Gaming - Page 347

Billion-dollar games titan Embracer Group isn't just buying up tons of game developers--it's also collecting old classics in a major effort in video games preservation.

A bit ago, the Swedish Embracer Group started its Games Archive initiative. The goal is simple: Embracer wants to amass as many retro consoles, games, arcade cabinets, and other rare industry collectibles as possible. Embracer is mostly known for acquiring dozens of game developers and publishers across all segments and industries--from mobile to board games--but the Archive is entirely a passion project.

In a Yahoo Finance article, Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors reveals that the company has spent over $2 million acquiring a treasure trove of irreplaceable video games, consoles, promo banners, and even demo machines from all generations. Embracer's reports frequently mention the Archive and feature photos of various systems and old-school retro titles.

CES 2023 - Dell's Alienware brand reveals another Concept Nyx peripheral, this time a rather strange gamepad that Valve helped pioneer.

Last year Alienware revealed its Concept Nyx lineup including a console-like box for local streaming of high-def games and those experimental UFO controllers from CES 2020. Now at CES 2023, Alienware has revealed its own personal take on Valve's failed Steam Controller from 2015.

The new Concept Nyx PC controller is a stylish gamepad that's futuristic, novel, and familiar all at once. The gamepad features two analog sticks in DualShock-style parallel orientation complemented by a touchpad dial where the D-pad usually is.

The Federal Trade Commission today held its first pretrial hearing in the administrative complaint against the Microsoft-Activision merger.

As previously announced, the FTC has started its pretrial hearings in the Microsoft-Activision merger with a public scheduling conference. The FTC has sued to block the $68.7 billion merger on the grounds of antitrust and anticompetition concerns, however the regulators are bringing the matter to an internal administrative law judge instead of federal court.

During the brief telephone conference, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell, who is overseeing the case, noted that the call was "strictly procedural and not evidentiary." Chappell is referring to the evidentiary period where all parties--Microsoft, Activision, and the FTC--offer evidence, testimony, and expert opinions. The purpose of this meeting was to establish a schedule for future hearings, including a decision date. That schedule has yet to be published.

The FTC has set the first pretrial conference for its administrative lawsuit against the Microsoft-Activision merger.

The United States Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it opposes the Microsoft-Activision merger, and has filed an official administrative complaint against the proposed $68.7 billion buyout. The regulators pose that the merger would give Microsoft an unfair advantage over its competitors, namely Sony, which is named as Microsoft's single competitor in the newly-created "high-performance console" market. Microsoft has formally opposed the FTC's complaint and is prepared to go to court to defend itself against regulators.

Rather than challenging the deal in federal court, the FTC will bring the merger to an internal administrative judge in what could end up being a long trial. The judge in the case, Chief Administrative Law Judge D. Michael Chappell, has now ordered a prehearing scheduling conference to lay out the timings of the trial itself. The prehearing scheduling conference will be held tomorrow, January 3 at 3PM EST and is open to the public (see information below).

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Mobile has made an incredible multi-billion jackpot in microtransaction and battle pass revenues across all worldwide markets since launching in 2018.

Mega-popular F2P hit PUBG Mobile has become one of the best-earning on-the-go games on the market today with over $9 billion lifetime earnings to date. The data comes from number-crunching analyst firm Sensor Tower, who also noted that Genshin Impact made a whopping $4.1 billion in earnings since launching in 2020.

Putting these numbers into perspective reveals surprising results. PUBG Mobile has generated more revenues than the Grand Theft Auto franchise since GTA V's release; according to numbers provided by Take-Two Interactive, the GTA series has made $7.68 billion in net revenues earnings since Grand Theft Auto V released in 2013.

Genshin Impact has generated an incredible $4 billion in revenues in little over 2 years' time, data from Sensor Tower indicates.

Genshin Impact is one of the most popular online games on the market today, and regularly makes billions of dollars in revenues a year. The game is particularly popular in overseas regions like China and Japan, which is mostly dominated by the mobile platform. According to data from Sensor Tower, the mobile version of Genshin Impact has made over $4 billion in lifetime earnings since launching in 2020.

The info was spotted by Reuters tech correspondent Josh Ye, who notes that Genshin Impact has pulled in $4.1 billion+ in microtransaction revenues on mobiles. Previous revenues were at $3.7 billion as of September 2022, and the game had tacked on $340 million in revenues since then.

Taiwanese games rating board TESRI has once again listed an unannounced Silent Hill game, but this time there are pictures and a synopsis that spoils the plot.

