Gaming - Page 346

Jedi: Survivor will leverage AMD's gaming tech and will be bundled with the new Ryzen 7000 series processors.

At CES 2023, AMD CEO Lisa Su made an interesting statement: The new Star Wars Jedi: Survivor sequel was "developed by Ryzen, for Ryzen," confirming that Respawn's team used Ryzen CPUs to make the adventure game. This isn't something that gamers really think about and we could see the game performing very well on Ryzen processors.

The new Jedi fantasy is an official AMD-partnered game and will actually be included with new Ryzen 7000 CPU purchases. The game's product page on AMD's website also confirms Jedi: Survivor will utilize Team Red's graphics tech, FidelityFX Super Resolution for boosted frame rates and FreeSync Premium Pro for more vivid HDR visuals with the added bonus of low-latency gaming.

Worsening macroeconomic conditions are forcing big tech to fire thousands of workers, and this trend could continue through 2025. Will it affect Microsoft's aspirations of buying Activision?

Today's inflation market has triggered mass layoffs have in the tech sector, with Amazon shedding up to 18,000 people and Microsoft firing 1,000 workers. Structural reform is common in this industry but the economic environment is pushing companies to aggressively cut costs, especially after record highs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now companies are being hit on two sides with tougher comps and lower earnings as consumers move towards necessities like rent and food instead of new smartphones, services, and games. From the sound of it the layoffs may just be starting.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently told CNBC that the next 2 years will be the most challenging as companies like the tech giant stabilize and adjust to a new uncertain normalization of the market.

NVIDIA is supercharging GeForce Now with the raw power of GeForce RTX 4080 cards in a new Ultimate subscription tier for $19.99/month.

NVIDIA's GeForce Now game streaming service will soon leverage GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards to deliver 64TFLOPs of high-end PC gaming performance wirelessly over the internet. RTX 4080 game streaming is available in a new Ultimate membership subscription, which replaces the highest tier that previously offered RTX 3080 game streaming quality.

With the might of GeForce RTX 4080 cards, the new GeForce Now Ultimate subscription boasts 4K resolution and up to 240FPS using DLSS 3.0, complete with NVIDIA Reflex integration to significantly reduce latency below 40ms, which is extremely important for any remote game streaming service.

Best Buy has good news and bad news for consumers who use the My Best Buy rewards program.

Reports indicate that Best Buy will start offering free shipping to all My Best Buy members with no minimum purchase requirement. This is a big step towards e-commerce from the retailer, who had posted a reduction of 16% in nine-month earnings in 2022 driven by lower revenues. That's the good news.

The bad news is that starting in mid-February consumers will no longer be able to earn rewards points unless they have a My Best Buy Credit Card.

A developer map called "Zombie_City" that is reportedly created by either Valve or Turtle Rock Studios has leaked online.

The leak of the developer map is part of a larger leak of Counter-Strike maps, and more importantly, Zombie City is a mod for Counter-Strike: Source, which was previously not playable - until now. Notably, Zombie City isn't a fully fleshed-out level as it doesn't actually feature any zombies, but instead, players go up against AI terrorists that can only attack with melee.

Turtle Rock founder Michael Booth discussed the idea behind Zombie City and explained that as the team was developing bots for Counter-Strike: Source, they play-tested levels where developers were armed with automatic weapons and faced off against 30+ knife-wielding terrorists. Booth says that as the team experimented with more prototypes, they kept finding themselves coming back to players versus hordes of AI, or as Booth says, "co-op vs the horde game".

2022 wasn't the best year for video games earnings, a new report from analyst firm Newzoo suggests.

From 2020-2021, pandemic spending sparked record-breaking earnings across gaming's Big 3 (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) and various publishers like Activision-Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, and Electronic Arts. Now in 2022 the video games market is stabilizing itself.

The global games market is expected to make $184.4 billion in 2022, down a significant 4.3% from 2021. A quick bit of math shows that 2022 brought in nearly $8.3 billion less than the previous year. Newzoo's latest annual games market report notes that this is the first year-over-year decline in worldwide games earnings since the company started tracking data.

When will the Microsoft-Activision merger finally be over? Possibly not until 2024.

The $68.7 billion Microsoft-Activision merger has become everyday news. The proceedings just keep developing and there's always something to report on, whether it's interesting info and claims in regulatory documents or announcements from the companies themselves. We've done our diligence to keep up to date on merger reports with our ever-growing merger coverage which can be found here.

Regulators around the world are currently scrutinizing the merger in an effort to determine if it's anti-competitive. So far there have been four jurisdictions that have approved the merger, namely those that are not meaningful contributors to any of the Big 3's earnings (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) nor Activision Blizzard King's earnings. The four regions that have approved the Microsoft-Activision merger include Chile, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.

