Category: News

Naughty Dog did some top-level role shuffling today at the Santa Monica-based studio. Neil Druckmann, studio vice president and creative director of The Last of Us Part II, is now co-president at the company.

The announcement was made public in a blog post that also announced the addition of Alison Mori and Christian Gyrling as vice presidents of Naughty Dog. Mori was previously director of operations at the company, Gyrling was co-director of programming. 

It’s been a challenging year for Naughty Dog, which had to delay the debut of The Last of Us Part II after the outbreak of COVID-19 forced the studio to transition to a work-from-home setup.

The game would go on to sell 4 million copies in 3 days.

The Gamasutra Job Board is the most diverse, active and established board of its kind for the video game industry!

Here is just one of the many, many positions being advertised right now.

Location: Espoo, Finland

Remedy Entertainment, the creator of Control®, Quantum Break®, Max Payne®, Alan Wake® and Death Rally®, and one of the leading independent game studios in the world, is looking for a Development Manager for a key role working on Remedy’s projects.

Do you enjoy prioritising tasks, resolving issues, balancing deadlines, assessing risks and communicating with a multitude of stakeholders? If yes, you might want to read further.

The dynamic and multi-faceted role of Development Manager offers you a great opportunity to make an impact in our growing team of External Development (XDev). The XDev team has an important role in enabling the successful production of Remedy’s future games and you will get to be part of that journey.

The Development Manager will be responsible for assisting with managing scope for an individual XDev internal project to ensure all needs are met to deliver on time and on budget, and help in managing the day to day operations of the XDev team. Development Managers are the keepers of the project schedule and help move the internal team from one project phase to the next while ensuring collaboration and communication.

Responsibilities

• Support and manage planning of XDev internal tasks
• Establish and assign task goals from defined project goals
• Provide transparency to Xdev and project leadership – reporting risks around development velocity and staffing
• Help create new processes, evaluate existing processes, and evolve process to support the team
• Prioritise tasks, identify dependencies, assess risks, remove blockers and balances the business needs versus technical constraints and send weekly status reports, if required
• Track and implement project improvement plans to drive team efficiency and quality improvements
• Prioritise and resolve issues through creative problem-solving skills, recognising and balancing priorities of eliminating the root causes of problems
• Identify, mitigate and drive all risks and issues towards resolution
• Ensure all workflows are clearly defined, processes are documented, and people educated in expectations on the workflow

Requirements and qualifications

• 3+ years project management in an AAA studio
• Knowledge and experience using a deep toolkit of development methodologies, and experience in adapting to new situations
• Effective communication skills across all levels of an organisation
• Strong negotiation skills, with a mix of patience and goal orientation to navigate complex cultural, technology and product requirements
• Ability to learn quickly and retain high level of detail
• Experience working with external teams is considered an asset
• Experience with JIRA and Confluence

What is in it for you?

• Above all, you get to work on awesome, unique video games that the global audience is interested in at a studio where your input is valued. We try our hardest to keep our team sizes and the work load sensible, so your contributions feel valuable.
• This position is based in Helsinki metropolitan area in Finland, where the quality of life is exceptional and cost of living is affordable. If you’re not already in Finland, our relocation service is there every step of the way to take care of you. You can concentrate on work, while we’ll take care of everything else.
• You will be offered competitive compensation with a bonus system.
• We work hard, but at Remedy we believe in a great work life balance. Happy people work better. In Finland you get up to 5 weeks of paid vacation every year. This is on top of public holidays and other special occasions.

Interested? Apply now.

Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.

Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.

Looking for a new job? Get started here. Are you a recruiter looking for talent? Post jobs here.

Activision has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of poaching CFO Spencer Neumann. Neumann was hired by Netflix within days of a messy departure from Activision.

According to a lawsuit spotted by The Hollywood Reporter (via GamesIndustry), Activision is accusing Netflix of intentional interference with contract, unfair competition, and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty.

In that lawsuit, Activision says Netflix encouraged Neumann to breach his employment contract while Neumann was negotiating with Netflix as part of his duties as Activision’s then-CFO. Part of that encouragement allegedly came from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who the documents say was “personally involved” in Neumann’s recruitment.

THR points out that this is the third time Netflix has been accused of illegally poaching employees from other entertainment companies.

Neumann has now been with Netflix for close to two years, after being hired by the streaming service as its CFO in early 2019. While rumors of the hire had circulated days before it was made official, the get raised eyebrows given that it came just days after Neumann was placed on leave pending firing from his role as CFO at Activision Blizzard after a year and a half with the company.

“The Sony stance is that the Japanese market remains incredibly important to us. We have not been as excited about the engagement of the Japanese game development community as we are now for many years.”

– Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan discusses the state of PlayStation in Japan

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has responded to claims that it has depriortized the Japanese market for the PlayStation 5, telling Edge Magazine (via VGC) that those claims are inaccurate.

That original Bloomberg story, found here, cited sources within Sony that said the PlayStation 4’s  disappointing performance in Japan has led the company to shift more of its focus to the US for the PlayStation 5 generation.

A Sony spokesperson denied that refocus in Bloomberg’s reporting.

Ryan’s comments to Edge echo some of what that spokesperson told Bloomberg, with Ryan saying Japan both remains an important market and that now is a particularly exciting time for game development in Japan.

He goes on to say that the end of the PlayStation 4 generation saw an uptick in attention from Japanese developers. Ryan adds that momentum is trending up in these early days of the PlayStation 5 based on current partnerships between PlayStation and the Japanese developers and publishers.

“I’d also observe that we’re making a statement by launching in Japan day and date with the US, and that is not what we did with PS4,” says Ryan. “So I read that stuff. A lot of that commentary is inaccurate, and Japan – as our second largest market and as Sony’s homeland – continues to be really important to us.”

I’ve been doing a research project about Iran’s video games history focusing on how it began, and how it evolved. Through the course of my research I discovered that there were almost no articles in English on the subject, and of the few that exit, none are historical or research-based.

That’s what inspired me to create this document, which should help shine some light on the history of video games in Iran. This is just a small subsection of the larger document I am preparing (in Persian). I thought it would be interesting to compare the history of games in Iran with the recent history of the country itself, pairing important events with events in the video game timeline.

My sources include Persian-language websites about games and technology, physical paper magazines such as Daneshmand, and I also interviewed people I know from the industry, both game journalists and developers. Sometimes I simply trusted my own memory.

The accompanying image should give you a larger context not only for the state of games in Iran, but what was going on in Iran at the time.

• Daneshmand is a monthly magazine about science and technology. The first issue of Daneshmand was published in October 1963. Daneshmand is still running today, and is the oldest magazine about science and technology in Iran. For my research I used the magazine’s 50-year digital archive. Unfortunately, there’s no existing online archive for historians to browse, but there is a pack of 6 DVDs that includes every issue from the start of the magazine through 2013, which I used for my research.

Video Master by Woodrow International in Daneshmand.

Video Master, via http://www.pong-story.com

• Jun 1978, TV Game Released: In its 174^th issue Daneshmand reported that another game console similar to the Magnavox Odyssey was released in Iran. The producer of this new console, TV Game, was General Electronic Kit, located in Tehran. The cost of a TV Game set was about 37 USD. Neither Video Master nor TV Game were manufactured in Iran, but they were both assembled there.
• Oct 1976, Video Master Released: In its 157^th issue Daneshmand magazine published a report showing that a game console similar to the Magnavox Odyssey had been released in Iran. This seems to be the first game console released in the country. The Video Master was imported by a company called Woodrow International, with locations in Tehran and Isfahan. Woodrow International doesn’t exist today.

TV Game set by General Electronic Kit.

A TV Game set similar to Video Master assembled by Shahab company. Shahab is still operating, and now makes TV sets.

• Iran Revolution Succeeded, Iran Hostage Crisis Started, Cultural Revolution Started, Iran – Iraq War Duration: In these periods of time nothing much happened in the fields of entertainment, science and technology. During the Cultural Revolution, all universities closed down for 30 months.
  The Hostage Crisis caused the U.S. to break their relations with Iran, and all official imports were shut down as a result. The Iran Revolution rendered most entertainment and even some sports illegal. This includes card games, pinball machines, chess, billiards, golf, bowling, and any kind of gambling. Some ten years later they slowly became legal again, one by one (with the exception of gambling).
  When the war began, everything and everyone throughout the nation was called to arms to fight against the enemy. There was no fun to be had during the war until the Atari 2600 arrived.
• 1985, Atari 2600 Came to Iran: This was the first game console which was bootlegged to Iran after the Revolution, and the price was about 120,000 Rl, or more than 200 USD. Since this was was after the Revolution, most of the electronic companies of the past were shut down, and official imports from the United States were impossible (just as it is today). So for many years every video game and computer related product had to be smuggled in.
• Nov 1988, First Video Game Reviews Published in Computer Magazines: In its 93^rd issue, Elm Electronic va Computer (Electronic Science and Computer) magazine published a video game review. The review covers two Amiga games. This may be the first game review ever published in Iran, and is certainly the earliest that my colleagues and I could find.
  When the war ended a flood of entertainment came to Iran, including game consoles, PCs, toys, VHS players, movies, and so on. Almost everything related to entertainment was smuggled in to the country. This isn’t distant history either – most PC parts were bootlegged up until 2007, aside from some Korean monitors officially imported by LG and Samsung and, some printers like HP and Epson. So this review was likely of a bootleg copy.

