Gaming - Page 767

Frontier Developments is working on a new franchise that may release as soon as this year, the company announced in a fiscal earnings filing.

The earnings report shows Frontier Developments, the developers behind Elite Dangerous, are doing quite well for themselves and clearly understand the industry. Their space simulator continues garnering consistent earnings via a strong playerbase, monetized cosmetics, and full game sales. To date Elite Dangerous has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, and over 4.3 million copies of the franchise. The devs' new Jurassic World Evolution game came storming out of the gate with 1 million sales in five weeks, and grew to a big 2 million sales in 7 months.

Based on these trends, we should expect the developer-publisher's new IP to follow a similar live service model. The game has yet to be announced and we don't know anything about it or the franchise it belongs to, but we have a release window. Frontier Developments expects to launch the new IP in its Fiscal Year 2020 timeline, which is from June 2019 through May 2020.

To culminate the Year of the Dragon, ZeniMax Online brings fearsome dragons back to the world of Tamriel in a huge new expansion.

Today ZeniMax Online announced The Elder Scrolls Online: Elsweyr, a substantial new paid expansion to its popular MMORPG. The new content introduces a host of new activities, regions, and even a new character class.

Set in Elsweyr, the expansion takes players across the arid deserts and tropical jungles the Elder Scrolls' Khajiiti cat-people call home. Players will encounter skooma farmers, bandits, and Imperials vying for control of the exotic land, all wrapped in a 30-hour new storyline that delves into the deep lore and history of the mysterious Khajiit.

Disney's multi-year exclusivity deal with EA is being stressed even further as the games publisher cancels yet another Star Wars game.

Electronic Arts has cancelled the new open-world Star Wars game that was in development at its Vancouver studio, three sources tell Kotaku's Jason Schreier. EA Vancouver's unannounced project was built on the bones of Project Ragtag, a linear narrative-driven singleplayer third-person action-adventure game in development at the now-defunct Visceral Games and led by Uncharted dev Amy Hennig.

After EA closed Visceral Games it handed the scraps of Project Ragtag to EA Vancouver who then morphed it into a new entity, one that EA hoped would deliver consistent engagement. Despite all the work and effort that was put into Ragtag, EA shut down the studio and other teams cannibalized its assets.

Bruce Campbell may have retired Ash on the big screen, but he'll come back to play the chainsaw-wielding maniac hero for a new video game.

It's been a long, long time since a new Evil Dead game hit the market. The last one was a 2011 mobile game that slipped under the radar as most niche smartphone games do. But back in August, Bruce Campbell confirmed that Ash will break out his boomstick for a fresh "immersive sort of dealio" at some point. It's been a while since we've heard about the project but it looks like it's still in development.

A fan recently asked Campbell about the chances of a new Evil Dead game, and the groovy movie star responded with a simple affirmative. So it looks like the game is still happening and hasn't been canned yet--Campbell would know as he's lending his voice to in-game Ash. Hopefully the new game will be as over-the-top, gory, and chaotic as the beloved classic trilogy.

Microsoft's making a new digital-only Xbox One box that aims to connect directly into the Xbox-as-a-service ecosystem, sources say, and now there's evidence the console may come pre-loaded with specific content.

The new disc-less Xbox, codenamed Maverick, is specifically designed to introduce consumers into Microsoft's lucrative digital-based ecosystem, which includes services like Xbox Game Pass, Xbox LIVE, Mixer, and a host of games sold on its storefront. Sans disc drive, the new console will be a lower-cost option that's more accessible and serves as a viable entry point into the Xbox framework. Sources say the system is coming in 2019 and may be built off of the Xbox One S hardware, but we're thinking the original 2013 model would be the cheapest option. We expect the system to cost about $150 or about $50 less than the current Xbox One S MSRP.

To make things even more instantaneous and improve ease-of-use, Microsoft may use a new initiative called Project Roma to pre-load specific content onto Maverick including Game Pass. We'd bet that Game Pass pre-loads would include select first-party games from Microsoft, thereby alleviating the need to download them individually at home.

Now that the Xbox brand has shifted from a console and to a cross-platform service, Microsoft has adjusted its aims accordingly. Xbox is now all about engaging users across consoles, PC, and mobiles, which drives up sales, ad revenue, subscriptions and more. Game Pass has become a successful way to make this happen.

