The Final Fantasy IX animated series will be revealed this week as a part of the Las Vegas Licensing Expo. Speaking with Animation Magazine Bruno Danzel d’Aumont, the vice president of international licensing and marketing at Cyber Group Studios, said that the Final Fantasy project would be one of four the studio will show off at this year’s event.
Square Enix tapped Cyber Group Studios to take on the FFIX series with an official announcement last June. The title has supposedly been in production since late 2021 or early 2022.
D’Aumont said that “[The Expo] will be a great opportunity to share our upcoming plans with our licensees, agents, and new partners.” And he confirmed that the studio’s “most recently developed shows — Digital Girl, The McFire Family, Press Start! and Final Fantasy IX — will be presented for the first time.”
An exact episode count or length has yet to be confirmed by Square Enix or Cyber Group. Despite knowing that a reveal is coming, there has been no indication as to when exactly it will happen. The entire Licensing Expo will be streamed online, so whenever it does show up fans will be able to take it in.
Final FantasyXIwas originally released on the PlayStation 1 in 2000. A modern version of the game can be played on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.
Dolmen is simultaneously the best and worst name for a game this year. It conjures up images of an alien made of juice like some terrible mascot from a bygone era. I chuckled every time the title was referenced in the game.
Unlike its name though, Dolmen doesn’t stand out at all. I hate to be yet another reviewer comparing a game to Dark Souls — or the more recent Elden Ring — but in a sea of ‘Soulslikes,’ this is bound to be lost to the waves.
Dolmen is an action-RPG (ARPG) from the team at Massive Work Studio. It takes place in a far-future science fiction setting where humans have managed to uproot themselves and colonize other planets. And thanks to the discovery of a crystal known as dolmen, space travel is on the brink of changing forever. The crystals have the ability to interact with other dimensions, so naturally, corporations are willing to spend any amount of money — or human lives — to be the first to harness the power. After an accident on a planet that contains a huge deposit of dolmen, it’s up to you to collect the dolmen and kill any creatures that could pose a risk.
It has swords and guns
Like many Soulslikes, combat is at the heart of Dolmen. And the combat is… fine. The hits don’t have the weightiness that make the best ARPGs stand out, and parrying doesn’t send that same rush of pleasure chemicals to my brain as From Software titles, but it does have a few mechanics that at least add a twist to the formula.
For one, it has guns. Sure, most video games either have guns or swords, but far too few combat-oriented games have both. If you’ve ever admired Warframe for its blend of swordplay and gunplay, but can’t dedicate the thousands of hours required to keep up with the game, Dolmen might hold some appeal.
The addition of ranged weapons changes combat in several ways. Instead of approaching every combat encounter as a melee fight, you’re free to pick away at enemies with your ranged weapons. In the early hours, ranged combat feels completely overpowered. Early levels can be conquered without ever directly engaging an enemy if you’re patient enough. This changes partway through the game though, leaving ranged builds to rely more on shotguns than rifles. Enemies are often hiding until you approach them, leading to a lot of panic swapping between weapons until you learn the layout of the levels. Flipping between melee and guns isn’t as smooth as I would have liked considering how essential it is to the flow of combat, but ranged weapons are still worth playing around with thanks to the game’s battery system.
Dolmen iterates on the usual Souls formula by swapping out health flasks for an energy bar. You have three bars to keep track of while playing: health, stamina, and energy. You’ll use your energy bar to heal, but you’ll also use it to power your ranged weapons. Basic attacks will recharge, but special attacks will chip away large chunks at a time. Replenishing it requires batteries, of which you’ll only have a few to start the game. This means that your damage output is tied directly to your health. If you want to deal major damage, you can’t be relying on batteries to refill your health and vice versa. It’s a clever system that forced me to carefully consider how I approached scenarios.
I’m not proud of it, but I cheesed encounters
Surprising no one, Dolmen doesn’t shy away from difficulty. Even in the early hours, I found myself replaying areas numerous times. And the bosses ramp that difficulty up even further. Given the time I’ve had with the game, I haven’t been able to complete the entire campaign, but there are difficulty spikes throughout the game that definitely felt frustrating at times in a way that I haven’t found with other recent Soulslikes. Then again, I was able to cheese encounters in Dolmen in ways I haven’t seen in a game in a while.
