Gaming - Page 514

Cyberpunk 2077 has sold an estimated 13 million copies after digital/physical refunds and returns, CD Projekt RED today announced.

Cyberpunk 2077's massive ongoing controversy hasn't deterred sales, and the game has moved a thundering 13 million copies after refunds were subtracted. The new FPS has outsold The Witcher 3 by 225% in a comparable period; Cyberpunk 2077 sold 13 million copies in less than two weeks of launch, and Witcher 3 moved 4 million copies in two weeks.

It's unclear if the game's pre-orders are included in this figure. CD Projekt RED previously disclosed Cyberpunk 2077 had 8 million pre-orders across all platforms since the company started collecting pre-orders.

Scalpers are once again taking advantage of short supply and manipulating markets with big markups. Data suggests scalpers made nearly $30 million from PS5 and Series X/S sales as of December.

Scalpers are using extensive bot networks and their knowledge of digital storefronts to take control over the next-gen console market. In a bad twist of fate, scalpers typically have more stock than most retailers and are selling consoles at big markups on sites like eBay.

To give an idea on how much profit scalpers are making, one industrious data expert put together some startling figures on console sales. According to Dev.to's Michael Discoll, scalpers made an estimated $29.12 million from PS5 and Xbox Series X/S sales on eBay in two months from October 1 - December 1, 2020.

Now that developers are working at home, Rockstar Games has put a greater emphasis on the quality of life for its employees.

Like practically every games developer, Rockstar Games has moved its work out of studios and into homes. Developers are now working in the comfort of their own homes and it seems to have a positive effect on morale. Certain things are harder, like putting together the new GTA Online Cayo Perico update entirely from home, but the new COVID-19 measures have gone a long way as part of Rockstar's new crunch reforms.

In a recent interview with GQ, Rockstar director of design production Tarek Hamad said that Rockstar's new work-at-home policies protect employee's quality of life. This is a big step towards stamping out the crunch that led to overwork during the development of games like GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2.

Remember the KFConsole we reported on in June? Well it's a real thing, and it's pretty powerful.

The new KFConsole wants to play a game of chicken with the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The system is real, and it packs some serious horsepower with Intel's NUC 9 platform alongside an ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 2070 MINI GPU. KFC boasts the chicken-bucket console can hit 240FPS, deliver 4K gaming with ray tracing, and is VR-ready to boot.

The rig is built in a specially-designed CoolerMaster case and features patented Chicken Bucket Technology that will literally warm up your tendies as you game. The future is here and it's pretty delicious.

Surprise: The PS5's liquid metal thermal compound increases longevity in thermal tests.

A new heat test by TronixFix illustrates some of the advantages of the PS5's new liquid metal cooling. The PS5's cooling solution is pretty advanced and uses three main parts: a dual-sided 120mm intake fan, a complex vapor-chamber heat sink design, and a layer of liquid metal that conducts heat from the PS5's main processor chip and passes it to the heat sink. The result is a remarkably quiet, efficient, and cool machine that can perform higher-end 4K 60FPS loads.

The stress test aims to see which thermal interface material (TIM) is better at conducting heat and maintaining longevity. The test includes two PS5s: A stock model with liquid metal, and an altered model with traditional thermal paste. Steve from TronixFix disabled both fans from each PS5 and ran the consoles to see how long they would last before shutting down. Predictably, the PS5 with liquid metal lasted longer.

Cyberpunk 2077 runs like hot trash on the original PS4 and Xbox One, dipping into 15FPS at times and looking like something from the NES days. Well, what about Cyberpunk 2077 on the Nintendo Switch? Check it out:

Nintendrew has managed to get Cyberpunk 2077 running on the Nintendo Switch, but it's not like everyone can easily do it. You will need a modified Nintendo Switch, with Nintendrew warning that getting Cyberpunk 2077 running on the Switch "does involve some modifications that are not endorsed or supported by Nintendo" and adds that "any mod has the potential to brick your system".

He's using a modified version of Android on the Switch (something he goes into during the video) and says that once Android is installed onto the Switch it's "almost too easy to get Cyberpunk 2077 up and running". He notes there are different ways to get Cyberpunk 2077 working on the Nintendo Switch, but he used Google Stadia as the catalyst.

Cyberpunk 2077 is now out and has been met with so much controversy it makes my head spin, although my 20-30 hours of playing the game have been virtually hiccup-free.

But before the game was released, reviewers were given codes for the PC version of Cyberpunk 2077 where their NDA stated if they leaked out gameplay footage before the NDA embargo, they would face fines of $27,000. To makes things worse, the $27K fines were per infraction -- adding up to a hefty amount depending on the number of leaks.

