From Tokyo to San Francisco, mobile game studios have sparred for years to captivate a fickle audience, fostering an overlooked problem -- the average title has become so huge that players can no longer fit more than a few on their phones. From a report: Japanese games publisher Gree expects an impending reckoning over escalating costs and ballooning file sizes, as developers pack their games with increasingly intricate graphics, voice acting and larger storylines, all to get players spending. That's creating a winner-takes-all situation that could winnow out smaller studios in coming years, Gree Senior Vice President Yuta Maeda said in an interview. The situation will only get worse as console veteran Sony -- no stranger to space-hogging hits -- prepares to invade the mobile arena. "Production of mobile games can't avoid becoming more complex, time-consuming and larger-scale, which will inevitably result in bigger app sizes," Maeda said. "Companies that survive in the market will only be the ones that can keep up with that trend."

The spending poured into today's A-list mobile titles -- MiHoYo's Genshin Impact, for instance, started with a $100 million budget -- rivals Hollywood blockbusters and is yielding better production values than ever, but also an outsized footprint. That game can occupy upwards of 20 gigabytes of storage, which is a huge chunk of what most people have available on their phones. With memory upgrades not keeping pace, the result is fewer games can vie for attention. Sony, one of the giants of console gaming, has laid out plans to bring its high-profile PlayStation franchises to mobile platforms. Rival Microsoft is also building an Xbox mobile gaming store. All of that piles pressure on the entrenched free-to-play business model followed by Gree and others. These publishers rely on monetizing in-game items and upgrades, regularly adding more content players can buy and play with. The most common workaround from game studios is to put only a basic installer in app stores, which then downloads further game assets once the player starts. Gree uses it with Heaven Burns Red, which is an initial 1GB and grows beyond 10GB for players who want the full experience.

A limited but working jailbreak for the PlayStation 5 hardware has reportedly been released, potentially enabling players to install unsigned or unofficial software. From a report: The news was reported on Twitter by modder Lance McDonald, who previously made a name for himself by releasing an unofficial patch that made Bloodborne run at 60 frames per second on PS4. Although McDonald doesn't appear to have discovered the PS5 jailbreak himself, he does show footage of it in action.

As well as showing that the jailbreak gives him access to a debug menu, he also shows that it enables him to install a PS4 PKG file (i.e. a backup of a game), proving this by installing the now-delisted PT demo. At this stage the jailbreak is allegedly extremely limited -- it's only said to work on PS5 consoles with firmware version 4.03, which was released in October 2021 and replaced with version 4.50 in December 2021. According to the exploit's creator, it may be possible to apply the jailbreak to PS5 consoles with earlier firmware versions than 4.03, but later firmware versions won't work at the moment.

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reportedly flew to Brussels last month to meet with European Union regulators currently scrutinizing Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The visit was first reported by Dealreporter sources (paywalled). Video Game Chronicle reports: As has been widely publicized in recent weeks, PlayStation's concerns over the deal are around the future release arrangements for the Call of Duty series -- which is regularly PlayStation's annual best-seller -- and whether it will be pulled from their platforms. Google is also said to have voiced its concerns to EU regulators, according to the same sources.

Last month, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft had committed to making Call of Duty available on PlayStation for "several more years" after Sony's current marketing deal with Activision expires. However, SIE CEO Ryan, who is reportedly seeking access to future Call of Duty games on equal terms and in perpetuity, responded publicly by calling Microsoft's proposal for keeping the series on PlayStation consoles "inadequate on many levels." "By giving Microsoft control of Activision games like Call of Duty, this deal would have major negative implications for gamers and the future of the gaming industry," Sony claimed. "We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality gaming experience, and we appreciate the CMA's focus on protecting gamers."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A Sony executive confirmed Friday that the PlayStation VR 2 will not be backward-compatible with games developed for the original PlayStation VR. Sid Shuman, senior director of content communications at Sony Interactive, asked Hideaki Nishino, senior vice president of platform experience at Sony, whether games for the original PSVR could be played on a PSVR2 kit on the Official PlayStation Podcast, episode 439 (his answer starts at 29:12). "PSVR games are not compatible with PSVR2 because PSVR2 is designed to deliver a truly next-generation VR experience," Nishino said. Nishino listed several "much more advanced features" in the VR2, including new controllers with haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, advanced eye tracking, and 3D audio. "That means developing games for PSVR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR."