A bit ago, Konami revealed a handful of new Silent Hill games including a fully-fledged remake of Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill Townfall, Silent Hill f, and a real-time interactive experience called Silent Hill Ascension. Konami has an extra game that it hasn't revealed yet, but the surprise has been spoiled by Taiwan's ratings committee.

Silent Hill: The Short Message has been rated by TESRI for the PlayStation 5 and actually includes a short snippet that outlines the plot of the game. If you've been paying attention to Silent Hill leaks, then you'll recognize The Short Message as the game that includes the bizarre post-it note monster in previously leaked images.

The Federal Trade Commission has created a new console market that conveniently removes Nintendo from the big picture.

Nintendo is and always has been a major player in the console gaming space. The company is largely credited for saving the video games industry by releasing the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) following the Crash of 1983. Since then, From the release of the Famicom in 1983 to present day, Nintendo has gone on to sell nearly 400 million consoles (including the Switch) and over 5.4 billion games. In modern times, the Nintendo Switch has handily outsold Microsoft's Xbox One and is in second-place among the Big 3's console sales.

Any gamer knows just how big Nintendo is. However, the Federal Trade Commission has isolated Microsoft and Sony into a new "high-performance console market," cutting out Nintendo from this defined group. Instead of the Big 3, it's now the Big 2.

The Microsoft-Activision merger has been approved in Chile, marking the third worldwide regulator to allow the deal to go through.

Chile's Fiscalia Nacional Economica (FNE) regulatory office has approved Microsoft's $68.7 billion merger of Activision-Blizzard, the national agency has announced. Chile's FNE greenlit the deal in Phase 1 proceedings, whereas the deal is being heavily scrutinized in Phases 2 and 3 in the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.

The FNE finds that the merger will not substantially affect or lower competition in the country. However the swift approval is likely due to the fact that Call of Duty is not as popular in Latin America as it is in other regions--which is something that Brazilian regulator CADE also found. The FNE notes that "the relevance of Call of Duty would be comparatively less in Latin America than in other regions of the world."

Sony tells advisory firm MLex that Microsoft's 10-year Call of Duty offer to Nintendo is essentially a diversionary tactic.

Microsoft recently announced that it has offered competitors like Nintendo a binding contract to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo's respective platforms (the Switch and future hardware). Earlier this month, Sony reportedly stepped in to tell the financial experts at MLex that Microsoft's offer to Nintendo was essentially a way to deflect attention.

Sony believes that Nintendo gamers aren't interested in Call of Duty, which is arguable. It's true Nintendo has made over $60 billion from the Nintendo Switch since the system launched in 2017, all without Call of Duty, but the platform does indeed have very gory and mature games like Doom. These games are not among the best-selling titles on Switch, though, as Nintendo's more family-friendly first-party titles make the most sales.

Sony is starting 2023 on the right foot with three great PlayStation Plus freebies available to subscribers next month.

January's free PS Plus games include some awesome yesteryear games. We're not getting anything like day-and-date Xbox Game Pass titles, but the lineup should keep players busy for some time.

The games include one of the more active and popular live games on the market complemented by an indie hit as well as one of the best Star Wars titles ever made.

Gran Turismo is officially the best-selling first-party PlayStation franchise in history, and it may take a while longer before it shows up on PC.

A bit ago, Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi appeared to say that Gran Turismo 7 could arrive on PC. This led to a lot of speculation that the studio was actively exploring opportunities to bring the landmark racing series to PC for the first time, and possibly even developing and/or optimizing a PC version.

Now Yamauchi clarifies these reports by saying Polyphony is not actively working on a PC version of Gran Turismo 7 or any other Gran Turismo game.

It looks like Arkane could be developing more content for its new Deathloop franchise, possibly a fully-fledged sequel or a new expansion.

A recent interview with Deathloop voice actors Jason Kelley, who plays Colt, and Ozioma Akagha, who plays Julianna, may have confirmed that more games and experiences in the lauded grindhouse series may be on the way.

"Do you know the codenames or anything they were using for the game?" the interviewer asked.

Nintendo was reportedly working on a mid-gen Switch upgrade with boosted specs, but the device may have been cancelled for a fully-fledged next-gen Switch model.

We've been reporting on an upgraded Switch for years now--all the way back when Nintendo patented that curious Supplemental Computing Device (SCD) add-on. Throughout that time we've seen lots of rumors pop up regarding a new enhanced Nintendo Switch, including mention of a DLSS-enabled Switch found in an NVIDIA leak and that the new Switch could tap the new T239 Tegra chip built on the 8nm Orin SoC. Sources have also told Bloomberg that new Switch devkits have been released.

