Sony and Tencent now own almost a third of ‘Elden Ring’ studio FromSoftware
Sony has joined forces with Tencent to purchase a 30.34 percent share of FromSoftware, the developer behind titles like Elden Ring, Dark Souls 3 and Bloodborne. Tencent's Sixjoy Hong Kong division will own 16.25 percent of FromSoftware's shares, Sony will take a 14.09 percent interest and parent Kadokawa Group will remain the largest shareholder with a 69.66 percent stake. Tencent already has an investment in Kadokawa from last year.
FromSoftware might not be a developer that's on the tip of your tongue, but it has an impressive catalog. Elden Ring has been the top selling game of 2022 to date, with sales of 12 million copies in the first 18 days alone. Along with Bloodborne and the Dark Souls franchise, it has also produced the PSVR mystery adventure Déraciné and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
The company plans to use the funds raised (36.4 billion yen or $262 million) to strengthen its relationship with Sony, create new IP and expand its ability to publish globally. Elden Ring is the company's biggest hit to date, but it's published outside of Japan by Bandai Namco. Earlier this year, FromSoftware and Bandai Namco called Elden Ring the start of a "new franchise" and announced efforts to "expand the brand beyond the game itself and into everyone's daily life."
While Microsoft has grabbed most of the headlines with its (still-pending) Activision Blizzard acquisition, Sony has been snapping up studios as well. It recently completed a $3.6 billion deal to buy Halo and Destiny developer Bungie Games, along with God of War co-development studio Valkyrie and Jade Raymond's Haven Studios. Considering the success of Elden Ring, its stake in FromSoftware seems like a relative bargain.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/sony-and-tencent-invest-in-elden-ring-developer-from-software-104502232.html?src=rss
The Morning After: An early look at Logitech’s new gaming handheld
Earlier this month, Logitech said it was working on a gaming handheld to hook into your cloud gaming service of choice. Now, leaked images of the G Gaming Handheld have danced their way across the internet. Looking like a slimmer Steam Deck (or Switch), the image shows icons for Xbox, GeForce Now and Steam, as well as Chrome and YouTube. On one hand, it looks a lot like so many of those clip-on braces that pair with your existing smartphone, like the Kishi. On the other, if this offers an affordable way to play AAA titles on the road while preserving your smartphone’s battery life, Logitech could sell a bundle. (And while you wait for it to launch, you can always upgrade your mouse situation, as Logitech upgraded those, too.)
– Daniel Cooper
The biggest stories you might have missed
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Tom Hanks created a trivia game, and it's coming to Apple Arcade this Friday
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8BitDo reveals wireless versions of its Xbox-style Ultimate Controller
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AMD's Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs will start shipping on September 27th
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Sony's new premium 3.1-channel Dolby Atmos soundbar costs $700
Sony has cut the PS5's weight after raising its price
The disc model now weighs the same as the digital model did at launch.
The PlayStation 5 was famously swole at launch, which was a problem for the company that made it (and those that deliver it). But the quiet program of corporate weight-shedding Sony has put the console on has started to bear fruit, with an updated model. The new digital version is 200 grams lighter than its predecessor, and the disc version has dropped 300 grams. That means the disc model weighs the same as the digital one did when the console made its debut. We shouldn’t expect a PS5 slim any time soon, but it gives us hope that Sony is working hard to bring one to reality.
The best budget TVs and streaming gadgets for students
Get the best for your return to school.
I get it – the easiest and most convenient thing to do when you’re in a dorm room is to watch TV on your phone. But let’s be honest, your eyes (and ears) deserve better, and there are enough decent, affordable options to improve your home entertainment time. Our Back to School buyer’s guide has a bunch of good TVs, streaming sticks and audio gear to do what you need, without breaking the bank.
Twitter planned to build an OnlyFans clone, but CSAM issues reportedly derailed the plan
Employees said the company doesn’t do enough to tackle harmful content.
A lengthy report has detailed Twitter’s plans to build its own OnlyFans-style subscription content platform. The project hit the buffers, however, because the company couldn’t implement an effective-enough system to filter out CSAM and other non-consensual image sharing. Twitter insiders said its filtering platform is out of date, inefficient and not up to the task of keeping the platform safe for users at large. The company responded, saying the report is not reflective of where the platform is at right now, and it has stepped up efforts to tackle CSAM on its platform.
