Gaming - Page 393

Microsoft's cloud infrastructure makes one of the most popular video games on the planet playable anytime, anywhere.

Fortnite is not only free-to-play, but it's now also free-to-stream. Thanks to Microsoft's xCloud technology, gamers can stream Fortnite on mobile devices, consoles, tablets, and even PCs completely for free. One of the most accessible games in the industry just opened up even more.

Fortnite is the first free streamable game offered on Microsoft's xCloud network. Outside of Fortnite, all other games require an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in order to stream on the service.

2K Games developer Hangar 13 loses two high-profile leads as the studio starts work on the next Mafia game.

Hangar 13, the developer behind the popular Mafia games, is getting a core leadership shake up as the studio pivots from original IPs over to its mainstay hit mobster franchise. A new Mafia game built on Unreal Engine 5 is currently in early stages of development, sources tell Kotaku. The project is supposedly a prequel.

Today the studio announced that Haden Blackman, who served as president of Hangar 13 for 9 years, is leaving. Haden says he "built Hangar 13 from one individual developer into a talented, cross-functional team operating across locations in California and the Czech Republic," helping oversee development of Mafia III and the ambitious remaster collection.

Square Enix will retain IP and publishing rights to People Can Fly's new game Project Gemini, new financial documents reveal.

Today we reported that Outriders wasn't profitable in 2021, and that People Can Fly didn't receive royalty payments from the game throughout the year. As per the contract agreement People Can Fly signed with Square Enix, the developer surrendered both IP and publishing rights to the Outriders franchise and will not receive post-release compensation until the game makes a profit.

The same terms will apply to People Can Fly's new game Project Gemini, which is also being published, marketed, and distributed by Square Enix. The Japanese publisher will own all IP and publishing rights to Project Gemini just like it does with Outriders. People Can Fly signed the Project Gemini agreement with Square Enix in 2020.

Following substantial combined $200 million losses on Marvel's Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy games, Square Enix has also made a loss on its new multiplayer looter-shooter Outriders.

Outriders didn't break even throughout 2021, new financial reports from People Can Fly have confirmed. The game was released in April 2021, and despite being on the market for three quarters of the year, Square Enix has yet to make revenues from the game that exceed its development, marketing, and distribution budget.

While Square Enix has yet to make a formal announcement--and they likely won't outside of their upcoming full-year 2021 results report on May 13--the loss is inferred by People Can Fly's latest documents. Square Enix has previously said that Outriders exceeded their expectations on many metrics including digital sales and active users.

NetEase, China's second-largest video games company, has opened a new studio in the United States.

As Square Enix pulls out of the West, other major players are just getting started in the region. NetEase today announced that it has opened a new first-party game studio with one of the industry's most prominent live experts at the helm.

NetEase's new Jakalope Games is based in Austin, Texas and will be led by games veteran Jack Emmert, who spent decades crafting premiere live games like Neverwinter, Star Trek Online, and CD Universe Online.

Activision-Blizzard launched the new Overwatch 2 PvP beta test last week, and now the developer has provided some of the feedback it has received from players so far.

Overwatch 2 is changing things up in a few ways: with the largest being the shift from 6v6 to 5v5, and some players don't like that. I'm a huge fan of Overwatch -- and I've been playing the Overwatch 2 PvP beta -- and the change to 5v5 isn't the best. But hey, that's me.

Blizzard said: "The main goals for our first Beta were to test our shift to 5v5, the new maps and Push game mode, overall balance, and build and server stability. We believe 5v5 is a significant adjustment for players, and we have been happy to hear consistent and positive feedback about players having more fun, feeling a greater sense of impact in their matches, and enjoying a faster pace of combat and engagements".

Activision is facing court complaints once more and this time it's by New York City's municipal retirement branches. Here's what you need to know.

Many of New York City's municipal pensions and retirement funds have invested into Activision-Blizzard, making them bona-fide shareholders in the billion-dollar company. The shareholders in question include New York City employees' retirement system, New York City fire department pension fund, New York City board of education retirement system, and teachers' retirement system for the City of New York. All of these branches are suing Activision-Blizzard for failing to deliver specific documents.

The lawsuit alleges the plaintiffs started to prepare a derivative claim as far back as October 2021, when the controversial sexual harassment reports broke out and caused Activision-Blizzard's stock to plummet. The plaintiffs were preparing their own suit (in this case, the derivative claim) that has been described as "lucrative," meaning the plaintiffs likely expected Activision to settle the case for a specific amount.

Activision-Blizzard confirms nearly 1/3rd of its total employee headcount is working on the Call of Duty franchise.

Call of Duty is by far Activision-Blizzard's most important and lucrative franchise. Annual releases paired with two multi-billion dollar F2P games have helped push company revenues to all-time highs from 2020-2021.

Activision now says it is doubling-down on Call of Duty investments. Over 3,000 people are working on the franchise, representing 31% of its total employee headcount (9,800) and nearly half of its total developers (6,800). The publisher says it is developing "the most ambitious plan" in franchise history, which will culminate in Modern Warfare II and the new revamped Warzone.

Bungie today spoke out against one of the most controversial court decisions of our modern age.

Leaked reports from Politico indicate the United States Supreme Court will reverse abortion rights outlined in Roe v. Wade court ruling in the 1970s. This would effectively grant discretion of abortion laws and rights to individual states, who could choose to outlaw abortions. The ruling has sent cultural shockwaves throughout the United States as thousands gather to protest against the decision.

Video game makers typically stay silent during these political endeavors, but not Bungie. The Destiny maker has spoken out against the decision, and has declared that the Supreme Court's draft is a "direct attack on human rights."

Ubisoft's founding Guillemot family is reportedly looking to buy out all company shares and take the company private to prevent a hostile takeover.

