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

Location: San Mateo, California

PlayStation isn’t just the Best Place to Play —it’s also the Best Place to Work. We’ve thrilled gamers since 1994, when we launched the original PlayStation. Today, we’re recognized as a global leader in interactive and digital entertainment. The PlayStation brand falls under Sony Interactive Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.

Competitive Gaming is an exciting and burgeoning space within the landscape of gaming. As one of the leaders of the gaming industry, PlayStation is focused on the esports business both regionally and globally as a part of the strategic outlook on the future of gaming. The Sr. Manager, Competitive Gaming (North America) will be a senior member of this initiative, responsible for not only assisting in the creation of the overall strategy, but heavily in its execution. This position will touch all aspects of the initiative However, with a focus on driving and executing regional activities and goals. This person will also help to build the overall infrastructure, determining and allocating resource needs, global/ regional governance, cross-functional partnership and advocacy.

Responsibilities:

• Thought leadership in the infrastructure, activation and funding design of Global eSports/ competitive gaming strategy; providing examples of wider best practices and focus efforts against areas key to PlayStation’s differentiation and advantage.
• Working with the Global team to determine best practices for esports on the platform, including the Tournament feature.
• Responsible for the design and execution of the esports strategy in North America and LATAM
• Management and Execution of the esports platform “destination” in North America, including determining tech partnerships, content strategy and promotion.
• Oversee Tournament Feature Program management in Region
• Design and execute Regional activations around global and local esports sponsorships
• Assist in the execution and management of 1st party programs in region
• Responsible for execution of Global programs in region, specifically, around E3 and PSX
• Management and promotion of PS Plus esports programs at key esports events in Region
• Responsible for seeking opportunities and seeding the North American market with in the intent of furthering the goals of the PlayStation esports program globally and locally
• Regional budget development and management
• Support and execution of the global esports “branding” program in the region
• Manage eSports relations with internal departments, specifically, working closely with marketing, promotions, corporate communications and publisher relations in order to ensure success of Regional program.
• Determine and manage relevant KPI’s for the region and its esports program
• Identify and facilitate relationships within the esports/ competitive gaming community

 Qualifications:  

• At least 6+ years of experience in the gaming industry
• At least 3+ years of experience in eSports preferred
• Extensive knowledge of the competitive gaming landscape
• Strong ability to network with leaders and influencers within the competitive gaming space
• Experience creating business models
• Strong presentation skills
• Proven management/ leadership success
• Strong financial acumen
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Proven ability to influence decisions on a global scale
• Bachelor degree or equivalent work experience

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, legally protected physical or mental disability, covered veteran status, status in the U.S. uniformed services, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, genetic information or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you spent in contacting us and we thank you for your interest in PlayStation.

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.

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Today, on our April episode of Inside Xbox, we made a big announcement about a brand-new Xbox One console, revealed some major news regarding Xbox Game Pass, unveiled some new features coming to Game Bar, shared info on new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility, and much more. For a full recap, read on below or watch the replay of Inside Xbox episode above when the VOD is available.

Introducing the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition

The big news coming out of today’s show was our reveal of The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, which was created for those who prefer to find and play their games digitally and are looking for the most affordable way to play Xbox games. The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition comes bundled with three of our most compelling and popular games – Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3 and Sea of Thieves. It also comes with a special offer to get started with Xbox Game Pass. Available for pre-order today at $249.99 USD, the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition is $50 USD less than Xbox One S, and we expect to maintain at least that price difference between the two consoles going forward. Read more here.

Get the Best of Both Worlds with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

In June 2017, we launched Xbox Game Pass – with the goal of empowering gamers all over the world to discover their next favorite game. A top request fans have shared from day one is to provide an option to get Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold in a single membership. We heard you. Today, we’re excited to announce Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will include all of the benefits of Xbox Live Gold with Xbox Game Pass. That means the full Xbox Game Pass library of over 100 high quality games, and Xbox Live Gold online multiplayer, in one convenient membership for $14.99 a month. With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, gamers will be able to play together on the most-advanced multiplayer network and discover their next favorite game. Read more here.

Brand-new Features are Coming to Game bar

A few weeks ago, we shared that Game bar on Windows 10 was getting a major overhaul. From Spotify integration to improved social experiences that enable you to see what your friends are playing, quickly text or voice chat, and create memes to share via Twitter, there are a number of ways that the team is making this the best version of Game bar yet based on community feedback. Game bar is an overlay built into Windows so it works over any PC game. In order to make the overlay your own, we added the ability to customize Game bar. Choose which widgets to show/hide, where you want them located, and even pin specific widgets. Find your own favorite Game bar layout to enhance your gaming experience. In addition to all of those improvements, today we shared that our Looking for Group (LFG) feature will also be added to Game bar, allowing you to quickly and easily find people to bring into battle with you (or, if you prefer, battle against). To try out these features, launch the Xbox Insider Hub on your Windows 10 PC. Read more here.

