It’s been quite the week for the gaming industry. The pandemic is definitely throwing a wrench in the wheels of many companies, but also bringing tons of interest (and profit) for games that are already released. Everybody seems to be hard at work, doing their thing, and planning for the future.
Xbox May Or May Not Increase Game Prices
Microsoft still hasn’t announced its policy regarding next-gen prices. Sony already committed to the $70 tag as the new standard, but competitor Microsoft keeps gamers guessing. Recently, the company’s CFO Tim Stuart made a statement that the price announcement will be made “in due course”, basically as soon as the Xbox Series X and S hit the market. However, said 'market-hit' proved difficult with all the chaos in the world that's affecting manufacturing, transport and retail. In fact, big boss Phil Spencer has already apologized for the stock shortages, claiming the console sales are doing really well, but more machines will need to be produced to meet all the demand. Speaking of which…
PS5 Shortages Are Making People Angry
This week we heard a fair bit of 'he said, she said' regarding the UK launch of Sony’s highly in-demand next-gen console. According to large UK retailer Game, not all consoles are sent out due to courier company Yodel experiencing last-minute delays and causing problems. Yodel, on the other hand, has completely denied the accusations, calling them “deeply disappointing”, and claiming they’ve been consistently informing their partners of the availability and potential issues. Whatever the case, one thing is certain: the release-phase of these next-gen systems will surely continue to be problematic. You better prepare to be patient and deal with some nonsense until you take your machine home.
Embracer Group Acquires A Ton Of Studios
Swedish-based holding Embracer just acquired 12 studios and one PR company. The bold move was made in an effort to establish Embracer as a niche game powerhouse, serving carefully targeted audiences quality indie and AA games. The price of the new acquisition was not disclosed, but here are some numbers: Embracer raised $661 million in an October 8 stock sale and currently claims to have 190+ IPs, 46 studios, and 4000+ people working for them. The list of new studios under their wing goes as follows:
- Thinking Ape Entertainment (Canada)
- Nimble Giant Entertainment (Argentina)
- Mad Head Games (Serbia)
- Snapshot Games (Bulgaria)
- 34BigThings (Italy)
- Zen Studios (Hungary)
- IUGO Mobile Entertainment (Canada)
- Purple Lamp Studios (Austria)
- Quantic Lab (Romania)
- Coffee Stain North (Sweden)
- Flying Wild Hog (Poland)
- Silent Games (England)
New Content for Star Wars Squadrons & Overwatch Changes
Star Wars Squadrons is getting tons of bug fixes, performance improvements and some brand-new content, including the Fostar Haven multiplayer map.
Overwatch will be changing its multiplayer matchmaking, rewarding players for picking less desirable roles. Overwatch is constantly reshaping its queue systems, so this is just the latest in a long string of improvements.
For more industry news and video game information, keep reading EarlyGame!
