Update Patch | February 2023
February 2023 is now over, and we are inexplicably two months down in the year. The month had many quality titles for gamers to gorge on, whether it be a new EA Original in Wild Hearts, the much-anticipated Octopath Traveller 2 or another expansion in Destiny 2: Lightfall, there were plenty of new things to check out. It’s good that there was so much new stuff as we also had to say goodbye to many games thanks to our nightmarish digital future… Oh and also, there was plenty of other news worth covering.
1. Live-Service Bloodbath
As alluded to earlier, the month had plenty of live service games announcing shutdowns in another blow for games preservation.
Firstly, Velan Studios’ dodgeball action game Knockout City will be shutdown on the morning of June 6th 2023. Season 9 will be the last one, and in a blog post, the studio explained why despite retaiiong a dedicated fan base, it has chosen to shutter servers. “There are several aspects of the game in need of major disruption to better attract and retain enough players to be sustainable. Since we are a small, indie studio, it’s simply impossible for us to make those kinds of systemic changes in the live game while continuing to support it.”
Velan didn’t disclose whether its next game would be a new title but did say following a retrospective, the team was looking at “what comes next in the Knockout City universe.”
Of course the only good wrestling game of the last decade would die a horrible death.
Iron Galaxy Studios’ battle-royale brawler, Rumbleverse, will also be going offline following only its second season of content from February 28th. Epic Games (who published the title) has offered refunds to players who spent money since the launch of the game in August of last year.
Additionally, the servers for CrossfireX, which includes the single-player campaigns, will be shut down from May 18th. The reason for this closure is detailed in a blog on Stove, explaining “the game was ultimately not where it needed to be. As a result, we have made the difficult decision to close the game.”
EA also announced that it will be halting support for both Apex Legends: Mobile and Battlefield: Mobile (which was still in beta in select regions). Apex’s closure is especially notable as not only did the publisher partner with Tencent on the project but it was nominated for the Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards in 2022.
The spate of titles raises further questions on the preservation of games going forward with recently announced AAA titles Redfall and Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (the game home to Kevin Conroy’s final preformace as Batman) requiring online connections to run even in their single-player content.
2. Please Enjoy Nintendo’s Direct
Another start to the year saw another Nintendo Direct on 8th February. Whilst the show had numerous updates on familiar upcoming titles including Pikmin 4 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, plenty of new announcements were made.
There were several new expansions and DLCs announced during the show. Firstly, Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s latest update saw a new hero added in Masha as well as challenge battles that add a horde-style mode available from 15th February. Splatoon 3 announced a brand new expansion pass. The first content will see the Inkopolis hub area from the original Wii U game added to the newest release, and will be available in Spring. The second inkling update was also teased and is known as Side Order with no confirmed date. Fire Emblem Engage also had more information and updates on its own expansion, with new Emblems revealed. The characters range from Hector, a strength-based warrior, to Soren and Camilla, a pair of mages with specialities in AoE and stage-changing spells respectively. Additionally, the future 4th wave will see a new story entitled Fell Xenologue. Whatever that means.
There were also a few brilliant surprises on the show. Metroid Prime received a full remaster that has since seen plenty of critical praise after releasing on the same day as the Direct. A new game in the Professor Layton series, entitled Professor Layton and The New World of Steam follows a five-year hiatus for the series. Finally, and the thing I am most excited about, Don’t Nod Entertainment showed off its new game, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie. The game will see another narrative adventure in a fantasy world where players must travel across timelines and side with gods known as Aspirations to make choices in order to save the world known as Reverie. Maybe a certain photographer could help out.
3. More Microsoft Activision Altercations
In the story that will never die like all those heroes Mercy keeps rezzing, Microsoft continues to push forward in its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard King.
The month saw the company holding meetings and making other announcements in an attempt to placate regulators in the EU, UK and US and most notably saw the tech giant make headway with the EU’s regulatory body, the EC.
The company took part in a closed-door hearing with EU Anti-trust officials on the 21st of February. Officials from Nvidia and Google as well as Sony were present. According to Reuters, a number of executives including Microsoft President, Brad Smith, Microsoft Gaming CEO, Phil Spencer, Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick, and Sony Gaming Head, Jim Ryan, were all present.
Just guys being dudes.
Ahead of the meeting, Smith announced a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to their consoles with full parity for ten years. In a press conference after the EU hearing, Smith and Nvidia announced a deal that would commit Xbox's PC games to come to cloud streaming service GeForce Now, in an attempt to assuage regulators over a potential cloud gaming monopoly. Whilst the EC hasn’t reached a decision, Reuters is reporting this deal may have swayed the EU into approving the deal.
In the US, the FTC is holding a legal hearing over the matter and Microsoft is said to be in the discovery phase. Microsoft recently subpoenaed Sony for documentation relating to exclusivity contracts as well as access to communications of top Sony officials to regulators. Sony contested this with the FTC and got concessions on the date from which the information can be pulled, but the FTC has allowed Microsoft to have this information. This in short means that we may likely soon be seeing reports about internal Sony emails and even details like how much Sony has paid for exclusivity rights on certain games.
4. E3 Is Still Happening… We Think… Hopefully… Maybe…
Updates on E3 have emerged over the last month mostly painting a negative picture for the new organisers, Reedpop, and the ESA.
Ooooh Konami are at the show!
