Activision Blizzard touted its Diversity Space Tool in a blog post on May 12, in which it claimed that both the Call of Duty: Vanguard and Overwatch 2 development teams beta tested the tool with much enthusiasm, then quickly walked this statement back on May 13 and said the tool “is not being used in active game…
“In a way you could say that we’ve been failing at teaching Eve for 19 years,” says Bergur Finnbogason, the creative director of Eve Online. It’s not the whole story when it comes to new players in the infamous space MMO, but it is the dominant one.
Among the many graphs that Finnbogason presented to the Eve faithful during his Fanfest keynote in Reykjavík this year, one was a colourful standout. It showed Eve Online’s learning curve as a comedy cliff face, so steep that it turned back on itself. Stickmen tumbled from its peak, while others were crucified or hanged from the curve’s mantel – killed by Eve’s notoriously cruel new player experience. It earned a laugh of grim recognition from the audience, all survivors of that terrible climb.
Techland, the studio behind this year’s Dying Light 2 Stay Human, has revealed the first look at its unannounced fantasy RPG that’s now in development.
The game, which does not yet have a title, is officially being referred to as a “AAA open-world action-RPG in a fantasy setting,” and today’s concept art reveal highlights just that. Featuring luscious greenery, ancient ruins, and plenty of beautiful waterfalls, it seems this fantasy RPG will be quite the looker if the concept art is any indication. Techland released the concept art below as a way to let developers know that the studio is hiring and that dozens of positions are open for work on this RPG.
Techland says the development team is led by key figures behind some of the „biggest RPGs in modern history,” including the narrative director behind The Witcher III: Wild Hunt’s Bloody Baron questline, Karolina Stachyra, as well as Witcher III narrative lead Arkadiusz Borowik, Cyberpunk 2077 open world director Bartosz Ochamn, Horizon Zero Dawn lead animator Kevin Quaid, Deathloop lead game designer David McClure, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time creative director Mario Maltezos, and many more.
“We’re very happy with what we have accomplished with the Dying Light franchise so far,” Techland CEO Paweł Marchewka writes in a press release. “Moreover, our journey with Dying Light 2 Stay Human has only just begun as we plan to support this game for at least five years, with its scope and size matching, if not exceeding, what we have provided our community with during post-launch support for its predecessor. At the same time, our ambition is to introduce a brand new IP that is vastly different from what we have been doing for the past several years.
“We want to create a fully next-gen experience. A new fantasy epic set in a sprawling open world, fueled by the skills and experience we have gained as a team over the years, infused with new ideas, passion, and creativity. While we cannot share more details about this project now, we’re all truly invested in it and looking forward to showing it to gamers when the time is right.”
Take-Two Interactive rolled out GTA+, an optional paid subscription service for GTA Online, in March 2022–and apparently, Take-Two has been very satisfied with its performance so far. In the Q4 2022 earnings call (fiscal period that ended on March 31) transcribed by Seeking Alpha, CEO Strauss Zelnick said the company is „thrilled” with the number of players who’ve signed up for GTA+.
„We’re thrilled about how it’s been rolled out so far. We’re thrilled with the conversion rate,” Zelnick said. „And it’s clear, that consumers really like the opportunity to engage with GTA Online and they value… what we’re offering through a subscription.”
As for any other future subscription service plans, Zelnick sidestepped commenting and instead offered the above praise to GTA+.
Sony might have made a splash with its recently-detailed PS Plus revamp, but Game Pass continues to grow its library. The park-builder Jurassic World Evolution 2 is obviously a main draw and—bonus!—out today. Later this week, Game Pass will also get one of the best games of the year: Vampire Survivors. Here’s…
Thunder Lotus’ beautiful management sim all about death and the afterlife — Spiritfarer — has received a brand new update, and it’s a big one in terms of fixes. Luckily for fans across the globe, many of the tweaks in the update involve fixing typos and errors in multiple languages.
At the end of last year, the game hit 1 million sales and brought us its largest, and final, free story update, so while version 1.14 isn’t going to bring us some brand new tear-jerking, earnestly beautiful moments, it’ll clean up the experience for everyone.
Publisher 505 Games used their debut showcase stream to show off some more of Point Blank Games’ upcoming action RPG Stray Blade, along with Forbidden Studios’ supernatural first-person survival game Among The Trolls. Stray Blade was first touted on the Xbox stream at last year’s Gamescom but it’s been in development for several years at the Berlin-based developers. The game stars an anthropologist who’s been sucked through a magic portal and dumped in the ‘Valley of Acrea’ with a little scarf-wearing wolf called Boji for company.
If you purchase any of three games at Amazon, a game key will be added to your digital locker that can then be redeemed on the Switch eShop.
Speaking of the Switch eShop, you can also save five bucks on $50 eShop digital gift cards at Amazon right now. This is essentially free money, and there is no limit on how many codes you can purchase. Just like the game deals, the eShop credit promotion is only available for United States customers.
