Gaming - Page 120

Sony's next-generation PlayStation 6 is reportedly 3 x faster than the standard PS5, it'll use less power and be cheaper than the PS5 when it launches in either late 2027 or early 2028.

In a new video from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, he reports on some of the early PS6 specs which packs AMD's next-gen semi-custom "Orion" APU. MLID says that the new Orion APU will feature 8 x Zen 6 (or later) CPU cores, between 40 and 48 RDNA 5-based Compute Units with GPU clocks over 3.0GHz, with GDDR7 memory on a 160-bit or 192-bit memory bus with 32Gbps speeds.

MLID says that the increased rasterization performance of the next-gen PS6 over the PS5 is expected to be a whopping 3x with ray tracing (RT) uplifts "expected to be higher".

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is one of the year's biggest surprises, a new turn-based RPG that blends real-time mechanics from a small studio out of France. The game has quickly become one of the most celebrated game releases of the year. Released in April, it's currently sitting on an impressive Metacritic score of 93, with a user score of 9.7, and an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' rating on Steam with over 100,000 reviews posted so far.

With stunning art direction and modern Unreal Engine 5-powered tech, it's also a looker, with fantastical and detailed environments, characters, and unique enemies. Although it's been out for a couple of months now, this week Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has added DLSS 4 With Multi Frame Generation support on PC, allowing PC gamers with GeForce RTX graphics cards to boost performance, image fidelity, and responsiveness.

And it's not the only Japanese-style RPG getting DLSS 4 support this week, as Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma now supports DLSS 4 With Frame Generation via the DLSS Override feature in the NVIDIA App. This is a game with a more traditional anime-inspired look, with real-time combat, and the life-sim-style mechanics of the Rune Factory "fantasy role-playing social simulation" series.

Steam's new video player came at a pretty high cost--Valve had to re-encode all of the game trailers that have ever been uploaded to the PC store.

Valve just surprise launched a nifty update to Steam's video player that makes it much more bandwidth-friendly, which is a big deal if you ever need to watch your data thresholds (Steam, in particular, is known for being a gargantuan data hog on mobile). The video player is also much more functional on non-desktop platforms, including the Steam Deck, devices running Steam Big Picture Mode, and mobiles like Apple's iPhone.

This endeavor took some time, though; according to Valve, the company had to tweak every single game video file uploaded to the Steam library. This amounted to 400,000 files in all, so the next time you hop on Steam and watch some footage, be aware of the effort that went into making it work.

The Metal Gear Solid franchise breaks 63 million copies sold ahead of the anticipated MGS3 remake.

Metal Gear is one of the most enduring video game franchises on the planet. According to Konami's latest company profile report, Metal Gear Solid has sold approximately 63.3 million copies across all platforms as of June 2025. Such a high volume of sales across only 11 game releases is quite a feat, especially with the last big Metal Gear game releasing 10 years ago with 2015's The Phantom Pain. The last update that we had made was 2 years ago, where MGS sales were at 60 million.

Konami is poised to release the new Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater MGS3 remake later in August, and it's possible that Delta could push total franchise sales by 1-2 million units at launch. With two Metal Gear releases in the last couple of years--The Metal Gear Solid Master Collection and the aforementioned MGS3 remake--the company seems highly invested in the series.

Xbox PC is out, Xbox on PC is in...at least that appears to be the case.

A bit ago, Microsoft quizzically changed its branding terminology for PC gaming. Reference to Windows was removed altogether; Microsoft's shiny new name for the platform was Xbox PC. This confused gamers worldwide, especially with reports that Microsoft's next Xbox will be a PC-console hybrid that runs Windows.

Now it looks like Microsoft may have changed branding once more. "Xbox PC" has become "Xbox on PC," with the new moniker showing up in promotional materials for Grounded 2 and a new Age of Mythology expansion.

Microsoft has more best-selling games on PlayStation than it does on its own Xbox platform, new data from Circana's Q2 report has revealed.

New data may indicate how Xbox users choose to spend money on the platform, at least in the United States. According to Circana's Q2 games industry report, Microsoft had more best-selling games on the rival PlayStation Store than it did on its own Xbox console platform.

The data shows that for Q2 2025, which runs from April 6 - July 5, Microsoft took up six slots on the PlayStation Store's top 10 best-sellers list in the US. Conversely, Microsoft only had four of the ten best-sellers on Xbox consoles. This trend could indicate that Xbox console gamers subscribe to Xbox Game Pass to supplement game purchases, however Oblivion's place on the Xbox charts does confirm that Xbox gamers do still choose to buy first-party games en masse.

Oblivion Remastered has reached 9 million players in little over 3 months after release.

The new Oblivion remake just unlocked another performance milestone, reaching a whopping 9 million players across consoles and PC. That's up +5 million users since April, where Xbox revealed that Oblivion Remastered had reached 4 million players just days after launch.

