Category: Video Games

Microsoft Can Now Be a ‘Good Publisher on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox’, CEO Says

With the acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, Microsoft can now be a “good publisher” across all platforms, including rival consoles, the boss of the company has said.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: “We love gaming. In fact, Flight Simulator was created before even Windows. But, we were number three, number four. And now with Activision, I think we have a chance of being a good publisher — quite frankly — on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox. We’re excited about that acquisition closing and I’m glad we’ve got it through.”

Nadella’s comments echo those he made last month, when he similarly said Microsoft plans to release games across all platforms: “We think that now we have the ability to do what we always set out to do, which is build great games and deliver them to folks across all platforms, which is Xbox and consoles, the PCs, and now even including mobile gaming and cloud gaming,” he said at the time.

This comes amid reports Microsoft plans to release some of its exclusives on the Switch and PlayStation 5. Both Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush and Rare’s Sea of Thieves are said to be considered for launch on Nintendo and Sony consoles after a period of exclusivity across Xbox consoles and PC. Microsoft has yet to comment on the reports.

Last year, Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart set the cat among the pigeons by suggesting Microsoft planned to launch its Game Pass subscription service on rival consoles, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer denied that was the case.

Stuart did, however, strongly indicate Microsoft’s cross-platform publishing plans: “It’s a bit of a change of strategy,” he said. “Not announcing anything broadly here, but our mission is to bring our first-party experiences [and] our subscription services to every screen that can play games. That means smart TVs, that means mobile devices, that means what we would have thought of as competitors in the past like PlayStation and Nintendo.”

And with now Activision, I think we have a chance of being a good publisher – quite frankly – on Sony and Nintendo and PCs and Xbox.

It’s worth noting Microsoft has committed to releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles as part of a decade-long deal, as well as promised to bring the shooter to Nintendo consoles. Question marks remain over other Activision Blizzard games, however.

This week, IGN sought to answer the question of whether Microsoft was leaving Xbox exclusives behind in the report, How Xbox is changing the nature of exclusivity.

Meanwhile, Microsoft will host Xbox Developer_Direct January 2024 today, January 18. Expect a first look at MachineGames’ Indiana Jones game as well as Obsidian’s Avowed, among other reveals. The recently announced Marvel’s Blade is in development at the Microsoft and Bethesda-owned Arkane Lyon, but platforms are yet to be confirmed.

Image credit: Bloomberg Live

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.

Turnip Boy Robs A Bank review: continuing Turnip Boy’s story in slightly chaotic roguelite style

Readers may remember how much I liked Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, principally because of how funny it was. It was an intelligent and somewhat loving take on a Zelda-y RPG – a small town hero gets a sword and goes on a rampage fighting some bosses – except the main character is a turnip. And also he tears up any paperwork handed to him. Turnip Boy Robs A Bank follows directly on from his Tax Evasion, and it’s not quite as funny or as focused, but it’s also an entirely different genre of game, and I have a huge amount respect for that.

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Payday 3 Dev ‘Well Aware’ Fans ‘Aren’t Satisfied’, Creates a Team Dedicated to Turning Things Around

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze has said it’s “well aware” fans still “aren’t satisfied” with the heist shooter so have created an internal team dedicated to turning things around.

Revealed in a blog post, Starbreeze said this “strike team” is currently planning and deciding which changes are necessary to create the experience fans expected. This dedicated team arrives almost four months after Payday 3 launched with several issues.

“We’re well aware that many of you aren’t satisfied with the game the way it is in its current state,” Starbreeze said. “Since launch, we’ve been reading your valuable feedback in forums, social media, and in video comments in addition to the Feature Upvote page. This helps us massively and is crucial to the continued development of Payday 3.

“In order to turn your feedback into action, we’ve put together a strike team of veteran developers from the design, community, communication and production teams with the focus on bringing Payday 3 up to where it will meet your expectations.”

Starbreeze will reveal its plan in February, saying it wants “to be careful to not simply react, and deal with any possible improvements one by one with the care, thought and planning they deserve.”

Payday 3’s launch was plagued with server issues that forced Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren to apologise. “We are so sorry that the infrastructure didn’t hold up as expected, and although it’s impossible to prepare for every scenario — we should be able to do better,” he said.

Almost a month after its launch and Starbreeze apologised again for its lack of communication, and then just a week later said sorry one more time for not delivering a promised patch and again going quiet.

Starbreeze boasted Payday 3 had 3.1 million players as of October 2, but this number has dwindled, at least on Steam, as more players are currently playing Payday 2 than its sequel. According to SteamDB, Payday 3 has a 24 hour peak of just 713 compared to Payday 2’s 33,550, despite the latter launching over a decade ago.

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

Review: Another Code: Recollection (Switch) – A Welcome Return For A Pair Of Cult Classics

Another chance.

Our first big Switch exclusive of 2024 arrives nice and early and, rather than assuming the form of one of Nintendo’s bigger franchises — we got Fire Emblem Engage this time last year — we are instead winding the clock back to 2005 and 2009 respectively, to dive into swish remakes of a pair of cult classic adventures from the DS and Wii.

Another Code: Two Memories (Trace Memory in the US — which you can find reviewed here) and its sequel, Another Code R: A Journey Into Lost Memories, may not have been the most obvious of ways to kickstart a new year, but they are a deep cult cut that have deservedly garnered a following over the years.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Puzzle game classic Threes gets surprise Steam PC release in February

Puzzle game classic Threes is getting a Steam PC launch to celebrate its 10th anniversary, developer Asher Vollmer has announced. The release date is 6th February, and here’s the Steam page. The new version adds controller and Steam cloud support together with achievements and leaderboards. Given its mobile origins, it should scrub up nicely on Steam Deck.

