Good morning gamers! As we write this final edition of our beloved newsletter, we are filled with both gratitude and nostalgia. Our journey together has been nothing short of extraordinary, and we want to thank each one of you for being an integral part of it. Your unwavering support, feedback, and engagement have made this experience truly unforgettable. 

Although our newsletter may come to a close, the spirit of Weekly Recon continues to thrive. Stay connected with us daily on Instagram and, starting in August, don't miss out on exciting content on our YouTube channel. We are committed to making positive contributions in the gaming community, and we invite you to be a part of this ongoing journey with us. 

Thank you for your continued support! 🎮

Weekly Recon

Good morning gamers! August is here and it's game time. This month kicks off a release frenzy, bringing a wave of amazing new games for video game lovers to enjoy. Here’s some of our favorites to keep on your radar. 

• Baldur’s Gate 3 (PC) is finally leaving early access and officially releasing on August 3. The PlayStation version of the Dungeons & Dragons inspired game arrives on September 6, and the Xbox version is in development. 

• Atlas Fallen by Focus Entertainment releases on August 10 across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It’s an open-world third-person ARPG where players forge a new era for humanity. 

• Madden NFL 24 releases across all PlayStation and Xbox consoles on August 18. John Madden graces this year's cover in honor of his death in 2021. 

• Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a game based on the beloved film franchise launches on August 18 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC. Players assume the role of some classic franchise characters like Leatherface as they chase and kill their victims. 

• Fort Sollis is set to release for PlayStation 5 and PC on August 22. It’s a sci-fi horror game set on the Solis Planum of Mars at an isolated mining post. Developer Fallen Leaf is pushing the boundaries of narrative-driven storytelling. 

• Immortals of Aveum is finally releasing on August 22 after a short delay. It’s a magic-slinging FPS where players try to save a planet on the verge of abyss.

• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon by FromSoftware releases on August 25 for PlayStation, Xbox and PC. It’s a mecha-based combat game where players try to take control of a coveted energy source. 

• Sea of Stars is the prequel to The Messenger by Sabotage Studio. It’s an indie RPG coming to all consoles and PC on August 29 where two heroes use the power of the sun and moon to fight against the alchemist. 

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to Team Spirit for winning the Dota 2 Riyadh Masters 2023 and to Marcell Csincsik of R8G Esports for winning the ESL R1. 

• According to Esports Insider, China is the largest esports commercial market, leading the way in esports title game revenue and having the highest number of esports players. As it’s growth continues, Shanghai will likely play host to two major events in 2024; the Valorant Masters (confirmed) and a Counter-Strike 2 Major (rumored). 

• FaZe Clan has been riddled with controversy over the last year, and as their spotlight continues to burn, they’re reportedly considering multiple acquisition offers from Gamesquare and Enthusiasts Gaming (who have denied the claims). Additionally, FaZe has dropped their entire mens Valorant team and they’ve appointed legendary CS:GO player NEO as their interim head coach leading into IEM Cologne 2023. 

• Dozens of esports titles are responsible for millions of hours watched every single year. Across the first half of 2023, 5 publishers reigned supreme. Riot Games (League of Legends, Valorant, Teamfight Tactics) lead the way with 526m hours watched, followed by Valve (Dota 2, CS:GO, TF2) with 416m hours watched, Montoon (Mobile legends: Bang Bang) with 258m hours watched, Tencent Games (Arena of Valor, PUBG Mobile) with 97m hours watched and Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty, Overwatch, StarCraft) with 74m hours watched. 

• After an incredible turn of events by KRÜ (going winless throughout the entire season, followed by a 5-0 performance at the Americas LCQ), all 16 slots for the Valorant Champions 2023 have officially been filled. The event is set to take place in Los Angeles where $2.25M is on the line (biggest prize pool in Valorant history), from August 6th to 26th. 

  • Group A: Paper Rex, EDward Gaming, Giants, KRÜ Esports

  • Group B: Evil Geniuses, FUT Esports, T1, FPX

  • Group C: Fnatic, NRG Esports, BLG, ZETA Division

  • Group D: Team Liquid, DRX, LOUD, NAVI

Gaming Roundup

• Dark Souls reportedly has an anime series in development at Netflix. The anime is expected to begin with the events from the original game.

• Transformers games from Activision Blizzard King have been misplaced. Once they’re found, the games will likely be added to Xbox Game Pass.

• Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu said “whenever possible we are planning to bring our games to Xbox for players to enjoy”.

• Rockstar Games published a website update this week. The update added a new reference to Red Dead Redemption which fuelled rumors of a remake on the way.

• CD Projekt RED announced that they’ll be laying off around 100 employees over the coming month, which accounts for 10% of their company

• Lara Croft, the iconic treasure hunter from Tomb Raider is coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Warzone Season 5. 

• Gotham Knights is rumored to have a new story DLC or large patch coming. The game has received several updates over the last few weeks on Steamdb.

• Venom creator Todd McFarlane says he’s impressed with Insomniac Games’ portrayal of the character in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 will be releasing later this year with all-new characters such as Squidward, Jimmy Neutron and more.

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Good morning gamers! Last week’s San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) was a thrilling four-day extravaganza filled with amazing panels and reveals. The video game industry had a relatively strong presence, featuring panels for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Star Wars Outlaws and Mortal Kombat 1. Here’s what you may have missed,  

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 premiered its official story trailer alongside a panel about “Symbiotic Relationships”. Both Miles Morales and Peter Parker are at the peak of their Spider-Man game, while also balancing the hardships of their personal lives. Kraven and his hunters, Mr. Negative and Venom all play important roles in the storyline with the latter being a unique Venom story. Additionally, a large part of New York will be explorable including Brooklyn and Queens, and the game takes place roughly 9-10 months after the events of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Star Wars Outlaws made an appearance with two panels. The first panel revealed two of the game's locations, the new moon Toshara and Tatooine. They also revealed that cooking and food is very important in the game, and players can even work for or betray Jabba the Hutt. A lengthy Q&A interview with creative director Julian Gerighty dug even deeper with additional dev insights and story details. 

Mortal Kombat 1 made a massive entrance showcasing multiple new trailers and characters, including the return of fan favorites Li Mei, Tanya and Baraka. They also confirmed a handful of DLC characters such as Quan Chi, Ermac, Takeda, Peacemaker, Omni-Man, and Homelander as Kombat Pack DLC fighters.

Borderlands Echo Vision Live, a new interactive streaming series set in Gearbox’s Borderlands universe was announced. Additionally, The Borderlands movie starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Jamie Lee Curtis and Olivier Richters hits theaters on August 9, 2024. 

Nostalgia is Real

Nostalgia is a real sentiment that everyone experiences because it provides fond memories of people, places, events or other meaningful experiences. Nostalgia is a powerful tool in gaming as it can take players back to some of their favourite moments. 

Activision resolved the matchmaking server problems for older Call of Duty titles, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The fix was made possible with the help of Microsoft's backward compatibility support on Xbox, enabling Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S owners to play these classic games. As Microsoft works on completing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, the expectation is for more improvements and integration of Activision games into Xbox Game Pass.

The Coalition has reportedly fixed the matchmaking and multiplayer issues for the original Gears of War trilogy. These fixes are important as gamers have begun to flock back to their favourite games by the hundreds of thousands. Players are now able to find matches on games that were released over 14 years ago in under 20 seconds. The sheer number of players buying an Xbox console and old games will surely impact the future maintenance of fan favourite games. 

Esports Corner 

🥇Congratulations to ManuBachoore for winning the FIFAe World Cup, and to the top-6 teams from the CS:GO BLAST Premier: Fall Groups 2023. 

• Blizzard’s Overwatch League is on the eve of its 7th season, and recently introduced Overwatch 2 as the main game. Viewership has plummeted over the years and the league is reportedly in danger of shutting down after “around 50 employees” from the esports department were laid off. At the end of this current season, teams will vote on a new operating agreement. If franchised teams opt out of the league, they will be entitled to a $6m termination fee from Activision Blizzard. 

• Members of the Rocket League esports scene have launched the Rocket League Players Association (RLPA), an organization meant to represent the best interests of the players and to help strengthen communication with Psyonix. The organization includes both players and coaches, and will operate under an elected model with distinct committees representing each region. RLPA co-founder Jonny Davies said “there’s been a call for it within the community”. 

• BLAST has officially opened their “host destination process” for the locations of their upcoming 2024 events across multiple titles including CS2 (BLAST Premier) and R6 (BLAST R6). Head of commercial solutions James Woollard claims that BLAST  events provide more than $24.7m in economic impact for the host city economies. 

Gaming Roundup

• High on Life, the comedic first-person shooter with action-adventure elements is now available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. 

• GI Joe: Snake Eyes, the AAA game being developed by Atomic Arcade has completed the concept stage and is now entering the pre-production stage.

• Resident Evil 9 is reportedly targeting a 2025 release. The report also says that Capcom will announce a “big game” later this year with a Fall 2024 release date.

• Xbox has extended their Activision Blizzard King merger deadline to October 18th. The deal’s breakup fee after September 15th is $4.5 billion. 

• Arkane Studios is hiring for a new single-player action RPG game with immersive simulations according to a new job posting. 

• Xbox Live Gold is being replaced by Xbox Game Pass Core on September 14th. The new service will give players access to 25 titles from Xbox Game Studios.

• Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a new action adventure game from publisher GameMill Entertainment and developer IguanaBee, launching Fall 2023. 

• Assassin’s Creed Mirage won’t receive any DLC or extensive post-launch support says Ubisoft dev Stephan Boudon. 

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Good morning gamers! After a long winded battle, Microsoft has officially defended their Activision Blizzard King acquisition in court against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Judge Corley decisively rejected the FTC's preliminary injunction, subsequently denied their appeal, and ultimately, the 9th Circuit Court denied the FTC's third appeal. Judge Corley, in her initial ruling, said 

“After considering the parties' voluminous pre-and-post hearing, writing submissions, and having held a five-day evidentiary hearing, the Court DENIES the motion for preliminary injunction. The FTC has not shown it is likely to succeed on its assertion the combined firm will probably pull Call of Duty from Sony PlayStation, or that its ownership of Activision content will substantially lessen competition in the video game library subscription and cloud gaming markets”.

Following the court's decision granting Microsoft clearance to close the Activision Blizzard King acquisition ahead of the July 18 deadline, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that they’re "open to working with Microsoft'' to find a solution behind-the-scenes. Both parties have jointly agreed to pause litigation and have reportedly started to work out some sort of remedy, likely a divestiture of cloud gaming in the UK. A case management conference is scheduled for July 17 but it remains unclear if Microsoft will close the deal over the CMA or if they will wait for an agreement to be reached.

Xbox Head Phil Spencer said,

“We're grateful to the court for swiftly deciding in our favor. The evidence showed the Activision Blizzard deal is good for the industry and the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and cloud don’t reflect the realities of the gaming market”.

Update: Microsoft and Sony have officially signed a legally binding 10-year agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. The terms of the deal have not yet been revealed.

The Last of Us

It was an exciting week for Naughty Dog, particularly for The Last of Us franchise as a whole. The franchise's live-action tv-series received 24 Emmy TV award nominations, including for outstanding drama series, lead actor in a drama series (Pedro Pascal), lead actress in a drama series (Bella Ramsey) and more.

HBO’s The Last of Us will have at least two more seasons according to showrunner Craig Mazin. Mazin said that “the show will not end with Season 2 unless people don’t watch it and we’ll get canceled”. The first episode of Season 2 was written prior to the writer's strikes and the show is expected to return in 2025. 