New Competitive Game Mode and Story-Rich Quests are Coming to Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves Executive Producer Joe Neate made an appearance on this week’s show to share more on the updates the Rare team announced this morning. First there’s The Arena, a brand-new competitive game mode that offers all the best bits of Sea of Thieves concentrated into fast-paced and fun 24-minute matches. For players looking for rich and immersive new quests, there are Tall Tales. These are epic story-driven quests that play out in the shared world, with the first collection – Shores of Gold – taking players across the seas to experience a story of love, honor and betrayal in search of the mythical Shores of Gold. Finally, there’s a brand-new Trading Company, The Hunter’s Call. This will offer players new ways to play and progress and includes a raft of new features including fishing (with 50 different types of fish to catch), cooking and hunting. Watch the new trailer here.

Go Behind the Scenes of Gears Esports with the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series

In partnership with ELEAGUE, Xbox announced the ELEAGUE Gears Summer Series: The Bonds and Betrayals of Brotherhood – a six-part event series and live tournament focused on the stories and players behind the world of Gears Esports with the first episode debuting on TBS, Friday, June 14, at 11 pm ET/PT. ELEAGUE will also feature the worldwide debut of Gears 5 Versus multiplayer, culminating in The Invitational at the end of the season, within ELEAGUE Arena at Turner Studios in Atlanta from Saturday-Sunday, July 13-14. Read more here.

Six Beloved Titles Join Xbox One Backward Compatibility with Xbox One X Enhancements

Announcing new titles coming to Xbox One Backward Compatibility is always exciting, but it’s even better when we can reveal that said titles are being enhanced for Xbox One X. Today, we were happy to share that Ninja Gaiden 2, Fable 2, Fable 3, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent are all enhanced for Xbox One X. Best of all, they’re all available starting today! Remember, Xbox 360 games enhanced for Xbox One X run at a higher resolution and 9X the original pixel count. The power of Xbox One X enables the Xbox 360 emulator to showcase the very best version possible with the existing assets—all without touching the game code. Today’s additions join our existing catalog for a total of 62 Xbox One X Enhanced Backward Compatible games.

Exploring Some Exciting New Games on the Horizon

During the show, we took a closer look at some games that’ll be hitting Xbox One in the coming months. First up was Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the new Star Wars game from Respawn Entertainment that was revealed this weekend at Star Wars Celebration. Next, got up close and personal with Rage 2, the upcoming shooter from Bethesda that offers up one of the wildest post-apocalyptic settings we’ve ever seen. Finally, we shared that Warhammer Chaosbane is set to launch on June 4th. If you love the warhammer universe or some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling, then this game is for you. Best of all, the next closed beta is about to start in just two days. That’s right: On April 18th, you’ll be able to jump into the action as Bragi Axebiter, the Dwarf-killer and Elessa the Wood Elf, who will be joining the soldier and high elf classes from the first beta. This means that all four classes will be playable at once, and in a whole new region!

Announcing Details for Xbox FanFest: E3 2019

On today’s episode, FanFest Lead Chris Munson shared that this marks the 5th year of FanFest, which explains why he was so excited to reveal brand-new details on Xbox FanFest at E3 2019 during his segment. With E3 2019 marking our biggest E3 presence ever, we’re thrilled to share that 700 tickets will be available for E3 FanFest, which will include experiencing the Xbox Briefing, a FanFest Showcase, and much more. Chris broke down some of the details on things like the ticketing process and how you can bring a guest along with you, as well as what you’ll get with your ticket. There’s a lot of goodness this year, so be sure to check out our full FanFest post for the complete details! Read more here.

Phil Spencer Talks E3 2019, Xbox Studios, and More

To close out today’s show, we had a special guest appearance by the Head of Xbox himself, Phil Spencer. During his segment, he talked Project xCloud and how we at Xbox put the gamer at the center of how we build our strategy and services, driven by the idea that as a gamer you should be able to play the games you want to play, on the devices you want to play them on with your friends, anywhere you go.  Spencer also talked about his excitement to be representing the broader gaming community at E3 2019. We recently announced plans for our biggest presence ever, including Xbox E3 FanFest, and the diversity of the content across Xbox and PC that we’ll be highlighting in the briefing from both Xbox Game Studios and third-party partners from around the world.

We hope you enjoyed the show, and we’ll see you next month!

By Roger Fingas
Friday, April 26, 2019, 02:05 pm PT (05:05 pm ET)

Rumors suggest Apple’s iPhone XR follow-up will upgrade to a dual-lens rear camera in 2019, potentially delivering the company’s advanced photographic technology to an entry-level smartphone model for the first time.