Elam Electronic va Computer Magazine no. 93.

• Jan 1989, Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amiga 500, PC, and other Devices Came to Iran: Right after the war ended, even more consoles and other computer devices came to Iran. I don’t have exact dates on this because of the complicated nature of post-war unformation, but I’m working on it. I can say this influx of platforms happened some time between 1988 and 1989.
• 1992, Micro Genius, a Clone of the Famicom, Came to Iran: As far as my research tells me, there was never an official Famicom in Iran’s market, but a huge number of clones came to the country during the 90s. The first and the most important was Micro Genius, made in Taiwan. After Micro Genius, some infamous clones like Dendy and Super Semtoni became available, both of which continued selling until 2005. During the Micro Genius era Nintendo games became popular in Iran. Mostly Contra, Mario, Duck Hunt, Double Dragon, Streets of Rage, Mega Man, and so on.
   

But the problem was the cartridges! They were expensive and rare to find. Because of this, people used to exchange their game cartridges to each other (this trend repeated itself with the release of the PlayStation 4). Gamers in Iran had to rely on the pack-in games from their Famiclones for the most part.

• Dec 1996, Tank Hunter Released: In the mid-90s we see the first serious attempts at local game development. A game studio was established called Honafa. Honafa was the first game studio which developed a few games for governmental institutions including the Ministry of Islamic Culture and Iran Drug Control Headquarters.

Seyedof, the engine developer at Honafa told me: “Honafa was the first real Iranian game company in existence, and was active for more than 5 years, and developed several finished and polished games.”

Honafa had both a production and R&D team. The production team was busy developing their current projects, since the R&D team was doing research for game engine and 3D technology.

The Tank Hunter was their first release. It was an endless 2D game for MS-DOS in which a man with an RPG destroyed the enemy’s tanks. This game was dedicated to Iranian martyrs and the heroes of the Iran – Iraq war.

Tank Hunter by Honafa Studio.

• Ali Baba Released: Ali Baba was released some time after Tank Hunter, and was developed by Ramin Zafar Azizi, who is not in video games anymore. Ali Baba was a 2D side scroll platformer like Prince of Persia, released for MS-DOS.

Ali Baba by Ramin ZafarAzizi.

• May 1998, Devil’s Death Released: Another 90s game made by Honafa studio for Iran Drug Control Headquarters to promote their anti-drug messages. It was a top down shooter in which the player would destroy smugglers trucks.

In 2019, Ali Seyedof, the game engine developer of Honafa, left Iran for Europe.

Devil’s Death by Honafa Studio.

• Apr 2001, Bazi Rayane Publishes its First Issue: Bazi Rayane was the first Iranian magazine completely dedicated to video games. It was first published in April 2001, using the license of another magazine called Tabarestan. After publishing 4 issues the Tabarestan license was seized by the government and Bazi Rayane stopped publishing for nearly 4 years. At the beginning of 2005 Bazi Rayane resumed publishing using the license from another magazine called Ettela, and continued till 2014. On August 2014 Bazi Rayane shut down forever due to economic problems.

  You may be wondering about this license thing. In Iran all magazines and periodicals must acquire a license from the Ministry of Islamic Culture. If the Ministry doesn’t grant a license, it is possible to publish your periodical using another periodical’s license as a “special issue.” This is what Bazi Rayane was doing in order to get published. In later years Bazi Rayane was able to get its own license.

• Sep 2005, Donyaye Bazi Founded: Donyaye Bazi published its first issue in September 2005 using its own license. In September of 2014, after publishing 176 issues it closed down forever due to economic problems.

Another magazine was Bazinama, which published its first issue some time in 2005. Bazinama still publishes today, but it abandoned the paper version in September 2019 and turned to digital.

Two issues of Bazinama Magazine and Donyaye Bazi Magazine.

• 4 Oct 2005, Quest of Persia: The End of Innocence Released: Quest of Persia: The End of Innocence was the first 3D game from Iran, developed by Puya Arts. The chief developer was Puya Dadgar. QoP: The End of Innocence also was the first game developed after a five year break in game development in the country, and was the first Iranian-developed game released since the 90s. In 2011 Puya Dadgar, the lead developer of this game, left Iran for the US.

Quest of Persia: The End of Innocence by Puya Arts.