Naughty Dog Co-President Evan Wells announced that he is retiring later this year after 25 years at the company. Wells expressed that he is proud of the team and that he has the utmost confidence in the leadership of President Neil Druckmann.

The composer for The Last of Us Part I has hinted at the release of a director’s cut or remake for The Last of Us Part II. Gustavo Santaolalla has his own character in the game that plays the banjo, but players cannot interact with him. According to Santaolalla, players will now be able to request songs from his character in the new version of the game.

Esports Corner 

🥇Congratulations to DarkZero for winning the ALGS Split 2 Playoffs, to Vampire Esports for winning the PUBG Mobile World Invitational, to Team BDS for winning Gamers8 Rainbow 6 and to Team Brazil for winning the FIFAe Nations Cup.

• The world's biggest fighting game tournament, the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) 2023 is set to host a record-breaking 9,182 unique players at their upcoming event in Las Vegas, Nevada. EVO 2023 features 8 major fighting games but more than 7,000 participants will compete in Street Fighter 6. Additionally, at least 50% of players that are competing in other games are also competing in SF6. 

• The Olympic Council of Asia announced that esports will remain an official medalled sport for the 2026 Asian Games. This years Asian Games, taking place in Hangzhou, China features 8 major titles as part of their esports program including EA Sports FC, League of Legends, Arena of Valor, Data 2, Hearthstone, Street Fighter V, PUBG Mobile and Dream of the Three Kingdoms 2

• EDward Gaming, Bilibili Gaming and FunPlus Phoenix have qualified for the VCT Champions 2023 by finishing as the top-3 teams at the VCT China Qualifier. Additionally, Gentle Mates have secured promotion to the 2024 and 2025 VCT Challengers League (joining The Guard from NA and Bleed Esports from the PACIFIC).

Gaming Roundup

• Need for Speed: Most Wanted is reportedly getting a remake in 2024 according to the original game’s voice actor Simone Bailly.

• The Horizon series has several plans in development that will keep them around for a while says Guerrilla Games studio director Jan-Bart van Beek.

• Black Panther from EA’s Cliffhanger Games is confirmed to be in early development. It’s a single-player action-RPG with an original story. 

• Fable’s narrative lead Anna Megill announced that she will be leaving the team in August and that the game remains in good hands.

• Grand Theft Auto VI leaker responsible for releasing several clips was deemed not fit to stand trial after being assessed by psychiatrists. 

• Antstream Arcade, a cloud based gaming service with over 1,300 games is coming to Xbox. The service will allow you to play select PS1 and Nintendo games.  

• Starfield and Indiana Jones were forecasted to sell 10 million units on the PS5 according to Xbox CFO Tim Stuart (during his Microsoft v. FTC court testimony). 

• Sony is reportedly planning to spend $2.13 Billion in gaming research and development before March 2024, which is 40% of their R&D budget.

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Good morning gamers! Assassin’s Creed Mirage promises to bring the Assassin’s Creed series back to its stealth roots, and from what we’ve seen so far, it’s true. In anticipation of the game’s October 12 release, Ubisoft offered fans a deeper dive into Basim’s story, and a behind-the-scenes look at the games development. Here’s what we learned, 

Who is Basim?

• Basim fits the mold of a classic assassin, deadly and resourceful with a complex personality. Mirage is a strong narrative-driven experience to match that. 

• Players meet Basim in his youth, making a living on the streets of Anbar, near Baghdad. He’s alongside his best friend and partner in crime, Nehal. 

• Basim has been haunted by visions and nightmares that he has been unable to understand his entire life - questioning who he is, and where he belongs. 

• He learns the ways of an assassin and becomes one of the Hidden Ones at renowned Assassin Homebase, Alamut.

• Basim fights to free Baghdad from the Order’s oppression but also struggles with the internal conflict of trying to understand his past, and the meaning of freedom. 

Assassin’s Creed Mirage Development

• Ubisoft wanted a setting reminiscent of the first Assassin’s Creed game so they made the connection between the Golden Age of Baghdad and Basim.

• Mirage is a completely new story that takes place 12 years before the events of AC Valhalla. It doesn't require players to have played Valhalla or any other game from the series, but there will be Easter eggs, secrets, and lore connections for those who have.

• The game follows Basim's journey from apprentice to mentor, which is depicted through linear and story-driven progression (there is no XP-based progression).

• Your rank increases within the Brotherhood as you make your way through the story and complete missions - giving you new opportunities for missions, outfits and tools.

• Tools and outfits can be upgraded and customized for Basim, making the character personal to each player (including the return of outfit dye). 

• Combat has been revamped and includes new moves and mechanics built specifically for Basim and his agility-focused playstyle. Like Altaïr, Basim’s primary combat tools are his sword and dagger.  

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to The Guard for winning the VALORANT Challengers Ascension 2023 - Americas, to Gaimin Gladiators for winning the Dota 2 Bali Major 2023, to Team Vitality for winning the RLCS 2022-23 Spring Split Major, to Team Pakistan for winning the Tekken 7 Nations Cup, to RBLZ Gaming for winning the FIFAe Club World Cup and to Japko & Kami for winning the Gamers8 Fortnite event. 

• FURIA, one of Brazil’s biggest esports organizations recently took out a large billboard in Time Square (New York) to announce the signing of CS:GO star player Gabriel ‘FalleN’ Toledo. FURIA co-Founder/co-CEO André Akkari said, “FalleN’s arrival represents a moment of unity for Brazilian esports. It is a milestone for the community, which longed to form a team that represents the best of Brazil in order to once again reach the top of the [Counter-Strike] world”.

• Now that the Overwatch World Cup Qualifiers have concluded, the 16 teams that officially qualified for the Group Stage event starting on October 30th are (only 8 will advance to the Finals),

  • Americas: USA, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil

  • Europe and Middle East: UK, Spain, France, Saudi Arabia, Finland

  • Asia-Pacific: South Korean, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand

  • Invited: China

Gaming Roundup 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be at San Diego Comic-Con for a Hall H panel called “Symbiotic Relationships” - a behind-the-scenes look at Venom and the symbiotes.

• Rise of the Rōnin is described as a mix of Assassin’s Creed, Ghost of Tsushima and Dark Souls. Leaks suggest a launch is coming in Q1 2024 exclusively for PS5. 

• Ark: Survival Evolved Remastered has been delayed to October. Studio Wildcard says this delay is due to complications from working with a new game engine. 

• Tokyo Game Show 2023 exhibitors include Sony, Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, SEGA/Atlus, Konami, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo and dozens of others. 

• PlayStation 5 Slim is reportedly releasing sometime this year, according to Microsoft. The digital only console is expected to sell at a $399 price point. 

• Nintendo Switch 2 evidence suggests that the console is closer than we think. “NX2”, the console's likely codename, appeared on Nintendo’s Developer Portal.

• Riot Games is looking for a “Associate Console Playtest Analyst” that will focus on testing upcoming gameplay experiences for Valorant.

• Capcom has delayed ‘Pragmata’ so they can ensure it lives up to fan expectations and they’re discussing how to approach new entries to the Mega Man series.

• Helldivers 2 received a new PlayStation blog feature that discussed the games armor and weapon customization, stratagems and general gameplay. 

• OnlyUp Fortnite Creative map has peaked at 114,000 players, only trailing Fortnite’s official game modes for highest player count. The map has reportedly generated more than $1.5M.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and Threads for more gaming news. To contact us directly, email us at gaming@weeklyrecon.com.

Good morning gamers! As we soak up the laid-back vibes of the summer months, the video game industry may seem a bit quieter in July. The buzz from all the video game showcases has started to fade away and video game releases are a little less exciting. That said, here’s some of the best games coming out this month (and here’s the full list if you want to see more).

• Synapse, by award-winning VR games developer nDreams, arrives exclusively on PS VR2 July 4. It’s a shooter where players invade the subconscious of their enemies. 

• Exoprimal is Capcom’s new third-person PvPvE shooter where players and their tech-heavy exosuits fight against dinosaurs. It releases on July 14 for all Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and PC. 

• Pikmin 4, the next instalment in Nintendo’s beloved real-time strategy series arrives July 21. It introduces a brand-new day and night system, and will allow players to make their own custom characters. 

• Remnant 2 is a Soulslike third-person shooter set to release for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation and PC on July 25. It’s the sequel to 2019’s Remnant: From the Ashes.

• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart for PC arrives July 26. The game features PC optimized graphics, ultra-wide monitor support, ray tracing and customized controls. 

• The Expanse: A Telltale Series is the video-game prequel to Amazon Prime Video’s television series The Expanse. The game is episodic with new episodes coming out every two weeks, starting July 27.  

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to FaZe Clan for winning the Halo Championship Series 2023: Arlington Major. 

• Counter-Strike 2’s summer release seems to still be on schedule (despite zero updates from Valve) but in preparation for the games new iteration, the PGL has announced the dates of their open and closed qualifiers for the Copenhagen CS2 Major. Seven regional qualifiers will all take place within the middle two weeks of January 2024, nearly 2 months before the Copenhagen Major’s March 17th kickoff date. 24 teams will compete for their share of the $1,250,000 prize pool with $500,000 reserved for the winning team. 

• KRAFTON’S PUBG Nations Cup 2023 will officially take place September 15th-17th at the Sangam Colosseum in Seoul, South Korea. The Nations Cup is completely separate from the normal PUBG esports ecosystem where players represent their nation. 16 nations will compete for the $300,000 grand prize plus any “additional crowdfunding contributions”. Russia won the inaugural event in 2019, and the UK won it in 2022 (the event was canceled during the 2020 and 2021 pandemic years). 

• A few weeks ago Riot Games and the LCS Player Association came to an agreement about the long-term sustainability and success of the North American League of Legends Challengers League (NACL). Now, MrBeast and Moist Esports owners Ludwig Ahgren and Charles ‘MoistCr1TiKaL’ White Jr. have expressed their interest in entering the NACL. Popular League of Legends streamer Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp is also interested but has reportedly been “denied” the opportunity. The League of Legends community seems to think that the NACL will surpass the LCS in popularity if these major content creators establish an NACL presence. 

Gaming Roundup

• Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft said that if it was up to him, “there would be no console exclusives”, but says it’s a world of competition.

• Red Dead Redemption was reclassified by South Korea’s ‘Game Rating and Administration Committee’ (GRAC) refuelling the remake/remaster speculation. 

• Among Us is coming to CBS as an animated series. The show will be based on the game’s premise and they will work alongside the developer, Innersloth. 

• Iron Man, the new AAA game in development by EA’s Motive Studio is being built in Unreal Engine 5 according to a new job listing. 

• Project Dragon, the game in development by IO Interactive will be an Xbox exclusive according to emails published in the FTC discovery.

• MultiVersus has ended their early access period. The game will be unavailable until early 2024, when the full game is expected to be launched.

• Alan Wake II will be a digital only game, giving Remedy Entertainment

  several more weeks to polish the game.

• Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is reportedly getting a remake. It’s claimed that the game is in very early development at Ubisoft Singapore.

• Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth was officially announced for console and PC. This will be Annapurna Interactive’s first fully in-house developed game.

• Daedalic Entertainment has decided to close their development studio in Hamburg (Germany) and has cancelled their next ‘Lord of the Rings’ game.

• Perfect Dark is reportedly still in the “earliest stages of development”. It’s suffered many roadblocks, and Crystal Dynamics is doing the bulk of the development.

