On today’s episode of “Daily Variety” podcast, Variety’s Jennifer Maas reports on Summer Game Fest, the gaming industry’s annual product showcase. Xbox and Paramount made news with strategic shifts and an executive appointment. Overall, Maas observes the mood among insiders was better at this year’s event compared to last year, when the games sector was hit by layoffs and disappointing releases.
Listen to the full podcast here:
The big talk of the weeklong event held in downtown Los Angeles was the much-anticipated release of “Grand Theft Auto 6” in November, from Take-Two Interactive. As Maas explains, everyone else in the gaming business is steering clear of November for release dates of new titles.
“Xbox in general made a big splash this week. It was actually first time Asha Sharma as CEO was overseeing Xbox showcase. She was there with [Xbox executive] Matt Booty,” Maas says.
“Another big topic of conversation this week was Paramount Game Studio — Paramount launched officially its games label, which takes together Skydance’s existing game studios and Paramount’s licensing [activity]. Paramount did not have a game studio. Paramount was as largely consisted of licensing out its stuff, and it was built under consumer products. So now it has announced Paramount Game Studio — and they did it Friday morning in Variety. And then that evening during the big kickoff presentation of Summer Game Fest, they gave you a trailer for their first title, ‘The Last Ronin.’ It’s a deep cut ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ comic title — and it’s going to be huge with the gaming community,” Maas predicts.
(Pictured: Billy the Puppet hits the stage at Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles on June 5.)
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