Gaming - Page 898

Not long ago EA closed down Visceral Games, and decided to gut the studio's ambitious Star Wars game, codenamed "Ragtag" in an effort to transform it into a service type of game. Now an EA exec talks more on why that decision was made, and what it means for the future of the publisher's games--especially its new Star Wars games.

Since it was announced, I had long been looking forward to Visceral's Star Wars game. We got a brief teaser which suggested we'd play as a bounty hunter, or at least a non-Jedi space scalliwag of sorts. With Uncharted's Amy Hennig at the helm, and help from Lucasfilm's full library of content as well as Visceral and two other EA studios to make the game, project Ragtag was looking and sounding pretty neat. But all of that came crashing down when EA made the decision to kill the studio and recycle the game in a kind of Frankenstein manner. And according to EA Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, the "economic decision" was made because gamers just don't really like linear games any more.

As Electronic Arts makes billions every year from game sales and lucrative live services such as FIFA Ultimate Team, this pivot away from linear singleplayer-based games shouldn't come as a surprise. The publisher expects to make over $5 billion in the fiscal year ending in March 2018, and service games will be a chunk of those earnings.

Engagement is the life's blood to any successful online service game. Look at Overwatch, FIFA, and even PUBG, for example: players are constantly engaged with new content that carries the experience well past singleplayer game's shelf-lives. As one of the biggest titans in the industry, EA understands this live service model quite well, and the company CFO highlights the major reasons why gamers are shifting towards online games.

During Credit Suisse's 21st annual conference, EA Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen was asked if the publisher sees oversaturation in the gaming market. People's free time is limited, after all, and there's so many service games on the market. But ultimately it comes down to one big thing: engagement, and keeping players immersed in things they love.

"I think what we're seeing is that people are playing fewer games but they're playing the games they're playing for longer with deeper engagement. And the reality is people love to engage with something they really enjoy, right? If you love soccer, you're going to do everything around soccer: watch it, play it, engage in it, talk about it, and our games allow you to go deep into something you really love," the EA CFO said.

Electronic Arts' CFO Blake Jorgensen talked in length about Battlefront II's microtransactions, features, and the future of EA's live-service games...but most importantly he discussed why the game didn't have entirely cosmetic monetization like Path of Exile or Overwatch.

A bit ago we reported that sources close to Battlefront II's development team told Venture Beat that the game originally had cosmetic microtransactions only. Of course the full game launched with what gamers feared was a pay to win scheme that required tons of grinding--something we actually predicted before confirmation. Now an EA exec discusses why that plan wasn't instituted how the publisher is learning from its community.

I've transcribed most of the tidbits from EA CFO Blake Jorgensen's talk at the recent Credit Suisse technology conference below:

According to the latest leaks on Devil May Cry 5, we should expect Capcom to use Unreal Engine 4, which should make the game very, very pretty.

The leaker said that Devil May Cry 5 will be released on the "PlayStation 4 first, PC later. (highly unlikely to be on any other platform)", and that it will be powered by UE4. Other details on the game include a release window of somewhere between April 2018 and March 2019, with an early 2019 release the most likely of the two.

Sony is reportedly "paying for some of the funding for the game", and that the trailer has been "ready for a while now" and comes in at 1-minute 50 seconds. The level design of Devil May Cry 5 will reportedly be "more open" but not quite the whole "open world" thing that other games are famous for. The poster teased: "Level design and exploration is more similar to Bayonetta with action set pieces thrown in there but without the QTEs".

Remedy Entertainment is hard at work on their next game post-Quantum Break, a new game that is only known as P7, the studios seventh project.

We don't know much about P7 other than it will be a "cinematic third-person action game set in a new Remedy-created universe, featuring an intriguing story and the deepest game mechanics yet in a Remedy game". But it looks like P7 could be very different to Remedy's previous games in Quantum Break, Alan Wake, and Max Payne.

Remedy recently posted up a new a job on their website that teases P7 could be an online multiplayer game that sounds awfully like Destiny, with an interesting world with lore and online play. The job ad reads: "Remedy Entertainment, the creator of Quantum Break®, Max Payne®, Alan Wake® and Death Rally® and one of the leading independent game studios in the world, is looking for a World Systems Designer to create innovative and long-lasting gameplay for P7, a new Remedy project".

Despite Battlefront II's hotly contested live services, EA's Chief Financial Officer says the game will get a massive array of new content to accompany The Last Jedi's release in theaters. Just how much will EA bring to the table? More content than any of their games has ever seen--or so the CFO says.

During Credit Suisse's 21th Annual Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen discussed not only the future of Battlefront II but the major ethos that drives the publisher. Spoiler: it's online-based live services, microtransactions, and games that last for six years, not six weeks.