Following an IGN report in January that all three major console manufacturers were planning to skip the event, Nintendo officially confirmed it won't be involved. In a statement to IGN, the company behind the Switch said the show "didn’t fit into (its) plans" but it would remain a "strong supporter" of the event. Microsoft has said in a blog that it will be in Los Angeles for a showcase but has not mentioned that showcase being part of E3. Sony has yet to confirm either way but considering PlayStation stopped attending the show in 2018, pre-pandemic it seems unlikely the company will return any time soon.
One company that has confirmed its attendance is Ubisoft, which did so in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. In a separate statement to IGN, Reedpop President Lance Fensterman confirmed the event is going “full speed ahead” and that news will be available in the coming weeks.
5. Embracer Group Financial Report Fallout
The Embracer Group held its most recent financial report, with positive figures touted about the company’s performance between October-December 2022. However, it also had a number of interesting tidbits that give an idea as to what is happening in the company’s future following its numerous and sizeable acquisitions over the last few years.
Firstly, it’s worth noting the mass of content that the publisher now has on the horizon. The studio notes that it has “94 projects scheduled to be released FY 23/24 of which 58 are yet to be announced.” Projects included in that are Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, developed by Saber Interactive, and Payday 3 with publishers PLAION (previously Koch Media) owned by the Swedish group.
God, I really hope Goat Simulator 3 sells better than Dead Island 2.
In his comments on the report, CEO Lars Wingefors spook on the performance of a number of games from its studios. Praise was given specifically to Coffee Stain Studios, with Wingefors citing Goat Simulator 3 as having released “to strong acclaim from fans” and the continued success of Deep Rock Galactic, saying “there is a lot to look forward to from Coffee Stain going forward.”
However, despite a 128% net sales increase and a 64% increase in PC/Console games compared to the same period of 2021, Wingefors had some comments on some disappointing return on investment for some titles and studios, including citing the Saints Row reboot. Wingefors cites “an effect of mixed reception for several releases, combined with a more normalized market and softer consumer purchasing power”, on those games’ disappointing sales. As a result, Wingefors is keen for studios under the Embracer Group to “optimise investments”, or as he puts it, “each project has to earn its right to exist, which means we will increase our efforts to put quality first”.
6. Civ 7 Confirmed As Firaxis Experiences A large Shakeup
Plenty of news came out of the acclaimed studio behind Xcom and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Firaxis Games. It began with the disappointing news that the developer’s most recent project had flopped on the sales front, with numerous heavy discounts being made. In an interview with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said “it’s possible the release window wasn’t perfect” but has confidence in the long-term sales.
All the gold, and all the guns, and all the girls, couldn’t get your sales to take off.
The studio is also undergoing massive staff changes though with two prominent staff members leaving to pursue new challenges. First is Jake Solomon, who was director of the studio’s fantastic reboot of the Xcom franchise and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. In a statement on Twitter, Solomon said he had never taken the job for granted and said of tactical turn-based games, “It’s time for other, smarter people to push that space forward”. The second was studio head Steve Martin, whose replacement is previous COO Heather Hazen.
Firaxis also took the time to announce Civilization 7 under the creative direction of Ed Beach, who was the creative director of the previous entry.
7. The Widespread Issue Of Omissions In Credits
Finally, a number of studios have faced controversy over the omission of individuals from video game credits.
Like Daleks in every season of Doctor Who, the issue returned once again this month following the surprise release of the Metroid Prime Remaster. This is because the game doesn’t have the credits for the developers who worked on the original game, instead choosing to credit the original devs through a blurb in the credits which reads “Based on the work of Metroid Prime (Original Nintendo Gamecube and Wii version) Development Staff”.
Senior gameplay engineer on the original release Zoid Kirsch highlighted this, saying “everyone's name should be included in the remaster, not just a single card like this.” Metroid Prime technical lead engineer Jack Mathews described it as a “travesty” and “shameful”.
This wasn’t the only recent big release to fall foul of this issue. A report from GamesIndustry.biz claimed that a number of former developers at Striking Distance Studios were left out of the credits for The Callisto Protocol. According to the website’s sources, it's claimed some of the staff left out include senior developers and leads at the studio with one source claiming that there was “some amount of playing favourites”. Striking Distance has not commented on these claims.
Whilst there isn’t anything codified into law concerning gaming credits, a non-profit organisation known as the International Game Developers Association recommends staff who worked on a game for at least 30 days to be credited.
Ok, but this game will totally have a space lighthouse, right?
Patch Notes:
The first ever Grammy award for video game music was awarded in this year’s ceremony, going to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök and composer Stephanie Economou.
Playground Games announced a second expansion for Forza Horizon 5, entitled Rally Adventure which will release on March 29th. The expansion adds a new location, 10 completely new vehicles, and more tracks.
Ken Levine’s next game Judas is due to release by March 2025 according to a new financial report from Take-Two.
Acclaimed horror film studio Blumhouse has launched a new gaming division for the company. The studio will aim to partner with indie developers on horror-based games with a budget below $10m, and sees industry veteran producer Zach Wood as its president.
Speaking of film and gaming crossover, DC Studios co-chairman James Gunn wants to include video games as part of the DC Universe along with films and TV.
A group of former Respawn developers and industry veterans, including former Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier and 27 other team members with credits on Titanfall, God of War and more, have formed a new studio entitled Wildlight Entertainment.
The first trailer for Apple TV+ film Tetris, starring Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service and Rocketman), has been released with the film out on 31st March.
Take-Two has revealed as part of an earnings call it plans to begin a $50m reduction in costs which will involve employee layoffs.
Moon Studios recently hired a Dreams creator, known as Eupholace, following a project called Trip’s Voyage. The 20-year-old will be a level designer at the studio following an interview with creative director Thomas Mahler.
