Gaming - Page 312

With the FTC defeated in the U.S., trillion-dollar tech giant Microsoft is now focusing on winning over UK regulators at the CMA to get the $68.7 billion Activision merger approved.

Yesterday, a federal judge ruled against the Federal Trade Commission and effectively signalled a greenlight for the Microsoft-Activision merger to close in the U.S. While the FTC can still appeal the decision and request an extension of the temporary restraining order that goes past the merger's deadline of July 18, experts believe that it's "extremely unlikely" that the FTC would be able to obtain an emergency order.

With the merger approved in the European Union, and the FTC having been defeated in the preliminary injunction hearing, Microsoft is now turning to the final hurdle in their $68.7 billion buyout: the United Kingdom.

Square Enix President and Representative Director Takashi Kiryu had some interesting comments about the Japanese publisher's new game plan.

In 2019, Square Enix consolidated its 11 game development teams into 4 groups called "Creative Business Units". The hierarchy sees each individual team handling specific projects like:

On the heels of releasing Final Fantasy XVI, Square Enix currently has a number of new games in production including Kingdom Hearts IV, Dragon Quest XII, and more Final Fantasy XIV content. These games take a while to make, and are quite expensive to produce...but the company wants to double-down on team expansion in an effort to release games more quickly.

At a glance, you'd think that the state of classic and retro gaming was in a good place - from remakes to remasters to Atari bundles featuring games from the 1970s to being able to fire up classic 1990s Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo games on the Nintendo Switch. In reality, though, it's a very different situation - and a cause for concern.

A new in-depth study from the Video Game History Foundation has found that 87 percent of classic games released in the United States are out of print or no longer commercially available. The study defines classic games as titles released before 2010, with games taken from the impressive MobyGames database serving as the basis for the study.

Is it surprising that you can't enter a retail outlet and pick up a copy of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire for the Nintendo 64? No, but the study highlights the need for proper videogame preservation outside companies like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft bringing their catalog of classic games into the digital era. The study shows that after Nintendo shut down its 3DS and Wii U eShops in March 2023, the number of Game Boy games you could legally obtain "declined sharply."

With high-profile releases like the Steam Deck from Valve and the ROG Ally from ASUS, portable PC gaming handhelds are more popular than ever. One of the reasons we are seeing powerful handhelds is due to advances in hardware, specifically when it comes to mobile Ryzen chips from AMD, like the new AMD Ryzen 7 7840U being able to deliver excellent game performance.

The new AYANEO AIR 1S is taking the idea of a portable and powerful PC gaming handheld one step further by making it thin, light, and comparable to something you might see from Nintendo regarding compact pocket-size gaming. Specs-wise, the AYANEO AIR 1S features the Ryzen 7 7840U APU, 16 GB or 32 GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display.

Although a 5.5-inch display is smaller than what you'd find on the ROG Ally, the AYANEO AIR 1S weighs a lightweight 405 grams, with the thinnest part of the Ultra Thin and Light Limited Edition being only 18mm. This makes it substantially lighter than the Steam Deck, the ROG Ally, and even the Nintendo Switch.

As part of AMD's massive Starfield Game Bundle deal that covers all current Ryzen 7000 CPUs as well as Radeon GPU from both the RDNA 2 and RDNA 3 generation (check out the full info here), the company has included some requirements of what you'll need to play the game at the three main desktop gaming resolutions.

As this info comes from a marketing page, it's limited to the brand-new hardware you can pick up to grab a copy of the game, so there's no mention of comparative Intel Core or GeForce RTX products - which is understandable. However, it makes the list a little pointless, as limiting the requirements to CPU, GPU, and motherboard omits that Starfield will require an SSD to play the game.

For the 'Legendary Experience,' AMD describes as "for the no-compromise 4K gamers who want the absolute best Starfield experience," it recommends an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT GPU, and an AMD X670 motherboard. On the opposite end, the 'Heroic Experience' "is for 1080p gamers to experience great visuals and framerates," and AMD recommends an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 CPU, an AMD Radeon RX 7600 GPU, and the entry-level AMD A620 motherboard.

