A December 2023 patent newly spotted by Windows Central provides a glimpse of Keystone, which would've been a streaming console for the Xbox ecosystem.It's been long enough to possibly forget, but Xbox was looking to get into cloud streaming hardware via the Keystone console and streaming stick. CEO Phil Spencer first teased the latter in 2022, only to then reveal it'd been shelved the following month out of pricing concerns.Had it seen the light of day, it would've accelerated Xbox's cloud streaming plans, which it'd been pushing that year via Game Pass and deals with the likes of Ubisoft, Meta, and more.Filed on June 1, 2022, the patent shows Keystone at multiple angles. Other than its square design (similar to the original PlayStation), it would've fun…

Generative AI developer Series Entertainment has purchased mobile studio Pixelberry from Nexon for an undisclosed fee.Best known for mobile games like Choices! and High School Story, Pixelberry was deemed "category leader in the interactive fiction genre" by Series co-founder Pany Haritatos. Under its guidance, Series hopes to evolve the studio to "the next level.""We love story-based games and Choices! has long been a leader in the genre," he continued. "We will [add] bigger books, new interactive features, and ever-improving story quality, all designed to deliver the things the Choices community wants.For Pixelberry, this means using its new parent company's Rho engine. The proprietary engine has been touted by Series as the first "AI-native, …

Gameloft Toronto has laid off an undisclosed number of employees after reviewing its "production capacities."The Disney Mobile Kingdoms developer confirmed the news in a statement to GI.biz, and said it had implemented a "reduction in workforce" due to fluctuating market conditions."As a company, we need to constantly review our production capacities. After careful consideration and in response to the ever-changing market conditions we are facing, it has become necessary to implement a reduction in workforce," reads the statement."Unfortunately, this leads us to substantially reduce our production activity in our Toronto studio and to let go some employees of the office. This decision has not been taken lightly, and we understand the impact it may have on…

The online game-focused subsidiary of Bandai Namco reportedly hit a net loss of 8.201 billion yen (or $51.35 million) during the 2023-2024 fiscal year. As spotted by Automaton, the increasingly negative net income has led to the developer becoming insolvent.Bandai Namco Online specializes in MMO and live-service titles for the publisher, such as Gundam Evolution (which went offline in late 2023) and Blue Protocol.This studio was already in the negative for the 2022-2023 period, and at the time saw a reported net loss of 3.98 billion yen. Back in February, Bandai Namco called its 2023-2024 earnings "disappointing" for the third quarter, and indicated Blue Protocol contributed to that loss.Currently, the free-to-play MMO is playable solely in Japan, with a wider release expected la…

While it's currently negotiating with larger game developers, SAG-AFTRA's updated its deal with smaller indie studios.The actors union creatd a fourth tier for its Interactive Media Agreement (IMA) wherein developers can access union-backed voice actors in projects budgeted between $15 million and $30 million. Initially, the IMA started with three tiers covering budgets from $250,000 to $15 million.As with the first three tiers, this fourth one offers AI protections (with informed consent and compensation for digital replicas) to actors for voice and physical performances. Additional pay based on unit sales is also afforded.Under this new tier, "more projects will benefit from the skills and experience of union performers, and performers will have more opportunities to work …

MMO specialist Daybreak has acquired Palia developer Singularity 6 (S6) for an undisclosed fee.Daybreak, known for developing EverQuest and PlanetSide 2, said Singularity 6 will join its ranks as a wholly owned subsidiary."We are thrilled to welcome Singularity 6 to Daybreak Games. S6 is an excellent addition to our development studios, renowned for their success in creating large-scale online games and content," said Daybreak CEO, Ji Ham, in a press release."Their debut title, Palia, is a fantastic addition to our online portfolio. We eagerly anticipate collaborating with the S6 team to make Palia the best online experience possible across all major gaming platforms and to help continue expand their community of players for years to come."Singularity 6 was established …

Capcom has made what may be its first studio acquisition in 2024 via the purchase of Minimum Studios for 888,888 New Taiwan dollars (or around $27,265).Per Capcom, the acquisition was done "to sustainably bolster its developmental and technological capabilities, aiming to achieve its long-term management goal of 100 million units in annual sales."It acquired two-thirds of the Taiwan-based company, which was founded in 2018. Per its website, Minimum specializes in game and character animation across human, mechanical, and animal characters.

Capcom's investment in Minimum makes sense

All three of those fall inside Capcom'…

Tango Gameworks staffer Takeo Kido has documented the Hi-Fi Rush developer's last day.The Tokyo-based studio was shuttered by parent company Microsoft in May. Other studios including Arkane Austin and Alpha Dog Games were also closed. Microsoft announced 1,900 layoffs in January 2024 following its $68.7 billion merger with Activision Blizzard. Those studio closures followed shortly after.A sobering X thread shared by Kido revealed the Tango team spent their remaining hours together feasting on pizza in studio that resembled an apartment on moving day. His final post was a photograph of the Tango logo on an office wall. "Farewell," he wrote.The thread is a brief window into the lives of those who dedicated themselves to making games before having the rug yanked out from under…

There's a new studio in town, and it's hoping to lend a hand to anyone making a game specifically in Unreal Engine.Fittingly named CodeDev: The Unreal Guys, the London-based studio was founded by chairman Rik Alexander, CEO Myke Parrott, and CTO Ryan Woodland. The three are positioning their new venture as a support studio.While co-developers are nothing new in games, it's not every day a studio announces its specializations in a particular engine. Epic Games' engine is updated and iterated upon on a consistent basis, so having a team to help with that lightens the production load.All three men have been in the industry from between 15 and 33 years, and previously worked at Climax Studios, Microsoft, and Bethesda. The company plans on tackling Unreal projects "of a…