Electronic Arts Slashes BioWare After ‘Dragon Age' Sales Miss
The studio has shrunk to less than 100 people following the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard
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Hi everyone. Today we're diving into the cuts at Electronic Arts Inc.'s BioWare, which were deeper than have been reported, but first...
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Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Yahoo
Forge Your Legacy in EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 With True College Football Gameplay
Enhanced Gameplay, Deeper Immersion in Fan-Favorite Modes, and 300+ Real-World Coaches Bring Players Authentic College Football Like Never Before WATCH: College Football 26 Reveal Trailer REDWOOD CITY, Calif., May 29, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) and EA SPORTS™ today released the official reveal trailer and game details of EA SPORTS™ College Football 26, which delivers more than 2,700 new plays, thousands of real college athletes, and authentic coaching styles from more than 300 real-world coaches. From iconic traditions to heart-pounding road game environments at all 136 FBS schools, every day feels like game day. Fans can rise from high school recruit to Heisman legend in Road to Glory, or lead their dream program to dominance in Dynasty mode when College Football 26 launches worldwide on July 10 for PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S. "The return of EA SPORTS College Football struck a chord with fans last year by capturing the heart of college football—its authenticity, passion, and unforgettable game day energy," said Daryl Holt, SVP and Group GM, EA SPORTS. "With EA SPORTS College Football 26, we've deepened that experience, delivering more dynamic gameplay, vibrant stadium atmospheres, and modes that let players craft their own stories. From classic rivalries to the chase for championship glory, this game celebrates what fans love most about the sport and takes it to new heights." College Football 26 empowers fans to strategize like never before with authentic college gameplay, delivering unmatched realism to prove their program's dominance on the field. With over 2,700 new plays, thousands of athletes, and more than 300 real-world coaches bringing their true-to-life schemes, players can master enhanced offensive and defensive mechanics, execute new stunts and twists, and make dynamic substitutions when it counts. Dive into the action with these game-changing features: Over 300 Real-World Coaches: Suit up for Dan Lanning. Compete against Kirby Smart. Recruit as or against James Franklin. Go toe-to-toe with current coaches who bring distinctive playstyles to the field. Strategize like they would with their unique playbooks for a more authentic coaching experience. Expanded Player Types & Abilities: Recruit and develop athletes with 84 abilities and 10 new archetypes, giving you more ways to dominate on either side of the ball. Wear & Tear Everywhere: Manage fatigue and injuries dynamically with no need to pause the action. Customize the system to match your playstyle and save your stars for when it matters most. Foundational Football Advancements: Enhanced AI, dynamic play-calling adjustments, improved blocking and coverages plus new features like Dynamic Substitutions and custom zones give you more control on both sides of the ball, so you can show your opponent what your program is made of. From the roar of Death Valley to the lights in Tuscaloosa, the pageantry and chaos of college football Saturdays come alive with unprecedented depth. Be immersed in the authentic traditions, customized PA tracks, team-specific chants, and atmospheric upgrades that capture the pulse of every game. Next-Level Homefield Advantage: The revamped Stadium Pulse system introduces new crowd-based challenges like clock distortion, extreme screen shake, and rattled HUDs in rivalry and playoff games. More Like Saturday: With over 160 new school-specific chants, 10 new PA tracks including Metallica's electric "Enter Sandman", and tradition-rich visuals like Texas Tech's Double T Saddle Monument and Coastal Carolina's King of Turnovers, every school's spirit is alive and unique. Broadcast & Commentary: Legendary voices return—Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, Desmond Howard, and David Pollack—bringing dynamic, situation-specific commentary tailored to your season. College Football 26 delivers an immersive experience with a variety of dynamic game modes that embody the spirit of college football. From building a legendary program in Dynasty to rising as a student-athlete in Road to Glory, each mode offers unique challenges and deep customization. Compete for playoff