Stephen Totilo

It's been a rough couple of years for the games industry, with record levels of layoffs and more and more people losing their jobs with each passing month. Xbox and PlayStation alone have laid off thousands of people between them, leading to the cancelation of promising projects, and smaller developers like Gearbox are feeling the effects of Embracer's massive spending spree in 2021.

FF7 Rebirth sales in the US on PlayStation 5 are lower than those of Final Fantasy XVI in the same time period.

Former Epic Games Chief Creative Officer Donald Mustard has explained why Fortnite was never able to add a Nintendo representative like Samus Aran as a playable character.

You'll struggle to find anyone that wasn't surprised by Baldur's Gate 3's rampant success over the past year. It's an excellent RPG and one of the most ambitious the industry has ever seen, but many assumed that its genre would have been too significant of a barrier for the game to break into the mainstream.

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.

Future minor Cyberpunk 2077 updates aren't ruled out, according to Game Director Gabe Amatangelo.

In addition to being Rare's first PlayStation game in its incredible 39-year history, Sea of Thieves will require PS5 players to sign up for a Microsoft account to play. Then, progressive players ready to face this brave new world can link their PlayStation and Microsoft accounts (!) in what will undoubtedly be a strange, landmark moment for gamers on both sides of this historical divide.

Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against the creators of Yuzu, an open-source Switch emulator. As first reported by Game File’s Stephen Totilo, the full legal document is available online, and it features a plethora of accusations against Yuzu and its creators.

Sea of Thieves' PlayStation Store page has revealed that PS5 players will need a Microsoft account to play the popular open-world pirate game. Once Sea of Thieves releases for the PS5, developer Rare will break a surprising 39-year streak.

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Yuzu, the original Nintendo Switch emulator created by the developers of Citra (an emulator for Nintendo 3DS), has been hit by a Nintendo lawsuit.

Nintendo is suing the creators of Switch emulator Yuzu, and claims more than 1m copies of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom were pirated ahead of its release.

Tropical Haze LLC, the company behind the Nintendo Switch emulator known as Yuzu, has been sued by Nintendo in US federal court. The Japanese tech giant claims that the emulator violates the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). 

Nintendo of America has filed a lawsuit seeking the shutdown of the Switch emulator Yuzu, and damages for its copyright infringement. The Nintendo Switch was released in 2017 and has cemented itself as one of the biggest consoles in gaming history. With its huge popularity, Switch came into the crosshairs of emulators, which Nintendo has since cracked down on in various ways.

Prolific Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu is the latest to receive a lawsuit from Nintendo, and it's a big one. The house of Mario alleges that the program fueled a rush that saw The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom illegally downloaded over 1 million times before the game was properly released, and that's just one item on Nintendo's laundry list of alleged damages, which collectively take aim at a major emulator in a way that's rarely seen, even from such a famously litigious company, drawing many comparisons to Sony's lawsuit against Bleem. 

Nintendo is suing the makers of Yuzu, an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, according to a lawsuit filed in Rhode Island court on Monday. Game File reporter Stephen Totilo first reported the suit.

Nintendo of America has filed a lawsuit against Tropic Haze, the creator of popular Switch emulator Yuzu.

Nintendo has a very deserved reputation for going after anything it deems a threat to its business and IP with a mountain of legal challenges. It's shut down countless fan-made projects, ruined a hacker's life, and it's constantly fighting a losing battle against emulation and piracy. Its latest efforts on that front now have its sights squared solely on the popular Switch emulator Yuzu.

With Diablo 4 becoming the first Activision Blizzard game to launch for Game Pass on March 28th, the door is seemingly open for other titles to follow. Speaking to Game File’s Stephen Totilo, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the company intends that “the full portfolio of games from ZeniMax, Activision Blizzard and XGS – Xbox Game Studios – will be on Game Pass, day one.”

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was interviewed at last week's DICE Summit by journalist Stephen Totilo, sharing some noteworthy comments about the future of Xbox and the industry as a whole. He began by saying he's very confident in the future of Xbox:

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has addressed lingering questions around the company stance on physical media following last year's leaks of an «adorably all-digital» Xbox Series X refresh, saying Microsoft continues to be «supportive» of the medium, and insisting «getting rid of physical, that's not a strategic thing for us.»

