Tekken 8 Sells Over 2 Million in a Month

Tekken 8 has sold over two million copies in the first month after launch, publisher Bandai Namco has announced.

The fighting game launched on January 26 across PC via Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, and sold one million on its first day of release, then hit the two million sold mark in the first month. This “greatly outpaces” the sales of Tekken 7, Bandai Namco said. Tekken 7, which is still being played, has the series’ total highest sales record of over 11.8 million copies sold worldwide.

Tekken 8 appears to be selling at a similar pace to rival fighting game Street Fighter 6, which also shifted two million copies after a month on sale. Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 went on to sell three million copies in seven months. NetherRealm’s Mortal Kombat 1, on the other hand, sold three million copies just over a month after going on sale.

Bandai Namco said support for Tekken 8 will continue “through various content updates, esports events, music and licensing announcements.” To that end, the Tekken World Tour 2024 kicks off on April 13, with the Tekken World Tour Finals the culmination of the game’s first year of esports.

Bandai Namco also mentioned Tekken 8’s controversial Tekken Shop, which has drawn complaints from some players. “This in-game shop will provide customisation items such as costumes from previous installments, character skins for avatars, and licensed items from our collaborations, letting players put their own touch on their favorite Tekken characters,” Bandai Namco said.

Tekken 8’s Year 1 pass is set to add four additional playable characters as DLC. The first of these is Eddy, who sports a new high-top dreads hairstyle and a new outfit for Tekken 8, although his capoeira fighting style is present and correct.

IGN’s Tekken 8 review returned a 9/10. We said: “Tekken 8 is an incredible evolution for the series, with tons of single player content, an excellent suite of training tools, a great online experience, and exciting new mechanics that make Tekken more dynamic than ever.”

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Dungeons Of Hinterberg’s latest trailer shows off Alpine mountains, glaciers and, yes, a swamp (poison not yet confirmed)

Austrian developers Microbird released a new trailer for their upcoming Alpine dungeon-crawler Dungeons Of Hinterberg over the weekend, giving us a closer look at some of the eponymous dungeon environments we’ll be biffing monsters in come its release later this summer. In addition to the previously revealed mountainsides and glacial snow peaks, it looks like Hinterberg will have a big green swamp to travel to as well. Question is: will it be a poison FromSoft variety of swamp? Or something more innocuous? Hard to tell with that searingly green water on display, but one thing is certain: with Elden Ring: Shadow Of The Erdtree and its confirmed poison swamp launching on June 21st, this summer won’t be short on big bog energy.

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New Metroidvania From CERN Physicist Focuses On The Wonder Of Science

Yeah, science!

Do you like Metroidvanias? Do you like science? You do?! Well good news, because the two are combining in Exographer, an upcoming adventure title from Abylight Studios and SciFun Games.

Imagined by CERN physicist and sci-fi author Raphael Granier de Cassagnac, Exographer is a Metroidvania that ditches combat for science-based puzzles in which you utilise four distinct powers to uncover secrets hidden within the strange, atmospheric environment.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Foamstars new season Groovy Disco begins on March 8

Foamstars released on February 6 as a PlayStation Plus Monthly Game, and we’re elated that so many players have tried out the game. It’s not too late for PlayStation Plus members to add it to their library before March 4.


Foamstars new season Groovy Disco begins on March 8

In Foamstars, each season will last about 5 weeks, so we’d like to share details on the new season, Groovy Disco, which begins March 8.

New Foamstar – Coiff Guy

Groovy Disco features the new Foamstar, Coiff Guy. Coiff Guy can use a rocket launcher-style foam gun to take down enemies from a distance, while his skills include an up-close body slam inspired by his background as a pro wrestler.

Coiff Guy can be unlocked by progressing the Season Pass to Tier 31. He may also be unlocked immediately for users who purchase the Premium Pass.

New season Groovy Disco – Season Pass details

Earn XP via online matches, completing missions or clearing Challenges to progress through the Season Pass tiers and unlock new items. In the Groovy Disco Season Pass, on top of the new Foamstar Coiff Guy, Foam Gun skins for multiple characters and a Character skin for The Baristador are also available for free.

By purchasing the paid Premium Pass, you can unlock even more glorious rewards. Players will immediately unlock any rewards up to their Season Pass Tier at time of purchase.

New Solo Missions added

Missions 4 through 6 will be added to the current Foamstar Missions.

In Mission 6, Dark Ramzey will appear, offering a harder challenge compared to the previous bosses.

Please try to use what you’ve learned thus far to beat it!

Ranked Party – Compete for World Rankings

Compete solo in Ranked Party Lonestar or with a team in Ranked Party Tribe-Vibe. Both events will be available to play in Groovy Disco.

Ranks in Foamstars are categorized into seven tiers: Bronze Star, Silver Star, Gold Star, Platinum Star, Diamond Star, Superstar, and Party Legend. Once enough Rank Points (RP) have been attained, you will be able to partake in Rank Up Trials which if completed successfully, allow you to progress to the next Rank.

