Gaming News - Page 3

Neither Starfield nor Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are coming to PlayStation, Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer today confirmed.

Recent reports about Xbox breaking exclusivity have ignited fierce controversy among enthusiast gamers. It was believed that big tentpole Xbox exclusive games could cross over to rival platforms, thereby diminishing the Xbox console brand and potentially even starting a death spiral of Xbox hardware.

It turns out the reports are only half true. Some games are breaking exclusivity. Microsoft confirms that four unnamed titles are coming to PlayStation and Switch. Rumors indicate these Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush are among these games, but no titles were announced.

Microsoft plans to bring four games to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, but won't tell us what they are. We have a few ideas.

It's official: Microsoft is breaking Xbox exclusivity on four games, and will release the titles on rival PlayStation and Nintendo platforms. Rumors have shed light on three of these titles, and based on what Xbox gaming CEO Phil Spencer said during the recent business update, it seems the reports are correct.

Two of the games are community-driven. That means a large playerbase, online gameplay, live service elements, and typically microtransactions. Reports said that Sea of Thieves is coming to PlayStation, and now it seems more increasingly like that Obsidian's Grounded could be the other community-driven title.

Microsoft today confirmed it will bring four unnamed first-party Xbox games to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. The rationale? It's basically a big experiment to see what happens.

Microsoft just paid $75 billion for Activision Blizzard King, and despite making consistently strong revenues every year, Xbox gaming hasn't met its internal metric guidelines. Couple this with lukewarm reception for big first-party games like Starfield, potentially stagnant subscription growth, lower console sales, and universally rising costs, and you have a recipe for lower profits (and maybe even losses).

Now Microsoft wants to try doing something more safe: Selling games. That's why the company plans to bring four Xbox games onto PlayStation and Switch. The games haven't been announced yet, but Xbox's Phil Spencer did talk about the thought process of this decision with The Verge's Tom Warren:

Microsoft plans to break Xbox game exclusivity in an effort to become the top cross-platform games company.

Gaming is changing. The industry is being hit with massive layoffs due to rising costs, and companies are still trying to deal with the aftershocks of COVID (record revenues led to ballooned investments, over-hiring) and sales misses from the glut of games released in 2023.

Subscription models may not be paying off, and Microsoft may have changed the way it sees the game sales vs services model. Platform-holders like Sony and Microsoft are now talking about the importance of multi-platform gaming. Rumors that Microsoft will break exclusivity for games like Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush to boost game sales and monetization have caused a stir; after all, exclusives sell consoles, right? So if Xbox breaks exclusivity, will gamers even buy Xbox consoles any more?

It has been less than a day since Aspyr and Crystal Dynamic released the highly anticipated remaster for the first three Tomb Raider games.

The iconic franchise is getting a fresh coat of paint, and upon release, the first Not-Safe-For-Work (NSFW) mod has surfaced on Nexus Mods and is available to download. The mod, as you have already probably guessed, makes Lara Croft topless, and while being quite a basic mod, it certainly achieves what it is intended to do.

According to the modder, the topless Lara replaces the TR1 original costume, and modders will have the ability to switch out the costume to whatever suits their fancy. It shouldn't be understated that the remaster for Tomb Raider games has been out for less than a day, and we have already seen the first nude mod. I'm not sure whether to be impressed, concerned, or not surprised at all, but what I do know for sure is that this won't be the last nude Tomb Raider mod and that this mod will be the least detailed.

Sony wrapped its Q3 2023 earnings release, and within it, there were insights into what to expect out of PlayStation 5 sales heading into this year and next.

PS5 sales are in a gradual decline, and Sony is looking to solve one of its biggest problems at Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE): operating profit. Firstly, SIE president and CEO Jim Ryan is scheduled to step down from his position next month, with Sony decidedly putting Chief Operating Officer (COO) Hiroki Totoki as Chairman of SIE until a new CEO is obtained. Totoki has been in his position for four months, and during that time, he has noticed some major flaws within the business.

Tokoki revealed those problems during a call, saying, "A big problem of SIE that I found is they don't necessarily have a deep understanding of how their work is being translated to growth, generation of sustainable profits, and higher margins for the unit as a whole," per Bloomberg reporter Takashi Mochizuki

Sony's beefed-up PlayStation 5 Pro console could cost just $499 without a disc drive, according to the latest rumors.

The upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console has been teased and leaked for a while now, with leaker Moore's Law is Dead confirming some of the leaked specs and now a tease of some ultra-good pricing. Sony could launch the upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro console without a disc drive for just $499, dropping the price of the PlayStation 5 Slim console to $449 or even $399.

The costs of making the original PlayStation 5 back in 2020 would've been higher, and Sony isn't changing much of the hardware inside of the PS5 Pro, so it shouldn't cost more to make.

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox has been in the headlines for all the wrong (and I guess, some right) reasons this week... and now we're hearing that Microsoft "just f***ed" Intel over the chip contract for the next-gen Xbox.

The news comes from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, who had sources from within Microsoft and Intel give him some news nuggets for the next-gen Xbox console. The first source was reportedly from Intel, who said: "Dude, Microsoft just f***ed us (Intel). I guess now we know that their "letters of intent" mean absolutely nothing. I have no idea if AMD got the contract back, but this left a bad taste in my mouth... and from what I hear we aren't the only company annoyed by the games they're playing lately".

Another source, this time from Microsoft, told MLID: "I (Microsoft) honestly have no idea what's going on with management here anymore. We are at least a year behind Sony in SoC development by now, and it almost seems like upper management's seen some metric that's making them doubt our ability to compete with another generation".

Sony misses its holiday PlayStation 5 sales target and has now reduced its total-year hardware forecast by 4 million units.

The PS5 just can't seem to catch up to the PS4. Sony today announced its Q3'FY23 earnings and gave an update on total PlayStation console sales. The company expected to sell 25 million consoles throughout FY23--an incredibly ambitious record-breaking number that would've made history for the PlayStation brand.

Sony has now downwardly adjusted this target to 21 million units following the console's holiday performance, when it was made clear that the company wouldn't achieve the lofty goal. Throughout the Holiday 2023 period, Sony shipped 8.2 million PlayStation 5 consoles, pushing total PS5 shipments to 54.8 million.

If you are an individual that is constantly moving around, say commuting from work or university back to home and enjoy a nice relaxing video game to pass the travel time, you need a backpack to carry all of gear.

ASUS has literally got your back with its latest offering called the ROG Ranger Gaming Backpack 16, a backpack that has been designed with a gamer in mind as it contains all of the storage expectations that a gamer would want. The 18L backpack features an interior equipped to transport a 16-inch laptop along with other storage compartments such as side pockets for smaller peripherals, space for a headset, keyboard and power cables.

The backpack is also equipped with side pockets that can be used for umbrella, drink bottles or other smaller accessories. There is also a storage section located on the rear of the backpack that is designed to conceal valuable items such as keys, wallets, or identification. Furthermore, ASUS has thought of comfort, writing on its website listing that it comes with side-mounted collars designed to conform to the shape of the wearers neck and back, reducing the side-to-side motion as the wearer walks.