Last year, an all-digital Xbox Series X leaked via FTC court documents, which many fans worried was another hint towards an all-digital future. It's a concerning precedent because the Xbox 360 digital storefront is shutting down in July, meaning that physical media is the only way to get games for the platform going forward. If something similar happened to an all-digital generation down the line, it'd be a huge blow to preservation.

Even with its continued push for Game Pass, Xbox has no intention of fully abandoning disc-based games, according to Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer.

Microsoft will bring four first-party titles to PS5, but it’s refusing to name which. Said titles will not include Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which will remain exclusive to Xbox and PC, until circumstances change. Xbox bigwig Phil Spencer, however, has seen the success of Helldivers 2 – and is struggling to see the advantage of the PlayStation-published shooter not being available on Xbox.

If you're not happy with Helldivers 2 skipping Xbox, you're not alone. Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has suggested that he wants the popular shooter to be released on Microsoft's console too, saying that he's "not exactly sure who it helps" for Helldivers 2 to be a PlayStation 5 console exclusive.

Microsoft has shared updated Game Pass membership figures for the first time since January 2022, saying the on-demand gaming service now has 34m «fully paid» subscribers, with «significant growth» coming from PC and cloud.

Amid a flurry of Xbox news today, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed that four Xbox exclusives are headed to other platforms. He's not, however, expecting other companies to take the same approach.

Xbox head Phil Spencer says he’d like to see Sony and Nintendo bring its games to Xbox, but that he isn’t holding his breath.

Xbox has confirmed that there are currently 34 million players subscribed to Xbox Game Pass.

Embracer has publicly disclosed they have laid off 8 % of their staff.

In case you missed it, Microsoft made an industry-shaking acquisition at the tail end of last year, buying up Activision Blizzard King for an eye-watering $69 billion. It took a long time to close, though, because of intense scrutiny from a handful of different sources — one of those being the USA's Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Now, in the wake of Microsoft cutting thousands of jobs, the FTC is back on the company's case, accusing it of contradicting statements made in court about how the business would operate post-acquisition.

Pocketpair’s CEO has commented on the plagiarism controversy surrounding their recent release, Palworld. But, he isn’t the only one who has chimed in.

Don McGowan, The Pokemon Company's former chief legal officer, has labeled Palworld as «ripoff nonsense.» His views on the hit survival game dovetail with those of some vocal Pokemon fans who are not happy about Palworld and eager to criticize it any chance they get.

The recently reported trademark dispute between video game giant Take-Two Interactive and renowned developer Remedy Entertainment has already been resolved, the latter claimed. In addition, the studio noted that its working relationship with Take-Two Interactive remains unchanged.

Update - 19/1/24:Speaking to Stephen Totilo over at Game File, a Remedy rep said that the matter had already been sorted out. 

One of the more amusingly bizarre news stories of the early days of 2024 arrived earlier this week when it emerged that Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive had filed a trademark dispute against Remedy Entertainment’s new logo, claiming that it was too similar to the GTA maker’s logo, which also prominently displays a stylized “R”.

The trademark dispute between Take-Two Interactive and Remedy Entertainment over the letter 'R' was already settled in 2023, according to one of the companies involved.

On Jan. 18, Microsoft will broadcast an Xbox Developer Direct, the company announced last week. MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game is expected to be highlighted, alongside Obsidian’s Avowed, Oxide Games’ Ara: History Untold, and Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. No Activision Blizzard titles are expected on the broadcast.

Microsoft’s Xbox Developer Direct is scheduled for Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. EST, the company announced Tuesday. MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game is expected to be highlighted, alongside Obsidian’s Avowed, Oxide Games’ Ara: History Untold, and Ninja Theory’s Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2. No Activision Blizzard titles are expected on the broadcast.

Could Rare’s Sea of Thieves be setting sail to Sony and Nintendo platforms? In recent days, insider Nate the Hate got the rumor mill churning when he stated a “acclaimed” Xbox exclusive may make the jump to other platforms. Piggybacking on these rumors, on the most recent episode of Game Mess Mornings wanton leaker Jeff Grubb said Sea of Thieves was his first thought when talk of an Xbox game coming to other platforms surfaced, as he’s heard the game “could” come to Switch and PlayStation.

Over the past few days, rumors have been flying about Microsoft considering porting some of its more prestigious Xbox exclusives to other platforms. No titles were mentioned at the time, leaving many to speculate that the recently released Hi-Fi Rush could be the one to make the leap, but it appears as though several insiders are tipping Sea of Thieves as the first Xbox exclusive to hit other platforms.

