Welcome to yet another Industry Intel where EarlyGame is giving you all the major gaming industry news in from the past week in just one short article.
It’s been a weird week for the industry. This time insiders have been buzzing with speculations and investigations more than commenting on official announcements. Here’s what’s going on in short.
Mixer is gone!
In some of the biggest news we’ve heard in a while, Microsoft has given up on their Twitch-competing live-streaming gaming platform Mixer. You can read our report here:
- READ MORE: Microsoft is shutting down Mixer next month
This at least a couple of major implications.
First, the tech has been handed over to Facebook and this has angered a large section of the hardcore gaming community, where a general distrust of Facebook is commonplace.
Second, large streamers such as Ninja and Shroud will be given fat checks and can now safely come back to Twitch. Smaller streamers will now have to choose whether to migrate over to the new Facebook system or be let to continue on their own.
Rumors of new DC games
There’s been a lot of whispering about WB Games working on new DC-titles. One such rumor is Rocksteady Studios developing a Suicide Squad title.
The fire has been fueled by WB Gaming registering website domains for Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League.
AAA studios go old-school
Reportedly, Star Wars Squadrons was built from the ground up with an “old-school” mentality, meaning no microtransactions or game-as-a-service features were core portions of the game’s development. This hardly comes as a surprise, as the company was universally slammed for its aggressive loot box offerings in Battlefronts, viewed by most as straight-up pay-to-win, and the praise EA got for their previous Star Wars offering, Jedi: Fallen Order, that took a relaxed, single-player story approach.
Another AAA giant, Activision, claims that the retro classic Crash Bandicoot’s new game, Crash 4, will not be coming out on PC. We get that they want to preserve the retro feeling, but not the part about exclusivity. However, Activision is “evaluating other platforms”, so maybe we’ll see more console ports at least.
Lastly, former PlayStation CEO Shawn Layden has issued a warning that AAA games might become shorter in the next generation. Doubling the budgets with every new console release is simply not sustainable with current games costing between $80 million and $150 million to make.
Rocket League at 5
Time flies when you’re having fun. July 7th marks the 5th anniversary of everybody’s car-based football game and there will be a special in-game event to celebrate the occasion.
Call of Duty is doing fine
The mobile version of the world’s top military shooter has officially reached 250 million downloads, so Activision has every reason to continue developing their franchises for phones. Simply put, these things are successful.
For more news, analysis, and opinions, stay right here on EarlyGame!
