Gaming in Saudi Arabia. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

Square Enix appears to have cancelled or at least rescoped the size of multiple unannounced games as a result of an internal review into its development process, with a «content disposal» loss totalling 22.1 billion yen, or $141 million. As a result of the investigation, the publisher shall «revise the Group’s approach to the development of high-definition (HD) games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources».

Codemasters has released the third in a series of deep dive trailers for F1 24, this time digging into the track and driver updates that we’ll see in the yearly sports series. F1 24 is coming out on 31st May (with three days early access for special editions) across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Gaming enthusiasts in India have something to look forward to as Infinix prepares to unveil its latest gaming-oriented smartphone, the GT 20 Pro, via Flipkart. This upcoming release marks an evolution in the company's GT series, following the success of its predecessor, the GT 10 Pro. In addition to the smartphone, Infinix is venturing into the gaming laptop arena with its debut offering, the GTBook.

Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors is taking the brunt of responsibility when it comes to the company's most recent round of layoffs, studio closures, and game cancelations.

The CEO of troubled Swedish games firm Embracer Group, Lars Wingefors, has admitted that he is deserving of criticism for the current state of his company.

Embracer Group has been on a losing streak of late, having recently missed out on a $2 billion investment, laid off thousands of employees and sold one of its key properties, Gearbox, at fire-sale prices. Now, the company has announced plans to split into three separate, publicly listed entities, Bloomberg reported.

Embracer, the embattled gaming company that went through a massive restructuring over the past year, just announced that it will split up into three different companies: Asmodee, Coffee Stain & Friends, and Middle-earth Enterprises & Friends.

Apex Legends developer Respawn has told fans it will not change the game to block certain characters and cosmetics from being played during the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia this summer, despite concerns over how the country might censor the battle royale's diverse character roster.

Each year, the organisers of London Games Festival showcase the work of Black, Asian, and underrepresented games professionals working in the UK through the Ensemble initiative.

Vivo has launched its latest smartphone, the Vivo V30 Lite 4G, in various global markets like Russia and Cambodia. This new addition to the Vivo V30 series joins the ranks of the previously released Vivo V30 5G, Vivo V30 Pro 5G, and Vivo V30 Lite 5G. Notably, the Vivo V30 Lite 5G differs in specifications depending on the country it's available in. For instance, the version sold in Mexico features the Snapdragon 695 chip, while the one in Saudi Arabia comes with the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chip.

Swedish games giant Embracer Group has officially confirmed that its failed $2 billion deal was with Savvy Games Group.

One of the big stories of the past year has been the collapse of Embracer Group, as the failure to secure a major $2 billion investment resulted in the company cutting loose several major studios, either by selling or shuttering them, and laying off 1,400 employees. One of the studios Embracer let go of was Saber Interactive, which was sold to new company Beacon Interactive for a relatively meager $247 million (Embracer originally paid $525 million for them). You’d think the head of Saber might be bitter about this, but instead the company’s founder Matthew Karch is still singing Embracer’s praises in a new GamesIndustry.biz interview.

As the winter leagues around the world are building towards their climactic ends, and title races and relegations are soon set to be decided, it’s about time for the EA Sports FC 24 Team of the Season event to go live in Ultimate Team.

Following its highly anticipated release, The Outlast Trials has officially been banned in Saudi Arabia. As the newest installment in the popular Outlast franchise, The Outlast Trials promises more intense scares than ever. However, players in the Saudi Arabia region are currently unable to play.

The past five years have been great for anime and gaming fans when it comes to theme parks. First, in March 2021, the Nintendo World part of Universal Studios Japan opened, welcoming fans of Mario and more into a fun playground. Then, in November 2022, the Studio Ghibli theme park opened, letting fans of the beautiful movies step inside of them and experience them firsthand. Nintendo World is in Osaka, Japan, while the Studio Ghibli park in Aichi, Japan.

