Gaming News - Page 82

Payday 3's launch has been hampered by a dire matchmaking issue that prevented gamers from playing the game.

Embracer Group today published its Q2 results, showing signs of revenue growth that's being offset by higher opex (operating expenditures) and spending. Nestled in the Q2 announcement was a quick performance update on released titles, including Starbreeze's Payday 3.

According to the report, Payday 3 has missed internal expectations and is forecasted to continue delivering lower-than-expected results throughout the remainder of the year. That being said, Payday 3 is profitable, and Embracer has confirmed the game has recouped all development costs. A dollar value figure was attached to Embracer's completed and released games in Q2, which amounts to 1.120 billion SEK, or about $105 million.

EVE Online is known for its drama and controversies, and a huge one just happened involving the theft of an unthinkable amount of in-game currency.

The long-standing MMOG just witnessed the theft of several trillion ISK (Inter-Stellar Kredit) taken by a certain Jay Amazingness, a fleet commander of the 'Goonswarm' alliance.

The ISK was pilfered from the alliance itself and according to a report on Reddit (spotted by TechRadar), Jay Amazingness also destroyed 52,670 clones as an additional parting gift.

It's sales season, and with Black Friday right around the corner, Microsoft is kicking off its big Xbox sale this weekend with some pretty tasty Black Friday Deals on all things Xbox. For those looking to pick up an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console, starting November 18, you'll be able to get $50 off select models of both.

For the entry-level gamer, the Xbox Series S Starter Bundle for $249.99 USD will make for a great holiday treat as it includes three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate - which includes access to games like Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and hundreds more. For those looking for the most powerful gaming console, the $50 discount brings the price of the Xbox Series X down to $449.99 USD.

As the official Black Friday Deals from Microsoft, these deals will be available via Xbox.com and the Microsoft Store this weekend. And moving beyond the consoles, Microsoft has announced some major digital discounts on games - up to 50% off "over 1,000 console games." Going through the list, we even saw older titles discounted by up to 80%.

Sony is emphasizing quality over quantity with its new live service game initiative.

Alongside its ambitious plan to ship 25 million PlayStation 5 consoles in one year, Sony also has a grand vision to break into the live service games market. The company previously wanted to ship a whopping 12 first-party live service titles by April 2026. This plan was always incredibly zealous (and risky, for that matter), but economic trends and the realities of games development have reduced the high output of live games.

In its recent Q2'23 earnings call with investors, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hiroki Totoki confirms that half of the slate of live service games has been delayed. Sony now plans to release six of the games by FY25, and the other six are currently on the back burner with no estimated launch timing. The reason for this delay comes down to quality, and Sony believes some of the live games just don't live up to expectations.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting official support for mods, and yes, that's a bit of a surprise for a game this old.

You may recall that The Witcher 3 was released way back in 2015, and with the official mod editor due to come out in 2024, it has taken very nearly a decade to arrive. Which pushes the phrase 'better late than never' to new lengths, of course.

Anyway, regardless of the length of time it has taken to turn up, the editor will allow the modding community - which is still active - to produce some pretty in-depth scenarios, and extensive adventures, hopefully with a minimum of fuss.

Sony shipped a record-breaking 4.9 million PlayStation 5 consoles in its latest Q2 period while also delivering hardware sales revenues to match.

PlayStation 5 sales are on the rise as Sony attempts to meet its ambitious 25 million PS5 shipment target. Current data shows that Sony shipped 4.9 million PS5s in Q2, a new modern console shipment record for a non-holiday quarter. Despite these results, Sony still has to ship over 16 million PS5s in order to hit the goal line.

The new PS5 shipment record is accompanied by strong hardware revenues. In the Q2'23 period, hardware made up the lion's share of total Games & Network Services (G&NS) segment revenues. PlayStation 5 console hardware comprised 30% of total gaming division revenues, or about $1.991 billion when converted in the provided yen-to-USD exchange rates.

Sony's PlayStation 5 console nears 50 million shipments, but still hasn't overtaken the PS4 just yet.

Sony recent reported its Q2 results for the Fiscal Year 2023 period, updating investors and consumers on the current state of the business. Gaming is going strong for Sony in terms of overall earnings, with the company generating a record-breaking $6.7 billion in second-quarter revenues. A significant portion of this was made from PlayStation 5 hardware.

According to the results, Sony's Games & Network Services division sold-in 4.9 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the Q2 period (July - September 2023), a new record for second-quarter console shipments. On a launch-aligned basis, the PS4 is still beating the PS5, with 47.6 million PlayStation 4 consoles shipped in the first 12 quarters compared to the 46.6 million PlayStation 5 consoles shipped in the same period.

Starfield's beta patch that was recently brought out introducing DLSS support (among many other things) has just had some useful fixes and improvements applied.

The changes were outlined by Bethesda in release notes for the new version 1.8.84 update.

As mentioned, DLSS 3 just went live for the game, but there were some issues, notably around blurring and ghosting. (Problems are to be expected in beta testing, of course).

With the release of Starfield a few months ago and the team at Bethesda Game Studios shifting its focus to The Elder Scrolls VI, you wouldn't be alone in thinking that waiting a decade for the next mainline Fallout is going to be painful. However, with the mod-friendly Bethesda engine used to create 2015's Fallout 4, there's some good news.

Projects like Fallout: London are incredible because they look like an official Fallout 4 expansion or New Vegas-style spin-off. Developed by Team FOLON, an indie team that has been working on the ambitious mod for a few years now, Fallout: London shifts the focus to post-apocalyptic London, England, and in a new video shared by the development team, we get a good look at the game's many factions.

With factions inspired by Camelot and Arthurian legend, the punk scene, aristocracy, and 20th-century British military, it's a very different Fallout than we're used to seeing but one that still feels true to the franchise.

NVIDIA has released a new GeForce driver bringing in some important improvements for a couple of big-name games, plus a bunch of useful fixes, too.

Version 546.17 of NVIDIA's Game Ready Driver provides better results for DLSS 3 in new games that carry the frame generation tech, and that includes Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Starfield.

Other games getting DLSS 3 this week are Desynced and Remnant 2 - The Awakened King, as NVIDIA announced on X (formerly Twitter).