We’re back to your regularly scheduled programming again, so thank you once more for joining us as we run down the week’s events in the gaming news world.
Traditionally speaking, May is a quieter time for gaming news; the summer gaming events loom large over the calendar, and many studios that have big announcements to make often save those announcements until June.
However, there is, of course, always news that others announce about these companies, as well as leaks, rumours, and other kinds of events, so let’s get started with our latest seven-day rundown!
The next Call of Duty game won’t be on last-gen consoles
This one’s more of an “end of an era”-type moment than a genuine piece of shocking, hot-off-the-presses news, but Activision confirmed this week that the next major Call of Duty game won’t be hitting last-gen consoles.
Following rumours that the next game in the series will be landing on PS4, Activision put paid to those rumours on social media, so if you’re a Call of Duty fan and you haven’t upgraded yet, you may want to do so at your earliest convenience.
This will be the first time a Call of Duty game hasn’t been available on PS4 since 2012’s Black Ops 2, so it’s a pretty momentous occasion, to say the least.
Space Marine 2 is entering its third year of live-service content
You may not have thought that third-person shooter Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 counted as a live-service game, but Focus is here to prove you wrong, because the game is getting a third year of post-launch content.
Focus clarified this week that anything that hasn’t made it into Space Marine 2’s updated roadmap will now roll over to the game’s third year, although no more info than that is available just yet.
This is great news for those who still aren’t done with Titus and company’s adventures in Tyranid land.
Control has sold six million copies
We learned this week that Remedy’s action-adventure game Control has managed to sell six million copies over the course of its lifetime, which began back in 2019.
The news was revealed as part of Remedy’s roundup for the first quarter of the financial year, in which we also learned that revenue fell compared to last year, but that the quarter was still “profitable” for the company.
When it comes to Remedy’s future, Control Resonant is still on track for release sometime this year, and the upcoming Max Payne remakes are moving full steam ahead as well.
May’s first wave of Xbox Game Pass games has been revealed
Are you a Game Pass subscriber who wants to know what games you’re getting as part of the first wave of May? Well, Xbox has come through for you, because this week, that’s exactly what was announced.
The month’s first half will bring the likes of hotly-anticipated racer Forza Horizon 6, “cosmic biking adventure” Wheel World, and coming-of-age adventure Mixtape, among others.
We’ll almost certainly learn what else is coming to Game Pass throughout the rest of the month in just a week or two, so stay tuned for that.
MindsEye’s developer has laid off more staff members
It seems like we’re getting stories about MindsEye dev Build a Rocket Boy laying staff off every other week, but sadly, this week is one of those weeks, as more employees were seemingly let go.
A Kotaku report stated this week that Build a Rocket Boy has made about 170 members of staff redundant, which doesn’t leave many still standing at the beleaguered company.
Whether or not Build a Rocket Boy can deliver on the ambitious plan it has for MindsEye remains to be seen, but given these seismic staff cuts, it’s not looking likely. The studio may not survive to realise its Everywhere ambitions.
Grand Theft Auto 6 has apparently already cost Take-Two over $1 billion
If you’re wondering exactly how much upcoming industry behemoth Grand Theft Auto VI is costing Rockstar parent company Take-Two, a report from Business Insider this week should give you some indication.
The report’s writer, Sarah Needleman, says that industry analysts have told her “the tab is likely in the $1 billion to $1.5 billion range”. Of course, GTA 5 passed $1 billion in revenue within its first three days, so that’s hardly going to matter too much.
What’s more, it’s entirely possible that GTA 6 will cost significantly more than most triple-A games do at the moment, so you may well be paying somewhere in the £80-£100 region for this one when it does finally launch.
Star Fox 64 is getting a Switch 2 remake
This week, Nintendo announced a full remake of the seminal N64 shooter Star Fox 64, and it’s coming exclusively to Switch 2 in just over a month. Sorry, Switch owners; looks like you’re going to have to plump for an upgrade for this one.
Star Fox, as it’ll be known (which makes sense, given that the “64” in the title is no longer relevant), will boast fully-reworked visuals and gameplay tweaks, as well as new game modes.
It’s coming on the 25th of June, and it’ll be cheaper for digital customers than for those who want the physical edition, which will be de rigueur for Nintendo in future.
Bungie isn’t doing so well at Sony
Sony was another one of the studios releasing its financial report this week, and it turns out that Marathon and Destiny studio Bungie isn’t doing so hot, costing its publisher hundreds of millions of dollars as a write-down last year.
In Sony’s latest report, the company states that it wrote down $765 million related to underperformance on Bungie’s part last year, and given that last year includes the release of Marathon (financially speaking), that doesn’t bode well.
Whether or not Bungie’s future is secure still, of course, remains to be seen, but these numbers aren’t exactly suggesting that there’s a ton of room for optimism at Destiny Towers.
