Daily Briefing: Wednesday 14th July

Ghostwire: Tokyo delayed into next year

Confirmation came earlier this week via the game's official Twitter account. A statement from developer Tango Gameworks reads that, while they want players to be able to "experience the unforgettable version of a haunted Tokyo" present in the game, they also want to protect the health of everyone at the studio and polish things up as much as possible.

• Ghostwire: Tokyo was originally slated to release towards the end of this year, but it will now release sometime in "early 2022." Tango also confirmed that they'll be showing off some more of the game "in the coming months" so, although we'll have to wait a little bit longer to actually get our hands on Ghostwire: Tokyo, at least we'll be able to see it again relatively soon.

Nier Automata's Steam patch launches tomorrow

An update posted to the game's official Steam page confirms that the much-requested and long-awaited patch will release Thursday 15th July, and contain a whole host of upgrades including a stabilised framerate, 4K resolution, and various graphics tweaks. The upgrade was announced back in April following fan complaints that Nier Automata's Xbox Game Pass PC version being vastly superior to the original.

• Nier Automata first launched on PC way back in March 2017 and was harshly criticised for a range of technical and performance issues. PlatinumGames and Square Enix never bothered to do anything about it - something that prompted a number of fan-made solutions like the Fix Automata Resolution tool. It's great to see that an official fix is finally coming, though it did take a while. Subscription services like Xbox Game Pass giving older games (and their issues) and new stint of relevance could mean that we see more fixes like this in future. Fingers crossed!

Phil Spencer would like an Xbox studio in India, Africa, or South America

Speaking in a recent interview with The Guardian, the Xbox boss says that it "would actually surprise [him] if that doesn't happen." He said that, considering the wealth of talent available in those parts of the world, he wholeheartedly anticipates seeing more non-traditional game development hubs to begin emerging within the "next 3-5 years."

• Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty echoed Spencer sentiment, adding that there should be "a several-hundred-person" studio in one of those territories. He also went on to clarify that this wouldn't be a support or outsourcing studio, but rather "a team building whatever the version of the best blockbuster game may be for that market." Every team under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella is based in either North America, Europe, or Japan - so a bit of added diversification could be great in the long run.

Google introducing 70% revenue share for Stadia Pro subscription

In yet another increasingly-desperate attempt at relevance, Google have confirmed that their Stadia Pro subscription is getting a new revenue share scheme that will see partnered developers able to earn more money. The scheme is set to launch at the end of the month, whereupon 70% of all monthly revenue generated by active Pro subscriptions will be split between partnered developers according to how many "session days" players have spent in their games. Google say this rather odd system boasts an "industry leading" revenue share.

• Elsewhere in Stadia announcements land, there's a new revenue split coming for individual titles sold through the Stadia story - developers will earn an 85% revenue share on any titles released after October 1st. This is only temporary though - Google say this new split will only apply up to the first $3m of earnings and is currently set to revert back to "the current split" at the end of 2023. Good to know that good decisions have a shelf life these days, though this does give a bit of an insight into what looks like Google's hope that Stadia will be running the world two years from now.