Microsoft has removed a controversial counterclaim defenses against the Federal Trade Commission's decision to block the Activision merger.

The FTC is challenging Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion buyout of Activision-Blizzard. U.S. regulators are pushing the merger into Phase 3 administrative proceedings, and depending on what happens during this phase, the merger could be litigated in court on an administrative or federal level. Microsoft is prepared to fight for the merger in all courts as well as offer any concessions or remedies required.

As part of the proceedings, Microsoft recently published a 37-page document that defends the merger against the FTC's allegations. The initial document had some interesting defenses. Microsoft had argued that the FTC's block would violate its constitutional Fifth Amendment rights, namely those of Equal Protection. Microsoft had claimed that the FTC's proceedings are not valid because the agency "wields significant executive power" and potentially violates Article II of the U.S. Constitution, and that the FTC's procedures "arbitrarily subject Microsoft to administrative proceedings rather than to proceedings before an Article III judge," thus violating Microsoft's right to procedural process under the Fifth Amendment.

Skybox Labs, a third-party support studio who has helped co-develop some of gaming's most popular shooters and strategy games, has been acquired by NetEase Games.

Following a spree of studio startups and buyouts across Japan, the United States, and Canada, Chinese games titan NetEase is expanding even more. The latest acquisition is Skybox Labs, a dev that's worked on games like Halo 5, Halo Infinite, Age of Empires, and even Grandia II. This is actually the second team of Halo developers that NetEase now has in its ranks, with the first team forming their own studio called Jar of Sparks.

Skybox Labs will remain independently operated under NetEase and the studio's three co-founders Shyang Kong, Derek MacNeil and Steven Silvester leading the teams. Skybox will also continue its current path in helping other studios bring their games to life as a support studio.

CES 2023 - ASUS' Republic of Gamers lineup has revealed the Raikiri Pro enthusiast controller with interesting new features.

The ROG Raikiri Pro is yet another premium enthusiast-grade controller coming to the market in Q1 2023. What makes the Raikiri Pro stand out from other gamepads is the small built-in OLED panel strip that can add extra flair.

Users can display custom images on the strip, but it's pretty small at 1.3 inches, offers 128x40 resolution, and is limited to just grey. The strip will show various things like battery life and which profile is currently set--gamers can switch between multiple custom profiles--and can even display animated GIFs.

UK regulators at the Competition for Markets Authority have delayed their final decision on the Microsoft-Activision merger by eight weeks in an effort to better understand the complexity of the games market. Depending on the CMA's current angle, this delay could help or hinder Microsoft's chances in passing the merger.

Although the Microsoft-Activision merger has been approved in four jurisdictions, the billion-dollar games companies are facing opposition from three key worldwide markets: the United States (FTC), United Kingdom (CMA), and Europe (EC). All three of these regulatory bodies have delivered initial remarks and issue statements that criticize the deal, and the FTC has moved to a Phase 3 administrative proceeding in which it is prepared to bring the merger in front of an internal judge for a ruling. Microsoft, however, is prepared to defy the FTC and attempt to close the deal and defend itself in a federal trial.

While neither the CMA or the European Commission have tried to block the merger as the FTC has, both are scrutinizing the deal for any potential anticompetitive effects. The process is lengthy and requires examination, interpretation, and compilation of thousands of internal documents that include various data metrics and information sheets, alongside executive testimony and consultation from industry experts. That's why the CMA has delayed its final report deadline by 8 weeks and now expects to have something ready no later than April 26, 2023.

The United Kingdom's Competition for Markets Authority (CMA) has delayed the deadline for its final report on the Microsoft-Activision merger.

UK antitrust regulator CMA has published a new administrative timetable for its decision-making deadlines on the Microsoft-Activision merger. The CMA now expects to make a final decision on whether or not the merger should go through in late April.

The CMA's statutory period--which is when everything should be wrapped up--is now set for April 26, 2023. The regulators had originally expected to deliver a final report on March 1, 2023. This means the CMA will make its decision on the merger on that date.

CES 2023 - Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 5's new accessibility controller platform.

PlayStation's studios are widely praised for a wide breadth accessibility options in their games, but Sony has yet to make its own version of the excellent Xbox Adaptive Controller. Until now, that is.

On stage at CES, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan revealed Project Leonardo, a new accessibility platform that's extremely customizable, adaptive, and versatile for disabled gamers. Sony is working directly with gamers and organizations to ensure Project Leonardo meets all the needs of players everywhere.

CES 2023 - Sony has announced new console sales figures and confirms that Holiday 2022 was the best period for PlayStation 5 console sales yet.