The Sense75 is Drop's play for the premium mechanical keyboard market
It’s presented as an alternative to the Glorious GMMK Pro.
Don’t believe the haters who keep telling you to stop using them in the library – mechanical keyboards are cool. And Drop is launching its first premium unit, the Sense75. Looking very much like the Glorious GMMK Pro, the 75 is a 75 percent tenkeyless deck with Holy Panda X switches, DCX keycapa and a rotary dial. Be warned, while Drop normally aims for affordability, a pre-built one of these will set you back either $349 or $399, depending on the color you pick.
Webb and Hubble telescopes join forces to capture multi-spectrum image of Phantom Galaxy
Two telescopes are better than one.
Look at this! Isn’t it magnificent? This is a new image of the Phantom Galaxy (M74), 32 million light years away from Earth. The image offers an unprecedented look at a spiral galaxy that first bewitched astronomers in 1780. What’s even cooler is the image is a composite, pulling data from both the brand-new James Webb and the positively ancient Hubble space telescopes. It’s a testament to the longevity of Hubble, the improved power of Webb and the value of friendship and teamwork.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-an-early-look-at-logitechs-new-gaming-handheld-111549013.html?src=rss
LG’s OLED Flex is a flat panel and a curved display in one
A few days ago, Corsair introduced a 45-inch display called Xeneon Flex with a panel made by LG that you can bend to switch between a flat and a curved screen. Turns out LG also developed a bendable monitor model of its own. The Korean company has just unveiled the LG OLED Flex or LX3, a 42-inch screen that you can manually adjust until it reaches a curvature of 900R. To note, Corsair's has a max curvature of 800R, and a smaller number means the monitor's curve is more pronounced.
You can quickly adjust the Flex's curvature by using a dedicated button on its remote control and choosing either of the two available presents. But you can also manually adjust its degree of curvature in five percent increments, giving you over 20 levels of curve to to choose from. Further, you can tilt the monitor towards or away from you and adjust the height of its stand by 140 millimeters.
LX3 uses the company's backlight-free and self-lit OLED technology and was designed to have a 0.1 millisecond response time and low input lag. It also gives you the power to adjust the size of the image onscreen so you can choose to use the whole monitor or just a part of it, if you want to see the whole picture at a glance — say for games that need you to be aware of your environment.
LG also gave the monitor exclusive access to its new Game app, which has shortcuts to popular gaming-related apps like Twitch and YouTube and lists all your connected external input devices. Speaking of connected devices, the model's Switching Hub function lets you easily switch device connection between your PC and the monitor. You can use the monitor's built-in mic and anything connected to its USB ports, including headsets and keyboards, and then press a button to use the devices connected to the PC instead. Other features include two front-firing 40W speakers, support for Dolby Atmos and support for Dolby Vision gaming.
LG has yet to announce pricing or relate date for the model, but it will showcase the OLED Flex at IFA 2022 in Berlin.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/lg-oled-flex-flat-panel-curved-display-121941054.html?src=rss
Apple’s AirPods Max fall back to a low of $429
Apple's flagship AirPods Max wireless headphones have much to offer like excellent audio quality, ANC and spatial audio support — but they're definitely not cheap at $549. Now, you can grab a pair in green, pink, silver and sky blue for just $429. That's 22 percent off and tied with the lowest price we've seen to date.
Buy Apple AirPods Max at Amazon - $429
The AirPods Max scored a solid 84 in our Engadget review and made our latest list of favorite headphones, thanks to their high sound quality, effective noise-cancellation and reliable controls. They offer a uniquely Apple-esque design, and despite being slightly heavier than Sony’s WH-1000XM4 cans, are comfortable to wear. Once you get used to it, the rotating crown makes it easy to adjust sound.
Audio quality is more natural than other headphones we've tried with bass that's accurate and not overpowering. Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones have more effective ANC, but the AirPods Max come close. Meanwhile, the Transparency Mode lets you quickly disable ANC if you need to hear what's going on. The biggest drawback is the lack of lossless audio support, but they work great with Dolby Atmos surround sound on most Apple devices.
