We here at Gamerbolt Towers hope you had a wonderful holiday period! Of course, there’s no rest for the wicked, and so we’re still here to summarise what’s been going on over the past week in the gaming world.
Just like the last few weeks, things are just a tad slower, but you’ll still find plenty of news if you’re happy to dig into the corners and find the interesting stuff (and we always are!).
Without further ado, then, let’s get stuck in. Here’s our roundup of what’s been happening in the past seven days when it comes to gaming!
Octopath Traveler has sold six million copies
Octopath Traveler (that’s the series, not the first game of the same name) reached a major sales milestone this week, according to developer and publisher Square Enix.
The franchise, which currently consists of three mainline entries (and a mobile game, but since Octopath Traveler 0 is based on that, we’re not sure it counts), has hit six million sales in total.
We’re pretty sure that probably means you’ll be getting a fourth Octopath Traveler game at some point in the future, so rejoice if you’re a fan of super-pretty HD-2D adventures!
Cronos: The New Dawn is getting an easy mode soon
Has Bloober Team’s survival horror game Cronos: The New Dawn proved a little too difficult for you? Never fear, for an easier difficulty mode is on the way, as the developer revealed this week.
The Temporal Diver mode is intended for those who find the base difficulty just a touch too hard, and it’ll scale that difficulty back so you can enjoy the (admittedly rather byzantine) story.
We don’t know exactly what Temporal Diver will entail yet, so check back in a few weeks when we’ll almost certainly have received more details from Bloober Team.
Call of Duty co-creator Vince Zampella has died
Vince Zampella, one of the people responsible for creating the Call of Duty franchise (and for founding Apex Legends studio Respawn Entertainment as well), died this week aged just 55.
As reported by NBC4, Zampella was involved in what sounds like a pretty horrific car crash alongside another person, although it’s not clear exactly how the crash happened or who was driving.
Zampella’s loss was lamented by several industry bodies, including his old studio Infinity Ward, as well as the aforementioned Respawn Entertainment.
Battlefield 6 players are worried about generative AI
This week, EA faced a backlash from Battlefield 6 players concerned about the game’s supposed inclusion of generative AI at the cosmetic level, despite assurances from the developers that this wouldn’t happen.
Players drew attention to artwork for certain cosmetics, which bear the hallmarks of generative AI usage. It hasn’t been confirmed that the art was created by generative AI, but it certainly looks like something that was.
Needless to say, players aren’t happy with the idea that they’re paying for something which seemingly costs EA literally nothing to produce, although we’re not sure it’s going to put a damper on the game’s overall popularity.
EA’s shareholders have voted in favour of its Saudi takeover
This one was probably never really in doubt, but this week, EA’s shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of its proposed Saudi-led takeover, which will see three investment firms take the company private.
A massive percentage of EA’s shareholders voted to confirm the deal, which isn’t surprising given that it’ll probably result in more money for those at the top.
What it’ll mean for those playing EA’s games on the ground remains to be seen, but EA has offered assurances that the deal won’t compromise its creative direction in any way.
007 First Light has been delayed
IO Interactive’s James Bond spy game 007 First Light was originally intended for release in March, but the developer announced this week that the game is going to take a little more time.
In one of those dreaded lengthy image-based text posts, IO confirmed that 007 First Light will now be releasing on May 27th in order to give the game a little more breathing room development-wise.
We’re sure it also doesn’t hurt that Grand Theft Auto 6 isn’t coming out in May anymore, so IO doesn’t have to worry about competing for attention quite as much.
Danganronpa is flying high sales-wise
Have you played Danganronpa yet? If you’re a fan of Ace Attorney or Japanese visual novels and you haven’t checked this franchise out, you might want to join the millions who have.
Publisher Spike Chunsoft revealed this week that Danganronpa has hit ten million sales across the board, a figure that includes sales for all of the franchise’s releases.
A reworked version of the second Danganronpa game is currently in the works, but with sales like this, we have to assume the franchise will continue with mainline entries as well.
There’s a “full team” on Fallout, apparently
Bethesda’s Todd Howard told Game Informer this week that the studio currently has a “full team” working on Fallout, and that the team has been in place “for a long time”.
Granted, Howard did say that the “majority” of Bethesda’s developers are working on The Elder Scrolls 6, but it’s nice to know that Fallout as a gaming series hasn’t been forgotten.
Whether or not a new Fallout game is announced anytime soon is, of course, another matter entirely; we wouldn’t hold our breaths. Still, Fallout lives!
Dispatch’s creators were worried Aaron Paul wouldn’t work with them again
Voice acting for video games is a lot of work, it turns out, and that’s something Dispatch developer AdHoc Studio is grateful that its lead actor Aaron Paul either didn’t realise or didn’t care about.
Speaking to Eurogamer this week, Dispatch narrative director Pierre Shorette said that the studio was worried Paul would walk away from them because working on the game “took so long”.
He compared voice acting work on Dispatch to “water torture” and suggested that if Paul knew how much work the game would have been, “he would have said no for sure”. We’re sure that’s not true, guys!
