80°

FromSoftware’s Parent Company Kadokawa Has 20 New Console Games In Development

On Friday, November 7, Kadokawa released a financial report where they announced that 26 new games are in the works. That includes 20 new console games and six new mobile games, spread out over all of its subsidiary gaming companies.

shadowhaxor176d ago

20? Out of those, there better be a new Armored Core, Elden Ring DLC (I know....), and Dark Souls 4.

DarXyde175d ago (Edited 175d ago )

I would genuinely be surprised if Bloodborne in some capacity wasn't there.

In fact... I'm going to go out on a limb here and give a hot take. You can quote me on this and roast me later if I'm wrong (let's set a time frame of up to 5 years):

I think Bloodborne will come back, and Sony will sell the IP to From Software/Kadokawa. It returns, but it's multiplatform.

At this point, it just makes a lot of sense. After Kojima gained control of Death Stranding, I think From Soft will follow. More to that point, Japan Studio doesn't exist anymore. So the rights going to the masters of the genre makes tremendous sense.

FinalFantasyFanatic175d ago

Fingers crossed for Armored Core, even DLC would be fine, I don't even know what else they could be cooking at this point.

goken175d ago

20? That’s like close to all PS studios combined…

150°

Welcome teamLFG to the PlayStation Studios family

teamLFG rallies developers from across the industry to bring to life an ambitious incubation project.

Read Full Story >>
blog.playstation.com
darthv728h ago

sounds like more live service stuff....

Obscure_Observer7h ago

Definitely.

Looks like they haven´t abandoned their live service plans after all.

Christopher7h ago

"Our first game is a team-based action game that draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs, life sims, and frog-type games. Players will inhabit a lighthearted, comedic world set in brand-new, mythic, science-fantasy universe. We can’t wait to reveal more."

At least it's not an extraction shooter. It's team-based, so not likely my thing. But perhaps it will at least add something new to the current slew of MP games out there?

YourMommySpoils6h ago

What's the LFG stand for?... Les. Oh, let's not go there.

darthv726h ago

..well their definition is: The “LFG” in “teamLFG” stands for “Looking For Group.”

staticall4h ago

At least it's not «LandFill Gas»

-Foxtrot6h ago

"industry veterans who have shipped titles like Destiny, Halo, League of Legends, Fortnite, Roblox, and Rec Room"

"and richly social virtual worlds"

"where players can find friendship, community, and belonging"

"We will make immersive multiplayer worlds"

"but throughout live service as we continue to grow the game and community for years to come"

"Our first game is a team-based action game that draws inspiration from fighting games, platformers, MOBAs"

Jesus. Does Sony ever learn? Like if they want to partner with them that's cool and all but buying the studio right off the bat? It's insane thinking after all the money they've just lost from Concord, not to mention the lack of actual hype for Marathon. Who is making the decisions here?

ravens526h ago

This is their main multiplayer studio now. Hopefully nomore pullin teams like Santa Monica, Bluepoint, Naughty Dog etc into stupid multiplayer endeavors.

P_Bomb5h ago

Yeah, I’m not feelin’ this new project tbh. Another live service?

SonyStyled5h ago

They didn’t buy the studio. They created it

-Foxtrot2h ago

Buying it or not they still had to put a lot of money into it

They could have created a new studio to reboot some older titles or ones inspired by them. A JRPG like Legend of Dragoon, a first person shooter like Resistance or a platformer like Jak and Daxter.

TripleIris_Josh3h ago

Can't believe they killed Japan Studio, London Studio, and Pixelopus for this, Destiny, and Concord.

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230°

Microsoft wins FTC appeal challenging $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal

May 7 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a legal challenge by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to Microsoft's (MSFT.O), opens new tab $69 billion purchase of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard.
The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower judge's order that said the FTC was not entitled to a preliminary injunction blocking the deal, which closed in 2023.

Obscure_Observer9h ago

Final nail in FTC´s coffin!

It was a lost cause from the start and a waste of taxpayers money!

Reaper22_8h ago

Indeed. When sony got exposed with some of their deals it was pretty much game over.

Christopher8h ago

That's not at all how this works. Sony made deals Microsoft, the trillion dollar company couldn't? You think that's what won them this case?

This wasn't seen as a act of attempting to monopolize the industry. Plain and simple.