While the answer was emphatic -- not compatible -- and closed off any hope fans might have harbored, Nishino's checklist of new VR2 features didn't clearly explain why the system would be incapable of running less-advanced VR1 games. Consider the Oculus Rift S, which touted an entirely different eye tracking system than its predecessor, the original Oculus Rift. The Rift S maintained compatibility with games built for any Rift system (along with some games for other headsets). It was a seamless transition for those who upgraded their Rift or bought into VR at a later stage. It's also a disappointing outcome for some great games that were available only on PlayStation VR. Those include the original Mario-caliber Astro Bot, brain-twisting puzzle-game Statik, the VR mode for Resident Evil 7 that never saw release on any other system, first-party VR exclusive Blood & Truth, and a VR mode for WipEout that could only benefit from a VR2 headset.

Microsoft has promised to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for three years beyond the current agreement between Activision and Sony, says PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan. In a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz, Ryan says the offer was "inadequate on many levels." From a report: The disagreement between the two companies follows Microsoft's offer to buy Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in a deal worth nearly $69 billion. [...] Last week, Xbox revealed that it had "provided a signed agreement to Sony to guarantee Call of Duty on PlayStation, with feature and content parity, for at least several more years" beyond Sony's existing contract with Activision. Xbox chief said this offer "goes well beyond typical gaming industry agreements."

The current deal between Sony and Activision Blizzard around Call of Duty is believed to cover the next three releases, including this year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However, Sony says the offer fails to consider the impact on PlayStation gamers. "I hadn't intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum," Ryan stated. "Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers. We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft's proposal undermines this principle."

"2022 is a wild, wonderful world where if you've dreamt it, you can have it," writes Slashdot reader segaboy81. "Such is the case with this new mod that allows you to pair Xbox controllers (among others) with your GameCube." Neowin reports: Laser Bear Industries, who offers other key mods for the Nintendo GameCube, is currently taking pre-orders for the GameCube Blue Retro Internal Adapter, a controller input board replacement that brings Bluetooth capability to the Nintendo GameCube. These new Bluetooth capabilities offer a wide range of compatibility with different Bluetooth input devices. Currently, the firmware is compatible with all Bluetooth Xbox One controllers. Unsurprisingly, it does not support the early Wi-Fi direct Xbox One controllers from 2013 and 2014.

In addition to Xbox controllers, it supports a host of other contemporary input devices, including PlayStation and Nintendo controllers, and modern Bluetooth keyboards. So, if you're desperate to join the undead community of Phantasy Star Online players over your Nintendo Broadband Adapter and want to use your cheap Bluetooth mechanical keyboard with Gateron switches, you will be able to soon. The GameCube Blue Retro Internal Adapter (a mouthful, really) also adds a few interesting creature comforts, such as remote power down and remote reset.

As part of Sony's push into mobile gaming, the company has formed a PlayStation Studios Mobile Division that will operate separately from console game development. According to a press release, the new team will create mobile games with "new and existing PlayStation IP." From a report: Sony's move to form a mobile gaming division aligns with the company's overall goal of extending its IP to PC and mobile games, as well as TV series and movies. Earlier this year, Sony announced that it wants half of its games to be on PC and mobile by 2025, with Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan stating that it could result in a "significant growth in the number of people who play our games." The company's also looking to expand into live service games -- games like Fortnite, Rocket League, or Destiny 2 that are continually updated to keep players interested -- with its $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie.

To help fill out its new mobile division, Sony has also acquired Savage Game Studios, whose co-founders previously worked at Zynga, Insomniac, and Wargaming. It doesn't look like the studio launched any games just yet, but it received $4.4 million in funding for a mobile shooter game last year. The press release expands on this a bit, noting that the studio is currently working on "an unannounced new AAA live service action game," but doesn't offer any additional details on what to expect. Hermen Hulst, the head of PlayStation Studios, said the company's "proud" of its "upcoming releases on PC," which should give gamers without a Playstation console a chance to experience games like Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and Marvel's Spider-Man. "Our mobile gaming efforts will be similarly additive, providing more ways for more people to engage with our content," he said, "and striving to reach new audiences unfamiliar with PlayStation and our games."

Polygon reports that during a streaming event, the publisher of the Magic: the Gathering card game promised a new themed set of cards commemorating Doctor Who's 60th anniversary. But that's not their only new set: The Lord of the Rings: Tales from Middle-earth is also releasing in Q3 of 2023, but it will be a fully draftable booster set and legal in modern format of competitive play....