The AirPods Max are ideal if you're in the Apple ecosystem, with the H1 chip letting you quickly switch between an iPhone and a Mac, for example. There's no question that they're very expensive at the regular $549 price, so Amazon's latest discount presents a good buying opportunity if you've been eyeing a pair.
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Article source: https://www.engadget.com/apples-air-pods-max-fall-back-to-a-low-of-429-124521798.html?src=rss
What we bought: An NVIDIA RTX 3070, two years late
It only took about two years, but I finally bought an NVIDIA RTX 3070 last month. Along the way, I tried almost everything I could to get my hands on one at the actual retail price. I joined Discord servers dedicated to posting stock alerts. I found Twitter accounts that did the same for Canadian retailers. But no matter how persistent I was, I could never beat everyone else who wanted a 3070 just as much as I did. By the time summer came, I was ready to give up, and I would have if not for the crypto crash.
If you haven’t followed the market, Bitcoin and Ethereum's slide has dramatically affected GPU prices, particularly on the NVIDIA side of things. The company’s add-in board partners, firms like ASUS and EVGA that produce the majority of GPUs you can buy, are reportedly struggling with overstock after crypto-miners flooded the used market with cheap 30-series video cards. According to some reports, the issue is so bad that NVIDIA may push back the release of its next-generation Ada Lovelace architecture to the end of the year to give its partners time to sell their existing stock. Either way, you can buy a current-generation GPU without jumping through hoops for the first time in nearly two years.
When I finally pulled the trigger on my ASUS Dual RTX 3070, I paid $740 CAD before tax or about $565 USD. I probably could have found a used model for less, but I decided I was okay with spending more to get a video card with a full warranty that someone hadn’t abused for crypto-mining.
What you probably what to know is why I didn’t wait a bit longer for NVIDIA’s next-generation GPUs to arrive. The answer is twofold. Unless the US decides to regulate cryptocurrencies, it’s hard to see a future where the market doesn’t recover and mining becomes lucrative again. Even if that doesn’t happen, by the time NVIDIA’s new GPUs are available to buy, they might not be easy to find.
All signs point to the company opening the Ada Lovelace generation with RTX 4090, 4080 and 4070 models. Not only will those likely be more expensive than their 30-series counterparts, but you can also bet they’ll be in high demand among gamers who want the latest and greatest – particularly the 4070 as the most mainstream model of the trio.
For those reasons, I thought there would be a short window where I could buy a new GPU at a reasonable price. That I was running a GTX 1660 Ti with a QHD monitor made my decision easier. I was starting to see the 1660 Ti sometimes struggle to maintain a consistent rate of 60 frames per second in games like Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order at 1440p. The fact the 1660 Ti doesn’t include NVIDA’s DLSS upscaling technology also meant I was looking at a future where I would have to play some games at reduced quality.
I can safely say I won’t regret buying the RTX 3070 with its successor right around the corner. Playing games like God of War with all graphical settings maxed out and without a single hiccup has been delightful. Even more revelatory has been revisiting games like Control and finally being able to experience them with ray tracing. Sometimes I think we get so caught up trying to pull off the perfect purchase that we don’t buy the product that would serve our needs well right now. I’m glad I didn’t fall into that trap.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-rtx-3070-gpu-irl-130046278.html?src=rss
ASUS’ Zenbook 17 Fold OLED laptop will start at $3,500
All the way back at CES in January, ASUS revealed a 17.3-inch foldable tablet PC called the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED, which raised a lot of eyebrows. Soon enough, you'll be able to own the device, as long as you have a few thousand dollars to spare. ASUS announced at IFA 2022 that the foldable will start at $3,500 (£3,300 in the UK) and start rolling out globally by the end of the year.
The Zenbook 17 Fold has a 4:3, 2.5K touchscreen with a 180-degree hinge that folds to effectively create dual 12.5-inch, 1920 x 1280 displays with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The screen has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, a 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut, 0.2 ms response time, 60 Hz refresh rate, up to 500 nits of brightness and TÜV Rheinland-certified low blue-light emissions (ASUS says it has 70 percent lower blue-light levels than an LCD display).
There's Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support. The Windows tablet has four Harman Kardon-certified speakers. It also has a 5MP webcam, a color sensor and an HD IR camera that will allow you to login with a face scan.
