Gaming - Page 360

PlayStation games will have a 1 year lead time on consoles over PC, and PS5 games are expected to stay on consoles for at least 1 year before coming to the PC market.

Sony is going all-in on PC and is bringing its once carefully-guarded PlayStation exclusives to Steam and the Epic Games Store. Before now Sony hadn't outlined its exact cadence pattern for bringing PlayStation games to PC; the new venture felt sporadic as older games like Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and Spider-Man all crossing over to PC years after release.

Now as Sony starts ramping up its PC ports with four more releases on the horizon, PlayStation Worldwide Studios boss Hermen Hulst confirms that we should start seeing more PlayStation 5 exclusives jump over to PC. Sony's consoles will now instead have timed-exclusivity on some of its first-party games--a business model that Sony formerly used against competitors, but is now using to help widen availability of its products.

It's official: Actress Elle Fanning will star in Hideo Kojima's new game...but we don't know which one it is.

A bit ago during Tokyo Game Show, Kojima Productions put out teaser images of a shadowy headshot to promote his new project. The woman in teaser image was identified fairly quickly by internet sleuths as Elle Fanning, the sister of actress Dakota Fanning who starred in films like Super 8 and Maleficent.

Now Hideo Kojima has officially confirmed that Elle Fanning will indeed be a main character in his next game. We just don't know which game it is.

God of War Ragnarok is the latest high-production AAA PlayStation game to be coordinated by nearly a dozen game developers, studios, and motion capture groups.

PlayStation games command some of the biggest budgets in gaming and represent significant co-operation between lots of teams. The latest God of War game is no exception and actually had quite a few teams working together on the project.

Sony recently confirmed God of War Ragnarok went gold, meaning it is entirely finished and ready to meet its November 9 release date. Nestled in the announcement is a look at how many studios and teams worked on the new Norse fantasy game; Including Sony Santa Monica, who handled principle development, nine studios, groups, and companies helped make Ragnarok a reality.

Activision-Blizzard creates a new executive role that will discuss news regarding the merger with Microsoft.

As Microsoft's proposed Activision-Blizzard buyout looms, the Call of Duty publisher is gearing up for a big transition period and has appointed a brand new communications executive that will exclusively focus on the merger.

Activision today announced the creation of the Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communications Officer role that will help "share the company's strategic direction and lead its communications efforts." Activision appointed board member Lulu Cheng Meservey as the new comms exec.

Criterion Games is back with Need for Speed Unbound, a new high-octane street racer with a rebellious graffiti art style.

Need For Speed Unbound is due to hit PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC this December, bringing high-performance gaming with a flamboyant anime style. The game mergers cel-shaded NPCs with high-res 3D environments and car models, and there's even comic book-style effects like speed lines and drawn tire smoke.

The new NFS will have an offline singleplayer campaign where players can bet on high-stakes street races, even offering up pink slips to their cars. There's also a seamless multiplayer mode with competitive and free roam activities, and future content planned, which could include monetization.

Sony is taking its first big step in unifying PlayStation games across consoles and PC.

Today Insomniac Games rolled out an update that allows gamers to link PlayStation Network accounts with Spider-Man on Steam. This integration is a big deal for Sony's cross-platform future and is one step closer to full and meaningful integration with its PlayStation games--especially singleplayer games.

The update follows the synergy creation guidelines that we presented days ago. Sony is going about this in the best way possible by offering incentives and rewards for players to link their PlayStation Network and Steam accounts. This development indicates that Sony is open to creating its own type of Ubisoft Connect platform that will offer in-game rewards for completing specific activities--which is something we advised in our content.

Brazil becomes the second worldwide market to approve Microsoft's Activision-Blizzard merger.

Today Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) issued an approval for Microsoft's $68.7 billion buyout of Activision-Blizzard. Brazil is the second worldwide regulator to approve the deal. Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Competition issued a no objection certification in late August.

CADE's filing says the regulatory body "approves the merger without restrictions." This is following weeks of testimonials, data-sifting, and direct oppositions from Sony legal counsel. In August, Sony representation said that "no rival can overtake Call of Duty," arguing that exclusivity of the $30 billion franchise could impact Sony's revenues and harm competition.

The new Witcher games and Cyberpunk 2077 sequel will get multiplayer in some fashion, but CD Projekt RED says singleplayer comes first.

