Gaming - Page 328

World of Warcraft has a whole range of merch - shocker, we know - associated with the MMOG, and Blizzard has just introduced something new to its gear store, in the form of a stand for the premium replica Frostmourne sword.

Yes, that's a real-life Frostmourne - some 49-inches in length - and the sword costs $1,500, with the new stand accessory running an additional $600 (both are still on pre-order, mind).

We say stand, but we're underselling it here, because this is actually an ice pedestal, which, as Blizzard puts it, is "designed to showcase your prized possession in a unique and immersive way".

Nintendo's president comments on next-gen hardware, and says that it's incredibly important for Nintendo to ensure a smooth transition between the two system generations.

Nintendo is reportedly gearing up for its next-gen Switch, which is believed to be a next-gen handheld-console hybrid capable of delivering 4K gaming using NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling tech. With new hardware comes one incredibly important question: Will the new Switch be backwards compatible and play all games currently available on the Tegra X1-powered Switch family?

Considering the Switch recently broke 1 billion game sales, backwards compatibility is seems like a critical part of any future hardware plans. In a recent Q&A with investors, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa hints that the next-gen Switch model could indeed play current-gen titles.

Regulators like the Federal Trade Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority have excluded Nintendo from the Big 3. Here's why these agencies are ignoring one of the biggest video games companies on the planet.

In an effort to better understand the world's largest entertainment market and to better frame the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger, worldwide antitrust regulators have sifted through millions of documents from video games companies like Microsoft, Activision, Sony, and even Nintendo. This long, arduous process has led to regulators like the FTC in the United States and the CMA in the United Kingdom to simplify things wherever possible. One of the most controversial ways these agencies have done so is to effectively ignore Nintendo's presence in the Big 3 triumvirate of the console market.

The FTC in particular went above and beyond by creating a High-Performance Console market designation that notably excludes Nintendo.

Diablo IV looks to be the ultimate evolution of Blizzard's engagement mechanics, and players should expect a near never-ending experience.

Today Blizzard released new updates on what to expect from Diablo IV's post-launch content, and also underlines the intensely-synergized game mechanics in this particular live game. The studio also detailed Diablo IV's three separate battle passes and how the seasons offer rewards that actually tangibly affect gameplay, possibly to such a degree where the participation in specific seasonal content may not be entirely optional.

Diablo IV has 3 separate battle passes: a Free Battle Pass, a Premium Battle Pass, and an Accelerated Battle Pass. That's on top of a cosmetic shop that allows players to buy skins for real money, and a $69.99 price tag for the game. Things get a little tricky from here.

Capcom lays out ambitious long-term plans to sell 100 million games per year, and it's almost halfway there. Increasing game prices to $69.99 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S could dramatically impact sales potential, however.

Capcom is on fire right now. In its latest Fiscal Year 2022 report, Japanese games publisher recorded its 10th consecutive year of record operating profits, and also sold a record-breaking 41.7 million video games throughout the year. Capcom is on the up-and-up, and the company wants to keep this growth trajectory going and challenge itself to eventually achieve 100 million game sales per year.

It's a lofty goal, one that will push Capcom to new heights in content creation but also careful marketing, distribution deals, and pricing of its products. We've seen that the new $69.99 price hike has detrimentally impacted game sales--PlayStation sales data indicates gamers are buying fewer products, but spending more money on the games that they do buy.

EU regulators at the European Commission are expected to give a final decision on the Microsoft-Activision merger on Monday, May 15, with approval being likely, sources have told Reuters.

While regulatory agencies like the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seek to block the $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger on the grounds of anti-competitive effects, the combination is expected to be approved in Europe.

New reports from Reuters' Foo Yun Chee indicate that the European Commission could deliver an early merger decision on May 15, a full week ahead of the Commission's May 22 deadline. The deal is expected to be approved in the EU as it's believed that Microsoft's 10-year licensing deals are enough to counter potential theories of harm that may arise in the console gaming and cloud streaming market segments. Sources have also told Bloomberg similar information regarding the timing and likelihood of approval.

The Diablo IV Server Slam Beta is kicking off this weekend, May 12, for all platforms, giving players another chance to dive into the game's first Act and major open-world region of the icy Fractured Peaks.

With NVIDIA's most recent GeForce Game Ready driver adding support for the upcoming stress test for Diablo 4's servers, today comes word that GeForce RTX 40 Series owners can dive into the game with DLSS 3 enabled. DLSS 3, which combines DLSS Super Resolution, NVIDIA Reflex, and Frame Generation, is designed to increase performance by integrating AI-generated frames.

DLSS 3 was previously confirmed for Diablo 4's day-one launch on June 6. Still, with the surprise 'Server Slam' additional beta weekend, it looks like we'll be looking at the technology in one of the biggest PC game releases of 2023 ahead of time. The Server Slam will also feature an updated version of the game with several changes based on player feedback from previous Beta weekends.