The device comes with a full-size ErgoSense Bluetooth keyboard (with a built-in touchpad) that you can place on top of one half of the folded device. Alternatively, you can place the keyboard on your desk and keep the entire display visible.
The Zenbook 17 Fold is 17.4mm thin. It weighs 1.6 kg (3.5 pounds) without the keyboard and 1.99 kg (4.4 lbs) with the peripheral.
You can configure the system with up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor with Intel Iris Xe graphics, up to 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of NVMe M.2 SSD storage. Two Thunderbolt 4 ports allow for fast charging of the 75 Wh battery and they'll enable you to connect the tablet to external displays. The only other port is a 3.5 mm audio combo jack.
It's a fairly expensive device that seems to include an early adopter tax. Since we haven't tested the Zenbook 17 Fold yet, it remains to be seen how durable the laptop is in practice. We know all too well the kinds of problems a company can run into when they make an all-screen foldable for the first time, though hopefully ASUS has learned from the issues Samsung had with the first Galaxy Fold.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/asus-zenbook-17-fold-oled-foldable-windows-tablet-pricing-availability-143806903.html?src=rss
‘The Last of Us Part I’ is a gorgeous, faithful, expensive remake
One thing that is notably different is enemy AI. Human enemies are smarter and more aggressive, working together to flank you; they're also a lot harder to lose once they pick up your trail. Infected, meanwhile, present their own set of challenges. Clickers, the blind Infected that use echolocation to find you and can kill you in one shot, have the same behavior they do in Part II. They’ll often stop their wandering and let out a series of “barks” — and if you’re near them when they do, well, you’re probably going to die quickly. In the original game, you were mostly safe as long as you didn’t make too much noise walking, but now you have to keep moving or hiding at all times.
The mega-powerful Bloaters are also modeled after their counterparts in Part II. The biggest change in their behavior is that they’ll build up a head of steam and charge at you like a bull — if you get out of the way they’ll often slam into a wall or other object and be stunned for a moment, a great opportunity to blast away at them with your shotgun. But in Part II, you can use the dodge button to dance out of the way. Since there’s no dodge in Part I, you have to sprint out of the way instead, something that’s not nearly as reliable. After getting so used to dodging the Bloater’s charge in Part II, it was a real pain to not have the same move here. And if a Bloater grabs you, it’s an instant death, so you’ll want to treat these upgraded enemies with the utmost care.
The AI and behavior of your allies has been upgraded, too, which addresses a big complaint about the original game. If you were in stealth, your allies were essentially invisible to enemies, which meant that your cover couldn’t get blown if Ellie or another companion ran out in front of a Clicker. This avoided the frustration of being seen when you didn’t actually do anything to reveal your position, but it also meant that it looked pretty ridiculous when characters could run right out in front of enemies and not get spotted.
Now, your companions are much smarter at mimicking your behavior, going into cover when you’re in stealth and only revealing themselves if you do the same. Once or twice in my playthrough, an ally would be “out of position” and in the enemy’s line of sight, but, as in the first game, they’re essentially invisible. The good news is that it just doesn't happen very often. It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement.
The haptic feedback system and adaptive triggers on the PS5’s DualSense controller also offer some subtle but noteworthy improvements to gameplay. Naughty Dog says each weapon has different resistance and feedback from the triggers, and the haptic vibrations are unique as well. While I can’t recognize every slight detail, shooting a revolver feels quite different on the trigger than shooting the shotgun or drawing your bow. Haptics accompany actions like reloading too, so you’ll feel a vibration for each pump of the shotgun after Joel takes a shot. There are too many haptic touches throughout the game to count, but one of my favorites is that you can "feel" rainfall as it vibrates lightly across the controller, like droplets are bouncing off your body.
Updates galore
While graphics and AI are the changes most people will notice first, there are a lot of smaller tweaks throughout that make The Last of Us Part I feel more like Part II. Things like a redesigned HUD and weapon selection interface, aiming reticles for different weapons and button prompts (like mashing square to open a blocked door or holding triangle to lift a gate) all match their counterparts in Part II. While weapon upgrade options are identical to those in the original game, the new visuals of Joel working on his guns with various tools are a lot more interesting than in the original game.
