[PATREON UNLOCK] Update Patch - December 2024

Update Patch News Roundup (07/12/24)

Nintendo Switch 2 Rumours

This week saw the Nintendo Switch successor rumour mill start turning again, with a video appearing online that supposedly showcased the new Joy-Con for the system. The low-quality video, which was posted on the Chinese website Bibli, showcased two redesigned Joy-Con, featuring magnetic railings and a new button on the right Joy-Con, underneath the home button that resembles the share button on the current left Joy-Con. Nintendo has yet to comment on this supposed leak, but regardless of whether it’s real or not, it does resemble previous leaks which suggested this is what the next generation of Joy-Con would look like.

Following this video, supposed Nintendo Switch 2 accessories were found being sold on websites such as Alibaba. These accessories were, according to those selling them, created using the actual Nintendo Switch successor as a reference. Items featuring a Switch 2 logo were also on sale, but these were taken down shortly after going up for sale. 

Nintenduo also reported this week that Nintendo plans to launch the console in Summer 2025. The outlet reported that at least six development teams confirmed that the console will launch in June/ early July. A handful of other sources have corroborated this rumour, with Nate The Hate saying on his podcast that the “release window in this [industry] chatter, has been late-May to June”. While these windows don’t perfectly align, a Summer 2025 launch for the console seems inevitable. Nate The Hate also said in this podcast that we can expect a remaster of Kirby: Planet Robobot, a 3DS title, to launch on the current Nintendo Switch in 2025.

PlayStation Has Entered Its Third Decade, And It’s Throwing A Party

On December 3rd 2024, PlayStation celebrated its 30th anniversary, and the company had a few interesting surprises for players who wanted to join in on the festivities. PlayStation 5 users, when they boot-up their console, will be greeted to the boot-up sequence for the original PlayStation, complete with the 1994 Sony Computer Entertainment name (rather than current Sony Interactive Entertainment) and the same sounds that are ingrained in the heads of any child of the 90s. Players can also customise their home screen to feature UI elements from previous PlayStation generations. These are available for a limited time, but hopefully PlayStation will go back on that statement based upon the popularity of this update.

This was accompanied by a video celebrating 30 years of PlayStation. Set to the song ‘Dreams’ by ‘The Cranberries’, this video featured footage of PlayStation games released across the 30 years of play. The video ended with footage of Bloodborne with the words ‘It’s About Persistence”, leading to speculation about a Bloodborne remaster. Whether this was a tease of future projects, a cruel troll, or just a general acknowledgement of Bloodborne remains to be seen, but it sparked conversation online.

Sony also launched My First Gran Turismo this week, a free-to-download version of Gran Turismo 7 that features 18 cars and three tracks, alongside three Race Events, Music Rally stages, Time Trials and a host of licence tests. Director of the series, Kazunori Yamauchi, said of the game on the PlayStation Blog, “Whether it’s introducing kids to the joy of racing for the first time or reigniting a forgotten passion for driving, My First Gran Turismo was designed to be both approachable and immersive, created for everyone, with no limits on age or driving skill level”.

PlayStation Co-CEO Discusses AI, As Current And Former PlayStation Executives Discuss The Past, Present And Future Of PlayStation

In an interview with the BBC this week, discussing the 30th anniversary of the PlayStation, Sony Interactive Entertainment Co-CEO ‘Herman Hulst’, said that ‘artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to "revolutionise" gaming, but he believes it will never replace the "human touch" of games made by people’. Hulst elaborated on this point, saying that AI can be leveraged but ‘preserving the human touch is crucial’. He spoke of there being a demand in the market for ‘AI-driven innovative experiences’ and ‘handcrafted, thoughtful content’

When asked in the same interview about the failure of Concord, Hulst praised the work of the now-defunct Firewalk Studios, and pointed to the success of Astro Bot as a bright spot for the company. When asked about the rumours of a PlayStation handheld, Hideaki Nishino, Hulst’s Co-Ceo, who covers the platform business, stated that they are ‘always exploring various options’ on how players can interact with the PlayStation ecosystem.

The Co-CEOs aren’t the only PlayStation executives in the news this week however, with former chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, speaking to Eurogamer about the past, present and future of PlayStation. Layden questioned the need for console exclusivity, comparing the games market right now to other media formats, saying that when you have competing media formats, ‘there comes a time when we all declare the war is over’. Layden also stated that games need to be shorter, and that the industry needs to focus less on photorealism in games, as budgets balloon and become unsustainable. Speaking of the past, Layden also highlighted how PlayStation produced more experimental titles that expanded the market through innovation of technology and art, such as EyeToy, SingStar and Shadow of the Colossus.

