Gaming News - Page 7

The original Diablo developers at Condor had a novel idea to make money after the game released: Physical microtransactions.

While gaming has certainly evolved since the 70s and 80s, parts of the market have remained the system. Coin-op arcades were the original microtransactions and games were designed to be as hard as possible to ensure players keep pumping in quarters for another chance. The video game crash changed things and it took a while before this kind of small accruing monetization arrived on consoles, but then Bethesda introduced horse armor and gave rise to gaming's current billion-dollar mTX economy.

Even back in the 90s, PC developers were trying to find ways to monetize their games over time. The original Diablo devs came up with the interesting idea to sell small "expansion discs" that would contain little extras like armor, weapons, and even new environmental effects. The idea was to sell off small pieces of the game for $5 a piece--kind of like a physical microtransaction.

Deep Silver's Dambuster studio introduces yet another big reason why we should be excited about Dead Island 2.

New Dead Island 2 gameplay footage revealed a closer look at one of the game's most interesting mechanics. While the sequel preserves a lot of the features and tropes from the first two games, Dead Island 2 has a new way to augment your zombie superpowers that offers lots of customization.

The game will use skill cards to boost abilities with new modifiers. Dambuster's new system lets gamers mix and match cards to create interesting scenarios of havoc and destruction. Think of these cards as yet another way to execute devastating combos in addition to the weapons, gadgets, and environmental hazards throughout L.A.

Following a string of unsuccessful game releases, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda plans to retire.

Square Enix isn't in the best shape right now. The company isn't in the red, and is still making sustainable revenues and profits, however the publisher does need a few wins to offset a string of disappointments.

A combination of commercial failures like the ill-fated Babylon's Fall with numerous titles that "failed to meet expectations" (every new Tomb Raider release, Deus Ex Mankind Divided, and the expensive Marvel games to name a few) has led to unfavorable company performance. It's estimated that Square Enix lost $200 million on Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers.

Today the Nintendo Switch turned six years old. To celebrate, we'll be taking a closer look at the platform's megaton success on the games market and how the Switch lays out the future of the Mario-maker.

Six years ago on March 3, 2017, Nintendo changed the entire games industry by releasing its innovative new Switch system. Everything that Nintendo has done in the past has led up to the Switch; the system combines both of Nintendo's best-selling form factors into one handheld-console hybrid. The Switch skyrocketed to success from the get-go, propelling Nintendo's business to new modern day highs.

The Switch shows no signs of slowing down. The platform has generated incredible amounts of hardware and software sales while also invigorating Nintendo's business with its first-ever subscription service. Nintendo has used the Switch to push its business towards a digital market while keeping things steady, controlled, and measurable by the company.

UPDATE: The following article is based on a hypothetical scenario that MLex had reported on, however a separate 10-year deal was apparently never offered.

The following also includes my thoughts and opinions on what should happen if Microsoft made such an offer.

Original Article:

Microsoft has met with UK regulators to address antitrust concerns and explore possible remedies for the Microsoft-Activision merger approval process.

Following a persuasive meeting with European regulators, Microsoft is now meeting with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority in a bid to secure approval of its $68.7 billion merger with Activision. Bloomberg reports that Microsoft met with the CMA to tackle the agency's antitrust concerns while also discussing potential remedies (or negotiated adjustments to the deal itself and/or Microsoft's business conduct) that may be necessary for approval.

Reports indicate that Microsoft has already satisfied European regulators with 10-year contracts with competitors Nintendo and NVIDIA. In light of Microsoft's new multi-platform deals, the European Commission is now expected to approve the merger. The CMA, however, is seen as a major hurdle that may not be completely influenced by any approval decision from the EU.

Microsoft's recent offer to bring Call of Duty to competing platforms may be enough to satisfy European Commission regulators and signal merger approval.

Days ago, Microsoft counsel met with regulators to discuss key points of the Activision merger. During the hearing, Microsoft presented its recent 10-year deals with Nintendo and NVIDIA to show that it's willing to work with competitors. Microsoft's licensing deals may have persuaded European regulators and sealed the deal for approval.

Sources tell Reuters that the European Commission (EC) is now likely to approve the Microsoft-Activision merger. The EC had identified a few antitrust concerns with the merger, namely with Call of Duty's exclusivity and possible affects on multiple markets like the nascent game streaming infrastructure. Microsoft's compelling arguments made during the Brussels hearing have apparently swayed regulators and satisfied their concerns with the case.

Earlier this year at CES, Sony confirmed that its latest console, the PlayStation 5, had sold over 30 million units since its debut in late 2020. Although figures for Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S console, which similarly features AMD hardware in terms of CPU and an RDNA GPU, haven't been made official - it's agreed that Sony's PS5 is outselling its competition by a factor of 2:1.

According to analyst Sravan Kundojjala, if Xilinx results are excluded, Sony accounts for 20% of AMD's revenue - making it its largest customer. The other day, we reported that gaming revenue for NVIDIA and AMD is surprisingly close, considering NVIDIA's dominance in the desktop and laptop GPU space. Still, it's not hard to see why when you factor in the success of the PlayStation 5.

In terms of money, AMD sold over USD 3.7 billion in chips for PS5 consoles in 2022, as noted in the company's latest SEC filing. As demand for AMD's discrete GPUs for desktops (the Radeon line-up basically) has declined alongside the rest of the PC hardware market, it looks like console hardware is now making up the most significant share of AMD's gaming revenue.

FTC administrative law judge D. Michael Chappell orders Sony to mostly comply with Microsoft's subpoena for important documents and data relating to Microsoft-Activision merger defense.

Microsoft legal counsel is currently building a case that defends the proposed $68.7 billion buyout of Activision-Blizzard. Such a case requires lots of information on the video games industry, and both the FTC and the parties (Microsoft and Activision) have subpoenaed relevant players to attain the info, including non-parties like Valve, Nintendo, Google, and Take-Two Interactive.

As a complainant in the case, Sony is also involved in the process and has been subpoenaed by Microsoft; essentially Microsoft wants to use Sony's records to help systematically break apart Sony's allegations and debunk the FTC's antitrust complaints while also defending itself against any points that the FTC's Complaint Counsel may also make in the administrative court hearing in August.

Hitman developer IO Interactive is now making their dream game...and it has nothing to do with assassins or secret agents.

IO Interactive has officially confirmed the existence of Project Dragon, a fantasy game that the studio was rumored to be working on for Microsoft. While the game hasn't been formally announced, the Hitman dev did reveal that Project Fantasy (working title) is in active development and recruitment phases. IO was surprisingly candid about their vision for the game.

Project Fantasy is set in a new all-original IP and is described as a kind of dream come true for the studio. The game will hearken back to the old days of tabletop RPGs and focus on the traditional motifs of the genre: Monsters, magic, and adventurers of derring-do and bravery.