Category: Video Games

Xbox Exec Suggests Call of Duty 2024 Will Launch Straight Into Game Pass

Xbox president Sarah Bond has indicated Microsoft will launch 2024’s Call of Duty game straight into Game Pass.

Earlier this week, The Verge reported that Microsoft was still debating whether to release this year’s Call of Duty, reportedly a Black Ops game set in the Gulf War, day-one on its subscription service. The same report claimed Microsoft is mulling a Game Pass price hike, too.

Microsoft has faced tough questions around the potential cannibalization effect of Game Pass, particularly on games that launch on the service day-one. While Xbox executives have insisted sales can be boosted by a game’s presence on Game Pass, some publishers remain unconvinced. Unlike Microsoft, console rival Sony does not release its new exclusives straight into its subscription service.

Call of Duty, of course, is another matter entirely. Having splashed out $69 billion on Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s gaming business is reportedly under increased financial scrutiny. This is one of the factors cited in reports surrounding Microsoft’s shock decision to shutter Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall studio Arkane Austin.

Will Microsoft risk negatively impacting Call of Duty sales by releasing the game day-one on Game Pass, or risk upsetting Game Pass subscribers by failing to do so? Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg’s Dina Bass at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco, Xbox president Sarah Bond strongly suggested Microsoft has decided to bite the bullet and release Call of Duty 2024 straight into its subscription service. While she failed to namecheck Call of Duty, Bond said all Xbox games will release day-one on Game Pass.

“You’re going to see some really amazing things. And keeping that as something that is really special for Xbox players is central for us.

“We know our core users love Game Pass,” Bond said. “Game Pass is a gaming subscription. You get a whole portfolio of games, but importantly, you get every single one of our games that we build day-one in Game Pass, and the quality and the breadth of those games has only been going up over time. You’re going to see some more really big games going into Game Pass later this year.

Bond was then asked if this included Activision games. “Across the whole slate,” Bond replied. “You’re going to see some really amazing things. And keeping that as something that is really special for Xbox players is central for us.”

That’s a clear sign that Call of Duty 2024 is a day-one Game Pass title, but of course it will also launch across Xbox, PlayStation, and PC as a game that can be bought outright, too.

With Game Pass subscriber numbers failing to grow meaningfully Microsoft is under pressure to attract new customers, and adding a mainline Call of Duty game at launch will no doubt help with that. But Microsoft is also under increasing pressure to reverse its gaming fortunes amid collapsing console sales and increased development costs. Selling video games, especially those at full price, will surely help with that.

Microsoft is set to hold an Xbox showcase event in June, where it will reveal this year’s Call of Duty and, reports indicate, announce the arrival of the Call of Duty back catalog in Game Pass.

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.

Runes may one day be a great RPG – it’s currently an entrancing oddity filled with accidental cyborg ninjas

Open world fantasy RPG Runes emits a deeply powerful aura. I can tell it’s deeply powerful because MSI Afterburner’s fan control immediately went mental after I loaded up its free Steam combat demo. What do you mean ‘unoptimised’? That alarming sound is simply my computer shaking with awe at the fearless flippancy required to leave enemies fully untextured so they resemble Metal Gear Solid’s cyborg ninja. The promise of an indie fantasy RPG drew me in, but I must admit, I almost didn’t bother writing about this upon learning the demo is just a pre-Kickstarter combat slice. But something about it entrances me. What it lacks in textures, it makes up for in sheer moxy. You can’t optimise moxy! You can either make MSI shudder in terror or you can’t.

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Xbox President Sarah Bond Responds to Bethesda Studio Cuts, Points to Lack of Industry Growth and Need to Manage the Business ‘Through This Moment of Transition’

Xbox president Sarah Bond has responded to questions about Microsoft’s decision to shut a number of much-loved studios this week, insisting it was about ensuring the Xbox business remains healthy for the long-term during what she called “this moment of transition.”

Microsoft shocked the gaming world when it announced the closure of Redfall and Prey developer Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts targeted at Bethesda owner ZeniMax.

Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media, the parent company of developers like Bethesda, Arkane, id Software, and more, in 2021 for $7.5 billion. Since then, it has bought Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.