Now we have another interesting report on Nintendo's plans for its next Switch. According to Digital Foundry's John Linneman, Nintendo originally had tentative plans to create an upgraded Switch but the model was abandoned (possibly due to significant chip supply issues from COVID-19). Game developer sources told Linneman that Nintendo wanted to create a mid-cycle Switch upgrade--supposedly similar in comparative power as a PS4 Pro is to a PS4--but the project was cancelled so that Nintendo could focus a new next-generation Switch model instead.

A few days ago The New Yorker published an in-depth article on HBO's new The Last of Us television series airing in January, and nestled in the feature was comments about Naughty Dog's upcoming game projects. In the interview, studio co-president Neil Druckmann indicated that the new game was more like a television series than any other game the studio has made so far. The game wasn't specified, of course, and Druckmann has since clarified the quote.

"It's about making our games in an even more collaborative manner! Stoked to show you our projects as soon as we can!" Druckmann said on Twitter.

At the time of writing it appears that Naughty Dog could be working on at least two projects, and they both may or may not be related to The Last of Us universe. Druckmann seems to confirm this when he says projects plural.

Atari's hardware revenues crash by 91% as the company suspends manufacturing of its VCS console.

Atari recently published its half-year earnings for the fiscal year ending March 2023, and the results show a substantial increase in total losses. The once-mighty gaming giant reported a heavy 91% reduction in hardware and "cartridge" sales (a curious term that isn't defined in the document), with this segment generating only 200,000 Euros (about $197,174). Atari notes the drop is because of the underperformance of the VCS console in the retail sector as well, and it should be noted that Atari has suspended production of the consoles and is expected to resume manufacturing in 2023.

According to the figures, Atari made more from blockchain (about 700,000 Euros) than it did from its video games hardware. As you'd expect, Atari makes most of its revenues from games, which includes three new titles that were released in the year as well as a vast library of catalog releases. Atari made 2.8 million Euros (about $2.71 million) from its Games segment. Total revenues were 4.3 million Euros as compared to 6 million Euros from last year, primarily because of the significant drop in hardware earnings.

In an internal memo to employees, Sony Interactive Entertainment President Jim Ryan appears to say he is not worried or fazed by Xbox Game Pass...but the competitor should be worried about Microsoft's value-oriented subscription.

The games industry is rife with disruptive trends that ultimately end up defining an entire generation. We've seen this happen with microtransactions, live services, battle passes, and free-to-play that wraps all of these things together. Now the latest trend is subscription services, and it's all thanks to Xbox Game Pass, a model that is largely seen as the major value-oriented force in the industry.

Xbox Game Pass cannot and should not be ignored. Sony has responded to Xbox Game Pass by making their own PlayStation Plus service more like Game Pass and mimicking the popular and profitable business model--adding value through access to tons of video games for a monthly, quarterly, and yearly fee.

Final Fantasy 16 should be a true next-gen spectacle that leverages the full power of the PlayStation 5's higher-end capabilities.

First-party games usually look the best on any console, whether it's games like Gears of War 5 on the Xbox Series X or Horizon Forbidden West on the PS5. Square Enix is promising to make Final Fantasy XVI shine on PS5 and based on the screenshots and footage we've seen, it could be one of the best-looking third-party games on the platform.

During a recent Final Fantasy XIV livestream, Yoshi-P had some interesting things to say about the development of Final Fantasy XVI and how it will look and play on the PS5. The producer says that FF16 will essentially be a testament to the PlayStation 5's enthusiast-grade performance.

To make a point to the FTC, Microsoft punctuates Xbox's small console market presence by revealing interesting sales data for its gaming hardware.

A bit ago, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it plans to block Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Now Microsoft has officially responded to the FTC's claims with a lengthy 37-page document that dissects the regulator's comments.

Nestled in this document is a curious pie chart with console sales percentages. The data lists how many consoles the Big 3--Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft--sold throughout 2021. Since both Sony and Nintendo publish their respective hardware shipments we are potentially able to extrapolate how many Xbox consoles that Microsoft shipped in 2021.

Polyphony Digital has updated total Gran Turismo game sales, and we've charted that against other major first-party PlayStation franchises.

Sony has some of the most enduring franchises in gaming, but many of its new PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5-era titles have helped supercharge these game series with tens of millions of copies sold across the world.

Looking at sales figures provided by Sony though a series of blog posts, developer updates, and earnings reports, we have a good idea of what PlayStation's top-selling franchises currently are.