Obscure_Observer7h ago

"Indeed. When sony got exposed with some of their deals it was pretty much game over."

And now that MS is releasing all of its Xbox games for all platforms, Phil is free to buy whatever studio or publisher he wants and FTC won´t have a case to say sh!t.

Like I said; It´s final nail in their coffin!

-Foxtrot6h ago

"exposed with some of their deals"

Says the company who said their plan was to "spend Sony out of business", you know a year before they bought Zenimax.

IRetrouk7h ago

It was a lost cause once ms went multiplat, they cant be anti competitive if they release on everything......

DodoDojo5h ago

No bud this is an appeal, they already failed the first go and the FTC seeked to block the deal way before MS showed any signs of making their games multiplatform. Like most of the courts rulings, it just wasn't seen as the monopoly.

Reaper22_5h ago

Right. And they stated from the beginning that their intent was not to keep games off of plastation. Microsoft served subpoenas on Sony to produce documents and testimony related to the lawsuit, and the FTC ordered Sony to disclose information about its third-party exclusivity deals. And it exposed their dealings with other publishers to keep games off xbox and Gamepass. That is what helped them most in securing the deal.

1Victor6h ago

@obscured: “ Final nail in FTC´s coffin!”
Supreme Court here we gooooo 🎼 🎼 🎼🎹 🤣

UltimateOwnage6h ago

lol, celebrating consolidation. Good thing this is the deal that broke Microsoft’s back and made them go the 3rd party route on every platform.

Rockstar5h ago

Obscure will always cheer Microsoft. It doesn't matter the subject matter.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 24m ago
darthv728h ago

Wait... they were still not done with this deal?

Christopher8h ago

No. FTC has multiple appeals since then. It was very unlikely they would win any, but they still had them. People claiming it was over with the first judge ruling don't understand how the law works and what avenues the FTC had available to them even though appeals are quite normal.

JEECE7h ago

This FTC case provided fascinating insight into gamers' views on economics/politics. It's very common for gamers to blame capitalism for many of the negative trends in the industry, but as soon as the U.S. government started exercising one of the most recognized limitations on capitalism (monopoly regulation), most gamers turned into libertarians and starting spouting Republican talking points (or at least pre-Trump era Republican talking points, lol) on "government staying out of the way of private businesses."

Traecy3h ago

I remember when certain people here were saying they weren't going third party, guessing to recoup that 69 billion they are doing just that.

Reaper22_3h ago

They said the same about sony. Now you can play Playstation games on PC/ xbox.

TriniOutsider3h ago

What PlayStation is game is Xbox?

JEECE3h ago

@TriniOutsider

MLB The Show. But arguably that is a special case. The seemingly accepted story behind that is that MLB told Sony they had to start making the game multiplatform to keep the MLB license. I haven't ever read definitive proof that happened, but assuming that (or something like it) is true, that isn't really indicative of a multiplatform trend in the same way that MS's recent launches on PS5 are.

Traecy2h ago

The only PlayStation owned games on XB is Destiny 2 which was already multiplatform & MLB The Show & that's because it's licensed by the MLB & wanted the game multiplatform. XB first party legendary exclusives are going multiplatform as well as the new games that were supposed to be exclusive to the XB gaming console. It looks though the XB gaming console will have minimal timed exclusives to no exclusives at all.

InUrFoxHole18m ago

@TriniOutsider
Get those gloves ready my boy. Gonna need em to move those goal posts. Think with your brain not your gamer heart. You think sony sees ms making all this money and says.. ok get that without us. Help me out here my guy! Sony charged you for psn, then they put their games on pc. What do you think is going to happen next?

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 18m ago
Kekewei3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

To be honest as a long time ps gamer, this deal initially made me panic.

but if I had known that it make MS u-turn on exclusive strategy, I would have happily joined xbox fans supporting the acquisition.

Reaper22_2h ago

They never made a u-turn. Initially Microsoft offered sony a 10 year deal but they turned it down but eventually they agreed. They've always said they wouldn't keep games away from playstation. But that is something Sony was doing to them.

sinspirit1h ago

That's the thing. They said they did not aim to take games away from the competition with the acquisitions and that they weren't taking games away from PlayStation. But then they try to get Sony to sign a 10 year deal just to show to a court that they aren't keeping games away. Sony saw this as a tactic to make their acquisitions look like good faith but in reality they don't need to sign that 10 year contract. They just gotta keep developing games for the console. Then they still excluded games from Sony anyways which is what they wanted while saying they didn't. They are only now going third party because they couldn't monopolize the hardware side of things and they ruined their software sales by trying to make everything a service and now we see them continuously bumping the price and changing policies to stop losing money.