Starfield is one of the year's biggest game releases, and the ambitious sci-fi RPG from Bethesda Game Studios is coming to PC and Xbox Series X|S in September. Ahead of its debut, we got word that the team at Bethesda has been working closely with AMD to optimize the release for multi-threaded CPUs and add support for technology like FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2) as part of an exclusive partnership.

And now, after rumors that it was coming, AMD has launched its big Ryzen and Radeon Starfield Game Bundle, covering almost all AMD hardware. The pitch is simple, buy a Ryzen CPU or a Radeon graphics card, and you'll get a copy of the game.

Buy a high-end component, and that copy will be the Starfield Premium Edition which includes Early Access to play the game before its official launch, the Shattered Space Story Expansion, Constellation Skin Pack, digital artbook, and original soundtrack.

It's official: The FTC has lost its fight to obtain a preliminary injunction that would forcibly prohibit the Microsoft-Activision merger until the completion of the FTC's internal administrative hearing, and the two companies can potentially commence the merger in the coming days.

Microsoft is on the cusp of merging with Activision and forming a mega-publisher that brings multiple billion-dollar franchises to Xbox Game Pass. Today, federal judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction order on the Microsoft-Activision merger, and Judge Corley also ordered that the temporary restraining order enjoining Microsoft and Activision be lifted by July 15. The merger is expected to close ahead of the FTC's Phase III administrative lawsuit starts in August.

In a 53-page report, Judge Corley outlines the reasons why she denied the FTC's preliminary injunction request. This includes eight separate key reasons why Microsoft does not have the incentive to withhold access to the $31 billion Call of Duty franchise from Sony's PlayStation games division. While the report acknowledges that Microsoft certainly will have the ability to withhold Call of Duty because they will own the franchise, Judge Corley says that the FTC has not adequately shown that the Xbox games division does not have the incentive to do so.

Dave the Diver is the latest PC indie game to take Steam by storm, racking up a million sales in not much more than a week.

PC Gamer spotted that Dave the Diver is going great guns on Steam, with review scores that are 'overwhelmingly positive' (at least at the time of writing, though we can't see that changing in the near future anyway).

As one reviewer puts it: "I stopped playing Zelda to play this."

In a big win for the Xbox games division, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has denied the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction.

Judge Corley today published a redacted 53-page opinion document that denied the FTC's preliminary injunction request. This effectively means that Microsoft may commence its $68.7 billion merger with Activision and close the deal even during the FTC's pending administrative case.

Judge Corley writes:

BioWare loses another long-time employee that helped define its landmark RPGs.

Days ago, Jay Watamaniuk announced that he's leaving BioWare after more than 21 years of writing stories and content for some of BioWare's biggest games.

"Alas, my 21 year journey with BioWare has come to an end. I wanted to thank the exceptional team of writers who taught me the business of creation with empathy, patience and humour. Whatever the future holds, my work will be forever shaped by their lessons. It was a privilege," Watamaniuk said on Twitter.

EA today announced it has opened up a new studio called Cliffhanger Games to work on an all-original Black Panther game.

Electronic Arts is ramping up its studios to deliver the trio of new Marvel games that it promised back in October 2022. The latest reveal is a big-budget AAA Black Panther game that will be led by the newly-revealed Cliffhanger Games, which is run by ex-Monolith Productions general manager Kevin Stephens. At WB Games, Stephens served as Monolith's GM for 9 years before moving over to Cliffhanger, and according to Stephens' LinkedIn, Cliffhanger has been established for over 2 years.

The new Black Panther game will be a third-person singleplayer adventure with an all-original storyline and an emphasis on details. Past reports indicate that Black Panther is targeting a 2025 release.

FTC v Microsoft court documents highlight just how successful Call of Duty is on PlayStation.

In badly-redacted court documents that were uploaded to the FTC v Microsoft public docket, Sony revealed key information about Call of Duty's performance on its industry-leading platform. According to the document, Call of Duty Modern Warfare II sold 4.4 million copies in its first week on PlayStation, beating out the previous record-holder FIFA 23, which had sold 3.8 million copies.

A quick bit of math shows that, at minimum, PlayStation made up around 30% of Call of Duty Modern Warfare II's record $1 billion in sell-through. We're not sure if the 4.4 million sales figure for digital-only purchases on the PlayStation Store or if it also includes sales from retailers.

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.