Daily Briefing: Wednesday 30th June

Remedy's Control is getting a spin-off and a sequel

Remedy this week announced plans to partner with publisher 505 Games on a number of additional Control-related projects. One is a co-op multiplayer shooter of all things, while the other is a "bigger budget Control game" that is intended to "further expand the Control franchise." So that's a lot of Control on the way.

• Control's world was a complex and intriguing one that was begging for additional exploration, so news of a grander sequel will likely go down well with fans. The co-op shooter spin-off, on the other hand, is a little more confusing - as it's pretty unclear what part of the core Control experience would lend itself to either co-op or entirely shooter-oriented gameplay.

Konami are partnering with Bloober Team on...something

The two companies have announced what they're calling a "strategic cooperation agreement" to begin developing games together. The announcement comes in the middle of yet another wave of Silent Hill rumours, which admittedly just got a whole lot more credible given Bloober Team's horror pedigree.

• According to Bloober Team's own investor site, the agreement will involve "jointly developing selected contents and exchanging know-how", though no specifics have been shared beyond that. A previous slate of rumours suggested that Konami had begun outsourcing development on franchises like Silent Hill and Bloober Team would certainly make sense - especially after The Medium showed they can develop horror adventures with more nuance than a standard walking-simulator.

Console upgrades aren't on Xbox's immediate roadmap

That straight from the mouth of Xbox boss Phil Spencer himself who, speaking on a special 500th episode of Pdocast Unlocked, outlined that there's nothing amounting to an Xbox Series X Pro on the way any time soon. When discussing the platform's hardware roadmap, Spencer stated that "there's nothing that's going to come out next year that's going to make you feel like, oh, I should have waited."

• Spencer went on to say that both the Xbox Series X and Series S were designed to be "in markets for years." This marks a bit of a departure from the previous generation where Microsoft released a series of console revisions in a relatively short period of time with the Xbox One S and One X - things seem to be a bit more future-proofed this time around.

Casey Hudson has a new indie studio

The former BioWare general manager, Mass Effect director, and Anthem lead yesterday announced the formation of Humanoid Studios - a new indie outfit dedicated to "bringing innovation and artistry to players through an all-new IP." The studio's mission statement also mentioned that it is founded on the idea that "creative freedom and independence lead to better, more innovative games" - which is a sentiment we've heard a lot recently.

• Humanoid Studios is just the latest indie operation to spin out of a wealth of AAA talent and experience - though this time Blizzard are nowhere to be seen for a change. The fact that these studios always advocate for supportive work environments and creative freedom reflects very poorly on the AAA studios that previously housed their founders. Hudson spent nearly 20 years at BioWare before leaving in December 2020 alongside Dragon Age lead Mark Darrah - no word yet on whether he's involved with Humanoid.