• Microsoft’s 2021 acquisition target list featured 100+ developers/publishers, including SEGA, Bungie (now owned by Sony), CD Projekt Red, Certain Affinity, and IO Interactive.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for more gaming news. To contact us directly, email us at gaming@weeklyrecon.com.

Good morning gamers! Nintendo took center stage last week with their own summer Nintendo Direct. The showcase was filled with tons of new game announcements and exciting remakes. In case you couldn’t catch it live, here’s what you missed. 

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is Nintendo’s first brand-new side-scrolling Mario game in over a decade. The 2D action platformer introduces a modernized art-style with slightly redesigned characters. It also features a new gameplay item called Wonder Flowers that when touched, activates Wonder Effects, which changes level mechanics and/or transforms the player. Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Peach and Toad were all shown as seemingly playable characters. 

Super Mario RPG, one of the SNES’ most beloved Mario games, is getting a remake. The game is set to release on November 17 which will feature overhauled graphics and the return of the game’s original cast of characters. 

WarioWare: Move It! is the newest instalment in the series featuring more than 200 micro games designed to get players moving using the Switch’s Joy-Cons. The game releases November 3, and is playable in local co-op or with up to four players in party mode. 

Princess Peach will star in her very own game set to release sometime in 2024. The game looks to be a 2.5D side-scrolling adventure set on various stage platforms. 

Other Announcements

• Pikmin 4 arrives on July 21 featuring a Dandori Battle mini-game, night expeditions and glowing Pikmin. 

• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is getting a two-part DLC called Hidden Treasures of Area Zero. Part 1: The Teal Mask sees players learn about the legendary Loyal Three Pokémon while Part 2: The Indigo Disk explores the Terrarium Dome. 

• Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is getting a remaster featuring completely overhauled graphics. 

• Detective Pikachu Returns is releasing on October 6. The game promises to explore the origins of Detective Pikachu, and offers tons of mysteries to solve across Ryme City.

• Dragon Quest Monsters: The Ji Dark Prince is a new Square Enix adventure where a cursed Prince and his friend travel through the demon realm filled with monsters. 

• Sonic Superstars (releasing Fall 2023) and Persona 5 Tactica (releasing November 17) showcased brand-new gameplay trailers. 

• Batman: Arkham Trilogy, a collection of all three Rocksteady Batman games will be available on the Switch in the Fall 2023. 

• Metal Gear Solid Collection Vol. 1 arrives on the Switch October 24. 

Microsoft vs. FTC

Last week, during the Microsoft vs the Federal Trade Commission hearing, Phil Spencer, the CEO of Xbox Game Studios, testified. Spencer provided insights into the console wars, Microsoft's acquisition strategy, new game releases, and more. 

PlayStation is trying to “block Xbox’s survival” according to Spencer. He says that Sony gets a 30% cut of all Microsoft games sold on PlayStation, which helps fund third-party exclusives that hurt Microsoft.

Starfield was a major reason that Microsoft acquired Bethesda. Spencer says that they heard Sony was inquiring about making the game a PlayStation exclusive and Xbox couldn’t let that happen. Spencer also said that if the game was coming out on PS5, the September release date wouldn’t be possible.

Indiana Jones from MachineGames recently became an Xbox exclusive. Spencer says that the reason is "Disney owned Spider-Man being PlayStation only” and he wanted a famous IP to be associated to Xbox. ZeniMax liked the idea of launching on the Xbox Game Pass and having their games on fewer consoles.

The Elder Scrolls VI is “so far out it’s hard to understand what the platforms will even be… we’re talking about a game that’s five-plus years away" says Spencer. He was uncertain if he's already stated it would be an Xbox console exclusive.

Minecraft did not have a PS5-optimized version because Sony did not provide Microsoft with PS5 development kits. The FTC argued that Microsoft had time to develop Minecraft for the PS5 by now and decided not to, as revenge against Sony.

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to FNATIC for winning the VALORANT Champions Tour 2023: Masters Tokyo and to Gaimin Gladiators for winning the DreamHack DreamLeague Season 20. 

• Valorants Global Head of Esports Leo Faria has confirmed that team-branded skins are coming to Valorant in 2024. He said, “next year, we’re introducing for the first time team-branded skins in-game and all of that is monetized via microtransactions”. 

• Thunderpick, the cryptocurrency betting company, has officially announced a $600,000 (paid in Bitcoin) CS:GO tournament series called the Thunderpick CS:GO World Championships. The event will start with four regional qualifiers, followed by a $500,000 grand final where 8 qualified teams will play on LAN.

• Vitality have decided to opt out of the VCT EMEA Last Chance Qualifiers and the VCT Champions out of respect for the family and friends of former Valorant player Karel “Twisten” Ašenbrener. The organization “can’t imagine anyone else playing in these last competitions of the season” so their 2023 VCT season is over. 

• The Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) is returning to Sydney, Australia in October 2023 as part of the SXSW Sydney festival - and could very well be the first CS2 Major. IEM Sydney will feature 16 of the worlds best Counter-Strike teams fighting for their share of the $250,000 prize pool.

• Valve has confirmed that they’re abandoning the Dota 2 battle pass in order to focus on content “for all Dota players to enjoy”. Their resources will now shift towards making new game content, and crowdfunding for The International will have less of a cosmetic focus. 

Gaming Roundup 

• Hideo Kojima says he will be “deeply involved in producing, supervising, plotting, look, design and content” of the Death Stranding film adaptation.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, reportedly set to be revealed in August, will feature remasters of Modern Warfare 2 maps Terminal and Scrapyard.

• Marathon will reportedly allow players to choose their own missions, drop into different servers and to buy or choose different loadouts, perks and abilities.

• Electronic Arts (EA) is officially splitting their business and studios into two separate organizations, EA Entertainment and EA Sports. 

Game Review - Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy XVI represents an evolutionary leap for the esteemed Final Fantasy franchise, pushing boundaries and embarking on a bold new path. Stepping away from its traditional RPG roots, the game favors a dynamic and fast-paced combat system that leaves the RPG elements as more of an afterthought. 

Set in the high fantasy realm of Valisthea, Final Fantasy XVI sets itself apart from most of its predecessors through its well-rounded storyline and gorgeous world design. Players are treated to a gaming experience highlighted by intriguing characters, striking combat sequences, and a groundbreaking soundtrack that, in our opinion, sets a new bar for video game audio. Even during the game's most lore-heavy moments, and through its plethora of cinematics and cutscenes, the new Active Time Lore feature masterfully allows players to reconnect with pivotal elements of the story that they might have missed. 

Final Fantasy XVI has secured itself a spot among one of the better entries in franchise history. Despite the departure from its long-standing RPG formula, and its extremely lacklustre side quests, the game remains a must-play for fans and newcomers alike. We give Final Fantasy XVI a rating of B.

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Good morning gamers! Ubisoft has been keeping busy this summer, participating in multiple video game showcases to reveal some of their biggest upcoming games. Assassins Creed: Mirage had its gameplay debut at the PlayStation Showcase, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was announced at Summer Games Fest and Star Wars: Outlaws was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase. Despite these impressive showings, Ubisoft still hosted their own Ubisoft Forward event. ICYMI, here’s a recap. 

• Assassin’s Creed: Mirage dove deeper into its stealth-focused gameplay further emphasizing that “direct combat is secondary to stealth” in the game. We also learned that stealth assassinations are returning, and Basim has a new combat ability that allows him to target and eliminate multiple enemies in one sequence by using an advanced state of Eagle Vision. 

• Star Wars: Outlaws had its gameplay debut dedicated to showcasing its open-world design. The gameplay focused on protagonist Kay Vess, an outlaw who does jobs in the criminal underworld, as she engaged in combat, rode a speeder and escaped into hyperspace. We also got a fun look at how her little companion Nix helps in battle. 

• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is officially releasing on December 7th, 2023. The standalone adventure sees players play as a Na’vi who returns to a new continent of Pandora after being raised by the RDA. You must reconnect with your heritage, learn the ways of the Na’vi and safeguard Pandora from the humans by taking down their strongholds. 

• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown showcased its dynamic 2D gameplay, characterized by a “semi-open world” side-scrolling action experience. We saw tons of swordplay, acrobatic wall jumping, multiple level designs, special powers and a tough lineup of enemies. 

Other Announcements

• Assassin’s Creed Nexus, Ubisoft’s first VR Assassin’s Creed game features the return of Ezio (AC2), Kassandra (AC Odyssey) and Connor (AC3). 

• Assassin’s Creed codename Jade will allow players to fully customize their assassin for the first time ever, and takes place during China’s Qin Dynasty.

• The Crew Motorfest releases September 13th. The game takes players to Hawaii, and introduces bikes, boats and aircrafts as rideable vehicles.

• XDefiant is coming later this summer and will launch with 24 weapons, 14 maps, 5 factions and 5 game modes (more content will be added during the first year).

• Skull and Bones is getting a closed beta at the end of August. 

• The Division: Resurgence is making its way to mobile devices in the Fall 2023. 

Esports Corner

💛 This week's Esports Corner is dedicated to CS:GO pro Ostap “0ni” Onistrat who sadly passed way in service for the Ukraine. On behalf of the entire Weekly Recon team, we wish his family and friends our deepest condolences.  

• The Saudi Esports Federation has implemented a $5 million bonus fund for esports organizations that win titles across multiple games during the 8-week long Gamers8 festival. Teams will be awarded points based on their placements and the organization with the most points at the end of the festival will be awarded $1.5 million, followed by $1 million for second place (the prize pool scales all the way down to 8th place with $100,000).

• The London Royal Ravens, the only European franchised team part of the Call of Duty League, is reportedly moving to North Carolina for the 2024 season (with Washington DC and Mexico City as back-up options). The Royal Ravens finished last in this year's CDL season and failed to qualify for Call of Duty Champs. If this relocation comes to fruition, the Toronto Defiant will be the only remaining non-American team in the league. 

• May 2023 was a popular month for esports events. League of Legends lead the way with the Mid-Season Invitational peaking at 2.3M concurrent viewers, followed by CS:GO’s BLAST.tv Paris Major with 1.5M concurrent viewers. Valorant was the only console game in the top 5 with 554K concurrent viewers (no international event) and then Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (1.46M concurrent viewers) and PUBG Mobile (639.5K concurrent viewers) came third and fourth respectively. The top 10 was rounded out by Dota 2, Arena of Valor, Apex Legends, Call of Duty and Fortnite.

• 🥇Congratulations to the New York Subliners for winning the 2023 Call of Duty League Championships. 

Gaming Roundup

• Titanfall 3 was reportedly in development for 10 months before being canceled according to Mohammad Alavi, a former developer at Respawn Entertainment.

• Marvel’s Wolverine has entered the writing stage according to Insomniac Games writer Nick Folkman, who’s completed his work on Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.

• Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is considered CD Projekt Red’s redemption story. The sequel will go into development after the expansion is released.

• Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser has opened Absurd Ventures to produce live-action and animation; video games and other interactive content.

• Alan Wake II will reportedly take over 20 hours to complete. The developers are not concerned about the competing games releasing in October.

• Halo is going forward with 343 Industries as the main developer. According to Matt Booty, Activision’s Call of Duty team may help work on it.

• Einstein, a dog actor who performed the motion capture for Cain from Red Dead Redemption 2 has passed away at the age of 13.

• The Elder Scrolls VI might be the last Elder Scrolls for Todd Howard, the director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios.

• Félix Lengyel, otherwise known as xQc, has signed a non-exclusive two-year $100 million contract with rival streaming platform Kick.

• People Can Fly is working alongside Xbox on a new AAA game codenamed Project Maverick with a total production budget of $30 to $50 million USD.

