Gaming - Page 255

Will GTA 6 run at 60FPS or 30FPS? Digital Foundry speculates that GTA 6 will hit 30FPS on both the PS5 and the PS5 Pro, but the tech experts are careful to say they aren't totally positive what Rockstar will target.

Digital Foundry has better clarified its stance on Grand Theft Auto 6's theoretical frame rates on the PS5 and the new upgraded PS5 Pro.

A recent episode of the DF Direct Weekly podcast delves into the team's thoughts and insight on GTA 6's expected performance on the base PS5 and the Pro, explaining why 30FPS seems more likely for the crime sim.

A seismic shift just happened: NVIDIA, the powerhouse behind the most advanced GPUs, has officially acquired the Xbox brand from Microsoft. This seismic shift in the gaming industry could redefine console gaming as we know it, promising a future where graphics and AI blend seamlessly to deliver unprecedented gaming experiences.

Poised to revolutionize the market, NVIDIA's announcement has left the gaming community in awe. The company has not only promised to integrate its cutting-edge dual GPU technology recently teased with the new Blackwell B200 AI GPUs featuring a dual-chiplet design into the next-gen Xbox console but also to leverage next-generation AI and ray tracing capabilities. This bold move is seen as a direct challenge to Sony's dominance, with the upcoming PlayStation 6 console now squarely in NVIDIA's sights.

Reveling in the shockwaves of this news, enthusiasts and experts alike are speculating on the potential of NVIDIA's hardware prowess to transform the Xbox into a console unlike any other. The inclusion of dual GPUs promises a leap in visual fidelity and gaming performance, setting the stage for an epic showdown with Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro.

Ahead of the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 kicking off, the tournament organizers announced that players this year would be playing on rigs with AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPUs and GeForce RTX 4080 GPUs for "superior gaming performance." Usually, having a GeForce RTX 4080 powered rig is a big plus for competitive Counter-Strike 2, as you're looking at one of the most powerful GPUs on the market that can easily push CS2 performance into triple-digit territory.

But what happens if the GPU driver crashes during a match and your team loses a round, knocking you out of a tournament with a $1,250,000 USD prize pool? Not much, as a Virtus Pro player experienced "a technical malfunction due to an NVIDIA driver crash, resulting in a game crash" and subsequent loss during the second round of a best-of-three showdown.

Virtus Pro lost the round (strangely, there was no do-over) and the subsequent tie-break match-up. It might be a stretch to say that this single issue cost the team its chance to win part of the $1.25 million prize pool, but it shows that even the most trusted hardware and software can still fail.

Game developers are still vastly superior to the capabilities of artificial intelligence and it might be a long time before AI can close the canyon-sized gulf, CD Projekt quest designer Pawel Sasko says.

Generative AI might radically disrupt the artistic world, and has particularly dire implications for game developers. The creators of this new AI tech claim that it can empower developers, but at the same time, these technologies are indeed able to create real-time sequences that could eventually put people out of a job. Things like conversation flow and quests can be entire AI-generated.

Right now, AI tech like Convai's tech or NVIDIA's Covert Protocol demo hasn't matured enough to be entirely convincing. In other words, the artifice still has a long way to go before we think it's real on a consumer level. But what do game developers think about this kind of generative AI? You know, the people that spend years creating realistic 3D animations for billion-dollar products?

Lucrative multi-million funding deals are few and far between these day, and indie devs are reportedly having a tough time securing exclusivity contracts with the Epic Store or Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass subscription.

No one wants to fund a game right now--or at least that's what you might believe. The games industry is currently going through a big course correction that's led to many thousands of layoffs and intense budget cutting at top firms. Games companies have clearly chosen to serve capital instead of labor as the market contracts against multiple stress points.

Before recent events, indie devs could potentially sign a deal with the Epic Store to help fund their projects, or at the very least, break even.New reports indicate that the doors are closing on these opportunities. PC Gamer spoke with two prominent indie developers--Casey Yano from Slay the Spider studio Mega Crit, and Red Hook Studios' Chris Bourassa, who directed Darkest Dungeon--about the topic.

Warzone Mobile has been on the market for over a week now, but the mobile battle royale hints that Call of Duty may have hit a wall when it comes to on-the-go gaming.

Warzone Mobile launched on March 21 and has generated around $1.4 million in its first four days on the market, new data from Pocket Gamer indicates.

That's a significant 67% reduction from its predecessor. Call of Duty Mobile, which released to a very different pre-COVID 19 market in October 2019, made $4.2 million in its first four days. Warzone Mobile made $2.8 million less than COD Mobile did in the same comparative period.

Take-Two Interactive expects to make $8 billion by March 2025, but the recent Gearbox acquisition could shake up the publisher's plans.

