Tag: aaa
PlayStation To Acquire AAA Multiplayer Developer Firewalk Studios
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PlayStation acquires Firewalk Studios, which is building an ‘original AAA multiplayer game’
Sony is acquiring Firewalk Studios from ProbablyMonsters to help build an “original AAA multiplayer game” for PlayStation 5 and PC, Sony announced on Thursday. Sony has been investing heavily in multiplayer games recently, acquiring Destiny maker Bungie and Jade Raymond-led Haven Interactive Studios last year, and it revealed in February 2022 that it’s planning to release more than 10 live service games before March 2026.
We don’t know much about the new game just yet, but Sony’s head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, noted in a PlayStation blog post that “we continue to be impressed by the team’s ambitions to build a modern multiplayer game that connects players in new and innovative ways.” In a press release, he added, “I think…
Can Netflix Make Awesome AAA Games? – Unlocked 591
Longtime Halo senior developer Joseph Staten, the subject of last week’s Unlocked, has announced where he’s going next: Netflix! We discuss what this means for Netflix’s gaming efforts before turning our attention to the newly announced departure of another longtime Halo developer, Frank O’Connor. Plus: Diablo 4’s community interactions continue to impress, and more!
Subscribe on any of your favorite podcast feeds, to our YouTube channel, or grab an MP3 of this week’s episode. For more awesome content, check out our interview with Todd Howard, who answered all of our Starfield questions after the big reveal at the Xbox Showcase:
For more next-gen coverage, make sure to check out our Xbox Series X review, our Xbox Series S review, and our PS5 review.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
Former Halo Infinite creative lead Joseph Staten joins Netflix to head up an all-new ‘AAA multiplatform game’
Halo veteran Joseph Staten is making a AAA game for Netflix
Former Halo scribe Joseph Staten has joined Netflix’s burgeoning gaming division. On Monday, Staten tweeted that he will serve as the creative director on a new AAA game and original intellectual property from the streaming giant. “In my work life, there’s nothing I love more than collaborating with others to build worlds filled with iconic characters, deep mysteries, and endless adventures,” Staten wrote on Twitter. “So today, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined Netflix Games as Creative Director for a brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP. Let’s go!”
So today, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined @Netflix Games as Creative Director for a brand-new AAA multiplatform game and original IP. Let’s go! 2/2
— Joseph Staten (@joestaten) April 17, 2023
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Staten announced his departure from Microsoft. Before joining the tech giant in 2013, he worked as a writer and director of cinematics on Bungie’s first three Halo games. Staten later helped write and co-direct Destiny, but left the studio before the game’s release in 2014. Following his return to the Microsoft fold (Bungie was a Microsoft studio before it went independent in 2007), Staten worked as senior creative director on the Xbox Game Studios team for a number of years before moving to 343 Industries in 2020 to assist in the development of Halo Infinite. This past January, Microsoft reassigned Staten away from 343 at the same time it cut “at least” 95 jobs at the troubled developer.
On Monday, Staten said the game he’s working on at Netflix would be a “multiplatform” release. To date, the company’s gaming strategy has primarily centered around obtaining mobile publishing rights to respected indie titles like Into the Breach and Terra Nil. Funding the development of a multiplatform AAA game is significantly more ambitious and, it should be noted, risky.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/halo-veteran-joseph-staten-is-making-a-aaa-game-for-netflix-173502368.html?src=rss
Lady Gaga, Beyoncé Collaborator Bloodpop Launches Game Studio Featuring ‘Ambitious’ AAA Shooter
This 96-pack Energizer AA & AAA battery bundle deal saves you $38
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League shows how shareholder culture is killing AAA
What on earth happened to Suicide Squad? Alex and I discuss in the video above how Rocksteady’s long-awaited return to the Arkhamverse strays disappointingly far from the formula that made them a success story.
Of course, we didn’t expect (or necessarily want) another Arkham game. The law of diminishing returns was in full effect by the time Arkham Knight rolled around. The odd rumour bubbled up about a Superman game, or a Justice League game, in a similar vein. Quite how that would have worked isn’t clear, although it’s not hard to see how, over the best part of a decade, those initial ideas might have morphed into Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League.
However we got here, though, one thing is clear: this game is about five years late to the party. Enthusiasm for superhero stuff, in general, is on a massive decline. We saw evidence of this last year with Marvel’s Midnight Suns: a fantastic game from a beloved studio which simply didn’t do the numbers. Anecdotally, from what we’ve gathered from comments etc on our own coverage, this could well be attributed to the fact that a lot of people are just so burnt out on Marvel after umpteen years of the MCU (another prominent example of the law of diminishing returns, quite literally in the case of Ant Man’s recent box office collapse).
‘Dead Space’ highlights the biggest problem with AAA games
Somehow, Dead Space is one of the freshest games of 2023. The original hit literal store shelves in 2008 and the remake, which landed in January, doesn’t change the game’s fundamental mechanics. The remake is a downright treat to play; it’s terrifying, fast-paced and expertly balanced. Dead Space‘s core loop is focused, and this only highlights how chaotic many AAA games are today.
Built-in limitations of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era were critical in helping developers narrow their focus and innovate, and this generation spawned a litany of iconic franchises, including Dead Space, Dark Souls, Dishonored, Red Dead Redemption, Portal, Alan Wake and Arkham. Meanwhile, developers in the ninth console generation are grappling with an abundance of technological possibility, founded on the power and fidelity provided by modern gaming hardware. This has resulted in a litany of chaotic blandness from many AAA studios in recent years. In a creative industry unlimited by its tools, the most powerful mechanic is restraint.
Dive deeper into this conversation in the below video.