Chris Dring, of GamesIndustry.biz, also hosted a panel at EGX featuring PlayStation Europe and UK veterans, who shared stories from their 30 years at PlayStation, such as their focus on getting the original PlayStation into the youth culture in the UK by giving PlayStations to DJs and other people with potential influence in the culture, to create a word-of-mouth buzz around PlayStation, and position it as the edgy, more mature gaming option for the 18-30-year-old demographic.

Ubisoft Buyout, Layoffs And XDefiant Shutdown

Ubisoft announced this week, via a post on X(formerly known as Twitter), that it will be shutting down its free-to-play first-person shooter, XDefiant, in June 2025. Released in May 2024, XDefiant will have its third season continue and the game will continue to be playable until June, however, the game has been taken off of storefronts, with player registrations and in-game purchases having been disabled.

Ubisoft also confirmed that it will be closing its San Francisco and Osaka studios, and that it is now also ramping down production at its Sydney offices. According to Variety, half of the XDefiant team is being moved to other projects at Ubisoft, while up to 277 people are being laid off across the three studios.

Following this news, Reuters reported on December 6th that the Guillemot family, who are the founding shareholders at Ubisoft, are in talks with Tencent, the Chinese conglomerate that already owns 10% of the company, about a ‘management-led buyout’. The Guillemot family is attempting to structure this deal to allow a buyout to happen, while the company stays within their primary control. However, Tencent has not made a decision on the deal as it apparently “asked for a greater say on future board decisions including cash flow distribution in return for financing the deal, which has not been agreed upon with the Guillemot family”. Tencent also has an interest in avoiding a hostile take-over of Ubisoft, but seemingly requires a better deal.

PUBG Creator Announces Plans For Next Three Games

PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds, the forefather of the battle royale genre, launched in 2017 and became a viral hit and a huge success for PlayerUnknown Productions. Eight years later and we have finally got a concrete look at Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene’s next project, or really, projects. After announcing his studio’s next project, Prologue, three years ago the team went dark until now. PlayerUnknown Productions released a YouTube video on the 5th of December detailing the studio’s plans.

PlayerUnknown has detailed a three-game plan, starting with Preface: Undiscovered World. Preface is a free-to-download Tech-Demo, in which you can explore a large Earth-like globe, dropping into any point on the map and discovering what biomes await you. Preface serves the purpose of giving players a glimpse of the technology that will be the basis of PlayerUnknown Production’s next project.

Launching in Early Access in early 2025, Prologue: Go Wayback is a survival game based upon the previously mentioned biomes and an ever-changing weather system. Players will spawn on an island and have to make it to the other side, battling whatever conditions the game throws at you. Developed in Unreal Engine, Prologue aims to have the experience be different every-time you play, and the intent is that by launching Preface now and launching Prologue in early access, the technology can evolve with player feedback.

Preface: Undiscovered World, Prologue: Go Wayback, and untitled sequels to Prologue will eventually lead to Project Artemis. Although not much is known about Project Artemis, Greene describes it as the culmination of all of the technical work being achieved through Preface, Prologue and the subsequent sequels. While Prologue is being built on Unreal Engine, the team is also building its own engine, Melba, which will generate the environments for the next game, after Prologue. Greene described this as a ‘five to ten year journey’ in the video, so Preface and Prologue are just the start of PlayerUnknown Productions’ ambitious plans

Marvel Rivals Launches With New Heroes And A Full Suite Of Purchasable Cosmetics

Marvel Rivals, the new Marvel Comics-themed free-to-play hero-shooter from NetEase, launched on PC, PlayStation and Xbox on December 6th, and NetEase held some surprises for the week of release. It was announced that Wolverine, Cloak and Dagger, Iron Fist, Black Widow and Squirrel Girl would join the roster, and would be available on launch day. 

With the game now available to download, the first selection of paid cosmetics have also been revealed. Alongside some characters getting costumes based on comic appearances such as the Superior Iron Man outfit or Magneto’s look from Uncanny X-Men, the game features designs from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Loki, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Namor, Black Widow and the Guardians of the Galaxy all getting their MCU designs.

While characters are free for all players, most cosmetics cost about 1,800 Lattice (roughly €18/$18/£18), and the game launched with a battle pass for Season Zero, which runs until January 10th 2025. Players can unlock Iron Man’s Armor Mark 42, by inputting a code in-game before March 5th 2025.