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Intel’s Core i3 12100F is a value champion CPU for gaming – and it’s down to £88

Intel’s Core i3 12100F is a surprisingly viable gaming CPU, with four Golden Cove P-cores and eight threads with DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support, all for under £100. Don’t be put off by ‘Core i3’ either – this model is similar in speed to the last-gen Core i5 11600K and not too far behind the Core i7 10700K, such is the leap forward Intel made with its 12th-gen CPU architecture. Today this processor is even cheaper than normal too, with prices dropping to £88 at Ebuyer in the UK.

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Arc System Works Brings Library Battle Sim ‘Library Of Ruina’ To Switch This Spring

“It all starts with a book”.

The “library battle simulator” Library of Ruina, which was previously released on the Xbox and PC, will finally be getting a worldwide release on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 this Spring. Arc System Works will publish the ProjectMoon developed title and it will be available for $39.99 (or your regional equivalent).

In this title, you take control of a library director who welcomes guests, battles them and when they’re defeated are turned into books. According to the trailer description, there are over 100 hours of gameplay as well as music and art collections to enjoy.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Microsoft: ActiBlizz Acquisition Gives Xbox A Chance To Be A “Good Publisher” On All Platforms

“We’re excited about that acquisition closing”.

Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, there’s been a lot of debate about Xbox published titles on other platforms, so what’s the latest?

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has told Bloomberg this week how he feels Xbox has a better chance of being a “good publisher” for all platforms (including Nintendo), now that the deal with Activision and Blizzard has closed.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Dave the Diver Among Game of the Year Finalists for Game Developers Choice Awards 2024

The usual suspects were out in force in the Game Developers Choice Awards 2024 nominees, with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Baldur’s Gate 3 leading the way with seven nominees apiece. But there were also some big surprises in the Game of the Year category, with Alan Wake 2 missing out in favor of Dave the Diver and Dredge.

Instead, Alan Wake 2 got the nod as an honorable mention in the list of finalists, which are voted on by game developers throughout the industry. Remedy’s sequel wasn’t entirely shut out though, earning nods in categories including Best Narrative and Best Visual Art. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Tears of the Kingdom, COCOON, and Baldur’s Gate 3 rounded out the rest of the Game of the Year nominees.

As for Dave the Diver, it’s won praise for its unique mix of deep sea exploration and shopkeeping. In our review we called it “wholesome, wonderfully complex, and delightfully hard to put down.”

The Game Developers Choice Awards are held every year during the Game Developer’s Conference, which takes place in San Francisco in March. Last year’s awards saw Elden Ring take home the big prize, with God of War Ragnarok also receiving plenty of recognition.

Check out the full list of nominees below. For more, check out the full list of IGN Awards in which we picked our own winners, and stay tuned as awards season continues.

BEST AUDIO

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

Venba (Visai Games)

Honorable Mentions: COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive), Diablo IV (Blizzard
Entertainment), Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix), Hogwarts Legacy (Avalanche Software / Portkey
Games), Humanity (tha ltd. and Enhance / Enhance)

BEST DEBUT

COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)

Dave the Diver (Mintrocket)

Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17)

Venba (Visai Games)

Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful Publishing)

Honorable Mentions: BattleBit Remastered (SgtOkiDoki, Vilaskis, and TheLiquidHorse / SgtOkiDoki),
Party Animals (Recreate Games / Source Technology), Pizza Tower (Tour De Pizza), Planet of Lana
(Wishfully Studios / Thunderful), Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Summerfall Studios / Humble
Games)

BEST DESIGN

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)

Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17)

Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Dave the Diver (Mintrocket), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio), Street Fighter 6 (Capcom), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)

INNOVATION AWARD

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)

Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

The Making of Karateka (Digital Eclipse)

Honorable Mentions: Dave the Diver (Mintrocket), Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17), Marvel’s
Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios /
Bethesda Softworks), Viewfinder (Sad Owl Studios / Thunderful Publishing)

BEST NARRATIVE

Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games)

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

Venba (Visai Games)

Honorable Mentions: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (CD Projekt), Dredge (Black Salt Games /
Team17), Goodbye Volcano High (KO_OP), Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (Guerrilla Games /
Sony Interactive Entertainment), Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

SOCIAL IMPACT AWARD

A Space for the Unbound (Mojiken Studio / Toge Productions)

Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft Bordeaux / Ubisoft)

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Terra Nil (Free Lives / Devolver Digital)

Venba (Visai Games)

Honorable Mentions: Goodbye Volcano High (KO_OP), Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores
(Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony
Interactive Entertainment), Tchia (Awaceb / Kepler Interactive), Thirsty Suitors (Outerloop Games /
Annapurna Interactive)

BEST TECHNOLOGY

Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games)

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Starfield (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive), Cyberpunk 2077:
Phantom Liberty (CD Projekt), Diablo IV (Blizzard Entertainment), Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix),
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

BEST VISUAL ART

Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games)

COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)

Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix)

Hi-Fi Rush (Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Softworks)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Diablo IV (Blizzard Entertainment), Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17),
Lies of P (Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio / Neowiz Games), Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio), Super
Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)

GAME OF THE YEAR

Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

COCOON (Geometric Interactive / Annapurna Interactive)

Dave the Diver (Mintrocket)

Dredge (Black Salt Games / Team17)

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo)

Honorable Mentions: Alan Wake II (Remedy Entertainment / Epic Games), Diablo IV (Blizzard
Entertainment), Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix), Sea of Stars (Sabotage Studio), Starfield (Bethesda
Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Nintendo)

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.