Daily Briefing: Monday 16th August

Spider-Man is still coming to Marvel's Avengers this year

That's coming directly from Crystal Dynamics' senior game designer Scott Walters who, speaking in a new interview with Screen Rant, outlined that Spider-Man is still set to join the embattled Avengers title later this year. The web-head was originally slated to release on PlayStation consoles in "early 2021", but this release was pushed back as part of a larger spate of content delays following the game's troubled launch.

• This is actually the first we've heard about Spider-Man in quite a while, which is a surprise given that his being exclusive to PlayStation platforms was a major marketing tool in the run-up to Avengers' release. Scott Walters told Screen Rant that the team "always scheduled and looked to bring Spider-Man out in 2021" and this is still "on track". There are only four months left in the year though and Spider-Man has yet to actually be shown publicly, so watch this space.

Phil Spencer is happy with how Xbox games run on Steam Deck

The Xbox boss recently revealed that he's been playing about with Valve's upcoming PC gaming handheld and can confirm that high-profile Xbox titles like Halo "feel good" and "work well". Writing on Twitter, Spencer outlined that the Steam Deck is "a really nice device" that handles full games and xCloud streaming very well.

• Valve's Steam Deck is certainly worth keeping an eye on as it really does look like a cracker piece of kit. The marketing blurb reads that it's a "powerful all-in-one portable PC" and, while that does sound a bit too good to be true, early impressions have been pretty positive. Phil Spencer certainly seems happy with how it handles Xbox games, but some players may need a bit more convincing.

Ghost of Tsushima quietly delisted ahead of Director's Cut release

In yet another example of digital gaming being rocky at best, it looks like the standard edition of Ghost of Tsushima has been quietly delisted by Sony ahead of the Director's Cut release later this week. The game isn't currently available for purchase on either the PS4 or PS5 PSN Stores, and the delisting comes without any prior warning or even an official announcement. Now the only way to purchase the standard edition is to track down a physical copy, or else pony up for the fancy new Director's Cut.

• It obviously makes sense that Sony would want to funnel new players towards the expanded, more expensive Director's Cut edition of Ghost of Tsushima, but that doesn't make the quiet delisting of the standard edition any less gross. The idea of ownership for digital games is already complicated enough without publishers removing older versions of games whenever they want to push a new one.