Gaming - Page 533

Google is done investing in Stadia, and will soon relegate the service into a third-party streaming and storefront platform.

Today, Google announced that it will no longer put money into new first-party Stadia exclusives. Google has ceased funding for its Games & Entertainment projects, and both of Stadia's two game studios will be closed. Sources tell Kotaku that roughly 150 people will be affected by the closure. Division head Jade Raymond, who has commanded key roles in the industry, has also left Stadia.

Google will now use Stadia to exclusively sell subscriptions and full-priced third-party games--an unpopular business model in a landscape that's dominated by Project xCloud's tremendous value. It's also worth noting that the entire digital gaming industry is seeing significant surges in revenues, sales, and earnings, so this timing suggests Stadia is (and was) didn't live up to Google's expectations.

Starbreeze Studios needs Payday 3 to save it from financial doom, but the company still hasn't found a publishing partner for the sequel.

Payday developer Starbreeze is in trouble. The company has lots of debt and needs to stabilize its balance sheets with a big new game. Payday 3 is the company's only hope, and Starbreeze's Overkill division has been developing the sequel for years now. There's just one big problem: The game still doesn't have a publisher.

Starbreeze is in a position where it can pay millions to fund Payday 3's development, but it doesn't have the cashflow to publish and distribute the game. It needs the backing of a bigger company like 505 Games, WB Games, or even EA to properly release Payday 3.

Unlike GT Sport, Gran Turismo 7 will be a more traditional racing game that goes back to the franchise's roots.

Gran Turismo 7 should set a new high watermark for the PlayStation 5. Developer Polyphony Digital plans to use GT7 to fully exemplify and flex the PS5's power with high-end performance targets like 4K 60FPS, high-fidelity textures, and enhanced lighting effects via ray-traced visuals. Now we know more details about the next-gen racer.

In a recent interview with Octane Japan, Polyphony CEO Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed GT7 won't follow GT Sport's online-driven esports focus. Instead, GT7 will be a more mainline game similar to the original Gran Turismo.

Twitch viewers watched over 1 trillion hours for the first time ever, breaking new grounds for the billion-dollar streaming titan.

Twitch's SVP Damian Burns just announced the service's new metrics for 2020, and they're absolutely crazy. Viewers watched an astronomical 1 trillion minutes of streams in 2020, up 78% from the 560 billion minutes streamed in 2019.

The other numbers are equally as impressive, with DAUs hitting over 30 million.

PS5 console scarcity is making people go wild--violence ensued in a U.S. Walmart when a woman brutally stomped on another woman's head to get a console, and now crowds in Japan cluster dangerously during a worldwide pandemic.

PS5 consoles are so rare that Japanese retailers are raffling purchase rights in a random lottery. Hundreds of consumers show up at stores for the chance in buying a console, and sometimes chaos ensues. That's what happened at Yodobashi Camera in Japan's Akihabara shopping area a few days ago.

Tons of Japanese consumers arrived and eventually started to crowd and push each other, eventually pressing hard into the protective barriers that separated the workers from possible COVID-19 contamination. The PS5 lottery was eventually cancelled, and the police were called to break up the massive grouping.

We might be seeing the entire mainstream media trying to make anyone connected to GameStop shares and WallStreetBets into whatever slur of the day they can use -- but there is some real good happening, too.

I don't think the good gets anywhere near as much headlines as it deserves, so here we go: u/Lunar033 posted in r/WallStreetBets that he went out and purchased 6 x Nintendo Switch consoles as well as a heap of games and is donating them all to the Children's Minnesota Hospital.

In his post, u/Lunar033 said: "I am proud to do my part in paying forward our good fortune with a donation of 6 Nintendo Switches and games to go with them to the Children's Minnesota Hospital. Cant Stop. Won't Stop. GameStop. (Still long 50 shares I WILL NOT SELL)".

IO Interactive isn't done with the Hitman franchise, and new games could be in development. But post-launch Hitman 3 DLC comes first.

Right now IO Interactive is on a roll. Years after separating from Square Enix, the company self-developed and self-published Hitman 3. In less than a week on the market, Hitman 3 is already profitable and will help fund IO's massively ambitious new Project 007 James Bond adaptation.

Even with the new James Bond game on the horizon, IO says it's not entirely finished with Hitman. A new mainline game could be in the works at some point--which makes sense considering IO wholly owns the Hitman publishing and development rights.

