Gaming News - Page 331

For decades SEGA's name has been above Japan's bustling arcades. Then COVID-19 disrupted the market, forcing SEGA to spin off its arcade business to avoid disastrous losses. Now SEGA's name is being removed entirely.

In 2020, SEGA sold off 85.1% of its arcade business shares to Genda Inc. A new company was born from this transaction: Genda SEGA Entertainment.

Today Genda announced that it has purchased 14.9% of SEGA's remaining shares and the company will be renamed to Genda GiGo Entertainment. SEGA's name will be removed from all arcade centers throughout Japan and be replaced with the new GiGo brand.

Call of Duty Warzone is getting a sequel that will flip the reset switch and start fresh.

Warzone 2 will essentially follow in Destiny 2's footsteps. Reports from Tom Henderson indicate that the Warzone sequel will wipe the slate clean and start fresh, complete with new content, operators, weapons, etc. Warzone 2's map is reportedly being made by Infinity Ward, and will launch alongside the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 reboot sequel in November 2022.

The biggest departure is that Warzone 2 will only connect to a single mainline game, Modern Warfare 2, when it releases in 2022. It's set to be a highly-optimized, streamlined, and next-gen connective tissue between MW2 and the games that come next.

NetherRealm has a little fun with Mortal Kombat fans' predilection of wild goose chases and suppositions.

A bit ago NetherRealm senior production manager Jonathan Andersen reportedly posted up a Mortal Kombat image on Twitter...and then promptly deleted it. At first glance everything looks normal--it's just some old legacy artwork for Injustice and some Mortal Kombat adverts. Closer inspection (look on the upper right) reveals some interestingly-named desktop icons: KI_Planning, dinosaur, and a reference to MK12.

Even closer inspection reveals a tongue-in-cheek email from Christine Letheby, NetherRealm's production manager, which mentions: "Our fans eagerly scrape the internet for any trace..."which is undoubtedly a nod to Injustice 3 and Mortal Kombat 12 theories floating around.

Yacht Club Games teases a huge announcement at their upcoming showcase, which will be streamed on G4TV's new Twitch channel.

The third Yacht Club Games Presents stream is coming back on Tuesday, February 1st at 2pm PDT on G4's Twitch channel. The devs are hyping up the show with some pretty explosive language surrounding a groundbreaking announcement. Could this be a clever pun for a new Shovel Knight game, or perhaps even a TV show based on the mega-popular indie franchise?

The stream will have "boatload of new updates, never-before-seen gameplay sneak peeks, DLC, and a groundbreaking announcement," Yacht Club says. This show will be one for the ages: "We have a bunch of cool announcements including an exciting MEGATON ANNOUNCEMENT! You do not want to miss this historic event!"

Death Stranding Director's Cut is coming to Steam and the Epic Games Store on March 30, publisher 505 Games has announced.

The definitive version of Kojima's ultra-weird journey simulator is coming to PC in March for a reduced cost. Death Stranding Director's Cut will cost $39.99 on both Steam and the Epic Games Store (with variable regional pricing). Anyone who currently owns a copy of the base game can pay $9.99 to upgrade to the Director's Cut.

"To upgrade, owners simply need to install the standard edition of the game, then purchase the DIRECTOR'S CUT through the in-game store-front at the discounted rate," a press release says.

Elder Scrolls Online's new expansion is called High Isle, and takes place in a Breton island-kingdom that was specifically created for ESO.

Today Bethesda announced ESO's full-year content roadmap for 2022, including new expansions and DLC. The 2022 theme is Legacy of the Bretons, and the new expansion (also called chapters) is High Isle, which comes jam-packed with new content including gear, zones, dungeons, and even a Gwent-like card game.

Here's a timeline:

Crytek goes on a big hiring spree as it ramps up development on Crysis 4.

Crysis 4 is officially happening. Instead of announcing the game with a splash at E3 or The Game Awards, Crytek instead used Crysis 4's announcement for recruitment. It's so early that Crytek isn't trying to build hype yet--it's trying to build a workforce. Blizzard just did the same thing with the announcement of its new fantasy IP.

Right now Crytek is hiring a ton of developers across multiple disciplines, including senior and director level roles. There's 23 job openings available at its Frankfurt, Germany studio that range from concept artists (who lay out the early visions for games) to design directors and weapon designers.

Free-to-play battle royale Hyper Scape is officially shutting down, Ubisoft Montreal today announced.

Ubisoft hit the ground running in 2020 with battle royale FPS Hyper Scape, an attempt to cash in on the billion-dollar Apex Legends and Warzone craze. Despite a fiery marketing campaign that recruited big-name streamers, the game fizzled out and lost steam over time. Now it's being shut down as Ubisoft Montreal moves to other projects.

"We have made the difficult decision to end development of Hyper Scape and shut the game down as of April 28th. We set out to create a vertical, close-quarters, and fast-paced shooter experience and we are extremely grateful to our community for joining us on our journey. We will be taking key learnings from this game into future products."

Sony's next big PlayStation console exclusive has been finalized.

Horizon Forbidden West has officially gone gold, and is now feature-complete and ready to ship. Guerrilla Games announced the news today with much fanfare, locking in the February 18, 2022 release date for Aloy's new adventure.

The sequel is one of the most ambitious games in the new PS5 generation, and Guerrilla's biggest title to date. Horizon Forbidden West introduces a significant amount of changes to gameplay, including fundamental shake-ups to verticality and exploration with free climbing and an arc glider. There's also a new outfit-based gear system that will buff skills and abilities.

AT&T's latest Q4 earnings report has no mention of video games and gives no updates on the current events at WB Games.

It's been a while since we've heard from WB Games, and parent company AT&T is no help. The company's Q4 brief didn't mention WB Games, video games, or any current game projects currently in the works. Execs mostly discussed the performance of WarnerMedia's HBO Max subscription (which has grown to 73.8 million subscribers). This isn't unusual for AT&T, who rarely mentions video games during its presentation.

The silence is made all the more loud by the looming acquisition. AT&T is about to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery in a $43 billion deal. All WarnerMedia subsidiaries including WB Games and its studios (Netherealm, Monolith, Rocksteady) will jump over to Discovery.