• NetherRealm Studios creative director Ed Boon said "let's do another Mortal Kombat game and hopefully we'll get back to the Injustice games”.

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Good morning gamers! Summer Game Fest hosted by Geoff Keighley showcased nearly two hours worth of video game announcements and reveals. If you didn’t get the chance to tune in, or simply wanted a recap, here ya’ go. 

Major Announcements

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 by Insomniac Games is officially releasing on October 20, 2023. New key art featuring Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Venom (who is  confirmed not Eddie Brock). 

• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a brand-new entry in the Prince of Persia series by Ubisoft. It’s an action-platformer with a whole new art style, coming January 18, 2024 for Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.

• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth showed a magical new gameplay trailer featuring the entire Final Fantasy gang discussing Sephiroth’s return. The game launches in “early 2024” for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. 

• Mortal Kombat 1 came in hot with a brand-new gameplay trailer showcasing the games characters, the new assist mechanic, and various crazy fatalities. 

• Sonic Superstars is a modern take on the classic Sonic side scrolling games. Filled with 3D art and modern mechanics, the game launches on all platforms Fall 2023. 

Other Announcements

• Alan Wake 2 showcased some brand-new gameplay featuring its new protagonist, Saga Anderson. The game launches October 17, 2023.

• Toxic Commando, a first-person zombie-slaying horror game by John Carpenter arrives in 2024. 

• Banishers: Ghost of New Eden is a new action RPG by Life is Strange 1 and 2 developer Don’t Nod, and publisher Focus Entertainment. 

• Street Fighter 6 and Exoprimal are doing a crossover this Fall. 

• Baldur’s Gate 3 revealed another major antagonist named Lord Enver Gortash. 

• Lies of P, a soulslike game based on the story of Pinocchio releases on September 19, but a free demo is live now. 

• Immortals of Aveum got an extended gameplay trailer showcasing some of its magical action. 

Xbox Games Showcase

The Xbox Games Showcase and Starfield Direct did not disappoint. The event revealed an exciting line-up of games that Xbox will use to build the foundation for the future of their platforms. 27 games were featured, 21 of which will be available for Xbox Game Pass and/or PC Game Pass. 

Starfield Direct featured the Bethesda Game Studios team sharing some exciting new details for the upcoming sci-fi role-playing game (RPG). Starfield is Bethesda Game Studios’ first new universe in over 25 years. The game will allow players to explore over 1,000 planets while completing missions and collecting resources. Players can choose to play in 1st or 3rd person, and gamers will have access to numerous character and spaceship customization options.

Avowed is an upcoming RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. It will take players on a journey through the Living Lands, full of mysteries and secrets. The game will be released in 2024 on Xbox Series X|S, Windows 10/11 and Steam.

Clockwork Revolution is a time-bending steampunk action RPG from inXile Entertainment. Players are able to travel back in time and see the consequences of their choices in a narrative driven world. The game will launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Fable is the new beginning for the iconic franchise from Playground Games. The game takes players to Albion, a fairytale land of adventure that is also the home of heroes.

Forza Motorsport announced their next game will be launching on October 10th for Xbox Series X|S and PC. The game will feature collaborations with General Motors: the stunning 2023 No.01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R race car and 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is the next chapter in Senua’s story. The developer Ninja Theory will take players on an intimate journey of overcoming the darkness both within and without. The game is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S, Steam, Cloud and PC in 2024.

Microsoft Flight Simulator will be getting a new game in 2024 powered by the improved Asobo Studio engine. The simulator was designed to take advantage of the newest technologies in cloud, machine learning, graphics and simulation.

South of Midnight is a third-person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South. Players will take on the role of Hazel, who will have to confront and subdue dangerous creatures and untangle the web of her family’s past. 

Star Wars Outlaws is the first open world Star Wars game by Ubisoft. The game is set between the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and it will take players to iconic locations across the galaxy.

Payday 3 is the third instalment in one of the most popular co-op shooter franchises ever. Players will be able to feel the thrills of planning and executing a heist. The game is set to launch on Xbox Series X|S, Steam, Cloud and PC on September 21st.

33 Immortals is a co-op action-roguelike game for 33 players from developer Thunder Lotus Games. The game will allow you to dive into epic 33-player co-op battles with an instant “pick-up and raid” matchmaking system.

Cyberpunk 2077 introduced their official trailer for the upcoming Phantom Liberty expansion scheduled to release on September 26th. The trailer was introduced by Keanu Reeves, who reprised the role of Johnny Silverhand. Idris Elba will be playing the role of a sleeper agent called Solomon Reed. 

Xbox Series S now comes in Carbon Black with a 1 TB SSD. The console will be available as of September 1st, and players can already preorder the console worldwide.

Esports Corner

💛 This week's Esports Corner is dedicated to VALORANT pro Karel “Twisten” Ašenbrener who sadly passed away last week. On behalf of the entire Weekly Recon team, we wish his family and friends our deepest condolences.  

• Activision Blizzard is reportedly forgiving all Overwatch League teams of their “outstanding entry fees”. Toronto Defiant parent company OverActive Media is the first team to announce the deal publicly. It is estimated that the Call of Duty League and the Overwatch League were still owed about $400 million in unpaid franchise fees. 

• Riot Games and the LCS Players Association (LCSPA) have reached a mutual agreement regarding the long-term sustainability and success of the North American Challengers League. As a result, the 2023 LCS Summer Split will officially begin on June 14 and they have added a third weekly match day. 

• 🥇Congratulations to HEROIC for winning the BLAST Premier: Spring Final 2023. 

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Good morning gamers! In March, Netflix announced that they’ve released 55 games, with 40 more releasing later this year and 70 others in development by their various video game partners. Although many of us haven’t yet ventured into the games section of our Netflix catalogs, we might be soon since they’re developing an exciting new game.

The former Studio Art Director of God of War, Raf Grassetti announced that he has joined Netflix to work on an original IP AAA game. Grassetti says that he’s excited to join a talented team featuring industry veterans such as Joseph Staten (343 Industries), Jerry Edsall (Overwatch) and Chacko Sonny (Gears of War 4 & 5). The game will reportedly be multi-platform and will take players to a new world “with deep mysteries and endless adventures”.

Video Game industry reporter Benji-Sales suggests that the game might be some sort of cross between an MMO and an online connected world game.

The Red-FALL

Redfall should have been Xbox’s first major first-party exclusive since Halo Infinite but it was instead met with disappointment and below average reviews. It was riddled with glitches and an overall lack of identity, often referred to as unfinished and confusing. So, what went wrong? Jason Schreier of Bloomberg dug into the development process at Arkane. Here’s the TL;DR.

• Development on Redfall started in 2018, more than 2 years before Microsoft acquired Arkane’s parent company ZeniMax.

• ZeniMax was encouraging their studios to focus on games that could generate revenue in perpetuity, essentially leaning on the "games-as-a-service" bandwagon and games that were more widely applicable. 

• Arkane’s management team described and pitched Redfall as a "Multiplayer Arkane game" which was not part of the studio's identity or expertise. 

• The developers were often confused by management's “vision” and often cited misalignment and confusion amongst the different teams bringing the game to life.

• Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in 2021 and Arkane devs were hoping that Microsoft would either cancel Redfall or reboot it as a single-player game. Instead, Microsoft took a hands-off approach allowing them to continue to operate autonomously (but still canceled the PlayStation 5 version). 

• Redfall had significant microtransaction plans for the first 3 years of development, but pivoted once that system became controversial amongst gamers. 

• Arkane’s lack of expertise, and extreme attrition rate resulted in them needing external support from Roadhouse Studios (delaying the game past its initial 2022 release date). 

Esports Corner 

🥇Congratulations to Nigma Galaxy for winning the ESL Impact event and to all the winners of the DreamHack Fighters competition. 

• Last week the LCSPA (North American League of Legends Player Association) voted in favour of a walkout to protest Riots change in policy for the NACL. In response, Riot Games has delayed the start of the LCS by two weeks and is threatening to cancel the entire LCS summer season if a resolution is not found (which would also eliminate LCS teams from qualifying for 2023 Worlds). Both Riot and the LCSPA are in active discussions to resolve the issue in a way that’s beneficial to the players, fans and esports as a whole. 

• According to sources, Activision is considering hosting the World Series of Warzone LAN Finals in London this September. The Global Finals will feature a $600,000 prize pool between the trios tournament and the solo tournament, and will showcase the worlds best Warzone players. 

• The Esports Awards are officially going back to Las Vegas to host their 2023 ceremony. The event will take place on November 29th and 30th, and will be broadcast live across the world. The nomination format for the 2023 ceremony will allow organizations, brands and individuals (regardless of size or popularity) to submit nominations through the new self-nomination format. The Esports Awards will have a total of 31 categories. 

• Riot is taking their League of Legends spinoff Teamfight Tactics to new heights in the esports world. In December, they will be hosting a 512 player open-bracket tournament in Las Vegas (anybody can participate but priority will be reserved for top ranked players and content creators). This will be the games first ever in-person event of this magnitude, and it will be held close to the release of the S10 set. No others details have been announced just yet.

Gaming Roundup 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will feature an open world that is twice the size of the previous game and you can instantly switch between Peter and Miles.

• Ubisoft Forward will take place on June 12th at 10am PT. The showcase will feature Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and more.

• ZeniMax is reportedly working on a new MMO IP that is a third-person multi-platform open-world action RPG built in Unreal Engine.

• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater developer Konami has confirmed in a new interview that Hideo Kojima will not be involved in the remake.

• Activision Blizzard King was ready to buy Time Warner a few years ago according to CEO Bobby Kotick in his first extensive interview since 2012.

• Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree will reportedly be a massive DLC because FromSoftware is putting all their post-launch content plans into one expansion.

• Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart will launch for PC on July 26th. The game was ported in collaboration between Insomniac Games and Nixxes.

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Good morning gamers! Last week Sony hosted their 2023 PlayStation Showcase. The showcase featured first looks at all-new games, and some updates on major upcoming PlayStation Studios' titles. Let’s get right into it!

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 revealed its first-ever gameplay. It included the introduction of Kraven the Hunter who will be heading to New York to hunt Spider-Man, Miles Morales and several other villains. The gameplay also showcased Spider-Man infected with the Venom symbiote. Spider-Man 2 is set to launch Fall 2023 exclusively for PS5.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater covers the origin story of the iconic military operative Snake and the plot of the Metal Gear series. The game is bringing new graphics, immersive stealth action and riveting sounds to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Alan Wake 2 is the sequel to Alan Wake (2010), the award-winning action-thriller from Remedy Entertainment. FBI agent Saga Anderson and Alan Wake must break free from the horror story to save the small town of Bright Falls. The game launches on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 17th.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage showcased a new trailer featuring Basim, a thief having nightmarish visions who is seeking answers and justice. Basim learned unique abilities once he fled Baghdad and joined an ancient organization, The Hidden Ones. The game launches on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S on October 12th.

Marathon is a new sci-fi PvP extraction shooter from Bungie. Players will take on the role of cybernetic mercenaries known as Runners, exploring a lost colony on the planet Tau Ceti IV. The game is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Destiny 2: The Final Shape is the next expansion set to be released by Bungie and is supposed to serve as the conclusion to The Light and Darkness Saga. Bungie will reveal more on August 22nd during their Destiny Showcase.