"The great news is this is one of the best games we've ever built. We're hearing that from the players who are actually playing the game and engaging every day. The day-over-day retention in Battlefront II is almost better than we've seen in any of our games, and we'll be adding in the next couple of weeks more content than we've ever added in a game before. And the reason for that is the content comes around the Disney movie, and as [The Last Jedi] comes out in theaters there'll be all sorts of new gameplay that comes around that," Mr. Jorgensen said during the event.

Sony's PlayStation 4 console is a juggernaut that's dominated sales charts for years now, and has consistently one-upped itself as time goes on. Now the Japanese games-maker has broken another sales milestone for Black Friday 2017.

This year has been huge for the PlayStation brand. Sony has shipped 63.3 million PS4's to date, and hardware sales were up 29% year-over-year during the period. The tech titan reported stellar growth with a massive 739% net income spike during Q2'17 as well, and the PlayStation brand was a major driver for earnings.

Now Sony reports that it just sold more PS4s during 2017's Black Friday than in its entire 22-year history.

Square Enix is planning big things for Final Fantasy's 31st anniversary, and one of them might be an AR mobile game set in the landmark franchise.

In a recent interview with YouTube channel Edamame Arcade, Final Fantasy head Shinji Hashimoto said 2018 would be a "big year" for the beloved RPG series. Mr. Hashimoto also confirmed that multiple Final Fantasy games are currently in development, and some of them will ship in 2018 (but most likely not Final Fantasy VII: Remake).

Interestingly enough the publisher stated that it would like to tap the AR mobile gaming market with a few new games. In Square Enix's recent financial 2Q brief, company CEO Yosuke Matsuda affirmed as much: "Players have become extremely discerning about game quality. Providing new experiences is also important, and to that end, we would like to make proactive efforts in the mobile AR space."

Following PUBG's massive sales spike on Steam and Tencent's major push in the mobile market, the Battle Royale craze is just ramping up...and some surprising publishers are entering the space.

Today 505 Games announced its new free-to-play mobile PUBG-like game Exile: Battle Royale. The game features 60-player last-man-standing shooter action on Android handsets, but the game isn't yet finished and is currently in beta phase. Nevertheless the Google Play page says the shooter will have microtransactions that range from 99c to $99.99 in cost.

The goal is to engage (and monetize) players who are away from their PCs and get them to continue playing battle royale experiences while on-the-go. In this same vein, Tencent today announced that it will be publishing an official mobile port of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in the Chinese market, which represents a significant boon for both Tencent and Bluehole. It's fairly interesting to see 505 Games, who typically publishes indies and games like Payday 2, making a splash in this widening ocean.

Bungie wants to get more players into the world of Destiny 2, so what better way of doing that than with a Free Trial period starting... well... right now.

Destiny 2's new free trial will let gamers try out the campaign, explore two worlds, and compete in Crucible matches. Bungie explains: "So, you're new to Destiny 2? Enjoy the free trial and jump into the cinematic campaign on your own or with friends. Want to battle other players? Enter the multiplayer arena and put your skills to the ultimate test. You are one of humanity's last Guardians. Your home and your power has been taken from you by a brutal invader - Ghaul. With humanity on the brink, it's up to you to fight back and reclaim our world".

The developer continues: "Take on rewarding side missions, level-up, earn loot, and discover two new worlds through Adventures. Battle other players in the Crucible with full access to the Quickplay playlist. Carry over your progress from the Trial with purchase of the full-game".

We've known for some time that Playground Games is making a new open-world action IP, but now the studio drops some new hints--along with acquiring some of the best talent in the industry.

Forza Horizon developer Playground Games just opened its second huge office in Leamington Spa and has assembled a team of industry vets including Sean Eyestone, who worked on Metal Gear Solid V and Star Wars: Battlefront II, Will Kennedy who worked with Rockstar North for 8 years and helped make GTA V, and Juan Fernandez di Simon who worked on Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

The studio also told GamesIndustry.biz that the new IP is an open-world action RPG, which certainly changes things a bit. It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft is funding this new project or not given the studio's long-standing affiliation with the games-maker.

In addition to the PC port, Tencent will help bring PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to the huge 700 million-strong Chinese mobile market.

Tencent and Bluehole today announced yet another major move to rake in tons of cash: PUBG is coming to mobiles in China, a region that will generate an estimated $27.5 billion in 2017. Tencent already dominates the Chinese mobile market with games like Honor of Kings--in fact the publisher had 8 out of the 20 top Chinese mobile games and apps in November. The publisher recently announced that it will be assisting developer Bluehole to bring PUBG's PC port into China.

In a joint statement Tencent and Bluehole execs affirm PUBG's mobile port will be genuine and authentic. The port will launch in the near future on Chinese mobile platforms.

Despite reports that the Deus Ex franchise has been put on hiatus, Square Enix CEO affirms the franchise is still very important to the studio.

