If you’re an England supporter, you’re probably languishing in dismay after yesterday’s Euro final result, but take heart: there’s plenty of gaming news from the last week to pore over.
With new game announcements, industry developments, and more on the cards, you should have plenty to keep you distracted from what may or may not be Gareth Southgate’s inevitable future.
Here’s a look at what’s been happening in the world of gaming news this week.
Zenless Zone Zero is a very popular game
HoYoverse’s latest, Zenless Zone Zero, crossed a major download milestone earlier this week, with downloads hitting 50 million just a few days after the game was released.
Bear in mind that figure doesn’t refer to pre-registrations or impressions; it’s cold, hard downloads, meaning that tens of millions of people have tried out the studio’s newest game.
Of course, perhaps we should have expected such a strong performance from the studio that gave us Genshin Impact, but still, it must be nice for HoYoverse to know it’s still relevant.
It looks like Piranha Bytes has shut down
If you’re a fan of Elex, Risen, or the Gothic games, then you’ll probably be sad to hear this, but it looks as though the developer of those games, Piranha Bytes, has shut down.
No official announcement has been made, but the studio’s official website has displayed a simple logo for a number of months now, and nothing has been posted on the official Twitter account since January.
Perhaps most damningly, however, a new report from German site GameStar claims the studio closed down in June and that two of its key employees have formed a new studio.
Big Xbox Game Pass changes are coming
In a new instalment of “what the hell does Microsoft think it’s doing”, big changes are coming to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, and they’re not necessarily good changes.
A new tier, Xbox Game Pass Standard, is being introduced to replace Xbox Game Pass Console, and prices are going up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass Core as well.
It’s difficult to imagine what Microsoft is thinking when it comes to making things more confusing for the service that’s supposed to be its flagship offering for gamers, but there we are.
Nintendo is teasing something very weird
This week, a new and rather creepy teaser appeared on Nintendo’s website. It simply depicts a figure with a bag on their head, and a creepy face is drawn on the bag.
The teaser is simply named “Emio”, and Japanese text at the end of the trailer can be translated as “Smiling Man” (thanks, Eurogamer). What could it mean?
What we do know is that Bloober Team, the developer of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, is working on a horror game alongside Nintendo, but according to IGN, Emio (whatever it turns out to be) is not that game.
PlayStation Plus lineup for July
Sony has announced the PlayStation Plus games you can look forward to playing this month, and it’s a pretty solid lineup of games, even if there’s nothing that will set your world on fire.
The Catalogue lineup for this month includes No More Heroes 3, Remnant 2, and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, the latter of which should be perfect to fill in some blanks after Rebirth.
Retro classics playable this month include PS2 RPG Summoner, the PSP platformer Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, and RPG Jeanne d’Arc. All of these can be accessed from July 16th.
GreedFall 2 gets a release date
Smarting from the closure of Piranha Bytes? You might want a slightly janky but still endearingly ambitious RPG to play, and luckily, Steelrising and GreedFall developer Spiders has you covered.
GreedFall 2 got a release date this week, and it’s hitting PC and consoles in Early Access on September 24th, so clear your calendar for some faction-based fun.
Obviously, if you’re still hacking your way through Elden Ring, GreedFall 2 won’t provide anywhere near as polished an experience, especially given that it’ll be in Early Access, but it should be interesting at least.
Planet Coaster 2 officially announced by Frontier
Planet Coaster is one of the best theme park sims around right now (largely because there aren’t too many alternatives, although it is still a very solid game), and it’s finally getting a sequel.
Frontier announced Planet Coaster 2 this week, and the big new addition is the ability to build water park features, turning your park into an aquatic paradise for summer fans.
The sequel will also feature refined and updated gameplay, as well as a number of other improvements. We don’t know much about the gameplay yet, but we’ll learn more at the end of July, when a gameplay trailer is scheduled to launch.
11 bit makes a major charity donation
If you’ve been keeping up with the real-world news, you’ll probably have seen the unconscionable attack on a Ukrainian children’s hospital on the part of the Russian military.
Well, Frostpunk developer 11 bit is stepping up to do its, erm, bit. The developer announced this week that $50k in revenue from its odd adventure game Indika will be donated to the children’s hospital to help it recover from the attack.
A portion of Indika’s revenue already goes to Ukrainian aid, but this bulk donation will doubtless be welcome for Ukrainian authorities, which are still struggling to combat relentless Russian aggression.
Driver’s not dead
In a bit of welcome news for anyone who thought that 2011’s Driver: San Francisco was hugely underrated (which it was), it looks like the franchise isn’t dead quite yet.
According to a report from Game File’s Stephen Totilo (which is behind a paywall), the live-action Driver series, which was in the works as a collaboration with production company Binge, isn’t moving ahead.
However, the series itself is far from dead, and Ubisoft says that it’s currently working on “other exciting projects related to the franchise”, so don’t give up hope for that San Francisco sequel just yet.