Fairgame$ is a competitive modern heist game where you team up and break into exotic locations to steal cargo. Players will have to outsmart guards, security systems and other teams. The game is launching on PC and PS5 at an unannounced date.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the sequel to the 2012 game. The RPG will build on its predecessor by offering players an immersive fantasy world full of adventures. The game is in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Phantom Blade Zero is a new action RPG from S-Game. The game is the spiritual rebirth of the original Rainblood but larger, richer and built on Unreal Engine 5. Players take on the role of Soul, an elite assassin serving a powerful organization called “The Order”. The game will launch exclusively for PC and PS5 (for now).

Project Q is an 8-inch HD screen attached to DualSense style grips which will allow people with a PS5 to stream their games over WiFi. The LCD screen is capable of up to 1080p resolution at 60 FPS for any compatible game installed on your PS5 console. Unfortunately, players will need to maintain a constant connection to the internet to use the device.

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to the NYC Subliners for winning the Call of Duty League 2023: Stage 5 Major.

• FaZe Clan, one of the world’s most popular gaming brands is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Their stock has plummeted to $0.55, their owners are rumored to be divesting their shares, they just laid off roughly 40% of the remaining staff and co-owner Nordan “Rain” Shat has publicized their esports financials. FaZe is reportedly losing $750,000 a month on their esports division, including $576,000 from the CS:GO team alone (although, the CS:GO division also generates about $514,000 in revenue per month). Additionally, Nick Mercs apparently receives $1m per year since he joined the organization in 2018. 

• League of Legends pro Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk and CS:GO pro Peter “dupreeh” Rasmussen both set major esports records in May. Ruler has officially won all major League of Legends titles (Worlds, LCK, LPL and the MSI) while Dupreeh became the first CS:GO player to surpass the $2m tournament earnings milestone. 

• As part of a marketing initiative between Bell Media and Call of Duty League team the Toronto Ultra, Bell has insured each player's fingers for $1 million. The campaign is dubbed “Million Dollar Finger$” and is part of Bell’s partnership with Overactive Media aimed towards reinforcing the legitimacy of esports as a professional sport.

• LCS players (North American League of Legends) have “overwhelmingly passed” a vote to walkout in protest of Riot’s recent changes to the Challengers League circuit (Riot removed the mandate for LCS teams to also field a NACL team without consulting the players or the players association). This means that the LCS won’t begin on its planned June 1st start date, and there’s been no statement by Riot as of yet.

Gaming Roundup

• Naughty Dog has reportedly “significantly scaled down” the team working on their The Last of Us multiplayer project as they reassess the game.

• Days Gone 2 “could have been out a month ago” says game director Jeff Ross in response to Sony’s PlayStation Showcase announcements.

• Undawn starring Will Smith will release on June 15 for Mobile and PC. It’s a Free-to-play open-world survival RPG by Tencent.  

• Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida said they didn’t go into development with exclusivity in mind, they approached multiple platforms and companies.

• Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake has been fully rebooted by Ubisoft Montreal and is back in “early development”. No release date has been set. 

• Ubisoft’s open-world Star Wars game is reportedly aiming for a 2024 release date. It’s being developed by Massive Entertainment, the studio behind The Division.  

• John Wick AAA game is in the works according to Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Drake. This is part of their expansion of the John Wick universe across all entertainment media. 

• Dead Island 2 sold more than 2 million copies since launch (1 million over opening weekend). Two new story expansions are scheduled to release during the first year. 

• Microsoft has officially filed to appeal the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decision to block its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King.

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Good morning gamers! The fighting game genre is home to some of the most iconic video game franchises ever created. Over the last few decades it feels like Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. has dominated the market but times are shifting and fighting games are making a resurgence. Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 have both been announced, Riot is working on their own League of Legends inspired fighting game codenamed Project L, and most recently, WB Games announced Mortal Kombat 1.

Mortal Kombat 1 will serve as a full series reboot launching September 19, 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch. Other details include, 

• Developed by NetherRealm Studios and includes cross-play and cross-progression.

• Features a “reborn” Mortal Kombat universe created by Fire God Liu Kang.

• Has an immersive (and original) story campaign featuring your “favorite Mortal Kombat characters like you’ve never seen them before”. 

• Marks a new era of Mortal Kombat with a new fighting system, new game modes and new fatalities. 

• Introduces a new feature called “Kameo Fighters” - They’re a unique roster of partner characters to assist during matches. 

• Confirmed mainline characters include Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Shang Tsung. 

• Amazon accidentally leaked some DLC characters including Quan Chi, Omni Man, Ermac, Peacemaker, Takeda and Homelander. Leaked Kameo Fighters include Tremor, Johnny Cage, Khameleon, Mavado and Ferra. 

• Jean-Claude Van Damme will appear as an alternate skin for Johnny Cage.

• Pre-order to get Shang Tsung and beta access. Standard Edition costs $69.99, Premium Edition costs $109.99 and the Kollector’s Edition costs $249.99.

Esports Corner

🥇 Congratulations to Team Vitality for winning the BLAST CS:GO Paris Major 2023

• The North American League of Legends (LCS) professional scene has been struggling with poor international results and decreased viewership as of late. To help add more operational and financial flexibility for participating LCS teams, Riot have officially removed the mandate that required LCS teams to also field a Challengers League team. Since the announcement was made, Cloud9, NRG, Dignitas and Golden Guardians have dropped their NACL teams.

  • BREAKING: TSM has announced that they’re departing the LCS and transitioning to another Tier 1 region. They will be selling their LCS spot and most likely moving to the LPL.

• After winning the VCT LOCK//IN São Paulo and securing their region an extra slot at the VCT Masters Tokyo,  FNATIC have now finished the regular season of the EMEA Valorant Champions Tour undefeated (only dropping 1 map in 9 games). They are the only undefeated team across the entire global VCT and haven’t lost a series since Superdome in October 2022. In addition, Riot have announced that their three regional VCT Ascension events will take place after Masters Tokyo which will crown the teams being promoted from the Challengers League to the Partnered League.

• The 2023 Call of Duty League World Championships and the Challengers Champs will both be held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas from June 15-18. Unlike the Call of Duty League where only one of the twelve teams are outside of North America, the Challengers Finals will feature global teams from across NA, EU, LATAM and APAC. The grand finals from both events will be played on the main stage.

Gaming Roundup

• The European Commission has officially approved Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard King even after UK regulators blocked the deal. 

• Amazon Games announced a “The Lord of the Rings” MMO game for PC and consoles from “New World” developer Orange County Studio.

• Fortnite has begun to tease the arrival of Miles Morales to their game ahead of the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse release next month.

• Stray, the PlayStation console exclusive has been rated by The Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.

• Overwatch 2 is canceling their PvE Hero Mode as the game is now going in a different direction (according to their upcoming roadmap).

• Ubisoft’s most recent financial report says they plan to release 8 new games this fiscal year (ending April 2024) including an unannounced “large game”.

• Arkane Studios Lyon, the developer behind Deathloop, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider and Dishonored 2 is hiring for a new Xbox project.

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has surpassed 10 million copies sold marking the biggest launch ever for the Zelda franchise.

• PlayStation has announced their 2023 showcase on May 24th. The event will feature games from “Top Studios Around the World”.

• Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick refused to confirm that their $8 billion target for net bookings in FY2025 is related to Grand Theft Auto VI.

• Ghost of Tsushima and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice reportedly have anime adaptations in development. 

• BioShock 4 is reportedly experiencing development issues. The game recently changed leadership, which has not helped the situation.

• Supermassive Games is reportedly developing a new interactive adventure horror game set in the Dead by Daylight Universe. 

• Scalebound was included on a leaked list of games to be revealed at the upcoming Xbox Showcase event on June 11th.

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Good morning gamers! This generation of gaming has been tough for Xbox when it comes to creating a pipeline of exclusive games. They’ve definitely had some hits in Hi-fi Rush, Forza Horizon 5 and Pentiment, but they’ve also been dinged for their disappointing Redfall and Halo Infinite releases. Now, all eyes are on Starfield starting with this summer's Xbox Games Showcase. 

Last week, new Starfield information surfaced via the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s official rating summary (it’s been given an “M for Mature” rating, by the way). Here’s what we learned, 

• Starfield is an open-world role-playing game in which players assume the role of a miner tasked with finding Artifacts across the galaxy. 

• From first-/third-person perspectives, players interact with various characters, complete quests, and search for supplies while battling enemies (e.g., humans, robots, alien creatures).

• Players use futuristic guns, lasers, axes, and explosives to kill enemies. 

• Combat is fast-paced, with frequent gunfire, cries of pain, and explosions. 

• Attacks on some enemies can result in blood-splatter effects; several environments depict blood stains on the ground around corpses. 

• The game contains some suggestive material in the dialogue, and after sharing a bed with characters (e.g., “Life is a sexually transmitted disease that's a hundred percent fatal”; “I'm all for getting a little wild, but next time let's try it without the jetpacks”; “Talk about seeing stars, whew… that was amazing.”). 

• A fictional drug (Aurora) is prominent in the game, with a section involving players' characters working in an illicit drug lab; players can also obtain Aurora by stealing or buying it from vendors (consuming Aurora results in a distortion effect on the screen). 

• The words “f**k” and “bullsh*t” appear in the game.

PlayStation is Cooking

Last week, multiple studios and games associated with PlayStation made headlines for all the right, and wrong reasons.

Guerrilla Games continued to celebrate their 20th anniversary by reflecting on their history and discussing their franchises and growth. Guerrilla says that the Horizon franchise has surpassed more than 32.7 million units sold worldwide. They also confirmed Aloy’s adventure will continue and she will be going to a new location.

Insomniac Games narrative director Jon Paquette discussed Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on a Twitch livestream. Paquette said the studio is working extremely hard to make sure this is “the best game we've ever made and we can't wait to share it with y'all”.

Bloodborne is getting a remake or remaster according to David Jaffe, the creator of God of War and Twisted Metal. Jaffe said he was informed by a source close to him that is in the know. In September 2022, it was reported that a Bloodborne remake was not in the works because the original code is a mess.

Final Strike Games has reportedly canceled an unannounced sci-fi shooter that has been in development for 3 years. The game was reportedly 2 years away from release for PS5 and PC. The company recently reduced their headcount by 40%.

Deviation Games is a PlayStation backed studio that is working on an original IP set to be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Unfortunately, the studio had to layoff as many as 90 employees. In 2021, Deviation said they were “over 100 strong” after signing a deal with Sony.

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to all of the winners from DreamHack Japan 2023. 

• Counter-Strike teams participating in the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 have made a gentleman's agreement to omit using agent player skins due to their ongoing in-game problems. The agent skins have been around since 2019 but suffer from issues where some skins have smaller hitboxes than others, and some camouflage extremely well with map environments. 

• Dota’s biggest esports event of the year, The International 12, is finally returning to Seattle, USA in October. The event will take place at the Climate Pledge Arena, with the group stage & playoffs kicking off on October 14, followed by the finals scheduled October 27-29. The prize pool allocation has not yet been announced, but is expected to exceed last year's $18m. Team Liquid is the only team to qualify for the big event so far. 

• The Apex Legends Global Series is making a return to London for the Split 2 Playoffs in July. 40 teams from around the world will have to make their way through a group stage and a bracket stage before being one of the 20 teams qualified for the finals and a shot at the $1m grand prize. Additionally, for the first-time ever, all games will be played on the main stage in front of a live crowd.  

Gaming Roundup 

• Sperasoft Studio is reportedly developing a new unannounced AAA third-person action RPG in Unreal Engine 5. The studio co-developed Fallout 76. 