Upon finishing the game, you’ll unlock a host of bonus material and gameplay modifiers. Most significant are the Permadeath and Speed Run modes. Just as in Part II, Permadeath removes all checkpoints, and if you set it to the most difficult level, one death sends you back to the very beginning of the game. For those who want a significant challenge but aren’t quite that dedicated, you can do Permadeath “per act” (which Naughty Dog estimates encompasses two to three hours of gameplay) or “per chapter,” which adds some checkpoints within each act. You can also try it at any difficulty level, which makes the challenge a lot more accessible. I know I’m not good enough to try a truly obscene Permadeath run on the ultra-difficult Grounded difficulty, but I have kicked off a run on Hard, which I should have a prayer of surviving.
Speedrun mode is pretty self-explanatory, but it’s a nice quality of life enhancement for people who like to play games as quickly as possible. It enables an in-game timer that automatically pauses during cinematic and scene transitions. Once you finish the game, you’ll find a recap that breaks down your speed per chapter as well as your total play time, and the game saves records broken down by difficulty level and permadeath setting.
Other unlockable extras include tons of concept art, both from the original release and new art done for this 2022 rerelease. There’s also a viewer that lets you explore highly detailed character models for just about everyone in the game; it also lets you see the disgusting details of the Infected in close range if you’re into that sort of thing. More Part II extras brought over here include a set of filters you can apply to tweak the visuals of the game (think an 8-bit setting or one that renders the game in a comic book style) and a bunch of gameplay modifiers. You can turn on infinite ammo or crafting supplies, one-shot kills, slow motion, explosive arrows and much more. Only hardcore fans are probably going to spend time with these, but they can add some fun new ways to play the game — combining something like unlimited ammo with a permadeath setting on the game’s hardest difficulty would be a particularly unique challenge, for example.
It’s not a stretch to say that The Last of Us Part II helped push accessibility in the video games industry forward — Naughty Dog provided players with an extensive and impressive selection of options, and I’m very glad to see that the company replicated that with Part I. Setting include a host of control adjustments (including complete control remapping), visual aids like magnification and high contrast modes, features that make navigating the world easier like a ledge guard to keep you from falling to your death, a text-to-speech reader, audio cues, extensive combat modifications and much more.
It’s all present in Part I, along with a new feature that delivers haptic feedback on the controller to help deaf or hard-of-hearing players feel the emphasis in how lines of dialog are delivered. The game also includes audio descriptions for cutscenes, something that wasn’t present in Part II. All these accessibility modifications are important additions and things that any player can appreciate if they want to customize their experience with the game.
At a more basic level, Part I also lets you set a custom difficulty level. There are six options, but you can also set different challenges across five parts of the game: player, enemies, allies, stealth and resources. So you could make it a little easier to stay in stealth, or make resources more plentiful while otherwise keeping enemy aggressiveness high, for example. It’s yet another way to tweak your experience to match your skill level.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that virtual photographers will love Photo Mode in The Last of Us Part I. It's even better than it is in Part II thanks to the addition of three lights that you can place anywhere around a scene to make things even more dramatic. You can adjust the color temperatures, brightness, position and many more options to customize the scene further than ever before. I can't wait to see what the incredibly skilled virtual photography community around these games does with Part I. (All screenshots in this review, with the exception of those credited to Sony, were taken by me using the game's Photo Mode.)
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-ps5-review-150041410.html?src=rss
Crypto.com refunded someone $7.2 million by mistake
When Australian woman Thevamanogari Manivel put in a Crypto.com refund request last year, she got far more than she bargained for. Manivel asked for a refund of $100 AUD (now worth around $68 USD). Instead, seemingly due to an employee entering her account number into a payment section of a refund form by mistake, the company dropped $10.5 million AUD ($7.2 million at current exchange rates) into her account instead.
According to a report from 7News (by way of The Verge) Crypto.com made the overly generous refund in May last year. However, it apparently did not identify the mistake until it carried out an audit in December, seven entire Gregorian calendar months later.
Manivel kept the money and reportedly transferred it to a bank account. A court granted Crypto.com a freeze on the account in February. The Guardian reports that most of the cash had been moved to other accounts by then, but those accounts were later frozen too. That same month, Manivel is said to have spent $1.35 million AUD (approximately $890,000) on a five-bedroom home and transferred ownership of it to her sister. A court has ordered the sale of the property as soon as possible and for the funds to be returned to Crypto.com with interest. The case will return to court in October.