Kekewei1h ago

Yes they did. I mean I was worried about Elder Scrolls series leaving playstation those days, but now I can play Forza horizon and Gears of War on ps5… this is a crazy turn of events

InUrFoxHole16m ago

@Reaper22
You are 💯 correct however we also have to consider these companies lie all the time. Or make plans and change them

140°

Ex-Bethesda Veteran Explains Why Games Like ES, Fallout & Starfield Will Always Have Loading Screens

IGN : One former Bethesda developer has cautioned that loading screens will probably always be a part of its games because of the way they're designed. Here's why.

Obscure_Observer1d 9h ago (Edited 1d 9h ago )

Thanks for the insightful information!

Now I wanna see if all those that were complaining about loading screens on Starfield will give a hard pass on both upcoming Bethesda RPGs like TESVI and Fallout 5.

If you can´t stand load screens, stay away from those games. Period!

-Foxtrot1d 7h ago

I don't think you understand the difference between them though and what makes Starfield and TES / Fallout different when it comes to loading screens.

When you're playing TES or Fallout, if you are doing a mission you have the choice to walk to your objective where on your travels you will run into many different encounters getting completely sidetracked, it's fun as it feels like you are exploring the world more. However with Starfield you don't get that choice because you can't walk to a new planet, the loading screen is more mandatory, even the Outer Worlds fell into this issue, so when you are constantly going to space, travelling from planet to planet there's a lot more loading screens involved where it slowly becomes more tedious in comparison.

What Bethesda needs to do is work on reducing the loading screens and fitting more within it. For example when you enter a town in TES it should load the entire town, houses, castles, sewers etc included, same goes for Fallout, take the Vegas Strip in Fallout New Vegas, it was chopped up into multiple segments where going back and forth doing missions become a chore nearer the end.

IAMRealHooman14h ago

if they scaled down the "1000" planets to 10, 4 main hub. 6 unexplored, but actually filled with tings to do and explore, the thing Bethesda used to be good at. People like Obscure thin we shit on Bethesda just to shit on it. No we want better games.

Christopher1d 7h ago

It's a design choice they've chosen. RDR2 kind of proves the whole 'loading interiors' or 'having different events go on' isn't what's stopping it.

crazyCoconuts13h ago

RDR2 didn't have you walk into a massive structure like a Starfield base/facility though, right? I'm sure log cabins are a lot easier to handle

Christopher8h ago

That won't affect the need to load content. That's just static designs with a few interactibles. And did we forget RDR2 has towns you don't load into with multiple buildings, dynamic events, and ties to the world as a whole. You load areas to manage the specific scripting and the number of elements that need tracking constantly in that area. Bethesda designs it so you can leave a trail of cheese wheels from town to town, RDR2 designs it so the world interactions are randomized by a few factors and come to you.

Like I said, it's a design choice.

isarai1d 2h ago

Ok but you can still have more seamless "loading screens" starfield has no excuse for how much its gameplay flow sucks. You're basically saying it will always suck because we don't want to spend the effort on improving that aspect. Hell every open world survival game has object permanence, from valheim to the forest, and that doesn't have tons of loading screens

anast14h ago

These guys/gals are sleazy.

DivineHand12514h ago

I haven't played oblivion as yet but does it have loading screens? No one is talking about it.

Fun fact, the remastered version of days gone still has loading screens. It is not the instant load like you see on PS5 and series titles but you will have to wait a bit to load into certain sections. I am not sure why they didn't polish them out and no one is talking about it.

victorMaje12h ago

Oblivion has loading screens but it’s nowhere near the wait times it used to be (from what I remember) so the whole experience feels a lot better.

Agreed about Days Gone remastered, it definitely feels like it’s mostly a visual & feel (dualsense) remaster without much focus on optimization (I expected no loading times & in some cases I encountered the same kinds of bugs & audio issues that were on PS4).

Still love the game though & I hope the remaster will help pave the way for DG2.

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