Gaming - Page 295

Final Fantasy XVI's success has pushed total franchise sales past 180 million worldwide.

The Final Fantasy franchise broke 180 million sales shortly after Final Fantasy XVI's release. The latest entry in the RPG series managed to sell 3 million copies in combined digital sales and physical shipments in its first week, which is noteworthy given the game is a PS5 exclusive. It remains to be seen if Final Fantasy XVI will live up to Square Enix's sales expectations, and we've outlined the reasons why it is tough to compare Final Fantasy XVI's sales to its predecessor, Final Fantasy XV.

The previous update pinpointed Final Fantasy franchise sales at 173 million. That was as of March 2022, so in little over a year, the franchise has sold 7 million copies--nearly half of which were made in the first week of Final Fantasy XVI's launch.

Sure, DLSS support might not be coming to Starfield - at least based on rumors that the AMD partnership excludes competing upscaling techniques like DLSS and Intel XeSS - many other releases are getting NVIDIA DLSS on day one.

Launching this week with DLSS 2 Super Resolution support is Jagged Alliance 3 and Testament: The Order of High Human, with the highly anticipated sequel Remnant II set to get the AI-powered upscaling technology later this month. As part of its weekly DLSS state of things, NVIDIA also made note that the current Steam Summer Sale ending this week has several DLSS-powered titles on sale, including the likes of Hogwarts Legacy, Forza Horizon 5, Cyberpunk 2077, and more.

As for the new DLSS-powered titles, let's take a look at them, starting with Testament: The Order of High Human. This is a new action-adventure game with touches of RPG and Metroidvania elements from indie studio Fairyship Games set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world with some impressive visuals. If this one is not on your radar, the good news is that there is a playable demo (that features DLSS) you can check out on Steam.

To give a better idea of how gaming's three platform holders compare with one another, we've compiled a quick head-to-head showdown between PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox.

Over the last few months, gamers have been treated to a much more transparent look at the video games industry. From the $200 million budgets of top-performing PlayStation games to actual concrete info on Xbox console shipments, we're able to use valuable info gleaned from recent events in conjunction with official company earnings to give a better idea of how effectively gaming's Big 3 competes.

Using Nintendo's recent annual report, I put together a quick comparison of the video games industry's Big 3 triumvirate hierarchy to clearly illustrate the revenue position of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo. Since Microsoft operates on a non-traditional fiscal year, which begins in July and ends in June, I've aligned Xbox revenues to match the April 2022 - March 2023 fiscal timelines of both Sony and Nintendo.

Nintendo's latest annual report sheds light on its performance metrics for the Fiscal Year 2023 period.

While Nintendo's FY23 period delivered lower results than a year prior, the company is still far from being in the red. The Japanese video game giant's operational performance for FY23 was still quite noteworthy and demonstrates its consistently strong presence in the Big 3 hierarchy (PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo).

During the fiscal year, Nintendo managed to generate $12.042 billion in net sales revenues, most of which was from the Nintendo Switch platform. On a breakout basis, Nintendo made $11.347 billion from the Switch, which includes hardware, content, and services, $268 million from the others category, which includes sales of amiibo and "platforms other than Nintendo Switch", $383 million from mobile gaming and IP-related income which includes smartphone games and royalties, and $42 million from playing cards.

The combination of new Xbox hardware allocation, a subscription price hike, and the release of Starfield could help the Xbox games division deliver record-breaking Q1 earnings.

Microsoft could be setting Xbox up for a big Q1 that leads into a strong Q2 holiday period. The company is using all of the tactics at its disposal to help boost revenues--and profits--across is three main business segments: Software, services, and hardware.

On the software front, Xbox raised the price of its first-party Xbox Series X/S games to $69.99, with Redfall being the debut game to get this hike. Starfield will be the next game priced at $69.99.

DnD fans rejoice: Baldur's Gate III will keep you busy for a long, long time.

It's been two decades since the last mainline Baldur's Gate game, and Larian is making up for the lost time with Baldur's Gate III. The developers are creating one of the largest epic fantasy games ever made in terms of scope, cinematics, dynamism, and sheer volume of things to do. The game is so big that a rushed playthrough will take 80 hours...and it can be much longer if you engage more in the world.

"People ask...how much variety is there in a playthrough of Baldur's Gate III. How long is it, how many different ways can it go.

The price increase for Xbox Game Pass on console has gone into effect, and Microsoft has also adjusted the ratios for Xbox Live -> Game Pass subscription conversions.

Microsoft's value-oriented Xbox Game Pass subscription is now officially more expensive on console. The price hike is well-timed; Microsoft lawyers have said that Xbox has no plans to increase Game Pass if it should be allowed to merger with Activision, so the increase is happening before the potential merger. The price hike also precedes Starfield's release in September.