There's chatter that this decision was made by CD PROJEKT RED -- to only give reviewers the PC key to the game -- so they couldn't see the dumpster fire that is the last-gen PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game. The PS4 version of Cyberpunk 2077 is pure trash that runs at 15FPS and has worse-than-N64 level graphics.

343i will remove online matchmaking for all legacy Xbox 360 Halo games in 2021, forcing users to buy the Master Chief Collection to continue playing.

After 14 long years of support, 343 Industries is finally removing online matchmaking in legacy Halo games on Xbox 360. In December 2021, 343i will shut down online servers for Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4. At that time all online matchmaking will be unavailable, and file shares for these games will be wiped out too. Service records for Reach and Halo 4 will be wiped, but curiously Halo 3's and ODST's will remain intact.

Offline modes like local split-screen co-op, campaign, firefight, custom games, and forge will continue to be supported, of course.

Cyberpunk 2077 is having tons of issues on consoles and PC. Glitches and bugs run rampant, some of which are game-breaking and can irreversibly corrupt your saves and block quest progression. Others are hilarious, like V. randomly flashing you their junk in the menus, or just severe technical clashes that create meme-worthy moments like this one.

Twitter user ChronoKatie just captured one of the most outrageous Cyberpunk 2077 glitches while playing the game on consoles. While riding a bike throughout Night City, V. was randomly shot into the air to get a bird's eye view of the metropolis. Eventually V. was pulled into the graphic-less void of the outer realm--that space that exists in all video games but is protected by layers of stability.

Apparently the game is super buggy when riding motorcycles throughout the city. We've seen character textures/models randomly change while riding, along with hard game crashes.

CD Projekt Group admits it willfully neglected and hid any evidence of Cyberpunk 2077's dismal performance on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles--a move that led to mass refunds and significant controversy. Now the company is being investigated for deceptive practices and could get charged in court for their admission of withholding information for material gain.

At least four major law firms are gearing up for possible lawsuits against Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Group for willfully deceiving investors. Before Cyberpunk 2077's launch, CDPR knew about the game's bad performance on PS4 and Xbox One systems, but chose to ignore it and not inform shareholders about the issues. Later in a call to investors, the studio admitted it not only knew about the problems, but chose to deceive the public (and investors).

The resulting controversy has caused CD Projekt Group shares to drop by 33% since Cyberpunk 2077's launch on December 10, wiping out over $641 million from the company's market share value.

Cyberpunk 2077;s huge console controversy has triggered mass refunds and even removal from the PlayStation Store--a storefront that serves Sony's 100 million+ console base. Now analysts are reducing their sales targets to reflect the game's negative financial impact.

Six financial firms have updated their sales projections for Cyberpunk 2077, Bankier.pl reports. Analysts passed along their new predictions to the Polish Agency Press (PAP), showing drops of up to 6.6 million units a year after release.

Before the controversy, the median predictions among analysts had Cyberpunk 2077 selling 19.2 million at launch, and 31.4 million after a year. Now those forecasts see launch sales at 15.1 million (-4.1 million, -21%), and one-year sales at 25.4 million (-6.6 million, -19%).

Cyberpunk 2077 saves that go beyond 8MB in size can be irreversibly corrupt, CD Projekt RED warns.

Cyberpunk 2077 has a particularly nefarious glitch that can make your save games unusable, and it's centered around file size. CDPR says if your saves get too big that they can be corrupted and inaccessible. Right now it appears the save size limit is 8MB and anything that exceeds that will be corrupted. Multiple gamers on the CDPR forums have been affected by the glitch.

Item count seems to affect file size the most. The more items you have/craft/find, the bigger your save becomes. Right now gamers are encouraged to avoid breaking down too much gear and/or crafting a lot of items. Also don't use the duplication glitch because this can skyrocket your file size in no time.

If you're unsatisfied with Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt RED wants to make sure you get a refund.

A bit ago we reported Best Buy is offering full refunds of Cyberpunk 2077 until December 21 due to significant game performance issues. That was only half right. It turns out CD Projekt RED is allowing the refunds, and Best Buy is just processing them. CDPR also gave the greenlight to offer refunds on the PlayStation Store and the Microsoft Store, and Sony and Microsoft amended their policies to allow extensive refunds.

The developer now promises that anyone who contacts them directly can receive a full refund for the game until December 21. The refund doesn't have to be processed by December 21--you only have to contact them by that period. CDPR is prepared to pay for the refunds out of their own pocket if need be.