EA has laid out an ambitious plan to stretch its IPs and game franchises and create games-as-a-platform, a concept that 343 Industries has tried with Halo Infinite.

EA is doubling down on live services in a way that will cement its core franchises into a new kind of ecosystem. Well, it's not entirely new, it just has a fresh name. EA has coined the phrase Games-as-a-Platform, a concept that I had originally used to discuss the likes of Assassin's Creed Infinity and Halo Infinite, to illustrate its plans for the future.

So what exactly is Electronic Arts up to? The publisher has a grand vision of one franchise being spread across multiple dimensions, including free-to-play, premium, mobile--the works. Games-as-a-Platform is predicated on EA's four new business cornerstones.

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson comments on the Microsoft-Activision merger and general consolidation in the games industry.

EA's top brass indicates the company is generally indifferent on whether or not the Activision merger goes through, and CEO Andrew Wilson confirms that EA, not Activision, is the #1 publisher on the Xbox platform. Below we have a rough paraphrased transcription of what Wilson said during EA's recent FY23 earnings call.

"I get asked this a lot. I'm almost never allowed to answer the question," Wilson said when an analyst asked him how the merger could affect EA, and management's general thoughts on Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard King.

Nintendo just released its Q4 and full Fiscal Year 2023 results, and it's fair to say that investors won't be satisfied with the numbers.

Nintendo's latest Fiscal Year 2023 earnings show the company is currently on a downward flux as the Switch passes its seventh year on the market. The Japanese games-maker reported $11.84 billion in net sales, down nearly $3 billion from last year and representing a 20% YoY decrease.

Despite the dip, Nintendo is still beating its pre-pandemic performance, and many publishers had expected this kind of market correction as pandemic spending gives way to unfavorable inflation-driven economics.

Ubisoft has possibly delayed Assassin's Creed Mirage a second time, sources have told Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson.

Originally due out in Spring 2023, Ubisoft had apparently decided to delay the next Assassin's Creed game to August 2023 instead. Now it sounds like the Baghdad-based spin-off could once again be delayed by two months, and release in October 2023 instead. Interestingly enough, there are further reports the game has been delayed to 2024. Ubisoft has yet to clarify a release date for the game, and plans to show off Mirage during its Ubisoft Forward event on June 12.

The news comes from Tom Henderson, who publicly Tweeted that it seems as if Ubisoft has delayed Mirage a second time. If the game is delayed, it's likely to help polish up the core experience and potentially release alongside the critical holiday 2023 window. This could put Mirage up against steep competition with this year's Call of Duty game, which should be out in the October - November timeframe as per usual for the franchise.

Activision-Blizzard's top executive management have a large vested interest in seeing the Microsoft merger close, with the CEO potentially making a substantial fortune from Microsoft's share buyout offer.

Microsoft wants to buy Activision Blizzard King to accelerate its gaming ambitions, and the tech giant is prepared to pay $68.7 billion to acquire the world's largest independent games publisher. Microsoft has made a tender buyout offer of $95 per share as part of a deal that will see current shareholders and top-level C-suite executives making out with millions. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in particular could walk away with over $100 million from his tremendous amount of valuable shares.

A new report from Axios crunched some numbers to determine how much Activision's top brass could make from the merger. According to Axios' findings, Kotick could make as much as $185 million in stock value if the merger is approved and is able to close.

id Software released the original Doom RPG for mobile phones in September 2005, when gaming on a phone was still a relatively new concept. For many, it was considered a 'long lost' Doom game from id, though its appearance on PC last year by the dedicated Doom historians at GEC.inc (via Doomworld) made it available for all.

As the naming suggests, it's not a first-person shooter but an RPG set in the Doom universe - and a turn-based take on the franchise. The game did well enough to receive a sequel, Doom 2 RPG, for the iPhone and iPod Touch in 2010. Another turn-based RPG off-shoot seemingly lost to time.

This one features more impressive visuals than the original Doom RPG, representing id Software's continued experimentation with mobile gaming. Interestingly you can still find an app store listing for Doom 2 RPG, but it is incompatible with current versions of iOS.

Swedish games developer Starbreeze reiterates a 2023 launch for Payday 3 on consoles and PC, and gives clues on what's next after the new heist shooter.

Following its successful comeback story from the brink of financial ruin, Starbreeze has big plans for the future. The publisher had secured deals to help fund Payday 3, which is still due out this year, but the company's ambitions apparently beyond the heist FPS franchise. Starbreeze has decided to issue rights shares and help secure up to 450 million SEK (about $44 million) to bolster its position.

According to Starbreeze's Q1 interim report, the company plans to use 300 million SEK (about $29.5 million) on games development, including projects outside of Payday 3. The company hopes to use the proceeds it makes from Payday 3, alongside any continued earnings from Payday 2, in combination with these rights issue funds to create new games that are set to release in 2025 and 2027.

Nightdive Studios believes in Atari's renaissance of classic games and joined the age-old console-maker to be a part of the movement.