As with the iPhone X and XS, one lens would be wide-angle and the other telephoto, Mac Otakara said on Friday, citing information from Chinese suppliers. The current XR has a single wide-angle lens, identical to recent base level iPhone offerings.

Traditionally Apple has used telephoto lenses for two purposes, the first being 2x optical zoom instead of digital enlargement. The second, though, is Portrait Mode photos accomplished in the iOS Camera app — the telephoto becomes the primary lens, while the wide-angle captures depth data used to isolate the subject and simulate DSLR-style bokeh.

The XR employs specialized algorithms to achieve a similar Portrait effect, but the resulting image is zoomed-out and not necessarily as accurate as its XS counterpart.

Multiple reports have pointed to flagship 5.8- and 6.5-inch “XI” and “XI Max” OLED iPhones coming with a triple-lens camera, the third lens possibly being a super-wide unit. Mac Otakara added that two out of three lenses/sensors may be used as common parts to keep costs down.

Separate design changes may include iPad-style mute switches and the use of 3D-molded rear glass, even covering the phones’ larger camera bumps. That same all-glass design is expected with the dual-camera XR successor, which could rely on a familiar 6.1-inch LCD screen, the report said.

It is also possible that the new phones will include USB-C to Lightning cables and 18-watt USB-C power adapters, but keep Lightning as their wired data type.

The 2D action-platformer Katana Zero is absolutely killing it on the Nintendo Switch right now – in more ways than one.

According to the game’s publisher Devolver Digital, it has managed to become the company’s second fastest selling game on Nintendo’s hybrid platform, right behind the 2017 hit, Enter the Gungeon.

Shout out to @askiisoft as Katana ZERO is our second fastest selling Nintendo Switch game behind Enter the Gungeon!
Thrilled for the dev team and thankful for the support of @NintendoAmerica and @NintendoEurope!

Although no exact figures were provided by the publisher, not long after this, Katana Zero’s developer Askiisoft revealed the Switch and PC version had surpassed a combined total of 100,000 sales in the game’s launch week.

The developer also mentioned how work on the first free DLC, including a speedrun mode, was already underway:

Thank you so much for playing and sharing Katana ZERO – we’re excited that we’ve sold over 100,000 copies in the first week! Work on the first free DLC plus a speedrun mode is underway.

Last week, we found out the game had become Devolver Digital’s most pre-ordered Nintendo Switch title to-date, surpassing pre-order demand for games such as The Messenger, Minit and Downwell.

Have you downloaded Katana Zero on the Switch yet? What do you think of it so far? Tell us below.

Click Here!

It’s been many years now since Xbox 360 introduced its achievement system and added an extra layer of gamification to your games. Microsoft’s system-level Gamerscore was introduced way back in 2005 (that’s right, fourteen long years ago). That little dopamine hit on hearing the ‘Achievement Unlocked’ sound struck a chord with a whole generation of gamers and they soon became an addiction. Bragging rights for grabbing the most obscure, most difficult ones made adding to your Gamerscore a point of pride for many.

Valve soon followed suit on Steam and Sony’s Trophy system made the word ‘platinum’ a verb. Nintendo gamers, however, never got to experience that sweet, sweet addiction – not at a system level. Many titles implement the achievements used elsewhere into the game itself, but Nintendo has never created a similar framework of its own.

If we’re honest, after fourteen years achievements have fallen off our personal radar somewhat, and wouldn’t rank particularly highly on a wish list of features for future Nintendo consoles. We’ve got used to not having them. Of course, they’d be a fun extra, but we’re not clamouring for them like we did a decade ago. In fact, we thought that was the general feeling amongst Nintendo gamers, but a quick scan of social media shows that there’s still a healthy appetite for a platform-wide system on Switch:

With Xbox achievements arriving on Switch in due course thanks to the release of Cuphead and Xbox Live integration, it seems to have reignited people’s passion for the little pop-ups. Calls for Nintendo to ‘get with the times’ are easy to hear, although for a company that believes ‘the true value of entertainment lies in its uniqueness’, implementing a system based on a competitor’s fourteen-year-old success hardly showcases the ‘Nintendo difference’, does it?

Still, it’s a feature that many players crave. Personally, we’ve fallen out of love with them a bit, for various reasons. For every game that uses them creatively and encourages you to experiment or play a different way than you might otherwise, there’s another which simply doles out the cheevos as you finish a level. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but they lose significance to us if they’re simply a mark of progress – sure, you can ‘prove’ to your online mates that you’ve completed a game, but that’s not enough of a draw.

