Square Enix Opens a New Studio and Sea of Thieves Gets an Update

Today’s Daily Byte is prettyyyyyyyyy lean. BUT! There are some pretty big reveals in here. Let’s dive in!

Morphite update out now on Switch, adds gyro controls. There’s no word if it boosts general performance though.
A new update for Snake Pass on Switch is available that changes the game’s icon back to the original icon and adds a new Arcade Mode.

Rare announced plans to implement a small fee for dying. After community pushback, they’ve decided not to implement it. Rare first announced this proposed penalty in a forum thread last week. “This new feature has the Captain of the Ferry of the Damned deduct a small gold fee when you die,” the post read. “Rates are dependent on the cause of death, so the more avoidable the death, the less patience the Captain will have when we enable this feature!”
The Microsoft Store Spring Sale starts today. Take advantage of savings on select Xbox digital games, consoles, accessories, Xbox Live, movies & TV shows, and apps for Xbox. There are over 450 deals on popular Xbox digital games and add-ons.
Rare rolled out a client update today for Sea of Thieves that works to address a range of bugs and improve the performance on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox One X.

WayForward announced Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition for PS4 and Switch at the end of April. The ultimate edition features the great 2016 adventure, the Pirate Queen’s Quest and Friends to the End expansions, a “Hardcore Mode” option, a selection of different character costumes and palette-swaps – including previous Kickstarter backer-exclusives – and an all-new cute bathing suit for the cheerful genie gal. The new costumes, Ninja, Beach and Officer, each unlock a mini-adventure in and of themselves, befitting of the garb our gal is rockin’ The “Day One” edition comes packaged with a Risky Beats soundtrack CD, featuring a selection of the game’s backing tracks, and a 100-page artbook filled with unseen concept sketches of the whole crew.
Square Enix has created a new studio headed by Final Fantasy XV’s creative director, Hajime Tabata. The new studio, named Luminous Productions, will primarily develop AAA games as well as new and unique entertainment experiences.
UK developer/publisher Team17, most famous for the Worms series, are reportedly plotting a huge IPO float, in the region of £200 million, on the London Stock Exchange. The financial decision is poised to make the company the biggest third-party publisher in the UK.