Gaming - Page 452

Quake is back with a huge new enhanced edition on PC and even consoles with 4K resolution support, mods, and tons of other features.

Today Bethesda announced a new upgraded version of the classic 90s shooter Quake. It's not a remake or a reboot, but more of a remastering of the original game with updated 4K graphics and streamlined performance on all platforms. For the first time since the SEGA Saturn days, Quake is coming to consoles.

The goal here is to get a unified and modernized version of Quake simultaneously running on consoles and PC. The game is coming to PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, complete with online multiplayer and crossplay. There's dedicated servers for online multiplayer but custom matches are limited to peer-to-peer networking.

A new Fallout 76 network-wide glitch just gave out a ton of extra atoms to players, but Bethesda doesn't want you to spend them.

Fallout 76's latest bug is eating into the game's revenues and economy. Fallout 76 players are reporting they've randomly received tens of thousands of extra atoms that they didn't pay for. Some say the atom deposits range in 50,000 or more, which is a hefty sum. Real-money conversion is $1 per 100 atoms, which means players received around $500 in free in-game currency.

Bethesda is warning players not to spend these "free" atoms. There's a chance your account could be flagged and could result in a ban from the game or even revocation of services like PlayStation Plus or Xbox LIVE.

Today NCSoft revealed Lineage W, a new sequel in the MMO series that unifies consoles, PC, and even mobiles under one global platform.

Lineage W (also known as Lineage World) is NCSoft's magnum opus. The sequel was developed as if it were the final game in the beloved IP, and the South Korean game dev say they've "put all their efforts" into the game.

The team has an incredibly ambitious idea to converge all of Lineage's global communities into one gigantic and seamless battlefield. The MMORPG is also coming to Nintendo Switch and PS5, complete with cross-play between consoles and PC.

Open-world Viking indie sensation Valheim has now sold a whopping 8 million copies on Steam, making it one of the best-selling indies on the market.

Iron Gate Studios' procedurally-generated exploration game Valheim has sold over 8 million units in just half a year, which is more than some games sell in their entire lifetimes. That's not bad for an eight-person independent studio--actually that's pretty incredible, especially for a game that's still in early access.

"Valheim has now sold over 8 million copies since its release and 1.1 million copies during the quarter which is in line with management expectations," the Embracer Group announced.

Bethesda's new revitalized Quake game may just be a remastered version of Quake 1 with higher-end HD graphics, not a fully fledged remake.

News about an upcoming "revitalized" Quake will be announced today at 2PM during QuakeCon, but it might not be something big. As per SteamDB, Quake 1's beta version has been updated on Steam, possibly indicating Bethesda may just be upgrading the original game instead of launching a new product.

It's also worth noting that the original Quake is among the only games not discounted on the big Steam QuakeCon sale.

CD Projekt RED finally details Cyberpunk 2077's first salvo of post-launch DLC, which includes three smaller content packs.

Cyberpunk 2077's first DLC content isn't a major expansion, but a handful of free content similar to The Witcher 3's various armors, hairstyles, and cosmetics. The new free DLC was released as part of the game's huge new v1.3 update, which fixes major bugs like the save corruption glitch on consoles.

Cyberpunk 2077's free DLC currently includes:

Embracer Group may have teased the rumored Knights of the Old Republic remake once again.

KOTOR is apparently coming back. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier says Apsyr Media is making a new KOTOR remake for modern consoles and PC. Aspyr has been steadily going through the older Star Wars games backlog and has developed remasters of classics like Episode I - Racer, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Jedi Outcast, and Republic Commando for modern platforms.

Now parent company Embracer Group teases Aspyr's big project: "With the inclusion of Apsyr, they have a number of projects...but they have one significant project that has a sizable investment that's internal," Embracer Group CEO Lars Wingefors said in a recent earnings call report.

Gearbox is spending big money on its future, Embracer says this year won't reflect these major investments.