Sea of Thieves could be released for PlayStation consoles and Nintendo Switch, it’s been claimed.

Recent rumblings have claimed that Microsoft is considering bringing a larger number of its back catalog titles to rival platforms, and though leaks and rumours have, until now, primarily been focused on Hi-Fi Rush supposedly coming to the Nintendo Switch, it’s now being claimed that another major first party Xbox game is also going multiplatform.

Earlier today, reports started circulating from industry insiders that Microsoft has reportedly considered bringing one of its first-party IPs, Sea of Thieves, to rival Sony and Nintendo platforms.

Following speculation Microsoft may be considering bringing its acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush to Switch, new reports have claimed the company has also been looking into a PlayStation and Switch release for developer Rare's acclaimed multiplayer pirate adventure Sea of Thieves.

Late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata oversaw the launch of the DS and Wii, helping to usher in the company's modern era. In a recently unearthed 2004 interview, Iwata explained the philosophy that led to the creation of those two systems, and with the benefit of hindsight, it's clear that this all informed the last 20 years of Nintendo.

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Games industry head honchos have all gotten into the same hobby recently: Refusing to say anything about the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake that got revealed at a PlayStation showcase all the way back in September 2021. It just seems that no one at any of the corporations supposedly involved—Sony, Disney, and Embracer Group—wants to talk about it ever since trouble cropped up at the remake's original developer Aspyr.

Fortnite has had some amazing crossovers in the past, scoring huge brands such as Star Wars and Marvel. However, there’s one collaboration that developer Epic Games hasn’t been able to pull off yet, but it wants to: Nintendo.

The Game Awards 2023 concluded last night, with Baldur’s Gate 3 taking home the trophy for Game of the Year. It was a big moment for Larian, and during the winner’s speech, studio head Swen Vincke took time to honor those who put in so many hours and work, especially those who couldn’t see this award.

The Game Awards have been and gone, turning the PC Gamer homepage into something like the deranged Instagram feed of someone obsessed with Sam Lake and Swen Vincke, but it's left plenty to discuss—and criticise—in its wake. 

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser left the studio in 2020 and founded a new operation in 2021 called Absurd Ventures. It turns out that he's brought some heavyweight former Rockstars with him to the new gig: As noted by French site Begeek (via Stephen Totilo), Rockstar's former vice-president of writing Michael Unsworth joined in October as Absurd Ventures' head of story and creative management, and former writer and producer Lazlow Jones is onboard as executive producer.

Two fellow GTA and Red Dead Redemption developers have joined a former Rockstar co-founders' new studio.

It’s more bad news for Knights of the Old Republic fans patiently awaiting the remake of the classic Star Wars game, as reports emerge that the game is no longer in active development.

The fate of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake continues to be shrouded in mystery, as the Embracer Group, the parent company of developer Aspyr Media, refuses once again to comment on the game.

PlayStation's Head of Internal Studios, Connie Booth, has left the company after 34 hours, Sony has now confirmed.

Aspyr Media announced a remake of in 2021. However, the games have since faced delays and a studio change, with Saber Interactive taking over in 2022. Now, Sony cites expired music licenses to explain the recent delisting of the game’s trailer and removal of social media posts.

Sony has attempted to clarify its recent removal of social media posts related to the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake.

The FTC has once again resumed its case against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, after a pause over the summer.

The recent FTC and Microsoft lawsuit saw a lot of news come out about the company’s business, including potential acquisitions and their decisions about exclusivity. Today, thanks to a new leak of information, we have gotten a deeper look into Xbox’s inner workings, including new hardware, new games, and the idea of purchasing Nintendo in the future.

This week, several unredacted, highly confidential documents from Microsoft began appearing online. These documents were part of Microsoft's legal case against the U.S. regulator, the Federal Trade Commission. The case was argued back in June, with a verdict reached in July, ruling in favor of Microsoft.

The Xbox Microsoft merger saga continues with a new set of leaks allegedly revealing the company's strategies for the future. In addition to unveiling plans for upcoming game titles and remasters, the leaks included information on refreshes of the Xbox current generation consoles, the Xbox Series X and S, and alleged intentions to acquire more gaming companies, including Nintendo. While not all the information revealed was up-to-date, it potentially gives the public a glimpse into Xbox and Microsoft's plans for the future.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued a statement regarding the Microsoft mega-leak overnight, saying it's not responsible for leaking the documents.