Dolmen’s AI — to put it kindly — is lacking. Enemies tend to charge at you without any thought to their surroundings. This makes it easy to trick them into locking themselves behind doors and barriers, where you can pick them off with your pistol just out of range of their attacks. There were even times when enemies would endlessly shoot at me behind pillars that would absorb all of their fire. And I didn’t pass up the chance for a free kill. I’m not proud of it, but I did what had to be done.
In terms of enemies, the roster is fairly standard. You’ll deal with bugs, lasers, and the rest of the usual cast of science fiction creatures. They’re visually distinct enough to tell them apart in a frantic encounter, but not to stick in your mind once you’ve put the controller down. The same can be said for the environments. You’ll find a mix of metallic corridors, outdoor sections featuring your standard red planet, and more corridors. That’s not to say they’re bad, though. On the contrary, Dolmen’s style is its greatest asset.
It’s chunky, messy, and charming as heck
Dolmen feels like what you’d get if a developer from the PlayStation 2 era had the hardware power of the PlayStation 4. From the exposition-heavy storytelling to the pixelated death sequences, the design feels like it’s from an era long past. Upon first glance, you might think that the visuals are dated or that they’re from a small team (they are), but there’s a charm to the presentation that sets in after a few hours that I came to love. It’s chunky, messy, and charming as heck. I’m still not sure whether this style was intentional or accidental. Either way, I enjoyed its creepy, Dead Space-esque vibes and pixelated death sequences.
In terms of performance, Dolmen is hit and miss. As with many PlayStation 5 titles, the game gives the option to play in either performance or quality mode. I highly recommend playing in performance mode. The quality mode aims for 30 frames per second and never hits that threshold. It’s difficult to appreciate a few extra reflections on metallic surfaces when it looks like your character is slogging through choppy water. The performance mode does a better job, though it still doesn’t maintain a consistent 60 frames per second. Encounters that include lots of enemies or visual effects will drop the frame rate considerably. It’s also worth noting that the last-gen versions of the game may have a different performance than the PlayStation 5 copy that we tested.
It’s difficult to recommend Dolmen when there are much better titles that feel so similar. If you’re looking for a sci-fi Soulslike, I’d give The Surge 2 a look. And if you haven’t played Elden Ring yet, our team wholeheartedly recommends the game, even for those who haven’t been interested in Soulslikes before. But if you’re set on trying out Dolmen, it’s a decent take on the genre that won’t offend, even if it never impresses.
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Gaming giant Take-Two Interactive has officially acquired Zynga for $12.7 billion. The Grand Theft Auto publisher revealed the deal back in January, but as announced today, it has finally gone through.
In Zynga, Take-Two gets one of the biggest names in social gaming in the world. The company, most known for its Farmville titles, will not only serve as a massive money-maker for Take-Two but will also bring free-to-play mobile expertise to the publisher.
After the mobile success of other major gaming brands, this acquisition is almost surely an effort for Take-Two to get in on that space. The company has built a renowned catalogue of titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Bioshock, and the 2k Sports games. So, with Zynga under their umbrella, fans can expect a renewed mobile push from some of these franchises.
When the deal was announced in January, it was noted that Zynga would help bolster Take-Two IP on mobile. And with the revenue potential on the platform why wouldn’t they push for this?
This comes as acquisitions are a hot-button topic in the gaming world. Just this year, two major purchases rocked the landscape. In January, Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, in a deal that is still pending. And Sony wrote a $3.6 billion cheque to acquire Destiny developer Bungie.
Games like Bloodborne, Days Gone, Concrete Genie, Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Returnal, MediEvil, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut, Ashen, Control: Ultimate Edition, The Crew 2, Celeste, Red Ded Redemption 2 and more are available to play in this tier. You can check out the full list of titles, here.
