Persona 5 Strikers PC 1.02 Update Addresses Freezing And Crashing
Persona 5 Strikers was another spin-off to the popular last entry in the RPG saga. It also helped to bring the Phantom Thieves to two new platforms in the Nintendo Switch as well as PC. It was the first foray for the Thieves on PC, and only the second game in the series to go to PC following the release of Persona 4 Golden. Now that version gets some updating.
The PC version of the title received a new patch that addressed a few issues. The main thing is that it fixed some problems the port had with crashes as well as freezing issues that saw the game hang from time to time. It also fixed a problem some users had where the game would tell you your OS wasn't supported even if you were using Windows 10. You can see the full details through here.
Persona 5 Strikers is available now on PlayStation 4, Switch and PC. You can our full review of the action game through here.
It Seems Sony Did Not Pay to Block Monster Hunter World's Simultaneous PC Launch After All
It was recently reported based on details that were allegedly gleaned from Capcom's massive data leak last year that Monster Hunter World could not see a simultaneous PC launch alongside its console release due to a deal between Capcom and Sony, and that the same deal also stipulated that cross-play and cross-saves would not be enabled. It wasn't that hard to believe, honestly, for multiple reasons- Sony was explicitly against cross-play until just a couple of years ago, paid exclusivity deals happen in the industry all the time, and Sony and Capcom themselves have had more than a few such dealings in the past.
As it turns out, however, that that might not have been the case after all. As reported by DSO Gaming, closer inspection of the leaked Capcom documents in question don't really hold any of the aforementioned details, with the only thing that's mentioned in them being an exclusive marketing deal for the game between Capcom and Sony for Monster Hunter World, which also stipulated a 30% marketing expenditure cap for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne on PC.
Meanwhile, @AsteriskAmpers1 on Twitter, who originally reported that Sony had paid to block Monster Hunter World's PC launch and cross-play, has also taken to Twitter to state that the information was misinterpreted.
So there you have it. Again, seeing a limited exclusivity deal between the two companies would not have been that surprising, but it doesn't seem like such a deal was ever in place to begin with.
On more careful reading I misunderstood. SIE deal was limited marketing spenditure to a cap of 30% for IB PC (it does imply there was an outright marketing ban on MHW). However the reference to the SIE deal scope is unknown if strictly Mktng, which I'm looking into.
— AsteriskAmpersand (@AsteriskAmpers1) April 20, 2021
SIE Santa Monica Studio's New IP Might Have a Fantasy Setting, According to New Job Ad
God of War is (and has been for a while) SIE Santa Monica's most important IP without question, and they are, of course, capitalizing on the success that it continues to bring them and Sony and PlayStation as a whole. God of War: Ragnarok (or whatever it ends up being called) is in development- but that's not the only thing the studio has in the works. It's recently come to light that SIE Santa Monica is currently also working on another unannounced title (presumably a new IP), and though it's going to be a while before we hear anything concrete about it (seeing as it hasn't even been announced yet), we might have a little bit more to go on now.
A job ad recently posted by the developer on its website suggests that the unannounced game will have a fantasy setting (spotted over on ResetEra). The listing, which is for the position of Senior Character Concept Artist, hints at that a couple of times. Under responsibilities, it mentions the development and maintenance of "strong creative and collaborative partnerships across subject areas to help further develop the in-game characters, visual language, and rule sets for fantasy-based worlds". Meanwhile, under requirements, it stipulates "strong design skills with the ability to render realistic believable fantasy-based characters, creatures, and props."
Plans change for games quite significantly during development all the time, especially when projects are in early development (as this one seems to be)- but one of the few things that developers usually decide early on and then stick with (for the most part) is the setting. Whenever it is that we hear something official about this game, it seems a pretty safe bet, based on this job ad, that it will have a fantasy-based setting.
Call of Duty: Warzone Surpasses 100 Million Players
Since its launch, Call of Duty: Warzone has become central not only to the franchise, but to Activision as a whole. The free-to-play battle royale shooter has consistently seen steady growth since its launch in 2019, and recently, it was confirmed to have hit another major landmark.
