Bethesda Has A Plan
Bethesda Has A Plan
E79: Todd Howard gives an update about the future of Bethesda games.
Good morning gamers. Last week IGN published an exclusive interview with Todd Howard, Bethesda Game Studios’ director and executive producer. Howard confirmed several key projects are in the works and outlined their priorities for years to come.
Starfield remains the main priority for the studio ahead of its 2023 release for Xbox consoles, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Howard says Starfield’s main quest is about 20% bigger than previous Bethesda titles such as Skyrim and Fallout 4, and that the story can take between 30 to 40 hours to complete prior to doing any side quests. He also noted that Starfield has more handcrafted content than any previous Bethesda game and that there will be a classic Bethesda “step-out” moment.
The Elder Scrolls VI is currently in the pre-production phase. Howard says that the Elder Scrolls VI is the next game that Bethesda will be working on following the release of Starfield in 2023. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was initially released more than a decade ago on November 11th, 2011.
Fallout 5 is next on the priority list at Bethesda following the release of The Elder Scrolls VI. Fallout 4 was initially released on November 10th, 2015. Sperasoft recently announced that they will be taking over the development support for Fallout 76 from Bethesda.
Call of Duty: Vanguard - Season Four
Call of Duty announced the launch of the fourth CoD: Vanguard season. The new season begins on June 22nd with a brand-new Warzone Resurgence Map called Fortune’s Keep, Vanguard Multiplayer map USS Texas 1945 and classic Zombies map Shi No Numa.
Fortune’s Keep will have 12 new Points of Interest including: Town, Overlook, Graveyard, Smuggler’s Cove, Grotto, Gatehouse, Terraces, Keep, Bay, Winery, Camp and Lighthouse. It was developed by High Moon Studios and it will feature “stunning vistas and undiscovered riches”. The new map will also include two new game features: Black Market Supply Run contract and Extraction Event.
Caldera will be getting the fan favorite Point of Interest called Storage Town from the previous Warzone map, Verdansk. Raven Software hopes to bring new life to Caldera by adding Storage Town in the middle of Mines, Airfield, Village, and Dig Site. EMP Grenades will also be added to the game, which will help players disable vehicles and disrupt enemy players (non-lethal).
RICOCHET Anti-Cheat was launched last year in an attempt to combat the cheating in Call of Duty: Warzone. Last week, Activision provided an update on their anti-cheat system and addressed community questions. Activision says they’re working vigilantly to combat new cheating systems and continue to ban the players that are using them. The system can now combat cheaters by removing their access to all weapons, including their fists.
Esports Corner
Call of Duty will be hosting a Warzone Rebirth Island Tournament. Ten of the best Warzone teams from Australia, New Zealand and Japan will compete in the quads tournament on Rebirth Island for a part of the $20,000 AUD prize pool. The event is sponsored by “The Terminal List,” an Amazon Prime Video television series launching on July 1st starring Chris Pratt.
Team Liquid have sold their naming rights to Honda and rebranded their League of Legends team to “Team Liquid Honda” ahead of the LCS Summer Split. Both companies have worked together since 2019 and this new naming partnership will feature the Honda logo across the chest of the new Team Liquid jerseys.
DAZN has secured a media rights deal with CS:GO esports circuit BLAST Premier. The live streaming service will broadcast the remaining BLAST events for the 2022 season across more than 100 territories, but viewers can still tune in to the action on YouTube or Twitch. Additionally, Dignitas has decided to leave competitive CS:GO for the foreseeable future. Their official statement said that they were unable to confidently build a competitive roster and have thus decided to make all of their players available for transfer.
The 2022 Call of Duty Championships are officially confirmed to take place between August 4-7 at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles. The top 8 teams from the regular season will compete in the Championship Finals while the best Challenger teams will compete in their own double-elimination Championships for a grand prize of $250,000.
Gaming Roundup
Sony is reportedly getting ready to reveal a “genuine professional controller” for the PS5. The “Pro” controller will feature software upgrades and more.
Ubisoft announced a special event scheduled for September 2022 where they will “unveil the future of Assassin’s Creed”.
Overwatch 2 is removing loot boxes in favor of a new Battle Pass system. The game releases on October 4th with PvE coming in 2023.
Dragon’s Dogma II is currently in development according to director Hideaki Itsuno. Dragon’s Dogma was initially released on May 12th, 2012.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is currently in production. Tetsuya Nomura, the Creative Director says new and old players will have a fresh experience.
Eevi Korhonen, the senior narrative designer at Housemarque says they will take pieces from Returnal and fit them into their new IP story.
Avalanche Studios is reportedly developing a game called “Ravenbound: Tales of Avalt”. The game takes place in a medieval-esque fictional world.
Minecraft is collaborating with Disney and Pixar to bring Buzz Lightyear to their game via the new Lightyear DLC for Minecraft: Bedrock Edition.
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