Now that we’ve some of the games and know the pricing are you interested in purchasing the new service, which tier do you plan on opting for?
PlayStation Plus Premium
1 month — $21.99
3 months — $59.99
12 months — $139.99
With this tier, you get access to classic games like Ape Escape, Syphon Filter, Hot Shots Golf, Tekken 2, and Worms World Party. Additionally, you’ll also get Remasters like Jak II, Ape Escape 2, BioShock Remastered, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, LEGO Harry Potter Collection and more. With streaming, you can play titles like Infamous, Infamous 2, Demon’s Souls, Rain, Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time and more.
With Premium, there’s also access to game trials, which allow you to play for two hours.
These games include Horizon Forbidden West, Cyberpunk 2077, Tiny Tina’s Wonderland and more. You can take at the full list of games, here.
It’s worth noting that this is only the first batch of games and that Sony will add more titles monthly.
With all of this information in mind, I think I might try out PlayStation Plus Premium for at least a month. I definitely want to try out Horizon Forbidden West and Tiny Tina’s before actually purchasing the games. I actually find the game trials to be my main attraction towards purchasing Plus Premium, but I’d like to see what titles come to this feature. However, Plus Extra is probably where I’ll settle.
Let us know in the comments below what tier you’re more interested in. Additionally, head to our new contest where five lucky winners will get codes for Plus Premium for a year.
Electronic Arts (EA) is reportedly looking at potential acquisition deals. The publisher of Madden, FIFA, Battlefield, and more have sat down with the likes of NBCUniversal, Apple, Disney, and more.
According to a report from Puck, EA recently sat down with NBCUniversal to seek out a merger. Following in the footsteps of major publishers ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard, EA is on the hunt for a buyer.
The video game industry is in the throws of a consolidation period. In an age when Microsoft absorbed Zenimax Media’s Bethesda Softworks, Arkane Studio, id Software, and more, studios big and small are all being scooped up. Microsoft’s other notable deal with Activision Blizzard sees the likes of Infinity Ward, Blizzard Entertainment, and more join Xbox Game Studios in a potential $68.7 billion deal.
“Several sources familiar with these talks say EA has been persistent in pursuing a sale and has only grown more emboldened in the wake of the Microsoft-Activision deal,” Dylan Beyers wrote in his report. “Others say that EA is primarily interested in a merger arrangement that would allow Wilson to remain as chief executive of the combined company.”
With a persistent trend of consolidation, it’s hardly surprising to hear EA is in the search of an acquisition. However, a deal with NBCUniversal is not currently in the works. Apparently, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts was interested in spinning off its entertainment company into a separate entity with EA. In one potential deal, EA CEO Andrew Wilson would be left in charge of the entity. Though, price negotiations marked the end of that discussion.
EA has provided a statement regarding the matter to Kotaku. “We don’t comment on rumours and speculation relating to M&A.” EA spokesperson John Reseburg continues, “We are proud to be operating from a position of strength and growth, with a portfolio of amazing games, built around powerful IP, made by incredibly talented teams, and a network of more than half a billion players. We see a very bright future ahead.”
While an acquisition with NBCUniversal may be off the table, there may still be a suiter out there for EA. With studios such as DICE, Respawn Entertainment, BioWare, and Motive, the latter of which are Canadian, EA is a valuable entity.
Acquisition season is far from over. The industry continues to consolidate. As it does, we’ll be sure to keep an eye on the major deals that happen in the coming months.
In a recent blog post, Valve outlined how SteamOS 3.2 beta improves the Steam Deck’s fan curve and increases its max volume.
Though it’s unclear when the final version of this beta update will be available, Valve making the Steam Deck’s fans quieter is definitely a good thing. I’ve been very impressed with the portable, but its fans are ridiculously noisy. For example, if I’m using the handheld beside my partner, she can hear the high-pitched whine.
I’ve yet to install the update on my Steam Deck, but hopefully, it mitigates this issue.
The complete list of updates can be found below:
Updated fan controller — now smarter, more stable, and quieter overall
Performance HUD now shows a more accurate reading of VRAM used (previously would cap out at 1G used)
Added more internal resolution options for games to choose from
Fixed gain staging, resulting in higher max volume and removing white noise coming through 3.5mm jack with some headphones.
