Latest news with #CandyCrush
Local Sweden
5 days ago
- Business
- Local Sweden
Swedish games industry in crisis as 'perfect storm' sparks mass layoffs
Bankruptcies, redundancies and difficulties finding investment have all resulted in a 'negative perfect storm' for the Swedish games industry, according to former game company CEO. Advertisement "The discussion has gone from 'it'll be better in 2024', to '2025 looks like it will be difficult', to 'oh god, what is 2026 going to be like'," Karl Magnus Troedsson told Svenska Dagbladet (SvD). Troedsson is founder and partner of games-focused risk capital company Behold Ventures, and former CEO of Swedish games company DICE. "It's natural that you reassess the size of your staff," he said, "but what we're seeing now is much larger. It's a negative perfect storm." The tempest has among other things already claimed games company Cult of the North, which went bankrupt last week despite an investment of 106 million kronor just two years ago. It had 30 staff. "The funding's gone. The studio is dying," its founder Adam Schaub wrote on LinkedIn. For years, gaming has been one of Sweden's largest exports, with the gaming industry employing thousands in recent years. Many of those are international workers on work permits. According to Bloomberg, major gaming company King, which is behind Candy Crush, is letting 200 people go, with the Unionen union confirming to SvD that 96 of those roles will be in Stockholm. "A lot of people are shocked," union ombudsman Dag Bremberg told the newspaper. "A large amount of those affected are foreign citizens whose residence permits rely on them having work in Sweden." Advertisement Bremberg told SvD that Unionen has over 400 members and a local union club at King. Discussions about signing a collective bargaining agreement have been ongoing for some time, he said, although this has not yet happened. Bremberg added that King is now attempting to get employees to resign voluntarily with a deadline of July 18th to accept or reject the offer. "Buyouts, I guess you could say," Bremberg said. "There are a lot of people who are disappointed about what is being offered, people who have been working there for a long time and who expected more. What happens if they say no to the offer?" King has been part of Microsoft since 2023. Microsoft announced plans to reduce staff across the company by over 17,000, confirming to SvD that this includes part of the gaming side of the company. It would not confirm specific figures. Advertisement Per Strömbäck, from Dataspelsbranschen, Sweden's trade association for video game companies, agreed that the labour market in the gaming industry has seen a clear shift. "Many of our members said previously that they had to look for people to fill their empty positions. Now they're getting a lot of qualified applications," he told SvD. Unlike Troedsson, he didn't describe the situation as a crisis, but did agree that times are tougher. "The years of major investments are behind us," he said, adding that large financial input from China and North America had in particular dried up. "The big companies in our industry are focusing more on consolidation now than starting something new. All the factors that were previously driving growth are pointing in the other direction now," he said. Do you work at one of the game companies undergoing layoffs or are you otherwise affected? Get in touch with us at news@ – you have the right to be anonymous.
Indian Express
7 days ago
- Indian Express
OnePlus Nord 5 review: Still the best option for young users
Over the past few years, whenever someone has asked me to recommend a phone for a young person, I have suggested the Nord series from OnePlus. That is because these phones are stylish, no-nonsense, and powerful, yet priced reasonably. The OnePlus Nord 5 has a lot to live up to, given that the series has been quite successful in the Indian market so far. The new OnePlus Nord 5 features a stylish design, one that stands out despite not pushing the envelope or trying something radical. The Marble Sands finish I got for the review is new and not something we are used to seeing. It feels like a marble slab, also because the device is thin, with just an 8.1 mm thickness, and a relatively muted camera bump. However, this might not be something kids would want to tout in college and they might gravitate towards the other finishes on offer like Dry Ice and Phantom Grey. Note: FAQs at the end of the end of the review. The phone has a Plus Key on the left which can be customised and is especially useful to summon the AI-led Save to Mind feature. On the right, you have the power and volume keys. The phone offers a good grip thanks to the bold edges and is not too heavy at 211g. The Nord 5 has one of the brightest displays I have used in recent times. So much so that while playing Candy Crush in an attempt to find sleep at night, you have to ensure the brightness does not go towards the peak range of 1400 Nits. The same is perfect though when framing a photo at Nehru Garden under the bright June Delhi sun. The display stands out also because it has one of the thinnest bezels in this segment at just 1.65 mm. At first look, this gives the appearance of a phone that is all screen. In fact, the 144 Hz OLED display is stunning and a pleasure to play games and consume content on. But wait, the thin bezel creates a small issue that I have not experienced before. While watching videos on full screen, the progress bar is so close to the bezel that I end up cycling the apps instead of jumping to a later part of the video. This was quite irritating. Powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, the Nord 5 is capable of handling most tasks from multi-tasking to the inbuilt AI features. I am used to opening multiple tabs on both Chrome and Brave browsers as I go about my day checking the news cycle across various time zones and topics. The phone had no issues here. Even with gaming, the phone stays cool and you can see the gaming mode come up instinctively. I