Gaming News - Page 5

Embracer Group could sell Gearbox Entertainment, one of its largest operating divisions, in an effort to save money and reduce costs.

The games industry is currently at a crossroads. Record years of pandemic spending has also catalyzed investment costs as boards and investors try to sustain continued growth. But nothing is certain in the games industry--games are expensive, take millions of dollars, and many long years to make. Salaries are also rising to offset inflation, throwing another bit of volatility to an already-hazardous medium.

Now publishers are trying to get control over spending budgets, costs, and debts as much as possible. This has led to the layoffs of thousands of game workers across some of the biggest names in gaming. Others, like the once-mighty Embracer Group, are now open to selling off parts of their video games

Microsoft is releasing its own Xbox Credit Card that will come with a number of perks that will certainly entice gamers into picking one up.

Officially called the Xbox Mastercard, Microsoft has announced via its website that the Xbox Mastercard will come with no annual fee and has been created in partnership with Barclays US Consumer Bank. So, what will players be able to get with the new card? According to the press release, players will be able to earn card points with everyday purchases that can then be used to redeem games and add-ons.

Notably, for every $1 spent on purchases, players will earn points, with players earning 5x card points on eligible products at the Microsoft Store, 3x card points on eligible streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+, 3x card points on eligible dining delivery services such as Grubhub and DoorDash, and 1x card points on everyday purchases.

Starfield players are sinking their teeth into what the game has to offer, and with it being a little over a week since the game launched, a player has already discovered what seems to be the best ship build.

For those that don't know, Starfield lets players design their own ships to take out to the void of space and engage with enemies and even friendlies. However, ship combat can be tricky, and players can be blown up pretty quickly if they aren't adept at maneuvering. But what if I told you that you didn't need to dodge and maneuverer, just shoot?

Well, it seems you can, as a Starfield player noticed that all enemy ships fire their shots directly at the center of the the ship they are attacking. So, the player decided to make the center of his ship empty space, meaning that all enemy shots go straight through the ship, thus making the player immune to all enemy fire. The above video showcases the ship in action, while the below video is a guide on how to build it yourself.

A new Starfield mod that was uploaded to NexusMods on Sunday brings Star Wars over to Bethesda's newest title, which has been out just over a week.

It's no surprise that mods are already starting to pop up for Starfield, as Bethesda's titles are notorious for having some of the largest support from the modding community. Despite the official Bethesda modding tools not even being released yet, a new mod was uploaded to the NexusMods page on Sunday called "GALACTIC CIVIL WAR CONVERSION," which replaces the United Colonies' police force with stormtroopers from the Star Wars universe.

At the time of writing, the mod has gained more than 3,000 unique downloads despite the mod being entirely visually centered. It seems that not only do the United Colonies' police force get the visual switch to stormtroopers but also players, as the below image showcases a player wearing the iconic stormtrooper armor. It seems that the mod simply switches out the visual aspects of the United Colonies' police force gear, which, by that standard, means the above player is wearing that gear.

Built on the next iteration of the Creation Engine (the same tech that powered Skyrim and Fallout 4), Starfield is set to become one of the most modded games in PC history, with Bethesda Game Studios noting that once it releases full mod tools and mod support for the game on PC players and modders will be able to generate entire planets to create brand-new games effectively.

'Galactic Civil War Conversion' mod for Starfield replaces UC police with Stormtroopers, image credit: Nexus Mods/kboykboy.

Bethesda Game Studios has called the engine powering Starfield 'Creation Engine 2,' a more powerful, versatile, and technically advanced version of the tech it has been working with for decades - with several improvements made to the rendering and visual side. As seen when firing up the game, some of the planets and details in Starfield are truly impressive.

In a new interview with Japanese publication Famitsu (translated), Starfield director and Bethesda Game Studios chief Todd Howard states that official mod tools and support for the game are on track for 2024.

Starfield, like all Bethesda games, will punish you for carrying too much stuff. Here's a good way to get around this limitation.

Starfield is all about surpassing limitations and breaking barriers. Most of the early game is inhibited by a fair amount of restriction and players are pushed towards finding solutions in the form of gear and skill upgrades. Here's a quick way to use gear to turn around the pesky issue of being overburdened.

Now to get something out of the way first: Starfield's weight management system is actually pretty great...provided you know how to manipulate it. Unlike other games, Starfield doesn't make you move immensely slowly (or stop you outright) if you're carrying too much weight. Instead, the game will just drain your 02 really fast every time you move. Run out of 02 and incur too much C02 and you die.

Runescape developer Jagex could be sold to the highest bidder--which gaming firm will buy the popular MMORPG?

Reports indicate that Jagex could be up for sale for the sixth time. Sources have told Reuters that Jagex parent company Carlyle could be eyeing a sale of the Runescape developer throughout 2023. The developer is expected to have a current valuation of $1.25 billion, which is more than double than what Carlyle paid for Jagex in 2021 (the investment group is believed to have purchased the game dev for $530 million).

Nothing is certain about the potential sale, and Carlyle may hold an auction-style bidding war for Jagex throughout the end of 2023. Runescape remains one of the most popular video games on the market for browsers and PC, and will soon be released on consoles as a separate game. Having released in 2007, old-school Runescape is one of the longest-running MMORPGs available and is still quite popular among fans.

Developers behind the highly popular title Roblox have hosted a developer's conference where they announced that the title is making its way over to Sony consoles.

Yes, that's right, Roblox is finally coming over to PlayStation. According to a new blog post on the Roblox website, Roblox will be heading over to both the PS4 and PS5, enabling free access to the game for millions of users. According to the developers, PlayStation gamers will have full access to all of Roblox's experiences, which suggests that users will be able to sign in on their Roblox account and immediately jump into all of their favorite in-game experiences.

The launch of Roblox on PlayStation will add the title to its already long list of supported platforms: PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Meta Quest (late September 2023), and Xbox. But what about the Nintendo Switch? The Verge asked Roblox developers about a Switch version of the title, and the response was, "We want Roblox to be on all devices, anywhere around the world. At this time, we currently have no imminent plans to have Roblox available on the Nintendo Switch."

Microsoft legal counsel clarifies why the company ran simulations to see what would happen if Call of Duty and Activision games were not made available on PlayStation.

The FTC v Microsoft federal case revealed lots of interesting information about Xbox and the games industry as a whole. The testimony delivered in the five-day evidentiary hearing offered a rare look at the internal machinations of Microsoft's billion-dollar video games business and how the company's board of directors work with executive management to create and evaluate acquisition deals. Gamers and investors learned about Project Neutrino, Project Denali, and Xbox's missteps with cloud gaming, but this particular case was laser-focused on one possibility: Would Microsoft withhold Call of Duty from PlayStation?

While Microsoft has repeatedly asserted that it has no intent to withhold Call of Duty from PlayStation (doing so would, among other things, be ruinous for short- to medium-term revenues and incur significant reputational damage), the Federal Trade Commission had uncovered what looked to be a compelling argument against Microsoft's assertions.

First-party Xbox games have engaged half a billion players, Bloomberg Technology reports.

Microsoft might be third place in the Big 3 but it's games are still quite popular. In fact, key Xbox games have captured over 16% of the total 3.09 billion gamers worldwide.

That's according to a recent Bloomberg Technology interview with Todd Howard and Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer that discusses the recent Starfield launch. During the interview, a slide popped up that revealed an interesting metric that I don't remember seeing anywhere else: half a billion people have played Xbox games.