They’re not particularly developer-friendly, either. Microsoft’s mandate that all games were required to include unlockable achievements created extra work for game devs, and its easy to understand why so many take the uninspired form of ‘You completed Level 3!’ or ‘You jumped 10,000 times!’ It’s another layer of work added to each platform the game releases on, and while it’s often easy to track certain player stats and actions (especially on modern platforms), it can be more difficult for smaller indies already crunching to get the game running and not wanting to tack on a bunch of dull, token achievements after they’ve worked so hard on the core game. Being creative takes time and the best achievements are imaginative and playful.

They can be mighty intrusive, too. You’ve just completed some emotionally significant narrative moment – shot a traitorous friend, galloped into the sunset or whatever other video game scenario you care to remember/invent – and up pops the notification. You’ve completed a game, spending hours battling your way to a reckoning and you sit there, bathing in emotional and physical catharsis as the screen fades to black… doop-doop! ‘Achievement Unlocked – Winner Winner!’

We’re exaggerating, of course, and other platforms do allow you to mute notifications, but a platform-wide system is inherently ignorant of the actual content of the game, so if a developer hasn’t thought carefully about how achievements will unlock across all supported platforms, you often get these pop-ups destroying the atmosphere of a tender or significant moment. These interruptions occur on Switch already, of course. While playing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice a couple of weeks ago, emotionally striking and heavy moments were repeatedly interrupted by Switch telling us that ‘Tony80085 is online’ (a pseudonym has been used to protect Tony’s true identity, but we do wish he’d make his bloody mind up!).

Despite Switch not having an overarching infrastructure, many games implement their own achievements lists, and perhaps that’s enough. No, you don’t get the platform-wide integration or that satisfying unlock sound, but we’re rational human beings for crying out loud! Do we really need that – or even want it – in all our games?

Perhaps the best place they could fit in on Switch would be the selection of retro titles that come with your Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Little objectives could provide some of the focus lost with the introduction of save states and give players an incentive to revisit those old classics on the service. Many of us have fired it up, dipped into a few classics before losing interest and closing it down after a few minutes. The wall of games arguably induces paralysis and it somehow feels ‘easier’ – or more satisfying – to play something else despite loving stone-cold classics like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Zelda.

Save states would render anything as boring as ‘Achievement Unlocked: You finished 8-4!’ utterly pointless, so Nintendo would have to be very creative – very different – with its challenges. We’ve seen that the company is happy to play with these classics with the SP versions it’s been dropping and the service only contains a small selection of games, which would make a blanket ‘system-level’ structure possible where it would otherwise only be realistic (logistically speaking) from the very start of a console cycle. Others have already taken the trouble to gamify retro titles in this way – Retro Achievements has been doing it for ages.

There are plenty of opinions available on the subject of achievements, and the most interesting ones tend to come from game designers themselves. Keith Burgun and Chris Hecker’s thoughts are worth a read and delve more deeply into ideas of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards and the mechanics of how achievements actually work.

They used to be the new thing – an incredible bit of seasoning to go along with Xbox Live on the 360 – and we have fond memories of them, but now achievements themselves are almost retro. Some would argue that they’ve had their heyday and it’s probably time to forget about them. Nintendo-only gamers never sampled their addictive properties in the first place, but anybody who has gone cold turkey with Switch need only hear that little unlock ‘dong’ once to have their nostalgia booted up and experience little ‘cheevy cravings.

What are your thoughts on achievements at a system-wide level? Do you still care about them on other platforms? Have Nintendo gamers really missed out? Feel free to share your thoughts with a comment and vote in our poll.

One of the most popular web television series on YouTube right now is Cobra Kai. It picks up exactly thirty-four years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament at the end of the iconic film The Karate Kid, where Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) defeats his rival Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).

The new series is currently in its second season and while it’s mostly filled with a lot of flashbacks to the original films, there are also a lot of modern cultural references thrown in for good measure. For example, throughout season two, the popular television and book series Game of Thrones is name-dropped, and in the first and last episode, Daniel’s son Anthony “Antonio” LaRusso can be seen playing a Nintendo Switch.

In the previous season (released on YouTube last year), the character is spotted playing Tekken on a PlayStation Vita:

Of course, the roles have been reversed in the past when Atlus brought The Karate Kid to NES back in 1987, a game which loosely followed the action of the first and second films.

It seems like a positive sign for Nintendo when one of the most popular web television series of 2018 – and one that’s likely to be similarly huge in 2019 – has swapped from a Sony console to its hybrid system. Then again, it has been a natural move for many gamers in the real world as support for PS Vita dries up. You’ve got to hand it to Sony’s portable, though – it has hung around long after first party support ended and it’s always been a nice little system; Switch should be proud to pick up where Vita left off.

Are you a fan of the Karate Kid? Have you been watching Cobra Kai? Do you think movies, television and web series are an effective way to promote video games? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.