Indiana Jones Reviews Are Out, And The Professor May Have Uncovered Another Treasure

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the newest adaptation of the beloved film franchise, arrived this week in Early Access and reaches store shelves and Xbox Game Pass on Monday, December 9th. Developed by Machine Games (Wolfenstein: The New Order) and published by Bethesda, Indiana Jones was anticipated as one of the biggest games of the year, and with reviews now out, the anticipation seems justified.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, as of writing, has an 87 on Metacritic for Xbox Series X and PC. Reviewers praised the game for its graphics and animation, with Video Game Chronicle’s Jordan Middler saying it delivered ‘Naughty Dog-style realism’. The game was also praised for nailing the feel of Indiana Jones, with Gordy Haab’s score and Troy Baker’s performance as Indy being indistinguishable from John Williams and Harrison Ford in the original films. 

Reviewers were more mixed on the game's level design, with some praising how open levels such as ‘The Vatican’ were, while other reviewers were frustrated by how easy it was to stray from the golden path. Combat and enemy AI were generally sighted as a low-point for critics, with CGMagazine's Justin Wood saying, ‘encounters often devolve into repetitive fisticuffs’.

Despite a few issues, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle seems to be a huge success for Xbox Games Studios, Bethesda and Machine Games. The game launches on PC and Xbox on December 9th, with a PlayStation 5 version launching in Spring 2025.

Update Patch News Roundup (15/12/24)

Astro Bot Sweeps The Game Awards 10th-Anniversary Show

Thursday night (or Friday morning if you’re in Europe) saw Geoff Keighley’s annual awards show and world premiere showcase. The Game Awards, celebrating its 10th anniversary, was a huge show full of awards, surprises and musical performances.

The night was dominated by three games. Sony Interactive Entertainment and Team Asobi’s Astro Bot, sweeped the major categories, winning four awards including the Game of the Year award. Astro Bot game director, Nicolas Doucet, dedicated the award to the 65 members of Team Asobi, to the games supporters at Sony Interactive Entertainment and to Nintendo, although he didn’t name them directly, for creating the platformer genre. 

The night’s other big winners included Atlus and Studio Zero’s Metaphor: ReFantazio, which took home the awards for Best RPG, Best Art Direction and Best Narrative. Balatro, developed by localthunk, a solo developer, won Best Mobile Game, Best Indie Game and Best Debut Indie Game. While Helldivers II, Black Myth Wukong and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II each took home two awards each, while a host of other games won awards, such as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Tekken 8 and Neva.

The brand new Game Changer award, recognising someone who has made a significant contribution to the games industry, was given to Amir Satvat, a man who has helped put 3,000 people back in jobs amidst the ongoing redundancy crisis in the games industry. Keighley used his platform to recognise the crisis the industry faces and highlight someone doing incredible work to help game developers, in one of the most heartwarming moments of the night.

Elsewhere in the show, Swen Vincke, head of Baldur’s Gate 3, developer Larian Studios, also called out this crisis before giving out the Game of the Year award. Harrison Ford showed up to join Troy Baker and Todd Howard on stage, giving out the Best Performance award. Ken Kutaragi, the father of Playstation, was highlighted by Keighley and nearly took the stage as he misunderstood what was happening. The show had multiple musical moments including a medley of songs from Arcane, a performance by Snoop Dogg and the Game of the Year medley. Finally, the show had multiple comedic bits from The Muppets, Sam Lake and many others.

The show was well received by viewers, with Geoff Keigley’s annual poll on X (formerly known as Twitter) trending well, with 44.4% of users giving the show an A.

World Premieres Were The Star Of The Show At This Years The Game Awards

The Game Awards was full of game announcements and trailers, with over 45 games being shown-off across the pre-show and main show.

The main show opened with the reveal of CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher IV. Starring Ciri, the adopted daughter of Geralt and Yennefer, the game was revealed with an in-engine cinematic trailer, which was running on Unreal Engine 5 and “an unannounced Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU”. The game is the start of new saga for the series, which was last seen in 2015 with The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, In an interview with IGN, executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga said that a new saga starring Ciri was a “logical choice”.

Bandai Namco Entertainment and From Software announced Elden Ring: Nightreign, a brand-new co-op action-adventure game coming in 2025. Elden Ring: Nightreign takes inspiration from roguelikes, with your character (a choice of eight classes) gaining stat bonuses that last onto the next session by completing challenges. Elden Ring: Nightreign can be played solo or with two friends in three-player co-op. It will be released on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC in 2025.

