Game Development Archives - Gizmochina

Sony PlayStation China Hero Project announced, supports local game developers

Sean — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 09:31:19 +0000

Sony recently announced the new PlayStation China Hero Project that is aimed at bolstering the video game development industry in the region. The project is helping in developing multiple titles already. So here’s everything you need to know.

Sony PlayStation China Hero Project

In a new trailer, the company showcased the China Hero Project and also unveiled the nine upcoming games that are being developed. These games are from local video game developers who are using the Unreal Engine, a popular game engine. As of right now, eight of these titles are still under development. With the new initiative, Sony is looking to aid local game developers in China by allowing them to leverage Sony’s global industry resources.

The goal of the project is to allow Chinese devs to create quality games for the gaming audience. Looking at the list of upcoming games, these new titles appear to encompass various different genres. This includes third person hack and slash, horror shooters, action RPGs, 3D side scrolling games, and much more. As of right now, it is still unclear when these titles will be released in the market. One of these titles include “The God Slayer” which is an RPG title that has players explore a fantasy open world and defeat powerful foes to grow stronger.

Some of the other titles also bear some striking resemblance to popular existing games. One appears to be a destiny-like third person looter shooter, while another takes clear inspiration from Soulsborne games from the beloved FromSoftware studio. Most of these games are also derived from China’s rich history and mythology, so its interesting to see the different settings being explored in gaming. Unfortunately, it is unclear whether these games are slated for a global release or if they will remain exclusive to the Chinese region. Till then, you can check out Sony and Microsoft’s end-of-year recap for Xbox and PlayStation gamers.

CD Projekt Red officially announces development of new Witcher game

Sean — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 06:25:29 +0000

CD Projekt Red has just announced that it has began development of a new game within its popular Witcher series. The company’s last Witcher game was released back in 2015 and saw great success.

https://t.co/XtbfqscMWr pic.twitter.com/eK6ZIbfLRa

— The Witcher (@witchergame) March 21, 2022

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was the last entry in the series, which is based on a Polish series of fantasy novels. While the first two titles also saw decent sales, this title basically thrusted the series into mainstream popularity. Notably, there is even a critically acclaimed Netflix series based on the same setting and name. Now, the studio has announced that it is working on the new game with a multi year partnership with Epic Games. This will have CD Projekt Red built a new Witcher game on the Unreal Engine 5 game engine.

For those unaware, the studio has been using its proprietary REDengine technology for its games. But with the partnership, CD Projekt Red will have access to tailor made tools and assistance from Epic Games for the latest generation of Unreal Engine. This REDengine had even powered the infamous Cyberpunk 2077 as well. The company added that this engine will continue to power 2077, with the Witcher 3 also receiving a new gen console upgrade later this year.

While the studio hasn’t shared any finer details at the moment, CD Projekt Red CTO Paweł Zawodny stated that “One of the core aspects of our internal RED 2.0 Transformation is a much stronger focus on technology, and our cooperation with Epic Games is based on this principle. From the outset, we did not consider a typical licensing arrangement; both we and Epic see this as a long-term, fulfilling tech partnership. It is vital for CD PROJEKT RED to have the technical direction of our next game decided from the earliest possible phase as; in the past, we spent a lot of resources and energy to evolve and adapt REDengine with every subsequent game release.”

PlayStation 5 games might soon be more expensive, Here’s why

Sean — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 13:44:03 +0000

Games made for the PlayStation 5 console might soon become more expensive. The rise in cost could be due to the rising cost of production of new video games, as per a former PlayStation executive.

According to Shawn Layden (via TechTimes), an ex official of Sony PlayStation, the cost of making video games of for new platforms doubles with every console generation. He stated that the cost of developing a game for the latest PS5 would be around 200 million US Dollars. While this a sizeable sum already, Layden believes that this figure is expected to rise further. Furthermore, he stated that major game development studios and even some indie studios would have to deal with this by implementing a new strategy, which he called “de-risk.”