More major changes are afoot on the business side of the video game world, as a notable name is changing hands once again. Take-Two Interactive (the parent company of Grand Theft Auto publisher Rockstar and others) has agreed to buy Gearbox Entertainment from the embattled Embracer Group. The deal is worth $460 million in stock and is expected to close by June 30. It had been rumored for several months that Embracer was planning to sell off Gearbox.

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The troubled Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is still a long way away, the boss of Embracer has suggested.

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says he sees "consolidation to be the enemy of creativity," as the company's outgoing boss Jim Ryan shares his enthusiasm for Microsoft's Call of Duty deal with PlayStation.

As expected, the Embracer Group has sold much of Saber Interactive, which is known for the Metro series, Gloomhaven and remakes of classic Star Wars titles. The buyer is a group of private investors under the umbrella of Beacon Interactive, which is run by Saber co-founder Matthew Karch.

Frontier has announced F1 Manager 24 will release digitally this summer across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One and PC, bringing a new Create A team mode into the mix for the game’s career mode.

Frontier has announced F1 Manager 24 will release digitally this summer across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, Xbox One and PC, bringing a new Create A team mode into the mix for the game’s career mode.

SNK has announced that it will collaborate with ARIKA to revive one of its classic franchises.

In what promises to be one of the most talked-about weddings of the year, the impending nuptials of youngest son,, to industrialist daughter, kicked off with a star-studded pre-wedding celebration in Gujarat’s Jamnagar. The extravagant celebrations started off on March 1st and wrapped up on March 3rd.

Swedish gaming company Embracer Group AB will sell one of its largest subsidiaries, Saber Interactive, to a group of private investors in a deal worth up to $500 million (roughly Rs. 4,142 crore), according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Embracer is closing in on sales of Saber Interactive and Gearbox, it’s reported, with the company looking to shed two of its most noteworthy acquisitions of the last few years in an effort to dig itself out of a financial hole.

Embracer is closing in on sales of Saber Interactive and Gearbox, it’s reported, with the company looking to shed two of its most noteworthy acquisitions of the last few years in an effort to dig itself out of a financial hole.

Embracer Group gobbled up a lot of studios during its 2020-era spending spree, but perhaps the biggest acquisitions were Saber Interactive (World War Z, many, many ports) and Gearbox Software (Borderlands). It’s clear Embracer had big plans for Saber and Gearbox, as both were spun into entire company divisions with other smaller studios reporting to them, but those plans have changed – Embracer’s fortunes took a turn when a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia fell through and the company has been desperately cutting costs since. Apparently, this means two of their crown jewels have to go.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake developer Saber Interactive has reportedly left embattled parent company Embracer in a $500 million deal to become a privately owned company.

Honor of Kings, Tencent’s massively popular mobile game, has its eye set on the international market in 2024.

The wave of layoffs that has happened over the past year in the video game industry is well-documented. Some of the biggest culprits are Embracer Group, which has laid off nearly 1,400 workers across several of its studios since the start of a restructuring program last July, and Microsoft, which laid off 1,900 developers across Xbox, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard in January. After relative silence around these layoffs, leadership at both companies finally tried to offer more transparently into what happened.

After months of high prices that have exceeded its initial retail price, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card has seen its MSRP go below $1,899, just a few hundred dollars above its initial launch price. While it was launched in late 2022, the flagship Nvidia GPU has been a target of both scalpers and the US government for different reasons.

There isn’t much of the games industry that hasn’t been impacted to some degree by the wave of layoffs it’s been suffering for more than a year at this point, but very few companies have contributed to that damage as much as Embracer Group has. Embracer announced an internal restructuring program in June last year after it failed to close a $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games group, and since then, across all of its studios, it has laid off a startling number of people.

European games firm Embracer Group has cut its workforce by eight per cent since it started a "restructuring" process in 2023.

According to a new leak, Tekken 7's Lidia and Fahkumram will be included in Tekken 8's first season pass as DLC fighters. Tekken 8 has a roster comprised of a healthy mix of newcomers and veterans. Some of the characters that were introduced in Tekken 7 have returned for the eighth mainline entry, which include the Wing Chun practitioner Leroy Smith, the exorcist Claudio Serafino, and the Saudi Arabian fighter Shaheen.