Fumito Ueda, director of ICO, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian has announced his team's next project. Simply titled Project Robot, not much is known about this new title, beyond having a resemblance to Shadow of the Colossus with the game's protagonist climbing up a mech. The game is being published by Epic Games Publishing.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio showed up to The Game Awards with not just one, but two brand new titles. The first game shown was Virtua Fighter, a new game in SEGA’s storied fighting game franchise. The Game Awards was followed by a VF Direct, where a new balance patch for Virtua Fighter 5 was unveiled, alongside further gameplay of the upcoming version of the game for PC. Virtua Fighter was followed by Project Century, a new IP which features combat that looks similar to, but more visceral than the Yakuza series, with a focus on weapons. The game is set in 1915 in Japan. Nothing else has been shared about this title.

Super-Earth sent a message to The Game Awards. The galaxy is under attack from the dangerous Illuminates, a returning third faction of aliens that the Helldivers will have to neutralise with a new host of weapons and vehicles. Helldivers will have to fight these Illuminates on the colonies and bring freedom back to our beloved democracy. Helldivers II: Omens of Tyranny is a free update, and it’s available now on PC and PS5.

Set up as the final world premiere, it was announced that Okami is getting a direct sequel after 18 years. The original games director, Hideki Kamiya, is returning to direct the sequel, as part of his new studio Clovers, having left Platinum Games in October 2023. No information on the game was revealed beyond this. 

The show ended with the announcement of Naughty Dog’s next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Set in space, Intergalactic follows bounty hunter, Jordan A. Mun (played by Tati Gabrielle), as she flies to the planet Sempiria to find a target. No one has entered this planet’s atmosphere and left in 600 years, and so Jordan will have to use her skills to survive. It’s seemingly an action game, with the final shot of the trailer showing Jordan attacking some sort of alien with a big sword. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, game director Neil Druckmann said that the game has been in development since 2020. The game seemingly takes inspiration from 90’s anime, and heavily features brands such as Sony, Porsche, and Adidas.

The Pre-Show featured many interesting smaller announcements too, such as Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a brand new 2D entry in the series from Blasphemous developer, The Game Kitchen. Thick as Thieves, a multiplayer immersive stealth sim from Warren Spector, one of the original developers of Deus Ex, is releasing in 2026. Shadow Labyrinth, a Pac-Man Metroidvania based upon an episode of the Amazon show ‘Secret Level’, is coming in 2025. Rematch, a 5v5 football game developed by the team behind ‘SIFU’, SloClap, is being released in Summer 2025.

The main show had plenty of other world premieres and new trailers. Obsidian Entertainment re-revealed The Outer Worlds 2 with a new trailer. The game is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PC and PS5 in 2025.

Josef Fares’ studio, Hazelight, revealed its new game Split Fiction, a co-op action-platformer where two writers must traverse each others worlds in order to escape a simulation. Split Fiction releases on March 6th 2025. 

Tekken 8, which won Best Fighting Game of the Year, revealed the final character of its first season. Clive Rosfield, from Final Fantasy XVI joins Tekken 8 on December 16th 2024.  Capcom unveiled  Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the first mainline game in the series since 2006. The game will be released in 2026.

SEGA teased a new racing game in the Sonic The Hedgehog series. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was shown with a cinematic teaser trailer and was simply slated as “Coming soon”.

Layoffs Continue To Haunt The Games Industry, Even As The Year Comes To A Close

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), People Can Fly announced that it had suspended production on Project Victoria, scaled down the team on Project Bifrost and will be restructuring some of its supporting teams. As a result of these cuts, People Can Fly will be laying off 120 of its workers. CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski stated that, “This action became necessary as external market pressures persisted beyond our forecasts”. He blamed market conditions in the games industry and stated that People Can Fly would be focusing on “one single independent game”.

Deck Nine, developers of the Life is Strange series announced via LinkedIn that it would also be laying off staff. While an exact number has not been said, this is the third round of layoffs for Deck Nine since May 2023.

ITCH.IO Taken Down By Funko After AI Mistake Is Made

Itch.io was taken offline this week after Funko, the toy manufacturer, had an AI-powered brand protection software called Brand Shield report the register for the website instead of a specific page that had a clone of Funko’s new game Funko Fusion. Itch.io claimed it had taken down the Funko-associated page, but the website was still taken down as the AI tool continued to try and have the page taken down. Funko has denied these claims that it or Brand Shield were the ones to take down Itch.io in the first place. Itch.io was back online by Monday evening, with Itch.io founder Leaf Corcoran stating on X, “On This Day, We Rise Above Funko Pop”.

