Gaming in Saudi Arabia. Reviews, Walkthroughs, News

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.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has received a rating in Saudi Arabia.

We’ve seen quite a bit of Dragon’s Dogma 2 in recent weeks, and though Capcom has still yet to announce a release date for the open world action RPG, it seems it might not be too far off from launching globally.

Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been rated in Saudi Arabia, suggesting that a release date for the RPG sequel might not be too far in the future.

The Overwatch League is no more. Activision Blizzard is moving away from the esports league to take its competitive Overwatch 2 scene elsewhere, the company announced this week.

Earlier this year, Activision Blizzardlaid off around 50 people and announced that after the current Overwatch League season ended, teams would have to agree to updated, amended agreement terms in order to continue operating or take a $6 million cancellation fee. Now, the Overwatch League days are over.

Activision Blizzard has announced the end of the Overwatch League.

2023 is being touted as one of the greatest years in gaming. With major releases like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, and Starfield coming from the big three publishers, plus plenty of third-party hits, there are more great games this year than we know what to do with. Meanwhile, there have been close to over 6,000 layoffs across the games industry in the same time, impacting companies like Bungie, Epic Games, and more. But the primary reason for the huge number of redundancies isn’t because of something that happened in the last 12 months, but a trend that’s steadily grown for the past two years.

Embracer's chief operating officer has left the company, amid a wave of restructuring and studio closures.

An undisclosed number of employees are being made redundant at Embracer Groups' Cryptic Studios.

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious NEOM Company threw its support behind Web3 in a big way today with a $50 million investment into Animoca Brands.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology for India has today signed a world-first agreement at the historic British landmark, Bletchley Park. The agreement establishes a shared understanding of the opportunities and risks posed by frontier Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the need for governments to work together to meet the most significant challenges.

Australia’s top eSports exponents have been handed a major boost after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz confirmed his country will host an annual World Cup event.

Delegates from 28 nations, including the U.S. and China, agreed Wednesday to work together to contain the potentially “catastrophic” risks posed by galloping advances in artificial intelligence. The first international AI Safety Summit, held at a former codebreaking spy base near London, focused on cutting-edge “frontier” AI that some scientists warn could pose a risk to humanity's very existence.

On the first day of November, global-scale development on artificial intelligence was seen. At the UK AI Summit, global leaders from 28 different countries came together and committed to evaluating AI-related dangers together. In other news, billionaire Elon Musk, who is also at the AI Summit, reiterated his previous statement and called AI a risk. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Mergers and acquisitions, and investment activity is reportedly set to increase next year.

Artisan Studios, the French indie developer behind Astria Ascending and Super Neptunia RPG, has opened a new studio in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and is prepared to accept any criticism that might now come its way.

Canadian developer Artisan Studios is setting up shop in Saudi Arabia.

There aren’t many easy jobs in information security, but protecting people against nation-state attackers is the hardest of them all. And yet security researcher Runa Sandvik did not sound hopeless during a talk at a conference about the threat of intelligence agencies targeting commercial spyware at reporters, activists, and opposition politicians.

Artisan Studios, an independent game developer with a reputation for creating premium role-playing games, plans to open a game development studio in Saudi Arabia.

Artisan Studios is setting up a development studio in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

RPG developer Artisan Studios is opening a new studio in Saudi Arabia, and promises to create the first AAA games in the area.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday it would organise an eSports World Cup starting next year, the latest boost to a sector Riyadh hopes will create tens of thousands of local jobs.

NVIDIA's flagship GeForce RTX 4090 GPU has seen a huge price surge in China, pertaining to the recently imposed US restrictions, which have disrupted its supply.

Embracer's scythe continues to swing in the wake of a collapsed $2 billion deal, and the latest victim, reportedly, is Zen Studios. According to Videogamelayoffs, one of its sources at the Hungarian studio told it that 32 staffers at the Pinball FX studio were laid off last Friday.

Over 30 members of staff have been made redundant at Pinball Arcade maker Zen Studios.

Zen Studios has become the latest studio owned by Embracer Group to be hit with layoffs.

The US has blocked Nvidia from selling the GeForce RTX 4090 PC graphics card to China as part of an export ban intended to thwart the country from securing cutting-edge AI chips. 

The US Department of Commerce has announced new export restrictions on a range of Nvidia GPUs, with the focus primarily on preventing shipments to China. Predictably, the list of chips acquiring export-contraband status include Nvidia AI-optimized hardware. But a gaming GPU has made the list for the first time, too. Yup, no more GeForce RTX 4090 cards for China.

The EA FC 24 Amazon Prime Gaming Twitch packs are now rolling out, providing plenty of opportunities for Prime subscribers to take home some major goodies to help improve your Ultimate Team Squad.

It’s a sad time for the world. Just when there was a chance of a thawing in the Middle East, the awful attacks in Israel and retaliation in Gaza have frozen hopes of peace and progress. It has set us all back 50 years. I look at the news and want to cry. I want to look away, but I also want to look so I can fully understand the scope of the heartbreak that is happening.

The new voice actor for both Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder has been confirmed to be Kevin Afghani, who announced it himself on Twitter.

British Esports, a not-for-profit national body which promotes esports in the United Kingdom, has released a new statement addressing “questions and concerns” raised over its partnership with the Saudi Esports Federation, which was announced earlier this week.

The British Esports Association has responded to backlash following the announcement of its partnership with the Saudi Esports Federation earlier this week.

Earlier this week, British eSports announced a partnership with the Saudi eSports Federation. The UK's national body for competitive video gaming said this collaboration aimed to set «new standards of excellence, education and innovation throughout the world of esports». This would include a variety of endeavours between the two parties, including internships, training programs and research projects.

Iraqi gamers celebrated the release Thursday of the latest instalment of the "Assassin's Creed" action-adventure saga, set in ninth century Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate.

