Hey Patrons!
Big things are coming, and you have two choices.
Wait until next week for a public announcement post...
Or you can listen to the introductory episode of one of our podcasts instead!
Losing Our Marbles episode 0 will be available just after this post.
We explain our plans for Patreon content going forward, our overall plans, and more: Youtube, the *algorithm* and the nature of the content ecosystem, Patreon, and even a little bit of talk about life...
2021-05-25 20:31:00 +0000 UTC
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Team Ninja are reportedly making a Final Fantasy spin-off
According to a new report from Fanbyte, the game is called Final Fantasy Origin and is expected to be unveiled at E3 next month. The report follows a wild series of rumours about the game, which has been compared to the likes of Dark Souls and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order but with a greater emphasis on being accessible to genre newcomers.
- Final Fantasy Origin is also believed to be a PS5 console exc...
2021-05-25 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Overwatch's lead character artist leaves Blizzard
Renaud Galand announced over the weekend that he will be leaving Blizzard after 12 years to "embark on an exciting new adventure." Galand shared a picture of his badge on Instagram saying that he will "cherish" his time spent on Project Titan, Overwatch, and Overwatch 2 - and calls the team his "second family."
- Galand's career at Blizzard began in 2009 when he joined as a character artist on Project Titan -...
2021-05-24 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Overwatch 2 drops team sizes to 5v5
In a live-streamed presentation yesterday, the Overwatch team detailed a few changes coming to the sequel's PvP component. The standard Overwatch team size has been reduced from 6v6 to 5v5, and team roles will be locked to one tank, two damage, and two support.
- In terms of the rationale behind the decision, game director Aaron Keller explained that the reduction in team size reflects the various changes Overwatch has gon...
2021-05-21 13:01:35 +0000 UTC
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Arthas is being set up for something in Shadowlands.
Looking back at the Christie Golden novel Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, we found some interesting things we had first missed out on. It's long been said he was Frostmourne's first victim, but now we know what that really means.
2021-05-20 20:00:04 +0000 UTC
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A new TimeSplitters game is incoming
We got a nice surprise this week when Deep Silver announced that not only is a new TimeSplitters game entering development "in the coming months", but original studio Free Radical Design has been reformed to work on it. Studio founders David Doak and Steve Ellis even involved once again.
- While this is all very exciting, that's about it as far as details go. Free Radical are currently concentrating on "building the studi...
2021-05-20 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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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 adjus...
2021-05-19 13:01:04 +0000 UTC
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WB Games Breaking Up
AT&T are spinning off their media business in a combination sale & merger with Discovery. Some leemtns of WarnerMedia and Discovery will form a new yet-unnamed company, focused on streaming. According to a spokesperson, some of WB Games will stay with AT&T and others will go with the new company.
- We can't say for sure, but there are a few ideas to follow. DC Comics is going to the new company, which means the WB Games studios known for DC p...
2021-05-18 14:12:16 +0000 UTC
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PlayStation's Steam page is now live
The official PlayStation Studios Steam Curator page went live over the weekend and appears to hint a host of new content coming to PC. The page lists 41 games and pieces of DLC but only 24 are actually visible at this time - so speculation should be running wild any moment now.
- Horizon Zero Dawn, Helldivers, and Predator: Hunting Grounds are currently the only PlayStation titles available on Steam, though Days Gone is s...
2021-05-17 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Housemarque still don't know how to fix saving in Returnal
Returnal's lack of save options is its most criticised feature and, while developers Housemarque have acknowledged this criticism from fans, it turns out they still don't know what they're actually going to do about it. The team are wary that any attempt to solve the save issue is complicated by varying player expectations.
- This really has gotten out of hand, hasn't it? Housemarque's logic in not h...
2021-05-14 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Sega releasing something big within the next few years
Sega's most recent earning's presentation mentions something called a "super game", which the company are planning to release at some stage in the next five years. The presentation suggests that it will be a new IP and, as such, will have low initial profitability but a high earning potential due to a global release push. It's all very mysterious.
- It looks like Sega will be keeping busy with a nu...
2021-05-13 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Blizzard will show off Overwatch 2 PvP in upcoming stream
In his first developer update since replacing Jeff Kaplan, new Overwatch game director Aaron Keller confirmed that a two-hour livestream will offer a first look at the kinds of PvP changes going into Overwatch 2. The Stream will air May 20th on YouTube/Twitch and will feature other members of the development team, Overwatch League staff, and content creators.
- Keller outlined that, while previous Ove...
2021-05-12 13:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Looks like Battlefield 6 will be revealed next month
A lot of folks in the industry had believed that EA were gearing up to reveal the game this month, but a recent tweet from the official Battlefield account looks like we won't be seeing it until some time in June. A tweet published back in April advised fans to stay tuned for a reveal "soon", but a new tweet yesterday says that June rhymes with soon. So there we go.
- A June reveal would fit in with recent...
2021-05-11 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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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 an...
2021-05-10 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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Two new The Division projects are on the way
The studio recently confirmed that a free-to-play title called The Division Heartland is in the works at their Red Storm studio and should release either this year or next. Details are pretty thin on the ground at the minute, but we do know that Heartland is a standalone experience that doesn't require previous knowledge of the series and it will provide an "all-new perspective" on the Division universe.
- The oth...
2021-05-07 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Returnal's latest patch walked back due to a save-corrupting error
Patch 1.3.3 released yesterday and was abruptly pulled two hours later when a number of players reported a game-breaking bug wiping save files. Developer Housemarque apologised on Twitter and confirmed that work on a new patch was underway. They also advised players not to boot up the game until that patch was deployed.
