180°

Todd Papy (GoW: Ascension) Leaves Sony Santa Monica

God of War: Ascension's director has announced that he's no longer at Sony Santa Monica.

allformats3828d ago

Wishing him all the best in his next endeavors. Thanks for your work at PlayStation!

HolyDuck3828d ago

Will be interesting to see where he moves too, another studio maybe, might even start his own.

xHeavYx3828d ago (Edited 3828d ago )

His other tweets say he is moving to Germany and that he hasn't quit games. Isn't GG in Germany or somewhere close?

wenaldy3828d ago (Edited 3828d ago )

@Heavy

GG is in Netherland. GG Liverpool is in well, UK.

wenaldy3828d ago (Edited 3828d ago )

Edit: double post :p

strickers3828d ago

GG is in the Netherlands ( Holland) but the other GG is Cambridge, not Liverpool. Sony Liverpool used to make Wipeout and have been closed.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3828d ago
itBourne3828d ago

What the hell... is it like a rule in that studio, direct a GoW game, then your ass needs to get the hell out!

Persian_Immortal3828d ago (Edited 3828d ago )

Stig Asmusseen directed God of war III he still at SSM he's currently making a New IP, Cory Barlog just recently returned to the Studio after working on Tomb Raider(reboot) with crystal Dynamics. Since his return Cory Barlog is forming a new team his oceans eleven as he likes to call it. As far as looking at the God of war director situation David Jaffe left after 1, Cory after 2, and papy after Ascension Stig is the exception to this walk out.

Walker3828d ago

Good news. ascension really was bad compared to trilogy !

Baka-akaB3828d ago

Good news ? He was still Design Director on God of War 3 wich no one complained about .

obviously now SM never had issues replacing its leaving talents so far

zpoc3828d ago

so what? all that proves is that he's a great design director but a shitty game director.

xXxSeTTriPxXx3828d ago

No it wasn't it was great, but it was the same old great, nothing new.but he made gow combat better then ever b4, so much need depth.

x5exotic3828d ago

Complaints about God of War:

1) Button mashing; like you don't mash the climb button or the shoot button in platformers/shooters respectively. You can go through pretty much every game through one button, but in GoW that's optional (along with most HnS)

2) Same gameplay; well same can be said for every single franchise, and the ones that do change gameplay find great imbalance within the series (AC1 --> AC2) to the point where playing the sequel first makes the previous game unplayable.

I'm all for revolutionary gameplay styles... For new game series. For sequels, the same is perfect if it isn't broken.

3) Bros before Hoes; well Sessler is a joke now so I won't bother.

KwietStorm_BLM3828d ago

The hell do you mean good news? He's always been with the God of War team. David Jaffe created the series and then left. Was that good news? Cory Barlog directed the amazing sequel, and then he left. Was that good news too?

firelogic3828d ago

Barlog is back with SSM. And while not great news, it allowed others to take the reigns and they all did admirably, save for Papy.

firelogic3828d ago

Totally agree. It was the worst game in the series which was surprising because prior to GoW:A, there were 5 games all with different directors from 2 different studios and they were all great.

KUV19773828d ago (Edited 3828d ago )

As thin as Ascension's story was at least it made sense. While GoWIII was more intense in the area of boss fights it did not make a whole lot of sense and was a real bad ending to a great trilogy (not because he dies - that was the only logical thing to happen - that his corpse was gone again was pretty cheap though). GoWII was the best part for me. Actually I even liked Ghost of Sparta better than GoWIII. Ascension and GoWI would be about the same for me, and I would rate GoWIII in last place just the same as Chains of Olympus- for different reasons though. Gameplay was great, graphics and sound was awesome. Boss-Fights were great. But the story: oh boy. I feel however that a lot of people don'T care about story as much. Ripping of Helios' head was probably violent enough to call the game best of series for some.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 3828d ago
wenaldy3828d ago

Balrog in, Pappy out.

Wish him for the best. Personally, I love Ascension.

neoMAXMLC3828d ago

Yep. He made the announcement personally months ago. Seems like he'll be working on a new IP with them.

DigitalRaptor3828d ago (Edited 3828d ago )

Yup. Game director for best GoW game is back.

http://blog.us.playstation....

sypher3828d ago

That God Of War game director position seems to cut through people like butter :)

Must be a very stressful job because everyone quits after doing it lol

firelogic3828d ago

Stig Asmussen (GoWIII) is still there working on something new.

KUV19773828d ago

How often have you been to Germany, and what makes you give a statement like this?

InTheZoneAC3828d ago

from what I hear from actual Americans having visited there, say those people are very rude and obviously weather is very depressing...

280°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv721d 4h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle15h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188113h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio12h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning778h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga15h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv721h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

shinoff218314h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga13h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan9h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit2h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus238h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv727h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica1h ago(Edited 1h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 1h ago
purple10118h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos17h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-7h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac16h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad16h ago(Edited 16h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10116h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos15h ago(Edited 15h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic14h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead7h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 7h ago
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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.

thorstein1d 3h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno23h ago

And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.

jwillj2k422h ago

Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.

MrCrimson21h ago

tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.

Zenzuu22h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson21h ago

They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -

70°

The INDIE Live Expo 2024 event is to feature over 100 game titles

INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.