glory, assemble dream rosters, and navigate the modern landscape of college football with the following exciting modes: Dynasty: Build a coaching powerhouse from the ground up. Recruit based on location, fit your roster to your scheme, and navigate today's college football world—from the high school pipeline to the transfer portal. Customize playbooks and staff archetypes, then chase glory in the expanded College Football Playoff with cross-play support in Online Dynasty across Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation®5†. Keep your promises with all-new Dynamic Dealbreakers to avoid transfers and preserve team chemistry, and upload your program using advanced Team Builder customization tools. Road to Glory: The unmatched student-athlete experience returns. Start in high school, build your highlight tape, and secure offers from your top schools. Make key decisions about your academics, NIL opportunities, playing time, and even when to decommit. Rise to become a Heisman winner—and easily continue your football journey into the NFL in EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL 26. Road to the College Football Playoff: Compete across consoles in a new online progression format where every win matters. Represent your university or take over a powerhouse program, climb the polls, and earn your way into the playoff bracket. College Football Ultimate Team: Build your dream roster with Legends from the past and current college stars. Lead your Ultimate Team to greatness by taking on the competition in H2H matchups and themed challenges meant to put your skills to the test. Fans can pre-order their copy of EA SPORTS College Football 26 now or connect their football journeys with the EA SPORTS™ MVP Bundle on PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S, which includes the deluxe editions of EA SPORTS College Football 26 and Madden NFL 26 with 3-day early access and an array of benefits across both titles‡. EA Play members can Bring Glory Home in EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 with the EA Play* 10-hour early access trial, starting July 7, 2025. Members also score member rewards including monthly College Football Loyalist Ultimate Team™ Packs, as well as receive 10% off EA digital content including pre-orders, game downloads, Season Passes, College Football Points, and DLC. For more information on EA Play please visit Stay tuned for more on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube as College Football 26 news unfolds in the coming months. †Internet connection, all game updates, EA Account, and platform account required.‡Conditions & restrictions apply. See for details.*Conditions, limitations and exclusions apply. See EA Play Terms for details. For College Football 26 assets, visit: EA SPORTS™ College Football 26 is developed in Orlando, Florida and Madrid, Spain by EA Tiburon and will be available worldwide July 10 for PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S. About Electronic Arts Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. The Company develops and delivers games, content and online services for Internet-connected consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. In fiscal year 2025, EA posted GAAP net revenue of approximately $7.5 billion. Headquartered in Redwood City, California, EA is recognized for a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as EA SPORTS FC™, Battlefield™, Apex Legends™, The Sims™, EA SPORTS™ Madden NFL, EA SPORTS™ College Football, Need for Speed™, Dragon Age™, Titanfall™, Plants vs. Zombies™ and EA SPORTS F1®. More information about EA is available at EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield, Need for Speed, Apex Legends, The Sims, Dragon Age, Titanfall, and Plants vs. Zombies are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. John Madden, NFL, and F1 are the property of their respective owners and used with permission. Category: EA Sports View source version on Contacts Erin ExumDirector, Integrated Commseexum@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Mayor
25-05-2025
- Business Mayor
Marathon is fighting the ultimate uphill battle
