Game Developer

JULY 26, 2023

Microsoft only saw a 1 percent increase in gaming revenue during the quarter, but company CEO Satya Nadella claims the future is bright for Xbox.

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Games 246

Game Developer

JUNE 12, 2023

Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, Matt Booty, and Todd Howard take a look at the year ahead for Microsoft, Xbox, and the company's newly acquired studios.

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Game Developer

JANUARY 13, 2023

Both companies are concerned the deal could give Microsoft an unfair advantage in key markets.

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GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

Microsoft was interested in acquiring Nintendo, an internal email has revealed. Valve, Warner Brothers Interactive, and ZeniMax were also seen as potential targets for acquisition, with Microsoft ultimately opting to buy the latter. Read more

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Game Developer

MAY 30, 2023

South Korea's regulatory board finds Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard a benefit to the company and the console game space at large.

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Console Games 237

Game Developer

JULY 19, 2023

Microsoft president Brad Smiths says the extension will allow both companies to address the final regulatory issues.

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GamesIndustry.biz

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox For a few decades, Microsoft occupied one of the most privileged and profitable positions any company, in any industry, has ever enjoyed. Read more

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Personal Computer Games 143

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 8, 2024

Another swath of Activision QA workers has unionized, as the Communication Workers of America announced today that Microsoft has voluntarily recognized a union for workers at Activision Central Quality Assurance.

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Quality Assurance Communications Software Games 144

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 25, 2024

Toys for Bob has reportedly signed a deal with Microsoft after parting ways with the firm last month. The Crash Bandicoot and Spyro developer previously clarified that it was looking to explore "a possible partnership" with its former parent company in a post on the company's website in February. Read more

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Studios Development 121

GamesIndustry.biz

APRIL 10, 2024

Microsoft has also entered an agreement with the games firm to bring NetEase titles to Xbox consoles and other platforms. Blizzard and NetEase had previously been in a partnership for 14 years, which came to an end in 2022 as both companies failed to negotiate renewal of their agreement. Read more

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Entertainment Console Platformer Games 109

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 28, 2024

Sega has sold Relic Entertainment, and will cut 240 roles across Sega Europe, Creative Assembly and Sega HARDlight Relic is best known for the Company of Heroes and Dawn of War games, and recently developed the new Age of Empires for Microsoft.

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Studios Entertainment Development Games 145

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 21, 2024

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Four major companies, including Xbox parent Microsoft, have weighed in on Epic's ongoing legal dispute with Apple, supporting the former's claim that the iOS firm is violating the court order given at the end of the 2021 antitrust trial.

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Games 136

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Xbox head Phil Spencer reportedly told employees that Microsoft isn't planning to stop making consoles.

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Console Games 134

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 29, 2024

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Toys For Bob today announced that it will be returning to its roots as an independent studio, spinning off from Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. "We This opportunity allows us to return to our roots of being a small and nimble studio."

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Studios Games Development 130

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 31, 2024

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox The fruits of Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition have been shown in its financial results for the previous quarter, with Xbox revenues showing year-on-year growth of 49%. The company brought the Call of Duty publisher into the fold when the $68.7

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Games 136

GamesIndustry.biz

DECEMBER 11, 2023

As ZeniMax Workers United and the Communication Workers of America continue to negotiate their first contract with Microsoft subsidiary ZeniMax, the groups today released an update on talks, saying they have reached a tentative agreement with the company that would impact how it can incorporate artificial intelligence into its business.

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GamesIndustry.biz

MAY 23, 2023

Sega has announced it will make 121 redundancies at Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment. Sega says it is restructuring the studio to focus on core franchises, including the Company of Heroes series. Company of Heroes 3 launched on PC in February and arrives on consoles this month. Read more

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Entertainment Console Studios PC 145

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 18, 2023

Microsoft is conducting layoffs for the third time since July, as reported by CNBC. This round of cuts is the largest of the three, with 10,000 employees being let go, which Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella characterized as less than 5% of the company's total headcount in a memo to employees about the layoffs.

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GamesIndustry.biz

AUGUST 31, 2023

The intent felt clear from the start: Microsoft wanted to make a statement. And it was showcasing the much anticipated Starfield on the very first day, in a theatre seating 300 people, with the unexpected company of Xbox boss Phil Spencer and Bethesda director Todd Howard. Xbox attended Gamescom all guns blazing last week.

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Platformer Games 144

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 18, 2024

Microsoft laid out a slate of five big games for its 2024 software lineup in a Developer Direct video today, capping the event off with the news that MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will arrive on Xbox, PC, and Game Pass "later this year." Read more

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Indy PC Software Platformer 109

GamesIndustry.biz

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Four of the biggest companies in the industry have been targeted by a lawsuit accusing them of enabling video game addiction. A complaint filed on October 30 in the Eastern District of Arkansas, spotted by Insider Gaming , names Microsoft, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, and Epic Games, as well as some of their studios, as defendants.

