Executive News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Yuji Naka has resurfaced on Twitter, with a spicy message to start off our week.

Longtime Dragon Quest series executive producer Yu Miyake will step down from overseeing Dragon Quest games to head up Square Enix‘s smartphone games, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. The move reportedly comes following delays in developing the next installment of the series.

Square Enix has been in the habit of promoting its more prominent game developers and directors to give them higher positions within the company, and it’s now handed similar promotions to another batch of key figures, all of whom have been made executive officers.

Square Enix has appointed a number of new executive officers as of April 1, 2024, including Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi, Team Asano head Tomoya Asano, and more.

World of Warcraft’s executive producer recently shared her thoughts on the lack of communication the game has had surrounding Patch 10.2.6. Though World of Warcraft sought to have some fun with the mysterious “Pirate Patch,” she recognized how frustrating the radio silence has been for players and content creators alike.

SEGA has announced the appointment of Justin Scarpone, former executive of The Walt Disney Company and Scopely, as executive vice president and head of Global Transmedia Group, effective April 1. The establishment of a Global Transmedia Group will allow SEGA to advance its transmedia strategy across its portfolio of intellectual property, such as Persona, Like a Dragon, Angry Birds, and more in the coming years.

Tekken project executive game director Katsuhiro Harada has spoken about Tekken 8’s issue with “pluggers” — those who disconnect mid-match when they’re about to lose in order to avoid recording a loss — and stated that improvements are coming. 

Intel's ex-executive VP and founder of Mahira AI, Raja Koduri, has an interesting insight on the world of AI & Data Center stating that the current success of the ecosystem depends on GPUs designed for the PC segment.

Fortnite might be packed with exciting collaborations, but according to current Doctor Who showrunner and executive producer Russell T Davies, the rumors of the British sci-fi series crossing over with the eternally popular battle royale game are totally false. 

Motorola was acquired by Lenovo back in 2014 from Google, and since then, it has carved somewhat of a market for itself in this cutthroat space, but nothing too drastic. However, the company intends to change that and is betting on the future, believing that its smartphone brand can become the world’s third-biggest. In fact, one Lenovo executive is putting his paycheck on the line while boasting such claims.

Yesterday, Ubisoft announced some changes to its subscription services, Premium and Classics. GamesIndustry.biz had the opportunity to interview the company's Director of Subscriptions, Philippe Tremblay, who noted that gamers are still clinging to physically owning their games, unlike music or movie fans. This could be a factor in the slower-than-anticipated adoption of cloud and subscription services.

Titan Forge Games has confirmed that its beloved free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) Smite will continue to be playable for as long as fans want to play it, even after the upcoming release of Smite 2. 

Any gamer who regularly browses Steam (and, to a lesser degree, the console digital stores) is probably already aware of the sheer multitude of games that are coming to the market. For years now, the so-called backlog of each gamer has been getting longer due to the accumulation of previously unplayed titles and the launch of new titles. While to a certain extent this is proof of a vibrant industry, it also engenders a series of problems: obviously, there is only a finite amount of time that users can dedicate to their games, and they also compete against other hobbies.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Focusing on the key campaigns of the US air force during World War 2 was something executive producer Gary Goetzman and his partners, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, "had always talked about" in the wake of their hit shows Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010).

Overwatch 2 has had some trouble in the past year-and-a-bit since its release—between promised PvE content being absent, an outright admission that the game has been in decline, and a 'colourful' reception on Steam, the game's freemium model has been a point of contention—especially for players who bought Overwatch 1 fully-priced.

Fortniteis known for having an impressive roster, with characters from all across TV and video games. It's one of the competitive shooter's best-known characteristics. 

After more than eight years at the helm of League of Legends, executive producer Jeremy «Brightmoon» Lee announced today that he's decided to step down.

Apple Inc.'s senior executive overseeing touch-screen technology, health sensors and the company's Face ID interface is leaving the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Embracer Group’s interim chief strategy officer, Phil Rogers, has spoken about the company’s restructuring process, and has referred to the mass layoffs it’s caused as “agonizing” but “a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals.”

The Pokemon series will have soon been knocking around for 30 years, and if recent comments made by The Pokemon Company's chief operations officer are anything to go by, it's just getting started.