Pokémon And Aardman Announce A New Project Together 

The official Pokémon X (formerly known as Twitter) account revealed on Thursday that they will be partnering with Aardman, creators of the film series Wallace and Gromit, on a new project in the Pokémon universe. Coming in 2027, not much is known about this project. VP of Marketing and Media at the Pokémon Company International, Taito Okiura, stated “Aardman are masters of their craft, and we have been blown away by their talent and creativity. What we have been working on together ensures our global Pokémon fans are in for a treat!”

Update Patch News Roundup (22/12/24)

Nintendo Switch 2 Rumours Allegedly Confirm Name And Features Of The New System

A leaker on Reddit made some claims surrounding the Nintendo Switch 2 this week, and, while random people on the internet claiming to know what Nintendo might be a dime-a-dozen right now,  The Verge had the chance to speak with them and are backing up their claims. The leaker, who goes by “NextHandheld”, has stated that the system will indeed be called “Nintendo Switch 2”. The Switch 2 is supposedly going to be revealed to the public in January. NextHandheld claims they’ve seen first-hand evidence of the name, saying that the logo would be the same as the Nintendo Switch, but with a two beside it.

NextHandheld has supposedly also seen the system itself. According to their claims, the Joy-Con are magnetic, attaching to the system via a 13-pin connector on the system. The Joy-Con also feature hall-effect joysticks, which would remove the dreaded “stick-drift” that plagued the original controllers. The system also apparently features a U-shaped kickstand on the back.

On the topic of the dock, NextHandheld claimed that the dock had feet on the back for the dock to lay horizontally, the implication here being that the dock may have a fan. Supposedly, the Nintendo Switch 2 will use 45W of power in handheld mode and 60W in docked mode. This is assumed to help the system reach 4K resolution in docked mode.

Unfortunately, NextHandheld did not seem to have any information on the system's feature-set or game library, so we’re yet to find out details on whether Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, a new 3D Mario or Mario Kart will launch with the system. Nintendo has yet to confirm any of these details. The company has simply stated that it will announce the successor to the Nintendo Switch before the end of its fiscal year (March 2025).

Sony And Kadokawa Strike A Deal, Just Not The One We’ve Previously Discussed

Rumours of Sony Corp. acquiring Kadokawa, the Japanese media conglomerate that owns FromSoftware, alongside many notable anime IP, have been running through the news cycle over the last few weeks. Now, a deal has been signed, but not the one that was expected. 

Sony Corp. announced that it has purchased more shares in the company, making Sony the largest single shareholder in Kadokawa with 10% of shares. This means that Sony will have major influence over Kadokawa’s stable of IP and businesses, but it does not outright own FromSoftware, Acquire or Spike Chunsoft. While this may give more incentive for studios like FromSoftware to work with PlayStation Studios, it’s free to make games with whomever it chooses, on whatever platforms it chooses.

Described as a “Strategic Capital and Business Alliance” by Sony, Hiroki Totoki, president of Sony Group Corporation stated in a press release, “By combining KADOKAWA's extensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with the strengths of Sony, which has promoted the global expansion of a wide range of entertainment, including anime and games, we plan to work closely together to realize KADOKAWA's 'Global Media Mix' strategy, aimed at maximizing the value of its IP, and Sony's long-term vision, 'Creative Entertainment Vision.”

Sonic The Hedgehog 4 Announced As Sonic 3 Receives Rave Reviews And Box Office Success

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 was released in theatres this weekend, and it seems like it's sprinting to the top of the box office. Variety reports that the film has made $6.5 million in Thursday night previews and that the weekend domestic box office is likely to sit between $55 and $60 million. While Disney’s ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ is expected to win the international box office, with Sonic only opening in some international markets on Christmas Day, this is a huge win for the Blue Blur on the back of some really great reviews.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 currently sits at an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a total of 85 reviews as of writing. This is a massive improvement from the original two films, with Sonic 1 receiving 64% and Sonic 2 receiving 69%. Critics state this improvement clearly, with Phil Owens writing for GameSpot, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3 works better for audiences of all ages than its predecessors, which were more squarely aimed at children”. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praised Keanu Reeve’s performance as Shadow The Hedgehog, stating he infuses “his voice portrayal of the menacing Shadow… with the same gravitas he brings to the similarly revenge-obsessed John Wick”. Finally, Ed Nightingale stated for Eurogamer that the third-act features “an out-of-this-world climactic sequence that feels more like Dragon Ball Z than anything else”.

