We’re gradually moving towards the end of what has been a long and taxing summer for many, including us here at Gamerbolt Towers. We make no secret of the fact we’ll be glad to see the back of the hot weather.
Of course, the passage of time and the seasons have pretty much no effect on the abundance of gaming news, and, as you’ve probably come to expect by now, there’s plenty of it to pore over.
As usual, then, draw up a chair and let’s take a look at what’s been happening in the world of gaming over the last week or so!
1666: Amsterdam launches in Early Access later this month
Surprise! 1666: Amsterdam, the dark third-person narrative action-adventure game with more than a whiff of Assassin’s Creed about it (probably because it’s being made by the series’ creator), is launching in Early Access this month.
That’s according to a Steam post announcing a release date of August 25th, which really isn’t too far away at all. If you’re jonesing for a fix now, you can still check out the free prologue demo before launch.
Unfortunately (although this may be irrelevant depending on your personal preferences), it looks like creator Patrice Désilets has a ticket on the AI hype train, so make of that what you will.
Alan Wake 2 has now hit three million sales
Remedy can continue breathing the longest sigh of relief ever, it seems, as cult survival horror title Alan Wake 2 has become the cult hit the studio likely hoped it would be.
According to Remedy’s latest financials, Alan Wake 2 has now crossed the 3 million sales mark, so while it still isn’t exactly a runaway success, it’s certainly doing perfectly fine for the Finnish developer.
Remedy will no doubt be pleased with Alan Wake 2’s numbers as the release date for hotly-anticipated sequel Control Resonant nears. Time will tell whether it will perform as admirably, though.
Until Dawn and Directive 8020’s Supermassive Games is laying off yet more staff
It’s time for more layoff news, unfortunately, and this time, it’s the turn of Until Dawn and The Quarry developer Supermassive Games, which announced this week that it’s letting a number of staff go.
The studio says it’s begun a “redundancy consultation process” which will see “up to 75” staff members being laid off, a step Supermassive describes as “necessary…to help ensure the sustainability of the company”.
Given that this is the third time Supermassive has laid off staff in as many years, it’s tough to imagine what the way forward looks like for the developer, but let’s hope there is one.
It looks like Halo: Campaign Evolved is off to a weak start
If you’ve been wondering just how well (or how poorly!) recent remake Halo: Campaign Evolved has been selling, wonder no more, for Alinea Analytics is here to serve as your saviour.
The company says that Halo: Campaign Evolved has sold around 1.2 million copies across all platforms, according to its estimates. It looks like about 40% of players are on PlayStation.
Those numbers aren’t looking particularly great given that Campaign Evolved is intended as more than just a remaster and that it’s a remake of one of the most influential shooters of all time.
Amazon is backing off from Lost Ark, but all is not, well, lost
This week, Amazon announced that it will no longer support Western servers for the massively multiplayer ARPG Lost Ark starting from 2027, but hope remains in the form of developer Smilegate.
The studio says that it intends to step in and take control of Lost Ark, keeping the Western servers available for any players who still want to enjoy the game.
This would appear to be part of a wider climbdown on game development in general, and MMOs specifically, on Amazon’s part, following on from the announcement of the closure of New World’s servers last year.
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War IV has been delayed by a couple of months
If you were hoping to get your gauntleted hands on Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War IV in September, then sadly, you’ll have to wait just a little longer, as the game was delayed this week.
The real-time strategy title, which follows on from 2017’s controversial Dawn of War III, will now be launching on PC in December. Naturally, there’s no suggestion of console ports.
As you’d probably expect, the devs say the delay has been put into place in order to make sure that Dawn of War IV is the best game it can be when it launches. Given these games’ fanbase, we’re sure that’s the right decision.
Oxenfree developer Night School is closing down
We wish we had better news for you, but sadly, it’s time to talk about more layoffs. In fact, this one’s a little more serious than that, as the studio responsible for Oxenfree is shutting down.
Netflix told Game File that the shutdown was happening so that Netflix can “mak[e] organisational changes to the business to match [new] priorities”. That seems to us to be typical corpo-speak for “they weren’t making us enough money”.
Whether the folks behind Night School turn up in another guise remains to be seen, but hopefully, this won’t be the last we’ve seen of the Oxenfree IP or of the talented developers responsible for creating it.
Pokemon Pokopia has sold over 5 million copies
It looks as though Nintendo and The Pokemon Company’s latest spinoff adventure is a smash hit, as the two companies announced this week that Pokemon Pokopia has hit a big sales milestone.
The game has managed to surpass 5 million copies sold, according to a press release, which isn’t bad at all given that it’s a Switch 2 exclusive. That figure, naturally, counts both digital and physical copies in its total.
The sales bode well for the first round of Pokemon Pokopia DLC, which has already been released, with two more instalments set to arrive in the coming months.