Oura Ring, known for its innovative smart ring tracking sleep quality and vital health metrics, has elevated its commitment to health care with the appointment of former Apple executive Jason Oberfest. Formerly a pivotal figure in Apple's health team since his transition from startup Mango Health in 2018, Oberfest now assumes the role of Head of Clinical Strategy at Oura, and his expertise is expected to bolster Oura's health-care strategy.

OpenAI’s board of directions recently made the decision to remove Sam Altman as CEO, and though there has been a power struggle to reinstate him back to his original position, the final verdict will remain unchanged. Mira Murati, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, was said to be the company’s interim CEO, but now, a former Twitch Chief Executive will take that position.

It’s not surprising when we hear about a studio being acquired. That has been a trend for a little while now. Sony and Microsoft have been acquiring studios, and it was just Microsoft recently that developed a massive purchase. Microsoft made the purchase to acquire Activision Blizzard. Now, this was no small feat. It cost them an enormous amount of money. After dealing with regulators, the deal finally went through. But through these regulators and court hearings, tiny bits of information surfaced from behind closed doors. One of those dealt with Sega. A company that has been around for ages and even offered a console competitor for a time. 

Overwatch 2's executive producer, Jared Neuss, assured fans that the current skin and bundle model is here to stay, reflecting that it's a «sustainable» practice for Blizzard to keep going. 

Could World of Warcraft come to console? That has been asked many times throughout the near 20-year lifespan of the MMO, and it's rarely been met with a satisfying answer. I put the question to Holly Longdale at BlizzCon 2023, and the vice president and executive producer for World of Warcraft had this to say when I asked whether the concept is something Blizzard Entertainment finds interesting: "Of course! Yeah, we talk about it all the time." 

Phil Spencer may have shown up at the BlizzCon 2023 opening ceremony to proclaim that "the future of Blizzard is brighter than ever", but the CEO of Microsoft Gaming isn't quite ready to get into the details. The ink has barely dried on the Xbox acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and there's no doubt plenty to be worked out behind the scenes. But that isn't to say that key developers at Blizzard aren't excited about the possibilities. 

A senior Google executive disputed suggestions that the company rushed to release its artificial intelligence-based chatbot Bard earlier this year to beat a similar offering from rival Microsoft Corp. Testifying in Google's defense at the Justice Department's antitrust trial against the search giant, Elizabeth Reid, a vice president of search, acknowledged that Bard gave “a wrong answer” during its public unveiling in February. But she rejected the contention by government lawyer David Dahlquist that Bard was “rushed” out after Microsoft announced it was integrating generative AI into its own Bing search engine.

In a legislative attempt to stave off the inevitable demise of humanity at the hands of roaming hunter-killer robots, US President Joe Biden has issued an executive order establishing a new set of standards that will guide the development of AI. The order includes requirements to «develop standards, tools, and tests to help ensure that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy,» and to share relevant data about AI models with the US government.

With a new executive order, the Biden administration plans to reach deep into the non-legislative compartments of its policy toolbox to manage the risks of increasingly powerful AI systems while also promoting their development.

Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan on Thursday detailed challenges the search and advertising giant faces from smaller rivals, describing efforts to avoid becoming "the next road kill."

Qualcomm is said to be charging its customers more for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, but these price hikes are not going to stop at this chipset release because the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has been hinted by a company executive to be even more expensive. It appears that the San Diego firm needs some way to financially make up for the custom Oyron cores since that is reportedly the magic behind next year’s chipset.

The Exynos 2400 is expected to be found in several Galaxy S24 variants sold in several regions, and while Samsung did not divulge the details of its flagship SoC, a recent claim made by the Korean giant’s executives placed the silicon’s GPU ahead of its competitors. However, earlier benchmarks revealed that it still has some catching up to do, and we will discuss those details shortly.

Ubisoft recently joined arms with Activision for streaming rights to Activision Blizzard properties like Call of Duty for the foreseeable future, and the French gaming giant has now offered some interesting insight when it comes to video game sales – thanks to a new blog post on the official Ubisoft website.

Windows 12 rumors have started to gain traction in the industry, and now the fire is fueled after the statement of Intel's executive, claiming that the launch may occur in 2024.

The Kirin 9000S, first found in Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro, has sparked debate across various platforms while also irking the U.S. government. Earlier reports claimed that SMIC, a Chinese-based semiconductor manufacturer, leveraged its 7nm technology to mass produce the latest SoC. However, one research firm CEO believes that only special techniques were involved in making the latest chipset perform on par with a 7nm part and that it is actually made on an older and inferior 14nm process.

