Category: Video Games

Star Wars Outlaws director Julian Gerighty has admitted to being a “little disappointed” in the Ubisoft game’s review scores but has committed to making it better.

Gerighty told GamesRadar that Star Wars Outlaws — which earned a 7/10 in IGN’s review and currently sits at a 76/100 on Metacritic — brought him and the team a “level of pride, happiness, and sense of accomplishment” but he still wanted a better critical reception.

“I’m a little disappointed with the Metacritic,” Gerighty said. “Of course, recognition from press and critics is very important to us, but players are really connecting with what we did.”

He continued: “It’s brought me so much joy to see the incredible images being captured and shared. And I think that’s proof positive that this is an experience like no other Star Wars experience before, that lets you step into this world and enjoy some virtual tourism.”

Star Wars Outlaws is the first open-world Star Wars game and already has a Season Pass announced, making post-launch support inevitable, but Gerighty seems eager to add to the experience beyond that.

“This will be a game that millions of people are going to play for years and years, and we’re never going to stop improving it,” he said. “Well, that’s a lie. We’ll probably stop improving it, but today my mind is not on stopping improving it.”

It will ultimately be up to Ubisoft how much time is spent on Star Wars Outlaws, of course, and the publisher has already faced criticism from some fans for its practices surrounding the game.

It was the latest example in an industry wide movement to charge a minimum of $109.99 to those looking to play on its August 27, 2024 release date, with those only willing to spend the standard $69.99 forced to wait until August 30 to get started.

Those who did pay more didn’t all have a smooth experience either, as some PS5 players were forced to restart their games following a last-minute update, and only received middling compensation from Ubisoft as an apology.

The aforementioned Season Pass has also drawn criticism, as alongside providing access to the story expansions coming later, it locked away some content that was otherwise ready to go at launch.

Ubisoft shares fell in value following the release of Star Wars Outlaws, with some analysts predicting lower-than-expectated sales of the game. Ubisoft has yet to comment on its performance.

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

State of Decay developer Undead Labs has signaled the end of content updates for State of Decay 2 as it moves to focus on the upcoming State of Decay 3.

Undead Labs has released nearly 40 content updates for State of Decay 2 in the six years since its 2018 launch on PC and Xbox One. In a blog post, Undead Labs said State of Decay 2’s final update, Update 38, is due out later this year. It aims to fix some long-standing issues, implement additional quality-of-life improvements, and permanently unlock seasonal or otherwise previously-gated content, such as Winter outfits and the Wizard Van.

Of course, State of Decay 2 will remain playable, and as a Xbox Game Studios title it will remain part of the Xbox Game Pass library.

“We know you love this world we’ve created and the amazing community you’ve helped build,” Undead Labs said. “While you’ve enjoyed State of Decay 2 for many years, you may have heard that we are also hard at work on the next evolution of the franchise!

“Our ambition is to make the greatest zombie survival sim in the franchise, and to do so, we’ll be shifting our focus and resources to making the upcoming third installment, State of Decay 3.”

Microsoft announced State of Decay 3 four years ago, during its 2020 Xbox Games Showcase. After a lengthy radio silence, State of Decay 3 resurfaced in the summer with a new trailer, below, although it still lacks a release date.

We also learned that Undead Labs has teamed up with Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded, and Avowed developer Obsidian on a “shared world feature” that aims to provide a more flexible online co-op experience for State of Decay 3 players.

“The acclaimed Grounded released with Undead Labs’ shared save technology and State of Decay 3 will build on that to deliver a truly open co-op world owned by multiple players,” Microsoft teased.

In 2022, Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty said State of Decay 3 is built with Unreal Engine 5 and that Gears of War developer The Coalition is assisting development.

Undead Labs itself has faced allegations of fostering toxic workplace conditions and a lack of direction.

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.

Following the blockbuster success of Hogwarts Legacy, Warner Bros. is working towards a direct sequel, it has confirmed.

Avalanche Software’s Hogwarts Legacy has sold over 24 million copies since going on sale in February 2023, generating over $1 billion in revenue. It comes as little surprise, then, to learn that parent company Warner Bros. is keen on a Hogwarts Legacy 2.

Speaking to Variety, Warner Bros. Discovery chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said the sequel is due in a couple of years.

“Obviously, a successor to Hogwarts Legacy is one of the biggest priorities in a couple of years down the road,” Wiedenfels said. “So there is certainly a significant growth contribution from that [games] business in our strategic outlook here.”

While Warner Bros. enjoyed a mega hit with Hogwarts Legacy, its gaming business has endured a tougher time this year following the disastrous launch of Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Soon after the game’s February 2024 release, Warner Bros. admitted the failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League contributed to a $200 million hit to revenue.

According to Bloomberg, staff at Rocksteady are currently working on a director’s cut of Hogwarts Legacy while leadership pitches a return to single-player following this live-service misstep. Rocksteady reportedly recently suffered layoffs.

Despite these ups and downs, Wiedenfels said Warner Bros.’ games business, which also includes Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm, continues to be a “strategic asset” for the overall company. This week the publisher released Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, which is not connected to Hogwarts Legacy. It’s also operating Smash Bros.-style brawler MultiVersus, the VR-exclusive Arkhamverse game Batman: Arkham Shadow, and has a Wonder Woman game in development at Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions.

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.

Sony Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki doesn’t think that the media giant has enough franchises that it has “fostered from the beginning,” calling it an issue for the company as it seeks to rival its competitors in the space.

“Whether it’s for games, films or anime, we don’t have that much IP that we fostered from the beginning,” Totoki said in an interview with the Financial Times. “We’re lacking the early phase (of IP) and that’s an issue for us.”

PlayStation fans quickly seized on Totoki’s comments, posting images of Sly Cooper, Resistance, and other long lost franchises. But as others pointed out, Totoki was referring to the business as a whole, which is lacking in homegrown properties on the scale of, say, Mario. Outside of Spider-Man, Sony’s biggest transmedia sucess is arguably The Last of Us, which debuted to great fanfare on HBO in 2023.

One fan opined on Reddit, “This comment is referring to Sony as a whole, not just its games division. From that perspective, I think I would agree. As a casual viewer I couldn’t name anything that stands out to me from their film division that isn’t an existing IP, and even what they are making doesn’t have the greatest reputation. What is Sony Pictures without Spider-Man? Hotel Transylvania?”

Sony has prioritized the acquisition of major franchises, at one point seeking to team with Apollo to acquire Paramount for $26 billion in a deal that ultimately fell through. Still, Sony is hoping that it can continue to develop popular properties of its own.

“We have the technology and creation is the area where we like and where we can contribute the most,” CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said as part of interview. “By putting our efforts in creation, that also means that we will work with partners on the distribution side. So I think we have developed very good relationships with the so-called Big Tech players.”

The interview also quotes Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini, who says the streamer is seeking to team with Sony to co-produce shows amid rising production costs. He estimates that there are around 800 million anime fans globally, which he believes could rise to a billion in the next few years.

“Given the constraints within the ecosystem, there is opportunity for various companies, including Sony, to see if there is a way to add additional capacity, bring additional talent and potentially leverage digital technology in the creation process,” Purini said.