For reference, it took the original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion nearly 10 years to reach this many players, as the game had sold 9.5 million copies by 2015.

Battlefield 6 embraces user-generated content (UGC) with the new Portal mode, allowing gamers to create and share custom content.

Battlefield 6 is more than just a game, it's a platform, and a clear example of EA embracing what I've referred to as Games-as-a-Platform.

The platform aspect that EA refers to is the culmination of all of Battlefield 6's parts, including Portal, which might be one of the most important things for the game's long-term use. Portal is basically Battlefield's version of Halo Forge that was made specifically for customs. This time around Portal is much more robust, giving players what looks to be a powerful SDK for custom map and mode creation.

The Battlefield 6 multiplayer reveal trailer has just gone live, and more than 300,000 people were tuned into the livestream to witness the mayhem.

Battlefield Labs has officially released the multiplayer trailer, and the destruction has been dialed to the maximum for this new Battlefield. The new trailer showed quite a lot, including various weapons, vehicles, both sides of the fight (Pax Armata and NATO), and new mechanics such as being able to drag downed allies. Additionally, the trailer showcases various maps, locations, and environments.

According to Battlefield Labs, destruction is going to be more important than ever in Battlefield 6, as players will be able to use environmental destruction to their advantage to take out high-ground enemies positioned on it, destroying cover, creating cover, and more. Battlefield Labs also confirmed that classes are back: Assault, Engineer, Recon, and Support. Each of the classes will have distinct combat advantages.

The official unveiling of the Battlefield 6 multiplayer is only two hours away, and ahead of the unveiling, a portion of the trailer has leaked online, revealing that it features Limp Bizkit's song "Break Stuff".

It's just one of those days for EA, and much like everything surrounding Battlefield 6, the highly anticipated multiplayer event has leaked ahead of time. Unfortunately for hungry fans of the franchise, the leak is only the last 15 seconds of the upcoming trailer, and it doesn't show that much.

We catch glimpses of vehicles such as tanks being used to take down helicopters, first-person views of fighter jets being piloted, a soldier throwing a smoke grenade to provide cover for a downed teammate before initiating the new drag mechanic, and, of course, intense levels of environmental destruction.

Xbox Game Pass made nearly $5 billion in annual revenue in FY25, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed in a recent conference call.

Microsoft is typically coy with Game Pass numbers, but today the company released a surprising bit of info about the service. Game Pass generated nearly $5 billion in service revenues throughout FY25, company CEO Satya Nadella confirmed, but no one single game drove results. An interesting tidbit: At $5 billion annual revenue, Game Pass would have made up 21% of Xbox's total revenues ($23.455 billion).

The Microsoft CEO also said that 50 million people played Call of Duty Black Ops 6, indicating that the game significantly weighted Game Pass sign-ups. Minecraft also saw huge engagement and revenue thanks to the wildly successful Minecraft movie, and Nadella also highlighted Microsoft's broad business strategy for Xbox, confirming that over 40 games were in development.

Microsoft's games division has delivered a record-breaking $23 billion in annual revenue for the first time ever.

Xbox's full-year results are in, and they're triumphantly good: Microsoft generated $23.455 billion from gaming throughout FY25, more than it ever has before. This is a staggering milestone for the Xbox brand as it approaches PlayStation levels of annual revenue; for reference, Sony made nearly $30 billion from PlayStation last fiscal year.

Software and services led the charge, accounting for a whopping 95% of annual Xbox revenues. Hardware saw a decline by -25% year-over-year to $270 million, and as numbers-cruncher Welfare JBP notes, this year delivered the sixth lowest hardware revenues in Xbox history.

Atari has purchased Thunderful Group, an indie publisher and co-developer of games like Steamworld Dig and Planet of Lana.

Classic gaming brand Atari expands its footprint in the modern games industry with its latest acquisition, the Swedish games developer, publisher, and distributor Thunderful Group.

Atari purchased majority shares in the company for 4.5 million euros (about $5.2 million). Per the press release, Thunderful is "specialized in game development, third‑party publishing, and co-development services for PC and console platforms. Thunderful encompasses a global games publishing business, five game studios with various creative and technological expertise, and a services business. The Company owns a portfolio of over 20 intellectual properties including SteamWorld, ISLANDERS, Lost in Random, and Vampire's Fall, notably."

EA is throwing everything it has into the development of Battlefield 6, with rumors suggesting the publisher has invested as much as $400 million into the development of the title. With that kind of investment, EA is looking not just for Battlefield 6 to succeed, but to skyrocket and prosper.

While EA didn't confirm if that investment estimation is accurate, the publisher's CEO, Andrew Wilson, did confirm that more has been invested in Battlefield 6 than in any other Battlefield product in the history of the franchise. These comments from Wilson were made during a recent earnings call where he revealed that EA isn't considering Battlefield 6 to be just a product, but a platform the publisher intends to build out.