Following the publishing of these reviews, Variety reported that Paramount has greenlit a fourth entry in the series, with Sonic The Hedgehog 4 set to hit theatres in 2027. While no details on this fourth entry have been shared by Paramount, Sonic 3 will surely set up the future of the franchise with its two post credit scenes.

Mark Cerny Talks PS5 Pro Tech… And What The Future Might Hold For The PS6?

PlayStation uploaded a 37-minute “Technical Seminar” on the PS5 Pro on its YouTube channel this week. The seminar, presented by PS4, PS5 and PS5 Pro system architect, Mark Cerny, provided a deep dive into the technology behind the PlayStation 5 Pro.

Around the 35-minute mark of the seminar, hosted at SIE HQ, Cerny reveals that Sony has partnered with AMD on a new project called Amethyst. Cerny states that AMD and PlayStation have joined on “another long journey”. The first goal of this project is “a more ideal architecture for machine learning — something capable of generalised processing of neural networks”. He states that the goal with this isn’t for proprietary technology, but something that works across a wide range of devices.

The second of these goals revolves around CNNs (Convolutional Neural Networks). These “high-quality CNNs for graphics” will be built in parallel by AMD and SIE, allowing both companies to access each other's work. Cerny states, “These components should be key in increasing the richness of game graphics, as well as enabling more extensive use of ray tracing and path tracing”. Cerny then refers to this as a “multi-year collaboration”.

While it isn’t outright stated, Cerny is clearly referring to work being done for the next-generation PlayStation. This system, presumably the PlayStation 6, will seemingly have an AMD GPU that is actively being worked on.

Xbox Backs Away From Exclusives, As The Company Doubles-down On Its Multi-platform Approach

Jez Corden, executive editor of XboxEra, recently stated on X (Formerly known as Twitter) that “Xbox won't have exclusives going forward. Everything is timed exclusive at most”. Corden went on to explain that while games may be chosen on a “case-by-case basis”, those games will be “outliers” rather than the rule. In an article on XboxEra, Corden points out that The Outer Worlds 2 coming to PS5 is a result of Xbox not losing players as a result of their games coming to PS5.

These reports were incidentally backed up by comments this week from Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, saying “‘Let’s take that joy of gaming everywhere.’ And that’s why, even these ads with Xbox now, where we are redefining what it means to be an Xbox fan, it’s about being able to enjoy Xbox on all your devices”.

Helldivers 2 Adds Killzone DLC, Arrowhead Responds to Criticism Over The Launch

Arrowhead announced this week that Helldivers 2 will feature its first crossover, with items from Killzone 2 appearing on the game’s storefront this week. The decision was met with initial applause, as Killzone is a natural fit for a collaboration with the warmongering satire of Helldivers. However, the appeal faded as backlash over pricing hit. The prices were seen as quite steep, with each of the two Killzone sets being $20 each. This is more expensive than a war bond in the game, which is priced at $10.

Arrowhead responded to the criticism, stating that this was its decision, not Sony’s, stating “It's a partnership… But we are in the driving seat behind the decisions. This one is on us” on the Helldivers Discord. In a series of posts on X (Formerly known as Twitter), Arrowhead CCO and Creative Director of Helldivers 2, Johan Pilestedt, said that Arrowhead would listen to fan feedback, stating “If we do stuff you like, we are able to sustain the business and make more stuff that you hopefully like... and then that continues until it doesn't work, at which point the story ends”.

Arrowhead officially responded by making the second set of Killzone 2 items free for all players, and extending how long the first set of items would be on sale.

Localthunk Calls Out PEGI Over Ratings Discrepancies

PEGI, the ratings board for games in Europe, re-rated indie-darling and game of the year nominee, Balatro, earlier this year to 18+, stating “This rating has been given because it features prominent gambling imagery”. Lead developer localthunk fired back at PEGI this week on X (Formerly known as Twitter), stating “Since PEGI gave us an 18+ rating for having evil playing cards maybe I should add microtransactions/loot boxes/real gambling to lower that rating to 3+ like EA sports FC”.

Localthunk followed this up by actually contacting PEGI, who told him it saw nothing wrong with Balatro having an 18+ rating or EA Sports FC (and other games like it) being rated 3+. PEGI apparently blamed EU laws, storefronts and “waiting for the future”. It’s unclear if, and when PEGI will take action against the gambling mechanics present in so many live-service and sports titles, but it’s becoming more of a problem that seemingly features a double-standard.