Not only has Xbox Game Pass subscription has changed Microsoft for the better, it's also changing the industry as more publishers adopt the model (even Nintendo's getting in on it with Switch Online's buffet of all-you-can-play retro titles). Riding the Xbox LIVE framework that connects multiple platforms, Game Pass is instrumental for churning digital engagement that sees 57 million people playing and buying more games, spending more on microtransactions, and watching more streams--all of which fuels Microsoft's gaming revenues.

Now in a recent Xbox Wire post, Microsoft gives a closer look at how well Game Pass is doing its job. The short answer is its games. The service is now a lucrative avenue mainly due to its massively attractive games lineup: not only does it feature old Xbox 360 games, full Xbox One games, and a plethora of indies, Game Pass will include all of Microsoft's first-party exclusives when they launch. All of which are rotated monthly for fresh content.

Warner Bros., the publishers for the Hitman series have released the launch trailer for the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection onto their YouTube Channel.

We first heard about the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection last week where Hitman developers IO Interactive took to their Twitter account to announce the news of the remasters. The Hitman HD Enhanced Collection features a complete remaster of both Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution. Both of these games will have visual and performance upgrades in the form of 4K and 60FPS support. Improved textures and lighting will also be added to Enhanced Collection.

Moving onto pricing, the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection will be coming in at a cost of $60, quite steep for two games that have been remastered. It is also not possible to purchase each remastered game individually, I feel as if this will certainly hinder the sales of the Collection as some Hitman players would only want to play Blood Money or Absolution, or vise versa. The Hitman HD Enhanced Collection is now avaialble on the PlayStation and Xbox stores, for more information visit the official Hitman website here.

The Age of Empires: Definitive Edition that was released back at the start of last year paved the way for what fans really want out of the iconic strategic game series. Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, complete with improvements across the board.

Without mentioning Age of Empires IV and the complete lack of news we have heard about the title, all Age of Empires fans are looking towards the next definitive edition that Microsoft have planned. Arguably the most popular Age of Empires game, Age of Empires 2 is next in the pipeline for a ground-up remaster, but when will that be?

Looking towards the official Age of Empires Twitter account, we can see an image posted by Age of Empires showing the graphical improvements from the classic 1997 game to the 2018 remastered one. Within that thread a fan asked Age of Empires "when we gonna have Age2DE?", the Twitter account replied with a gif that says "soon." It seems that 2019 might be the year we get the Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, or at least we can hope so.

Slowly but surely the cries from PlayStation gamers were heard by Sony, cross-platform play is now available for another title in Sony's library of games. PlayStation Rocket League players start-up your engines, as you are now versing the rest of the world.

Most gamers remembered the controversy surrounding Sony not allowing cross-platform play for Fortnite between Xbox One players and their playerbase. Eventually the Japanese giant conceded and allowed for Xbox One players and PlayStation players to compete against eachother in Epic Games' battle royale, but this opened the gates to the possibility of more games having cross-play enabled. Psyonix's Rocket League is next in line to pass Sony's "PS4 Crossplay Beta program" and it has already been made available to the public.

Psyonix has taken to their website to celebrate this announcement, the developer thanks everyone at Sony for assisting in this process and also details that cross-platform parties will be available in the next coming update to the game. The developer also gives a step-by-step tutorial on how to make sure your cross-platform play is enabled, here is the guide; "head to the "Main Menu," select "Options" and then make sure the "Cross-Platform Play" box is checked in the "Gameplay" tab." Psyonix say that there will be more information "coming soon" regarding the first update of 2019, I'll be sure to follow-up as soon as this information is released.

Valve has addressed the Steam community in a brand new blog post released onto their website. Within the blogpost we learn what Valve has in store for Steam users throughout 2019.

On the blogpost, Valve address a lot about what they achieved throughout 2018 and surprisingly gives us some solid statistics as well. Those achievements will be discussed in another article, what we will be looking into in this news piece is what Valve will have in-store for us throughout 2019. Valve says that they are "working on a new recommendation engine powered by machine-learning, that can match players to games based on their individual tastes", basically Valve will be adding its own account-based AI to each user. This will allow for the user to have more personalized games recommended to them when browsing the Steam Store.