Individual cards portray familiar heroes and villains including Frodo, Gandalf and the Balrog. In order to capture the scale of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy battles, the set will also feature new borderless scene cards. Each has a piece of art that can stand alone, but 18 of them will come together to produce a particularly epic scene from the trilogy — such as the Battle of the Pelennor Fields from The Return of the King. The art from Tyler Jacobson, who's provided illustrations for more than 100 Magic cards and for Dungeons & Dragons books including The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, is full of small details including the Dark Tower Barad-dûr in the background.
The article points out that the game publisher has previously published crossover decks for The Walking Dead and Fortnite.

This story is for long-time Slashdot reader tezbobobo, who argued earlier this week that Slashdot's been remiss in its coverage of Magic: the Gathering news: For years I've seen Dungeons & Dragons, Sony Playstation and Nethack show up occassionally on the front page of Slashdot. So where are the rest of the nerd games?

Magic: the Gathering has one of the most loyal and active fanbases, and the creators have been churning out new and interesting cards for decades. Even as it tops the trading card pile, it's made inroads into the digital sphere, with online version in Arena and Magic Online. It's available on PC, Mac, Ipad.

Sony has raised the price of PlayStation 5 in most major markets, citing "challenging economic conditions" such as high global inflation rates and adverse currency trends, the latest in a series of challenges engulfing the current generation gaming console. From a report: The new price, which largely varies between $30 to $80, goes immediately into effect in Europe, the UK, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada, the company said in a blog post. The revised price will hit Japan on September 15, said the Japanese conglomerate. The U.S. is not impacted by the price hike, the company confirmed. "While this price increase is a necessity given the current global economic environment and its impact on SIE's business, our top priority continues to be improving the PS5 supply situation so that as many players as possible can experience everything that PS5 offers and what's still to come," Sony said in the post.

Sony's PlayStation VR2 headset is coming in "early 2023," according to posts the company made on Twitter and Instagram. The Verge reports: While the company released details of the headset's design earlier this year, it still hasn't announced a price. It is, however, promising a lot for the PlayStation VR2 -- it'll feature displays that add up to 4K resolution and can run at 90 or 120Hz, have a 110-degree field of view, and use foveated rendering, which renders certain parts of the image as sharper than others to make things easier for the computer (or, in this case, the PlayStation 5). The company also says the headset connects to your console with a single USB C cable. Sony has already announced it will have a lineup of about 20 "major" games available when it launches. The titles include games set in the Horizon and Walking Dead universes, as well as VR versions of No Man's Sky and Resident Evil Village.

Unlike the original PlayStation VR headset, the PS VR2 won't use a camera connected to your console to track your movements. Instead, it'll use inside-out tracking, similar to the Quest 2, where cameras on the headset itself are in charge of the motion tracking. This means that the PS VR2 will also be able to let you see your surroundings while you're wearing the headset. Sony also says that the PlayStation 5 will let you broadcast yourself playing VR games, though you will have to have a PlayStation HD camera connected. Sony has also shown off the orb-shaped controllers, which will have adaptive triggers and haptic feedback like what's offered with Sony's DualSense controller for the PS5. They'll also have finger-touch detection, which can sense where you rest your thumb, index, or middle fingers without having to press anything.

A consumer rights advocacy group has filed a class action lawsuit against Sony, claiming they are "ripping people off" by charging a 30 percent commission fee on all digital purchases made through the UK PlayStation Store. Kotaku reports: "Sony dominates the digital distribution of PlayStation games and in-game content," said one of the lawyers leading the lawsuit. "It has deployed an anti-competitive strategy which has resulted in excessive prices to customers that are out of all proportion to the costs of Sony providing its services."

The argument here is that Sony has a "near-monopoly" on the sale of digital games, particularly PlayStation games, and so it shouldn't be using that power to enforce unreasonable prices on consumers. Sony is not the only platform that enforces a 30 percent take (most major storefronts do, with the notable exception of the Epic Games Store). We'll have to wait and see whether or not the courts uphold that the PlayStation ecosystem is a monopoly, and whether or not that will have an impact on other walled gardens like app stores or Steam. Kotaku reached out to the legal team about what it considers to be a reasonable commission fee, but did not get a comment by the time of publication.

The plaintiffs point out that gaming is the biggest entertainment industry in the UK, and Sony is hurting consumers who can't afford their games. "We're in the midst of a cost of living crisis and the consumer purse is being squeezed like never before," said Alex Neill, a consumer rights advocate who filed the lawsuit. While I'm sympathetic to how inflation makes it difficult for players to afford more games, I'm not sure if I would lump gaming together with a cost of living crisis. Paying rent is a necessity. Playing God of War Ragnarok on launch is not.