Taking to Twitter via the official Call of Duty page, Activision have confirmed that Call of Duty: Warzone has now amassed over 100 million players since launch. At last count, in December, that figure stood at 85 million. A jump of 15 million in the time since then is quite impressive by any metric.
Call of Duty fans have plenty else to look forward to as well. Reports have claimed that this year's title will be developed by Sledgehammer Games, return to a World War 2 setting, and will be titled Call of Duty WW2: Vanguard. Meanwhile, there have also been rumours of a standalone Zombies game being in the works. Read more on that through here.
100 million players and counting.
Thank you all for dropping in. It wouldn't be #Warzone without you. pic.twitter.com/knanptnCMU
— Call of Duty
(@CallofDuty) April 20, 2021
Focus Home Interactive Acquires Streum On Studio
Developer acquisitions are all the rage these days, so it isn't surprising we're seeing another one. Focus Home Interactive announced it has acquired Streum On Studio in its latest fiscal report today. Streum On is a small studio with twenty employees; it owns the E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy license. Streum On developed Space Hulk: Deathwing, and are currently working on Necromunda: Hired Gun, another project set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The publishes also mentioned it was in active talks with several other developers.
"Over the past year, and particularly the past six months, we have profoundly transformed Focus Home Interactive," said Focus Home Interactive chairman of the management board Christophe Nobileau. "Our Group now has an adjusted business model and a dedicated M&A team, as well as renewed governance, a strengthened Executive Committee and a retention programme for key managers. These changes allow us to invest much more in game development and to significantly improve our profitability, starting next year. On the external growth front, we are delighted with the acquisition of the Streum On Studio and are continuing our discussions with other partner studios as well as structural targets for Focus Home Interactive."
Focus also posted strong fiscal results for the year, bringing in record revenue and announced several new games. The publisher also stated that it plans to announce three major games at E3 and later at The Game Awards. Focus may be a relatively small publisher, but they're clearly a name to watch in the future.
Today, the Game Developers Conference revealed the finalists for nominations for the Game Developers Choice Awards. The winners will be chosen at the CDGA ceremony, which will take place at the Game Developers Conference on Wednesday, July 1st at 4:30 PM in conjunction with the Independent Game Festival 2021.
The nominations, picked by developers, are led by a three way tie between Supergiant Games' Hades, Super Punch Productions' Ghost of Tsushima, and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part 2. Valve's Half-Life: Alyx came in second with five nominations. All four are nominated for Game of the Year. The other games up for more than one award are Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Media Molecule's Dreams.
Hades was nominated for Best Audio, Best Design, Innovation, Best Narrative, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year; Ghost of Tsushima was nominated for Best Audio, Best Design, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year; The Last of Us Part 2 was nominated for Best Audio, Best Design, Best Narrative, Best Technology, Best Visual Art and Game of the Year.
It's a good list, though there are some notable snubs. DOOM Eternal was only nominated for Best Sound Design, which is baffling given the game's technical and design prowess. Final Fantasy 7 Remake was also only nominated for Best Sound Design, which is an odd choice given the sheer bravery of the game's narrative. Ori and the Will of the Wisps, another snub, only received a nomination for Best Visual Design.
My money's on either Hades or The Last of Us Part 2 to take home Game of the Year given how other awards shows we've seen have worked out, but we'll have to wait until July to be sure.
You can check out the rest of the nominees and the honorable mentions here.
Discord Has Reportedly Broken Off Acquisition Talks with Microsoft
If you were worried about Microsoft acquiring Discord, you can breathe a little easier, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal. While the two companies were in talks last month for a potential acquisition that could have cost Microsoft more than $10 billion, those discussions have apparently been shelved.
Microsoft wasn't the only company interested in acquiring Discord. The company behind the VoIP/communication app, which has over 140 million monthly users as of last year and is a mainstay of PC gaming, was allegedly in talks with at least three companies interested in acquiring it, but has decided to remain independent, at least for now. Apparently, it is also considering an IPO in the future.