Valve also addresses the current state of the Steam Library and how that is subject to change in the future; "Some long awaited changes to the Steam Client will ship, including a reworked Steam Library, built on top of the technology we shipped in Steam Chat." So with this we can expect a UI change that will coincide with the visuals of the new Steam Chat, quite possibly some new functionality features will come with this update as well. Valve will also be issuing out their very own Steam Chat mobile app, this app is aimed at people that would like to chat to their Steam friends on the go. For more information regarding the coming Steam updates, check out the dot points in the entirety of this post.

Nintendo's launch of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate certainly pushed the game to new heights, we are seeing evidence of that through the recently released sales data for Japan as a new milestone has been reached by Ultimate.

According to Game Data Library, who tracks Japanese sales data for recently released games, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has already beaten the likes of its predecessor Super Smash Bros. 3DS Edition. Just within 5 weeks of its release, Ultimate has already managed to topple the 3DS version in sales despite it being available to market for three years. Keep in mind these sales are strictly based in Japan where handheld and portable consoles thrive.

From the above image we can see Smash Ultimate coming in with 2.6 million units sold, just scraping ahead of the 3DS Edition that has 2.5 million units sold. What are the total sales in both physical and digital for Smash Bros. Ultimate? Well, we will have to wait for Nintendo's 4th quarter fiscal year results to truly know those figures, everything else would just be rough a estimation. If I was to estimate where the sales would be at, I would say Smash Ultimate would be pushing the 10 million mark. Nintendo themselves have stated that it sold 3 million copies in 11 days, and that Ultimate is the best pre-selling Nintendo Switch title. With big calls like this, backed up with the extreme popularity in Japan we could see Ultimate reaching 20 million copies throughout its lifetime.

Blizzard is incubating lots of new ideas for fresh games and new IP, some of which should see a mainstream release.

We know that Blizzard is working on a bunch of new projects. Some guaranteed titles include Diablo IV and a host of mobile game adaptations, but there's also secret games in early incubation phases. Led by Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham, who returned to the company in 2016, the studio's incubation branch has many teams busily cooking up interesting new experiments that may manifest in new IPs for the service game titan.

In a recent interview with IGN, Blizzard co-founder Allen Adham reiterates the company's strong pipeline, becoming the third major exec to talk up the developer's future slate.

Valve's PC gaming marketplace continues its juggernaut reign over the platform with strong datapoints and metrics.

In a rare candid look at internal metrics on the Steamworks blog, Valve revealed some interesting tidbits about its digital marketplace. The storefront-platform attracted 90 million monthly active users in 2018, up more than 34% from a year ago.

Over half of those users logged in every day, too: Steam had 47 million daily active users, up a strong 42% year-over-year, and peak concurrent players (or the total amount of users on at the same time) increased to 18.5 million. These metrics are used to determine proper engagement levels, which is something that every store needs to have in droves. Sales are most important, though, and Steam also shined here with 1.6 million new purchases made every month.

As a huge PVE-driven live service game with tons riding on it, Anthem needs to hit everything just right. Matchmaking is a big part of this and BioWare says gamers will have access to team-finding systems across every in-game activity.

Matchmaking makes everything easier in grindy online games and fosters a sense of recurring engagement among players. Without these tools, it can be tough to find a competent team for a big raid event, especially when you and your friends' schedules don't always line up (looking at you Destiny). Luckily Anthem will have matchmaking searches for all activities in the game, from the freeform exploration to story missions and the challenging end-level strongholds.

BioWare's Ben Irving recently confirmed the news on Twitter, re-affirming the studio's commitment to Anthem's team-based focus. But this also neatly ties into Anthem's engagement-driven business model that sees playtime and most importantly interactivity as major motivators for the live service revenue cycle.

Nintendo has confirmed its Virtual Console retro gaming storefront will live on as part of the Switch Online service, and now there's evidence that SNES games will join the growing NES game collection.

Direct references to multiple SNES games have been found in code for the Switch Online service, strongly hinting the premium subscription service will soon expand with Super Nintendo titles. Switch hackers like Kapu datamined the service's code to uncover "strings" to 22 SNES games including hits like Super Mario World, Star Fox, Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, and Super Mario Kart.