A bit ago, Take-Two published an incredible release cadence and revenue forecast. TTWO announced that it plans to release over 50 games by March 2026 across all genres and platforms. Emboldened by the confidence of this slate, the company made an eye-opening $8 billion revenue target for Fiscal Year 2025, with the next year's forecast being set even higher. This led everyone to believe GTA 6 would release in FY25 or FY26 and that's indeed the plan - Rockstar Games has set a nebulous "2025" target for the game.

These forecasts are now outdated and don't reflect the sizable acquisition that Take-Two just made, having recently purchased Gearbox Entertainment for a cool $460 million in stock. Gaining control of Gearbox and its best-selling Borderlands IP will undoubtedly boost Take-Two's earnings, which could affect those ambitious revenue targets for FY25 and FY26.

Take-Two Interactive has made an offer to buy Gearbox Entertainment for $460 million, and the Embracer Group has accepted the deal.

It's official: Gearbox has a new home. Take-Two Interactive will buy Gearbox for $460 million in stock, the company has announced. Embracer Group had purchased Gearbox for $363 million, with $1 billion worth of bonuses being triggered if certain conditions were met over a period of time (they weren't). Based on the original deal terms, it looks like Embracer actually made a profit from the Gearbox sale.*

Gearbox Entertainment in its entirety is included as part of the deal, and Take-Two will now wholly own the Borderlands, Tiny Tina, and Duke Nukem franchises, along with any IPs that Gearbox owns.

Xbox may not have grown as fast as Microsoft hoped it would, but the business is indeed a profitable and evolving segment within the tech giant.

Over the past few years, Xbox's profitability has come into question. Just how profitable is it to release first-party games onto Xbox Game Pass? How much does cannibalization eat into potential game sales? Xbox is the only member of the big 3 that does not publish profits, which is because gaming is not its own segment--Xbox is part of the Microsoft's More Personal Computing segment, which also includes Windows so it's almost impossible to separate out Xbox profits.

The FTC v Microsoft federal trial also highlighted Xbox's shortcomings when it comes to growth. It's true that Xbox has missed Xbox Game Pass subscriber targets (missed by 44% in 2022) and overall gaming revenue targets (missed by $780 million in 2023), but the games division is still profitable. And, according to Phil Spencer, Xbox is also growing.

One analyst speculates that CD Projekt might want to release two new games by 2027, and the company's pipeline update offers clues on which game could launch first.

The Witcher 4 could be out by 2026, with Sirius, a new singleplayer-multiplayer Witcher game from The Molasses Flood, coming out sometime in 2027. That's what JP Morgan analyst Alexey Philippov asked CD Projekt management in a recent investor's call.

"I have a few questions; the first one is on your incentive program - basically, your new KPIs for the next stage of the incentive program. I think they imply you plan to release one game in 2026 and another game in 2027 - maybe you can comment on whether that's a fair assessment of your plans," Philippov said, as per the transcript.

Huge profit spikes help boost CD Projekt's reserves, giving the company a hefty $326 million stash to fund its myriad new projects.

CD Projekt Group's 2023 financials show interesting results. Cash and cash equivalents are up 20% year-over-year to 1.3 billion PLN, or about $326 million, and its this cache that will help fuel new game development. Breakout success with game sales fueled this jump in profits, with Cyberpunk 2077 reaching 25 million sales and the total franchise generating $750 million in full game sales since 2020.

"The Group's net profit for 2023 was over 480 million PLN (about $120 million), nearly 40% higher than the year before," said CD Projekt Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz.

With Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty shipped, most of CD Projekt RED is now focusing on the next big Witcher sequel.

The Witcher 4 now has over 400 developers working on the project, and the game is on track to enter full production this year. Polaris will be the first to enter principal development, with other projects like Sirius from The Molasses Flood opening parallel development alongside Polaris.

"The Polaris team has grown to over 400 developers, reaching its target size for entering the production phase," said CD Projekt joint CEO Michal Nowakowski.

To get the PlayStation 5 Pro Enhanced badge, developers will have to leverage the console's new GPU and PSSR upscaling tech to boost FPS and/or resolution.

Game developers will have to do some work re-tooling their games for Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro console. Insider Gaming has more PS5 Pro details straight from the developer's portal, revealing the kinds of bonus upgrades that Sony wants developers to target on the new device.

According to the report, the PS5 Pro will have a "Trinity Enhanced" mode that is capable of boosting/tightening frame rates and max resolution. In the documentation, Sony says that ideally devs will use the PS5 Pro to deliver upscaled 4K resolution with PSSR, a steady 60FPS, and raytracing--all at once.

Sony's upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console will be released later this year, but today, we're learning about the PS5 Pro's new "PS5 Pro Enhanced" label that Sony will introduce with PS5 Pro-ready games.

The new PS5 Pro Enhanced label on PS5 Pro-exclusive games will include using PSSR (PlayStation Spatial Super Resolution) technology to upscale the resolution to 4K, a "constant" 60FPS frame rate, and adding or enhancing ray tracing effects. Insider Gaming reports that this is through a 45% faster GPU that's 67% larger than the regular PS5, and 27% faster RAM.

