Gaming News - Page 1

On the heels of reports that Microsoft is unsure whether or not launching new Call of Duty titles on Game Pass is a good idea, Xbox president Sarah Bond reiterates the company's day-one policy for the subscription service.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg Tech, Xbox president Sarah Bond brought up the day-and-date Xbox Game Pass policy as one of the touchstones of Microsoft's core gaming business. Bond says that a plethora of high-profile games are coming to Game Pass later this year. Games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Starfield's Shattered Space expansion, and new Fallout 76/Elder Scrolls Online will be among the releases, but what about Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War?

New reports say that Xbox management is conflicted on launching new Call of Duty games on the service. After all, COD titles sell many millions of copies a year--offering new COD games day one would undoubtedly affect these sales. But that seems to be waived by the Xbox president, who hints that Call of Duty 2024 could be among the titles included on Game Pass this year.

Electronic Arts is currently working on new ways to integrate ads into its games, and it's possible the ads could extend outside of sports.

EA is no stranger to advertising. The company's EA Sports label makes multi-million deals with top brands like Nike, Pepsi, and even teamed up with Uber Eats to make an FC24 tournament. Advertising is a big part of sports sims.

But what about EA's other titles? Games like Battlefield, or even Dragon Age and Mass Effect? Could advertisements show up there in some way? In a recent Q4 earnings call, EA CEO Andrew Wilson says that there are teams currently looking at ways to place more ads into games, but the extent of this remains unclear.

Xbox president Sarah Bond says 'new options' are coming to Microsoft's game streaming offerings.

Microsoft's foray into cloud gaming is far from over. The company is still gung-ho on the nascent technology and hopes to use cloud to accelerate its multi-faceted games business. In a recent interview with Bloomberg Tech's Dina Bass, Xbox president Sarah Bond says that cloud gaming is seeing tremendous growth.

This growth is likely driven by a sharp uptick in Xbox game availability on services like GeForce Now. In an effort to assuage regulatory concerns, Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement to bring Xbox and Activision games to competing cloud services like GeForce Now and Boosteroid. In return, NVIDIA would get a lower Windows license fee. The partnership has born lots of fruit; in 2022, there were exactly 0 licenses for Xbox games that could be streamed on GFN, and as of today, there are 234 Xbox games that can be streamed over GFN.

Xbox's top brass are reportedly conflicted on whether or not new Call of Duty titles should launch on Game Pass.

Something as big as Call of Duty on Game Pass could skew things quite a bit, and in ways that Microsoft can't fully predict. The megaton shooter franchise is worth over $31 billion, but all of those earnings started with one thing: Premium game sales. Including Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass will lead to fewer game sales--a replacive effect referred to as "cannibalization." Who's going to spend $70 on Call of Duty when they can play it for $17, or maybe even $25?

This is the exact reason that Activision Blizzard never included its games on Game Pass in the first place. Microsoft would have to pay quite a bit to make up for the potential impact on sales, and other publishers have reportedly referred to Game Pass as 'value destructive'. Consumers typically enter ABK's biggest games through a point of sale, especially Call of Duty.

Xbox's new mobile storefront will start on the web and "extend from there," Xbox president Sarah Bond says.

Xbox's Universal Store is starting to take shape. Microsoft plans to lay the early frameworks for its new unified digital commerce ecosystem with a so-called 'mobile store experience.' Xbox already has a game store on consoles and PC, but the mobile version won't be a dedicated shop.

Instead of a native app, Microsoft is launching its Xbox mobile store on the web. This way, Microsoft can completely circumvent paying the 30% commission fee on the Google Play and App Store. The Xbox mobile store experience is set to launch sometime in July--the same month that Microsoft will shut down the Xbox 360 store.

EA CEO Andrew Wilson said during the company's recent quarterly earnings call that the next Battlefied game will be developed by the "largest team in franchise history".

During the call, the EA CEO seemed to take on that Battlefield 2042 was a pile of junk, where he said "players have made it clear that they wanted an even deeper experience". I don't think players wanted a "deeper experience," they just wanted a great Battlefield game and to not see their franchise burning into the ground.

Wilson did say that EA is still committed to the live service models, after a survey earlier this year that pointed out that 70% of surveyed developers are worried about the sustainability of live service games. The new Battlefield game in development will have a "connected" side for single-player, but the EA CEO didn't walk us through how that would work.

Capcom's Dragon's Dogma 2 was released earlier this year. It took the publisher's impressive RE Engine (initially built for the Resident Evil franchise and games). It expanded its capabilities to fit the open-world RPG style of the Dragon's Dogma franchise. Hidden inside the engine was a full path-tracing mode that Capcom was playing around with, as seen here.

Now, you can enable full path tracing in the impressive Resident Evil 4 Remake via the same REFramework developer window while modding in DLSS 3.7 for improved upscaling and image quality. Although Resident Evil 4 is a game tailor-made for baked lighting (the time of day never changes), path tracing still makes a massive difference.

Certain night scenes and some objects look off, but several examples in the video presented by MxBenchmarkPC showcase the different path tracing, or complete ray tracing can bring to a game. Even when compared to the game's existing ray-tracing implementation.

Skyblivion is a fan remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the Skyrim engine, an ambitious overhaul on track for a 2025 release. Like the Skywind project (the Morrowing remake using the Skyrim engine), the developers behind Skyblivion have presented an update on the game and its progress, with a closer look at what to expect.

Oblivion was one of the first RPGs from modern 3D gaming to launch with a truly massive open world to explore. However, many of the environments were procedurally generated, with dungeons and other points of interest, repeating layouts, and general designs. Skyblivion is going to great lengths to maintain Oblivion's massive size and ensure that each area, location, and dungeon feels unique.

The new Skyblivion update video opens with a detailed look at the game's 'Great Forest' region to the north. With distinct foliage, animals, and more, it looks fantastic and different in a way absent from Oblivion. Also being updated are the Ayleid Ruins, which now vary wildly in look, feel, design, and purpose.

NVIDIA's latest GeForce Game Ready Driver 552.44 - WHQL adds day-one support for two highly anticipated games, Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut and Homeworld 3, both of which will launch next week.

Ghost of Tsushima is the long-awaited PC port of the PS4 open-world feudal Japan cinematic action game from PlayStation Studios and developers Sucker Punch and Nixxes. Homeworld 3 is the return of an iconic sci-fi strategy game. Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut features DLSS 3, DLAA, and NVIDIA Reflex support, while Homeworld 3 supports DLSS Super Resolution upscaling or DLSS 2.

As a highly anticipated game, Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut also supports AMD's FSR 3 and Intel's XeSS upscaling for those without RTX-powered rigs. The PC version sports new features and improved visuals, with uncapped frame rate and ultrawide display support (up to a massive 49:9).

Two of Bethesda's key studios wanted to make new games in fan-favorite franchises before they were shut down.

Days ago, Xbox shut down three Bethesda Softworks studios: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog. The decision was part of a new "reprioritization of resources" that would put Bethesda's "high-impact titles" front and center. Xbox closed down the studios and re-allocated their budgets and spending accounts for other teams and projects.

The news has caused a big rift among the Xbox faithful, but frustrations rose even more once today's news broke. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Tango Gameworks was prepping an internal pitch for Hi-Fi Rush 2 before the studio was shut down. Hi-Fi Rush is one of the most acclaimed Xbox games in recent memory--fans love it and were eager for a sequel.