Daily Briefing: Wednesday 19th May

Microsoft adjust Xbox Game Pass subscription conversions

Since EA Play was added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate back in November 2020, EA Play codes redeemed on console have been automatically converted into quite generous chunks of Game Pass Ultimate. Until just this week, players were able to convert one year of EA Play ($29.99) into four months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ($59.99). It was quite the deal.

• Sadly, this deal is no more. Microsoft this week adjusted this conversion rate so that one year of EA Play converts into just two months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It's a much more like cost now so it obviously makes sense, but cheap games going away is always a sad thing.

New Gearbox franchise coming soon

Take-Two Interactive announced their year-end financials results this week and, with them, revealed that they will be releasing 21 games during the current fiscal year - so, before March 2022. These will apparently include four "immersive core" games - two from established franchises and two entirely new ones.

• Gearbox's new project was also mentioned during the report, and presumably falls into the immersive core remit. Gearbox were acquired by Embracer Group back in February but Take-Two were quick to clarify that they will continue to work with the studio on the Borderlands IP and any other collaborative projects currently in development.

EA say they'll leave Codemasters to do their own thing

EA acquired Codemasters back in February for a tidy $1.2bn and the racing game community quickly became concerned that EA would do what they usually do - i.e. stomp all over a studio's structure and workflow and generally ruin things. But no, EA say Codemasters will be allowed to retain their individuality in the same Respawn have.

• The assertion comes courtesy of EA CEO Andrew Wilson who, speaking to MCV, said that the company want to encourage Codemasters' independence rather than hamper it. Respawn's success really has prompted a significant change in EA's usual strategy, they now seem genuinely content to let their talent do their thing and support with resources wherever needed. We'll just have to see if it lasts.

Nintendo's Amiibo powers are getting out of hand

One of the best things about Nintendo's range of Amiibo figures is the little in-game bonuses, but lately, things have gotten a bit grim. The newly-announced Skyward Sword HD Zelda Amiibo will allow players to instantly teleport between the sky and the ground - something that would have been a really handy quality of life change for the main game.

• The idea of this being a piece of DLC selling for the price of an Amiibo would have been sketchy enough but at least the feature would have been available to everyone then. Amiibo are scarce at the best of times let alone new figures with genuine gameplay benefit - so what should have been a solid new feature for the re-release will instead only be available to a limited number of players. How far are Nintendo willing to push this?