It's worth mentioning that a lot of these games are found on the SNES Classic Edition.

Capcom announced last week the Resident Evil 2 Remake demo and even despite the 30 minute timer on the demo more than 1 million players have already attempted it.

Capcom has announced this player achievement by the Resident Evil.net player counter, a website dedicated to showing the location and the amount of players in each country. At the time of writing this, 1,300,287 million players have downloaded and attempted the 1-shot demo. North America leads the pack with 274,173 attempts, Japan comes in second with 271,305 players and followed by the UK with 204,805.

What is most interesting though, despite there being now over 1.3 million players, the completion rate for the entire globe only sits at 28%. Meaning that a large majority of players did not see the ending of the demo, maybe this is an indicator the difficulty level we will see in Resident Evil 2 Remake? It should be noted that these statistics have only been gathered by "Players who have enabled RE NET Play Data Settings." This could mean that there is many more players out there but don't want their data tracked. Last week the official data size and PC requirements were released by Capcom, if you are interested in that visit this article here.

Celeste will be getting a brand new free DLC very soon as the creator, Matt Thorson has released some details about when to expect it arriving and what it contains.

The Celeste creator took to his personal Twitter account to reveal the DLC details. Unfortunately the first dot point crushes Celeste fans' hope for the DLC to be released on the games anniversary, January 25th. Thorsons Twitter post also details that the DLC is "all one continuous chapter, no B-Side" and that it is based "after the current hardest levels in difficulty."The DLC will also feature "no strawberries" with "new items/mechanics" and will be completely free across all platforms.

Unfortunately no date was issued by Thorson, but we can expect that since it will not be ready for the games anniversary that it isn't that far off. Hopefully on the Celeste anniversary we will hear more news about the DLC as I can't really think of better time to announce something. Celeste is available on the Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Square Enix has showcased the console respective keyblades for Sora in the soon to be released Kingdom Hearts III. Players that pre-order a copy on either of the platforms will receive a bonus keyblade.

Three trailers have been released onto the Japanese Square Enix YouTube Channel and show each of the keyblades in some action. We can see from the above trailer the "PlayStation 4 Early Purchase Bonus: "Midnight Blue", this keyblades effect coincides with the color as it increases the damage of all blizzard attacks. It should be noted that these keyblades will only be available as a situation command.

The Xbox keyblade variant has been titled "Phantom Green" and has an effect that increases all of Sora's lightening attacks. Interestingly enough, there is also a Amazon (West) or Seven Net Shopping (Japan): "Dawn Till Dusk" keyblade that can be acquired, this one increases the damage done by fire attacks. If you want to see more of Sora's keyblades, check out the 10 images that was released by Square Enix last week.

In the newest cinematic trailer for Creative Assembly and SEGA's Total War: THREE KINGDOMS we follow a legendary Chinese hero, which path will you take?

In a recent press release that links us to the above video, we are introduced to the legendary Chinese hero Zhuge Liang as he wanders China's lands in search of a master worthy of his devotion. Three Kingdoms is based in the time of China's peak turmoil, power hungry leaders from each of China's kingdoms are fighting for total control of the land.

We can see from the above trailer and described within the press release "lush subtropics, iconic mountains drenched in mist, and tranquil golden rivers serve as the backdrop for the bloodiest period in ancient Chinese history." Zhuge Liang eventually meets a master of his caliber and he is named Liu Bei, together both of these Chinese lords will be fighting to bring peace to China and end this age of turmoil. For more information about Total War: THREE KINGDOMS, visit the official Steam Store listing here.

Since the release of Valve's Steam Direct we have seen massive increases in games coming to Valves platform, now reports have confirmed that Steam now has over 30,000 games.

This number of 30,000 games is not including software that can be found and purchased within Steam library. Why are we seeing such a massive increase in the amount of games coming to Steam? The answer to that question lays within Valve's 'Steam Direct' which gives developers the opportunity to upload their game to the Steam marketplace.

According to Steamspy, in 2018 we saw 9,300 games added to Steams catalog of games, throughout 2017 6,700 games were added to Steam. With both of these numbers combined, we can see that just over the course of these two years that Steam Direct is the main contributor to the plethora of Steam games now available. For more information regarding Steam, check out the website for yourself here.