Game News 2.0

Penn

TitianGerm wrote: »

So it'd be ok if Sony bought them but uproar if Microsoft did?

Personally I don't think it'd really be "ok" for either to buy them and make them exclusive. I generally dislike that as a tactic from either, and would rather see them buy smaller developers and help build them up with new franchises.

I'm just saying it'd make more sense for Sony to buy them and there'd be less uproar if they did, due to the much longer shared history between the companies and franchises going back to the PS1. Final Fantasy in particular is generally seen as a predominantly Playstation franchise. Were MS to buy SE and make the games then Xbox exclusive, that would be a hugely sh*tty move imo and would upset a far greater number of people.

I wasn't a fan of MS buying Bethesda. Likewise, I'm not a fan of Sony paying for exclusive additional content in multiplatform games. Both are pretty sh*tty tactics that aren't good for the consumers. I think when MS bought a bunch of studios a few years ago such as Ninja Theory, that made a lot of sense, and MS could help build up those studios to create new exclusive franchises. Likewise Insomniac becoming a full first party studio for PS made sense because in many ways PS has been helping them build up into a larger studio for many years.

Sony buying SE would be a stretch of that, and would be a stretch too far imo. MS would just be a case of throwing money at something to take it away from PS players to try pull them over to Xbox.

Retr0gamer

I very much doubt either sony or microsoft are interested in the Japanese market. The ps5 is not selling over there and the entire market has moved to mobile and switch. Those large home consoles just don't suit the Japanese market which for consoles is kind of dead.

Varik

Square Enix Holdings is Japanese, and Japan has stringent foreign acquisition rule and far more than any EU or US court apply and it's fully political and in the hands of the government. They even made some far stricter changes in the last year but most won't apply to Square (they apply to Sony), but they can add any company they like.

Tencent rather than the norm of buying a share, instead entered a strategic alliance with them not too long ago.

Japan isn't as stupid as the US or EU with this.

Retr0gamer

If there's any truth to the rumours I'd say it's square looking for a buyer for the western studios. Tomb Raider and Avengers under performed for them and they might be looking to offload them.

EoinMcLovin

https://twitter.com/serkantoto/status/1382980496678809602?s=19

Zero-Cool

Ah pity, we could have all chipped in and bought it as the boards gaming community.

Jordan 199

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Ah pity, we could have all chipped in and bought it as the boards gaming community.

I could have been a President while Zero could have been CEO.

Arcadeheroes

If Square Enix were to be bought out by another company it cant be bought out by companies like Microsoft due to Japanese Laws that forbid any Western company purchasing Japanese companies .

Mitch Connor

Arcadeheroes wrote: »

If Square Enix were to be bought out by another company it cant be bought out by companies like Microsoft due to Japanese Laws that forbid any Western company purchasing Japanese companies .

probably wouldn't be an issue, i guess.

Create a third entity (which they did when being bethesda et al) in Japan, which MS would own, and the third entity buys SE.

dreamers75

Jordan 199 wrote: »

I could have been a President while Zero could have been CEO.

Then we would have Retrogamer making weird games for ever.

I vote down this plan.

Mr Crispy

Bloomberg are reporting that Amazon have pulled the plug on their Lord of the Rings MMO, announced back in 2019. It was being developed by Amazon and Leyou Technologies, but the latter was bought by Tencent last December. Contract disputes between Amazon and Tencent are the reason behind the game's cancellation, apparently.

Kiith

If Tencent were involved, i'm fine with it being cancelled.

J Mysterio

Days Gone Is Coming To PC Next Month, New Trailer Highlights Platform Features

Zero-Cool

New OlliOlli game coming out this winter. Absolutely loved the last one, will definitely be getting this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZrucpT_mlA

Grumpypants

Xbox Cloud Gaming is starting to test in browser streaming tomorrow, in beta with invite-only access. Will allow 100 games to be streamed on Chrome, Edge and Safari on xbox.com/play

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/04/19/xbox-cloud-gaming-windows-pc-and-apple-limited-beta/

EoinMcLovin

Sony have reversed their decision to close PS3 and Vita store

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/04/19/playstation-store-on-ps3-and-ps-vita-will-continue-operations/

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/status/1384190230354223110?s=20

johnny_ultimate

Sony reverses decision to kill the PS3 and Vita stores.

Needed u-turn, but shouldn’t have gotten to the point where the move was being considered in the first place.

https://twitter.com/playstation/status/1384190230354223110?s=21

Zero-Cool

They must have gotten a bate of a lawsuit I think.

CastorTroy

Surprised they didn't wait longer to announce they changed their minds considering how much they were likely selling due to panic buying.

J. Marston

How active would those stores be? Is there still a lot of people playing PS3/Vita?

sniper_samurai

J. Marston wrote: »

How active would those stores be? Is there still a lot of people playing PS3/Vita?

There have been new Vita games released this year.

Retr0gamer

J. Marston wrote: »

How active would those stores be? Is there still a lot of people playing PS3/Vita?

I still have a few games to pick up on it.

gizmo

Yea, I've had Siren: Blood Curse on my wishlist for forever. That was definitely going to be picked up since physical availability, for something approaching reasonable pricing, seems to be somewhere between **** and all these days.

Vicxas

Horizon: Zero Dawn is free on PS Store for everyone. No PS+ required

Penn

Jeff Kaplan leaving Blizzard/Overwatch

https://www.ign.com/articles/overwatch-director-jeff-kaplan-leaves-blizzard-entertainment?utm_source=twitter

Mr Crispy

And Shaun Escayg has left Crystal Dynamics (he was creative director on Marvel's Avengers) to return to Naughty Dog.

If you're feeling starved of a bit of Hellblade 2 news, here's a look at Senua herself (Melina Juergens) training for the role.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrNpgATiU4Q

Vicxas

Vicxas wrote: »

Horizon: Zero Dawn is free on PS Store for everyone. No PS+ required

Thanks for the reminder, I have it on disc already but this version has the DLC with it which I never played.

J. Marston

Any PS5 upgrades for HZD?

Varik

J. Marston wrote: »

Any PS5 upgrades for HZD?

No mention yet of a PS5 version at all, they might give it free with the ultimate version like spider man

Edit: the ultimate version of the sequel to be clear.

Penn

J. Marston wrote: »

Any PS5 upgrades for HZD?

No, which is kinda odd. But I recently replayed it on PS5 using performance mode for 60fps, and it still looks terrific, loading times seemed faster, and my PS5 wasn't screaming through its fans when I stayed on the map screen for more than 2 seconds like the PS4 used to.