In an email to staff sent by Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft blamed the cuts on a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” In the email, first reported by IGN, Booty said: “we are making these tough decisions to create capacity to increase investment in other parts of our portfolio and focus on our priority games.”

Microsoft has faced widespread criticism from the development community and Xbox fans following the move, with many pointing out that Hi-Fi Rush was a critically acclaimed and, according to one Xbox executive, hugely successful release.

Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg’s Dina Bass at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco, Xbox president Sarah Bond was first asked about the video game industry’s current lack of growth — a troubling factor Xbox boss Phil Spencer pointed to recently when asked for an explanation for Microsoft’s decision to cut 1,900 staff from its gaming business.

“You know, the last year or so in video games, largely the industry’s been flat,” Bond replied. “And even in 2023, we saw just some tremendous releases, tremendously groundbreaking games. But still, the growth didn’t follow all of that. A lot of that’s related to our need to bring new players in and make gaming more accessible. But all of that has been happening at the same time that the cost associated with making these beautiful triple-A blockbuster games is going up, and the time it takes to make them is going up.

“And so, so much of our focus as Xbox is about how we do things to help the industry all up, while also ensuring that our brand, everything that we do, is there through this moment of transition.”

“It’s always extraordinarily hard when you have to make decisions like that.

Bond was then asked directly about this week’s decision to close ZeniMax studios. Responding, she pointed to the industry’s current failure to meaningfully grow its audience, and a desire to ensure Xbox survives this “transition.”

“You know, it’s always extraordinarily hard when you have to make decisions like that,” Bond said. “I’ll go back to what I was saying about the industry. And when we looked at those fundamental trends, we feel a deep responsibility to ensure that the games we make, the devices we build, the services that we offer are there through moments, even when the industry isn’t growing and when you’re through a time of transition. And the news we announced earlier this week is an outcome of that, and our commitment to make sure that the business is healthy for the long term.

“But that said, our commitment to having our own studios and working with partners to have games large and small, we’re a platform where you can play GTA, but you can also play Palworld, where you can play Call of Duty and you can also play Pentiment, that doesn’t change. And frankly, our commitment to Bethesda and the role that it plays is part of Xbox and everything we do.

“It’s actually been pretty fantastic. I don’t know if you’ve gotten a chance to check it out. The Fallout TV show was on Amazon and it’s been great to see people fall in love with that universe, but also what it’s done for the games themselves and people going back and exploring everything that’s inside of that. There’s some other great things that are coming from our studios later this year. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I was a big Indy fan growing up. It looks like you were two, so you should check that out.

“But really right now for us and our teams, our focus is on the people impacted and doing everything that we can do to help them through this hard transition.”

Bond was then asked specifically about the closure of Tango Gameworks in the context of Hi-Fi Rush’s success, and how it can be possible that a studio behind an award-winning, apparently commercially successful title can be closed just over a year from release.

Here’s Bond’s response:

“You know, one of the things I really love about the games industry is it’s a creative art form. And it means that the situation and what successes for each game in the studio is also really unique. There’s no one size fits all to it for us. And so we look at each studio, each game team, and we look at a whole variety of factors when we’re faced with making decisions and tradeoffs like that. But it all comes back to our long term commitment to the games we create, the devices we build, the services, and ensuring that we’re setting ourselves up to be able to deliver on those promises.”

“We look at each studio, each game team, and we look at a whole variety of factors when we’re faced with making decisions and tradeoffs like that.

Bond’s answer here is already going viral for failing to properly address the issue at hand. As IGN has reported, Xbox leadership held a town hall meeting with ZeniMax staff on Wednesday, May 8, and during it attempted to answer key questions around the decision to close Bethesda studios. IGN understands Booty told staff the closure of Arkane Austin was not about the failure of last year’s disastrous Redfall, rather about the future prospects of the studio. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has reported that ZeniMax was under pressure to make significant cuts, and chose Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin because they were in the process of pitching projects that would have required increased investment, rather than studios already working on greenlit games. One person in attendance at the meeting told IGN that the suggestion was that because these studios were currently pitching new games, they had the weakest legs to stand on when it came to picking who to cut.

In the town hall meeting, Booty reiterated that Hi-Fi Rush was a success, but, according to a person in attendance, staff were told the factors for that success had changed in the year since, and so the studio’s prospects had lowered. As has been reported, Tango Gameworks had pitched Hi-Fi Rush 2 as a follow-up project. IGN understands the Hi-Fi Rush 2 pitch was rejected in part because it was deemed too expensive.