Back in January sources told Eurogamer that Deus Ex had essentially been put in the dreaded limbo state so that Eidos Montreal could focus on a new Marvel-funded Guardians of the Galaxy game. Now Square Enix CEO clarifies what's actually going on with the series--it's not dead, but Deux Ex is likely on the back burner right now.

"We have never said anything about discontinuing that title but for some reason that's the rumor out on the market," Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda said in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz. Mr. Matsuda goes on to say the series is quite important for Square Enix, but also admits that the publisher doesn't have infinite resources to work on new iterations of all of its IPs at once--there's a trade-off, and studios must rotate their projects especially given games take multiple years to make.

Creative Assembly's new IP should be its biggest project, and it appears to be a service game of some sort.

UK-based Total War, Alien Isolation, and Halo Wars dev Creative Assembly is currently making a brand new IP that one source called "the biggest multiformat project Creative Assembly has ever undertaken." Job listings for the new IP give critical clues on what the game could be like, and seem to strongly hint towards a longer service-based title.

So far Creative Assembly has multiple job openings for the new IP including a Lead Technical Artist, a Senior Metagame Designer, and a Lead Systems Designer. The latter two give the most clues about the game by saying things that indicate an online game with a trading economy, long-term multiplayer with a meta system that rewards gamers consistently over time, leaderboards and more.

Ubisoft have announced Year 3 of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is set to be a busy year for the popular FPS, with 8 new operators, exclusive co-op mode and variety of new cosmetics and maps to keep the game fresh entering its third year.

Ubisoft plan to structure Year 3 into four seasons that include:

First up is Operation Chimera that introduces a first for the game, a co-op event called Outbreak. This event is set to include an exclusive collection of cosmetics that are only available during the Outbreak event. The season is also set to unleash two new operators who excel in biohazard situations- perfect for the Outbreak event.

EA have released Mass Effect: Andromeda Deluxe Edition on PC and Xbox One today after a Twitter tease this October.

The Deluxe Edition will be available to all of those who have EA Access, which costs $5 per month. EA no doubt will hope this will cause a revisit to the game by rewarding players that do so with a Pathfinder Elite weapon set, the Deep Space Explorer, and more.

It's skeptical whether we will ever see another Mass Effect title due to BioWare not supporting the title since August, but to fill that gap a delayed novel is to be released in June next year called Mass Effect: Andromeda.

Valve is the center of PC gaming so it shouldn't be a surprise to hear that the digital distribution giant has reached 17 million concurrent users, with nearly 7 million concurrent gamers playing on Steam at once.

Black Friday would've helped this in a big way, with Valve reaching a new peak of 17,683,804 users at once. SteamDB has said that they've noticed a new high of 6,813,617 users in-game at once, which is crazy. Battlegrounds on its own is doing nearly 3 million concurrent players, which is just unbelievable.

We don't know how many Steam users there are in total since Valve doesn't freely release that information but back in 2014 the company said it had reached 75 million users. In 2015, Valve said they had over 125 million "active" accounts... so we can only imagine what they have now. 200 million? Probably.

Pokemon is one of the best-selling franchises of all time, with The Pokemon Company recently announcing the Pokemon series has sold over 300 million copies and that's all without the mobile hit Pokemon GO.

The 300 million sales of Pokemon sales include the main RPG series, as well as others like Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Pokken Tournament, and Pokemon Snap. Remember that there are a bunch of spin-offs and other Pokemon games, with a total of 76 different Pokemon games in the wild.

Comparing Pokemon against some of the other best-selling games of all time we have Super Mario which boasts a massive 500 million copies sold. GTA comes in close with 250 million and so does Call of Duty with 250 million. The Sims has 200 million, while Tetris is still going strong with 170 million copies sold.

It really must be a party at Bluehole everyday, after they created one of the hottest games ever made, continuously push the boundaries of how many peak gamers can be playing a game on Steam at once (see ya, Dota 2 and CS:GO).

This explains how the game has now sold over 22 million copies without stopping, all before the v1.0 release at the end of the year and the upcoming Xbox One release on December 12. Now the game has passed not just the 2.5 million concurrent gamer milestone, but it has flown past the 2.6 million concurrent gamer mark with a new peak of 2,644,514.

Comparing the 2.6 million concurrent PUBG gamers we have Dota 2 with just 710,000 and CS:GO with 510,000. Battlegrounds isn't stopping, but will we - or more importantly, when will we get to 3 million concurrent gamers?

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds continues to break records, with 22 million sales on Steam alone making it a record-breaker in its own right, on top of breaking concurrent Steam players with over over 2.6 million concurrent PUBG gamers.

Battlegrounds costs $30 which means developer Bluehole has made $660 million, right before the v1.0 release of the game and its upcoming desert map, Valle Coronado.

The game will also be released on the Xbox One on December 12 which will only drive that 22 million sales mark up by a few million, with 30 million PUBG sales not out of the question now. It's just a matter of time, which I think will come before its 1-year release onto Steam Early Access in March 2018.