The base Xbox Game Pass subscription is now priced at $10.99 per month on console, representing a $1 price increase, whereas Game Pass Ultimate has jumped by $2 from $14.99 to the new $16.99/month price. The PC version of Xbox Game Pass has not been changed and remains $9.99/month.

In a pre-hearing findings of fact document, the Federal Trade Commission says that both Microsoft and Activision have identified "large financial benefits from bringing Activision content to Xbox Game Pass."

As Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley prepares her decision on the federal FTC v Microsoft preliminary injunction case, we thought it pertinent to scan through the various documents that the FTC and Microsoft have entered in the case's docket. The principal filings include what is called findings of fact, which essentially sees both FTC and Microsoft/Activision laying out the groundwork arguments for their sides of the case.

In the FTC's findings of fact document (Doc. #175), the Commission outlines interesting contextual information surrounding Activision's views on Xbox Game Pass.

NetherRealm revealed a new Mortal Kombat 1 trailer during the KombatKast stream today, showcasing some outrageous over-the-top brutality while confirming some new characters.

There really is nothing like a new Mortal Kombat game and MK1 is no exception. The franchise manages to blend humor, gratuitously absurd violence, and a serious compelling storyline all into one chaotic package. The latest Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay trailer showed off all of these elements, complete with a lot of middle fingers and swagger from Johnny Cage, a literal chest-chainsaw from Cyrax that just annihilated poor Kenshi, and some other devastating attacks.

The trailer delivered everything you'd want from Mortal Kombat footage, alongside some awesome reveals of classic returning characters. Gamers got to see Smoke unleash devastating combos with ninja accuracy, Cyrax explode some high-tech grenades that cooked brains, and Rain use shamanic sorcery to fight fire with water and summon brutal storms, and Frost, who attaches glacial spikes to her feet and performs a double jump-kick that pierces right through hapless Johnny Cage's chest.

IO Interactive has opened its fifth studio that will help with ambitious new projects like the 007 James Bond video game.

Hitman developer IO Interactive has launched a brand new studio in Brighton, England as it expands its ranks to assist with production in some major upcoming games. The independent developer currently has two big project sin the works, including the anticipated Project 007 James Bond origin story game, as well as Project Fantasy (aka Project Dragon), a new RPG that's said to be in the works for Xbox.

The Brighton-based branch joins other studios located in Copenhagen, Denmark, Malmo, Sweden, Barcelona, Spain, and Istanbul, Turkey. IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak says that the central idea with the company's myriad of studios is to have around 140-150 people in each branch. Abrak wants to avoid having many hundreds of people in a single location--Abrak tells GamesIndustry.biz that he doesn't want IO Interactive to feel like a video games factory.

Nintendo continues to increase its research and development (R&D) budget as its next-generation Switch console looms on the horizon.

Nintendo is currently working on its new console, which is believed to be an upgraded Switch handheld hybrid that allows for upscaled 4K gaming. A lot is unknown about the device--publishers like Activision don't even know specifications yet--but there's rumors of devkits being sent out to select developers. The new Switch, dubbed the Switch+, Super Switch, and Switch 4K, may be powered by a new Tegra Orin processor accompanied by the enhanced Switch OLED dock which has been updated to support 4K video output.

Speculation aside, we do know that Nintendo is steadily increasing its R&D budget to prepare for new hardware, software, and services. According to Nintendo's 2023 annual report, the company spent around $827 million on R&D throughout Fiscal Year 2023. This budget is for the entirety of Nintendo's operations and is not just for the next-gen Switch.

Capcom tells investors that it will take 'great care' in how it approaches new Mega Man game releases.

Mega Man was the first game that Capcom released on home consoles and the franchise remains a prized IP for the publisher. That's why Capcom has no real interest in rushing out new Mega Man products out the door in order to maximize sales. Even though Capcom wants to eventually hit 100 million game sales per year, the company still wants to be cautious with its revered platformer series.

In a recent shareholders meeting, Capcom management held a Q&A session regarding the future of the business. Investors were interested in knowing where Mega Man goes from here--will we see another mainline release?

Cheaters are an ever-present thorn in the side when it comes to online games, but Ubisoft has a seemingly effective way to tackle the menace they present called 'QB' technology - plus the company has been honing another feature (MouseTrap) to weed out mouse and keyboard players on console.

First off, let's look at QB, and as PC Gamer reports, this is attacking the problem at its source - namely the developers of cheats, and making life so difficult and tedious for them that they just give up.