The Ranked Party Lonestar action kicks off starting March 11 PST (March 12 UTC), and Ranked Party Tribe-Vibe begins on April 4 PST (Aril 5 UTC).

Extreme Party – New limited-time events

Extreme Party will be held twice during Groovy Disco. In the first event – All Coiff Guy Party – every player will join the fun as Coiff Guy.The second event, Super Duel Party, will introduce intense 1-on-1 battles. Please see below for the schedule and join these events!

The All Coiff Guy Party kicks off on March 22 PST (March 23 UTC), and the Super Duel Party begins on March 30 PST (March 31 UTC).

All PlayStation Plus members can redeem, download, and play Foamstars at no extra cost until March 4 on both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.

Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag Players Rise 200% Upon Skull and Bones’ Release

The number of people playing Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag has risen 200% on Steam after the release of fellow Ubisoft pirate game Skull and Bones.

As reported by PCGamesN, the player numbers of 2013’s Black Flag have floated either side of 1,000 for years. According to tracking website SteamDB, however, this number spiked on February 16: the day Skull and Bones finally released after years of troubled development.

Black Flag rose to 1,679 players upon launch, followed by 2,600 on February 17, and 3,226 on February 18. That growth has continued, not dipping below 2,401 since reaching a new peak of 3,594 on February 25. Skull and Bones has yet to launch on Steam, with Ubisoft favouring a PC release on the Epic Games Store and its own storefront, so player numbers are unavailable.

Announced in 2017, Skull and Bones initially looked set to provide players with more of what made Black Flag so popular: intense and dramatic ocean adventuring and combat. Six delays seemingly caused excitement to dwindle, however, and Skull and Bones has finally arrived in 2024 to little fanfare. “Skull and Bones is a maritime RPG with a strong foundation, even if it feels like a live-service first draft,” IGN said in our 7/10 review.

Ubisoft’s marketing for the game has seemingly inspired a few thousand players to return instead to Black Flag, even with an eight-hour free trial of Skull and Bones available.

In our 8/10 review of the former, IGN said: “Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is a gorgeous, fantastic sequel that gives you the freedom to make your own fun.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.

Nintendo Switch 2 Reportedly Delayed to March 2025 in Part to Combat Scalping

Nintendo Switch 2 won’t launch until March 2025 at the earliest, according to a new report.

Japanese publication Nikkei reported the March 2025 release window with much of the same information leaked so far: that Nintendo’s next console is a Switch successor with similar hybrid functionality but a bigger screen.

The Nikkei report does, however, suggest one of the reasons Nintendo has set a March 2025 release window is to ensure it can manufacture enough launch stock to satisfy demand and, therefore, combat scalpers. When the Switch launched in March 2017 it was almost impossible to get hold of, sparking a vibrant scalping market. It stands to reason Nintendo would want to avoid repeating the situation.

Indeed, Nikkei reports March 2025 is the earliest possible date Nintendo’s next-generation console will launch, suggesting it may not make Nintendo’s next financial year. Given the pressure Nintendo is under to release the successor to the near seven year-old Switch, a post-March 2025 launch would come as a huge surprise.

Earlier this month, Nintendo announced it had sold 13.74 million Switch units in the first nine months of the financial year, a 7.8% decline on the same period a year earlier. But it revised its forecast for the current financial year up, predicting Switch sales of 15.5 million, up from the 15 million previously predicted.

Nintendo said sales of the console “continued to be steady” in its seventh year since launch. The Switch is now up to 139.36 million units sold, lagging behind only the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2 in the best-selling consoles of all-time list. Indeed, the Switch has more annual playing users than ever before, with 122 million recorded during the 2023 calendar year.

“For hardware, by continuing to convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch, we try not only to put one system in every home, but several in every home, or even one for every person,” Nintendo said. “Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and we can maximize hardware sales.”

One of the big unanswered questions is whether Nintendo’s next-gen console will be backwards compatible with the Switch. With 122 million Switch players in tow, it seems unlikely Nintendo will leave those accounts behind to start over.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Age Of Mythology Retold tilts for the modern esports crowd with changed god power mechanics

When I did my undergrad degree in the nowadays-blissful-seeming early noughties, I swore off videogames entirely. I sternly and sorrowfully turned my back on such hit releases as Shadow of the Colossus, Far Cry and yes, even, that PC gaming essential Half-Life 2, so as to spend 11-hour days boning up on Aeschylus and Samuel Johnson. Then, two weeks before my final exams, I somehow went out and bought Ensemble’s Age Of Mythology.

I’m not sure why – blame the devil on my shoulder, I guess. It wasn’t even a new release at that point. I managed to get good marks in the exams despite several nights of binge-playing, but what direction, in general, would my life have taken if I hadn’t bought Age Of Mythology at such a fateful hour? Better or worse? Could I have been some kind of billionaire don with a Pulitzer by now, if it weren’t for Age Of Mythology? These things keep me awake at night. Anyway, here’s a little more info about the forthcoming reboot Age of Mythology: Retold, which broadly aims to turn this wrinkled titan of the strategy genre into a proper modern esport.