Sea of Thieves can now break the 120FPS threshold on the Xbox Series X console, Rare confirms in a new game update.

Sea of Thieves adds a new performance target to its repertoire, and can now hit 1080p 120FPS on the Xbox Series X with HDR enabled. This is in addition to the other perf targets that include native 4K 60FPS on the system, as well as the base 1080p 60FPS on HDTVs.

"On the Xbox Series X console, a performance mode is available supporting 120Hz at 1080p. Some TVs do not support 120Hz and HDR simultaneously, so HDR may need to be disabled from the Console Settings," reads the update.

Halo Infinite's new grappling hook is a game-changer that adds unprecedented mobility and verticality to PVP and campaign. It's a new multi-dimensional utility with lots of uses, and offers diverse creativity for chaos creation; pulling enemies towards you, yanking explosive barrels or even weapons to you, and uses it to scale high precipices. Even still, 343i is more excited about another unannounced bit of equipment.

In a recent Halo Waypoint update, Halo Infinite sandbox developers tease a new mysterious equipment that can fling players across the map. From the sound of it, the equipment is probably an updated version of the grav-lift from Halo 3; the equipment is physics-based, it depends on timing, and it can send enemies flying.

"The Grappleshot is definitely a favorite of mine, but I'm equally excited about an equipment item we haven't shown yet. It's highly physics-based, has TONS of interactions across our sandbox, and will leave you laughing or yelling, "Did you see that?!" Proper timing is everything with this equipment, and if you position correctly, you could very well send your enemies flying!" said Sandbox Designer Elan Gleiber.

The Securities Exchange Commission has pushed back Roblox's big public offering so it can clarify its financial reports.

Roblox is set to start public trading with a billion-dollar IPO, but the stock can't debut onto the New York Stock Exchange until the SEC gives its blessing. Right now the SEC wants more clarification on Roblox's income, specifically its digital revenues earned from in-game Robux purchases.

The SEC wants Roblox to separate revenues from in-game consumables and the paid subscriptions, specifically how the revenue is amortized over a period. Roblox originally combined these revenues together. The company says this new adjustment will force a re-write of its financials, which could take a while.

IO Interactive is in a "really good place," CEO Hakan Abrak said after Hitman 3 is already profitable after one week of sales.

With Hitman 3, IO Interactive took a chance and self-published a big AAA game for the first time. The gambit worked. Not only did Hitman 3 generate acclaim from reviewers, but it sold tremendously well. So well, in fact, that IO Interactive is already making a profit from the sequel.

IO CEO Hakan Abrak confirmed the news to GamesIndustry.biz, saying that the company's secret sauce lies in the close relationship between its marketing and development divisions. Instead of keeping the division separate, as most companies do, marketing is closely knit with the developers. The result is a clear and concisely communication that's relayed to consumers and fans.

The Division 2 is getting a big update that will enable juicy smooth 4K 60FPS goodness on the PlayStation 5, and both the Xbox Series X and S consoles.

The news was revealed by Ubisoft Community Manager Johan Lindholm, who was replying to someone asking if there would be a State of the Game tomorrow. Lindholm said there wouldn't be a SOTG tomorrow, but did say that: "TU12.1 releases on Feb 2nd with the Resident Evil Apparel Event, a rebalance of the Optimization Station cost as well as 4K 60 FPS support for next gen consoles".

The Medium is here for both the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles as well as the PC, with some nifty Dual-Reality gameplay done through a dual viewport that seems to really bring the next-gen Xbox consoles to their knees. But now Digital Foundry has done a deep dive on the performance of The Medium on the new Xbox Series X/S consoles, check it out:

Bloober Team, the developer behind The Medium, said that the Xbox Series X CPU and GPU power would let developers "go crazy" and I guess that means the most powerful console in the world being reduced to its knees and dropping to 900p.

The Medium runs at up to 4K on the flagship Xbox Series X and hovers around 1440p, while the Xbox Series S runs it somewhere between 1080p and 900p. But when you do the "dual viewport" mode -- which the game is built around (and explained in the DF video embedded above) both consoles go right into Chug Mode down into the 10-20FPS mark.

A new mod unlocks 60FPS in Skyrim on PlayStation consoles, but it won't work in Fallout 4.