Fixed PipeWire and Steam failing to elevate their thread priorities
Fixed the language dropdown in the Warframe launcher
We’ve also just shipped an update to the SteamOS Beta channel for Steam Deck, with an updated fan controller, audio improvements, and more. As a reminder, these changes are in beta for testing, so please let us know if you have feedback! Details here: https://t.co/mMXM6MFIuGpic.twitter.com/2qgLEV7yyc
Marvel Entertainment has pulled the curtain back on its new game, Marvel Snap, arriving on PC and mobile. The company describes Marvel Snap as a “fast-paced, action-packed, collectible card game.”
Although the name invokes feelings of the Mad Titan’s snap, Marvel Snap is not a Thanos-centric game. Instead, the game is inspired by Blizzard Entertainment’s Hearthstone. This title is developed by Second Dinner and published by Nuverse. Players are able to collect iconic characters and form a roster of heroes and villains. The game also lets players “collect endless styles of card backs.”
Based on the announcement, featured characters include Ms. Marvel, who is finally getting the spotlight on Disney+, as well as Iron Man, Venom, Miles Morales, Dr. Doom, and a Black Panther-inspired Hulkbuster. Each character has its own styling; some are very comic-accurate, while others, like Groot, look more Chibi-like.
As per the announcement, a core feature of the game is its fast-paced matches. A single match of Marvel Snap can take anywhere around three minutes. Players take their turns simultaneously to keep the action moving and avoid waiting.
In Marvel Snap, players arrange cards under one of three areas on the board, playing their cards effectively to gain control of more of them. Once a player takes control of two of the three areas, that player wins the match. Adding the “snap” element, players can raise the takes and double their rewards if they feel confident in their chances of winning.
There are also over 50 locations to play on. Each pulls from iconic locations across the Marvel Universe. Marvel Snap already teases Wakanda and Asgard. Second Dinner is committing itself to adding new locations each week.
Eager heroes can sign up for access to a closed beta on Android devices. There’s currently no word on when the beta begins. Though, selected users will be notified via email “shortly.” The beta is being held in Canada, the U.S, Australia and other select countries.
To learn more about what went into making Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy more accessible, MobileSyrup spoke via email to two of the key developers at Eidos Montreal behind these efforts: Améliane F. Chiasson, accessibility lead, and Daniel Fortier (lead UI programmer). They spoke about the development of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, the importance of accessibility as a whole and what the larger industry and gamers alike can do to make games more inclusive for everyone.
Question: Your background in QA and User Research led into your current role of Accessibility Lead. What is it about focusing on prioritizing players’ experiences that appeals to you, and what does it mean for you to now be formally focused on accessibility with your own dedicated team?
My first recognition plaque as an Accessibility Lead 💜
Thankful and humbled everyday for this opportunity I call a job. This is only the beginning. pic.twitter.com/hlF0kJfjRA
Améliane Chiasson: My entire career, I’ve always had to put myself in the shoes of our players. Whether it was ensuring our games were clear of game-breaking bugs or ensuring that our experiences were enjoyable — my mind was and will always be set on ensuring that the players’ experiences are a priority. They are the ones who buy our games and engage with our creations, so I feel we must think of them — all of them — all throughout our development process. We can make games that we love, that represent us, but we must never forget we aren’t making games just for ourselves (that wouldn’t be a very business-savvy mindset, anyways).
Q: What are some basic accessibility features that you think should, ideally, be in every game?
Daniel Fortier: Subtitles customization is a must for sure. Allowing the player to adjust the difficulty of the challenges is also something that should make its way to becoming standard in games, as it directly translates to a better experience for everyone, which is what games strive for at their core.
Chiasson: Echoing Daniel’s comment, subtitles presentation and customization is absolutely crucial. I will also add full control remapping, input alternatives, closed captions and menu narration.
