Gaming - Page 485

Respawn Entertainment is currently working on a new IP, but it's a long ways away.

A new job listing confirms Respawn is working on a new IP at its Los Angeles studio. Not much is known about the project, but Respawn says its being made by a very, very small dev team in incubation phases--meaning pre-pre-production. Only five developers are working on the new IP, and Respawn is looking for a 6th, specifically a software coder.

From the sound of the job listing it's possible Respawn's new game will be online-based to deliver content over time. One of the core duties is to "Pioneer new ways to enable adventuring until the heat death of the universe." This could be a randomized type of experience, or a live game that expands with revolving updates to keep players active and busy.

Despite its 300-developer workforce, Naughty Dog still isn't ready to take on two big production cycles at one time.

Modern Naughty Dog games are high-budget marquee games that have the power to sell systems. Uncharted 3, Uncharted 4, and The Last of Us' I & II were all major staples for PlayStation owners across multiple generations. These games deliver over-the-top visuals and immersive realism, but the trade-off is a slower production cycle where one game dominates all others.

According to Naughty Dog President Evan Wells, the team isn't ready yet to tackle two games at once. The studio is close--Wells says they're "just short" of simultaneous two-game pipelines--but for now it'll be one major game for the foreseeable future.

CD Projekt has set aside up to 194 million PLN ($51 million) total for Cyberpunk 2077 refunds, new earnings documents reveal.

CD Projekt Group recently said it has only refunded roughly 8.2 million PLN ($2.27 million) in Cyberpunk 2077 refunds, but this value is only for its Help Me refund campaign that offered money back to consumers with no questions asked. The reality is that CD Projekt expects total refunds to reach around $53 million.

The info was outlined in the company's recent 2020 earnings report, which separates its refunds into short-term and long-term provisions. All companies set aside cash for various provisions especially for product returns. It's important to account for consumer refunds on your balance sheets. That's what CD Projekt has done here. Think of this money as "spent" because it's being reserved for a specific purpose.

Despite its missteps with Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt RED is doing better than ever and currently has no plans to sell itself to a larger company.

After an incredible 13.7 million Cyberpunk 2077 copies sold and record 2020 earnings, CD Projekt RED will remain independent for the foreseeable future. When asked about CD Projekt Group possibly being acquired by another games titan (like Tencent, Microsoft, or Sony), company co-president Adam Kicinski said there's no plans to sell right now. If anything CD Projekt is interested on the other side of M&A and would be buying, not selling.

"Nothing changed in this regard. We run our business independently. We have full competencies in this, in running our business. So we don't see, as for now at least, any profits from joining a bigger group. So we're not seeking anything in this regard," Kicinski said in CDP's Q4 2020 earnings call.

Hood: Outlaws & Legends is coming to the PC and next-gen consoles on May 7, with the developers confirming it will have a post-launch patch that will include support for NVIDIA's kick ass DLSS technology.

In a recent interview with Wccftech, developer Sumo Newcastle said that the DLSS plugin that was recently pushed into Unreal Engine was a "little bit too late for us to integrate into the game, but it is something we'll be looking to add post-launch".

However, ray tracing is in the game and it is used to "beautiful effect in our Marshland map which has large volumes of water and a vibrant golden sunset for those picture postcard moments". As for the Microsoft Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, as well as the Sony PlayStation 5 -- Hood: Outlaws & Legends will have ray tracing and "solid 60FPS" says the developer, while the final resolutions will be confirmed (after optimization) and "communicated before launch".

People Can Fly, the development team behind the shoot-and-loot Outriders game, just purchased Phosphor Studios and have now opened a new branch in Chicago.

Outriders is just the beginning for People Can Fly's ambitious new plans. The Polish developer is expanding its teams to help work on two brand new games. People Can Fly recently bought and absorbed indie studio Phosphor Games, launching its first Chicago-based branch, which joins six other established worldwide branches: Warsaw, Rzeszow, Lodz, New York, Newcastle and Montreal.

Right now People Can Fly are working on three major projects: Outriders, which currently still needs lots of stability patches, and two new games: one for Square Enix, and another action-adventure game for Take-Two Interactive. Take-Two recently teased it has 93 games in development across its wholly-owned studios and third-party partners, and People Can Fly's next project will be among them.

Godfall will be releasing on PlayStation 4 after its six-month exclusivity contract on PlayStation 5 ends.

European ratings board PEGI has rated Godfall for PlayStation 4, indicating the game will also release on last-gen hardware. The rating went up yesterday on the PEGI website.