• 2006, Tebyan Started Investing on Video Games: The Tebyan Cultural Institute existed under the control of Iran’s Islamic Development Organization, which was established in 2001. In 2006 Tebyan started developing some video games and during 8 years of activity developed about 25 of them, including Nejat e Bandar (Saving the Port), Moghavemat (Defense), Afsane ye Nowruz (Legend of Nowruz), Koohnavard (mountaineer). None of these games were particularly successful or popular.
• Apr 2007, IRCG Stablished: The Iran Computer Games Foundation aka IRCG was actually approved a year before this, by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. But in 2007 the IRCG started actually operating, and in 2008 started funding some indie video games like Garshasp the Monster Slayer.
• May 2007, first Digital Media Festival Launched: The Digital Media Festival was the first festival hosting video games in Iran. One of the first games which participated in this festival was Quest of Persia: The End of Innocence.
• Jun 2010, Asemandez Released: Asemandez was one of the first video games which IRCG funded. It was the first MMO browser-based strategic game developed in Iran. Later in 2019 the main developer of Asemandez left Iran for foreign countries.
• Jul 2010, Everything Can Draw on TGS: Everything Can Draw was the first Iranian video game to appear at the Tokyo Game show. The developer Mahdi Bahrami later in 2017 made changes to the game and published it on Steam as Engare.

Engare by Mahdi Bahrami.

• Sep 2010, Entegham Released: September 2010 saw the release of the first Iranian Full Motion Video game. Entegham (Revenge) was a first person shooter similar to Mad Dog McCree.

Entegham by Phenomenon Studio (later Blazingfallgames).

• Oct 2010, Garshasp Released: In 2010 the most expensive Iranian video game of all time (up to that point) was developed by Fanafzar studio with investment from the IRCG. Garshasp 1 and 2’s combined budget was about 500,000 USD at that time (which is about 600,000 USD today). Garshasp 1 was the first locally developed video game which gained popularity in Iran, and gamers started actually playing it. Garshasp 2 was never released, because of a disagreement in contract and lack of budget.

Garshasp: The Monster Slayer by Fanafzar Studio.

• Jan 2011, Mahdi Bahrami’s BO at the IGF: BO was the first Iranian game to get into the Independent Games Festival, developed by Mahdi Bahrami. BO was one of the Honorable mentions in IGF 2011. Later Bahrami sent two other games to IGF called Farsh and Engare. Both were nominated in some fields.

Farsh (Carpet) and Bo by Mahdi Bahrami.

• Feb 2011, Cafebazaar Founded: In 2011 Cafebazaar, an online market for mobile apps and games started operation. Later it became the most important market for Android apps and games, with about 40 million users.
• Aug 2011, National Institute Established: IRCG established the first video game school in Iran, called Iran National Institute of Game Development. One year later IRCG established the first video game incubator. Both the incubator and National Institute were shut down in 2019 due to economic problems.
• 2014, Golden Age of Mobile Games Started: In this year most of the game developers began making Android games and stopped PC game development. Tebyan stopped funding video games and the IRCG staff changed. New IRCG managers changed the way they were investing in video games. IRCG shut down the Tehran Game Expo which had been launched at 2011.
  In TGF 2014, a mobile game section was added for the first time. In the following years of Tehran Game Festival, there was less and less PC game participation, and mobile games overcame the market and game festivals. Rooster Wars and Fruit Craft were two first mobile games that got viral and popular.
• May 2011, First Tehran Game Festival Launched: In this year IRCG launched the first video game festival in Iran, called Tehran Game Festival aka TGF. TGF continued working until 2018. Eight festivals were held but in 2019 IRCG shut down TGF due to economic problems.

Rooster Wars by Medrik Games and Fruit Craft by TOD.

•  Sep 2014, Parvaneh Released. Biggest Fail Ever: Parvaneh Legacy of the Light’s Guardians was a video game which had been developed with the budget of 700,000 USD (800,000 USD today) by Bearded Bird. Although Parvane broke the record of most expensive Iranian video game of all time, previously held by Garshasp, it was a huge failure. It didn’t sell at all and the developer shut down that year.

Parvaneh Legacy of the Light’s Guardians by Bearded Bird.

• 24 Sep 2014, Donyaye Bazi Discontinued: After publishing 174 issues, Donyaye Bazi magazine discontinued forever due to economic problems. Earlier this year Bazi Rayane magazine was also discontinued due to economic problems. The owner of Donyaye Bazi owner left Iran for the U.S. that year and later Bazi Rayane’s owner left Iran for Europe.
• Aug 2015, Motori Published: When Motori (Android, free-to-play) developed by Glim Games was published on Cafebazaar on 2015 it quickly went viral. With 1.6 million local active users Motori broke all sales, download, and active user records within a few months. Iranian mobile game development entered a new era after Motori.

