Gaming News - Page 1

Gearbox's Randy Pitchford pretty much confirms what we already knew: Borderlands 4 is in development.

Gearbox is currently ramping up its development teams for the next big Borderlands game--in fact, the company is hiring 53 people into its ranks. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said on Twitter that the Frisco-based studio is "working on the big one," which pretty much squashes any doubt on the next project.

"We are definitely working on some amazing stuff that, I hope, will surprise and delight you. Plug: if anyone out there has Skills-To-Pay-Bills and wants to get in on some Borderlands action, we're working on the big one :)," Pitchford said.

Activision expects 2021 to be its best year ever with $8.37 billion in net revenues. 2022 could be even better.

Activision teases a significant "step change" for financial growth in 2022 that could see multiple high-profile games launching during the year. In the company's recent Q1 2021 earnings call, Activision execs lay out a significant pipeline for 2022 and beyond. Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 are listed for projects in this timeline, and although no release windows were revealed, Activision says it expects a substantial earnings change in 2022. This could indicate that both of these games could release in 2022 alongside a mainline Call of Duty release.

"We are making great progress on our pipeline which includes key content that we expect to deliver another step change in financial performance in 2022 as well as unannounced initiatives that we expect to drive longer-term growth for the company," said Activision-Blizzard's new Chief Financial Officer Armin Zerza.

The new Battlefield is so close to being official revealed -- at least with its first teaser trailer, any moment now. The hype is pretty real, with industry insider Tom Henderson ramping up the hype engines to 11 with a flurry of tweets.

The first tweet from Henderson is a track by 2EWI feat. Ali Christenhusz called Run Baby Run, which is funny because I've had that track in my "Best Playlist Ever" on Spotify for quite a while now, just above the Battlefield theme music that I still to this day love. Listen to the track because it's pretty kick ass -- Henderson said "this is it", this is the Battlefield "reveal tune".

The next tweet is from Back to the Future, where at the start of the first movie when Marty tweaks the OVERDRIVE dial right up to and past 100.

Nintendo's FY2021 has broken records for profits, operating income, hardware and software sales thanks to astronomical overperformance of its Switch platform.

Nintendo just enjoyed its best yearly earnings since its platform boom back in 2009. The company's FY2021 results saw a whopping $16 billion in net sales revenues, second only to FY2009's DS and Wii dream-team earnings. FY2021 broke new ground for operating profit with over $6 billion (+81%) earned, and net profits that hit a new all-time high of $4.53 billion (+85%).

The results were driven by hardware and software sales surges during one of the most unprecedented demand periods in the last decade. Consumers turned towards gaming as they sheltered at home against the coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people wanted to buy Switch hardware and demand led to massive stock restrictions. As a result, hardware consistently rose to record highs every quarter throughout FY2021, eventually leading to over 28 million Switch sales. Software also saw a massive surge both in yearly and quarter-over-quarter sales; Nintendo moved over 230 million games across the Switch platform and made a huge $3.2 billion from digital sales.

Nintendo's digital earnings surge thanks to COVID-19 quarantines and record-breaking game sales across its Switch platform.

Digital gaming has surged as worldwide countries sheltered in place against the coronavirus pandemic. Nintendo in particular saw a boom in digital games earnings; Nintendo generated a whopping $3.2 billion from digital game sales, subscriptions, DLC, and microtransactions on the eShop in FY2021, up nearly 70% from last year.

Nintendo sold 230.88 million Switch games in FY2021, a new yearly record with every quarter consecutively setting new all-time highs. 42.8% of total game sales were digital, or 98.81 million, a new high point. Nintendo says that nearly 80% of game sales were first-party titles, or roughly 183 million games.

Xbox consoles aren't profitable, but Nintendo Switch consoles sure are.

Yesterday, Microsoft exec Lori Wright confirmed no Xbox console has ever been sold at a profit (Xbox is however about to make more money than it ever has before). The opposite couldn't be more true for the Nintendo Switch, which was manufactured to be profitable right at launch. Nintendo's recent FY2021 results illustrate this point quite clearly.

While Sony and Microsoft sell consoles at a loss and rely on game sales, monetization, and services to turn a profit, Nintendo designed the Switch so it made a profit at the beginning of its lifespan. Every year Nintendo makes profits from Switch hardware, and in FY2021 alone, the company generated a whopping $8.2 billion from hardware sales. Hardware made up over half (57.2%) of its total gaming earnings (over $16 billion), the company said in a recent earnings report.

The Nintendo Switch shows no signs of stopping. The console just hit 84.59 million units sold and beat the Game Boy Advance, making it the fourth best-selling Nintendo product of all time. Software is likewise smashing records, and now Nintendo has an assortment of mega-hits on the Switch.

The Switch platform is skyrocketing right now. Nintendo made more than $16 billion from games in FY2021, and 57% of that, or roughly $8.2 billion, was from hardware alone. Nintendo sold a massive 230 million games throughout the year, pushing its top 10 best-sellers to new heights.

The Switch currently has 10 first-party games that have sold over 10 million copies each. Animal Crossing New Horizons has finally slowed down its monstrous sales pace (it was previously selling 1 million copies every week for quite some time) and Mario Party saw a particularly nice uplift throughout FY2021.

The Nintendo Switch just beat the Game Boy Advance in sales. It's next target? The mighty Wii.

Nintendo just posted up its Fiscal Year 2021 results to much fanfare. We'll be going over the exact details of the numbers across a few articles, but first let's take a look at Switch sales growth. As of March 31, 2021, the Nintendo Switch has sold 84.59 million units cumulatively over its lifetime (our numbers below are at 84.62 million based on rounded figures from Nintendo). The handheld-console Switch family now outranks the Game Boy Advance (81.51 million) and has become Nintendo's fourth best-selling platform of all time in hardware sales.

On a quarter-by-quarter basis, the Switch has consistently hit record sales performance. Fiscal Year 2021 was the best period in the system's history with 28.84 million sales globally (+37% year-over-year). Each quarter in FY21 consistently set a new record high for sales thanks to the tag-team Switch Lite and base Switch duo working together during a period of unusual demand.

Sony Bend is currently ramping up its dev teams for its next big AAA game, but it won't be Days Gone 2.

Sony's Bend, Oregon-based game studio is hiring 11 people to help make its new game. According to the job listings, which range from art and animation to direction and programming, the project is AAA in scope and is a next-gen PlayStation 5 exclusive.

The listings don't paint a clear picture of what's next for Sony Bend Studio, but past reports from Bloomberg say the team is working on a new original franchise.

Tencent may be forced to divest its ownership and investments in U.S. game companies over national security worries.

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment is currently weighing whether or not Tencent will get to keep its investment in U.S.-based game companies. The concern surrounds how Tencent collects, handles, and stores the personal information of millions of players from U.S. firms like League of Legends developer Riot Games and Epic Games. Together, both Epic and Riot generate billions every year from in-game transactions and game sales on the Epic Games Store.

Sources tell Reuters that the Chinese games titan Tencent is currently negotiating with the inter-agency in the hopes it can keep its stakes in U.S. games companies like Riot Games (100% ownership), Epic Games (40% ownership), and Activision-Blizzard (5% minority stake).