Ever since its initial reveal, Marathon has had an air of skepticism surrounding it by the gaming community at large. At first, I mostly attributed this to Bungie's uneven approach to handling its premier live service franchise, Destiny. Between decisions like removing past expansions, vaulting weapons, and more underwhelming updates than positive ones, I could completely understand the hesitancy around the studio attempting to launch and maintain a second live service game. As we've inched closer and closer to its release date, the general outlook seems to have only gotten more dismal. Yes, there have been some very concerning controversies that shouldn't be swept under the rug, but Marathon is suffering from a more systemic problem with live service games as a whole that it will need to overcome to succeed. Live service games are labelled as such because they're meant to be living, evolving experiences that players can keep coming back to for months and years. MMORPGs were the progenitors of this model, but now we've seen it applied to all sorts of genres. Despite its ups and downs, Destiny is still the poster child for what we now call live service games and the model so many have tried to imitate. As with anything successful in the gaming industry, it wasn't long before every big player wanted a piece of that pie. The allure of a perpetual money-maker was too great to resist, despite the reality being much more complicated. Sony was arguably the one to invest the most heavily in the model, at one point boasting over 12 live service games in the works. Between released and cancelled projects, that number has shrunk to possibly two, those being Marathon and Fairgames. While we can't discuss the broken trust between gamers and the current and upcoming slate of live service games without mentioning Concord , the root of the problem goes back much further than that. The first game I recall raising major red flags in the gaming sphere was Anthem. Even before all the behind-the-scenes problems in development were brought to light about the game, fans were leery about a studio known for RPGs seemingly trying to hop onto the latest trend. Anthem launched to a less-than-stellar response and quickly went on life support. It failed to satisfy BioWare's core RPG fans or any potential Destiny converts due to a lack of both a satisfying story or a compelling endgame grind. Before launch, EA shared a roadmap calendar detailing three acts of content, and when nothing beyond Act 1 was released for over a year, BioWare promised a major overhaul of the game, unofficially called Anthem 2.0. All of these plans were cancelled. Firewalk Studios Since then, we've seen more major games make bold claims about months and years of future content, only to pull the rug out from players after a middling — or downright abysmal — launch. Examples include Redfall , Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League , and, of course, Concord. That last one is likely the one that broke the camel's back for most gamers due to how unprecedented it was. This was a PlayStation first-party release with prime showcase placement, an ambitious roadmap of content, an experimental storytelling method, and even a tie-in episode in Secret Level before the game had even come out. That game failing would be bad, but it being scrubbed from existence is catastrophic for gamers' trust in PlayStation and live service as a whole. Not only do we have to be concerned about a game simply breaking all promises of support, but also the entire experience being ripped from us. While I don't think the sins of one game should be borne by another, I can't blame anyone who has adopted a more wait-and-see approach to new live service games. If we can't count on a name as big as PlayStation to make good on its promises, why should we think differently for any other studio? Trust isn't given anymore, it needs to be earned. The impressions I have seen from both major pundits and average players in forums for Marathon feel a lot like what the sentiment was for Concord before launch. The general feelings appear to float around a 'it's pretty fun to play, but there's not enough there right now' type of vibe. Justified or not, that's a death sentence for a game that relies on a large population of people being willing to support the game at its weakest so that it can even attempt to reach its full potential. Gamers have long memories — at least when it comes to being burned. A roadmap and a 'trust us' from the development team just doesn't cut it anymore. Marathon could very well have the potential to be amazing, but it has to start out great to even have a chance to get there. Not enough people will settle for even good, and with so many people perfectly content sitting on the sidelines to see if it fails before it even gets off the ground, it will result in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Bungie shouldn't be let off the hook for blatant plagiarism or the apparent crashing moral at the studio. Rumors swirling about how the unrealistic amount of money it needs to make to be considered a success don't help either, but Marathon 's fate wouldn't look any more certain even if that had never occurred. Until enough live service games earn our trust back, each game is fighting an uphill battle that gets steeper with every failed attempt.
