Daily Briefing: Thursday 7th October

Arkane Lyon studio head departs

Romuald Capron spent almost 17 years with the Dishonoured and Deathloop developer, joining as chief operating officer and production director in January 2015. He was promoted to the role of studio head in April 2019 but stepped down last week, though the news only just became officially public. Capron's departure comes just shortly after Arkane Lyon released the critically acclaimed Deathloop.

• We don't have much in the way of reasoning for Capron's departure. In an update published to LinkedIn he said that it was a "very hard decision" to leave the studio but, ultimately, he felt "the need to try something new." Capron says he has left control of the studio with game director and co-creative director Dinga Bakaba, art director and co-creative director Sébastien Mitton, technical director Hugues Tardif, and executive producer Morgan Barbe. Of his own future, Capron says “my goal is to keep on helping video game companies, and others, to make their creative vision become a reality, since that’s what I love to do. Stay tuned."

Sony axe payment methods for PlayStation 3 and PSVita stores

Sony gave the older iterations of their digital marketplaces a bit of a last-minute reprieve earlier this year when they walked back plans to shut them down entirely, but now it looks like another step has been taken towards that eventual shutdown. Sony announced this week that they will be removing the option to use credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal as payment methods on these older consoles.

• In a new update published to the company's official Discontinued PlayStation apps, features, and services page, Sony confirm that customers will not be able to use these payment methods from 27th October this year. This goes for both buying digital content outright and adding funds to digital wallets. Players still wishing to make purchases on the PS3 or PSVita stores after the end of the month will have to first add funds via the PlayStation Store app on PS4, PS5, PC, or a mobile device. Gift cards and vouchers will remain usable of PS3 and PSVita even after the 27th.

Randy Pitchford has a new role at Gearbox

News emerged this week that Pitchford is stepping down from his duties as president of Gearbox Software to concentrate on new priorities in other areas of the company. The role of president now goes to Steve Jones, who has been with Gearbox for 22 years and served as technical director on the first two Borderlands titles. He leaves his current role as chief technology officer to take Pitchford's old one.

• With Jones now in charge of development goings-on at Gearbox, Pitchford will double down on his current duties as CEO and president of Gearbox Entertainment at large. That's not all, though, as he will also become the president of Gearbox Studios - a new media wing intended to aid the company's aspirations in the television and film space. It's maybe a bit of a weird move, but there is still a Borderlands movie in the works after all. The dev side won't be entirely rid of Pitchford, though, as he says he'll still "lend his institutional knowledge of Gearbox brands and franchises" to the creative wings of the company. Yippee.