Perhaps not too long ago, Crypto.com might have been more willing to write off the refund as a deeply unfortunate mistake. But the cryptocurrency market has been tanking this year and the company lost $34 million in a January hack. It also laid off hundreds of employees this summer due to the crypto downturn.
So, it's perhaps not too surprising that Crypto.com is trying to get the money back from Manivel. After all, it has a long-term arena sponsorship deal in Los Angeles, for which it's said to be paying $700 million over 20 years, and a Matt Damon to keep fed.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/cryptocom-72-million-refund-whoops-154406931.html?src=rss
Samsung’s first QD-OLED gaming monitor arrives later this year
Earlier this year, the first gaming monitor with a Samsung QD-OLED panel arrived. We called the Alienware AW3423DW an ultrawide marvel, praising it for its bright and beautiful screen. When Samsung showed off QD-OLED at CES 2022, it promised the new panels would be available in more than one monitor, and now the company is making good on that pledge with the announcement of the Odyssey OLED G8.
If you’re familiar with the AW3423DW, you won’t find many surprises on the G8’s spec sheet. It features a 34-inch QD-OLED panel with a 21:9 aspect ratio and 1800R curvature. The 3,440 by 1,440 screen covers 99.3 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has a blazing fast 0.1ms response time and 175Hz refresh rate. It’s also DisplayHDR 400 True Black- and FreeSync Premium-certified – though there’s no mention of G-Sync compatibility.
The frame and stand are metal. That’s something you don’t see on many gaming monitors. However, the stand only offers height and tilt adjustment, and as you can see from one of the photos Samsung shared, there’s no option to VESA mount the G85SB due to the built-in RGB lighting at the back of the monitor. That’s not great from a usability standpoint. I’m also not sure what Samsung thought when they decided to include HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity but went with the Micro and Mini versions of those ports. Here’s hoping the company includes adapters in the box. Naturally, it also comes with Samsung's Gaming Hub and Smart Platform features built in.
The G85SB will go on sale before the end of the year. Samsung didn’t share pricing information, but if the cost of Alienware’s QD-OLED monitor is any indication, expect the Odyssey OLED G8 to fall somewhere in the $1,300 range.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/samsung-odyssey-oled-g8-announced-specs-availability-161741379.html?src=rss
Chinese tech giant NetEase is buying Quantic Dream as its first European game studio
Three and a half years after Chinese tech conglomerate NetEase snapped up a minority stake in Quantic Dream (of Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human fame), it is gobbling up the rest of the developer. NetEase didn't reveal how much it's spending to buy out the studio, which will be its first in Europe.
After Quantic Dream formally becomes a NetEase subsidiary, it will continue to operate independently as a studio and publisher of first- and third-party titles. Additionally, it will be able to tap into NetEase's game development capabilities.
The studio has a couple of projects in the pipeline. Last December, it provided the first peek of Star Wars Eclipse, which is set in the High Republic era of a certain galaxy that's far, far away. Earlier this month, during Gamescom, it revealed it's publishing a game called Under the Waves. Parallel Studio is developing that title with the help of Quantic Dream's motion-capture, animation and voice-recording knowhow.
In 2018, ex-Quantic Dream employees accused the company of fostering a toxic work environment, where sexism, racism and homophobia were present. Later that year, a French court determined the company unfairly dismissed a former employee who made allegations of workplace harassment, but that ruling was overturned in 2021. Quantic Dream, which won libel suits against publications that reported on accusations against it, has refuted notions that it has a “toxic atmosphere“ or allows "any kind of discrimination in the studio."
This acquisition marks the latest entry in a long, long list of studio buyouts this year. Among others, Sony has bought Destiny 2 developer Bungie, Haven Studios and, to help set up a mobile gaming division, Savage Game Studio. Along with Tencent, it just acquired a sizable, but minority stake in Elden Ring studio FromSoftware.
Elsewhere, Embracer Group is continuing on its quest to seemingly snap up every developer it possibly can. And then, of course, there's Microsoft's blockbuster acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which is still pending. On that note, NetEase publishes Blizzard games in China, including Diablo Immortal, which it co-developed.
Article source: https://www.engadget.com/netease-quantic-dream-acquisition-170338159.html?src=rss