• Nintendo Switch is reportedly getting a predecessor that is “progressing well”. The new hardware’s launch isn’t planned to take place before Spring 2024.

• Mortal Kombat 1 will be a series reboot reportedly releasing in September 2023. The game will be revealed in the next couple of weeks.

• Grand Theft Auto VI is reportedly entering a new development phase according to new job listings for a voiceover director and a scan capture specialist.

• Arkane Studios is working on a new AAA project according to a new job listing. The studio recently released Redfall, which was poorly received by fans.

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III will be released later this year. The game will have multiplayer, outbreak 2.0, single player, Warzone and zombies.

• The Last of Us Season 2 is on pause due to the ongoing writers strike. Filming can potentially begin in Vancouver in early 2024.

Game Review - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 

There was a lot of hype surrounding The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom prior to its release, and that made us a little skeptical. However, to say this game exceeded our expectations is an understatement. It is a Game of the Year candidate in every way. 

First off, we strongly suggest you go back and play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild before taking on this new adventure as it will allow you to have a better experience. Nintendo took everything from their previous game and expanded upon it.

The music and atmosphere of the game, combined with the huge new map, allows you to lose yourself for hours. It’s not just a nice visual experience, this game is a work of art. It keeps you intrigued with a mystery around every corner, while still remaining challenging enough to keep veteran gamers hooked.

The game did have some frame rate issues that we’d like to call out, mainly due to the Nintendo Switch being an underpowered console. However, the issue didn’t stop us from giving The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a score of A+.

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Good morning gamers! Xbox Head Phil Spencer was featured on the ‘Kinda Funny Xcast’ to chat about Redfall, the current state of Xbox, the video game console market and the CMA’s decision to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. We highly recommend you watch the entire interview, but in the meantime, here are the best tidbits. 

Redfall 

• Redfall’s critic/user reviews were double-digits lower than what Xbox’s internal mock reviews expected.  

• Arkane didn’t meet their internal goals or standards for Redfall. The game would have been delayed if the issues were only performance based rather than game direction based. They are working on improving the game with help from The Coalition. 

• Phil takes full responsibility and admitted that Microsoft should have gotten involved and offered support much earlier in development.

Xbox Studios

• Phill is optimistic about the future of Xbox and says that the roadmap is coming together with big games releasing every quarter (Starfield, Forza, Hellblade 2, Avowed and a few surprises). Their summer showcase will be big.  

• He will never force studios to make certain types of games just because of their track record. He wants them to have creative freedom.

• Xbox is focused on a diverse lineup of games. They don’t want to produce the same genre of games over and over again. 

Activision Blizzard King 

• Xbox remains committed to the ABK deal, especially since they have received 9/14 approvals so far. 

• They are working with the EU and FTC, and are appealing the CMAs decision.

Console Market

• Phil reiterated that Xbox is 3rd place in the console market and that they’re “not in the business of out console-ing Sony or out console-ing Nintendo”. 

• There’s no world where Starfield is an 11/10 and people “start selling their PS5s”.

• Phil says that a major downfall was that Xbox “lost the worst generation to lose (Xbox One), where everybody built their digital library of games”.

Respawn Entertainment

In an interview with Axios last week, Vince Zampella, the CEO of Respawn Entertainment discussed the release of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, two other new Star Wars games, Titanfall 3 and the Battlefield franchise.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was mainly developed during the pandemic while its developers worked remotely. According to Zampella, the game was delayed in March because “it just wasn’t ready”. Zampella says the sequel is more than just telling a story but also about refining their work.

Star Wars is the subject of two new games currently in development at Respawn. A strategy game is being made alongside new studio Bit Reactor, and a first-person shooter game is being fully developed internally. 

Titanfall 3 is not currently in the works at Respawn. Zampella would love to make a new Titanfall game, but it has to be the right situation and time. Steve Fukuka, the former Titanfall series game director is leading a small team at Respawn working on a new IP.

Battlefield is the main challenge for Zampella going forward. He has been tasked with returning the series to greatness. Zampella is working alongside former Call of Duty executive Byron Beede to revamp and expand the studios working on the Battlefield franchise.

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to Gaimin Gladiators for winning the Dota 2 ESL One Berlin Major and to w7m esports for winning the BLAST R6 Major Copenhagen 2023. 

• Team Liquid, one of the most reputable and long standing esports organizations in the industry has opened up a 13-floor Alienware training facility in São Paulo, Brazil. The facility will serve the teams staff and players, and comes fully equipped with everything needed to work, play, eat and sleep. Most importantly, it includes on-site mental health support. 

• EA has reportedly ended revenue sharing negotiations with their partnered Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) teams after they requested a 50/50 revenue split. EA allegedly offered teams a one-time $60,000 flat payment for each in-game item but 14 of the 20 involved teams preferred a 50/50 uncapped split. Five major organizations have left the ALGS since the negotiations started in September 2022 (Team Liquid, G2 Esports, Cloud9, NAVI and Spacestation Gaming). 

• Riot Games have permanently banned Valorant Pro Vilius “krea60n” Malinauskas (from team VAMONOS) from competing in Valorant Challengers East due to repeated toxic behavior. This is a major step-forward in making the gaming and esports ecosystem more inclusive and less toxic. 

• Esports market research firm Niko Partners has reported that an estimated 56% of the global esports revenue for 2022 was generated by the Asia and MENA regions (these figures exclude revenue generated by microtransactions and game/in-app sales). The global esports market has an estimated value of $1.3b, with China being the single biggest market accounting for 34.2% of that. 

• Activision Blizzard has admitted concerns over the longevity of the Call of Duty and Overwatch Leagues in their latest SEC filing. They basically say that the current business model is facing multiple operational issues and although they’re working to remedy the situation, the cost and effort to do so may be unsuccessful. 

Gaming Roundup 

• Hermen Hulst, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios says they’re creating games for different audiences and genres.

• Avalanche Software, the studio behind Hogwarts Legacy is hiring software engineers for an “unannounced AAA console title” according to new job postings.

• Hogwarts Legacy has sold more than 15 million units since launch. WB Discovery says they’ve generated more than $1 billion in revenue.

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 prequel comic was released for Free Comic Book Day on May 6th. The game will reportedly be released in Fall 2023.

• Superman could potentially get a new game closer to the release of the next film according to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

• Halo Season 2 has officially completed filming according to actor Pablo Schreiber. The show is expected to be released in the second quarter of 2024.

• Assassin's Creed codename Red will reportedly be the first game to launch on Ubisoft’s new Infinity platform.

• Destiny 2 cheat seller Mihai Claudiu-Florentin has been ordered to pay Bungie over $12 million for violations to the DMCA and Copyright Act.

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Good morning gamers! The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ruled to block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King over cloud gaming concerns. They stated that “the deal would alter the future of the fast-growing cloud gaming market, leading to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come”. Some of the main decision altering points include, 

• Despite Microsoft’s recent 10-year cloud commitments, CMA regulators found the deals too narrow, too Windows-specific and too revenue oriented.

• Microsoft accounts for an estimated 60-70% of global cloud gaming services, with important strengths by owning Xbox, Windows, Azure and Xbox Cloud Gaming. In other words, they’re already too dominant in the emerging cloud-gaming space. 

• The CMA believes that Microsoft would have incentives to increase the price of Game Pass to reflect the addition of Activision Blizzard games.

Microsoft President Brad Smith and Activision Blizzard King CEO Bobby Kotick have both publicly expressed their disappointment with the outcome and have confirmed they will aggressively appeal the decision (which could push the final closing date to 2024). Xbox Head Phil Spencer acknowledged the news in a company all-hands by saying that the Activision deal is an accelerant for their gaming strategy, but not the entirety of it. 

Project V

Project V is a new Battle Royale game in collaboration with CourageJD, Nickmercs, Ninja, SypherPK, TimtheTatman and SuperJoy Studios. The game will be created within the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), which was released in March 2023. 

According to the overview, these creators have been in discussions and brainstorming sessions since UEFN was released. They will now unite their communities and pool their resources together to make a great Battle Royale. Not many details were shared, but the underlying message was that Project V puts “community feedback and features front and center”.

SuperJoy Studios is a new game studio founded by Ali “SypherPK” Hassan. The studio develops games for creators within the UEFN, while also marketing them to the community. The studio’s goal is to create unforgettable experiences in the Fortnite universe. 

Dr Disrespect's reaction to the Project V announcement can be found here.

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to FaZe Clan, Quadrant, Luminosity Gaming and Divine Mind for winning their regional Halo Championship Series 4k events. 

• For the first time ever, the Overwatch League’s Midseason Madness tournament will take place in South Korea. The event features teams from both the East and West regions fighting for their portion of the $900,000 grand prize. Four teams will represent the West Region (top two seeds from the Spring Stage Qualifier + the top two teams from the Spring Stage Knockouts) while the East will be represented by only two teams from the Spring Stage Knockouts (which can be an OWL or Contenders team). 

• The Valorant Champions Tour 2023 Summer Roadmap is here and there’s a lot to get excited about. Both the League and Challengers Playoffs begin on May 19, followed by Masters Tokyo in June. The Challengers Ascension event starts on June 26 where one winner from each of the three regions will get promoted to the International League next season. For the main league, The CN Qualifiers and the Last Chance Qualifiers take place in July, followed by the Valorant Champions Tour Grand Finals in August in Los Angeles. Four teams from the Americas, EMEA and Pacific regions will qualify (3 from the League and 1 from the regional LCQ), in addition to 3 China teams via a CN specific qualifier and a Masters Slot. 

• ESL FACEIT Group has officially added Call of Duty: Mobile to the Snapdragon Pro Series. This is a two-year deal with Activision that offers Call of Duty: Mobile across all Pro Series events, and will award a total prize allocation of $1.5m this year. COD: Mobile will later be added to Snapdragon’s Master Tier, which is the organizers highest level of competition where only Brawl Stars previously held that honour. 

Gaming Roundup 

• Twisted Metal is a new half-hour live-action TV series based on the classic PlayStation games starring Anthony Mackie releasing on July 27th. 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is still on schedule to be released in 2023 as mentioned in Sony’s 2022 fiscal year consolidated earnings report.

• High on Life, the comedic first-person shooter game created by Justin Roiland and developer Squanch Games surpassed 7.5 million players.

• Remedy Entertainment says Alan Wake 2 is in the final stage of full production. The Max Payne 1 & 2 remakes are in the proof-of-concept phase.

• Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon will officially release on August 25th for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has reportedly been in development since April 2022, two months after the launch of Elden Ring. 

• Guerrilla Games Studio Director and Executive Producer Angie Smets is joining PlayStation Studios as Head of Development Strategy.

Game Review - Star Wars Jedi: Survivor 

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a step-up from its Fallen Order predecessor just like how Cal Kestis has grown from a young Padawan to a full-fledged Jedi Knight. The games lightsaber wielding combat and movement mechanics have evolved significantly, offering players a more polished and mature experience. The storyline is not to be missed, with some of the best Star Wars writing the franchise has seen. The cast of characters, stunning environments, and boundless opportunities for exploration make Star Wars Jedi: Survivor an exhilarating journey through the Star Wars universe

In terms of performance, we experienced a handful of technical issues throughout our Star Wars Jedi: Survivor adventure like frame rate drops, loading delays, stuttering and other glitches/bugs. Although this did influence our experience with the game, the graphics and world design are still mesmerizing and extraordinary. 

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is as much an amazing sequel as it is a Star Wars adventure. It’s an incredible game and a must-play whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not. We give Star Wars Jedi: Survivor a score of B+. 