We know very little about this QB tech, which is for the PC platform only, with Ubisoft kicking off with the idea back in November 2022, as part of a raft of anti-cheat initiatives.

One of the most popular video games in history is returning to Xbox Game Pass for the third time.

Today, Microsoft made a surprise announcement: GTA V is back on Xbox Game Pass, and it includes the higher-end Xbox Series X/S upgraded version as well. This marks the third time that Rockstar's best-selling Grand Theft Auto has been on the platform, and it really underlines how some publishers see the subscription service.

We've heard a lot of negative aspects about Xbox Game Pass and how the service cannibalizes game sales. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan even went so far as to say that Game Pass is 'value-destructive.' While cannibalization is indeed an undesirable effect of the service, Xbox Game Pass can actually help elongate and boost earnings for older games. That's especially true for evergreen catalog games like GTA V, where a series of rotating promos on subscription services has actually helped push franchise revenues.

Xbox Game Pass is more than just a subscription--it's the foundation of the entire Xbox gaming business model.

At TweakTown, I've talked a lot about Game Pass and how it has transformed the video games industry. The introduction of Game Pass as the first multi-game content library subscription service (as the FTC refers to it) was a pivotal disruption point in gaming. The history of the world's largest entertainment industry is filled with disruption points.

First there were coin-op arcade machines (aka the original microtransactions), then the advent of the home console which brought the arcade to your living room.

Diablo 4 has seen some odd stuff cropping up from players - the recent fuss around the 'secret cow level' springs to mind - and now there's another outlandish theory about the game revolving around rats.

This one is simple - follow the rats, and they'll lead you to the good loot. We kid you not.

As PC Gamer reports, one player planted this seed of an idea, and there's been a huge flurry of chatter online about it since.

In the recent FTC v Microsoft evidentiary hearing, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick revealed key metrics around the mega-popular Call of Duty franchise.

Over the past 20 years, the $31 billion Call of Duty franchise has amassed significant popularity across all PC and console. But in just 4 years, mobile has become far and away the largest platform for the shooter series. COD Mobile is not only a revenue powerhouse with over $1.5 billion earned in direct free-to-play monetization (as of 2021), but the mobile version has also captured more than half of the total Call of Duty playerbase.

According to testimony from Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in Day 4 of the FTC v Microsoft evidentiary hearing, 51% of total Call of Duty users are playing on mobile devices. It was also revealed that Call of Duty has 70 million daily active users. That's more than Roblox, one of the most highly-engaged games on the planet; at the BIG Festival 2023 event, it was revealed that Roblox had 66 million daily active users.

Tim Cain, who created and served as lead programmer on the Fallout series and co-directed The Outer Worlds, says that Obsidian's newer spacefaring RPG was created with mainstream and casual RPG gamers in mind.

The Outer Worlds is a fantastic first-person shooter/RPG that builds off of Obsidian's strengths from Fallout New Vegas while establishing a new IP. The game has pretty much everything gamers knew and loved about New Vegas and the modern Fallout games, but with the distinct Obsidian look and feel.

This was by design. According to The Outer Worlds co-director Tim Cain, the sci-fi RPG was meant to cater towards a more mainstream audience. In a recent video on his channel, Cain talks about developing good game settings and how this advice pertains to The Outer Worlds...and he also says that the main elevator pitch of The Outer Worlds was "Fallout meets Firefly."

The Witcher 3 might be an old game now - it's coming on for a decade since it came out, in fact - but it can still look stunning with the right mods, as a new video has brought to our attention.

This comes from Digital Dreams (as flagged up by Wccftech), with the game carrying over a hundred mods to make it look this good.

That includes the 'beyond all limits' ray tracing ReShade preset, and the Immersive Lighting Mod version 2.2 - the latter of which does a lot of heavy lifting in ramping up the visuals.

With the FTC case looking to block Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard wrapping up and a decision expected any day now, which will determine if the deal goes ahead or not, a treasure trove of info related to Xbox, PlayStation, and titles like Call of Duty and Minecraft has emerged.

We learned that 200-plus million dollar budgets for exclusive AAA titles like Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part II for PlayStation consoles rivals big-budget movies. We learned Minecraft makes four times as much money on the Switch as on Xbox. And we learned that Xbox's Phil Spencer decided to make all future Bethesda titles exclusive to PC and Xbox - seemingly starting with Starfield.

But this is all 2023 news related to the current console war between Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony; what about the mid-to-late 1990s when it was all about Nintendo, Sega, and Sony, and consoles like the Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, and the fresh-on-the-scene Sony PlayStation. Well, a massive 272-page PDF of classified Sega of America documents from the era has made its way online with some cool revelations (via Sega Retro).