Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Sean HollisterJun 28, 2023

1 million PlayStation gamers play nothing but Call of Duty.

That’s according to Sony gaming boss Jim Ryan, whose redacted letter to the FTC wasn’t redacted all that well...

Here’s what my elf eyes see in the text:

In 2021, over [14?] million users (by device) spent 30 percent or more of their time playing Call of Duty, over 6 million users spent more than 70% of their time on Call of Duty, and about 1 million users spent 100% of their gaming time on Call of Duty. In 2021, Call of Duty players spent an average of [116?] hours per year playing Call of Duty. Call of Duty players spending more than 70 percent of their time on Call of Duty spent an average of 296 hours on the franchise.

So yeah, Sony certainly would miss out on some some console/subscription sales if CoD someday becomes Xbox exclusive.

Sean HollisterJun 28, 2023

Sony says only one more Call of Duty game was guaranteed to come to PlayStation.

We knew that Sony’s marketing deal with Activision expired in 2024, but that apparently doesn’t include a 2024 installment of CoD.

“[T]he last game covered by the contract is a Call of Duty title to be released in late 2023,” reads part of a letter from PlayStation boss Jim Ryan that someone didn’t properly redact.

Still, Activision reportedly planned to bring CoD games to PlayStation with or without the contract, and Microsoft has repeatedly promised the same.

Sean HollisterJun 28, 2023

Guess how much Sony paid to make Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part II?

A big letter from Sony president Jim Ryan to the FTC wasn’t redacted properly, and we’ve been furiously hunting for secrets! First up: Horizon Forbidden West apparently cost $212 million over five years with 300 employees.

The Last of Us Part II: $220 million for some 200 employees, if we’re reading right. Development started in 2014 right after the original game was released, though that was already public info.

Image: Sony

Google has reportedly killed its Project Iris augmented reality glasses

Sean HollisterJun 27, 2023

Sean HollisterJun 23, 2023

Google was willing to spend five years building AAA games for Stadia — if it hadn’t cost so damn much.

According to former Google Stadia product lead Dov Zimring, the company did have an appetite for AAA games — the surprise shutdown of the company’s internal games studios was because a five-year game development cycle had become pricier than projected.

“It was going to be far more expensive in the environment that we found ourselves in,” says Zimring, referencing game industry consolidation as an underlying reason.

Zimring also confirmed reports that Google paid developers to port their games to Stadia, but the FTC’s lawyer let him get away without publicly confirming how much.

E3 is dead — how big was it, anyhow?

Sean HollisterJun 23, 2023

iFixit’s ROG Ally teardown.

We knew that swapping the Windows gaming handheld’s SSD and battery was a breeze — but it turns out most every Asus part is easier to remove than Steam Deck!

Unfortunately, Asus hasn’t yet committed to actually offering replacement parts. Valve, meanwhile, lets iFixit sell almost every Steam Deck component at its website.

The government is helping Big Telecom squeeze out city-run broadband

President Joe Biden’s internet access plan will hand $41.6 billion to internet service providers. In many places, that money will get funneled into private hands.

Sean HollisterJun 20, 2023

Sean HollisterJun 16, 2023

Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, has died.

Henry Kissinger called him the most dangerous man in America. Before Edward Snowden, before Chelsea Manning, and a year before Deep Throat, he revealed that the United States knew it couldn’t win the war in Vietnam. In an attempt to discredit him, Nixon set off the Watergate scandal that led to his own resignation.

The New York Times’ obituary for Ellsberg is free to read.

Daniel Ellsberg, Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers, Is Dead at 92

[The New York Times]