Gaming - Page 13

Computex 2025 has kicked off, and NVIDIA has announced an improvement to Project G-Assist that aims to improve the liveliness of thriving Discord communities.

Project G-Assist was recently released as an experimental AI assistant that's directly integrated into the NVIDIA App. The purpose of the AI assistant is to enable users to have direct control over their RTX PC via a simple, easy-to-use AI assistant that can be interacted with via text and voice prompts. Examples of how users can take advantage of G-Assist would be to tweak a game's settings to hit a specific performance target, such as 120FPS in-game. G-Assist would make the appropriate changes to the game's graphics settings so the requested performance target is met, all without user intervention.

That same level of interoperability between G-Assist and apps is now making its way to social apps such as Discord, with NVIDIA announcing new open-source plugins that cover home automation systems, such as smart lighting services, and now Discord. What will G-Assist be able to do with Discord? Users will be able to prompt G-Assist to send the last video they recorded, such as some ShadowPlay captured footage from a game, and send it straight through to the user's Discord channel.

Ubisoft has plans to supercharge three of its biggest blockbuster franchises, but the exact strategies remain under wraps.

A bit ago, Ubisoft announced a huge $1.2 billion partnership with Tencent; in exchange for a big cash influx, Tencent gets 25% stake of a new Ubisoft subsidiary. This new Ubisoft subsidiary is separate from the main Ubisoft unit and will handle all future development and production of Ubisoft's three biggest franchises: Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, and Far Cry. Now the French games-maker has shared more details about its aspirations for the future.

In the recent FY25 earnings materials, Ubisoft notes that it will "focus on building brand ecosystems capable of becoming evergreen, billion-euro franchises." What the slide didn't say is that Ubisoft wants its 3 core franchises to each eventually make 1 billion euros per year.

The previous reports were true: Assassin's Creed Shadows is indeed the second best-earning game in the franchise when it comes to launch sales.

Ubisoft recently announced its FY25 earnings results, and with it came an update on Assassin's Creed Shadows' overall performance. Based on early indicators, we already knew the game was successful, but now we have more of an idea of how Shadows weighs against other Assassin's Creed games.

According to Ubisoft, Shadows had the second-best day 1 sales revenues in the series, with only Assassin's Creed Valhalla outperforming (for reference, Valhalla went on to make over $1 billion in consumer revenues in just two years). Shadows made history for Ubisoft as the best Assassin's Creed property in day one performance on the PlayStation Store. At the time of writing, Shadows is #21 out of the top best-selling PS Store games.

Bungie has been caught in hot water after an independent artist accused the developer of stealing her work for assets within the developer's upcoming title, Marathon.

The independent artist ANTIREAL accused Bungie of directly ripping off some of their art pieces that date back to 2017, and Bungie has admitted to the theft in a recent statement where it apologized to the artist and announced an investigation has been launched into scanning the game's assets for any other instances of artistic plagiarism. Bungie blamed the theft of ANTIREAL's art on a former Bungie artist and pledged to make things right with the artist.

In a live stream on Friday, Bungie apologized for the art plagiarism and addressed some of the feedback it received following the Alpha playtest. Now, Forbes has spoken to both former and current Bungie employees and has learned several things about what is happening at the studio, such as current morale across the studio, the internal audit of the game assets, conversations about a delay, reworking of a marketing plan, and more.

NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang is here on the ground in Taipei, Taiwan for Computex 2025, with the company kicking off its opening keynote tomorrow morning at 11AM Taipei time, at the Taipei Music Center in Taipei City. You can tune into the livestream below:

The NVIDIA keynote is expected to be around 1.5 hours long and will have multiple guests, many of them from Taiwan, as the company extends its success into all things AI, GPUs, and gaming. NVIDIA started its journey into AI dominance back in 2027 with the Volta GPUs and Tensor architecture, which has become much more mainstream in the last 8 years, pushing RT into the GeForce RTX 20 series that was introduced in 2018.

Since then, NVIDIA has pumped out its Hopper and Blackwell GPU architectures, where right now it's new GB200 NVL72 AI servers are the bleeding edge of AI systems... that is, until GB300 arrives later this year under the new Blackwell Ultra AI series GPUs with new GB300-based AI servers.

The gaming monitor market was graced with QD-OLED not too long ago, but as with the majority of new technology when it's first introduced, its price point is out of reach of the general consumer. QD-OLED gaming monitors were no different, but now the technology is starting to mature prices are beginning to trickle down to the more affordable price points, meaning gamers are able to snag pretty great deals on what is easily the best pixel technology available for gaming.