In other words, most companies would be more incentivized towards making sequels to already established titles rather than creating new IPs from scratch. In an interview with Bloomberg, Layden shared his thoughts on the future of gaming and that he believes that the PS5 and the games for the console will evolve for the entirety of its life cycle. As of right now, the PS5 is barely a year into its service and Sony has already planned out big budget sequels for certain franchises.

This includes the upcoming “Horizon Forbidden West,” “Gran Turismo 7” and the yet to announced God of War sequel. While rising budgets for gaming ensures that new titles would be capable of taking full advantage of the new and powerful hardware of current gen consoles. It remains to be seen if the rising cost would be justified with the new games.

Huawei is recruiting developers for a MMORPG game

Sean — Tue, 04 May 2021 10:03:19 +0000

Huawei is apparently looking into hiring developers that are experienced in the MMORPG genre, implying that the company might be working on its own game. The news arrives from new job listings that are for game developers.

According to an ITHome report, the Chinese tech giant is seeking to developers to fill out various rolls like game producer, lead producers, and a few other positions as well. Looking at these job listings, the recruitment positions are related to game development based around MMO genres that will be based on the U3D and UE4 (Unreal Engine 4) game engines. The location and office will be in Shanghai and the listing asks for about 5 years of experience in game development and project management as well.

For those unaware, MMORPG is short for “massively multiplayer online role playing games.” This implies that the game is an always online that will likely have the player control a fictional character with a number of customization and branching playstyles. Unfortunately, that is all we know regarding this matter at the moment, so stay tuned for more, as we will b providing updates when additional information is available.

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Timi Studios from Tencent has generated $10 billion in revenue in 2020: Report

Sean — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 08:34:10 +0000

Timi Studios, a popular mobile gaming app developing studio from Tencent, has apparently generated 10 billion US Dollars worth of revenue last year, as per two people close to the matter.

According to a Reuters report, the 10 billion US Dollars revenue would mean that Timi Studios is now the world’s largest developer, as per the sources. For those unaware, Timi is the studio behind the popular mobile game title, Honor of Kings and Call of Duty Mobile. While it is known for its mobile based IPs, the studio is apparently also planning on taking on major video game studios for AAA titles for PC and even console gaming. These titles would imply a hefty investment to make games for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

Last month, the company had even posted a recruitment notice, which wrote that the company is seeking to create new AAA games that resembles the virtual community from the movie ‘Ready Player One’. This title will compete head on against other established studios from regions like Japan, South Korea, Europe, and the US. Furthermore, Tencent is also building studios locations outside of China, including one for Timi, and one for Lightspeed and Quantum as well in Los Angeles, US.

The goal of these new studios is to create content with original intellectual property that will have a global appeal. In simpler terms, the new sites will focus on making new and original game titles that will appeal to the mass market across the globe. This is in line with Tencent’s plans to generate half of its revenue from overseas, from 23 percent in the fourth quarter pf 2019. Reportedly, Timi Studios accounted for 40 percent of the Chinese tech giant’s game revenue.

Google is shutting down in-house Stadia game development studios

Jeet — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 07:33:51 +0000

A couple of years ago, Google launched its own game streaming service named Google Stadia and the company had plans of developing some of the games on its own for its newly introduced services. However, it seems that things didn’t work out well.

Google has announced that the company is shutting down its in-house game development studios for the Stadia platform. With this, the company will now be focusing on provided content from third-party developers.

The company is shutting down studios in Montreal and Los Angeles. Along with that, Google has also confirmed that Jade Raymond, who was hired by the company to lead this new game development division, is also leaving the company.

Making the announcement, Stadia Vice President and General Manager Phil Harrison confirmed that Google will continue to invest in the Stadia platform. Explaining the reason behind shutting down the game development studios, he says, “creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and significant investment, and the cost is going up exponentially. Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E [Stadia Games and Entertainment], beyond any near-term planned games.”

A few months ago, Jack Buser, Director of Games at Stadia had said that the company has around 400 games in the work for the streaming service and also added that exclusive games from studios like Harmonix and Supermassive are in development.