Daily Briefing: Monday 26th April

PlayStation want to release more "experimental" games

Pointing to the platform holder's recent exclusive publishing partnership with Firewalk Studios, PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst said that their strategy is about creating games that are as "distinct and diverse" as possible.

• This means that, while PlayStation have focused the bulk of their recent strategy on narrative-focused singleplayer experiences, Hulst says that players can expect to see more "fresh ideas" born out of experimentation. Watch this space to find out what any of that means.

Titanfall 2's Steam playercount jumps

Titanfall 2 has always been a solid game but the big player number boost appears to be as a result of a lovely discount on Steam, as well as the recent announcement of Apex Legends' new legacy season - which contains all sorts of references to Titanfall's characters and world.

• Titanfall 2 released back in 2016 but only made its way to Steam last year as part of EA's renewed partnership focus. This recent resurgence bumped the game's active player count by 650% in two days, and later broke its all-time Steam concurrent player count with 17K.

People Can Fly add another studio to their portfolio

Phosphor Studios, a team behind "dark, quirky, and whimsical games" like mobile horror title The Brookhaven Experiment, will become People Can Fly Chicago - the Polish developer's third US-based studio and seventh overall.

• This acquisition is a result of the Outriders developer's strategy to recruit "well-seasoned, ambitious professionals" to enable the studio's variety of ongoing projects. People Can Fly are reportedly working on two AAA titles alongside Outriders, so their new Chicago studio should be put right to work.

Judgment gets next-gen upgrade, SEGA teasing something for May 7th

The stellar Yakuza spin-off is out now on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Google Stadia. The game originally released back in 2018/19 but this upgraded version comes with a suite of visual improvements, faster load times, all DLC, and a smooth 60fps.

• SEGA are also currently teasing a big Judgment-related announcement coming on May 7th - there's even a countdown website busily ticking away. It's not quite clear what Sega are planning. Judgment was well-received so there could certainly be a sequel in the works, though the original game never did make it to PC like the mainline Yakuza series did...