But what is the peak or cream of the crop when it comes to QD-OLED panels? How far can they truly be pushed? Computex 2025 is about to kick off, and we have already gotten a peek behind the curtain at what will be showcased at the trade show, with MSI exclusively confirming to me they will be unveiling a 500Hz QD-OLED panel.

Now, MSI isn't the only monitor company to unveil a bleeding-edge display such as this, as Acer has informed me it will be matching MSI's variant with the Predator X27U F5, a 2560 x 1440 (QHD) monitor sporting a 500Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms (GtG) response time.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner and we are already hearing about the possible third-party games Nintendo's newest console will be able to support, with the latest title pegged to release on Nintendo's newest hardware now being Red Dead Redemption 2.

The news comes from GameReactor, which writes that it has heard through an unnamed source that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be released on the Nintendo Switch 2 not too long after the console is released on June 5. According to the publication, which cites a source "close to Rockstar," the critically acclaimed Wild West open-world title is slated to release on the Switch 2 "later this year". Notably, the publication writes that the same news was independently heard and reported by other publications such as Nintenduo.

GameReactor writes the release of a Switch 2 version of Red Dead Redemption 2 could be released alongside a "next-gen upgrade patch" for current-gen console hardware, which would bring the title up to speed with the performance capabilities of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S through a "next-gen upgrade patch." It should be noted that Rockstar hasn't confirmed anything regarding the Switch 2, and neither has Nintendo regarding any newly announced Rockstar title.

With less than a month until the release of Dune: Awakening, Funcom has shared fascinating statistics about player behavior during the early-May beta weekend.

In a recent blog post, the development team revealed that players explored only 25% of Hagga Basin, the game's starting survival map, throughout the weekend. WIth large expanses of desert, vehicles naturally proved essential for traversal, with an impressive 214,919 vehicles crafted.

Combat was equally significant, with close to ten million scavengers - the game's primary enemy type - eliminated during the test run. Dune: Awakening utilizes third-person action-based combat, which lends itself to a relatively accessible gameplay experience compared to tab-target based MMOs.

GameStop has confirmed that additional Switch 2 units will be available in-store and online at launch, even for customers who didn't secure a pre-order. Launch events will begin at 3 PM local time on June 4th, with pickups starting at 12 AM EST / 9 PM PST.

GameStop shared the news on X in relation to the console's midnight release, stating that "additional units will be available in-store and online at launch." The post also confirms that launch events will kick off at 3 PM local time on June 4, with actual pickups beginning at midnight on June 5.

A reputable Switch 2 tracker, Jake Randall, clarified that this means customers will be able to pay for their Switch 2 units in-store starting at 3 PM - without requiring a pre-order. Meaning, you can get there a few hours before, lock in your console, and come back to pick it up at midnight.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile is being shut down after a 14-month run. The game will be delisted from app stores on May 19th, and while servers will remain online, support for the game will be discontinued.

As detailed in a recent X post, the game's discontinuation was announced due to a failure to "meet expectations" with mobile-first players. The wind-down suggests the game underperformed against internal KPIs, particularly in relation to Activision's successful Call of Duty: Mobile, which still maintains a highly active playerbase.

Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile was developed by multiple internal Activision studios, including Solid State Studios and Beenox. The game holds a "generally favorable" 76 on Metacritic, and the game was noted to be "fast-paced and enjoyable". However, the free-to-play FPS was criticised for its connectivity issues, poor frame rates, and glitches.

The launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 is right around the corner, and ahead of the highly anticipated console's release, Nintendo has revealed which original Switch games will receive a free Switch 2 upgrade.

A big part of the Switch 2 is being able to play original Switch games on the brand new console with improved graphical fidelity and performance. But which games will be coming with this free upgrade? Nintendo has taken to its website to detail an unfortunately short list of games that will be receiving a free Switch 2 upgrade that will add new features to the title and improve graphics.

Nintendo has detailed the improvements that are ready for twelve first-party Nintendo titles. Owners of the Switch 2 will be available access these free updates on the day the Switch 2 releases, which is currently scheduled for June 5. Below you will find a full list of the title and the improvements it will receive after downloading the free Switch 2 version upgrade.

Bungie has published a response following claims that art seen in the game was stolen from an independent artist without their permission. The developer has admitted that an oversight has occurred.

Independent artist N2 took to X to share an image showcasing the stark similarities between assets within Bungie's upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon, and designs the artist posted to X in 2017. The artist showed that many of the designs Bungie's team of artists used were, in some cases, directly copied from their own work without their permission. The original designs are still available on X.

The independent artist's accusations sparked a response from Bungie, who took to X to assure the artist that an investigation was immediately initiated following the accusations. It was discovered that a former Bungie artist is responsible for the use of the plagiarized decals that ended up within Marathon.

Apple has officially denied Fortnite's return to iOS platforms, Epic today announced.