After that, it becomes a little more intricate, but — design-wise — ensuring all information is communicated through multiple channels (for example: audio cues also have visual cues and optionally haptics, too). Also making sure your UI/HUD, as well as environmental design (if you have in-game hints, signs or indications), are colourblind-friendly.
Q: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy has received a lot of praise for its accessibility features. What work went into a) identifying key accessibility features and b) successfully implementing them?
Fortier: Accessibility was an ongoing discussion right at the start of the production phase of the project. The game has a lot of conversations and banter and it was clear that subtitles were to be very useful for player to get every last bit of it, so we made sure it was designed and implemented early to get the best results possible. Around the same time, we had a lot of discussions on the fact that we wanted this game to be playable and experienced by a large audience of all kinds, and that we wanted to throw down the barriers that might come on the way to that objective. That led to the design of the difficulty customization, which was centered around basically exposing values that are traditionally hidden from the player by designers, thus giving them total control to the player to adjust what they want in their experience of the game.
Through Star-Lord’s visor, players are given various colour contrast options.
Chiasson: Being aware of the core pillars of our game, as well as the intentions that went with them, really helped in identifying what were the priorities and focus when it came to accessibility. And this was true even before our department was created. So when we got on board on the project, we already had a clear scope of what to expect. That being said, making and implementing those features—and doing it well—required the dedication and commitment of many team members. This was a new process for a lot of people, and we’re lucky we had the production’s support to make it happen.
Designing and implementing for accessibility was not a structured process for us before, so we learned a lot during our time with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and hope to apply those learnings for our future projects.
Q: What’s especially notable about your [Chiasson’s] role is that you’ve worked on several Square Enix games, not just Eidos Montreal’s. Since you’re based in Montreal, what’s the process like in terms of collaborating with the international teams on games like Just Cause and Life is Strange? [Note: this interview was conducted prior to the announcement that Square Enix is selling Eidos Montreal and other studios to Embracer Group.]
Chiasson: Our department’s level of involvement — and my own — will vary depending on a few factors. Of course when it comes to our internal projects, it’s a little bit easier to be more hands-on and be there early. But for our external games for example, we usually will connect with key members of the team who will act as accessibility champions and help connect that bridge with us. We will equip them with documentation, meet with them on a set basis, provide feedback on their work, connect them with consultants and review the game whenever needed. The earlier we can be involved, the better and easier it is to tackle accessibility. And this goes for all projects!
Q: I’ve spoken to accessibility consultant Steve Saylor, who you worked with [on this game]. He noted that a key reason many games lack meaningful accessibility features is because they’re not thought of early in development. What should developers do to ensure that accessibility is considered early on throughout all facets of design?
Fortier: Steve is totally right in his assessment, and the process is already underway in our current in-development projects. Another way to see that issue is that accessibility is often seen as something that you add to a feature to make it more accessible to disabled or impaired people, rather than something that actually improves the feature by making it more comprehensible, functional and, in the end, fun! So the best way to fix this is to change the mindset around it, discuss it as soon as conception and ideating to explore new ways to make the features accessible to everyone by design, rather than “fix” them later in the process. Everyone benefits from some kind of customization in games, might as well make it part of the design!
Chiasson: Steve and Daniel are correct. I would add that as a best practice, including accessibility in your intentions and vision can help your team commit to it from almost day one. The ideal process for this is to have an accessibility team be involved in key design processes with your core team from the early days… but if you don’t have such a team yet, identifying accessibility champions on your project to act as owners is a great way to ensure accessibility is never left on the backburner. Having a plan and clear objectives is essential — even if that plan evolves or changes — at least you’ll have people who are nurturing and pushing this important mission.
Q: What are some other examples of games that you think offer well-rounded accessibility options?
Chiasson: I’m very inspired by the work of many other studios when it comes to accessibility — AAA and independent studios alike. From unique, innovative games like The Vale: Shadow of the Crown to huge releases like The Last of Us Part II or Forza Horizon 5, there’s amazing new best practices and creative solutions setting new standards for us to work and strive for. Other companies like Xbox (Microsoft) are also at the forefront of this mission, setting new guidelines, offering services for testing games and developing adaptive technology for disabled video games enthusiasts.