!['Exit 8' is an Exceptional Liminal Thriller and the Best Video Game Adaptation Ever Made [Cannes 2025 Review]](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fusercontent.one%2Fwp%2Fwww.businessmayor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F05%2F1748091657_039Exit-8039-is-an-Exceptional-Liminal-Thriller-and-the-Best.jpg%3Fmedia%3D1711454622&w=3840&q=100)
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Business Mayor
'Exit 8' is an Exceptional Liminal Thriller and the Best Video Game Adaptation Ever Made [Cannes 2025 Review]
I've long been fascinated by what I call No Exit Horror , a term I've coined for a sub-genre rooted in existential dread, where characters are trapped in singular, oppressive spaces they cannot escape. Think of such liminal space thrillers as Cube , Dead End , Pontypool , or even The Shining . I took the name from French writer/philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, of course, and like his play No Exit , these films trap their characters not just in rooms but in loops of self-denial, regret, or moral indecision. Genki Kawamura's masterful Exit 8 , which just had its eerie and unforgettable premiere in the Cannes Midnight Screenings section, uses this trope so effectively that it might just be the most exceptional video game adaptation ever made. Adapted from a cult Japanese video game, Exit 8 follows 'The Lost Man,' played with raw and adorable restraint by Kazunari Ninomiya ( Letters from Iwo Jima , Gantz ). On a tedious underground commute home from his desk job, he quickly finds himself trapped in an endless underground subway corridor, forced to detect subtle anomalies, glitches in reality, that signal whether it's safe to proceed to the next exit, aka level. He loops back to the beginning if he misses something out of place. It's the perfect metaphor for the paralysis of modern professional life, trapped in the endless maze designed by the evils of capitalism: the hallway, sterile and endless, is less a location than a state of mind. He is, quite literally, going nowhere. And I'm sure most of us can find it relatable on some level . Exit 8 is more than just a stylish horror experiment or the astute staging of a unique and inexpensive IP. It's a tragic and intimate character study following a broken hero's journey where the monster isn't lurking around a corner. The Lost Man is on his way home from a job he clearly loathes. He's exhausted, emotionally disconnected, and stuck in the passive inertia of a life he never truly chose. And then, suddenly, fatherhood looms. Read More BioWare restructures around Mass Effect The great twist of Exit 8 is that its horror and drama are mostly emotional, not supernatural or sci-fi. Kawamura has crafted a film about the terror of becoming a parent before you're ready. About accepting love when you're not sure you're worthy. The anomaly in this man's life isn't a shadowy figure or an off-kilter passageway. Instead, it's the terrifying prospect of loving someone more than yourself. And being loved in return. The hallway becomes purgatory for a man who can't admit he's scared—scared of responsibility, commitment, and growing up. Ninomiya's performance is essential here. It's not flashy, but it's deep. He expertly plays emotional numbness, with shoulders sloped under decades of unspoken guilt and generational/gender expectation. There's a quiet beauty in how little he says and how much he shows. When change finally comes, it's not triumphant. It's terrifying. And it's earned. As The Lost Man repeats the corridor again and again, each loop becomes a step along a fractured, nonlinear path toward emotional accountability. He isn't trying to escape. He's trying to accept. He's trying to become someone capable of being loved, and of loving in return. And that might be the scariest journey a horror movie has ever asked of a man. And he's not alone. The eerie and quick introduction of 'The Walking Man' is frightening, then tragic. A perfect side quest during an already pristine mainline story. The atmosphere in Exit 8 draws on a similar liminal energy felt in brilliant liminal horror projects like P.T. and The Backrooms, but where those stories revel in abstract terror, Kawamura's film weaponises drama and character study with a teaspoon of hope. Ultimately, there isn't a clear resolution. But it does provide reflection. It asks what happens to those of us who live on autopilot. Those who accept careers we hate, relationships we don't nurture, and the futures we never chose. It's about how modern men inherit silence and mistake it for strength. And how love … real, scary, adult love … demands presence and vulnerability. It demands that you exit the loop. With Exit 8 , Genki Kawamura has crafted a haunting cautionary tale for the emotionally paralysed. It's a masterpiece of 'No Exit Horror': intimate, tragic, and impressively human. Forget boss battles, this is a video game adaptation where the final level is fatherhood, and like the process of being born, the only way out is through. Summary Genki Kawamura's masterful 'Exit 8' expertly draws on a liminal horror, character study, and realist drama to craft the best video game adaptation of all time. Tags: Cannes 2025 Exit 8 Featured Post Genki Kawamura Categorized:News Reviews