Fortnite will not be returning to the App Store. Epic had originally submitted Fortnite on May 9, and today the company confirmed Apple's decision.

"Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the US App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union. Now, sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it," the official Fortnite Twitter posted this morning.

Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of the Grand Theft Auto franchise has responded to concerns that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be delayed again, following the announcement the title's release date being moved to May 2026 due to developer Rockstar games needing more time to complete its creative vision.

GTA was initially meant to release in 2025 when it was first unveiled via its first trailer in December 2023, and as we inched closer to the release window of Fall 2025, fans and the media began to suspect that a delay could be in the works. Unfortunately for eager gamers, those suspicions proved to be true as Rockstar announced via a short statement on its website that GTA 6's release date has now moved to May 2026, specifically May 26, 2026.

Shortly after the announcement of the delay, Rockstar released the second trailer for GTA 6, showcasing much more of the title in what seems to be unprecedented levels of graphical detail. With the precedent now set for GTA 6 being delayed, many fans and publishers alike are concerned the title will be delayed again, but Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick doesn't believe that will be the case. In fact, Zelnick stated he would be very surprised if GTA 6 was delayed for a second time.

Arrowhead, the studio behind Helldivers 2, won't be working with Sony as an external publisher or partner on their next game.

With at least 12 million copies sold, Helldivers 2 has been a megaton success for Swedish indie studio Arrowhead. The game apparently has done so well that Arrowhead can now self-fund their own games and keep all development decisions in-house.

Company CEO Shams Jorjani confirmed the news on Discord, saying that the move to internal development will allow Arrowhead to "call 100% of the shots."

Sony has lost key talent at one of its more fringe-based first-party PlayStation studios.

Given Concord's exceptional failure, it's fair to say that Sony's new live service initiative hasn't gone to plan. Following Concord, the company slashed its live service games roadmap while summarily cancelling online projects and laying off workers along the way.

Now another one of Sony's first-party live game studios is seeing some changes, with Haven Studios founder Jade Raymond leaving the group that she started. Sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Raymond's exit came weeks after a playtest of Haven's live service shooter Fairgames. The studio was also reportedly concerned about Fairgames' general reception during playtesting.

Analyst firm DFC Intelligence believes that GTA 6's delay will impact growth in the console hardware market through 2025.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to be so big that it'll collectively uplift the video games market. Since it's only releasing on two consoles at launch--PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S--the game is forecasted to significantly drive up console adoption during a critical lower-than-expected point in the games industry.

Now that GTA 6 has been delayed outside of 2025 to May 2026, consoles are now expected to be relatively flat year-over-year. The "survive 'til '25" mantra has now shifted to next year, and now developers have breathing room to launch their games without the worry of GTA 6 vacuuming up all the game sales and player time.

Nintendo's FY25 results show a sharp decline in net sales while the company readies its new Switch 2 platform.

Nintendo has published its FY25 earnings that show a hefty -30% drop in overall performance. Net sales dropped by -34% year-over-year to $7.6 billion, whereas other metrics like operating profit slid by an even greater level by -52%, and total net profits dropped by nearly half to $1.795 billion. The numbers are a direct result of the Switch entering its 9th year, which has affected overall hardware and software spending. Consumers are also poised for the Switch 2's launch in June.

These results show that the Fiscal Year 2025 period (April 2024 - March 2025) had the lowest-ever net sales out of the Switch generation.

Will GTA 6 actually cost $100, or even $80? No one knows for sure, but Rockstar Games will be the ones that set the price.

$80 games are here thanks to Nintendo's new Switch 2 software MSRP, and all of gaming's biggest players are expected to follow suit with their own price hikes. As one of the hottest games in history, all eyes are on Grand Theft Auto 6's potential price tag--could it actually cost $100 at launch, like one analyst had speculated?

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked directly whether or not GTA 6 would cost $80, and predictably, Zelnick's answer was neutral. However, we did get a quick confirmation that the games released by Take-Two's operating units are set on a publisher and label level. This means that Rockstar Games would choose the price tag for GTA 6, not Take-Two.

EA expects to make more money from net bookings this fiscal year than any other period in company history.

Electronic Arts just published its FY25 results, showing a slight decline in earnings, but things look much better for this current annual period. For FY26, which runs from now until March 2026, EA expects to make up to $8 billion in net bookings, which is a significant metric that measures the overall success of EA's combined full game and live services portfolio.

The top-end $8 billion net bookings estimate will be driven by a combination of new game releases, including the next Battlefield, which is on track for a release in FY26, as well as standard annualized EA Sports games, Sims, and the new free-to-play Skate game. Interestingly enough, EA expects Apex Legends revenue to slide downward by 40% throughout the year.