Notably, Battlefield 6 is currently being worked on by four development studios: DICE, Criterion, Motive, and Ripple Effect, all of which are working under the umbrella of Battlefield Studios in different aspects of the upcoming game. Some studios are handling rumored modes such as the free-to-play Battle Royale experience, some are teaming up to work on the single-player campaign, and others are working on unannounced features.

Nintendo has announced it will be hosting a Direct tomorrow, where it will be unveiling a bunch of new games for the Nintendo Switch 2

Nintendo has taken to its social channels to announce it will be going live tomorrow, on July 31, with a new Direct where it will unveil a selection of upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 titles. Unfortunately, if you were excited for this Direct to feature Nintendo's new selection of first-party titles for the newly released console, you will be disappointed to learn this Direct has been labelled as a "partner showcase," meaning it won't have any major first-party title reveals.

However, there is always a fool's hope that Nintendo will surprise us with something at the end of the Direct. So, what can we expect for the upcoming Direct in terms of announcements? We know that Ubisoft is working on a Switch 2 port for Assassin's Creed: Shadows and Star Wars: Outlaws. Ubisoft recently confirmed in a financial report that it was bringing Shadows over to a new platform soon. So, it's possible we will get a confirmation of that along with a release date.

Battlefield 6 has yet to receive an official price point, causing speculation that the game is going to release with the new $80 price tag recently set by Nintendo's Mario Kart World and Xbox's Outer Worlds 2, which Microsoft later backpedaled on.

The only news we have had regarding Battlefield 6 and its price has come in the form of rumors, which point to the title maintaining the typical $69.99 premium AAA standard, but now we have a comment from EA's CEO, Andrew Wilson. The CEO spoke during a recent EA earnings call, where he was asked if EA has considered increasing the price of its games from the $70 mark to $80, specifically regarding Battlefield 6. Wilson said, "We're not looking to make any changes on pricing at this stage."

Wilson added that EA "already offer a fairly broad pricing scheme across our various products," and pointed to the range of products it has under its umbrella that vary from free-to-play titles to premium and deluxe editions of titles. Ultimately, Wilson said, "no dramatic changes planned yet."

Battlefield 6 is scheduled to have its multiplayer reveal on July 31, and following that reveal Battlefield Labs has been rumored to host betas for players that obtain codes for the upcoming title. The dates for those betas have now been leaked.

A new exclusive report from Insider Gaming has revealed Battlefield Labs will be hosting two Betas for Battlefield 6: one is a closed beta for players that obtain codes from either pre-ordering the game or through the hundreds of content creators that will be streaming the game during the following dates, and the second is an open beta. The closed beta will be taking place between August 7 and 8, while the open beta will begin from August 9 to August 10, with a second open beta taking place between August 14 and 17.

The report states that pre-orders for the title are scheduled to become available during the upcoming multiplayer reveal event on July 31. As for the rumored Battle Royale mode, Insider Gaming writes it's currently unclear when it will become available or if it will even be mentioned at the upcoming event. Battlefield 6 is slated to release on October 10, 2025 on PlayStation 5 / Xbox Series S|X, and PC. The title is pegged to release at $69.99.

Capcom increases its quarterly game sales by nearly 50% year-over-year with the help of the Devil May Cry TV show on Netflix.

Capcom just reported its latest latest Q1 FY25 results, showing strong and consistent revenue and profits across multiple segments.

The increase was driven by an uptick in total game unit sales across Capcom's new releases and evergreen catalog titles. In Q1, Capcom sold 14.167 million games, an increase of 48.6% year-over-year. Interestingly enough, nearly all of Q1's game sales were from already-released catalog games; Capcom sold over 13 million catalog titles and less than 1 million new games.

Those of you keenly awaiting the two-player co-op option for Elden Ring Nightreign, which is coming in the next patch, might be disappointed to learn that this update has been delayed - albeit only by a day.

And there's a good excuse for this delay, as the decision has been made due to the tsunami warning (after the earthquake in the Pacific Ocean, which was a worrying 8.8 magnitude affair).

FromSoftware announced the postponement on X (see the above post, which was noticed by Wccftech).

Microsoft is currently dominating the top ten games on the PlayStation Store, with six out of the ten games being Microsoft-published games.

Ever since the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft has been aggressively moving toward an IP-centered strategy where it will reduce the walls of exclusivity for its titles, and begin releasing what were Xbox-exclusive games onto rival platforms, specifically PlayStation. In the past, Xbox has stated that it doesn't care what platform its games are being played on, as long as it's their games, and it appears that strategy is working.

New data from Circana's Mat Piscatella has revealed that six out of the ten best-selling games on the PlayStation Store are Microsoft games, with first and second place being taken by Forza Horizon 5 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, respectively. The sales data accounts for both physical and digital sales throughout Q2 2025. More specifically, the top five games on PlayStation 5 consist of 80% Microsoft titles, with the only title of PlayStation being MLB: The Show 25.