Devs Behind PS5 Flop Concord Fear Studio Closure – Report

Firewalk Studios, the dev behind massive PS5 flop Concord, is facing an uncertain future. Kotaku has revealed that game director Ryan Ellis (formerly Destiny 2 creative director at Bungie) has stepped down, and employees are bracing themselves for mass layoffs and even full studio closure.

Concord dev Firewalk is one of the ‘more expensive’ PlayStation Studios

Kotaku‘s sources have said that Firealk employees are in limbo ever since Sony took the unprecedented step of shutting Concord down within two weeks of launch. Like analysts and many in the gaming community, some Firewalk devs are also skeptical about Concord’s return.

The report further claims that some employees have already jumped ship while others are preparing to exit Firewalk. The team is expecting mass layoffs, with some going as far as anticipating potential closure because Firewalk is one of the “more expensive” developers in the PlayStation Studios family on a “per-head” basis.

It looks like Sony has yet to make a decision about both Concord and Firewalk, but Kotaku’s report suggests that employees have positive things to say about Ellis, noting that he genuinely believed in Concord and “poured a great deal of himself into the game.” “Regardless of there being things that could have been done differently throughout development, he’s a good human and full of heart,” they added.

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Another Pointless PS5 Remaster Rumored and Players Are Unhappy

The list of pointless PS5 remakes and remasters continues to grow, leaving players confused and unhappy. We’re not talking about Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, which is all but confirmed. Rumor has it that Sony has another unwanted remaster in the works, which may be announced very soon.

PS5 remasters and remakes make little sense as PlayStation Studios struggle with profits

Report of the unnamed remaster came from journalist Jeff Grubb, who seems convinced that September 2024’s PlayStation State of Play is happening next week. In an episode of Game Mess Mornings, Grubb added that Sony may announce a remaster other than Horizon Zero Dawn at the event, and it’ll be “less exciting.”

Grubb made the “less exciting” comment in reference to the overwhelmingly negative reactions to yesterday’s Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered ESRB rating. His report was met with even more negative reactions across social media and gaming forums.

“Horizon strikes me as a really pointless and non-exciting remaster in the first place, so I have no idea what that could mean,” wrote one player. “Less exciting than the Horizon remaster? That would be almost impressive,” wrote another.

Players have expressed their dissatisfaction with PlayStation Studios output, and it certainly beggars belief that Sony keeps pumping funds into these projects after CFO Hiroki Totoki admitted that PlayStation is struggling with profits despite hit releases.

PS5 is about to enter its fifth year and PS5 Pro is on the horizon, yet major first-party releases have been few and far between. To be clear, players aren’t opposed to remasters or remakes. Look no further than the Bloodborne fan community. Players are perplexed by what Sony chooses to remaster: Until Dawn, Horizon Zero Dawn, the billionth re-release of The Last of Us, to name a few.

It’s hard to disagree with the community here. PlayStation really needs to give players something to be excited about, and soon. All eyes are now on the next PlayStation event, but something tells me that we should keep our expectations in check.

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Fight A Golden Hippo, Get A Thorny Incantation, In Shadow Of The Erdtree

Shadow of the Erdtree, the one and only DLC for Elden Ring, adds Aspects of the Crucible: Thorns, a new, powerful Incantation for those looking to damage multiple enemies at once, and looking awesome doing it.

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Intel is separating its ailing foundry business from the main company

Intel is turning its foundry business, which manufactures chips for other companies, into an independent subsidiary. The company has revealed its plan in a note to employees from its CEO Pat Gelsinger, published over a month after Intel disclosed that it's cutting 15 percent of its workforce. Intel is laying off more than 15,000 people as part of its $10 billion cost-reduction plan to regain financial stability following a second-quarter net loss of $1.6 billion. Gelsinger explained in his new memo that turning the foundry into a subsidiary "will unlock important benefits," particularly the ability to evaluate and take external funding directly. 

Gelsinger said that there will be no changes to the foundry's leadership, but the subsidiary will establish its own operating board with independent directors to govern it. According to CNBC, Intel is even considering making the foundry a separate publicly traded company. Intel is in the midst of modernizing its existing fabs and building new ones for its foundry business, which is costing the company billions of dollars, in an effort to catch up to its chipmaking rivals like TSMC and Samsung. The company has reportedly spent around $25 billion a year on its foundry business over the past two years, but that has yet to translate into profit. 

