Gaming - Page 336

The recent GTA 6 was confirmed real by Rockstar Games and Take-Two, but the leaker apparently did not steal any important game assets or content from Rockstar Games.

Back in September, Rockstar Games suffered one of the largest leaks in the history of video games. Tons of video and screenshots of an early build of GTA 6 were released, and the hacker had boasted to multiple message boards saying that they had internal files from Rockstar. The GTA 6 leaker, colloquially known as "teapotuberhacker" has since been caught, and now Take-Two has issued more comments on the security breach:

"In regard to the leak, it was terribly unfortunate and we take those sorts of incidents very seriously indeed. There was no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing. And certainly the leak will not have any influence on development or anything of that nature," Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said.

After nine years of sales across three console generations, Grand Theft Auto V sales are finally starting to slow down.

GTA V is a powerhouse sensation that has generated billions of dollars for Rockstar Games. Since its release in 2013, the title has been a tentpole that helped prop up three console generations with megaton sales. From launch to present, GTA V has shipped over 170 million copies, and now the game is starting to get long in the tooth.

Take-Two Interactive's recent Q2 FY23 earnings report confirms GTA V sales are stalling. The company says GTA V has now sold-in "over 170 million copies," as compared to the "nearly 170 million copies" figure from Q1'23. Throughout the last couple of quarters, GTA V shipped 5 million copies per quarter for five quarters in a row (from Q4'21 to Q3'22). That exponential growth is starting to slow down.

The best-selling Call of Duty franchise has now made $31 billion in lifetime revenues thanks to a significant boost from the newly-released Modern Warfare 2.

Today Activision announced that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has made $1 billion in just 10 days time, making it the fastest-earning game in the entire franchise. This development not only underlines the might of one of the most powerful forces in all of media, but also updates total series revenues.

Based on Modern Warfare 2's numbers, total Call of Duty franchise sales have now broken $31 billion. Back in June, The Washington Post published an article that confirmed the series had earned a cumulative total of $30 billion. That number was up from the $27 billion figure that was presented as of December 2020, which meant the series had made $3 billion in all of 2020.

Modern Warfare 2 game sales have broke $1 billion in revenues in just 10 days time, breaking all previous franchise records.

As we predicted, Modern Warfare 2 is fast becoming the most successful Call of Duty game ever released. The new reboot has amassed an incredible $1 billion in game sales revenues alone in just 10 days, setting new records for the megaton video game franchise. The previous figure was $800 million in 3 days.

"Activision's Call of Duty Modern Warfare II continues to smash franchise records as the new blockbuster has crossed $1 billion in worldwide sell-through following the first 10 days from its release on October 28, 2022. The new mark tops the previous franchise record of 15 days set in 2012 by Black Ops II," reads a press release from Activision.

Total PlayStation game unit software sales have broken 5.8 billion across all Sony PlayStation hardware generations.

Sony's latest Q2 earnings report refreshes all of PlayStation's key metrics including revenues, hardware shipments, and software. Today we'll be taking a closer look at software shipments across both physical and digital channels.

According to data published by Sony and compiled by us, total PlayStation software units have reached 5.827 billion across all video game hardware generations from the PSP to the PlayStation 5. Oddly enough, Sony does not publish PlayStation Vita software sales, so this figure is actually higher.

From the original PlayStation to the new-gen PlayStation 5, Sony's total video game hardware has shipped over 579 million units worldwide.

According to the latest figures from Sony's Q2 2022 earnings brief, total cumulative PlayStation hardware shipments have reached 579.1 million across all console generations and handhelds. The data include an estimated 16 million PlayStation Vita shipments and confirmed data directly from Sony.

The numbers reflect the generational shift from the 2013 PlayStation 4 to the 2020 PlayStation 5. The PS4, which has capped out at 117.2 million shipments (Sony no longer reports PS4 shipment data), is handing off the baton to the newer PS5, which has now reached 25 million units shipped.

Sony was just hit with the largest PlayStation Plus subscriber loss across the PS4 and PS5 generation, but its Network Services revenues are are stable.

PlayStation's major metrics are have slid downward throughout Q2 as pandemic highs start to ease. PlayStation's total monthly active users are down to 102 million, the lowest Q2 since 2019, microtransaction revenues are down 20% to $1.36 billion, total revenues dropped by 11% to $5.2 billion, operating income slide 59% to $304 million, and overall game unit sales and total video game revenues were down 18% and 14% respectively.

