Gaming News - Page 144

EA has announced a partnership with Nike Virtual Studios to bring .Swoosh "virtual creations" to future EA Sports games. Now the publisher needs to clarify exactly what is happening before the announcement turns into a full-blown controversy.

Note: Most of this article is speculation based on limited information presented by Nike and Electronic Arts. The actual plan for Nike .Swoosh integration may be different than what is presented here. Speculation is required due to the limited amount of information made available by both companies.

It appears that Electronic Arts will tie its billion-dollar EA Sports brand to a new iteration of the NFT market in some form. Today, EA and Nike announced a partnership to bring .Swoosh digital collectibles into new EA Sports games. So...what are .Swoosh "virtual collectibles?" Most people think these are NFTs, but they resemble a kind of game-less lootbox that you buy with real money instead of cryptocurrency.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected to make $1 billion at launch, and is expected to sell at least 25 million copies upon release.

GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated games of the modern era, and Take-Two Interactive has telegraphed a potential Holiday 2024 or early 2025 launch for the crime sim. According to a recent newsletter from games industry expert Joost van Dreunen, initial forecasts for Grand Theft Auto 6 sales are around 25 million.

"Assuming a 2025 launch window, which is optimistic given the publisher's propensity for delays, early estimates expect the new title to sell 25 million units," van Dreunen writes.

Capcom's latest public survey saves its best question for the very end: What Resident Evil game do you want remade?

Capcom is on fire right now. The company just recorded its 7th straight consecutive year of operating profit growth and managed to sell 41.7 million games in FY22. Resident Evil 4 is performing strongly with over 4 million units sold worldwide, continuing the long-running success of Capcom's new remake lineup.

Now that RE4 Remake has been delivered, Capcom wants to know where it should go next, and is directly asking fans what Resident Evil games they'd like to see get the remake treatment. There isn't a selection to choose from--Capcom doesn't want to play its hand too early--and fans can freely submit whatever title they want. Do you want to see Code Veronica next? Maybe Resident Evil 5 or 6 as the next remake? Now's your chance to make your voice heard.

Redfall's controversial reception could have been even worse if the game launched with its intended storefront.

A new report from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has illuminated some of the major problems that Arkane faced with Redfall, its latest vampire-themed looter-shooter. The game's trouble story stems from deep alignment and scope issues from the get-go, with many of the original Prey development team leaving en masse as the game suffered an identity crisis that tore Redfall between a singleplayer-driven experience and an online multiplayer shooter.

General games-as-a-service inexperience exacerbated these issues, with Arkane facing the infinite complexities of maintaining a live game both operationally and mechanically. Redfall is something that Arkane's management did want to make, however PR secrecy led to significant short-staffing for a studio that was simply already in over its head when it comes to live service titles.

The AI gold rush presents interesting opportunities to disrupt key markets and streamline operations with greater levels of automation. There's been lots of talk and excitement about how AI could help gaming.

The prospect of creating a kind of AI that can sustainably write, fabricate, and maintain the infinitely-complex machine that is games development is an appealing pipe dream--but developers, CEOs, and publishers are quick to shake off this fantasy.

Although AI will likely help the games industry by reducing crunch and opening the doorways to more productivity and complexity of games, the days of AI replacing actual humans in this field are a long ways away--if it happens at all. There's just some things you can't fake.

A new Bloomberg report confirms what gamers have long thought to be true: ZeniMax Media insisted that its studios add microtransactions to new games.

ZeniMax Media has some of the best-selling franchises on the planet. Bethesda's beloved series are known far and wide; from The Elder Scrolls and Fallout to id Software's legendary Doom, these games are powerhouse singleplayer experiences that sell tens of millions of copies.

Singleplayer gaming saw disruption, though. The emerging games-as-a-service industry model had triggered a paradigm shift in the industry, and publishers could make hundreds of millions--or even billions--of dollars from microtransactions and seasonal live service content. ZeniMax broke into this market with The Elder Scrolls Online in 2014, and since then, we've seen multiple franchises pivot towards live services, including the controversial Fallout 76, the multiplayer-driven Wolfenstein Youngblood, and even Doom Eternal. Now the trend continues with Redfall, which has been regarded by critics as one of the worst games of 2023.

Analysts speculate that Comcast's next big investment strategy could target the $200 billion video games market.

A new Bloomberg feature outlines an interesting possibility: What if Comcast got into gaming? After all, there were reports that Comcast would have spun off NBC Universal and merged with EA to create a new multimedia group. Stranger things have happened--even Netflix is getting into gaming and is starting to ramp up big AAA studios to help fill out its catalog.

Analysts and experts have floated the idea of Comcast entering the games market in some capacity, possibly in the form of a major buyout acquisition, or even purchasing licenses to characters and franchises from major game companies to use in films and TV shows to bolster its streaming and cable empire. Comcast's aspirations are believed to target the larger entertainment umbrella--rather than focusing exclusively on gaming, Comcast would likely tap these gaming franchises (like, say, Grand Theft Auto) in transmedia efforts and bring them to the big screen.

U.S. consumers spent more money on video game purchases, subscriptions, and microtransactions than Chinese consumers throughout 2022, market research data from Newzoo indicates.

According to a new report from Newzoo, the United States was the leading region for worldwide game spending in 2022. Newzoo estimates that the total global video games market generated $182.9 billion throughout 2022, which is slightly below the firm's previous $184 billion estimate.

The United States actually led regional spending in 2022, beating China by some $2.4 billion. Consumers in the U.S. spent $46.4 billion on games throughout the year, whereas Chinese gamers spent $44 billion. The firm notes that 49% of total global spending came from these two countries. Europe was the second-highest region with $33.3 billion, which further illuminates the European Union's weight as it pertains to its Microsoft-Activision merger decision.

Microsoft President Brad Smith reiterates that the company is focused and committed on finding key solutions that address regulatory concerns in a bid to get the $68.7 billion Activision merger passed by the FTC and CMA.

The Microsoft-Activision merger has been cleared in 10 jurisdictions so far. Out of the handful of worldwide regions, the European Union's approval carries the most weight. EU regulators had identified two key areas of potential anti-competitive effects from the merger, but those worries were satisfied when Microsoft agreed to make certain adjustments in its post-merger business plan.

This shows that Microsoft is willing to work with regulators to find a solution to get the deal passed. Microsoft clearly wants Activision Blizzard King's mighty billion-dollar empire to supplement the Xbox brand and its grand, but unclear, plans at creating a universal video game platform that connects and sells games on mobile, PC, and console.

Activision-Blizzard was ready to buy Time Warner and adapt its wealth of intellectual properties in a grand transmedia strategy, company CEO tells Variety.

At one time, Activision-Blizzard CEO and board of directors had a monumental vision that would have utterly transformed its business into an entertainment empire. That's not to say Activision isn't already an empire--eight separate billion-dollar franchises, including the $31 billion Call of Duty series, beg to differ.

The plans went beyond games, though. Activision wanted to do something more along the lines of the cross-adaptation strategies that Sony is employing between its PlayStation Studios and PlayStation Pictures units, complete with Marvel's Spider-Man licensing thrown in. Activision-Blizzard was ready to buy Time Warner if the $85 billion AT&T deal offer fell through, with the main goal of massive IP expansion.