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Good morning gamers! There were tons of moving parts in the gaming world last week as several studios were acquired. The high traction of acquisitions is definitely a positive as it will give smaller studios access to extra resources and support.

Firewalk Studios has been acquired by Sony and are officially the 20th PlayStation Studio. They are currently working on their first original AAA multiplayer game for PlayStation. In 2021, PlayStation announced a publishing partnership with ProbablyMonsters and Firewalk Studios, and PlayStation sees the acquisition as a way to continue investing in Firewalk’s mission. 

Focus Entertainment has acquired 100% of Rail Simulator’s parent company Dovetail Games’ Group (DTG). The award winning developer is considered the leader in the train simulation genre. Jon Rissik, the CEO of Dovetail Games’ thinks that the acquisition will help them “amplify our own talents as a digital publisher”.

AQUIRIS Games Studio has been acquired by Epic Games. The studio behind Horizon Chase Turbo will be renamed to Epic Games Brasil. They are based out of Porto Alegre and will join a team of Epic Games developers helping to create content and social experiences within Fortnite. 

Rovio has been acquired by SEGA for $776 million. SEGA says the deal should be complete by September 2023 as they will acquire “the entirety of Rovio’s outstanding shares and options”. The Angry Birds studio will help improve SEGA’s live-service mobile game portfolio.

Atari has acquired more than 100 PC and console titles from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The acquisition includes notable games such as the Bubsy, Hardball, the Demolition Racer series, as well as the 1942: Pacific Air War, F-117A, and the F-14 air combat series. Atari would like to expand their distribution, explore new collaborations and create new games based on these IPs. 

Ubisoft and their Shooter Games

Ubisoft was in the news last week with their ‘The Future of the Division’ showcase, the XDefiant beta and rumors of a canceled Splinter Cell battle royale game.

The Division received a dedicated showcase discussing the future of the franchise. Three main games were featured,

• The Division Heartland is a PvEvP focused, survival-action shooter set in the rural parts of the American Midwest. The developer deep dive focused on gameplay, the characters and the game's mechanics. There will be a closed beta later this year. 

• The Division 2’s fifth year of content features four distinct seasons. Season 1 (Broken Wings) launches in June and introduces a new game mode, Season 2 (Puppeteers) features a new Incursion, Season 3 (Vanguard) brings players to New York City, and Season 4 (Black Diamond) includes a new story DLC with new missions, zones and end game structure. 

• The Division Resurgence, Ubisoft’s mobile looter shooter, is entering its next testing phase and will officially launch sometime before March 31, 2024. 

Splinter Cell is already confirmed to be getting a modern day remake but did you know that Ubisoft canceled a Splinter Cell-themed Battle Royale game called “Splinter Cell: Hunters”? According to a supposed game tester who played the game, here’s what it was like. 

• 3rd person, PvPvE Battle Royale game with major extraction shooter elements.

• Set at night within the “Washington DMZ”.

• Spawn in as a duo with just a knife trying to find and eliminate one of the four high value targets located somewhere on the map (while also fighting against AI and 28 other real enemy players). Once the HVT is eliminated, and the cache is collected, the duo team must get extracted to win the game.

• Players who die return to the game with the task of killing the remaining real players.

Esports Corner 

🥇Congratulations to Team Vitality for winning the Intel Extreme Masters Rio 2023, to LA Thieves for winning the Call of Duty League 2023: Stage IV Major and to Gaimin Gladiator for winning the Dota2 DreamLeague Season 19. 

• Riot Games have published an article that discusses their approach to building the future of esports. According to Riot’s CEO John Needham, they’re “all in on esports [...] and are dedicated to creating a sustainable future for teams, players, and fans”. The TLDR is that they need to stop thinking of the esports business like traditional sports and that they should focus on the reach that they have amongst Millennials, Gen Z and Alphas. As part of their strategy, Riot is introducing the Virtual Pass, a product that bridges online and IRL fan engagement where viewers can get closer to the action and access to exclusive content. In Riot’s eyes, the Virtual Pass will “deliver great experiences and connect fans with their favorite players and teams, while simultaneously creating a new revenue stream for teams”.

• The Overwatch League’s 2023 season is set to kickoff on April 27th but according to the official announcement, the Chengdu Hunters are not included in the schedule because they are “contemplating the future direction of their team”. The Hunters tweeted an ominous “goodbye” in January, which also lined up with the shutdown of Blizzard games in mainland China due to a failed contract extension between Blizzard and NetEase. In the meantime, the OWL’s East Region will run with six league teams. 

• The ESL’s Intel Grand Slam V is set to start with IEM Rio 2023, and all eligible wins across CS:GO and CS2 (once it’s integrated into the ESL Pro Tour) will count. The Intel Grand Slam is one of the ESL’s biggest Counter-Strike trophies and essentially awards $1M to the team that wins three ESL Pro Tour tournaments and one EPT Championship event over the course of ten consecutive events. FaZe won the last Grand Slam where Twistzz became the first player to ever win it twice.  

Gaming Roundup

• Marvel’s Iron Man, the AAA game in development by Electronic Art’s Motive Studio will reportedly have an open-world according to a new job listing. 

• Dead Space is reportedly getting a movie adaptation directed by James Wan, the director of Aquaman (2018) and its upcoming sequel (December 2023). 

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker) says he's completed all his motion capture and voice sessions for the game.

• Horizon Forbidden West's newest expansion points towards the late Lance Reddick being a main character in the third game.

• Star Wars Battlefront III was reportedly incredible and almost complete before it got canceled. This is according to former developer Michael Barclay.

• Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a new Quidditch multiplayer game announced by Warner Bros. Unfortunately, there was no release date revealed. 

• Mortal Kombat 2, the sequel to the 2021 film will reportedly look to begin filming in June.

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Good morning gamers! TIME Magazine releases a list of the 100 most influential people on a yearly basis. In 2007, Shigeru Miyamoto was included on that list for his work as a Game Designer and Producer for Nintendo. Hidetaka Miyazaki, the Director of Elden Ring now joins Miyamoto as the second video game developer to be featured on the 100 most influential people list.  

Miyazaki has great influence in the gaming industry and as the president of FromSoftware, he’s directed legendary games such as Bloodborne, Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls. Elden Ring, his most recent action role-playing game, was released on February 25th, 2022 and has already sold more than 20 million copies. Shadow of the Erdtree was announced as the first Elden Ring expansion earlier this year.

Neil Druckmann, the Co-President of Naughty Dog and a fellow video-game developer shared his thoughts on Miyazaki’s work. Druckmann says that Miyazaki’s games “make the player feel accomplished and smart—and it’s all thanks to his and his team’s uncompromising approach”. Druckmann also said that Miyazaki’s games allow the players to discover the mechanics and the lore on their own.

Diablo 4 - Constant Stream of Content

Blizzard’s long-awaited Diablo IV game is set to launch on June 6th for PlayStation, Xbox and PC. Ahead of the game’s official launch, Blizzard hosted two beta periods, the early access open beta which saw more than 1 million players reach at least level 20 and the open beta where players accumulated more than 62 million hours played. These results make it the “biggest beta in Diablo franchise history”.

Last week Diablo’s Associate Game Director Joe Piepiora took part in a roundtable interview where he discussed Diablo IV and it’s future in more detail, even confidently stating that “Diablo 4 is an action RPG first […] it is a dungeon crawling, monster slashing, monster killing, loot collecting game”. Here’s the TLDR,

• Diablo IV’s post-launch content will consist of quarterly updates including new story content (aka, new quest lines) that will tie into new mechanics and features. 

• Each update will coincide with a seasonal battle pass, free and premium, that should take roughly 80 hours of gameplay to complete. Completing the battle pass won’t necessarily be enough to get a player all the way to the 100 level cap.

• After you complete the main storyline, returning to dungeons you’ve beat (nightmare dungeons) or areas of the map you’ve passed (Hilltides) will offer harder and unique challenges, including bounties and PvP zones. 

• Piepiora said that “we’re not trying to create a situation where players feel they must play forever. We want players who play Diablo 4 to play and enjoy the experience”.

Esports Corner

🥇 Congratulations to Cloud9 for winning the LCS Spring Finals. 

• The International Esports Federation (IEF) revealed that CS:GO, Dota 2, Tekken 7, eFootball, PUBG Mobile, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang will be the featured games at the upcoming World Esports Championships in Romania. This is the exact same game lineup as last year's World Esports Championships in Bali, including a female only CS:GO event.

• Indian tournament organizer Skyesports has announced the Skyesports Masters, a CS:GO franchised league for India. The new league will aim to revive CS:GOs popularity in the country, and will span over three months concluding with a grand finals where 8 teams will fight for their share of the $245,000 prize pool. Teams can build their roster with local talent or international talent. 

• The Rocket League World Championships will be officially held in Dusseldorf, Germany from August 8th-13th. Teams who qualified as a result of their performance in the Fall, Winter or Spring Major, and teams who qualify via the last chance qualifier will fight for the $2.1m prize pool. 

• The LCS Spring finals, which took place in Raleigh, North Carolina between March 26th and April 9th generated an estimated $1.6m in economic impact for the city. Raleigh's tourism authority estimated that 3,000 people booked hotel rooms, and 70% of the tournament attendees were new visitors to the city. 

Gaming Roundup

• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been delayed again by Rocksteady Studios, it will now launch on February 2nd, 2024.

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie has surpassed $500 million at the global box office. The movie has become the biggest video game adaptation in history.

• Alan Wake 2 is still on course to be released later this year. Remedy Entertainment has changed their logo for the first time in 20 years.

• Fall Guys will reportedly launch Season 10 on May 10th, alongside a level editor mode allowing players to create and edit their own levels.

• The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has gone gold and is now available for pre-order ahead of the May 25th launch for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

• Redfall developer Arkane Studios has announced the game will launch with only 30FPS for Xbox Series X/S. A 60FPS performance update will come at a later date.

• Hypercharge: Unboxed, the shooter game that brings toys to life is pleading with Xbox players who are waiting for the game to stop abusing them.

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Good morning gamers! Handheld gaming has been dominated by the Nintendo Switch, mobile devices and now the Steam Deck. Sony’s last handheld device was the PlayStation Vita in 2013 but they reportedly have a new one in development.

Q Lite is the codename for the new PlayStation handheld device currently in development according to Insider Gaming. The Q Lite will reportedly operate with remote play, which will require users to own a PS5 and have a constant connection to the internet.

Features for the Q Lite will reportedly include game streaming up to 1080p and 60FPS. The early prototypes indicate the Q Lite will look like a PS5 controller with an 8” touchscreen display at the center. It will have adaptive triggers for haptic feedback alongside volume controls, speakers and a headphone jack. 

The release date for the Q Lite is expected to be before the 2024 holiday season. The source claims that the Q Lite is currently in the QA testing phase and it will release before the PS5 Pro and after the the Detachable Disc Drive PS5.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Previews

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the highly anticipated sequel to Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019), releasing on April 28th. As the release date approaches, several publishers that have received early copies of the game are sharing their hands-on experiences.

In an interview with Xbox, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Director Stig Asmussen acknowledged the criticisms of the previous game. Asmussen says they wanted to improve on the criticisms such as the lack of fast travel, inconsistent combat and the poor reward system. He added that “you can do as much focus testing as you want, but once millions of people are playing, it becomes a different story”.

According to VGC, every element from the first game “feels more refined, polished and expanded upon”. Cal Kestis, the game’s main character now has five combat stances such as single blade, double-bladed, duel wield, crossguard and blaster. VGC says that Cal’s force powers have also improved since the first game.