On the subscription front, Sony lost 1.9 million PlayStation Plus subscribers throughout July - September 2022. This is the largest loss in many years, but data shows that spending is still high among the current subscribers.

PlayStation Plus loses nearly 2 million subscribers during a critical expansion point for the popular subscription service.

Back in June, Sony combined PlayStation Now and PlayStation Plus together in a value-oriented mega service. The new PlayStation Plus has three tiers, Essential, Extra, and Premium, all of which offer distinct advantages--Premium, for example, is quite expensive at $119 per year but will eventually offer access to over 700 games across six generations of PlayStation consoles.

Unfortunately for Sony, the PlayStation Plus revamp has not gained traction. Instead of gaining new subscribers, Sony actually lost 1.9 million users in the quarterly period shortly after the new service launch. This represents the largest subscriber loss since 2018. PlayStation Plus subscribers went from 47.3 million at the end of June to 45.4 million subscribers at the end of September. PS Plus subscribers have reverted to pre-pandemic levels and are currently the lowest they have been since Q4 2019.

Elden Ring's massive worldwide success has sparked astronomical growth for FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa Group.

With over 16 million units sold across all platforms, Elden Ring is an outstanding smash-hit sensation that could end up being the best-selling game of 2022. The game's incredible performance has helped spike both sales and operating profit of FromSoftware's owner, the Kadokawa Group.

According to Kadowkawa's latest earnings briefing, the company saw net sales rise to 17.137 billion yen ($116.892 million based on current conversions), up 255% over the last six months. Operating profit skyrocketed by over 1110% to 7.592 billion yen ($51.785 million) from the year-ago earnings of 623 million yen.

All subscriptions succeed or fail based on the value they offer, but video game subscriptions have a unique opportunity to provide value in creative ways.

Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are doing great things with their respective game subscriptions. Sony's PlayStation Plus offers three separate tiers of across a vast library of titles, Nintendo Switch Online is essentially a vault of nostalgia that contains a dearth of beloved old-school video games, and Game Pass is arguably the best per-dollar value with over 400 games across PC and console. There's just a little something missing: Creativity.

These subscriptions offer value across a wide spectrum of gaming content but there's more ways to provide value outside of a massive games library. The games themselves might be unique, but there's not a lot of things that set these subscriptions apart in terms of form and function. The basics are the same across all three: Pay a monthly fee to play X amount of games.

Amid weakening yen and sales slips, Sony's Games and Network Services division reported noteworthy losses for the Q2 period.

Sony's latest Q2 FY2022 earning report shows significant year-over-year losses for its PlayStation games business, including a 59% drop in operating income when converted to USD. While most of PlayStation's business channels were affected by the Q2 drop, its most lucrative segment was hit the hardest: Microtransactions.

According to the figures provided by Sony and converted by us, PlayStation's Add-On Content segment revenues dropped to the lowest point since 2019. Add-On Content includes microtransactions from both premium and free-to-play games, DLC, and expansions, and typically makes most of Sony's quarterly and annual revenues.

PlayStation's monthly active users (MAUs) have dropped to the lowest point since 2019 as consumers react to new real-world conditions and an inflation market.

Sony's latest Q2 FY2022 report shows clear downward trends in gaming for the quarter ending September 30, 2022. PlayStation's Games & Network Services metrics were down in almost every relevant metric, from overall revenues and operating income (down 11% and 59%, respectively) and overall game unit sales (down 18%) to monthly active users, one of the most important figures for the games division.

According to the data, PlayStation's monthly active users (MAUs) were down to 102 million in Q2'22, representing a drop of 1 million users in a quarter-over-quarter basis, and a reduction of 2 million users on a year-over-year basis. The Q2 period actually had the lowest MAU count in the last three years. Pre-pandemic PlayStation MAUs were 96 million in Q2'19, and then shot up to 106 million during Q3'19 to reflect seasonal holiday boosts.

Forza Horizon 5 is getting a new update that will add in support for NVIDIA DLSS 2.0 and AMD FSR 2.0 upscaling technologies, as well as improved ray tracing for PC gamers.

Playground Games explained on the official Forza Motorsport website that the upcoming "Donut Media" series update will be available on the Microsoft Store and Steam on November 8. The developer explained that they've "enhanced" the DirectX Raytracing on the PC with two new presets: Ultra and Extreme.