Update Patch News Roundup (29/12/24)

PlayStation May Be Bringing Back Some Classic IP, According To Co-CEO

In an interview with Famitsu, which was translated by Video Games Chronicle, Sony Interactive Entertainment co-CEO Herman Hulst, said that the company may be willing to revive some of its classic franchises. Speaking to Famitsu, Hulst said, “The various IPs that we own are an important asset to PlayStation, and as part of our efforts to strengthen our portfolio, we are continually looking at opportunities to leverage past IP, as well as develop new franchises”.

While it’s unclear exactly what IP is being talked about here, we do have some indications based on projects that PlayStation has worked on recently. Astro Bot features a wide variety of classic Sony IPs, but three IPs that haven’t seen iterations in recent years, Ape Escape, LocoRoco and Uncharted all have dedicated levels featured in Astro Bot. With the relatively new PlayStation Productions division of the business, Twisted Metal has been a big success on Peacock,  and it’s currently working on a cinematic adaptation of Gravity Rush and some sort of Patapon adaptation, as seen in a video about Torchlight, a visualization service for filmmakers. These IPs in particular could be primed for a new outing on the PlayStation 5.

As a part of this interview, Hulst also stated that Astro Bot sold more than one and a half million units in the first nine weeks of sale, with 40% of these sales coming from users who have are either purchasing a PlayStation game for the first time or are purchasing a PlayStation game for the first time in two years.

SEGA Is Adamant It’s Not A Retro Company

In an interview with The Guardian released on the 20th of December, Shuji Utsumi, CEO of SEGA of America and Europe stated that the company doesn't view itself as a retro company. As part of a larger interview about SEGA’s ongoing plans to revive the company to its glory days, Utsumi was asked about mini systems for the SEGA Saturn and Dreamcast, Utsumi responded by saying “I’m not going for the Mini direction. It’s not me. I want to embrace modern gamers”. 

This interview with The Guardian was one of many interviews with Utsumi, including one with Eurogamer. In both of these interviews, Utsumi noted that SEGA had to focus on expanding its existing IP with innovation and that focusing on what makes SEGA unique was the key to the company’s success in the future with modern audiences as Utsumi stated to The Guardian, “We have some great pillars – such as Sonic, Persona and Yakuza. But at the same time, we have other properties that really show the style, attitude and context of Sega. I think gamers will love it if we do this right. It will be a challenge – there are great expectations – but if we can respond to that, we can get back to being Sega”.

Rare Teases Everwild

Announced in 2019 at the X019 event, before the Xbox Series X|S were even announced, Everwild, the newest IP from famed developer Rare, is being teased after being absent for four years. On Christmas morning, Rare posted an image on X (Formerly known as Twitter) wishing its fans Happy Holidays, but the image presented was one from Everwild. The image, which features a human character and a deer-like creature looking toward a tree with another creature beside it, tells us very little about what Everwild is. The use of this image, seemingly indicates that we may finally hear more about Everwild in 2025.

According to Video Games Chronicle, Everwild underwent a reboot in 2021, with the game’s original director leaving the project, and Gregg Mayles taking over the project. Mayles is best known as the director of Banjo-Kazooie and the co-creator of Diddy Kong, but he most recently directed Sea of Thieves, which has been a huge success for Xbox and Rare, having 40 million players before its move to PlayStation, which according to Windows Central has sold at least one million copies.

The image shown, alongside Mayles’ appointment as Creative Director, don’t tell us much about the direction the game has taken since the project has been rebooted, but we at least know that the art-style is similar to the game that was last presented to us in 2020. Whatever Everwild ends up being, this is an indicator we may see more of it in 2025.

Star Fox 64 Has Arrived On PC

In the last few months, we have seen a trend of people porting Nintendo 64 games to PC. These ports have been incredibly popular, adding features such as Ultra-Widescreen to games such as Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The latest of these ports released on December 23rd, is the Nintendo 64 classic, Star Fox 64. 

Released originally in 1997, and remade for the 3DS in 2011, Star Fox 64 is a rail shooter that has you controlling multiple vehicles (but mostly the aircraft, the Arwing) through on-rails levels. This new port for PC adds features such as higher framerates and ultra-widescreen support. It’s available to download on github for those interested!

Games To Keep An Eye On As We Enter 2025

As we enter 2025, and given this is a slow news week, I thought I’d share some games that I’m looking forward to in the new year.

Grand Theft Auto VI

You cannot talk about 2025 without talking about Grand Theft Auto VI. GTA is the game that every other game is scared of, the game that other publishers are avoiding, the game that gamers are most anticipating and the game that will, no doubt, make the most money in 2025… that is if GTA VI releases in 2025. That’s the big question with this game, this is Rockstar, a company not known for rushing its games, and GTA VI may not actually arrive in 2025, but if it does, there’s no possible world in which it isn’t the best-selling game of the year.