The PlayStation 5 console has now sold-through over 30 million consoles to date, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan announced on stage at CES 2023. These numbers are significant for two reasons: Sony rarely gives out sell-through data, which is actual sales to consumers and not shipments to retailers, and the figure implies that PS5 shipments have surpassed previous numbers.

As of September 30, 2022, Sony confirmed the PlayStation 5 has sold-in, or shipped, 25 million units globally. The resulting jump from 25 million to 30 million confirms that Q3 2022 was the best period for PS5 sales. Depending on demand and availability, shipments are typically higher than sell-through numbers. Sony's Jim Ryan addressed this by saying December 2022 was the best period of all time for PS5 console sales.

The Last of Us franchise has now become Sony's third best-selling modern first-party PlayStation franchise of all time, beating Spider-Man game sales.

Naughty Dog's violent opus The Last of Us has amassed 37 million sales, the developer today announced in a special update post. The series is poised to celebrate its 10 year anniversary in 2023 and Sony is prepared to mark the occasion with a info blowout on the upcoming Last of Us live game.

"We are so proud to share that the entire The Last of Us franchise has sold through more than 37 million copies globally as of December 2022, and is continuing to reach new and old players every day. To know that Joel, Ellie, and our whole cast of characters have been experienced and loved by so many of you drives the entire studio forward," the developer wrote in the post.

Microsoft is prepared to fight the FTC tooth and nail should its $68.7 billion Activision merger proposal be approved by overseas regulators.

Yesterday the FTC's Chief Administrative Law Judge Michael Chappell held a pretrial scheduling conference with lawyers from the FTC, Microsoft, and Activision. While the call was routine and procedural, Microsoft's counsel Beth Wilkinson revealed the company will attempt to close the merger with Activision if the deal is approved by the United Kingdom's Competition for Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission's antitrust regulators.

Why is this significant? Microsoft is willing to go to federal court to defend the merger and is also willing to play hardball with the Federal Trade Commission. The trillion-dollar tech giant has high confidence that the deal is not in violation of antitrust or anticompetition law. If Microsoft tries to close the deal, the FTC will need to file an injunction and challenge the merger in a federal court.

Despite recent negative trends, Square Enix reiterates plans to aggressively invest in blockchain gaming in the hopes of capturing the nascent Web 3.0 market.

In the span of a year, NFTs, blockchain, and cryptocurrency went from a hot topic among video game publishers to practically falling off the planet entirely. There's a good reason for that: the market is extremely volatile and speculative. Crypto is embroiled in controversy, especially with the recent developments with FTX. Previous attempts to further the market have failed: Konami and Ubisoft both cashed in on the NFT trend to muted success, damaging their reputations among gamers in exchange for paltry sums of crypto.

Despite the obvious significant risks, Square Enix still wants in on this new market and the publisher is spending big on adapting its core franchises into blockchain games. In a recent New Year's Letter, Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda makes optimistic comments about blockchain.

Square Enix aspires to release and publish its games simultaneously across the globe, however PlayStation exclusivity deals are holding back the Japanese video games company.

Square Enix and Sony have a decades-long relationship that's as old as the PlayStation platform. The Final Fantasy maker has signed multiple lucrative exclusivity deals with PlayStation in an effort to secure upfront royalties and to continue Sony's so-called virtuous cycle where success brings more success over time. Now after many years of such deals, PlayStation has become the dominant platform that publishers like Square Enix simply can't afford to ignore, which gives Sony significant power when negotiating deals with third-party partners like Square Enix.

Meanwhile, faced with a rapidly diminishing yen and record-breaking game development spending, the Japanese publisher wants to expand its horizons onto the global video games market. In a recent New Year's Letter, Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda outlines an interesting plan to unify the company's publishing units across all geographies.

Payday 3 is officially on for a 2023 release, developer OVERKILL has re-confirmed.

After nearly 10 years of heisting, the Payday franchise is set to return to the shooter market with a fully-fledged sequel. Payday 3 will launch in 2023 on consoles and PC with distinct FPS chaos set in a modern day high-tech world, complete with advancements like crypto hacking and more.

To mark the game's incoming release, OVERKILL Software has released a short but sweet teaser that shows the four original clown-faced robbers and promises a "new criminal dawn." The game also has a Steam page that reveals a few quick tidbits about Payday 3's features.

Nightdive's new System Shock remake is schedule to release in early 2023, but we've been here before. Now it looks like the release schedule is locked in.

After nearly 7 years of development, the System Shock remake is almost here. The remake was originally announced in 2016 with a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $1.35 million in just 30 days, however the developers at Nightdive had significantly overestimated their delivery capabilities and had originally expected to launch the System Shock remake in 2017.

Now with years of extra development time and a fully-fledged publisher with Plaion's Prime Matter label, the end is in sight.