The developer explains that the beefed-up ray tracing on the PC will see true-to-life reflections for the player car in both Free Roam and Races, as well as "realistic" Drivatar reflections in Photo Mode. Ray tracing will continue to be available in Forzavista, just like it is now.

Sony reported noticeable drops for PlayStation gaming in Q2 due to a weakening yen and tough comparisons against last year.

Sony's Q2 FY2022 period saw sharp declines in nearly all relevant metrics.

Our analysis is presented in USD based on foreign exchange rates published in Sony's earnings documents. These numbers reflect the weakening yen and other major factors including tough comparisons (Sony's Q2 FY2021 period delivered strong results with record revenues of $5.86 billion).

Sony says that third-party juggernauts like Call of Duty will help prop up its earnings after noticeable Q2 losses.

Sony's latest Q2 earnings report is full of misses for the PlayStation giant. Operating profit was down 59% to $305 million, game sales were down nearly 14 million units, and total segment revenues were down by $647 million over last year. MAUs are down 1 million users, punctuating steep declines in MAUs from Q3 2021's previous high point, and PlayStation Plus subscribers dropped by nearly 2 million.

Company CFO Hiroki Totoki says that content has been sluggish through Q2, and that third-party games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 will help buoy the PlayStation brand against these forecast and sales misses. Totoki also expresses confidence in big first-party games like God of War Ragnarok, however these first-party titles have historically sold significantly less than their third-party counterparts.

The PS5's recent price increase has not slowed consumer demand, Sony corporate has said.

To combat inflation and a weaker yen, Sony has raised the PlayStation 5's retail price across all major worldwide regions except in the United States. This cost hike hasn't deterred gamers, though, and Sony indicates that consumers are still very eager to buy PS5 hardware. In fact, Sony highlighted that the PS5 sold 100,000 units in just 17.5 hours in the US, but this region wasn't affected by the price hike.

What about other countries? According to Sony, the PS5's price jump isn't affecting demand. The company says it will have an ample stockpile of 18 million shipments to meet consumer demand over this fiscal year, and that 6.5 million PS5s were produced in Q2 alone.

Capcom has updated its best-selling games list and reveals strong growth for its best-selling video game brands.

As part of its Q2 2022 earnings results, Capcom has refreshed the sales figures for major franchises like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter--all of which saw a healthy uptick in combined physical and digital unit sales.

According to the figures, Capcom sold a total of 9.6 million games during the Q2 period, and these top game series made up basically all of the game sales.

Hideo Kojima reiterates that his new game will establish a "new medium," and his words reinforce predictions that we had made years ago.

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima is working on multiple new games right now. One of them should be Death Stranding 2. There's also a new project called Overdose that stars Margaret Qualley. Then there's a game that Kojima is making for Xbox, which is sad to be a cloud-based experience. It's unknown if the cloud game and Overdose are one and the same.

Whatever the case, Kojima has been ramping up cryptic marketing teasers for one of these new projects, including images of confirmed actresses that will star in the game. Elle Fanning was previously announced as a star in one of Kojima's new projects, and now Kojima has recently confirmed that Deadpool 2 actress Shioli Kutsuna will also star alongside Fanning.

Ex-Dragon Age and Anthem executive producer Mark Darrah has a particular opinion on the free-to-play microtransaction market--he believes it is "doomed to collapse."

Before departing in 2020, Mark Darrah had spent 23 years with BioWare. In those two decades, Darrah saw EA shift from a game-centric company to a service-first publisher with an eye for billion-dollar microtransactions. Now EA is a behemoth of live services with Apex and Ultimate Team pulling in billions of dollars, however back in the Dragon Age heyday, they were mostly trying to sell games. Over the years, Darrah has also seen microtransactions added into premium games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and BioWare's failed Anthem action IP.

But what about the free-to-play market, which is by far the largest sector in the games industry? According to Darrah, the billion-dollar house of cards will eventually tumble down.

Eidos Montreal is now free to make a new Deus Ex game, but it has to keep itself afloat first...and that means work-for-hire jobs.

A new Deus Ex game is in development, but it won't be ready for a long time. Sources have told Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that Eidos Montreal is currently in "very, very early" planning stages for a new Deus Ex project. In the meantime Eidos Montreal will need to pull in revenues in between game releases and that means it has to tackle other projects.

A bit ago Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Eidos' mobile division to Embracer Group for $300 million. This sale included the studios and popular IPs like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and others. Embracer has given both Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal free rein over these IPs and both studios now have freedom over what projects they work on.