Embracer's subsidiaries are growing fast. Like Saber Interactive, who just acquired three new studios, Gearbox is making power plays to secure long-term growth. Embracer is prepared to pay out up to $1.3 billion for the Gearbox acquisition and the Borderlands devs are using those funds to establish a brighter future.

"I think Gearbox in general will have a stable year, but this is a starting point for them," Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said in a recent earnings call presentation.

Epic Games is under fire for allegedly copying Among Us in Fortnite's new Impostors mode, and gamers are accusing the billion-dollar dev from ripping off Innersloth.

Fortnite now has a very sus new Imposters gametype that looks very, very familiar. Impostors has a very The Thing-style socially conspiratorial elimination system just like Among Us. Just read this excerpt straight from the Fortnite website:

Biomutant's strong sales have helped Embracer Group hit a new all-time Q1 high of 3.4 billion SEK ($391 million) and the game was profitable within a week after its launch.

Experiment 101's Biomutant is a big success. The game has sold over 1 million units since launch and managed to break even in less than a month after it's release. Biomutant also helped parent branch THQ Nordic to rake in a strong 180.9 million SEK (+37% year-over-year)

Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors says that this is just the beginning for the game, and the company expects Biomutant to continue long-term sales over time. He also teases a possible Switch and PS5/Series X release. "We're confident that Biomutant will make future revenues and strong sales in the future, and potentially across other platforms"

Saber Interactive, one of Embracer's biggest subsidiaries, is growing so fast that its management jokingly says they have lost count of its projects.

Saber Interactive has a ton of projects in development. After making three new acquisitions today alone with Fractured Byte (Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 on Switch), mobile expert Demiurge (made up of key Mass Effect, Borderlands devs), and Smartphone Labs (QA testing), the publisher's dev count now exceeds 1,500 contractors and internal workers. Saber also owns 3D Realms and Metro developers 4A Games.

This massive arsenal of developers also comes with an equally massive salvo of games. Saber has a ton of titles in the pipeline right now, but Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors clarifies that most of these games won't release for a while.

Outriders developer People Can Fly tells investors that it hasn't received royalties for game sales, which indicates the game hasn't become profitable yet.

After going public with an IPO, People Can Fly is trying to maintain transparency with investors. This includes regular updates on earnings and game sales. The company just put out a recent post alleging that Outriders, the latest shooter from People Can Fly, hasn't broken even yet because they haven't received any royalty payments.

People Can Fly's contract with Square Enix stipulates that the developer will receive royalty payments 45 days after the game has recouped all costs, including distribution, production, and advertising. The studio speculates that the absence of a royalty payment simply means Outriders hasn't become profitable during Square Enix's Q1 period.

Cyberpunk 2077's release was so controversial that CD Projekt RED is facing a securities fraud lawsuit over it.

Gamers still widely pan the sci-fi FPS. But not everyone is negative. CD Projekt devs step in to thank fans for their positivity, which helps keep morale and motivations high. The truth is that CDPR devs were disappointed by the game too and that's why they've made a long-term commitment to fix it, which continues with the big new v1.3 update patch.

"This is sincere. This is from the heart. I know a lot of people were disappointed with this game. I really do. A lot of us were disappointed with this game, and I really appreciate those of you who have stuck with us, who believe in this project, believe in this game, believe in this world," Cyberpunk 2077 senior quest designer Patrick Mills said in a recent stream.

CD Projekt RED continues its patch spree for Cyberpunk 2077 by rolling out the third largest update yet.

Cyberpunk 2077's new v1.3 update makes some big fixes and shores up a bunch of glitches across all platforms. Some of the more dramatic changes are the inclusion of a respec option right into the perk tree, an improved mini-map for driving, and the slaying of a pesky save corruption bug on consoles. That last one is pretty big and affected a number of saves across PC and consoles.

