Summer Slowdown
E131: A look at the video games coming out in July 2023.
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.
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