In a lengthy document submitted to the Brazilian government as part of its investigation into Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has claimed Sony pays developers "blocking rights" to prevent games from appearing on Xbox Game Pass. From a report: The accusation appears in a 27-page rebuttal of Sony's recent objections to Microsoft's Activision Blizzard buyout, made to Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) as part of its investigation. Much of Sony's argument had focused on Call of Duty - which it claimed had "no rival" and was "so popular that it influences users' choice of console" -- with the PlayStation maker suggesting, among other things, that the inclusion of Call of Duty on Microsoft's Game Pass service would hamper its ability to compete.

Microsoft's response is as wide-ranging as Sony's initial objections, touching on everything from the fact it has previously managed to grow Game Pass without Activision Blizzard's titles -- suggesting Call of Duty mightn't be quite as "essential" as Sony claims -- to a reiteration of its assurances that it won't be making Call of Duty an Xbox console exclusive. It's here that Microsoft takes a swipe at Sony, pointing out (as per a Google-translated version of its filing) that for all its concerns around exclusivity, "the use of exclusive arrangements has been at the heart of Sony's strategy to strengthen its presence in the gaming industry." Microsoft says Sony's concerns are "incoherent", given that, by virtue of PlayStation's dominant market share, the company is a leader in the distribution of digital games - especially when, as Microsoft claims, Sony has actively hampered the growth of Game Pass by paying for "'blocking rights' to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services." Further reading: Microsoft Justifies Activision Blizzard's $69 Billion Acquisition By Telling Regulator Call of Duty Publisher Doesn't Release 'Unique' Games.

US consumer spending on video game products has fallen by $1.78 billion in Q2, according to market research firm NPD. Overall, spending in video gaming in the US totaled $12.35 billion in the recent quarter, down 13 percent year over year. The Verge reports: The findings follow both Microsoft and Sony reporting revenue declines in gaming as the pandemic growth slows. [...] While overall spending on gaming has clearly declined across the industry in Q2, subscription content "was the only segment to post positive gains," according to NPD. That growth is despite Sony launching its revamped PlayStation Plus subscriptions at the end of the quarter.

Hardware unit sales were led by Nintendo Switch in the second quarter, according to NPD, with the PS5 generating the highest dollar sales. Despite the declines in spending amid high rates of inflation and following a big period of growth "consumer spending continues to trend above pre-pandemic levels," says Mat Piscatella, games industry analyst at NPD. "However, unpredictable and quickly changing conditions may continue to impact the market in unexpected ways in the coming quarters."

An anonymous reader shares a report: Although PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have always been extremely close in their tech specs, features, and performance, one area where the Microsoft console established an early lead was in its compatibility with a range of modern displays and display technologies. That gap is finally now set to be closed. After PS5 was updated with support for variable refresh rates in April, Sony has now confirmed that the system will finally be able to output at 1440p resolution. The new feature is introduced in a system software beta available to invited users today, which Sony expects to roll out to everyone "later this year."

Also included in the beta are a bunch of interface customizations, including the ability to group games together in folder-style Gamelists. Although most modern TV sets have 1080p or 4K resolutions, compatibility with 1440p (also known as QHD) matters because it's a very popular resolution for gaming PC monitors. There are a lot of these displays around, many with features like VRR, that PS5 owners will be happy to finally use to their full ability. Games which support 1440p will display at native resolution, while games that display at 4K will supersample down to 1440p for a smoother image.

Bungie, the developer of Destiny 2, is now officially a part of Sony. The Verge reports: The PlayStation maker had announced its intent to acquire the gaming studio in January, and now, that acquisition is complete. At the initial announcement, Sony said (pdf) the deal was worth $3.6 billion, but in an SEC filing on Friday, it said the deal was worth "approximately" $3.7 billion. Though it's now under the Sony umbrella, Bungie will "continue to independently publish and creatively develop our games," Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said in a blog post from the original announcement of the acquisition. And future games in development won't be PlayStation exclusives, Bungie's Joe Blackburn and Justin Truman said.

But Sony does plan to lean on Bungie for its "world-class expertise in multi-platform development and live game services," which "will help us deliver on our vision of expanding PlayStation to hundreds of millions of gamers," Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan said in January. Sony views live service games as a critical part of PlayStation's future, as it plans to launch more than 10 new live service games by March 2026.

In a move that will undoubtedly draw severe criticism, movies from Studio Canal that customers have purchased on the PlayStation Store will be completely removed next month. From a report: The legal notice is published on PlayStation's German and Austrian websites where it reads (translated): "As of August 31, 2022, due to our evolving licensing agreements with content providers, you will no longer be able to view your previously purchased Studio Canal content and it will be removed from your video library. We greatly appreciate your continued support."