Underpinning all of this is concern about the overall health of the Xbox business and the wider gaming industry. Microsoft, currently worth more than $3 trillion, faces declining revenue year-over-year for its gaming business when Activision is taken out of the equation, as well as stagnant Game Pass subscriber growth. Sales of Xbox consoles have collapsed at a time when development costs are rising. Add this to reported increased internal scrutiny on Microsoft’s gaming business following the Activision Blizzard acquisition, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Image credit: Bloomberg Live / YouTube.

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.

Game Pass’s “only (outside) shot” for sustainability is to get GTA 6 or Call of Duty, says former Microsoft senior PR lead

Former Microsoft senior PR lead Brad Hilderbrand has blogged about the recent closure of Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin, making a familiar case that Microsoft’s gaming division are now expected “to cut expenses to the bone” in the wake of the wildly expensive acquisition of Activision Blizzard and amid slowing growth of the Game Pass subscription business. In Hilderbrand’s view, Game Pass will likely never be sustainable or profitable. Microsoft’s only chance on this front, he says, is “to put all the world’s biggest games on the service” – namely, Call of Duty, which still earns hundreds of millions annually in direct sales, or GTA 6, which, hahahaha.

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Among Us Reveals 2024 Roadmap, Teases New Surprises And Much More

Better late than never.

Developer Innersloth has shared a new roadmap for Among Us covering the remainder of 2024, even if a good chunk of the year has already passed.

As you can see, we already got The Fungle, and coming soon the game are “new roles”. Beyond this point, there are plans… “in no particular order” for a better lobby filter, prettier lobby settings, cosmetics, collabs, and a bunch of quality-of-life changes.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

The Best Times to Buy a PlayStation 5 Every Year

The PlayStation 5 is one of the best gaming systems you can purchase in 2024, but the console is nowhere near cheap. Starting at $399, the PS5 is a purchase you will need to plan for. If you want to play titles like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Stellar Blade, you need to own the system. Beyond games, PS5 is also great for streaming 4K content to your TV. Luckily, you can find some discounts or bundles on PlayStation 5 consoles throughout the year if you know when to look.

Below, we’ve compiled the best times you can buy a PlayStation 5 throughout 2024 and beyond. From holidays to sales events, there are quite a few opportunities to pick up the console. Each retailer offers different deals and discounts, but we’ve outlined the events you need to pay attention to. The best time to buy a PlayStation 5 is when it is discounted or bundled with a free game, so keep these dates in mind to get the best deal possible.

When Should You Buy a PS5?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Overall, your best bet to purchase a discounted PlayStation 5 is Black Friday or Cyber Monday. The annual holidays occur just after Thanksgiving in November, with Black Friday 2024 currently set for November 29. This event mainly refers to in-store deals, with major retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, and Target participating. Some of the best PlayStation 5 offers will only be available in stores on Black Friday.

The other major sales event alongside Black Friday is Cyber Monday. This event is set annually on the Monday following Black Friday, which is Monday, December 2 this year. Cyber Monday focuses on electronics and is exclusively available online. Following last year, we expect to see major PlayStation 5 deals on this day.

Nowadays, the sales event extends from a few weeks before Black Friday to a few weeks after, which ultimately spans the entire holiday season. Major PlayStation 5 bundles are usually up for purchase around this time of year, so you can expect great discounts alongside dozens of discounted games. If you are operating on a budget for the PlayStation 5 consoles and games together, Black Friday is the best time of year by far to pick up a console.

Amazon Prime Day

Prime Day is also an excellent time to purchase a PlayStation 5. Since the sales event falls on the second week of July, any PlayStation 5 discount from Independence Day sales will likely still be available for Prime Day. Alongside this, many PS5 games are likely to be priced low as part of the sale, so you can pick up more games as well.

Other retailers besides Amazon will also hold sales around Prime Day, so this only increases the chance that a PlayStation 5 deal will be available. Sometimes, this means an extended 4th of July sale or a surprise weekend sale. If you’re not in a rush to purchase a PS5, Prime Day 2024 is a great time to buy one.