A senior Google executive once likened the company's search advertising business to selling drugs, calling it “one of the world's greatest business models ever created” since the company can “ignore” users and focus on generating revenue from advertising.

A Meta Platforms executive overseeing the company's efforts to develop its own chips for artificial intelligence work is leaving her position at the end of the month, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Blizzard has announced that Chris Metzen is now an executive creative director of its Warcraft universe. The announcement was made with a statement on social media platform X, which states that Metzen’s main focus will be to support the leadership of World of Warcraft in creating future content for the game.

Blizzard veteran Chris Metzen — who retired from the studio back in 2016, only to rejoin at the end of last year — has been made executive creative director of Warcraft.

Blizzard has announced that Chris Metzen, who returned to the company last year in a Creative Advisor role on Warcraft has now taken on a full time role as Executive Creative Director of the Warcraft universe. 

Blizzard Entertainment veteran Chris Metzen has been appointed as Warcraft’s executive creative director.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced today that Chris Metzen, former creative lead on multiple World of Warcraft expansions, is moving into a full time position as executive creative director on the Warcraft franchise once again.

Legendary game designer Chris Metzen has officially returned to Blizzard in a full-time role. He will now serve as the Executive Creative Director of the Warcraft universe with a main focus on World of Warcraft in particular. According to the announcement, Metzen will be at the upcoming BlizzCon 2023 to share what’s next for the Warcraft universe. At previous BlizzCon’s Metzen was often the one to reveal new expansions, which fans have surely missed.

Blizzard has announced on Twitter that Chris Metzen has been promoted to Executive Creative Director for the Warcraft Universe, with more of his work to be revealed at BlizzCon 2023.

Few industry observers would have put money on Baldur’s Gate 3 being one of the year’s biggest hits.

Ubisoft has made another shakeup for one of its core franchises, as Julian Gerighty is now the executive producer for its Division franchise. After shipping Star Wars Outlaws (as its creative director), he's to oversee the "plethora of projects" for the Tom Clancy branded sub-franchise. 

As part of Ubisoft’s ongoing commitment to grow its globally recognized brands, Ubisoft is happy to announce that Julian Gerighty has been appointed as the new Executive Producer for the billion-dollar brand Tom Clancy’s The Division®. As Executive Producer, Julian Gerighty will oversee all The Division games and products, including Tom Clancy’s The Division 3, led by Massive Entertainment who is actively building a team for the game. This announcement represents Ubisoft’s dedication to the longevity of the brand.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Two years after Apple Inc. dropped Google Maps as its default service on iPhones in favor of its own app, Google had regained only 40% of the mobile traffic it used to have on its mapping service, a Google executive testified in the antitrust trial against the Alphabet Inc. company.

Charlie Wen, who previously designed Kratos from the God of War series, has been appointed Chief Creative Officer at Epic Games. 

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

Shawn Layden, formerly an executive at PlayStation, has referred to non-gaming tech-based companies like Google, Netflix, Amazon and Apple as “barbarians at the gate” at the recent GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit. Referring to the tech companies as non-endemic to the games industry, Layden calls these companies one of the biggest threats to the video games business.

Mena Sato Kato has joined Microsoft to lead Japanese partnership operations at Xbox.

IGN can exclusively reveal the launch of Midwest Games, a new regionally focused video game publisher headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

It can be difficult keeping track of the various comings and goings in the games industry, which is why we compile them in semi-regular round-ups.

With the launch of the new season of Overwatch 2 bringing with it a new PvE game mode, Blizzard has stated that the game has now officially exited its early access phase. According to IGN, executive producer Jared Neuss declared Overwatch 2 to now be a “full” live service game with the launch of Season 6: Invasion.

«I suppose it's possible the lack of backward compatibility could enhance your revenue for a period of time, but at what cost?»

The Witcher's third season isn't going down well. It has an audience score of 22 percent and the subreddit continues to pick apart everything from costume design to awkwardly modern dialogue. But the big complaint is that the show oversimplifies plot points from the novel, something executive producer Tomek Baginski blames on TikTok and Western audiences.

Take-Two has doubled the pay of its top executives, as detailed in its annual proxy filing.

is still coming despite Justin Roiland’s exit from the show, and during the show’s recent panel at San Diego Comic-Con, an update on the season was given.