This is probably good news for everyone who uses Discord. Microsoft's acquisition of Skype made the app substantially worse, and many were afraid that a Microsoft acquisition would do the same to Discord. How long Discord will decide to remain independent is unknown, but given the company's value, which is only going to increase, it seems unlikely that there are many companies that could afford to buy it.
Microsoft's ID@Azure Program Offers Cloud Services to Indie Developers
Today Microsoft revealed ID@Azure, a self-service program that hopes to make the company's Azure cloud services more accessible to indie game developers. The program harkens back to Microsoft's work on ID@Xbox, which made self-publishing possible on Xbox consoles.
ID@Azure launches this summer and will offer members free access to game development tools, Azure credits that will allow them to try out the program's services, and best practices implemented by studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner and cloud engineers at Microsoft.
Microsoft claims Azure will work with games built for any platform and on any engine, and should be beneficial to studios with and without experience working with cloud tools.
"With Azure cloud, game creators can build, scale, and operate their game on the global, secure, and reliable Azure cloud," the company said. "Developers can quickly scale up and down when their needs change, only pay for the resources they use, and let Microsoft manage infrastructure."
ID@Xbox has been widely praised by developers and was instrumental in getting more indie developers publishing on consoles, so if Microsoft can recreate that with ID@Azure, the program should be very helpful, especially given the importance of cloud gaming in recent years. We'll likely learn more about ID@Azure closer to the program's launch this summer.
Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan is Leaving Blizzard After 19 Years
Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan is leaving the company after 19 years. In a farewell message posted on Blizzard's website, Kaplan wrote:
"It was truly the honor of a lifetime to have the opportunity to create worlds and heroes for such a passionate audience. I want to express my deep appreciation to everyone at Blizzard who supported our games, our game teams and our players. But I want to say a special thanks to the wonderful game developers that shared in the journey of creation with me.
"Never accept the world as it appears to be. Always dare to see it for what it could be. I hope you do the same."
Blizzard also announced that Aaron Keller, an eighteen year Blizzard veteran, former World of Warcraft developer, and founding member of the Overwatch team, would be stepping into the role of game director. In a message to the Overwatch community, Keller said that the development of Overwatch 2 was "continuing at a good pace" and that the team would be sharing more regular updates soon.
Kaplan is the latest in a number of high profile departures from Blizzard that have occurred in recent years. Senior Vice President of Story and Franchise Development Chris Metzen, who served as a writer and later creative director on several of Blizzard's biggest hits like StarCraft and Warcraft3, retired from the company in 2016. Mike Morhaime, the company's co-founder and CEO, stepped down in 2018.
Several former Blizzard developers have founded new studios in the time since, mostly notably Dreamhaven, founded by Morhaime, and Frost Giant, founded by Tim Morten and Tim Campbell, the production lead on StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void and the lead designer of Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, respectively.
There's no word on what's next for Kaplan yet, but several of the biggest names at Blizzard leaving the company and then starting new ones staffed almost exclusively by former Blizzard developers probably isn't a good sign for the one of the most storied Western game studios, but only time will tell of these departures will impact Blizzard's games. Blizzard is still developing Diablo 4 and and Overwatch 2, neither of which have release dates.
Warner Bros. Releases the First Seven Minutes of the New Mortal Kombat Movie
Ask anyone what the best video game movie is, and odds are they'll tell you it's the original Mortal Kombat movie, which was released in 1995. It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an enjoyable one, and its managed to enter popular culture culture like no video game adaptation before or since.
The new Mortal Kombat movie has a lot to live up to then. The new film releases in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23rd, 2021, and is the feature length debut of director Simon McQuoid. The cast features film, television, and martial arts talent and includes Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson Briggs, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion.
I won't spoil the clip, but suffice it to say that there's plenty of both story and action here, and fans of the series will recognize some of the plot beats. The clip is well-shot and choreographed, so it should be sure to make Mortal Kombat fans happy. I know its made me more excited to see the film.
Check it out below, courtesy of IGN.