Gaming News - Page 304

Cyberpunk 2077's controversy has significantly impacted sales to the point where other digital-only games are beating CD Projekt's latest release.

Today Blizzard confirmed that Diablo II Resurrected has sold more than 5 million copies across PC and consoles. This is a stellar debut for a AAA project, especially a remaster/re-release. The game did so well that it actually beat Cyberpunk 2077, which moved about 4.3 million sales through 2021-2022. It's worth noting that CP2077 was discounted to just $5 multiple times during this period, and D2R was a digital-only release that had no physical in-store launch.

While the figure is certainly triumphant for Blizzard and Vicarious Visions, it's also a stark reminder of how devastating controversy can be for game sales. Cyberpunk 2077 launched to extreme hype that quickly switched to controversy due to terrible performance on PS4 and Xbox One. Sony actually pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store for six months and Microsoft branded the game with a warning message on the Xbox store.

Cyberpunk 2077's first expansion won't release this year, CD Projekt RED has confirmed.

Cyberpunk 2077 is far by CD Projekt RED's fastest-selling game of all time. The sci-fi FPS launched into extreme hype and subsequent controversy with a massive 13.7 million copies sold within a month's time, and helped CD Projekt make more money than it ever has before. The trade-off was that CD Projekt essentially sold its reputation for upfront cash: The game performed so badly on PS4 and Xbox One that CDPR was vilified for months on end, with Sony even removing Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store for 6 months.

Ever since then, CDPR has been on a redemption arc and trying to make a big comeback. The recent Cyberpunk 2077 release on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S helped things along but the absence of substantial content has contributed to a dramatic drops in game sales.

Years after controversy, Sean Murray is once again hyping up his next game...which is said to be so ambitious it might be impossible.

Sean Murray has been talking up his new project for a while now. The game, which isn't No Man's Sky 2, has yet to be announced, but we first reported on it back in 2019.

Back then Murray used similar vernacular to describe the game, too: "We've got something else going on at the studio. It's exciting, and it's unfortunately going to be ambitious," said at the time.

BioWare's next Mass Effect game has entered early phases of development, studio GM Gary McKay has announced.

In a new blog update, BioWare assures fans that it's working hard on two new projects: Dragon Age 4, which is set to launch sometime in 2024 according to reports, and a new Mass Effect game that's coming way later down the line. Although in initial stages, development on Mass Effect 5 is progressing with a smaller team led by Mike Gamble.

According to the update, Mass Effect 5, which will continue the original trilogy storyline, has moved from prototyping stages to early stages of development.

CD Projekt RED confirms it has abandoned adding further multiplayer support into Cyberpunk 2077's RED Engine, and will use Unreal Engine 5 for multiplayer instead.

In a recent earnings report, CDPR says it is moving to Unreal Engine 5 for its multiplayer needs. This update may signal that Cyberpunk 2077's separate online multiplayer game has either been cancelled or is switching to UE5, which may be a painful process for developers. It could also indicate that the RED Engine has been fully optimized for CP2077's multiplayer project...which may be unlikely given the iterative nature of games development.

"Following the decision to change the underlying game engine and conclusion of a licensing and partnership agreement with Epic Games International, the Company gained access to multiplayer solutions available in Unreal Engine 4 and 5, as a result of which it abandoned further R&D work on adding multiplayer elements to REDEngine."

The Witcher 3 is a sales revenue monster and has delivered its second-best sales throughout 2021.

Today CD Projekt announced its 2021 earnings and updated a bunch of sales figures for its franchises. Cyberpunk 2077 is currently at 18 million+ and The Witcher series has sold over 65 million units to date since first launching 15 years ago.

The Witcher 3 is the overwhelming best-seller and remains one of CD Projekt's most important games of all time. The Witcher 3 has sold 40 million+ copies, accounting for over 61% of total franchise sales. The company says 2021 was the second-best year for The Witcher 3 sales since the game's launch in 2015, where it helped CDPR earn $119.5 million.

Cyberpunk 2077's lifetime sales are now at 18 million+, confirming a significant decline in game sales throughout 2021.

CD Projekt RED recently announced new Cyberpunk 2077 sales figures that fall in line with downward adjustments from analysts. The numbers show CP2077 is currently at 18 million+ sales, which means the game sold at least 4.3 million units throughout 2021. That's a 70% drop from the game's incredible 13.7 million launch sales made in December 2020.

The decline was triggered by the game's heated controversy that eventually led to CP2077 being removed from the PlayStation Store for six months due to disastrous performance on the base PlayStation 4. This significantly reduced overall sales, however CDPR has recognized most of its game unit sales from PC.

Master Chief Collection has beaten Halo Infinite's player counts for two days running.

Gamers are flocking to the old-school Halo collection as they wait for new Infinite content. Thanks to a new substantial update that added Floodfight, Halo 2 custom games to the customs browser, and new modding tools, Halo: The Master Chief Collection's playerbase has surged.

In fact, Halo MCC has had more players on Steam than Halo Infinite for 48 hours in a row. Gamers do want to play Halo, and they're jumping back into classic games to relive nostalgic multiplayer memories across the six-game collection and check out the new update.

If you've wanted the ultimate gaming bed, then Japanese gaming furniture company Bauhutte has just the thing for you with its new BGB-100FA electric bed.

This isn't Bauhutte's first gaming bed, but an evolution -- and a big one at that -- of its first gaming bed. There are motors for your legs and back, so you can have your legs elevated or sit up and work, relax, eat, or any other enjoyable in-front-of-your-PC activity.

Bauhutte also sells the BHD-1200BD Bed Desk, which you'd totally have to buy with the BGB-100FA electric bed so that you can do literally everything at your PC. The only annoying thing you'd have to do at this point is get up and go to the bathroom... maybe we can expect some -- uhhhh, bathroom capabilities -- with the next iteration of the electric gaming bed.

Prompted by a three-year investigation from government watchdog agency the Competition and Markets Authority, gaming's Big Three have all adjusted their auto-renewal policies in the United Kingdom.

At the behest of a CMA investigation started in 2019, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have changed subscription auto-renewal charging policies in the UK. Microsoft and Sony will no longer charge consumers indefinitely if they are not logging in and using associated services like Xbox Game Pass, Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Now, and PlayStation Plus.

Sony's policy sees the company contacting users and reminding them to turn off auto-billing, which will be manually turned off if users are inactive for 24 months.