News Mash-Up - Week # 44

• • Sony has recently announced its financial results for Q2 ending September 30, 2022. Q2 revenue for the company is up 16% year-to year at $18..6 billion, operating income is up 8% to $2.3 billion, and net income is up 24% to $1.7 billion. Despite these positive increases, the financial report additionally pointed out a "significant decrease" in game and network services, with operating income for this segment declining 40.5% to $285 million.
    
    
  • Sony has reported that the number of PS Plus subscribers has decreased by over two million since the same time last year, from 47.2 million to 45.4 million. This is the third quarter in a row that PS Plus has lost subscribers, even after PlayStation revamped the subscription service earlier this year, dividing into tiered subscription options.
•  
  • Sony will release the PlayStation VR2 for £530 on February 22, 2023. The price includes the PSVR2 headset, controllers, and stereo headphones. There will be pricier options available as well, and optional add-ons such as a charging dock, to charge controllers separately from the PS5. Pre-orders for the device will be available in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, UK, and US starting on November 15.

•  
  • Modern Warfare 2 has reported the biggest opening of any Call of Duty game, earning over $800 million worldwide in its first 3 days of release, beating out Modern Warfare 3 in 2011, which achieved the same milestone in five days. This is more money than the opening weekends of Top Gun: Maverick and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness combined.
•  
  • FIFA 23 has had the “most successful launch” in the history of the franchise, allowing EA to finish financial quarter Q2 with an increase in revenues. Year-to year revenues are up to $1.9 billion, 4% higher than last year.
•  
  • Xbox head Phil Spencer has revealed that Xbox Series X/S consoles are sold at a loss of $100-200/unit, and the company then expects this difference to be made up through sales of games and accessories. Consoles are often sold at a loss, with the exception of some companies such as Nintendo.

•  
  • Netflix has acquired the developer Spry Fox, responsible for titles such as Triple Town and Cozy Grove. With this acquisition, the total number of game studios owned by Netflix has increased to 6.
    
    
  • The UK-based developer and publisher Frontier has acquired Canadian studio Complex Games for an amount of up to £11.6 million (exact amount undisclosed). This is Frontier’s first acquisition as a company.
•  
  • Embracer Group has decided to shut down its Montreal studio, which it acquired from Square Enix for $300 million in May and recently rebranded as Studio Onoma. Onoma would have been mostly focused on mobile development, something that Embracer Group is steering farther away from, in favor of a focus on PC and console games.

Week commencing Monday 31 October 2022