Back in 2016, we reported that Cyberpunk 2077 would have multiplayer. Years later, CD Projekt confirmed they were working on a standalone AAA Cyberpunk game while also announcing The Witcher would get multiplayer as well. While official details are light, CD Projekt continues discussing their plans to bring online multiplayer integration into their biggest games.

In a recent company strategy meeting, CD Projekt management says that multiplayer will be a core focus of the company's efforts moving forward. Multiplayer will be designed to "enhance the singleplayer experience," and will be included in Project Sirius, a new Witcher game in development at The Molasses Flood.

Sony's new PlayStation Stars loyalty program leaves out critical information on how to best earn points, but gamers have discovered specific point ratios.

At first glance the PlayStation Stars program doesn't look great. The landing page shows players will get 50 points for completing a campaign to buy specific games. Some of these games, like NBA 2K23, are $69.99. Others, like inscription are $19.99. Sony says that PlayStation Plus subscribers will automatically earn PS Stars points for purchases made on the PS Store, but it doesn't tell you how much.

Gamers have discovered the ratio. Sony will reward 10 PS Stars points for every $1 that PlayStation Plus subscribers spend on games. So if you by NBA 2K 23 for $74 after tax, you'll earn 740 points plus the 50 points from completing the campaign objective.

Microsoft has assuaged consumers, investors, and gamers with claims that it will still be the gaming underdog after the $68.7 billion Activision-Blizzard merger, but Xbox is actually beating one of its major competitors right now.

In a new blog post discussing the merits of the Activision-Blizzard merger, Microsoft assures readers that it will remain number 3 in the pecking order behind Sony and Nintendo. "Greater competition in traditional gaming, where Sony and Nintendo will remain the biggest," Microsoft said.

This is an interesting claim and it's certainly not all-encompassing (for example, PlayStation makes most of its money from microtransactions, and that's not the more traditional hardware-software market). In fact, Xbox is actually beating Nintendo right now in revenues. Weaker yen has carved out sizable chunks of converted earnings from all Japanese games companies and Nintendo is no different.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is just the beginning. CD Projekt RED confirms that it has more plans to expand into TV shows and films based on its popular brands.

Gaming is no stranger to transmedia, but Edgerunners, the new Cyberpunk anime on Netflix, helped spark Cyberpunk 2077's comeback story. The game saw a massive influx in players after the anime came out. CDPR said 1 million people logged into the dystopian sci-shooter every day for a full week and the game broke into Steam's top charts, briefly becoming the best-selling game and amassing over 136,000 concurrent players.

On the heels of the successes of both Edgerunners and the Witcher live action series, CD Projekt says it has "many more ideas" on how to expand its business.

CD Projekt RED is letting an external development team work on a new Witcher RPG so that it can focus on new projects.

CD Projekt is working on a ton of new games. The studio announced a new Witcher trilogy codenamed Polaris that is set to release across a six-year span, as well as a fully-fledged sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 that should have multiplayer. There's actually five Witcher projects in development, but CD Projekt is only involved in four of them.

Following major tech and IP expansion, CD Projekt is handing off the development of one of its new Witcher games to another developer. The game is codenamed Canis Majoris (which roughly translates to "big dog") and is described as a story-driven, singleplayer open-world RPG.

The new Witcher saga is a trilogy of games that will all release in less than a decade, CD Projekt RED has officially announced.

Fans will not have to wait long for next Witcher game. CD Projekt today confirmed that its new Witcher saga, which is codenamed Polaris, will consist of three games set in a AAA RPG trilogy, and that the entire saga will be released in six years. This is a massive acceleration for CD Projekt, who typically releases one big AAA game every 4-5 years.

The Polaris saga will be developed using Unreal Engine 5 as part of a multi-year partnership agreement with Epic Games, and is being developed by over 150 people. The saga is in pre-production and should incorporate multiplayer in some way, which will be the first time any Witcher game has had online content. CD Projekt promises that multiplayer will be designed to "enrich the singleplayer experience."

CD Projekt RED has announce its first-ever new original IP that's built from the ground up within the studio.

Today was a big day for CD Projekt. The studio announced four major new game projects alongside Project Hadar, the first wholly-owned new IP that the studio has ever made.

Up until now CD Projekt has licensed two franchises, The Witcher and Cyberpunk, to make its games. The studio doesn't own these properties and has to pay rights holders royalties on a pre-arranged basis. But now CD Projekt wants to be in total control over creation, direction, and the overall business of a game--that's why they're developing Project Hadar.