Based on the patch notes you'll definitely want to download this update as soon as possible. CDPR has made a multitude of tweaks and adjustments to a lot of quests and is slowly but surely shaping Cyberpunk 2077 into a more competent sci-fi experience.

If Roblox Corp's latest buyout is anything to go by, the billion-dollar social game sensation Roblox may eventually get native voice and video chat at some point.

Roblox Corp today acquired Guilded, an interactivity platform designed to connect gamers with various options like voice and video chatting. The company didn't disclose exact terms of the acquisition and Guilded will remain an independent company.

While it's not explicitly confirmed by executives, it's implied Guilded's solutions may show up in Roblox in some form. As per a press release, Guilded's tech goes beyond chatting and communication to also include in-game bots:

Diablo fans find the Diablo II Resurrected beta lacking, especially when it comes to social and communication features.

So far I've found the Diablo II Resurrected is an amazing experience. The graphics are incredible, the lighting is immaculate, and it's great looking at all the old acts, characters, monsters, items, and of course abilities completely reborn in HD. That being said, the beta does have major problems. We know the D2R beta is just that--a beta that doesn't represent the final game. But some design decisions seem permanent, including the awful in-game chatbox design and minor issues with making/joining games.

It seems like fans agree. A number of Diablo II fans who pre-ordered D2R or get into the early access beta say they aren't impressed with the game's interaction features.

Electronic Arts has made over $16 billion from live services in the past eight years, and digital revenues are becoming more and more important for the publisher.

EA's billion-dollar empire is built on digital. The past decade has shown a few clear trends for Electronic Arts: Digital is dominating, game sales are becoming less relevant, and live services are meaningful for both short-, medium-, and long-term earnings. Case in point: Live services made up 81% of EA's FY21 digital net revenues. EA has flexibly adapted to a more digital-oriented marketplace and diversified its earnings to rely on in-game purchases rather than raw game sales. As a result the company has become a leading force in the industry.

Over the past 8 years from FY14 through FY21, the games-maker has made a whopping $16.5 billion from live services. Live services made up 42% of EA's total $38 billion net revenues across the 8 years, and over 63% of digital net revenues for the period. Live services have grown 292% over the past 8 years and represent a CAGR of 19%.

As the second most-used games engine in the industry, Unity will help define gaming's new metaverse concept and usher in a new era of 3D gaming--at least that's what CEO John Riccitiello hopes.

Photo: Jon Radoff

The metaverse is on the horizon and has big potential for gaming. It's a nebulous term that combines modern technological trends under one interconnected ecosystem, similar to how the internet is the core for services, gaming, communication, monetization, and entertainment.

UPDATE: Activision confirms the August 19 reveal for Call of Duty Vanguard:

BREAKING NEWS: This year's mainline WWII-themed Call of Duty will be revealed on August 19 in a special Warzone event, Sony has confirmed.

A new advertisement on the PS5 PlayStation Store has outed Call of Duty Vanguard's reveal plans. According to the listing, Vanguard will be announced on Thursday, August 19 at 1:30PM within the free-to-play Warzone. While Activision nor Sledgehammer have yet to confirm the news, we'll probably hear more today or tomorrow about the event.

EA DICE won't have a single-player campaign for Battlefield 2042, which is a good thing in my opinion -- as they can purely concentrate on where it matters: the multiplayer. But that doesn't mean there isn't a story behind Battlefield 2042, which has been explored beautifully with a 9-minute short film "Exodus", check it out:

You might remember Michael K. Williams from Battlefield 4 back in 2013, where he was in the game as Sgt. Kimble "Irish" Graves -- but he looks much better under the next-gen graphics that EA DICE has cooking up inside of Battlefield 2042. Irish makes a return, and what a return it is.

I'm actually fine with DICE not having a single-player campaign if we at least get a back story in the way of these awesome short films like Exodus. Anyway, let us know what you think about the Battlefield 2042 "Exodus" short film in the comments below.