At the end of last year, Wild Thieves by Monupon won the Very Big Indie Pitch: PC + Console Edition prize at Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2019. Hailing from Saudi Arabia (but with team members in Canada too), Monupon’s Nasir Assaf joined the competition in Amman, Jordan, and swept to victory after half a day of pitching.

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Black Forest Games is apparently the latest Embracer Group company to face job cuts.

Following the end of Overwatch League, Blizzard has unveiled new plans for its competitive Overwatch esports circuit.

Overwatch 2's competitive scene is moving past the tearful death of the Overwatch League with a brand-new format likely to please esports traditionalists.

RPG developer Piranha Bytes has responded to the reports claiming the company is on the brink of closure, asking the fans not to write it off just yet. While that particular request is optimistic, the overall contents of the company's latest statement still raise concerns about its future.

Last week, the internet began to speculate that Gothic and Elex II developer Piranha Bytes was being shut down after fans noticed the studio's website was essentially defunct. Many speculated Piranha Bytes was another casualty in owner Embracer Group's purge of studios that began last year after a planned $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia-backed Savvy Games Group fell through in 2023.

Lost Boys Interactive has laid off a “sizable” portion of its team, it’s been confirmed, with the Gearbox-owned studio the latest to be hit by the wide reaching restructuring programme that Embracer Group is enacting across its array of businesses.

Gearbox's Lost Boys Interactive is the latest in a long line of studios to make staff redundant.

Lost Boys Interactive has laid off a “sizable” portion of its team, it’s been confirmed, with the Gearbox-owned studio the latest to be hit by the wide reaching restructuring programme that Embracer Group is enacting across its array of businesses.

Embracer has been revealed to have laid off employees at Lost Boys Interactive.

UPDATE 2pm UK: A spokesperson for Lost Boys Interactive has confirmed the layoffs to Eurogamer.

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Nintendo's shares have hit a record high as expectations around Switch 2 continue to grow, and amid speculation Saudi Arabia is set to further invest in Japanese video game stock.

Nintendo shares hit a record high on Wednesday as the company rode a surge in stocks that saw Japan’s Nikkei close at its highest level since February 1990.

Ever heard of Honor of Kings, the MOBA title? The game has been a big deal in China since 2015 and even hit the milestone of being the first mobile game to cross the $10 billion revenue mark. Well, the title’s going global soon! Keep reading to know more.

AI Roundup: Several notable developments took place in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) today, January 3. The Saudi Press Agency reported that the General Authority for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques is leveraging AI techniques to offer guidance to the pilgrims at the Grand Mosque. Meanwhile, Samsung announced its annual event called Galaxy Unpacked and it will focus heavily on AI, with a possible new product called Galaxy AI.

2023 has been another great year for games as a whole with some exceptional experiences that have been a pure joy to play, but as always there’s been some jarring disappointments that hit hard, and we’ve seen the impact of slowing economies around the world on executives making business decisions.

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

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Publisher Plaion has confirmed that TimeSplitters studio Free Radical Design has closed its doors.

By Jon Porter, a reporter with five years of experience covering consumer tech releases, EU tech policy, online platforms, and mechanical keyboards.

There’s something awfully impressive about the fact that Fallout 76 is still kicking, five years after its infamous release. In fact, it’s just received a major new DLC; one that takes the Vault dwellers to the Jersey Shore, of all places. Enter Fallout 76: Atlantic City – Boardwalk Paradise.

It's the first day of the last month of 2023, and we might be in for an exciting period in artificial intelligence space as companies continue developing this technology while protest groups keep highlighting its dangers. In the first news, Meta executives said that they found no downside to openly sharing its AI technology. This comes as the tech company keeps releasing open-source versions of its large language models. In other news, a group of visual artists has filed an amended lawsuit against text-to-image generating AI models after a US district judge dismissed parts of the lawsuit last month. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

You could call it the summer that Saudi Arabia swallowed sports. On June 6th, news broke that Saudi-backed LIV Golf was merging with the Professional Golfers’ Association, funded to the tune of over a billion dollars by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). In soccer, the world’s most popular and lucrative sport, the kingdom has brought global superstars such as Karim Benzema, Neymar, and Jordan Henderson to the desert to play their trade, laboring not only under the region’s sweltering heat but virulent criticisms of sportswashing. For established institutions, it was a summer of humbling disruption in which they had perhaps quietly sensed, for they would never admit it, the dawning of a new world order. 