Xbox has made significant acquisitions this generation, like its $7.5 billion purchase of ZeniMax Media and its colossal $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. Xbox and Microsoft spent a lot of time this year in courts working to get its purchase of Activision Blizzard legally approved, and many documents were sealed away from the public and press during these proceedings. However, various unseen documents from those court proceedings have leaked. One email reveals Xbox head Phil Spencer was considering an acquisition of Mario maker Nintendo and Mortal Kombat 1 publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (now known as Warner Bros. Games) at one point. 

Unity Technologies, developer of the cross-platform game engine Unity, today announced a policy that will sting developers with a fee based on truly wild things like how many times a game has been installed. This one's likely to develop quickly, but we'll catch you up on the story so far.

Starfield is Bethesda's big new release, but now that it’s finally out in the wild, some have already turned their attention toward any incoming news on The Elder Scrolls VI. While some always assumed the game was a good way off, we now know not to expect it for another two to three years at the earliest. 

According to documents filed as part of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) case filed in the agency’s attempt to stop the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, it looks like the next Elder Scrolls game is not expected until 2026 at least, and skipping PlayStation.

Microsoft paid $7.5 billion to buy ZeniMax, so it's no big surprise that the company would prioritize its own console platform.

Messaging from Microsoft regarding whether or not The Elder Scrolls 6 will be skipping a PlayStation release (whenever it launches, that is) has been mixed at best, though given the fact that two major Bethesda releases in Redfall and Starfield have launches as Xbox console exclusives, many have assumed that the fantasy RPG will follow suit. More evidence has now emerged to support that notion.

Despite previous reports revealing the game's 2026 release window, The Elder Scrolls VI is at least five years away and is likely to release, unsurprisingly, only on PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

Fans have been wondering if The Elder Scrolls 6 will be an Xbox exclusive ever since Microsoft bought Bethesda in 2020. According to a newly revealed slideshow dedicated to "Microsoft's approach following acquisitions since 2018", it will not launch on PlayStation.

Nine amicus briefs have been filed in support of Microsoft's $68.7 billion merger with Activision Blizzard by a group including indie developers, venture capitalists, the CWA labor union, and former regulatory advisors.

The FTC appealed their case vs Microsoft, which they lost in a rapid decision from District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. That appeal is being heard at the 9th appeals court, and it is in these unlikeliest of situations that indie devs made their defense of Game Pass.

Several game developers have called on their players to protest Unity's recently announced new pricing structure, under which developers who reach a certain threshold of revenue or game installations will be charged every time somebody installs their game. A few teams have also announced plans to dump Unity and move their projects to other game engines, such as Godot or Unreal.

This morning, popular game-engine creator Unity Software announced an update to its pricing and packaging plans, which will go into effect on January 1, 2024. The new pricing plan introduces a fee that activates and charges developers of high-performing games each time the title is installed by a user or player. The justification is that each time a game is installed, Unity Runtime is also installed. 

This morning, Unity Technologies announced an update to its pricing plans and fees that sparked a bit of an outcry among developers. Unity says that, starting on January 1 of 2024, the company will introduce a new runtime fee based on game installs for any game that passes certain thresholds.

Microsoft’s head of gaming has addressed the subject of whether The Elder Scrolls 6 will be an Xbox exclusive.

When it comes to Call of Duty, the game franchise has been in the headlines quite a bit this year. But it didn’t have to do with any specific video game installment. Instead, the focus lately had been on the franchise as a whole. If you have been following the video game industry this year, you know that Microsoft has been pushing to get its hands on Activision Blizzard. The company was given a massive bid, and the only thing stopping this acquisition from going through was the regulators. Fortunately, we know Call of Duty won’t be leaving the PlayStation platform anytime soon, regardless if Microsoft gets the green light.

We have some surprising new details about the cancelled sequel to Immortals: Fenyx Rising.

The Nintendo 3DS, the company’s 2011 successor to the Nintendo DS, was discontinued in 2020, but the handheld console has continued to have a dedicated fanbase. While the Wii U and 3DS eShop shutdowns in late March have made it much harder to buy new games for the console, somehow, 3DS fans have persisted. Over the past three months, Nintendo has sold roughly 210,000 3DS games, according to its quarterly earnings results.