It doesn’t matter who works for who; when it comes to accessibility, when one of us succeeds… we all win.
Q: The 2022 Game Developers Conference State of the Industry survey found that more developers are now implementing accessibility measures into their games. However, one respondent noted that “there is still a lot of pushback in implementing accessibility features.” Why do you think there’s this pushback and what can be done to help combat this resistance?
Fortier: As I mentioned before, there is this idea that still persists in some capacity that accessibility is something you use if you are disabled, not something that everyone could benefit. There’s also a misguided thinking that accessibility will impact and diminish the creative vision of a project, by making it easier than it was designed to be. The reality is that while in effect, it can make games “easier” with difficulty options, for example, it is also an opt-in experience, which allows players to decide what they want as their experience of the game.
The interesting thing is that this has been there for most of modern gaming history. Take, for example, Wolfenstein 3D, which allowed selecting the difficulty level when starting a new game. I think the resistance comes from a misunderstanding of what accessibility really is, which makes the best way to combat is to continue discussing it, making it an integral part of the creative process and then, as weird as it sounds, making it so standard that it becomes invisible.
The Vale: Shadow of the Crown is an audio-only game developed by Niagara Falls, Ontario’s Falling Squirrel. (Image credit: Falling Squirrel)
Chiasson: I think mainly there’s a lot of misconceptions about what our objectives and intentions are when we talk about making games accessible. We don’t want to “make your game easier” or throw a wrench at your creative vision. We want to work with you to welcome even more people into the world and experience you’re creating. Disabled people are part of your target audiences. And even beyond that, it’s been demonstrated time and time again that accessibility options and considerations are also appreciated and used by players who don’t consider themselves as disabled.
There’s also sometimes a frustration to acknowledge from developers who are swamped with work towards the end of a project that didn’t have an accessibility program in place and who are being asked to retroactively break barriers. These types of last-minute requests can be very difficult and at times impossible due to resources, budget and tech limitations. Those same developers may then have a bone to pick with people who talk to them about accessibility… when their issue truly isn’t with accessibility, but the lack of planning. That’s why we need to have these discussions early to avoid later hindrances that can cause bitterness about the subject. It’s never too late to see what can be done (if you didn’t do it before), but it’s important to be aware of the state and resources of a project in order to bring actionable solutions to the table.
Q: We also see gamers who just don’t seem to understand — or even try to understand — why accessibility matters. This especially seems to happen whenever people bring up adding assistive options to difficult games like Elden Ring or Sifu. What would you say to these people to help them become more empathetic?
Fortier: There will always be gate-keeping in every cause, and accessibility sadly isn’t an exception. That being said, as with all these other causes, the best way to fight this is open communication, reaching out, patience, and above all, not letting it affect ourselves. As developers and artisans, there is nothing more rewarding and touching than to see players of all walks of life succeed in a difficult quest or boss fight and see the pride in their eyes. Sharing that experience at large can only help make that empathy blossom in everyone.
Chiasson: Humans, in general, tend to deal in individualism, and it sometimes feels like a lot of us are unable to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. Fostering empathy in the gaming community can be hard on multiple levels, whether we’re talking about toxicity, social issues or accessibility. There is also a misunderstanding of what accessibility means and how it should be addressed in games. If you’re struggling to understand why accessibility matters, go and watch talks available on the subject coming directly from disabled players and accessibility specialists. Educate yourself before making assumptions. That being said, I don’t waste my time with people acting toxic for the sake of trolling.
Chiasson: I think, mainly, that there’s a lot of room for more accessibility coverage in journalism and game reviews. And I’m not just talking about accessibility-focused articles, but normalizing discussing accessibility when reviewing games and covering announcements and development updates.
Also, I’d love to see accessibility being added in the curriculum of game development education, whether it be in universities or online courses. We need the developers of tomorrow to be aware and educated on the matter so we can continue to move forward in the right direction.