Motori by Glim Games.

• Apr 2016, Clash of Clans Published by Cafebazaar: Clash of Clans was officially published in Iran by Cafebazaar and the market boomed. It was the first big western video game which was officially published in Iran. Clash Royale was later published by the same company.
• 16 Jul 2017, 1st TCG Launched: IRCG launched Tehran Game Convention. Thbis was the first international video game convention in partnership with Game Connection France. It continued the next year but was shut down in 2019 due to economic problems.
• Apr 2019, IRCG Shut Down TGF, TGC, Game Incubator and National Institute: At the beginning of 2019 the IRCG manager announced that there won’t be any TGF and TGC this year. A few weeks later the National Institute of Game Development closed down after 7 years. The Video Game Development Incubator closed down also. All of this happened because of Iran’s economic depression and financial problems. The IRCG couldn’t afford the cost of continuing events and running sub institutes. Later this year IRCG reopened the National Institute by making a contract with Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran.

For a better understanding the economic depression and the effect of the current sanctions, please take a look at the USD to Rl exchange rate I prepared on the right part of the timeline.

Arash Hackimi is an Iranian video game journalist and game designer. Arash has been a lecturer in the Iran Game Development Institute, teaching History of Video Games, Video Games Genre, and Video Games Journalism. He started working as a journalist in 2005 as an editor in Donyaye Bazi monthly magazine.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/arashakimi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Arash.Hackimi

Saeed Zafarany (editor) started his work as a video game journalist at the age of 15 when he joined the web site Donya-ye-Bazi  as a translator in 2009. Soon after, he became deputy chief editor and administrator. In 2014, after nearly 5 years of service at Donya-ye-Bazi, he decided to found his own media platform, and is now Co-founder and Editor in Chief at Gamenews. Saeed also took the role of Editor in Chief at Bazinameh magazine in 2019.

Brandon Sheffield (editor) is creative director of Necrosoft Games and former EIC of Game Developer magazine. He met Arash at the Tehran Game Convention in 2018, one year before it was shut down.

In this 2017 GDC session, Chickadee Games’ Adam DeGrandis breaks down the visual design process for Tooth and Tail, the follow-up to Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine.

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

Activision has made over $3 billion in net bookings from the Call of Duty franchise alone over the past 12 months. 

The company said the action series had set new records after shifting to a shared ecosystem business model, resulting in net bookings rising by 80 percent year-on-year and unit sales increasing by 40 percent over the same period. 

To give you more context, ‘net bookings’ is an operating metric defined as the net amount of products and services sold digitally and physically over a set period — including license fees, merchandise sales, and publishing incentives — and is equal to net revenues excluding deferrals. 

As well as bringing home the bacon for Activision, Call of Duty also attracted 200 million players in 2020, including the biggest November ever for the franchise in terms of monthly players and hours played. Warzone, the series’ free-to-play battle royale offering, has also surpassed 85 million players since launching on March 10, 2020. 

“The momentum over the last year across the Call of Duty ecosystem from free-to-play Warzone as well as post-launch support of Modern Warfare, and now to Black Ops Cold War has been incredible,” commented Byron Beede, EVP and general manager on the franchise. “We are focused on building a continuous pipeline featuring a tremendous amount of free, post-launch content and events across the franchise.”

Developers can now enroll for the App Store Small Business Program, which will halve iOS platform fees to 15 percent from 30 percent for smaller creators. 

In an explainer posted on the Apple Developer website, the company said those looking to enroll must be an Account Holder in the Apple Developer Program, and must have reviewed and accepted the latest Paid Apps agreement posted December 2020. 

The company also noted that any developers who submit their enrollment by December 18, 2020, at 10 a.m. PST, will start benefiting from the program on January 1, 2021. 

Only those developers who earned less than $1 million in revenue throughput 2020 will be eligible for the Small Business Program, although those who’ve already surpassed that threshold could become eligible in the future if their earnings drop. 

Announcing the initiative back in November, Apple chief exec Tim Cook said the iPhone maker wanted to “help small businesses write the next chapter of creativity and prosperity on the App Store.”

“The App Store has been an engine of economic growth like none other, creating millions of new jobs and a pathway to entrepreneurship accessible to anyone with a great idea,” continued Cook. “Our new program carries that progress forward — helping developers fund their small businesses, take risks on new ideas, expand their teams, and continue to make apps that enrich people’s lives.”

You can find out more about the Small Business Program, along with an enrollment link, on the Apple Developer website.