am not a gamer in any sense of the term. But I am sure younger users will appreciate the VC cooling system that's yoked to the Adreno 735 GPU. This phone is actually made for those who play games much more intensive than my bedtime Candy Crush sessions. With all this power built into the phone, it would be a shame not to have some AI functions that go beyond what Google Gemini offers. OnePlus has done this well with its Save to Mind feature, which is activated with the Plus Key. I find it especially useful for my kind of use cases, where while browsing a website, I can just press the button to save the page or whatever was on my screen with an AI summary coming up on its own. I slowly started making a habit of saving even photos that helped me remember something actionable for later. Talking of photos, the Nord 5 has the same camera settings as the flagship OnePlus 13 series. The 50MP Sony LYT-700 main sensor means the images are sharp, natural-looking and rich in detail. With some photos I shot while browsing at a FabIndia outlet, I could zoom in to see the intricate weaves that are highlighted in Indian fabrics. In lower light, food pictures shone through and were good enough to impress people on Instagram and trigger some green vibes. The portraits are good too as the front camera with Samsung Isocell JN5 sensor might well be best in class. The 8MP ultrawide camera does struggle a bit when the light conditions are not that favourable, but can click great HRD landscapes in the outdoors. I missed telephoto capabilities, which I have been seeing on a lot of phones these days. But the 4K 60fps recording capabilities will ensure you can start your creator journey without any future investment. One stunning feature of the phone is its battery life. It is almost shocking how such a light and slim phone can now house a 6800 mAh battery. The battery was large enough for the phone to last as my secondary device for almost a week. As a primary phone, I could use it well into the second day. This comes with 80W fast charging and can juice up in a few minutes to have you settled for the next few hours. At Rs xxxx, the OnePlus Nord 5 is an affordable flagship in every sense with no major compromises when it comes to either performance or experience. I would continue recommending this phone for younger users for it ticks all the boxes without hurting the pockets of parents too much. It's an excellent option for young users, offering style, power, and a reasonable price. It boasts a sleek look, featuring a new 'Marble Sands' finish as well as a slim 8.1mm profile and subdued camera bump. It also comes with a Plus Key you can customize. It boasts one of the brightest displays (up to 1400 Nits) and incredibly thin bezels (1.65mm), giving an 'all-screen' appearance. It's a 144Hz OLED display, great for gaming and content. Yes, because of their thin bezels, interaction can sometimes become difficult while watching full-screen videos and may result in accidental cycling of apps. It's equipped with a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, which can manage multitasking, gaming, and AI functionalities effectively. Yes. It has a VC cooling system and Adreno 735 GPU, so it can handle extended gaming sessions. It's a Plus Key AI-activated feature that automatically saves pages or on-screen content with a summary created by AI. Great for saving things you can do later. It has the same camera settings as the flagship OnePlus 13 series, with a 50MP Sony LYT-700 main sensor for sharp, natural, and detailed images. The front camera (Samsung Isocell JN5) is also considered best in class for portraits. Ultrawide 8MP camera doesn't perform well under dim lighting, and it doesn't have a telephoto lens. It does, though, offer 4K 60fps video capture. The Nord 5 has a stunning 6800 mAh battery, which can last almost a week as a secondary device or well into the second day as a primary phone. It also supports 80W fast charging. Yes, It is considered a cost-effective flagship which offers good quality performance and experience with no compromises and hence is well-recommended.
Engadget
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Arkane founder calls Game Pass an 'unsustainable model' that's wrecking the industry
Arkane Studios founder Raphael Colantonio had some harsh words for Game Pass in a thread on X, calling it an "unstainable model" that's "damaging the industry." He also said that Microsoft's ability to throw "infinite money" at the platform will eventually wane because "reality has to hit." Colantonio continued by saying Microsoft will "kill everyone else, or give up" and that gamers only like the service because "the offer is too good to be true." He also wrote that these same players will turn on the platform when "they realize the effects on the games," alluding that the Netflix-style approach allows for underwhelming titles. His remarks follow last week's major layoffs, in which Microsoft let go of over 9,000 people. Many of the impacted employees were involved with the company's gaming divisions and first-party developers. Halo Studios lost people, as did the Candy Crush maker King. Some studios were shuttered and a bunch of games were cancelled. It sucked. However, the general consensus is that Microsoft's continued investment in AI played a role in these layoffs, and not the existence of Game Pass. Colantonio says that AI's involvement "might be a BS excuse." While there's no evidence that the subscription-based catalog service contributed to the job cuts, there is some data that suggests Game Pass hurts the sales numbers of titles under its umbrella. This makes a certain amount of sense. AAA games are $70 and Game Pass is $10 to $20 per month. Anecdotally, I picked up a subscription to play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle instead of buying the game directly from Bethesda. Arkane Studios is the firm behind games like Deathloo p, Dishonored and Prey . The company's currently working on a game based on Marvel's resident vampire hunter Blade.