Q: Looking ahead, Amélie — you were one of a small group of people inducted into last year’s The Game Awards Future Class for your work on accessibility. (Congratulations!) What does it mean to be recognized like that, and what are you looking forward to doing with the Class?
Chiasson: Thank you, thank you! I was very happy and humbled to be part of this impressive class of inspiring creators, entertainers and game-changers. I love that The Game Awards started to recognize individuals who are pushing this industry to new horizons. I also love that marginalized communities are being brought to the spotlight because this can lead to more exposure and more professional opportunities. I’m looking forward to learning from my fellow class members about how they experience their own journeys, how we can help support each other and potentially identify areas where we can collaborate in concrete ways to instigate positive initiatives in the games industry. I was positively surprised to notice that we’re invited to meet rather often and that the organizers are treating us with impactful learning sessions from inspiring industry folks. The TGA Future Class program definitely isn’t just for show!
This interview has been edited for language and clarity.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch (cloud only) and PC.
This interview was conducted to coincide with Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which falls on May 19th, 2022. The annual event is intended to promote access and inclusion for the one billion-plus people around the world who live with disabilities.
TikTok is planning a major push into the gaming space. The ByteDance-owned company hopes to see users actively playing games on its platform. The company has begun testing this feature in Vietnam, according to those familiar with the matter.
According to reports, TikTok is looking to bring HTML5 games to the app, forming third-party relationships with studios such as Zynga Inc. However, a TikTok representative spoke to Reuters but declined to touch on the broader vision TikTok has for its gaming initiative.
“We’re always looking at ways to enrich our platform and regularly test new features and integrations that bring value to our community,” the representative said.
It’s said that featuring games on its platform would increase TikTok’s advertising revenue and overall user engagement.
Vietnam is being used as a test market for the gaming initiative as it’s said to be a strong tech-savvy region, with 70% of its population under the age of 35. Vietnam is just the first stage of its testing phases. Reports claim that as early as Q3, TikTok will begin rolling out gaming to more regions in Southeast Asia.
Currently, there is no word on when or if TikTok’s push into gaming will hit Canada. However, TikTok does offer some gaming features that integrate well into the platform. As part of its livestreaming features, players can stream games on the app. Not every game is available to stream. Quite commonly, TikTok creators live stream Call of Duty: Warzone as one of the tentpoles available in North America.
TikTok broadening its support of the gaming industry is invigorating. Certainly, creators are going to find new ways to integrate gaming content into their feeds. TikTok double-downing and bringing games to the platform is just making the process more streamlined. However, TikTok may have to expand beyond HTML5 and mobile-centric games to bring in mass adoption.
CD Projekt Red has announced that the new-gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is now slated for Q4 2022. News of this comes off the heels of a recent delay, in which the studio confirmed that the upgrade would miss its Q2 window.
“We’re delighted to share that the Next Gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is planned to release in Q4 2022,” the official account for The Witcher states on Twitter. This now places the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S version to arrive sometime in the fall.
Let's make this 7th anniversary even better, shall we?
We're delighted to share that the Next Gen version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is planned to release in Q4 2022.
Previously, CD Projekt Red was eyeing an early 2022 release. However, in April, the studio announced that it was delaying the release “until further notice.” Initially, Saber Interactive, the studio behind the Nintendo Switch port of the game, was in charge of the next-gen upgrade. However, CD Projekt Red has since stepped in.
The news of the release update comes a day after the seventh anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The beloved entry in The Witcher series launched on May 18th, 2015. It still stands as a milestone in the open-world RPG genre. It also attracted the largest audience for a game in The Witcher series.
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrade looks to improve performance and loading times. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is playable on contemporary consoles. Through the use of backwards compatibility, players can see slight performance improvements. However, the official next-gen upgrades will likely increase those improvements.
It’s unknown how much work Saber Interactive was able to complete prior to CD Projekt Red stepping in. Thus, it is hard to predict when the update will launch during Q4 of this year.
It’s also worth noting that CD Projekt Red is also developing a new installment in The Witcher series. Details are still scarce, though the studio is switching to Unreal Engine 5. CD Projekt Red states that the game is the start of “a new saga.”
