Forgive us for once again starting with chat about the heatwaves, but the UK is about to enter the grip of its fifth heatwave this year, and we know we, for one (or many?), are sick of the hot weather now.
Thank god for gaming, which can serve as a more-than-adequate escape from the endless onslaught of hot weather, dead grass, and drought.
Join us, then, as we take a look at what’s been going on in the gaming world over the last seven days. It can’t be worse than the constant heatwaves!
Palworld is getting a mobile MMO spinoff
Singapore’s Garena announced this week that it’s currently hard at work on the imaginatively-named Palworld Online, which is, as you might have guessed, an online-focused MMO spinoff of the smash hit Palworld.
Naturally, this is an officially-licensed game that bears Pocketpair’s blessing, although the studio won’t actually be involved in making the game in any meaningful capacity, it seems.
According to Garena, you can expect Palworld Online to retain the “depth, freedom, and scale” of the original game while expanding into the MMO (g)arena. Don’t expect this one on PC or consoles anytime soon, though.
Microsoft appears to have a plan to make Xbox 360 games available on PC
How much do you want to dig out your original Xbox 360 collection and enjoy those games on PC? Well, Microsoft appears to be hoping the answer to that question is “a lot”, if a leaked document found by The Verge this week is anything to go by.
The document states that Project Helix, PCs, and handhelds will be able to run Xbox 360 games. It’s not entirely clear which handhelds are meant by this, but Xbox is likely referring to its ROG Ally line.
Sadly, this feature isn’t going to debut until 2027 at the earliest, so you might want to hold onto your original 360 hardware (if you’ve somehow still got it) for now.
The first part of August’s Game Pass lineup has been revealed
Speaking of Xbox, we learned this week which games will be making their way to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service in the first half of August.
As usual, Xbox’s announcement is a pretty confusing mess thanks to the various different tiers on offer, and so the pickings for Ultimate members are actually pretty slim, with just Date Everything! and Sandustry debuting on the service in the first half of the month.
Premium members, meanwhile, are eating a little better thanks to the addition of titles like Grounded 2, Ball x Pit, and Mio: Memories In Orbit.
EA is probably planning mass layoffs
EA’s landmark deal to be acquired by three massive firms, including the Saudi-backed PIF, officially went through this week, and it’s looking like that’s bad news for the company’s staff (but what isn’t these days?).
As noted by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, EA has stated that it’s planning to cut around $700 million in costs per year, which includes $170 million in “organisational efficiencies”.
Schreier notes that this probably means a whole bunch of staff are going to lose their jobs, and we’re very much assuming that doesn’t include anyone currently sunning themselves in the C-suite.
Capcom’s Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake has already hit a big wishlist milestone
It looks like a lot of people are lining up to check out Capcom’s upcoming Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake, at least if its most recent wishlist milestone is anything to go by.
Capcom says that the game, which was announced earlier this year and which is planned for release next year, has already managed to pass the 2 million wishlist mark. That’s a lot of people eager to get eaten by zombies!
Here’s hoping the game doesn’t get delayed, and that when it does eventually release, it’ll be just a little bit less confused than recent tentpole release Resident Evil Requiem (yeah, we said it).
Minecraft comes to Switch 2 in October
Good news if you’ve been waiting for phenomenally popular blocky sandbox Minecraft to come to Switch 2, because Mojang and Microsoft announced a release date for the game on Nintendo’s newest console this week.
Minecraft will be coming to Switch 2 on October 27th, the two companies have revealed. However, it looks like you probably won’t be able to upgrade from the Switch 1 version for free, which doesn’t feel great.
Still, it’ll be nice to enjoy Minecraft with upgraded visuals and performance. Dig out (hem, hem) your Switch 2 and get ready to lose hours of your life all over again.
Call of Duty is still a going concern, just in case you needed a reminder
If, like many in the gaming world, it’s been a while since you checked in on Call of Duty, you may be overdue a timely reminder that the franchise is still absolutely killing it in sales terms.
Well, that reminder arrived this week in the form of estimates from ever-reliable data firm Alinea Analytics, which estimated that the recently-released ports of the first two Call of Duty: Black Ops games for modern systems sold gangbusters.
Per Alinea’s estimates, Black Ops sold three million copies on PlayStation in its first month, while Black Ops 2 reached an astonishing eight million sales in the same period. A lot of people want to go back and check out the classics, eh?
Devolver Digital is looking to go private, it seems
Devolver Digital, the company known for indie hits like Cult of the Lamb and Enter the Gungeon, has announced its intention to go private after being floated on the stock market back in 2021.
The studio told Gamesindustry.biz this week that the “ongoing challenge of delivering growth in line with market expectations” is too much, and that it believes its current share price “does not reflect” the studio’s “true market value”.
We’re really hoping more studios decide to follow suit, because if you ask us, shareholders, and raising value for them, are one of the biggest problems in the gaming industry today.
