Gaming News - Page 86

Sony's upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console has been teased in a recent video and tweet by RedGamingTech, and it's teasing a fairly beefed-up PS5 Pro that would offer some decent performance bumps to both the CPU and GPU inside of the console.

According to the rumor, the upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console would maintain its 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2-based CPU but bring the clock speeds up a little over the APU inside of the PlayStation 5, which is CPU clocks at up to 3.5GHz, up and into the low 4GHz range. Not bad.

The current PlayStation 5 console has an RDNA 2-based GPU with 36 CUs at up to 2.23GHz, while RedGamingTech is teasing a heavily beefed-up RDNA 3 hybrid GPU with 60 CUs at between 2.5GHz to 2.8GHz.

Netflix is interested in securing the Grand Theft Auto license and releasing a new GTA game for Netflix subscribers, but the billion-dollar streamer may have a difficult time convincing Take-Two Interactive to bite.

Despite the rising costs of games development and fierce competition, Netflix is committed to living out its video game ambitions. Netflix has started to add mobile games to its service as a free bonus for subscribers, and has even purchased game development studios to help fuel new content.

Now it looks like Netflix is doubling-down on its gaming plans. Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that Netflix is looking to release a number of new games based on franchises and properties included in its catalog, with discussions circling around game adaptations of Black Mirror, and new games based on Addams family spin-off Wednesday and Squid Game are being made. But Netflix wants to make a big splash and is seeking some of the biggest IPs to make it happen, including the mega-selling Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Epic has kicked off a new scheme whereby game developers are having a huge carrot dangled in front of them in order to encourage them to bring older titles to the Epic Games Store.

It's called 'Now On Epic' and is described as a back catalog incentive program. The incentive is that the developer keeps all revenue made from any eligible previously released game, with Epic taking no cut, for the first six months of sales on the store.

After that, the contract reverts to the normal deal whereby Epic takes a 12% slice of the pie (with the dev getting 88%).

Pete Hines is leaving Bethesda after 24 years of gaming.

There's few public faces in gaming that are more influential than Pete Hines. Known affectionately as Uncle Pete, Hines has been a pivotal figurehead for the games industry. Throughout the decades we have seen Uncle Pete take the stage at E3 and beyond, offering quips and showcasing some of the most influential games of our era.

Now just weeks after Starfield's launch, Hines is retiring and leaving the studio on a high note. Across his tenure at Bethesda, Pete Hines has influenced so many facets of the company's releases--he is credited on 89 games, and even went so far as to edit the guidebook for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (which happens to be my favorite guide of all time).

With the release of Coutner-Strike 2, Valve has officially closed the door on CS:GO, with the new version of the game bringing a much-needed visual and server-side overhaul to one of the most popular games currently out there.

Intel Extreme Masters Sydney 2023 kicks off this week, with the finals set to take place this weekend - where the top six teams (including Aussie locals Grayhound.Rivalry and VERTEX Esports Club) will battle it out for their share of the USD 250,000 prize pool. The winning team will also have the honor of being the Counter-Strike 2 champions in addition to getting one step closer to Intel Grand Slam V.

The competition is underway, and you can watch all the action on the ESL Counter-Strike YouTube and Twitch channels.

Although the Microsoft-Activision merger has been greenlit by European and UK regulators, and despite the fact that Microsoft has already welcomed Activision into its business, the Federal Trade Commission is still committed to challenging the business combination.

The FTC may have lost its preliminary injunction trial, but the agency shows no signs in giving up on its quest to disrupt the Microsoft-Activision merger. The FTC re-opened its administrative trial back in September, meaning the Microsoft-Activision merger will be scrutinized in the agency's own internal courts.

This process is overseen by an Administrative Law Judge--in this case, Judge D. Michael Chappell--who will deliver a final verdict on whether or not that Microsoft-Activision merger violates or breaks any antitrust laws. The FTC's Commissioners can, however, vote to overrule the ALJ's determination, and potentially order a divestiture to unwind the meger.

The video games industry is bigger than most people realize, commanding revenues of several hundred billion dollars.

Every quarter, video games publishers make one thing very clear: Gaming is by far the largest entertainment medium on the planet. But how big is gaming really? Concrete figures are hard to come by, and the total sum of yearly earnings can vary depending on which analyst firm is reporting figures. That being said, executive-level management at the top gaming publishers have the most up-to-date information available.

According to EA Entertainment President Laura Miele, gaming is expected to be a nearly $350 billion revenue business.

Minecraft has sold over 300 million copies worldwide across all platforms, making it the second best-selling game of all time behind Tetris.

Xbox's most-profitable and best-selling game has achieved a new milestone. We're talking about Minecraft, of course; the voxel-based mega-hit has now sold over 300 million copies on all platforms, from multiple generations of consoles across PlayStation and Xbox to PC and mobile.

"As we approach the 15th anniversary, Minecraft remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 300 million copies sold, a milestone no one could have dreamed of when we were all placing our first blocks," Mojang has announced. And yes, Minecraft will turn 15 years old next year.

343 Industries has a dedicated team working on the next Halo game's campaign, new reports indicate.

Halo gamers are holding out hope that Infinite will get some sort of new campaign DLC content, but it sounds like 343i is already laying the foundations for the next mainline Halo game. Sources have told Ains, the editor-in-chief of Seasoned Gaming, that 343 Industries has a group that's planning out the next Halo singleplayer campaign storyline.

These assertions match up with reports from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier from early 2023, which discussed how 343 Industries was hit particularly hard by the recent Microsoft layoffs. 343i had restructured its business following the departure of studio founder Bonnie Ross, with Master Chief Collection head Pierre Hintze taking over for Ross. The studio had outright eliminated some roles while also making layoffs and letting people go in the process.

The inclusion of Xbox games on NVIDIA's GeForce Now service may have affected subscription pricing.

A day before Competition and Markets Authority approved the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger, NVIDIA raised the price of its GeForce Now cloud game streaming service across Europe, Canada, and the UK. Despite the timing, the increase may be coincidental and not necessarily be associated with merger clearance. NVIDIA says that the decision was to help offset higher operational costs associated with delivering the service in those regions.

Microsoft and NVIDIA have recently started to execute their 10-year cloud deal, which brings key first-party Xbox studios titles to NVIDIA's GeForce Now on a regular cadence. The list includes both new and old Xbox games, ranging from catalog titles to Starfield, and the 10-year licensing deal was a big reason why the European Commission cleared the merger.