Bethesda isn't giving up on Fallout 76 and shares some tentative plans for 2021's updates.

Fallout 76's radical transformation will continue slowly manifesting throughout 2021. Bethesda recently outlined a new 2021 roadmap for Fallout 76, but none of the content is so ambitious and transformative as the Wastelanders update (this was basically Fallout 76's A Realm Reborn or The Taken King moment).

So far Bethesda seems keen on focusing most on seasonal updates and rotating specific community challenge events in and out. The seasonal structure basically transforms Fallout 76 with Fortnite-esque monetization. Fallout 76 now has free seasonal battle passes that rotate out after so many weeks. Gamers can pay money to skip levels and unlock tiers after a certain period.

Spider-Man Miles Morales is a great game, but it's a lot less popular than 2018's Spider-Man release on PS4.

Spider-Man Miles Morales is among the best games released this generation, and is a pure next-gen spectacle on the PlayStation 5. Sadly, sales aren't as high as the game's performance.

According to SuperData, Spider-Man Miles Morales sold 663,000 digital copies at launch despite releasing on both the PS4 and PS5. That's a 70% reduction in sales from the original Spider-Man game. The 2018 Spider-Man moved an estimated 2.2 million digital copies at launch, meaning it sold roughly 1.53 million more copies than Miles Morales.

CD Projekt RED is removing access to Cyberpunk 2077's built-in development console kit to keep gameplay as stable as possible.

Playing with mods and using console commands is a big part of PC gaming (it's also what makes games like Doom Eternal and Fallout 4 so fun). Cyberpunk 2077 has a dev console built into it, but you have to use a special mod to access it. Sadly, CDPR is turning off this console in Hotfix 1.05.

Once the update goes live, PC gamers will no longer be able to launch the console and input commands. The rationale is simple: CDPR doesn't want the game to crash or glitch up any more than it already does. "Removed debug console to prevent functions that could lead to crashes or blocked quests," reads the update's patch notes.

I've been pumping some time into Cyberpunk 2077 playing the game and appreciating the amazing work CD PROJEKT RED has done with the game, with some performance articles coming next week to talk about it all -- but there is an issue: DLSS.

DLSS is the single savior of performance in Cyberpunk 2077 for NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card owners, but it's also an issue right now. If you are gaming at 4K and enable DLSS and turn it to Performance Mode then you're internal rendering resolution drops to 1080p and man, is it blurry.

CD PROJEKT RED has pushed out a new update for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Cyberpunk 2077, which offers a huge list of fixes and improvements.

There's a laundry list of improvements here, with console-specific and PC-specific goodies in the new v1.05 update for Cyberpunk 2077. CD PROJEKT RED has pushed the update out to the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game, while the PC version should be updated soon.

Here's the huge list from Cyberpunk 2077's new 1.05 hotfix:

CD PROJEKT RED pushed out its new v1.05 update for Cyberpunk 2077, which improves things across the board for both consoles and PC -- but on PC, it includes a nifty SMT-Fix that improves performance on SMT-enabled AMD Ryzen CPUs.

Over on /r/AMD on Reddit, user 'just_blue' tested the SMT-Fix for Cyberpunk 2077 on the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X processor, an 8-core, 16-thread CPU. The user ran 2 x 9 CPU bottle-necked benchmark runs in Cyberpunk 2077 to "prove the opposite" of claims that people said the SMT-Fix on 8-core CPUs is "just a placebo".

You can see that with SMT enabled the performance in Cyberpunk 2077 is much better -- staying between 80-85FPS, while without SMT the game isn't reaching 80FPS. Those 5-10FPS mixed together with increased smoothness with another poster 'Shhh_ImHiding' writing: "Yeah, I immediately noticed the difference on my 3700X without even having to benchmark. It's visibly smoother. The impact is likely even bigger with RT on, having to build the BVH struct".

Microsoft is celebrating some major milestones for Flight Simulator, with the game passing over 2 million players since its launch on August 18, 2020. It is the biggest game launch in Xbox Game Pass for PC history.

Jorg Neumann, the Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, wrote a new blog that starts off with saying "on behalf of the entire team, a huge thank you to all the fans who have taken to the skies and are exploring our world while discovering the magic of flight with us".

Neumann continued: "The community have piloted more than 50 million flights and have logged more than 3.5 billion miles flown to date - the equivalent of flying 19 times roundtrip from the Earth to the Sun, or around the world over 400 thousand times. It's been humbling to see the positive reactions to Microsoft Flight Simulator and we feel incredibly fortunate and blessed to have such a highly engaged community that continually helps us improve the simulation with their ongoing and insightful feedback".