PS5 owners can now play Skyrim Special Edition in 60FPS and circumvent Sony's maddening 30FPS limit. All you have to do is download the Skyrim @ 60fps mod, a user-created mod uploaded to the in-game console mods section. Skyrim was originally meant to run at a native 4K resolution at 30FPS on the PS4 Pro, but with the mod it can hit 1080p 30FPS+ on the base PS4.

The PlayStation 5 in particular runs Skyrim at a solid and consistent native 4K 60FPS via the console's powerful backwards compatibility mode. The PS5 has more memory bandwidth (16GB of GDDR6 RAM) and a much more powerful GPU and CPU combo that can deliver lots more horsepower. The result is a PC-like Skyrim experience in terms of performance.

Naughty Dog's ultra-violent and controversial opus sequel now has more total awards than CD Projekt's best-selling RPG The Witcher 3.

The Witcher 3 is hailed as one of the best games ever made for its RPG storytelling, compelling characters, and gritty fantasy world. The Last of Us II is likewise hailed for similar things, including its riveting story arc of blood and revenge, its varied cast of characters, and ambitious in-game detail. It's hard to compare the two directly--they're too different games--but one metric stands out: Total accolades.

According to GameAwards.net, The Last of Us Part II now has more awards than The Witcher 3. Naughty Dog's sequel sits at 265 awards, whereas The Witcher 3 is at 260. Each game's Metacritic also seems relevant--The Witcher 3 sits at a 92 on PS4 and The Last of Us Part II is at 93 on PS4. It's worth mentioning The Witcher has a 93 on PC, though.

Control's next-gen Ultimate Edition is coming out soon, and will be free on PlayStation Plus next week. Here's what to expect from the game's two performance modes.

Like most next-gen games, Control on PS5 and Xbox Series X has two modes that prioritize either graphical fidelity and visuals or in-game performance. The Series X is locked at just the performance mode and won't be able to maintain ray tracing. Luckily, Control will shoot past 1080p for both of these modes.

We knew that ASUS ROG had teamed with IKEA on a new range of "affordable gaming furniture", but now we have our first look at theh products thanks to a new leak ahead of their launch.

ASUS is expected to fully unveil the new IKEA x ASUS ROG lineup on January 29, but the IKEA China store has listed all of the products ahead of launch -- which works for us. We now get a look at the UPSSPEL gaming desk, a new ROG-themed pegboard, a moving ROG-themed cupboard, and so much more.

The IKEA x ASUS gaming desk.

Microsoft is poised to make more money from Xbox than it ever has before, and FY2021 is already a record year for its gaming segment.

The current market is perfect for the video game business, especially Xbox. Microsoft's diversified cross-platform webwork of services, hardware, monetization, and game sales is being supercharged by COVID-19 lockdowns, which have pushed more consumers indoors with controllers in hand.

Thanks to this landscape, Xbox is breaking new ground. In Q2'21, which coincides with the 2020 holiday period, Xbox earned an astronomical $5.027 billion in combined revenues. This is the first time the Xbox division made more than $5 billion in a single quarter.

It looks like Tesla cars will soon be able to play Geralt's legendary adventures--the future is here.

According to new promo images, The Witcher 3 is playable in Tesla's new Model S refresh. The game was spotted on the new horizontal touchpad in the Model S update, but neither Tesla nor CD Projekt have revealed specifics. Back in January 2020, Elon Musk asked gamers if they'd like to see The Witcher as a playable game in Tesla vehicles. Hundreds of thousands of people said yes.

The Model S has up to 10TFLOPs of processing power and has two displays--one in the center console, and one in the backseat. Gamers can also hook up a wireless controller for seamless gaming.

AMD and Microsoft warn consumers that console supply will remain scarce for the first half of 2021.

Recent earnings calls underline frustrating news for consumers: It won't be any easier to find a next-gen Xbox Series X or Series S console until the second half of the year. Both AMD and Microsoft say they expect supply to be constrained throughout the first six months of 2021. AMD, who makes the custom 7nm SoCs that power the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation 5 consoles, asserts that SoC demand in 2020 went beyond the company's initial expectations, and that fabrication plants need to boost production to meet the demand. AMD expects to see "tightness" in 1H 2021, but capacity will fill out in 2H 2021 as production ramps up.

As a result, Microsoft forecasts tighter availability as demand continues to outpace console supply. Without the SoCs from AMD, Microsoft can't produce its new Xbox Series hardware.