The real question with GTA VI is if it will reach the staggering heights that were set by GTA V. In 2025, with the era of social media dominance we live in, with the “woke left” and the far-right, in the year of Donald Trump's second presidency, the question is can Rockstars biting satire that has defined Grand Theft Auto for two decades translate into this world. The game will look great, the gameplay will be polished to a within an inch of its life, the openworld will be expansive and the characters will be engaging, but if the satire doesn’t hit, then Grand Theft Auto VI won’t be the masterpiece that so many expect it to be.

South of Midnight

When South of Midnight was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase in 2023, it had all of the style and charm that I needed to make me excited for it. The animation style, which is akin to that of Into the Spider-Verse, immediately made the game stick out, alongside the unique aesthetic the game showcased, but at this point, I was excited based on vibes alone. We didn’t know exactly what kind of game South of Midnight would be.

The Xbox Games Showcase 2024 gave us a gameplay trailer that told me everything I needed to know. Not only was the tone still intact, not only was the art just as beautiful, but South of Midnight was revealed to be a character-action game with platforming elements. There are few genres I get more excited for, and Xbox’s last attempt at one of these was Hi-Fi Rush, one of my favourite games of 2023. Compulsion Games has a shaky track record, with We Happy Few being divisive, to be kind. Hopefully, the backing of Xbox Games Studios makes this the breakout title that proves Compulsion Games has what it takes… and hopefully, Xbox doesn’t then close the studio…

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Metroid Prime 4 has a lot to live up to. Rebooted mid-development, returned to Retro Studios, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has to prove that Retro still has what it takes to make a great game and it has to send off the Nintendo Switch with a bang. The gameplay trailer shown in the Summer Nintendo Direct featured a more cinematic take on Metroid, one that definitely resembled Halo more than Metroid Prime, but hopefully the full game can balance these tones and showcase what makes this series so great.

The Switch era has been one where so many Nintendo franchises have broken out of the shadow of Mario, one where their protagonists were no longer just characters from Super Smash Bros. Metroid has been Nintendo’s most notorious franchise for being unable to hit the sales heights to match the games critical success. I only played Metroid Prime for the first time in 2022, but if Metroid Prime 4 can capture the magic of that original game, and if Retro can make a game good enough to make me stop mourning a new Donkey Kong Country, then Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be the swan-song that the Nintendo Switch deserves.

Skate.

Skate 3 continues to be one of my most-played games 14 years after its initial release. The Skate. Series managed to create a skateboarding game that had all of the style and precision that I needed from the genre. The feeling of speeding through the open world is one that I have yearned for, and finally, EA is making a new Skate. 

Skate. looks like it feels great, and I definitely cannot prove this. I have not played the alpha, no sir, I’ve been told that it has an NDA. I would love to play Skate. (not more Skate.) and after the hilarious trailer from Summer Games Fest, I’m convinced the team has a handle on the tone of those first three games. This has so much potential to go wrong, to be filled with microtransactions, to be broken on day one with servers that won’t work for weeks, but if EA and Full Circle can nail an always online, living world with Skate. then we might have something incredibly special on our hands.

Untitled 3D Mario/Mario Kart 

Okay, I know this has not been announced. There is no 3D Mario game officially coming at any point in the future, let alone 2025, but let's be real, Nintendo is going to be releasing a new 3D Mario in 2025. The most important release of next year, maybe even more important than Grand Theft Auto VI, is the successor to the Nintendo Switch. We know the system is going to be announced soon, and it’s an incredibly safe bet that it will come out in 2025. We know Nintendo won’t have a Zelda ready, Metroid Prime 4 is gong to be a cross-generation game if it does come to the new system, so that means Nintendo needs a big hitter for the launch window.

It’s possible that the game is the next Mario Kart, and that a 3D Mario won't come out next year, but my gut says 3D Mario, and whichever of these games comes out next year (or potentially both), will be the only game that can rival GTA VI. I would equally love a new Mario Kart; a new 3D Mario or Mario Kart is an event, a once-in-a-generation title that would rival GTA for the best game of the year. Nintendo hasn't missed with a 3D Mario game in 17 years (I didn’t love Sunshine) and we haven’t seen a truly new Mario Kart since the Wii U. I can’t wait to see how Nintendo evolves these series in the future, and I am truly convinced that one of them will come out next year alongside the successor to the Nintendo Switch. If I had to bet, I’d say that game is a brand new 3D Mario.