Godfall was originally released in November as part of the PS5's next-gen launch lineup, gamers were led to believe it'd stay as a next-gen exclusive on consoles. Neither Gearbox nor Counterplay Games has confirmed the PS4 port just yet, but an announcement should happen soon. This isn't actually a surprise. Godfall was announced as a six-month timed exclusive for PS5 that wouldn't come to other consoles until at least May 12, 2021.

Sony's Visual Arts Service Group is using AI and machine learning to help optimize its advanced facial capture techniques for future PlayStation exclusives.

A new job listing on Sony's VASG department confirms the division is using experimental R&D tech to bring next-gen visuals to life. The division is currently hiring a Senior R&D Engineer for its Facial Realism Technology segment to streamline its motion, body, and facial capture tech. Sony VASG has worked on every major first-party PlayStation exclusive, and will use AI-based machine learning to help automate capture processes.

"We seek research engineers in the field of Computer Vision, Machine Learning, and Advanced Computer Graphics to help develop solutions that will advance our facial performance capture," the listing reads.

Raven Software is working on a new next-gen upgrade for standalone Warzone, complete with faster loading and boosted FPS.

Warzone will soon run at 120FPS and take full advantage of new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S hardware, Raven developers tell CharlieINTEL. Fans have been clamoring for a next-gen optimized Warzone version since the PS5 and Series X consoles released, and now Raven says it has a dedicated team updating Warzone's internal engine to maximize perf on these systems.

There's no word on when the update will be ready, though. It's possible we'll see it before Call of Duty Vanguard rolls out in holiday 2021. We could also see Raven take advantage of new FidelityFX features on both consoles, which includes more crisp visuals and clearer ray-traced reflections.

Microsoft has just flicked its Xbox FPS Boost mode on a slew of EA games for the next-gen Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles, driving frame rates up to 120FPS... glorious.

You'll be happy to see that 120FPS support on the Xbox Series X/S is available in games like Battlefield 1, Battlefield 4, and Battlefield V -- but then we also have 120FPS support enabled in Star Wars Battlefront II, Titanfall, and Titanfall 2. If you're more of a casual gamer, then 120FPS is coming to some popular casual games from EA.

120FPS support is now in Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 as well as Unravel 2 and even Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Call of Duty: Warzone has just received a gigantic injection of free performance through a new update, if you've got a GeForce RTX graphics card then you will enjoy free FPS through DLSS.

NVIDIA's kick ass DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) technology is now in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and its battle royale mode Warzone, with DLSS 2.0 technology driving up to 70% more performance in Warzone. Even with something like the GeForce RTX 2060 you'd be stupid not to turn DLSS on in Warzone, it's just free FPS without much (if at any) image quality reduction.

DLSS enabled and turned onto "Performance Mode" at 4K you're looking at just over 100FPS average in Call of Duty: Warzone with the graphics settings maxed out, but when you turn DLSS on the frame rate skyrockets to 151FPS average -- a 50% improvement in performance at 4K, for free. Damn. On the GeForce RTX 3080 the performance jump is nearly the same, leaping from 90FPS to 135FPS average.

SEGA's new trailer for the Judgment re-release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X shows fluid frame rates.

Yakuza studio's 2019 action crime game Judgment is getting a new next-gen version later this month, complete with a full 60FPS frame rate on both PS5 and Xbox Series S/X consoles. Don't expect major upgrades like ray-traced visuals, though, and there's only graphical setting--no choosing between high FPS or high fidelity.

SEGA is somewhat vague and says Judgment has "refined visuals" on both consoles, but reviewers note dramatically improved lighting system across the entire game. SEGA is also packing in all DLC content into the next-gen release.

Cyberpunk 2077's astronomical 13.7 million game sales surge CD Projekt's earnings to new heights.

CD Projekt's Q4 is not only the best-performing quarter in history, but it actually dwarfs previous yearly earnings too. CD Projekt made more money in one quarter than it has ever earned in a full year's time, and it's mostly thanks to Cyberpunk 2077's 13.7 million unit sales in 21 weeks.

According to recent company financials, CD Projekt made 1.67 billion PLN in Q4 2020 ($447 million as of December 2020) in net sales in Q4, which is more than CD Projekt made the entire year of 2015, the second-highest period which included 8 months of Witcher 3 game sales.

Housemarque's new PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal may hit 4K 60FPS with raytraced visuals with the trade-off of dynamic resolution scaling.