In other words, customers will lose access to movies such as Apocalypse Now, Django, John Wick, La La Land, Saw and The Hunger Games that they purchased on the PlayStation Store. Not rented, but purchased.

Video game sales are set to decline annually for the first time in years, as another industry that boomed in the coronavirus era faces the grim prospect of a recession. From a report: The global games and services market is forecast to contract 1.2% year-on-year to $188 billion in 2022, according to research from market data firm Ampere Analysis. The sector expanded 26% from 2019 to 2021, reaching a record $191 billion in size. Sales of video games have consistently grown since at least 2015, Ampere data shows.

Gaming got a huge boost from Covid-19 shutdowns in 2020 as people spent more of their time indoors. The launch of next-generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony that same year also bolstered the industry's fortunes. However, the arrival of Microsoft's Xbox Series X and S machines and Sony's PlayStation 5 proved something of a double-edged sword -- logistics disruptions and shortages of vital components have meant that shoppers are facing great difficulty finding any of the new consoles on store shelves or online.

VentureBeat reports: Video game legend Bernie Stolar, former president of Sega of America, has passed away at the age of 75, friends said.
Bernie Stolar was the first executive VP of Sony Computer Entertainment America, according to their article, and helped line up the games for the launch of the first PlayStation, eventually signing franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Ridge Racer, Oddworld Inhabitants, Spyro The Dragon and Battle Arena Toshinden.

VentureBeat remembers how Stolar then became president/COO of Sega of America, helping lead the development and launch of the Sega Dreamcast (while killing development of their home video console Saturn). Stolar acquired Visual Concepts for Sega of America, which ultimately led to the creation of 2K Sports. Joining Mattel in 1999, he helped the company sell a line of videogames.

But then Stolar became an adviser/director at Adscape Media, and later sold that company to Google for $23 million. The lead writer for VentureBeat's GameBeat remembers what happened next — and what he'd learned after interviewing Stolar in 2015: "There was no interest in games at Google at the time," Stolar said. "I went to the CEO, who was Eric Schmidt, and said, 'Why don't we put advertising in all these games and give them away for free online?' He said, 'We're not in the game business." I said, 'We're not going into the game business. We're not developing games. We're taking games from publishers and streaming those through our online network.' He wouldn't do it. That's when I knew I should leave the company...."

Toward the end of our interview in 2015, Stolar said, "I've been doing this since 1980. I love this business. I love it because I get to work with people who are young and passionate. I'm one of the old gray-haired guys in the industry, but it's wonderful to work with all this young talent."

Stolar joked he could be the grandfather for the CEOs he was advising. I asked Stolar how long he would work.

"Put it this way. I've spoken to two individuals about this, Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch," he said. "They're both in their 80s. They're both multi-billionaires. They certainly don't have to work, right? And they've both said to me, 'If you retire, you die.' I believe that. My father, when he sold his liquor store and stopped working, passed away three months later. I'm not going to stop."

Sony might be ready to announce a new lineup of gaming headsets, according to a report from 91Mobiles based on information provided by OnLeaks. From a report: Rather than being specifically PlayStation-branded, like Sony's Pulse headset, the three headsets will apparently be part of a new gaming hardware brand from Sony called "Inzone," which could also include a pair of gaming displays. Leaked images show the three so-called H-series headsets with a similar white color scheme to the existing Pulse headset. The H3 is wired, and has a USB-C port with a physical volume dial. There's a button marked "NC/AMB" shown in renders of the H3, which suggests it might support noise cancellation and have an ambient audio mode to allow players to hear what's going on around them.

PlayStation's revamped version of its video game subscription service went live on Monday, giving members access to a catalog of several hundred games both new and old. From a report: PlayStation Plus, once code-named Spartacus, is Sony Group's attempt to compete with rival Microsoft's popular Xbox Game Pass as both publishers jockey to be the Netflix of video games. The new service combines Sony's previous subscription offerings into a three-tiered system. The most basic level, Essential, costs $10 a month and replaces the old PlayStation Plus, offering two downloadable games per month, a smattering of discounts and access to online multiplayer games. It's the top two tiers that are new for PlayStation users. The Extra tier, at $15 a month, offers a library of about four hundred PlayStation 4 and 5 games, while the $18 a month Premium level adds a few hundred classic games to the pool, mostly from the PlayStation 3. The service only has around thirty PS1, PS2 and PSP games, which has been a disappointment for retro gamers.