CD Projekt RED has officially confirmed a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is in development.

Today CD Projekt announced its new company strategy roadmap that outlines games in production and development, including a new Cyberpunk game. The game is called Project Orion, and will be developed by the core CD Projekt RED dev team. From the sound of it, the developer isn't going to make the same mistakes that it did with Cyberpunk 2077's original 2020 release.

Project Orion is described as a "Cyberpunk 2077 sequel that will prove the full power and potential of the Cyberpunk universe."

Activision-Blizzard has officially shut down the servers for the original Overwatch, with a 24-hour blackout between that and the launch of Overwatch 2. But when does Overwatch 2 launch in your country, specifically? Not long from now, folks.

It all kicks off at 12pm PDT on October 4 in LA, which is 3pm EDT in New York, 8pm BST in London, 9pm CEST in Paris, 4pm BRT in Santos, 4am KSR in Seoul, and finally -- 6am AEDT in Sydney, Australia. It's funny, Australia is meant to be in the future and not even a real country, yet they (we, I'm an Australian Overwatch gamer) have to wait until tomorrow.

PC gamers who purchased the Overwatch 2 Watchpoint pack or are an Overwatch prime player, pre-loading Overwatch 2 should've already started by now. Console gamers will have to wait, with pre-loading of Overwatch 2 kicking off on consoles at 9am PDT on October 4.

The release of Overwatch 2 is literally right around the corner, with my favorite game -- Overwatch -- having its servers closed down (forever) a few hours ago... Overwatch 2 drops in the next 24 hours, and now Secretlab has your back (quite literally) with their new Overwatch 2 Collection gaming chairs.

Secretlab has revealed the first two members of the Overwatch 2 Collection with the Tracer Edition and Genji Edition gaming chairs, which are both available in Small, Regular, and XL versions and upholstered in Secretlab's comfy NEO Hybrid Leatherette.

As usual, the company puts in a wicked amount of detail into the new Tracer Edition and Genji Edition gaming chairs, with Secretlab tweeting out that "next-generation heroics demand next-generation ergonomics. Inspired by two of the most iconic characters in Overwatch history - between cyborg ninja Genji and Tracer the time-jumping adventurer, who's your pick?"

Microsoft has officially launched a dedicated website that's devoted to its proposed $68.7 billion merger with Activision-Blizzard.

Microsoft now has a website for its hopeful acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The site serves as a one-stop shop for archived data, information, and communications from Microsoft regarding the merger, complete with a list of all the benefits that the merger would pose for gamers, creators, and the industry as a whole.

It includes quotes, links, and a diagram expressing how the deal is good for everyone involved--except for maybe Sony, who recently confirmed Call of Duty, a $30 billion franchise that's poised to expand exponentially this year, would only remain on PlayStation for 3 years after existing contracts had ended.

Amazon is responding to Google Stadia's demise with a well-timed sale on its own game streaming platform.

Today Amazon announced a substantial discount on its game streaming service, Luna. Gamers can get the Luna controller and one month of the premium Luna+ subscription service for $39.99, which represents a 43% savings over the bundle's original MSRP of $69.99.

Luna+ includes access to 130 games across AAA, indies, and casual gametypes. The lineup includes hits like Yakuza Like A Dragon, Control, the Castlevania and Contra collections, Metro Exodus, Alien Isolation, and both Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes. Luna+ originally costs $9.99 a month but is free for all Amazon Prime subscribers (shared accounts don't work, however).

If the Activision merger goes through, Microsoft could use Game Pass to deliver in-game content bonuses to key franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, and Overwatch.

Bethesda is celebrating Fallout's 25th anniversary with some freebies. One interesting freebie is one month of Fallout 1st, the premium Fallout 76 subscription service, for all Xbox Game Pass subscribers. This isn't new: Microsoft routinely gives out extra perks and bonuses for Game Pass subscribers.

It did remind me that Game Pass delivers more than just games. It also delivers content. Xbox Game Pass perks could have big implications for Activision-Blizzard's live games should Microsoft's $68.7 billion mega-merger go through. Microsoft could offer extra perks to sweeten the deal and incentivize more Game Pass sign ups. This content wouldn't even have to be exclusive to make a meaningful contribution for adoption and retention (Microsoft has said it will make the same version of Call of Duty available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC if it acquires Activision).