PS5 Pro Enhanced features in games:

PUBG Mobile is a gigantic money-making machine, with Krafton now confirming that PUBG Mobile's new version 3.2 update will include higher refresh rate support: up to 120FPS on certain smartphones.

Currently, PUBG Mobile supports up to 90FPS for much smoother gameplay, but now it's being upgraded to 120FPS on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra and S23 Ultra smartphones. There's no word on whether Apple's family of iPhones will support 120FPS on PUBG Mobile, but let's hope it's not too far away.

Krafton recently released the v3.1 update to PUBG Mobile, but the new v3.2 update, which adds 120FPS support, will be great. PUBG Mobile currently runs at 90FPS on the S24 Ultra and S23 Ultra smartphones, so you'll be able to enjoy 120FPS if you've got one of Samsung's flagship phones.

Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer is very interested in the possibility of Xbox on-the-go, whether that means an official Xbox handheld or highly-customized mobile software.

With multiple devices like the ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and Valve's Steam Deck, handheld PCs have emerged as a new nascent gaming platform to market and monetize. The Nintendo Switch arguably was the pioneer in the console-handheld space, but portable chip technology is now powerful enough to deliver playable, console-ish quality gaming while on-the-go. Tech-wise, it seems like a good time for Sony and Microsoft to start thinking about a PlayStation or Xbox handheld.

Sony's $199 PlayStation Portable selling like hotcakes may dissuade the company from making a costly dedicated handheld device, but what about Xbox? Phil Spencer is psyched for Xbox handheld gaming, but as is usually the case, there's a lot of ambiguity in what's said about Xbox's future. An Xbox handheld experience could range from a fully-fledged dedicated handheld device that natively plays Xbox console games to...an Xbox app that's optimized for Windows handhelds.

A leaker has revealed that Capcom's highly anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds will be a "fully open world" experience, and will be the developers most ambitious title yet.

Capcom unveiled the next installment in the Monster Hunter franchise back in December, and since then, gamers have been speculating how this next installment will differentiate itself from the previous games in the series. With details regarding the title being scarce, we now have a little bit more to go off of, with well-known leaker Dusk Golem writing over Discord that their hearing Wilds will be "by far the biggest game they [Capcom] ever attempted".

Golem revealed other details such as development for Wilds beginning back in 2019, meaning the game has been cooking in Capcom's development labs for 6 years now. Additional information included Monster Hunter World director having "complete freedom" with Wilds and that the new game will include many "scrapped ideas from World". Probably the biggest piece of information was the claim that Wilds will be "fully open world" and that it was Capcom's idea from "day one" to pursue this development path.

Overwatch 2's upcoming DPS hero, Venture, has been unlocked early, with developer Blizzard making the new hero available for free this weekend. Check Venture and all of her abilities out below:

Venture is a new DPS hero with a new "Smart Excavator" weapon that allows you to use the drill to move around the battlefield, while her "Burrow" ability lets you dig underground and re-emerge underneath or beside enemies. This provides players with both an offensive and defensive tool when playing Venture in Overwatch 2.

Venture is invulnerable while she's burrowing underground, while you can use the "Drill Dash" to dash through the air, knocking enemies with your drill back. So you can dig underground, smash out of it, fly into the air at -- let's say a Pharah -- and knock her back.

Diablo 4 is changing. Season 4 will change how loot and crafting work, overhaul some class items, skills, and abilities, and expand the endgame with new modes and features. It's an update so massive that Blizzard will let players test all the changes early via a PC-only PTR playable from April 2 to 9. The Diablo 4 team will use this as an opportunity to "make adjustments to Season 4 before it goes live for everyone."

After detailing the changes coming during a live stream last week, today we've got the full PTR Patch Notes for the massive overhaul coming to the game. To say the list is long would be an understatement; clocking in at over 10,0000 works; these are the sort of patch notes where you'll need a bunch of time and a strong coffee to get through.

With fundamental changes being made to how loot, crafting, and putting together a build works, there are so many changes being made to class items, skills, Legendaries, and Unique Items that this update will fundamentally change how Diablo 4 plays.

Including the best-selling Phantom Liberty expansion, Cyberpunk 2077 has made over $750 million since launch.

CD Projekt's latest earnings report proudly announced that Cyberpunk 2077 has made over 3 billion Polish zloty, or about $754.8 million when converted into USD based on historical exchange rates. These revenues are from sales of both Cyberpunk 2077 on two console generations and PC, as well as Phantom Liberty sales on PS5, Series X/S, and PC.

"Last year, owing to the successful release of Phantom Liberty, Cyberpunk 2077 further raised the revenue bar to 3 billion PLN. We are confident in the strength of our product. Supported by the franchise flywheel, we expect it to generate solid revenue flows for years to come, solidifying its status as a long seller," said CD Projekt joint CEO Michal Nowakowski.