Here are a few other new details about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor,

• Seven large planets

• Several side quests

• Partly open-world

• Improved customization

• New mobility options (grapple, mounts)

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to all the winners from DreamHack San Diego 2023, ThreatsFN and ItsKwanti, Karmine Corp and Rei Zhang.

• The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to a settlement with Activision Blizzard over a salary limit in professional esports leagues dispute (the Call of Duty League and the Overwatch League). The lawsuit claimed that Activision Blizzard imposed a tax that "effectively operated as a salary cap, penalized teams for paying esports players above a certain threshold and limited player compensation in these leagues”. The settlement is still being approved by a judge but would require Activision Blizzard to stop putting limits or caps on player salaries. 

• NRG has officially acquired the historic esports organization Counter Logic Gaming (CLG). The newly formed esports powerhouse will continue to operate under the NRG brand and will be helmed by current NRG founder and CEO Andy Miller. CLG’s League of Legends spot will be taken over by NRG for the foreseeable future and the brand name will be switched from CLG to NRG when Riot allows them to (the teams structure and players will be reportedly maintained). Former CLG CEO Greg Kim and his staff have said their goodbyes amidst layoffs. 

Gaming Roundup

• KONAMI has announced the opening of its Osaka Studio. The studio will be their new game development studio with a focus on “Creators first”.

• God of War’s Sunny Suljic who portrays Atreus said “I think it would be cool to see Atreus grow into a man”.

• Legendary Entertainment has acquired the film and TV rights to Street Fighter. A new Street Fighter live-action film is in development.

• Snoop Dogg has resigned from the Board of Directors of FaZe Clan. He joined in March 2022 before the company went public.

• Minecraft, the live-action movie starring Jason Momoa is expected to be released on April 4th, 2025.

• Resident Evil 4 Remake has sold 4 million copies. The Mercenaries' free additional downloadable content is now available to players.

• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 2 was reportedly in development according to ex-Sledgehammer Games Creative Director Bret Robbins.

• Immortals of Aveum, the debut title from Ascendant Studios has reportedly been leaked. The first-person magic shooter is expected to release in July.

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Good morning gamers! CD Projekt Red released their 2022 earnings report and it turns out that last year was their second-highest earnings year ever, despite not releasing any new games. The studio earned $221.8m in revenue (+7.2% YoY) and $80.8m in net profit (+66.1% YoY). They attributed a lot of this success to their ongoing efforts of improving Cyberpunk 2077, and have reinvested $47m towards their future projects. 

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will start its marketing push in June, according to CD Projekt Red’s Global PR Director Radek Grabowski. More details about the expansion itself will also be revealed in June. 

Project Sirius is a Witcher spin-off game by The Molasses Flood. CDPR announced that the project’s “scope and commercial potential of the original concept” is being re-evaluated and costs were cut before they got too deep (roughly $35m has been spent developing the game so far). CDPR is basically saying that development didn’t align with their goals and that they’ve restarted. 

• The current rumor is that Project Sirius will take The Witcher to a Japanese setting in Edo (Tokyo), Japan and is inspired by The Witcher: Ronin manga. It’s planned as an open-world game but may go semi open-world depending on time and budget constraints. The game’s multiplayer component was reportedly canceled so the full focus will be on single-player. 

The Last of Us

HBO’s The Last of Us Season 2 will be filmed in Vancouver, Canada with Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Pedro Pascal (Joel) expected to resume filming later in 2023. The creators of the show Neil Druckmann (Co-President of Naughty Dog) and Craig Mazin are currently in the pre-production phase for Season 2. The Last of Us had the second-largest premiere since Boardwalk Empire was released in 2010.

The Last of Us Part I, the remake of the 2013 hit was finally released on PC last week. Naughty Dog says that the PC release is about maintaining the equally high-quality bar for both PC and PlayStation. The studio has embraced PC and they will continue to share their stories on PC going forward. Naughty Dog said that the purpose of this release is about bringing the game “not just to PC, but for PC”.

Trouble arose for Naughty Dog upon the PC release as players began to report several bugs resulting in negative gaming experiences. In response, Naughty Dog announced that they will be releasing both a hotfix and a larger patch to address these issues. They also encouraged players to use the latest Nvidia, AMD and Intel graphics drivers.

Esports Corner 

• Esports event organizer PGL is officially hosting the inaugural Counter-Strike 2 tournament in Denmark. The PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 will take place at the Royal Arena between March 17-31, where 24 CS2 teams will compete for the $1.25M prize pool. Counter-Strike 2 will replace CS:GO as the game’s official version as soon as it releases later this summer meaning that the Paris Major will be the final CS:GO event.

• Bandai Namco has announced that the Tekken World Tour will be returning to in-person events this season. There’s a total of nine Master events (global tournaments) and five Challenger events (regional tournaments). The first Master event happened this past weekend at EVO Japan followed by the USA’s CEO in June, and a Master+ event at EVO Las Vegas in August. The Tekken World Tour 2023 Global Finals will be the season's biggest event. 

• The esports industry had a rough week leaving the future of some organizations up in the air. 

  • FaZe Clan reported a net loss of $53.2m for 2022 (+ the $115.3m cost of going public in July). Their revenue for 2022 surpassed $70m mainly due to an increase in brand sponsorships.

  • Astralis’ Board of Directors have initiated a “strategic review” due to its falling stock price. This review will decide the organizations future and they’re considering four options; delisting the company shares, merging with another company, issuing new shares and/or a potential sale of company shares/assets. 

  • TSM is reportedly pausing most of their esports operations and could sell their League of Legends spot. This is likely due to the financial hit from the $250m naming deal with FTX that essentially disappeared. 

  • Heroic has raised ~$1m by selling new shares in the company. This should be enough to keep their operations afloat for the rest of the year. The team needs to raise $10m to stay operational through 2025.

Gaming Roundup 

• E3 2023, the Electronic Entertainment Expo has canceled both their digital and in-person events. There’s speculation that this marks the end of the E3 events.

• Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is being adapted as an anime series with the original cast reprising their roles, including Michael Cera and Chris Evans.

• Electronic Arts has laid off 6% of their workforce. Despite the layoffs, CEO Andrew Wilson says EA "is operating from a position of strength".

• Ark 2, the sequel to the 2015 action-adventure survival game has been delayed until “the end of 2024”, there will be no gameplay reveal this year.

• Redfall production director Ben Horne says the game will support all play styles. The game can be a fast-paced action game or a stealth game.

• Turtle Beach has filed a patent for an Xbox controller with a touchscreen. The screen will allow players to access saved loadouts and social media. 

• Resident Evil 4 Remake sold over 3 million units in its first two days. The Resident Evil game series has now sold over 135 million units.

• Metal Gear Solid 3 reportedly has a remake coming in 2024. Last year, the producer of the franchise said there would be announcements in 2023.

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Good morning gamers! Previews of Arkane’s vampire hunting game Redfall started to surface last week, which were overwhelmingly positive. Players think it’s an extremely fun single-player experience filled with amazing gunplay and a very immersive design. Some are even calling it Arkane’s best ever shooter, a “compelling mix between Dishonored, Borderlands & Buffy”. 

In an interview with IGN, Redfall’s Creative Director Harvey Smith was asked about Microsoft’s takeover mid-development and he said they were told, “No PS5, we’re focusing on Xbox, PC and the Game Pass”. Smith went on to say that he thinks the change was a good decision because it’s “one less platform to care about, one less complexity” and that Game Pass could help make Redfall their biggest game ever. Microsoft addressed the comments saying “we haven’t pulled any games from PlayStation”. 

Redfall is scheduled to launch on May 2nd, 2023 for Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC and Game Pass. Here are a few new details about the game,

• There is no in-game store or any microtransactions.

• Arkane is working to make the game playable without an internet connection.

• Redfall will be their most supported game yet, with post-launch DLC already planned (characters, guns, monsters, expansions etc.).

• There are four boss fights in the game, but the focus is on the open-world (vampire encounters are procedurally generated - all different). 

• The main story can be completed in about 20 hours but will require multiple playthroughs to fully level your character. 

Finally, Counter-Strike 2! 

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was originally released on August 21st, 2012. More than a decade later, Valve Corporation has officially announced that Counter-Strike 2 will launch in Summer 2023. A limited test for select CS:GO players is currently underway.

Counter-Strike 2 is built on Valve’s Source 2 engine, which will feature improved maps, visuals effects and audio. Valve confirmed that the oldest maps in the game have been completely rebuilt from the ground up and that there will be game-changing dynamics. It will be a free upgrade for players who own CS:GO and all their items will be transferable to the new game.

Microsoft Pulls Ahead

Phil Spencer says that Microsoft has plans to launch a mobile games store that will rival Apple and Google, and it could launch as early as next year. Microsoft has argued that Apple’s App Store rules make it difficult for them to offer cloud gaming through one app, which forces users to use the lower performance web browser.

The Competition & Markets Authority has updated their findings on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The CMA has determined that the acquisition will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in console gaming services (UK). The CMA also said making Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox would not be financial beneficial to Microsoft. 

Microsoft reportedly believes that 10 years is “sufficient for Sony to develop Call of Duty alternatives”. The statement comes in light of Microsoft promising to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles for 10 years following the completion of the ABK acquisition.

Esports Corner

🥇Congratulations to FaZe Clan for winning the ESL Pro League Season 17 Finals. They are also the Intel Grand Slam champions!

• The Virtus.pro brand is being reintegrated into ESL and BLAST tournaments after spending a year playing under the neutral name “Outsiders”. The brand was banned from appearing in international events starting March 2022 because of their alleged ties to the Russian government. As a result of Virtus Pro’s parent company was sold and the organization no longer meets the criteria for a suspension. 

• Riot Games have officially announced that the Valorant Game Changers World Championships will take place in São Paulo, Brazil from November 28 to December 3. Each region will host a qualification circuit where 8 teams will make it to the Grand Final (2 from North America, 2 from EMEA, 1 from Brazil, 1 from LATAM, 1 from SEA and 1 from Japan/Korea/China). The event will be played at the CBLOL Arena in front of a live audience.

• BLAST has renewed its partnership with Epic Games to produce the 2023 Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) events. They will be responsible for hosting three Major tournaments, and the Global Championship. The season finale Global Championship will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark and will feature a $4 million prize pool. 

• According to the Sports Business Journal, FaZe is reportedly exploring the possibility of restructuring into a private company again. Less than a year after going public on the NASDAQ and being the first esports company valued at $1 billion, their stock price has plummeted to $0.50. FaZe needs an estimated $40-$60 million to transition back to a privately owned structure, but according to their most recent quarterly report, they only have $43.9 million in cash assets.  

Gaming Roundup 

• Bungie has announced that they will continue to honor the life of Lance Reddick, “through his performances yet to come in the game”.

• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Venom voice actor Tony Todd says the game will be launching in September with advertising ramping up in August.

• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor official story trailer has been released by Respawn Entertainment. The trailer showcases lightsaber combat and new details. 

• Respawn Entertainment has opened a third studio dedicated to the development of Apex Legends that will keep the game going for another “10 to 15 years”.

• CD Projekt Red announced that their studio The Molasses Flood has rebooted the development of the new multiplayer Witcher game.

• Gears of War’s live-action adaptation has hired Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Jon Spaihts. He co-wrote Dune, Dune: Part Two and Doctor Strange.

• Ghost of Tsushima has had increased interest in a film adaptation following the success of HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’.

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin video game is reportedly in development. It’s a 3rd person Action RPG inspired by the God of War games.

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