There’s also Prime Day 2, which takes place in October. This event has been the kickstarter for Black Friday deals in recent years, so you can expect to find PlayStation 5 consoles at a great price here.

Around Major Releases

Sony tends to make console bundles for some of its major releases. This also extends to third-party exclusives like Final Fantasy XVI. Sony tends to discount these PlayStation 5 bundles around the releases of major titles, as it incentivizes customers to pick up a system and check out the new game. Additionally, you can find these PS5 bundles on sale once the included game has been out for a few months, as Sony looks to clear inventory of the bundle. Last year the biggest bundle available came with a copy of Spider-Man 2.

Throughout the Summer

Another great time to buy a PlayStation 5 is summer. Following the major gaming events like Summer Game Fest, Sony and other companies usually hold sales events to celebrate the summer This includes deals on games, accessories, controllers, and consoles, which includes PlayStation 5. The PlayStation Summer Sale usually starts around July and runs through August, making it a great time to buy video games as well.

Late summer is also a great time, as retailers tend to begin preparations for the Fall season. Inventory on older console models is cleared, leading the way for new bundles. PlayStation 5 consoles and other items will likely be available discounted at this time.

PlayStation 5 Pro Is on the Horizon

If you are thinking about purchasing a PlayStation 5, keep in mind that we are currently almost halfway into the console’s lifetime. Nowadays, consoles tend to last anywhere from six to eight years. PlayStation 5 released in November of 2020, meaning we’re already over three years into the cycle of this generation. It’s also worth noting that a new PlayStation 5 console could be on the horizon.

PlayStation 5 Pro, a new console featuring better hardware capabilities, is rumored to debut sometime during the holiday season of 2024. If a console of this caliber interests you, then it might be best to wait for this device to release. At the same time, waiting for the PS5 Pro will likely bring even further PlayStation 5 discounts. Sony could even cut the price of the standard console. Overall, this still makes the Black Friday time period the best time to purchase a PlayStation 5, as the PS5 Pro will be available to purchase.

Noah Hunter is a freelance writer and reviewer with a passion for games and technology. He co-founded Final Weapon, an outlet focused on nonsense-free Japanese gaming (in 2019) and has contributed to various publishers writing about the medium. His favorite series include Xeno and Final Fantasy.

Poppy Playtime Is the Latest Horror Video Game to Get the Movie Treatment

Game developer Mob Entertainment is partnering with Legendary Entertainment to create a movie based on its toy factory horror hit, Poppy Playtime.

Legendary is developing the video game-to-movie adaptation with producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford from Angry Films. Details on its plot and cast have yet to be revealed. No release date has been confirmed.

Poppy Playtime centers around Playtime Co., a once-great toy manufacturer that fell from grace after everyone inside its factory disappeared. Players take control of a former employee who finds themselves sucked back to the factory long after the disappearances, and it doesn’t take long for them to discover that the toys seem to be more playful this time around.

Poppy Playtime released its free-to-play first chapter in 2021, with two more chapters adding to the story in 2022 and 2024. Mob says that its horror-puzzle gameplay, lore, and twists have managed to draw in more than 40 million players across PC, mobile, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation devices as well as on Roblox. It’s become so popular that some characters, like Huggy Wuggy and the Smiling Critters, have popped up across retailers in the form of collectible figures, plush toys, and costumes.

“When we first started this journey, we followed our passion and created a series of games and brands with the purpose of inspiring and entertaining. We’ve always dreamed big and are thrilled to have created something that has captured the hearts of tens of millions around the world,” Mob Co-founders Zach Belanger, CEO and Seth Belanger, CCO said in a joint statement. “This movie deal is a great logical next step in the growth of our transmedia entertainment company.”

Poppy Playtime falls in line with other recent adaptations that have brought gaming horror IP to the world of movies. Five Nights at Freddy’s is the obvious example, as Blumhouse’s live-action hit managed to jump scare audiences with tremendous success when it premiered last year and even managed to lock down plans for a sequel. An Until Dawn film is also on the way, as is a Dredge movie. We learned in January that a Martha Is Dead adaptation is on the way, too.

For more, you can read our list of the best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video, Shudder, and Netflix as of May 2024. You can also check out what we think is the best horror movie of 2023.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.