Here's everything you need to know about the Forza Motorsport unlock time.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to be a much more open experience than its predecessor, and it seems like fan feedback was among the reasons behind this.

's Ultimate Team remains unchanged for another year despite the series changing its name from . The competitions and modes within Ultimate Team have stayed the same, but the big update is the introduction of women's players that can be used when building squads.

In Saudi Arabia, more than 70% of the population is under the age of 35. And these days they are growing up reading manga (comics), watching anime films and TV shows, and playing video games. It’s the perfect workforce for Manga Productions, a Riyadh company that is in all of those businesses.

There's winning a game, and then there's winning a game in style. That's always been the difference in FIFA — and is now the difference in EA Sports FC 24.

References to the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake have been taken offline by some of PlayStation’s primary social media accounts, amid a report of troubled development.

There’s been a flurry of acquisitions in the games industry in recent years, with the likes of Microsoft, Sony, Embracer Group, EA, Take-Two Interactive, and many others having made large-scale acquisitions to expand their internal development capabilities. One company that doesn’t want to get involved in that arms race, however, is Capcom.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

Crystal Dynamics has become the latest studio owned by Embracer Group to be hit with layoffs.

Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has suffered a wave of layoffs just months after insisting that the ongoing staff hemorrhage at parent company Embracer Group wouldn't affect the new Tomb Raider game or the studio's collaboration with The Initiative on the Perfect Dark reboot. 

Less than 18 months after it acquired Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition and Mythforce developers Beamdog, Embracer Group has reportedly laid off more than two dozen staff at the studio. Mere days after the release of its nostalgic co-op shooter, no less.

Embracer has made a new round of layoffs, this time at Mythforce developer Beamdog less than 18 months after its acquisition.

Hold on to your breath folks. Microsoft seriously had a talk about acquiring Nintendo, and we don’t mean 20 years ago. This was a discussion they had as recently as August of 2020.

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

Calling all game industry professionals! We invite you to submit a talk or panel suggestion today for upcoming PG Connects conferences.

Borderlands developer Gearbox is reportedly up for sale by parent company Embracer Group. As per Reuters, the Swedish conglomerate is looking to restructure following a $2 billion (about Rs. 16,586 crore) deal with Saudi Arabia government-funded Savvy Games Group that fell through, earlier this year. The fallout resulted in the former cutting down on spending, in addition to closing down studios and laying off its employees. Having been acquired merely two-and-a-half years ago, Gearbox is now the latest victim, with some alleged third-party publishers expressing interest in acquiring the developer. No names were mentioned, though they were described as “international gaming groups.”

Following a botched $2 billion deal, Swedish gaming conglomerate Embracer Group has been offloading studios — like Saints Row developer Volition — in an effort restructure the company. Its next target? Borderlands developer and publisher Gearbox Entertainment, Reuters reported on Monday.

It’s a new era for EA Sports’ football games, with the long-running FIFA series no more. EA FC 24, due out later in September, is EA Sports’ first non-FIFA game, and with it comes a fresh assessment of the real-life footballers whose virtual counterparts star in the game.

Gearbox is reportedly the latest studio to be affected by Embracer Group's restructuring efforts.

Borderlands developer Gearbox could be up for sale, according to a new report.

By Jacob Kastrenakes, a deputy editor who oversees tech and news coverage. Since joining The Verge in 2012, he’s published 5,000+ stories and is the founding editor of the creators desk.

Embracer is reportedly considering selling Gearbox, developer of the Borderlands franchise.

Gearbox, the U.S. game company behind the Borderlands series, is reportedly up for sale.

Embracer Group is considering selling off Gearbox Software, according to a new report.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

Microsoft has revealed they will be returning at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.

Yesterday, August 31, saw the end of Volition, and the studio bid farewell with one final post on Twitter. In its message, the 30-year-old developer looked back on its existence, saying it's "been around long enough that some folks forget what we made, but they certainly know our games."

After news of Volition's closing, Saints Row fans are mourning their beloved franchise as well as the 2022 game's second major patch.

Volition, the studio behind the Saints Row series, has closed with immediate effect. The developer said in a statement that the shutdown was a result of restructuring at parent company Embracer Group.

The US government has reportedly halted the sale of NVIDIA's AI GPUs to Middle Eastern nations to prevent indirect technology transfer to China.

Volition Games has shut down as part of Embracer Group’s ongoing restructuring. The studio, which has roots going back to 1993, is behind the Saint’s Row series, Red Faction, and Summoner.

Volition Games has announced that its parent company, Embracer Group, is shutting the studio down. The studio was the developer behind the latest Saints Row reboot.

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

Saints Row and Red Faction developer Volition is no more. The studio’s owner, Embracer Group, has closed Volition “effective immediately,” according to a statement posted on Volition’s LinkedIn profile. The closure of the Champaign, Illinois-based company comes shortly after the studio celebrated its 30th anniversary in June.

Volition, the developer behind the Red Faction and Saints Row series, has shut down.

Microsoft has ended its latest $1 Xbox Game Pass promotion, days before the release of its much-anticipated exclusive Starfield.

Bad news, Xbox fans – you won't be able to play Starfield for $1, because Xbox has withdrawn the $1 14-day Xbox Game Pass trial. Again.

While we already know plenty about EA FC 24, including details on its Ultimate Team and Career Mode changes, we still haven’t been told about one of its most important features: player ratings.

Satirical indie game Luck be a Landlord has been banned from the Google app store, Google Play, in 13 countries, according to developer TrampolineTales. 

Google has banned Luck Be a Landlord from its app store in 13 countries, according to the game's developer.

Swedish games firm Embracer Group has said it is moving on from the collapsed $2 billion partnership it announced at back in May.