Reports indicate that big equity firms like BlackRock (who owns stakes in EA, Take-Two, and Activision) are mulling over buyout offers and force a hostile takeover of Ubisoft.

New reports suggest the Guillemot family, who founded Ubisoft in 1986, will go so far as to take the company private in order to retain ownership. Sources have told Dealreporter that the Guillemots--which includes current acting CEO Yves Guillemot--may team up with a private equity firm to buy out all remaining Ubisoft shares and maintain control over the company.

Overwatch is one of Activision-Blizzard's billion-dollar franchises, but the game didn't manage to break into the top spots in the last 3 years.

Activision-Blizzard's three most important franchises are Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and Warcraft. First-person arena shooter Overwatch was once among the studio's top stars, but after six years the game is getting long in the tooth.

Activision-Blizzard's latest financials reveal that Overwatch and other franchises like Diablo and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater did not manage to make even 10% of the company's revenues across the last three years. The majority of these earnings were completely dominated by the Top Three and Overwatch is having tough comps.

Square Enix spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year on its video games production account, and in FY2022 it spent more than it ever has before.

A quick look at Square Enix's game investment spending gives perspective on why it sold its Western game development division to Embracer. Square Enix cut its losses after losing an estimated $200 million from Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, both games failing to recoup even their development budgets let alone make a profit.

According to data provided by the publisher and compiled and converted by us, Square Enix's game investment spending can vary quite a bit depending on what it's plans are. In the last six years, Square Enix has spent over $3 billion to fund its in-development projects, with the last two years jumping up to $711 million (FY21) and a record $792 million (FY22).

Blizzard's new Warcraft mobile game is a so-called "tower offense" RTS battler where gamers can customize troops and take on combatants.

Today Blizzard revealed Arclight Rumble, a new Warcraft RTS that's actually coming to mobile instead of PC. The game is similar to billion-dollar mobile titan Clash Royale in scope and presentation, only in Arclight Rumble gamers will lead their forces across a multitude of maps to battle towering bosses, huge obstacles like enemy ships, and teeming hordes of enemies.

Arclight Rumble also features co-op, a singleplayer campaign, and PVP. Microtransactions are in, of course, and real money can be used to buy more units.

One of IO Interactive's top talent has joined Crytek to work on the next Crysis game.

Crysis 4 was announced in January as being in "early stages of development", and now the game's dev team is starting to take shape.

According to a new announcement from Crytek, Hitman 3 game director Mattias Engstrom has joined the studio and will now serve as game director on Crysis 4.

Square Enix's two Marvel games have led to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, reports indicate.

Square Enix is cutting its losses and selling Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and a bunch of IPs including Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to Embracer Group in a deal worth $300 million. We've talked in length on why Square Enix is selling, but one word summarizes it all: losses.

According to MST Financial senior analyst David Gibson, Square Enix lost a whopping $200 million from Marvel games Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy: "In a little under two years, Square Enix lost $200 million on two Marvel games."

It appears live service flop Avengers and the highly-rated Guardians of the Galaxy games are included in Embracer's recent buyout deal.

Embracer Group made a sweeping $300 million deal to buy Square Enix's Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Canadian mobile games division. Each studio's original IPs and games are also coming with the deal, including hit franchises like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and Thief.

Interestingly enough, it looks like Square Enix is also shedding Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy--two very expensive games that cost the publisher hundreds of millions in losses.

Blizzard will reveal its new Warcraft mobile game tomorrow, but it won't be the AR game that was previously in development.

Activision-Blizzard has plans to bring all of its major IPs to mobile. First there was Diablo Immortal, and now Warcraft is also getting adapted to gaming's most lucrative platform. So what is Blizzard working on?

Back in 2018, it was believed Blizzard was developing an AR-based Warcraft game in the vein of Pokemon Go. Players would walk around the real-world with the fictional world of Azeroth laid over it, complete with combat and encounters. That project has been scrapped, sources have told Windows Central's Jez Corden and Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

SCUF has just unveiled some kinda-cute gaming peripherals in its new collaboration with Coca-Cola, yeah the drink... has teamed up with the gaming company for a special-edition gaming keyboard, headset, and controller.

The flagship SCUF Reflex Pro Byte controller has a custom theme with Coca-Cola logos across it, with a "special lavender finish". The PlayStation 5 DualSense controller is inspired by the Coca-Cola Byte... which is the "latest creation" from Coca-Cola's new global innovation platform, Coca-Cola Creations.

There's a slightly custom Corsair K85 gaming keyboard available, while a pixelated and retro-style designed mouse pad is also offered in the theme of Coca-Cola. The keyboard has the 'Coca-Cola' logo on the spacebar, with the same color scheme used across the keyboard.

Square Enix plans to sell its entire Western video games division to Embracer Group for $300 million. Here's why.

Today Square Enix and Embracer Group shocked the gaming world. Square Enix announced that it is selling all of its North American and European-operated game studios alongside a ton of intellectual property and franchises to Embracer Group. The deal includes Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and mobile game studio Square Enix Montreal, as well as Square Enix of America. Major IPs like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and Thief are being sold as well.

One big question is why did Square Enix sell? An even bigger question is why did they sell these companies and franchises for so little? The answer requires a more broad look at Square Enix, its trajectory, and an examination of how well these studios have performed.

The modern Tomb Raider and Deus Ex games achieved commercial success in regards to raw sales figures, new data proves.

Despite failing to meet Square Enix's expectations, the Deus Ex duology and Tomb Raider trilogy are immensely popular games. These five AAA titles have sold over a combined 50 million copies across all platforms from 2011 to present day.

Crystal Dynamics says that the Tomb Raider trilogy, which includes the 2013 reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015), and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018), has sold over 38 million copies, making up 43% of total franchise sales (the Tomb Raider series has sold 88 million).