In April, the company revealed in a presentation to investors that the business posted $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, even larger than the $5.2 billion in losses that it incurred the previous year. It had a revenue of $18.9 billion, down 31 percent from its 2022 revenue of $27.49 billion. Gelsinger warned investors at the time that Intel expects its foundry business' operating loss for 2024 to be even bigger and that it doesn't expect to break even until 2027. The foundry's finances aren't the division's only problem: Its next-gen manufacturing process referred to as "18A" reportedly failed crucial tests to prove that it's ready to be used for mass production. 

In addition to announcing that the foundry business will become a subsidiary, Gelsinger also disclosed in the memo that Intel will be selling part of its stake in Altera, another chipmaker that it purchased for $16.7 billion in 2015. 

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Games Leaving PS Plus Extra, Premium in October 2024 Include First-Party Title

Sony has revealed the preliminary batch of games leaving PS Plus Extra and Premium in October 2024. The departures include an older first-party game as well as a title that players had already predicted was going to leave the service. Check out the full list below, but as always, bear in mind that Sony adds games to PS Store‘s ‘Last Chance to Play’ section throughout the month, and sometimes removes games with little or no notice, so check back for updates.

List of games leaving PS Plus Extra, Premium in October 2024 (as of September 17)

The following games have been added to the Japanese PS Store’s ‘Last Chance to Play’ section. Expect U.S. and EU lists to be similar.

• LittleBigPlanet 3
• Gotham Knights
• The Evil Within
• Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Dragon Quest XI S
• Dragon Quest Builders
• Dragon Quest Builders 2
• Dragon Quest Heroes
• Dragon Quest Heroes 2

Square Enix franchises continue to be yanked off the service. Star Ocean series has already been removed, and Dragon Quest games are up next.

What’s perplexing about this list is the removal of The Evil Within just ahead of Halloween. A little over two weeks ago, the game was removed from PS Plus without a warning, and just yesterday we reported that it was stealthily added back in time for the spooky season. Looks like Sony has other plans, though, so you’ll want to finish The Evil Within ASAP.

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PS Plus Brings Back Major Horror Game After Sudden Departure

Sony has quietly re-added a popular horror game to PS Plus Extra/Premium catalog more than two weeks after it was suddenly pulled without notice, leaving members frustrated. The game in question is Bethesda’s The Evil Within, and it remains unclear why it was pulled to begin with.

Horror game returns to PS Plus just in time for Halloween 2024

The Evil Within’s sudden departure particularly irked players who were in the middle of their campaigns. The de-listing/re-listing is sure to frustrate those who ended up making a purchase to finish the game, but The Evil Within is currently 75% off ($4.99) until September 26, so it’s not a major loss.

As for why it was pulled, some players suspected licensing issues while others brought up compatibility issues on the PS5 due to a warning label that appears on The Evil Within’s PS Store page. However, the latter is false because all PS4 games carry the same notice regarding potential backwards compatibility problems on the PS5’s storefront. The Evil Within’s PS Store page also displays that notice despite its return.

Whatever the case, The Evil Within is back just in time for Halloween so those who temporarily suspended their campaigns can wrap things up now.

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PS5 Pro Reportedly Shown Running a Game at 864p/60FPS, Dev Responds

Gaming forums were ablaze over the weekend as report emerged that the PS5 Pro was shown running a game at 864p resolution in an official reel last week. According to Digital Foundry, who analyzed the videos, Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2 was running at 864p/60fps and 1260p/30fps in the two modes shown, leaving players confused.

Remedy Entertainment responds to rumor of PS5 Pro running Alan Wake 2 at low resolution

The Digital Foundry analysis that sparked the controversy is paid Patreon content which folks circulated on sites like Reddit and ResetEra. No context was provided beyond a bullet-point summary of the paywalled content and Digital Foundry itself didn’t address the hoopla.

With that out of the way, some tech-minded folks have said that the reactions to Digital Foundry’s claim are premature because: a. The outlet was analyzing a YouTube video rather than actual gameplay, and b. The PS5 Pro’s PSSR will be used to upscale lower resolutions to 4K.

However, some have disputed the latter, arguing that the render resolution should be higher than 864p on the PS5 Pro.

In the midst of the heated debate, Remedy’s head of communications Thomas Puha popped into ResetEra with the following statement:

Remedy’s games and resolution discussion pops up every once in a while. Image quality matters more than resolution, not that I’m confirming anything. We’ll drop some details on the PS5 Pro version of Alan Wake 2 in the coming weeks with some assets too. I think the version will be a pleasant surprise, but hard to tell these days.

In other words, wait for the official information.

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