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Baldur’s Gate 3 Dev Warns Community About Threats and Toxicity Over Mod Support

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios has called on the game’s community to cease what it called “threats and toxicity” over mod support, insisting conversations around new features “take time”.

Ever since Baldur’s Gate 3 came out in August 2023, players who use mods have been frustrated with having to uninstall, reinstall, update, and re-juggle their mods every time a new patch is released. So last week’s announcement that official mod support is on its way was seen as a positive. However, it seems a vocal minority within the community has taken things too far.

In a series of tweets, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse said, in order for the developer to continue its healthy relationship with its community, the threats need to stop.

“We’ll be talking in depth about what our mod support will look like soon,” Douse said. “Been working on it since launch. As always, we’ll discuss it in our way with our community. Threats and toxicity against our devs and community teams will only harm the conversation. Please stop that.

“This is a game that went from around two million players to way over 10 in a very short space of time, so it’s natural the conversation becomes muddier and complex. But in order to maintain the same level of dialogue, we need people to understand that these conversations take time.

“We can’t do it at all without the dedicated community teams that work to untangle a giant web of noise into something we can work with for the benefit of everyone. If you truly want to know things about the game, please don’t chip away at the people who connect us all.

“99.9% of our community are the absolute best and it’s because of them, thankfully, that my community team persevere. But I suppose it was inevitable that when you have a city, a few bad eggs will start a fire.

“Until then, BG3 does not yet have mod support. Don’t get angry at mod authors, support teams, community, or developers. Our focus is to patch the game while working on future mod support. I understand why it’s frustrating, so what we all need to do is focus on that future.

“Next week I’ll have a discussion about community moderation with our comms teams and restate our desire for continued closeness with our communities and updates based on when and what we can say. But we are working too hard for this to proliferate.

“To finish, again, we can only be close if we can work close. If we cannot do that, and we have to draw distance, it’ll really suck for everyone, especially us and definitely you. Please help us to work for the greater good of the millions of people who are involved and chill.”

Toxicity is unfortunately of serious concern to the development community. In January, the developer of Palworld said it had received death threats amid the game’s Pokémon rip-off claims. Last year, a new survey from the Game Developers Conference revealed a majority of game developers see harassment from players as a major problem for the industry. Of the 2,300 developers surveyed, 91% said player harassment and toxicity towards developers was an issue. 42% said it was a “very serious” issue.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Publisher Midnight Works Allegedly Targeting YouTuber For Calling Out Its “Scam” Switch Games

“This is stooping to new lows”.

YouTuber Luke Wild of channel SwitchStars — which focuses primarily on highlighting low-effort, low-quality games to avoid on Switch eShop — has published a video detailing what he believes to be an attack on his channel orchestrated by the publisher Midnight Works.

The Moldovan company is responsible for much of the software Wild has covered in recent years. In the video (see below — please note, it contains swearing), he shows messages he received via Discord tipping him off to a request allegedly sent to Midnight Works staff asking them to submit false reports to YouTube.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Yoko Taro Reportedly Teased Nier 3 With Repent Concert Message

The Nier community is currently aflutter after what some are taking to be a tease for Nier 3.

The apparent tease comes from the recent Nier: Orchestra Concert in London, where the word R3PENT was apparently displayed at the end of the show.

“Anecdote from the Nier London concert but Yoko Taro took the stage at the end, told the audience that the Square Enix president was in the crowd and that if we wanted an Automata sequel to give the loudest applause of the night,” said ResetEra user SanTheSly.

“The room immediately erupted into claps, cheers and yells. How much of what Taro said is true is up for debate but the case was made abundantly clear in person to Taro himself, at the very least. Mild concert content spoilers follow.

“Also at one point during the story of the show; the word REPENT was shown repeatedly as part of some dialogue. The final instance was spelled as R3PENT. Both me and the person I’d gone with picked up on it and wondered if this was a tease.”

That ResetEra post was picked up on elsewhere, and now Nier fans are wondering if it’s all leading towards the reveal of the much-wanted third game in the series. But as many fans have pointed out, R3PENT may be nothing more than a part of the concert. After all, Yoko Taro is known for having fun with Nier fans.

Earlier this month it emerged that publisher Tencent had cancelled an unannounced Nier mobile game that was in development for nearly two years. This followed the announcement that mobile game Nier Reincarnation would shut down in April. Nier franchise owner Square Enix has yet to comment.

Nier: Automata is seven years old with no new mainline game announced so far. Square Enix producer Yosuke Saito said in November 2023 that while Nier chief Yoko Taro is alive, another entry in the Nier series will be released at some point.

Action role-playing game Nier: Automata launched in 2017 and wowed critics and fans with its vast locations and zany combat. It was a surprise breakout hit for Square Enix and went on to sell an impressive eight million copies. There have been many crossover events since, plus Nier-related promotions, a remaster of the first game, and even a Nier anime.

Nier 3, then, would make a lot of sense. It seems a matter of when, not if.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.