Atari once ruled the console world, but now it's more of a licensor that monetizes nostalgia. We've seen more ambitious projects like the Atari VCS and a smattering of remaster collections, but overall, Atari still isn't a commanding force in gaming. But mabye Atari doesn't have to go toe-to-toe with PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo to stay relevant thanks to its instantly recognizable brand; Atari is pretty much the purest definition of retro as it stands today.

Now under new CEO Wade Rosen, Atari is looking to the past to lay out its future, complete with a greater emphasis on games and re-releases. And that's exactly why Nightdive Studios, a dev team known for revitalizing old-school PC games from the 80s and 90s, wanted to join up with Atari.

Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer reiterates that Activision-Blizzard is not the end goal for Microsoft's gaming ambitions, but a significant boost to its grand plans.

Microsoft has lofty goals for its games business. Specifically, Microsoft wants to expand onto mobile devices with a competing unified storefront that would ideally tap into the existing Xbox cross-platform storefront ecosystem framework and join consoles, PCs, and mobile devices through dedicated gaming and xCloud game streaming.

While Call of Duty was seen as a main motivation for MIcrosoft's proposed $68.7 billion buyout of Activision Blizzard King, that was only part of the formula; indeed the $31 billion+ franchise is a powerhouse, but producing Call of Duty titles is exponentially costly and requires lots of man-hours and investment. King, on the other hand, is able to deliver Candy Crush to millions of people across the globe and generate billions of dollars in revenue every year through the sheer power of its adtech and monetization know-how.

UK regulators at the Competition and Markets Authority have chosen to block the Microsoft-Activision merger on the grounds of anticompetitive effects in cloud gaming. Now some game streaming services providers are weighing in on the decision.

In its final report determination, the CMA lays out its arguments on why it believes the merger should not be allowed. The regulators essentially state that Microsoft already has a strong position in the cloud gaming segment and that its combined infrastructure of powerful server networks, subscription services, and video games content could impede competition. Adding Activision-Blizzard games on top of Microsoft's current position could tip the scales in Microsoft's favor and potentially stifle any innovation in currently-unsuccessful cloud business models like Buy-to-Play (B2P), the model that led to Stadia's ultimate demise.

Predictably, there are some cloud game service providers that oppose the CMA's decision, most notably those that Microsoft had signed 10-year agreements with. Both NVIDIA and Boosteroid have spoken out against the CMA's merger block, and both of these companies had made deals with Microsoft for a full decade of Call of Duty and Activision content. While the CMA has determined that Activision would likely bring its games to cloud in some form eventually, that certainly isn't the case now as Activision depends very strongly on full game sales and monetization of current and new titles.

Jedi: Survivor was created in "record" time with only a three-year development cycle between the first game and its sequel, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reports.

The latest Star Wars game, a Jedi power fantasy sequel to 2019's best-selling Jedi Fallen Order, was mostly made during the pandemic. COVID-19 effectively disrupted the entire work and created significant rifts in games development, a process that is largely collaborative and based around in-office work, and some dev teams are still dealing with the fallout from the pandemic.

Respawn, on the other hand, was able to swiftly adapt to work-from-home measures with Jedi: Survivor. According to game director Stig Asmussen, the team had only started early production when the pandemic hit in late 2019. Respawn had been laying out the framework for Jedi: Fallen Order's sequel at the time and was able to more efficiently move its operations to remote work as a result.

Former Dragon Age writer gives insight on how BioWare's previous studio culture had affected the writing department, and also gives a better idea of why Gaider had left in 2016.

David Gaider helped write some of the best RPGs on the market today, including games from the landmark Dragon Age series. The franchise is known for its deep world-building, lore, and distinct characters, but at the tail-end of Gaider's tenure, BioWare seemed to have shifted towards budget cuts instead of carrying forward that pedigree of writing.

In a recent Twitter thread that seems to respond to the ongoing Writers Guild strike, Gaider briefly discussed what it was like to work at BioWare up until his departure in 2016, and advocated that studios and publishers should "pay writers what they're due" and "prioritize and support" good writing in games and other media.

A new Skywind trailer shows what Morrowind could look like on next-gen platforms using Skyrim's games engine.

Skywind, the massively ambitious mod that literally rebuilds the entirety of Morrowind's in-game content, world, quests, and items within the Skyrim engine, just got some new gameplay footage to show how far along the mod is coming. The gameplay was beyond impressive to say the least and completely revitalizes the eastern stronghold town of Molag Mar in such a unique way, breathing new color and life into the traditionally dour, ash-ridden region.

As someone who's played Morrowind for the last 21 years, the sheer vibrancy of Skywind's Molag Mar really stood out to me; the paintings of the saints, including the ones depicting Veloth leading the exodus of the Chimer, and of Almalexia are just so brilliantly defined and colorized that it really does change the entire look and feel of the temples themselves. There's a kind of deeper reverence about them now, not unlike the stained glass windows in real-world churches