As if by magic, another week of gaming news has come and gone, and as usual, it’s time for us to sift through the noise in order to remind you what’s happened over the past seven days that you need to know.
We’ve got plenty to recap, so as we always say to kick these roundups off, grab a drink, pull up your favourite chair, and join us as we take a look at all of the most important news from the gaming world over the past week!
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment has reached a million sales
Action-focused spinoff Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment reached a huge new sales milestone this week, so if you’re one of the people who bought the game, congratulations; you’re part of a growing club.
According to Koei Tecmo, who developed the game, Age of Imprisonment has hit a million sales since it was released back in November last year, so it’s taken about three months to reach the figure.
That’s not bad going for what is, essentially, a fairly niche instalment in a spinoff franchise, although it is admittedly a spinoff of one of the biggest franchises of all time.
Ubisoft is cutting yet more jobs, this time at head office
It’s time for Ubisoft to cut yet more jobs, it seems, but this time, it’s at the publisher’s Paris head office, with hundreds of roles set to go via voluntary redundancy.
Technically speaking, of course, these redundancies aren’t job cuts; instead, they’re opportunities for staff to essentially jump before they’re pushed, if past form is anything to go by.
Presumably, if not enough staff take up the voluntary redundancy offer, Ubisoft will move to lay off employees instead, as they did with The Division outfit Massive Entertainment.
Highguard’s launch causes controversy
Much-talked-about shooter Highguard launched this week, and the initial reception with which it was met was not exactly positive.
Although over 100,000 players checked out the game on its first day, Steam reviews quickly revealed that those players weren’t particularly happy, with common complaints popping up including in-game lag, difficulty finding matches, and other technical issues.
Those who were able to enter a game of Highguard reported that it had many problems to surmount if it wanted to become a contender, including maps too big for its game modes, generic art, and more. It’s an uphill battle for this one.
Splatoon 3 is still getting updates, it turns out
Despite Splatoon 3 being four years old this year, the game is still receiving updates, and this week’s turned out to be quite a major change to the way the game works.
Big gameplay tweaks include the ability to see enemy health bars when landing a hit, a new Flow Aura buff that triggers when scoring a number of splats in a row, and improved hit detection.
It’s not quite over for Splatoon 3, it seems, and Nintendo doesn’t seem to be in a rush to announce Splatoon 4, either.
Monster Hunter Wilds’ new PC patch actually seems to have fixed things
Players have been complaining about PC performance in Capcom’s Monster Hunter Wilds since the game launched way back in February last year, but now, a new patch appears to have made some headway in fixing things.
The patch introduces a host of PC improvements and optimisations, specifically around checking for DLC, which was seemingly causing many players untold performance woes.
Early reports appear to confirm that the patch has fixed many of the game’s most pressing PC issues, although, of course, your mileage may vary depending on your rig.
AdHoc confirms Dispatch is censored on Switch and Switch 2
If you want the unadulterated Dispatch experience, so to speak, then you may be better off not buying the game on Switch 2 or Switch, because its “Visual Censorship” option is enabled, and there’s no way to turn it off.
Developer AdHoc confirmed the change this week, claiming that the censorship was put in place in order to satisfy platform “content criteria” mandated by Nintendo.
The developer says that Dispatch’s “core narrative and gameplay experience remains identical to the original release”, but it’s safe to say that’s not going to mollify angered fans.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is coming in April, complete with queer romance
Nintendo confirmed this week that Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream will be releasing on Switch in April, and that it will include the queer romance options the original ignored.
During a Direct show, Nintendo announced a release date of April 16th, as well as highlighting some of the gameplay improvements and changes that are coming to the sequel.
One of them is the ability to set your Mii’s romantic preferences whichever way you’d like, and there are a host of other tweaks that should make Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream even more fascinating than its 3DS predecessor.
Rumours abound of a new Nintendo Direct in February
Apparently, the Tomodachi Life Nintendo Direct show wasn’t enough, because rumours are swirling that another major presentation will be airing this month, and that it’ll show off some upcoming Switch 2 games.
According to prominent leaker NateTheHate, a Direct is coming on February 5th, and it’ll be a Partner showcase, which means you can expect news about third-party Switch 2 titles (as well as games for the original Switch, potentially).
Nate stops short of highlighting exactly what will be featured during the show, but we’d be surprised if we didn’t hear from The Duskbloods, FromSoftware’s upcoming multiplayer action-extraction game.
Long-awaited MMO Ashes of Creation may have been canceled
It looks as though Ashes of Creation, the long-awaited MMORPG that began development all the way back in 2016, has been cancelled, and many staff members appear to be quitting in protest.
While nothing official has been announced regarding the game’s cancellation, a mass exodus of staff at developer Intrepid Studios appears to be underway, with many former employees posting angry notices about the game’s management on social media platforms.
A notice on the game’s official website was posted this week, promising to update players on the direction of the game later this month, but it may be too little, too late.
