Top Story
Sony buys minority stake in Epic Games
Sony has made a $250 million investment in Epic Games and seeks closer collaboration since both companies “share a vision”.
Sony used Epic’s Unreal Engine 5 tech demo to demonstrate the power of PlayStation 5, so they have already been working closely with Epic for a while. The deal gives Sony a 1.4% stake in Epic Games at a valuation of $17.86 billion, pending regulatory approval.
Sony statement: “Through our investment, we will explore opportunities for further collaboration with Epic to delight and bring value to consumers and the industry at large, not only in games, but also across the rapidly evolving digital entertainment landscape,” said Sony Chairman, President and CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida.
Epic statement: “Sony and Epic have both built businesses at the intersection of creativity and technology, and we share a vision of real-time 3D social experiences leading to a convergence of gaming, film, and music,” added Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. “Together we strive to build an even more open and accessible digital ecosystem for all consumers and content creators alike.”
Time For A Quick Daily Quiz?
Remothered started out as a tribute to what classic horror game series?
- Sweet Home
- Resident Evil
- Clock Tower
- Alone in the Dark
The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today’s issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.
Daily Fact
Treasure Master didn’t abide cheaters
Software Creations’ NES game Treasure Master took anti-cheat protection seriously, which might seem a little excessive for a single-player 2D mascot platformer.
The game was the subject of an MTV contest that provided a special password that unlocked a hidden Prize World level players would compete to beat. To make sure no-one could cheat their way to the level using Action Replay or Game Genie, the game code would verify the memory contents and lock up if it found anything unexpected.
Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.
Microsoft Acquisitions
Mojang taught Microsoft how to integrate new developers into Xbox Game Studios
Microsoft has gobbled up a lot of studios in the past few years, mostly thanks to the lessons learned integrating Minecraft developer Mojang into Xbox Game Studios.
Microsoft has recently bolstered their first-party development chops by purchasing Double Fine Productions, inXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Undead Labs and Obsidian Entertainment. “If you look at the list, you can find our lineage with many of those studios,” said Microsoft’s Phil Spencer.
Confidence: “The other thing that gave us confidence is the track record we had with studios. Mojang was a big point for us, where it was obviously a large acquisition, with an incredible franchise in Minecraft,” he added. Microsoft’s grand vision for Game Pass helped sell the idea to other stakeholders.
Individuality: Double Fine founder Tim Schafer said he agreed to sell because “we could keep our culture,” and he’s excited for Game Pass as it allows “a plethora of unusual content”. Spencer stated the key was to treat “incoming studios as full parts of the organisation” and make sure “that they felt supported.” It can’t have hurt to offer bigger budgets either.
