New PlayStation Plus
E68: Sony announced their updated PlayStation Plus subscription service.
Good morning gamers! Last week Sony announced the release of an all-new PlayStation Plus subscription service launching in June. The new PlayStation Plus will have three monthly membership tiers to give their customers more choice.
PlayStation Plus Essential ($9.99) will remain the same for existing members. This tier includes: two monthly downloadable games, exclusive discounts, cloud storage for saved games and online multiplayer access.
PlayStation Plus Extra ($14.99) includes the benefits of the Essential tier alongside up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games. This tier also includes downloadable blockbuster hits from PlayStation Studios and third-party partners.
PlayStation Plus Premium ($17.99) includes the benefits from the Essential and Extra tiers. Premium also includes 340 additional games (PS3 games via cloud streaming and original PlayStation, PS2 and PSP games).
Jim Ryan said on the PlayStation podcast that, "We're growing through acquisition. We acquired five studios through the course of 2021. We're in discussions with Bungie. And we have more planned". Ryan also said “Our games could suffer if they went straight into PS Plus”.
PlayStation Plus Games for April
Hood: Outlaws & Legends
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated
Slay the Spire
New Games on the Horizon
April is a slow month when it comes to major new video game releases but there is tons of news regarding work-in-progress games. Here’s a few exciting developments that surfaced last week.
Riot Games is reportedly working on a brand-new AAA multiplayer game for consoles at their Bellevue studio (which primarily focuses on Valorant). According to various job listings, the unannounced game will have competitive online elements.
The Last of Us’ online game was originally planned to be a Battle Royale but has since been rebooted and is best described as a mix between Escape from Tarkov and The Division. It will have additional multiplayer modes inspired by the original Factions MP but is primarily a singleplayer-like experience in an online game.
Firesprite Studio is working on a AAA horror game in Unreal Engine 5. It will reportedly be a PlayStation exclusive “narrative driven horror-adventure” but there is no mention on whether it’s for a new IP or based on an existing IP.
Esports Corner
🥇 Congratulations to the Los Angeles Guerrillas for being crowned the Call of Duty League Major 2 Champions!
Enthusiast Gaming, the parent organization behind Luminosity, the Seattle Surge (Call of Duty League) and the Vancouver Titans (Overwatch League) has reported a net loss of $41.4 million in 2021. The organization also operates a number of large gaming news publications and the EGLX.
ESL Gaming announced all the esport titles to be featured in the upcoming SnapDragon Pro Series across three tiers of competition. The Snapdragon Mobile Open will include PUBG Mobile, Asphalt 9: Legends and Legends of Runeterra. The Snapdragon Mobile Challenge will feature Clash of Clans, Free Fire and League of Legends: Wild Rift. The Snapdragon Mobile Masters will have Brawl Stars.
Epic Games and Twitch have partnered to host the all new Twitch Rivals Creator Series featuring Fortnite: Zero Build mode. The invitational tournament will feature creators from North America, Europe and Latin America battling it out for a portion of the $450,000 prize pool.
Capcom has revealed that the Capcom Pro Tour 2022 will finally bring back offline qualifier events after more than 2 years of being online. Players have the ability to qualify for the Capcom Cup through CPT Online Premiers (a sequence of 19 regional online events), CPT Offline Premiers (offline events yet to be announced) and through the CPT World Warrior regional program based on local events.
Natus Vincere and AGO Gaming set a new record for the longest map ever played at a CS:GO major event during their ESL Pro League match last week. The game ended after 71 rounds with Na'Vi winning the Mirage matchup 37-34.
Gaming Roundup
Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has four United States senators concerned that it “threatens worker-led demands for accountability”.
Halo Infinite’s community director Brian Jarrard took to Reddit to say, “We’re certainly not happy to be unable to meet player and community expectations”.
E3 2022 has reportedly been canceled both in person and virtually. The event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 and held virtually in 2021.
Microsoft will reportedly release an Xbox Game Pass Family Plan later this year. This plan will allow access to five players.
Abandoned is not getting canceled according to Blue Box Game Studios. The developer released a statement following the cancellation rumors.
Capcom has announced that they will be raising the base salaries of its Japan-based employees by 30% starting April 1st.
Riot Games announced that League of Legends players raised $5.4 million to support humanitarian efforts in Eastern Europe through in-game item sales.
Nintendo has delayed the release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel to Spring 2023. Series producer Eiji Aonuma apologized for the delay.
Diablo IV released their first quarterly update for 2022. The current focus is to bring players top-tier visual quality and an immersive world.
Fortnite “no build” playlist is now permanent for solos, duos, trios and quads. Epic Games made the decision due to the increase in popularity in March.
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I’m surprised we’re not having E3 this year. Is it just fatigue from the event, or something else happened behind the scenes?