Unity is buying Peter Jackson’s visual effects company for $1.6B

Unity has announced that it’s entered a definitive agreement to acquire Peter Jackson’s visual effects company Weta Digital for $1.6 billion.

Weta Digital has worked on hit films including Lord of the Rings, Avatar, Wonder Woman, and Black Widow. Unity says its acquisition will “democratise” Weta’s powerful tools to make them available for more creators.

“Weta Digital’s pipeline represents the most complete toolchain for 3D creation, simulation, and...

10 November 2021 | Development Tools

Game developers can have the accessibility of their titles checked by Xbox

Microsoft is launching a new initiative which enables game developers to send their PC and Xbox titles in to be analysed by accessibility experts.

“Where issues are found, they are noted with reproduction steps, screenshots, and other information to help the developer understand what aspect of a given experience may be challenging for certain gamers with disabilities,” explained Brannon Zahand, senior program manager of gaming accessibility at Xbox.

Xbox has been on...

18 February 2021 | Gaming

Switch developers are reportedly being told to prepare for 4K

A report suggests Nintendo is telling some developers to prepare their Switch games for 4K.

Rumours of a 4K-supporting "Switch Pro" have circulated almost since the original console launched.

Nintendo has always prioritised innovation over the most powerful specs like PlayStation and Xbox. However, the Switch launched notably underpowered—even for 2017 standards.

The Switch's display is just a poor quality 720p LCD when 1080p smartphones have been available...

9 September 2020 | Gaming

Microsoft launches Xbox Academy to inspire the next-gen of game developers

The next generation of gaming is coming, and the Xbox team is doing its part to inspire new talent.

Xbox Academy will help to teach participants about the basics of game design and development, in addition to using popular tools such as Unity.

Gaming was valued at $151.55 billion globally in 2019 and is expected to reach a value of $256.97 billion by 2025. Just this week, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt called gaming "the future of storytelling" (while eating an extra spicy...

7 September 2020 | Development Tools

GDC: Game developers are working longer, delaying releases due to COVID-19

The first State of the Industry report from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) has been released since COVID-19 turned all of our lives upside down.

GDC’s latest report is aptly called the ‘Work From Home Edition’ and highlights how game developers have been forced to adapt in these difficult circumstances.

As with many jobs, a lot of software development was already shifting to being done remotely – it just took a pandemic to speed up the transition. Of the...

17 July 2020 | Gaming