Gaming News - Page 44

Subscription services in games are certainly a contentious topic, and seemingly all AAA publishers are setting out to try and create their own version that provides value proportionate to the cost. However, in the current state of the gaming market, some subscription services are simply of much better value than others.

Whether you like the idea of subscription services or not, they are here to stay, as many publishers have seen a massive rise in popularity for their own subscription services, such as Microsoft's Game Pass or Ubisoft's Ubisoft+. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, director of subscriptions at Microsoft Philippe Tremblay said that in order for subscription services such as Ubisoft+ to expand, gamers will need to become more comfortable not owning their games.

Tremblay is referring to one of the valid points used by people who don't like subscription services, and that is gamers surrender all rights to owning the game they are playing. Tremblay continued and said that consumers moved away from physically collecting CDs or DVDs through subscription services such as Netflix and Spotify, but the gaming industry is moving a bit slower than the two aforementioned transitions.

The highest courts in the United States refuses to weigh in on a landmark gaming case, signalling the final end to the ongoing Epic v Apple trial.

In 2020, shortly after breaking the App Store's terms of service, Epic Games sued Apple for alleged antitrust violations. Without warning, Epic had circumvented the App Store's payment system, instead allowing Fortnite players on iOS to buy digital goods directly from Epic themselves. Apple then pulled Fortnite as a response. Epic sued Apple following Fortnite's ouster from the App Store, citing that Apple was exerting monopolistic control over its app store.

Nearly 4 years of antitrust litigation ensued, leading to an appeals injunction ruling that forces Apple to change its policies. App developers can now inform users of other ways to buy digital goods and content. Predictably, Apple isn't happy about this ruling, and tried to challenge the appeals injunction at the Supreme Court. Epic was likewise not satisfied and also wanted to challenge the ruling.

UK retailer GAME will reportedly stop allowing physical video game trade-ins starting next month.

GAME, one of the most popular gaming retailers in the United Kingdom, plans to cancel its trade-in program at physical locations. Sources tell Eurogamer's Tom Phillips that GAME will stop trade-ins of physical boxed video games at all locations starting in February 2024.

There is no change to GAME's trade-in policy at the time of publication.

Software is still the main driver for the video games market, but subscriptions may one day become the dominant model. This won't happen until consumers shift their behavior.

The video game subscription market has considerably evolved over the years. Prompted by Microsoft's forward-thinking Xbox Game Pass, both Sony and Nintendo now have their own competing multi-game services. The aggressive value model has attracted tens of millions of paid subscribers that regularly contribute to the relatively new billion-dollar gaming segment.

What would it take for subscription to overtake software sales? First, consumers would need to change their habits. This process is already underway as we speak. Microsoft and Sony are trying to convince gamers to be less reliant on full game purchases and instead buy into recurring subscriptions--that's why PS Plus and Game Pass offer such incredible value at the moment. There's potentially more revenue that way, but a lot more upfront spending (and even losses).

AI-powered consoles may be on the horizon for Gen10, but what will the video games market look like in Gen11 and beyond? How will gaming evolve in 2030 onward? We have some ideas.

Every new console generation brings major new innovations to gaming. The Gen8 console market introduced multi-game subscriptions, a shift towards digital, and a wealth of new games. Gen9, the current generation that includes the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, delivered major technological innovations like robust backwards compatibility, new graphics capabilities, and faster loading via SSDs. Gen10, which could start as soon as 2027 with a new Xbox console, may be centered around artificial intelligence with dedicated AI-acceleration via chips with NPUs (Neural Processing Unit).

AI-enabled consoles could become a foundation for multiple shifts across Gen11 and beyond, assuming consoles aren't phased out in Gen10 (I don't think this is likely for a number of reasons).

Ubisoft fragments its subscription service with a new innovative pricing tier.

In order to be successful, subscription services like Netflix, HBO Max, and even Xbox Game Pass need to fluidly adapt to change. We've seen practically every streaming service morph and shift over the years--Netflix went from ad-free viewing being a major selling point to offering a lower-cost subscription tier with ads built right in.

Now the multi-game subscription market is also adapting to change. This time, we're seeing subscriptions fragment their content offerings with new pricing schemes to match. Ubisoft is among the first to introduce this major new innovation to the video game subscription market with the goal of better matching consumers' content needs.

Last year, 11 bit studios announced that it was partnering with AMD and would work closely with them to integrate and leverage Radeon technologies in its upcoming games on PC and console. This includes FSR 3 and frame generation, which led to 8K gameplay footage of The Invincible running on a PC equipped with an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX GPU.

As a developer, 11 bit studios is known for creating thematically rich, dark, and engaging experiences with hard choices to make - personified with its brilliant post-apocalyptic city builder and sim Frostpunk. Set in a new ice age and a frozen dystopian world, players were presented with making hard choices about who to feed, whether to put children to work and choosing the look and layout of civilian housing.

The combination of narrative and city-building was original and groundbreaking - like a twisted version of Sim City or Cities: Skylines. A critical success, 11 bit announced Frostpunk 2 a while back, but today, we've finally got our first look at gameplay.

Blizzard is about to perform some major changes to Overwatch 2, with the developer explaining in a recent blog that it will be providing ALL heroes with passive healing abilities in Season 9.

Overwatch 2's upcoming Season 9 will see both Tank and Damage heroes getting a modified, tuned-down version of the self-healing passive ability that Support heroes have. Blizzard explained: "In Season 9, both Tank and Damage heroes will get a modified, tuned-down version of the Support self-healing passive. This should give non-Support players more options in terms of sustaining themselves. It should also take some of the pressure off Support players to keep everyone alive since individual players now have more control of their own health pool".

Blizzard continued: "In Overwatch, there is a constant tug of war between the power of a team and the power of an individual hero or player. A change like this shifts that balance a bit. This is something that we are constantly evaluating. We still want Overwatch to be defined by team strategy and mechanics, but we feel this can be pulled back a bit now and possibly more in the future".

The CEO of the developer of Cities: Skylines 2 has written a blog post about the growing toxicity in the game's community, and how that might potentially mean the devs pulling back from engaging with players as a result.

PC Gamer spotted the post, in which chief exec of Colossal Order, Mariina Hallikainen, writes:

"Last but not least, we have seen a growing tendency of toxicity in our community, something we have not experienced to this extent before. Not only directed towards our devs but also our fellow community members - resulting in people hesitating to engage with the community."

"In the long run, this will really hurt not only the mood and the happiness of community members but also discourage creativity and modding, something we would be very sad to see."

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League just revealed its PC system requirements and they aren't bad on the whole, but there is a thorn in the side for some, perhaps - this is another game that stipulates the need for an SSD.

Mind you, these days, if you haven't got an SSD, you're seriously missing out. The difference between SSD and HDD in terms of loading times and general system responsiveness is night and day, so it's the one upgrade you should definitely make if you haven't already done so.

At any rate, back to those system requirements, which were aired via Steam (hat tip to PC Gamer) and you can see in the above screenshot.