Back in October, the US Department of Commerce introduced a number ofexport restrictions for a variety of Nvidia's products to countries such as China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. It was mostly the AI monster chips that took the brunt of the ban but the GeForce RTX 4090 was also included, which invariably resulted in RTX 4090 price increases and hoarding of the top Ada graphics card. However, it now looks like Nvidia will be releasing an RTX 4090 D, specifically for China, that will be exempt from the restriction.

The Dragon’s Dogma 2 showcase planned for today will reveal the game’s release date, according to its director.

ByteDance’s gaming ambition has been an expensive, short-lived pursuit.

While the world is busy developing artificial intelligence (AI) to take it to artificial general intelligence (AGI) stage, not many are giving a thought to the interpersonal relationship that is being created between humans and this emerging technology. AGI is human-leven intelligence, and thus, it can also empower AI to develop some level of consciousness. Speaking at a conference, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Saturday highlighted the fundamental questions about AI - ethical treatment.

Even in a year where the news cycle has been as dominated by layoffs in the games industry as 2023 has been, the scale at which Embracer Group has made cutbacks where its staff is concerned has taken many by surprise. The company instituted a restructuring plan earlier in the year after it failed to close a $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games Group, recently confirming that that had led to about 900 Embracer employees being laid off.

If rumour speak true, the next Call of Duty game will be another entry in the Black Ops series. It'll also, allegedly, take place during the first Gulf War across 1990 and 1991, in which a US-led coalition of countries including the UK, Saudi Arabia and Egypt invaded Iraq in response to the Saddam Hussein government's conquest of Kuwait.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Capcom is finally ready to reveal Dragon’s Dogma 2 to the world.

Dragon's Dogma, the 2012 hack and slash RPG from Capcom, is getting a sequel after 11 years. And you thought the gap between Grand Theft Autos was large?

This morning, CAPCOM announced a new Dragon's Dogma 2 showcase scheduled for Tuesday, November 28th, airing at 1 PM Pacific Time or 9 PM GMT.

Following the 18 rating received earlier this week in Saudi Arabia, Dragon's Dogma 2 has been rated by the European equivalent, PEGI (Pan European Game Information). The rating is the same (18). It comes with warnings of violence and in-game purchases, with the latter suggesting there will be some form of microtransactions.

Capcom has announced a Dragon’s Dogma 2 showcase for later this month.

Capcom has announced a Dragon’s Dogma 2 Showcase for November 28th at 1 PM PT. It will air on YouTube and Twitch and feature 15 minutes of new gameplay and information with director Hideaki Itsuno and producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi. Check out the brief teaser below.

Embracer Group released its latest financial report, which included updates on how their restructuring is going so far. With debt down to about $1.4 billion, there’s still more to go, even after laying off a confirmed 904 people so far.

Swedish mega-publisher Embracer Group has laid off more than 900 people as it looks to mitigate its massive $1.3 billion in debt. With these cuts — and more to come — Embracer expects to lower that number to below $1 million by the fiscal year’s end. The company, which is known for its rapid expansion and industry consolidation, has 15,701 employees as of late September, according to its latest financial report.

Embracer Group has said it has laid off 904 staff, or 5% of its workforce, since its financial struggles began following the collapse of a $2 billion deal, reportedly with Saudi government funded company Savvy Games Group.

Swedish games giant Embracer Group has let go more than 900 people as part of its restructuring effort.

Dragon's Dogma 2, the long-overdue sequel to 2012's Dragon's Dogma, has received a rating in Saudia Arabia, suggesting that a release might be close.