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GamesIndustry.biz

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

In all the furore over Microsoft's record-breaking acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it's almost been possible to forget that Sony recently had a major acquisition of its own – a far cry from the scale of the Activision deal, certainly, and not even a match for the price tag of Microsoft's earlier Zenimax acquisition , but Sony's $3.6

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Software Studios Platformer Development 140

GamesIndustry.biz

JUNE 30, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Sega has dismissed speculation that it may be acquired by Xbox or any other company after speculation was triggered by the FTC vs Microsoft hearings. Read more

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GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 30, 2023

The event did not take place in 2022, but the ESA announced it had partnered with ReedPop ( GamesIndustry.biz 's parent company) to work on a new version of the show for 2023. However, major companies such as Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft would not support the event. Read more

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Games Development 145

GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

For all the interest piqued by the information accidentally revealed in Microsoft's FTC submissions this week , there's little in the way of surprising revelations in these documents. Read more

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Console Software Studios 120

GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

It's been a little while since we saw a glimpse of the Bad Old Sony – the company that priced the PS3 at $200 above its closest competitor and retorted to criticism by saying that consumers would get a second job to be able to afford the console. Remember those guys?

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Console Games Entertainment 144

GamesIndustry.biz

AUGUST 22, 2023

Microsoft has ended production of Azure Kinect, the successor to the Xbox peripheral, drawing a line under the motion-sensing camera's lifespan. As announced in a blog post , the company will stop selling its latest version of the hardware this October or until stocks last.

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Retail Development Games 94

GamesIndustry.biz

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Activision Blizzard is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft after two years of regulatory investigations and in the face of protests from various corners of the games industry. The deal is done. With the 'will they/won't they' part of this saga finally over, the pressing question is: What happens next? "At

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Studios Games 145

GamesIndustry.biz

JANUARY 25, 2024

The company first started prohibiting such apps in 2020 , blocking Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass streaming app (then called ProjectXCloud) and Google's Stadia from the App Store, explaining the move as necessary because Apple could not apply its review process to every game included in such offerings.

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Games 106

GamesIndustry.biz

JULY 26, 2023

Xbox revenues remained relatively flat for the final quarter of Microsoft's financial year, showing a 1% increase for the three months ended June 30. Microsoft's Q4 results show the company's total revenue was up 8% year-on-year to $56.2 billion.

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Personal Computer 98

PreMortem.Games

DECEMBER 21, 2023

The research company has shared its end-of-year data which you can check out in more detail here. Looking at the top earners this year, we see that the top 10 public game companies by revenues generated $54 billion in the first half of 2023. According to Newzoo , this year ‘is one for the video game history books’.

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PC Games Mobile Gaming Data 104

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 23, 2023

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox Arkane Studio's upcoming shooter Redfall was previously in development for the PlayStation 5; it was scrapped after Microsoft bought Bethesda's parent company ZeniMax Media.

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Media Studios Development Games 144

GamesIndustry.biz

OCTOBER 25, 2023

Microsoft has released the results for the first quarter of its financial year, showing a strong start for its gaming business thanks to the launch of Starfield and the inherent impact on Xbox Game Pass. For the three months ended September 30, 2023, the company reported total revenues of $57 billion (up 13% year-on-year), including $13.7

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Personal Computer Games Content 123

GamesIndustry.biz

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

Mena Sato Kato has joined Microsoft to lead Japanese partnership operations at Xbox. As Windows Central reported, Kato will oversee global partnerships for Japanese companies at Xbox, in her new role that she began in July. She became vice president of mobile business in 2020 before leaving the position a year later.

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Entertainment Mobile Mobile Development 120

GamesIndustry.biz

JUNE 11, 2023

Xbox chief Phil Spencer says Microsoft will generate $1 billion from PC games this year. He reiterates the company's mission to bring "new players and new creators" to what gaming is all about, for the benefit of everyone in the games industry, not just Xbox. Part of that is the growth it's seen on other platforms, including PC.

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PC Platformer Games 145

GamesIndustry.biz

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

The six companies are either an existing competitor or a potential competitor in "console gaming services or cloud gaming services," the CMA explained. Out of those six companies, half of them believe that if Microsoft was to complete its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it would harm competition.

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Console Games 120

GamesIndustry.biz

MARCH 2, 2023

Reuters is reporting that the European Commission is expected to approve Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard without demanding it sell off parts of the publisher first. Read more

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