they ensured an exclusive partnership with TFB and its new game, before anyone else.

Sad and disgusting. But it is what it is.

Lightning775h ago(Edited 5h ago)

"Whoever, chances are it´s simply because MS didn´t wanted Tango or Austin to be acquired by competitors and develop new bangers for them, giving MS a bad rep in a possible future."

MS has a bad rep now because those studios are no more. I rather them sell the studio continue to make multiplatform releases, while MS continues to focus on whatever they're doing. If they didn't want Tango around they should separated from them or sell them to, like they did TFB.

It's inexcusable, they have options on how to handle studios they don't want anymore with killing jobs. Not just MS but the rest of the industry also.

Sad and disgusting sure how many will get shut down next year or this year even?

I don't trust MS decisions and motivations at this point. You have to admit they make one dumb move after another.

-Foxtrot11h ago

Manages to buy their freedom especially after all the shit Microsoft has been doing with its studios lately

...

Goes right back to them as partners.

Okaaaaaay...

darthv729h ago

Id venture a guess that TFB working directly with MS was a better outcome than working through Activision to get to MS.

VersusDMC7h ago

From the article...

"Toys for Bob spun out as an indie back in February after Microsoft instituted sweeping layoffs that impacted 86 employees, which was more than half of the staff"

I doubt those 86 employees enjoyed the Microsoft experience over Activisions.

Inverno7h ago

MS shuts down studios because of lack of resources and then helps these guys by giving em resources. Also MS is what forced them to buy their freedom in the first place? What kind of logic 😂

Chevalier4h ago

The best thing is that the company that is worth $3 trillion and owns the company instead of Xbox lacks resources. How the hell does a company worth $3 trillion making a measly $70 billion purchase they 'can't' support. Lol

Sciurus_vulgaris9h ago(Edited 9h ago)

Xbox’s gaming division seems to still function as 3 semi-autonomous sub-divisions, Xbox Studios, Bethesda and ABK. The three main sub-divisions can seemingly shut down or build studios and set up partnerships independently. This would explain why Bethesda can recently shutdown studios, while ABK spins off one studio, while building a new one. Plus, Toys for Bob could be spun off by ABK, only to immediately re-partner with Microsoft.

Chevalier4h ago

That's absolutely 💯 BS. Any sane 'autonomous' company would NOT put their games on Gamepass day 1 like COD will lose probably billions.

Also they're all under Xbox game studios so any autonomy is an illusion.

Elda4h ago

Either a kiddie game or something uninteresting.

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130°

What Happens to Your Steam Account When You Die?

The Outerhaven writes: While Steam has come out recently, stating that Steam accounts can't be transferred, we need to think about it since we all will eventually kick the bucket. But if Valve is denying transferring accounts, what can be done? Plenty, actually.

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theouterhaven.net
thorstein1d 13h ago

It goes to my kids because I gave them the passwords.

To Steam: Missio has a song that conveys my feelings about you stealing my purchase after I die. It's called "Middle Fingers"

shinoff218318h ago

Pretty much. My son knows my info.

Abear2118h ago

Yeah worrying about digital ownership when you’re on the other side of the grass seems a little strange, but also on brand for these millennial journalists to worry about.

qalpha3h ago

I'm sure Keith will be happy to hear he's a millennial journalist.

Goodguy0121h ago

I suppose if I have kids, I'd just give em my account details by retirement age. If I die young then...idk lol.

CrimsonWing6919h ago

Yea, I mean just give someone the password to your account. Is that difficult to do or something? Like, I’m legit asking because I don’t know.

anast17h ago(Edited 17h ago)

It's not difficult but It's against the policy. If they find out, they will lock the account permanently.

CrimsonWing6916h ago

Ah ok, I had a feeling there was something like that. It seems kind of weird that you can’t just hand your account over to a family member or friend and let them take over the account.

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90°

CDPR Confident In Transition To Unreal Engine 5 For New Witcher Game, Addresses Industry Layoffs

CD Projekt Red is confident in the transition from its in-house Red Engine to Unreal Engine 5 for the next Witcher game.

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twistedvoxel.com
cthulhucultist1d ago

My main concern with UE5, is that some developers have resorted to very low resolutions in order to enable the advanced feature set of this engine and sustain the frame rate.

In open world games, especially those with excellent graphics, we cant realistically expect 60fps  from consoles (PS5 pro set aside as we do not know exactly how performant it will be) without huge compromises.

Thus the new Witcher game will probably require more powerful consoles to experience it the way the developers intended and in that sense, it reminds me of Cyberpunk situation.

It was released in current gen systems albeit in dire state (even PS4 Pro and Xbox One X suffered) requiring next generation consoles to achieve a desirable (and still not ideal) result.

DarXyde23h ago

My thoughts exactly. This is definitely a PC engine first and foremost, given the compromises required on consoles. Tekken 8 is a **fighting game** on UE5 and, even without Nanite and Lumen, needs to be upscaled to 4K to run at a solid 60fps. The engine straight up dog walks current console hardware. I don't see this getting much better on a PS5 Pro either.

I don't see this game releasing this generation. If it wasn't Sony owned, I think Decima 2.0 would be an excellent engine for this game.

Aussiesummer21h ago(Edited 21h ago)

I am quietly confident that they are going to make one hell of a jaw dropping witcher considering what they achieved with cyberpunk, i reckon they will bring a new level of what can be expected from ue5 BUT i reckon it will be a ps6/rtx 5090 game.