Gaming News - Page 1

Ubisoft has sunset Watchdogs Legion and confirms the game will no longer get new updates.

Watch Dogs Legion--which apparently started off as a new Driver game--is officially feature-complete. Ubisoft announces that the third Watchdogs game has been officially retired and will no longer receive new content updates or patches.

"TU 5.6 was our final update for Watch Dogs: Legion," Ubisoft said. Title Update 5.6 was introduced in September 2021 with a multitude of bug fixes.

Months after high prices and over-monetization that fractured the Halo community, Halo Infinite's microtransaction scheme is finally getting fixed.

Halo Infinite head of design Jerry Hook confirms the game is getting a complete monetization overhaul. Starting with season 2, players will be able to earn credits by playing the game. Season 2 is 99 days away (more than 3 months) and until then Halo Infinite will continue with its paid-only microtransaction currency. 343i has slightly adjusted prices of Halo Infinite's cosmetic microtransactions however there are still $12 packs that include nothing more than color schemes, a single visor, and a stance.

"Thanks to your continued feedback, we are happy to confirm Credits will be earnable in Season 2's Battle Pass. That means you will be able to earn Credits as part of your Halo Infinite progression. We'll have more to share on this as we get closer to Season 2," Hook said.

Some of gaming's biggest names are getting into NFTs, but not all of them have been successful.

NFTs are the latest monetization scheme that could make big waves in gaming. The market is particularly appealing for the likes of Konami and Ubisoft, who both have a wealth of characters from wholly-owned IPs to use as collectibles. Both companies have tried their hands at NFTs but only one has succeeded.

Konami's Castlevania NFTs have been quite popular, generating over $164,000 in auction on OpenSea. Ubisoft's Quartz NFTs, however, have been the opposite. The Quartz NFTs were minted as in-game cosmetics in Ghost Recon Breakpoint that could be auctioned and re-sold on platforms like Rarible and Objkt. Ubisoft Quartz NFTs have significantly higher supply than Konami's NFTs, with hundreds and even thousands of Quartz NFTs minted out versus the one-of-a-kind items minted by Konami.

The majority of surveyed video game developers are not interested in utilizing NFTs or cryptocurrencies in their video games, a new GDC report finds.

GDC's new State of the Game Industry 2022 report indicates that most participating game developers do not want to enter the play-to-earn marketplace with NFTs or cryptocurrency monetization schemes. According to the report, 70% of developers were not interested, whereas 7% were very interested and 21% were somewhat interested.

It's worth remembering that the survey sampling is not broad by any means and accounts for about 2,700 developers. This means that 1889 out of 2700 game developers had no interest in NFTs and crypto, and roughly 756 developers were highly or somewhat interested.

Diablo 2 Resurrected's new v2.4 patch is expected to change up the meta with a host of new runewords, character rebalances, and gear adjustments. A new D2R runeword has been revealed...and it's kind of odd.

A new D2R runeword has leaked. This time it's a revamped version of Plague, a classic runeword that was originally slated to release in Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction v1.15 but was withheld.

For some reason, Blizzard has changed up Plague's stats quite a bit. Plague's order has changed to Cham + Shael + Um, a hefty cost but also a new use for the under-utilized Cham rune. The new version of Plague reads like some strange experimental build that has a very specific use case. Everyone's trying to figure out why you should use Plague over something like Hoto or even a powerful melee weapon like Grief or Breath of the Dying.

Although Netflix is purchasing its own game development studios, the streamer has no intention of making all of its own games.

In a recent Q4 report, Netflix confirms our suspicions: Most of the gaming content for its service won't be developed in-house. Instead, Netflix will license its IPs out to third-party studios similar to Disney's position with Lucasfilm Games.

All of the mobile games currently on Netflix have been created by independent third-party studios. Netflix is already spending billions (its asset content account spent $17 billion in 2021) to create video content, and adding tens or even hundreds of millions for games development isn't particularly appealing. Better to license out the IP to another studio who will fund the project and collect royalties on any sales--assuming the games go to major platforms aren't exclusive to the Netflix ecosystem.

Microsoft's CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer confirms Call of Duty will not be Xbox exclusive any time soon and will still come to PlayStation systems.

Following a long day of debating on COD's exclusivity, Xbox gaming boss Phil Spencer finally delivers the verdict: Call of Duty will remain on PS4 and PS5.

"Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship," Spencer said on Twitter.

Microsoft's rich coffers are paying for its $68.7 billion Activision-Blizzard buyout, but Sony only has a fraction of that to spend on acquisitions.

Following Microsoft's huge Activision-Blizzard buyout, now is a good time to remind everyone about Sony's current trajectory. Sony's board of directors and shareholders have authorized the expenditure of only 2 trillion yen, or $18 billion USD, for strategic investments across a three year period. This is part of Sony's Fourth Mid-Range plan that lasts until FY23.

The spending plan includes buyouts and acquisitions of video game, entertainment, and software companies, as well as share buyback repurchases and capital investments in companies like Epic Games. To date, Sony has already spent an estimated $6 billion on share repurchases, leaving approximately $12 billion left for buyouts. This is a stark contrast to Microsoft's net cash offer for Activision-Blizzard that equates to nearly $69 billion.

Is Call of Duty now exclusive to Xbox? Will the franchise sill come to PlayStation? How long is Activision's marketing deal with Sony? These are major questions that will determine the future of Call of Duty, Microsoft, Activision, and Sony.

Everyone wants to know whether or not Call of Duty is coming to PlayStation consoles after Microsoft buys Activision-Blizzard. Why spend $68.7 billion to release games on a competing platform? Money, for one--Call of Duty is a thunderous success on PlayStation hardware, and Sony has shipped over 116 million PS4s to date. That kind of install base mixed with powerhouse game sales equals lots of revenue.

But there's a chance Microsoft could keep Call of Duty off of PlayStation platforms in an effort to push Game Pass subscriptions. Quality content is a compelling reason to buy a subscription. Exclusive content is a better one.

Activision-Blizzard has issued a new SEC filing that explains terms and logistics to its developers and employees.

Why is Activision selling to Microsoft in a huge $68.7 billion deal? According to a new Securities Exchange Commission document, it's a simple matter of opportunism. "This is the right transaction, with the right buyer, at the right time," Activision said in the report.

Why is Activision Blizzard entering into the transaction now?

• This is the right transaction, with the right buyer, at the right time.
• The entertainment landscape is hitting an inflection point that will benefit companies that evolve in order for them to remain relevant and competitive. Bobby and the Board of Directors unanimously agreed this is an exciting opportunity for Activision Blizzard and its shareholders.
• Together, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft will drive innovation, creativity, and advancement in the industry and create another competitive force in the metaverse.