- This issue is particularly pressing because Returnal doesn't have a mid...
2021-05-06 13:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Blizzard's playerbase has dropped 29% in three years
Activision Blizzard's latest earnings call confirmed that Blizzard had 27m Monthly Active Users (MAUs) during the first quarter of 2021 - a drastic decrease on the 38m reported for the same period in 2018. The reports since have seen a steady decrease in monthly engagement in what has been a turbulent time for Blizzard - with two co-founders and people like Jeff Kaplan departing the company in the intervening years....
2021-05-05 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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This was a fun undertaking by Gerard - he went deep, deep into what he calls 'boomer era fantasy' and found damn near every influence Blizzard used when putting Warcraft together.
Dragonlance, Drenai Tales, Fires of Azeroth, and so many more - Blizzard's early works are basically creative remixes, but that's why they were so damn good.
Especially the story of how the Warcraft idea of orcs developed!
2021-05-04 15:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Sony reportedly charge publishers for cross-play
The Epic v. Apple trial is now underway and one of the first interesting pieces to come out of it is that Sony sometimes require "additional revenue" from publishers to enable crossplay. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said Epic had to give in to these fees in order to enable cross-play for Fortnite.
- Sweeney also confirmed that Sony are the only platform-holder that asks for fees in exchange for cross-play. Sony's hist...
2021-05-04 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Microsoft aren't reducing the Xbox Store revenue cut after all
Following last week's news that Microsoft would be reducing their revenue share cut on the Microsoft Store from 30% to 12% there was some belief that Microsoft would be making a similar adjustment to the Xbox marketplace. Microsoft have since confirmed that this will not be the case.
- Microsoft didn't elaborate on whether this decision was a genuine change of plans of whether their own documenta...
2021-05-03 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Bobby Kotick slashes salary and bonus potential
Kotick will remain the CEO of Activision Blizzard until at least the end of March 2023 but he is also voluntarily slashing his base salary by 50% to $875K. His maximum potential bonus will also be halved to $1.75m. It will still be performance-based but cannot exceed 200% of his reduced salary.
- Kotick's Transformation Transaction Award and Shareholder Value Creation Incentive have also been scrapped. The latt...
2021-04-30 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Marvel Heroes veteran joins Crystal Dynamics' Avengers team
Brian Waggoner made the announcement on Twitter that he would be swapping EA Sports for Crystal Dynamics and, while fans were a little wary of his previous experience on games like Madden, he also played an integral role in the well-received Marvel Heroes.
- The hope is that Waggoner will be able to help turn things around for Crystal Dynamics, as their Avengers title hasn't been having the best tim...
2021-04-29 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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We have a LOT of thoughts about how this patch will end. It's going to be huge, by Blizzard's own admission.
Let's get into it.
2021-04-28 15:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Sony report on PlayStation's "best ever year"
Sony's most recent financial results confirmed that their gaming business had a record year of revenue and profit, with the PlayStation 5 outpacing the PlayStation 4 in terms of launch sales. Revenues were around $25bn, and profit around $3.2bn for the fiscal year.
- Sony also reported that 3.3m PS5 consoles were shipped last quarter, which means a combined 7.8m consoles shipped in the six months since launch. Th...
2021-04-28 13:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Leaked marketing document suggests EA are "pushing" players toward lootboxes
Speaking of EA, they've denied the claims of a leaked marketing document that they specifically drive players toward FIFA's most controversial and profitable mode. The document says EA refer to the mode as "the cornerstone" and do everything they can to push players towards it.
- The document was reportedly leaked by a "gaming insider" who took issue with the game's attempts to push...
2021-04-27 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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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" b...
2021-04-26 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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CD Projekt Red refunded 30K copies of Cyberpunk 2077
The confusingly small number comes courtesy of CDPR CFO Piotr Nielubowicz, who told investors this week that the studio only refunded 30,000 of the 13.7m copies of Cyberpunk 2077 sold at launch. CDPR's "Help Me" refund scheme reportedly cost the studio around $2.17m.
- It should be noted that players were also able to get refunds from Sony and Microsoft, and these numbers aren't included in CDPR's total. S...
2021-04-23 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Xbox Live Gold is officially gone for F2P multiplayer games
After a few months of closed testing, Microsoft this week confirmed that an Xbox Live Gold subscription is no longer required to play F2P multiplayer titles like Rocket League or Apex Legends.
- Microsoft announced back in January that they were experimenting with dropping the Gold requirement, and doing so finally brings them in line with competitors Sony and Nintendo. It also finally means that F2...
2021-04-22 13:01:02 +0000 UTC
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Jeff Kaplan exits Blizzard
The Overwatch game director yesterday announced his departure from Blizzard after 19 years with the company. Blizzard's accompanying statement confirmed that Aaron Keller, Overwatch's assistant game director, will replace Kaplan as head of the project.
- Kaplan has been the public face of Overwatch for pretty much the game's entire lifespan - appearing in development updates, BlizzCon shows, and Overwatch League events - so news of...
2021-04-21 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Sony backtrack on closing PS3 and Vita stores
In a new official statement, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said that the platform holder had made the "wrong decision" in planning to close those digital storefronts. The PSP store, however, will still close on July 2nd.
- According to Ryan, Sony's backtrack was down to those players who were "incredibly passionate" about the stores remaining open and Sony were happy to cooperate. Presumably, the neat little panic-i...
2021-04-20 13:01:02 +0000 UTC
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