PlayStation
- Quantic Dreams, developer of Detroit: Become Human files suit against french media for publishing reports of poor work conditions for the studio. Not the first time the studio has come under fire. Previous allegations include sexual harassment from high end staff
Nintendo
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Splatoon 2 receives 3.0 update, bringing with it a higher X rank for competitive play, and over 100 new pieces of gear to acquire
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Splatoon 2 Will be receiving a TMNT themed Splatfest to celebrate the new “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles”animated series. Round 1 seems to be Raph vs Leo, starting 5/4.
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Tatsumi Kimishima will be retiring at Nintendo President and will be replaced by Shuntaro Furukawa. Furukawa is interesting not only because he is relatively young, which was suggested as necessary by outgoing Kimishima in order to further understand the new landscape of younger players. He is already on the boards of both Nintendo Co And Pokemon Co. This shift also marks the first time a Nintendo President is a fluent english speaker.
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Nintendo has seen massive success with Switch bringing in nearly $2B in profits for this fiscal year, which is a staggering 500% increase over the previous year. Here are some other impressive numbers from the report:
– Switch Sells 17.79M units
– Digital game sales increased almost 90% year over year
– Zelda BOTW Sells 10M making it the best selling Zelda ever,
– Mario Odyssey also passes 10M units
– Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold an impressive 9.22M units
– Kirby sold 1.26M in two weeks
– Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon sold 7.51M
– SNES Classic cold over 5M units
– Amiibo also sold well, with 10.3M figures sold and 5.8M amiibo cards -
Labo week one sales tower over God of War in Japanese market
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The stylistic new RPG from Square Enix, Project Octopath, releases July 13 for Switch
Xbox
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Xbox One’s April update begins rolling out, adding features like variable refresh rates for FreeSync monitors, support for 1440p, and more
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Invites for the initial test flights of the upcoming MCC Summer updates rolled out, with players being invited to participate this coming weekend. I did not get one, and am maximum salt.
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Xbox will soon allow users to link their account to Discord, enabling them to share their play activity with others. Voice chat not supported at launch.
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May’s Games with Gold have been revealed:
Xbox One
– Super Mega Baseball 2 – May 1-31
– Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain – May 16 to June 15
Xbox 360
– Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage – May 1-15
– Vanquish – May 16-31
Industry News
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Kingdom hearts facebook page updated their cover photo on 4/26. The new Banner shows Sora, Goofy and Donald. What’s interesting is the caption, which states “KINGDOM HEARTS III is coming soon to Xbox One and PlayStation 4!” leading to speculation of an upcoming official release date.
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Sonic Mania Plus update drops in July
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After a moment of spotlight from excited players, popular Halo PC mod “El Dewrito” shut down by 343 studios for use of Microsoft owned assets.
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PUBG Corp. announced that it will host the first official esports tournament this year from July25-29 with 20 professional teams competing in Berlin for a $2M prize pool. Teams will be able to qualify by participating in regional tournaments that will be hosted in North America, Europe and Asia. More details are expected soon on the tournament process.
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Dark Souls Remastered will be $40 when it releases and those who own Dark Souls: Prepare to Die on Steam will receive a 50% discount, bringing the remaster to $20.
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Valve purchased Firewatch developer Campo Santo over the weekend and plans to leave the studio intact as a team, a source said, rather than absorbing them and re-assigning its employees to other projects.
Word on the Street
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We will see a reveal at this year’s E3 for Fortnite on Switch with exclusive features and content
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Switch might get the next Call of Duty in a Battle Royale-only format
