Daily Briefing: Monday 10th April

Yakuza games will stay turn-based going forward

Following the announcement of spin-off sequel Lost Judgment, Sega confirmed that future mainline Yakuza titles will feature the same sort of turn-based combat seen in the recent Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Future Judgment games, meanwhile, will focus on real-time action.

• The plan, according to dev Ryu Ga Gotoku executive director Toshihiro Nagoshi, is the keep the two series distinct in order to further distill and "refine" what makes each one great. Nagoshi says that developing Like a Dragon's combat system was a huge challenge that was ultimately very well received by fans, and so the studio want to keep it. Lost Judgment launches worldwide on September 24th.

Capcom report record profits

Announced during the company's most recent round of financial results, these record numbers were driven by sales of new titles such as Monster Hunter Rise and legacy sales for both the Monster Hunter and Resident Evil franchises. This is the fourth year in a row that Capcom have reported record-high profits, with operating income actually growing for the eighth consecutive year.

• As for the numbers themselves. For the year ending March 2021 net sales were up 17% on the previous year's figures. Operating income rose 51.6% to around $317m, and ordinary income was up 52% to $321m. Nintendo Switch exclusive Monster Hunter Rise put in a strong sales performance, shipping 4m copies worldwide by the end of March. Sales for Rise and the recently released Resident Evil Village have prompted a 5% rise in Capcom's net sales forecast.

Remnant: From the Ashes is getting a next-gen upgrade

The upgrade will be freely available to players on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 when it releases on Thursday this week. Developer Gunfire Games have confirmed that the update is a "major patch" that will add the ability to run the game in 4K/30fps or 1080p/60fps on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.

• If you're yet to try Remnant: From the Ashes now's as good a time as any. The game was already available as part of the Xbox Game Pass console library but will also be available on the PC library around the time of the update. Cross-play will also be an option for players on Xbox and Windows 10, so this looks like a really solid upgrade.

Epic approached Sony regarding PC ports of first-party PlayStation titles

Another intriguing reveal from the ongoing Epic v. Apple court case is news that Epic offered Sony $200m to bring 4-6 PlayStation exclusives to the Epic Store. This figure is apparently a minimum guarantee - Epic's term for a deal the revenue that they can guarantee a game's publisher for Epic Store exclusivity.

• This document will obviously have been made long before any actual agreement was reached, which is a good thing because the phrasing is rather ambiguous. Is that $200m for 6 games? Or $200m per game? The latter would be crazy money but Epic are no stranger to that. The only PlayStation exclusives currently on the Epic Store are ReadySet Heroes and Predator: Hunting Grounds - so either more first-party PlayStation titles are on the way or Epic wildly overpaid. Place your bets now.