Returnal may be the first Sony-produced PS5 exclusive to achieve targeted 4K output at 60FPS with raytracing turned on. An official post on PlayStation's mainsite confirms the game can hit dynamically-scaled 4K resolution at 60FPS with real-time ray-traced global illumination enabled.

"Experience high-fidelity ambient lighting that is specifically designed to adapt in real-time to Atropos' dynamic environment. Thanks to the incredible power of PS5, the blistering combat and brooding visuals of Returnal's unique world are delivered at a consistent 60 frames-per-second and a dynamic 4K resolution," the website says.

In 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 sold more copies on PC than PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles combined, CD Projekt confirms.

According to CD Projekt RED's latest figures, Cyberpunk 2077 sold an astronomical 13.7 million copies in just 21 days, which is more than some games see in their entire lifetimes. PC was the most popular platform of choice for the 2020 launch, with 56% of total sales (roughly 7.7 million sales) on PC via Steam, GOG, the Epic Games Store, and physical retail releases.

Consoles sold marginally less, likely due to the significant lower-end performance and controversy surrounding the base PS4/Xbox One gameplay. CD Projekt says CP2077 sold 3.67 million copies on PlayStation 4 (28%) and 2.33 million copies on Xbox One (17%).

CD Projekt RED started developing Cyberpunk 2077's next-gen RED Engine tech all the way back in 2015 after The Witcher 3 shipped, the company today confirmed.

With advanced animation and cinematic capabilities, real-time AI, and living, breathing city simulations, RED Engine 4.0 is a big jump over the engine that powered The Witcher 3. Given TW3's excellent performance, visuals, and execution, that's saying quite a bit. Now CDPR says its current RED Engine iteration that powers Cyberpunk 2077 was actually five years in the making.

In its recent annual 2020 earnings report, CD Projekt RED confirms it started making the current RED Engine 4.0 technology way back in 2015. Major RED Engine innovations like high-end city creation and advanced motion capture and animation techniques occurred in 2017, a year after CDPR secured funding from the Polish government as part of the GameINN financing program for R&D innovation.

CD Projekt spent in excess of $300 million on Cyberpunk 2077's development, making it one of the largest video game investments in the history of the industry.

It's not often that a company reveals budgets for its games. We know AAA titles command tens and sometimes hundreds of millions of investment; paying developers alone can rack up lots of costs. CD Projekt's massively ambitious Cyberpunk 2077 game belongs to the latter.

The Polish company today revealed that it spent 1.2 billion PLN (roughly $321 million) total on the game including development and marketing costs. As of September 2002, CDPR had spent about $121 million on the game's development.

DICE just opened up the hype engines for the new Battlefield on PC and next-gen consoles, but the developer took the time to announce that there is an all-new Battlefield coming to smartphones and tablets in 2022. Yeah, a mobile Battlefield game that we haven't heard of before, was just dropped into our reality.

You can read all about what DICE had to say about the Battlefield here, but when it comes to the new Battlefield mobile game it is being co-developed by Industrial Toys which is "working closely with all of us here at DICE" on "developing a completely new Battlefield game bringing all-out warfare to smartphones and tablets in 2022".

DICE wants us to know that this isn't the Battlefield coming to PC and next-gen consoles on mobile, but rather a "standalone game" that is a "completely different game from the one we're making for console and PC, designed specifically for the mobile platform". This mobile version of Battlefield (without a name for now) is "being built from the ground up by iToys to make Battlefield-on-the-go a reality and you can expect a fully-fledged, skill-based experience".

And here we go...

DICE has just given the next-gen Battlefield a huge injection of hype by revealing a few more details about the game, and some pretty big surprises. In a post on the official Battlefield website, the developer teases that while they can't wait to show us everything... they do have a couple of things they "wanted to tell you about".

The first thing out of the gate is that DICE has the "biggest Battlefield development team ever" and that Criterion and DICE LA are "working with us on our shared vision for the game, while the team in Gothenburg is taking technology in the game to the next level. Together, we are creating a jaw-dropping experience for you to enjoy later in 2021".

Naughty Dog developers have a large sway in what projects the studio takes on, and new IPs like The Last of Us was a project born out of passion.

In a recent interview with The Game Maker's Notebook, Naughty Dog President Evan Wells asserts that the studio picks its new games based on popular opinion. Wells says he doesn't want developers working on something that doesn't inspire them creatively.

"[What we choose to work on] is really driven by the team, just like almost every decision we make at the studio is somehow trying to represent what the team wants the most. We definitely don't want to have people working on something that they don't have the creative motivation to work on," Wells said.