Gaming News - Page 1

PlayStation's live service game won't have a battle pass, developer Firewalk Studios has confirmed.

Sony has a unique game plan with its live service ambitions: Instead of going free-to-play, the PlayStation-maker wants to merge the worlds of premium and GaaS in one package. The company's next live game, Concord, will be sold at a premium $40 and will not rely on a battle pass to secure post-release monetization.

"You own Concord, Concord doesn't own you," said gameplay animation director Mark DeRidder. SIE and Firewalk are taking a similar approach as Helldivers II, which was also sold for $40 and includes a lot of free updates and content. Concord will likewise get a host of free updates that include new maps and characters. But unlike Helldivers II, Concord won't rely on the battle pass structure.

Rest easy: GTA 6 won't be delayed because of the recent game actors' strike, a spokesperson has confirmed to Kotaku.

Last night, the SAG-AFTRA union advised all game actors to go on strike due to concerns with AI. Unionized performers across all disciplines--motion capture, stunt people, and voice-over artists--are now on strike until proper resolutions can be made with billion-dollar publishers like Electronic Arts, Epic Games, and Take-Two Interactive. This will have an immediate effect on in-production games and could lead to heavy delays at a time when the industry is already struggling.

Luckily, Grand Theft Auto 6 is not among the impacted projects. That's despite Take-Two, the parent company of GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games, being involved in the ongoing negotiations. "I can confirm GTA VI is exempt," Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson representing the game producers, told Kotaku.

Another place to play Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? Skyrim has made its way to another platform with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (and the Special Edition of the game), now playable on NVIDIA's cloud gaming GeForce NOW service. It joins the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Alexa as the latest digital location where you can fire up the iconic RPG.

NVIDIA notes that GeForce NOW Ultimate members can stream and experience Skyrim at up to 4K and 120 frames per second, running on a GeForce RTX 4080-powered rig in the cloud. For those looking toward cloud gaming who haven't signed up for GeForce NOW, you can save 50% off Ultimate and Priority subscriptions as part of the GeForce NOW Summer Sale.

Seven more games, including a few notable new releases, have been added to GeForce NOW this week, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Interestingly, GeForce NOW subscribers can stream Skyrim via Steam and Xbox (PC Game Pass).

Fallout: London, the ambitious and impressive-looking DLC-sized mod from Team FOLON, is finally available and free for all who own Fallout 4 with all of its DLC or the Game of the Year Edition on GOG or Steam. Due to the size of the mod (it weighs in at a hefty 33.8 GB) and is a brand-new game set in the Fallout universe, it's being distributed via GOG. You can check out the official store page for it here.

The size is one reason it's currently PC-only and unavailable for consoles. Another (and why the release was delayed) is that it requires you to downgrade Fallout 4 to the pre-Next-Gen version of the game. However, the development team is open to working with Bethesda and Xbox to make it available as a standalone release on Xbox consoles.

As the name suggests, Fallout: London takes place in a post-apocalyptic London, taking the series from its American-based setting to the wider world for the first time. With this, there are new weapons, factions, stories, London-centric items, art, and futuristic oddities to experience. Instead of the Pip-Boy, there's the Atta-Boy, alongside clothing, items, collectibles, architecture, foliage, and NPCs to suit the London setting.

Monopoly Go! remains one of the best-earning mobile games available today with over $3 billion revenues since release, Hasbro today announced.

Hasbro and Scopely are making tons of cash from Monopoly Go!, the free-to-play sensation that has quickly become one of the quickest-earning new mobile games. In a recent Q2 earnings report, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said that Monopoly Go! has made in excess of $3 billion in total in lifetime revenues, up an incredible $1 billion since last quarter.

In just 14 months, this single mobile game has made nearly half as much money as Electronic Arts' entire business throughout FY24 ($7.1 billion).

The majority of developers at key Bethesda Game Studios have voted to unionize, becoming the first "wall-to-wall" union under Microsoft.

Bethesda's core game development studios have unionized under the Communication Workers of America (CWA), including BGS' headquarters in Rockville, Maryland alongside its satellite studios in Austin and Dallas. The company's Montreal-based studio also seeking unionization at the CWA's Canadian branch.

This marks a historic occasion as Bethesda was the initial group to form a solidified union under Microsoft, with the union encompassing all disciplines at the billion-dollar games group. Combined with the recently-formed union at Blizzard, the CWA now represents over 1,750 Microsoft game workers.

In the vast and immersive world of gaming, the allure of experiencing your favorite games in a real-world setting is an enticing prospect. Gamers are not just confined to their consoles and PCs; many seek out the ultimate gaming experiences in vibrant cities around the globe. These destinations offer unique cultural experiences, state-of-the-art gaming centers, and events that bring virtual adventures to life. If you're looking to level up your gaming journey, here are the top gaming destinations you should consider.

Gaming transcends mere entertainment; it's a form of art, a competitive sport, and a way to connect with people worldwide. The thrill of stepping into different worlds, mastering complex challenges, and competing with others is a universal experience. This passion for gaming is mirrored in various cities that have embraced the gaming culture, offering everything from massive eSports arenas to themed cafes and gaming conventions.

Exploring these cities not only enriches your gaming experience but also allows you to delve into the local gaming culture, meet like-minded enthusiasts, and participate in events that can only be experienced in those locales. Let's take a tour of some of the top gaming hotspots around the world.

Members of SAG-AFTRA's video games branch are advised to strike as negotiations for AI protections hit a wall.

Video game voice and motion-capture actors represented by SAG-AFTRA are called upon to strike, a new announcement has confirmed. The strike comes after 1 1/2 years of negotiations with billion-dollar publishers like Activision and Electronic Arts for guaranteed protections against AI in their contract policies--e.g. how voice and body image captures are used in proprietary AI technologies. The strike will start on July 26 at 12:01am.

"Eighteen months of negotiations have shown us that our employers are not interested in fair, reasonable A.I. protections, but rather flagrant exploitation," Interactive Media Agreement Negotiating Committee Chair Sarah Elmaleh said in the press release.

A full year after Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard for $70 billion, and months after Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers across all studios, a core group of Blizzard developers has voted to unionize in an effort to push back against the volatile video games market.

After years of breakout revenues and big spending, the global interactive entertainment industry is currently contracting and pulling back into itself. The goal is simple: Publishers want to reduce costs amid the uncertain economic climate that has driven up basic costs of living for their workers. This has led to mass layoffs across the industry, with tens of thousands of jobs and positions being eliminated.

Amid the tumult, some of the biggest games teams are unionizing in a bid to help bring more stability and bargaining power to the creatives of the $180 billion games market. Yesterday, the Communication Workers of America (CWA) announced that Blizzard's World of Warcraft team has unionized, with over 500 developers voting to form the World of Warcraft Game Makers Guild - CWA Union (WoWGG-CWA) union.

Netflix is working on dozens of new games, but a good portion of them will be "interactive" experiences like Black Mirror's Bandersnatch and Bear Grylls' You vs Wild.

In a bid to engage its core subscribers, Netflix has expanded into gaming, going so far as to acquire whole game studios and develop first-party titles for its service. Right now the gaming initiative is mostly limited to mobile devices, with Netflix even securing the immensely popular Grand Theft Auto franchise for release onto mobile, but the company has developed what it calls "interactive narrative experiences" that are playable on TVs--these vary from basic trivia games to choose-your-own-adventure scripted content.

Now the company has given a quick update on where its gaming plans currently stand. Netflix is making/securing over 80 games right now, but from the sound of it, the bulk of these titles should be the aforementioned interactive experiences that tie viewers to their favorite Netflix IPs.