Black America Web
07-07-2025
- Business
- Black America Web
Microsoft Laying Off Up To 9,000 Employees, Xbox Cancels ‘Perfect Dark', Gamers React
Source: picture alliance / Getty / Microsoft / Xbox / Phil Spencer Wednesday was a rough one for Microsoft and Team Xbox. The Seattle Times reports that Microsoft is giving about 9,100, or about 4 percent, of its workforce pink slips. According to the report, the Xbox division, aka Microsoft Gaming, will be hit the hardest as a result of these layoffs, but the exact number remains unknown. In a message to the team, Xbox head Phil Spencer said to the team, 'To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness.' The sad news also means that these layoffs will impact games. According to Bloomberg , the Microsoft-owned King division, the maker of the wildly popular Candy Crush mobile game franchise, is laying off 10 percent of its employees, or approximately 200 people. Zenimax also confirmed it was laying off employees. Turn 10, the studio behind the Forza Motorsport franchise, is laying off more than 70 employees . The long-talked-about Perfect Dark game from the now-shuttered studio The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics, along with Everwild , has been canceled. Perfect Dark was just revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase in 2024, so that means there's a possibility that more games shown during that event could be put on ice by Microsoft. This latest round of layoffs follows Microsoft's layoffs of more than 6,000 employees less than two months ago, which were subsequently supplemented by an additional 305 reductions in early June. Phil Spencer's entire memo to the team, speaking about the recent round of layoffs, reads: Today we are sharing decisions that will impact colleagues across our organization. To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness. Out of respect for those impacted today, the specifics of today's notifications and any organizational shifts will be shared by your team leaders in the coming days. I recognize that these changes come at a time when we have more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before. Our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger. The success we're seeing currently is based on tough decisions we've made previously. We must make choices now for continued success in future years and a key part of that strategy is the discipline to prioritize the strongest opportunities. We will protect what is thriving and concentrate effort on areas with the greatest potential, while delivering on the expectations the company has for our business. This focused approach means we can deliver exceptional games and experiences for players for generations to come. Prioritizing our opportunities is essential, but that does not lessen the significance of this moment. Simply put, we would not be where we are today without the time, energy, and creativity of those whose roles are impacted. These decisions are not a reflection of the talent, creativity, and dedication of the people involved. Our momentum is not accidental—it is the result of years of dedicated effort from our teams. HR is working directly with impacted employees to provide severance plan benefits (aligned with local laws), including pay, healthcare coverage, and job placement resources to support their transition. Employees whose roles were eliminated are encouraged to explore open positions across Microsoft Gaming, where their applications will be given priority review. Thank you to everyone who has shaped our culture, our products, and our community. We will move forward with deep appreciation and respect for all who have contributed to this journey. Phil You can see reactions to the announcement of the unfortunate layoffs in the gallery below, spoiler alert, Phil Spencer might want to stay off social media for a while. Microsoft Laying Off Up To 9,000 Employees, Xbox Cancels 'Perfect Dark', Gamers React was originally published on
Canada News.Net
05-07-2025
- Business
- Canada News.Net
Microsoft lays off 4 percent amid AI push, joins wider tech cutbacks
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation AI capabilities begins to reshape workforces across the industry. The company said this week it will lay off nearly 4 percent of its global workforce—roughly 9,000 jobs—as it looks to streamline operations and control costs. With around 228,000 employees as of June 2024, Microsoft had already trimmed headcount in May, affecting about 6,000 workers. Bloomberg News reported last month that the company was planning additional cuts, particularly in sales. The layoffs come as Microsoft commits to massive investments in AI. The company has pledged US$80 billion in capital spending for fiscal 2025, much of it earmarked for building and scaling AI infrastructure. But these investments have begun to weigh on profitability—its June quarter cloud margins are expected to shrink compared to last year. To offset these pressures, Microsoft said it would "reduce organizational layers with fewer managers" and streamline its products, procedures, and roles. The Seattle Times was the first to report the layoffs. Separately, Bloomberg News reported that Microsoft's King division, based in Barcelona and known for developing the Candy Crush video game, is also cutting about 10 percent of its staff, or around 200 employees. Microsoft confirmed to Reuters that the gaming division had been affected by the layoffs, though it clarified that the job cuts do not impact the majority of the unit. Other major tech companies making aggressive AI bets have also implemented job cuts. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said earlier this year it would reduce about 5 percent of its "lowest performers." Alphabet's Google has laid off hundreds of workers in recent months, and Amazon has trimmed roles across several business lines, including its books division, devices and services, and communications teams. Across Corporate America, a combination of economic uncertainty and rising costs has prompted companies to restructure, streamline, and prepare for further financial pressure. Microsoft's latest move underscores how even the most profitable players are making hard choices to sustain their AI ambitions.
