August 2021

Activision Blizzard has today pledged its commitment to improving working conditions within the company during today’s Q2 earnings call to investors. The subject has been a hot potato following the state of California’s filing of a lawsuit, which cites sexual harassment, bullying, unfair pay, and more issues uncovered after a two-year-long investigation.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard kicked off today’s call by underlining the company’s commitment to improving its work culture. “I want to start by making clear to everyone that there is no place in our company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind,” he said.

“We will be the company that sets the standard for this in our industry,” he then continued before pledging that additional resources are being issued to its compliant teams to that end. Kotick reiterated that Blizzard prides itself on taking a “variety of steps to ensure pay is driven by non-discriminatory factors.” Further, that the company “remains focused on providing the very best health care,” and that it understands that these workplace initiatives are crucial to delivering sustainable growth.

Blizzard is apparently taking “all necessary actions to foster a culture that is supportive and welcoming of all employees” and “decisive action will be taken” as internal investigations into the recent allegations continue.

Today’s accompanying press release also made special mention of the initiative; Bobby Kotick said:

Both Akira and Oro will join Street Fighter V later in August 2021.

The post Akira and Oro Share a Street Fighter V Release Date appeared first on Siliconera.

During the 2021 Summer Update, Capcom announced that Luke will be the last character to join Street Fighter V as a Season Pass 5 add-on.

The post Luke Is the Last Street Fighter V Season Pass 5 Character appeared first on Siliconera.

Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick, along with a number of other senior executives, has spoken again as the company remains embroiled in controversy following the recent California Department of Fair Employment and Housing lawsuit alleging sexual harassment, discrimination, and a "frat boy" work culture at Blizzard.

Addressing investors during Activision Blizzard's Q2 2021 results call this evening, Kotick said, "I want to start by making clear to everyone that there's no place in our company where discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind will be tolerated. Nowhere.

"We so appreciate the current and former employees who've come forward in past recent days with courage and I want to reiterate the commitments we've made to you. Our work environment, everywhere we operate, will not permit discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment. We will be the company that sets the example for this in our industry."

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Left 4 Dead 2's iconic survivor line-up is embarking on another undead adventure, this time appearing as playable characters in developer Rebellion's Zombie Army 4: Dead War.

Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle - who debuted in Valve's seminal co-operative FPS sequel all the way back in 2009 (and who finally returned to action in 2020's official The Last Stand update) - come to Zombie Army 4 as part of Rebellion's free Left 4 Dead Character Pack 2, available now on all platforms. They follow the original Left 4 Dead's cast, who joined Zombie Army 4 as playable characters earlier this year.

The new group's arrival coincides with Zombie Army 4's Season 3 finale, which wraps up its current storyline in new campaign mission Return to Hell. "Our intrepid squad [are thrust] back into the underworld," teases Rebellion, "but this time it is a haunted manifestation of Schweiger's mind which they must survive in order to free him from Baron Umbra."

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During today’s Street Fighter V Summer Update stream, we got more than we expected. Not only did Capcom show off near final versions of both Oro and Akira, the final DLC character was revealed. Not launching until November is a brand new character for the series named Luke. He’ll be joining and completing the cast as its final addition.

Oro’s normal attacks and special moves were shown off in detail on the Spring stream, but as this elderly warrior is gearing up for release, we got to see a deeper dive into his V Skills and V Triggers. His V Skill I is like a projectile he had in Street Fighter III. This skill called Onibi is a bouncing orb Oro seemingly flicks from his nose which can be used to distract an enemy while approaching for an attack. Minomushi is his second V Skill. It’s a small forward hop that grants two attack choices: a punch used to start combos, and a kick which is safer, less punishable option. You can even cancel into Minomushi from certain normal attacks and choose which route to take next.

I wrote about The Ramp a few weeks back when I thought it looked like a cool little skateboarding game, but I’m writing about it again now because it’s out and I’ve played it and it’s wonderful.

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The Elder Scrolls series set the bar pretty high for the open-world RPG genre, and there’s nothing more exciting than finding out that some of the series’ key developers are working on a new IP within that same genre. Dubbed “the grand RPG,” The Wayward Realms is a new open-world RPG from Ted Peterson and Julian LeFay, lead developers of Elder Scrolls Arena and Daggerfall.

Not much is known about the game just yet beyond a few screenshots and a brief description of what to expect from it:

“The Wayward Realms is set on a group of over one hundred, realistically scaled, islands, known collectively as the Archipelago, where scores of factions vie for influence and power. Kingdoms strive to maintain their dominance, upstarts seek to earn a place at the top, and dynasties set generational plots into motion. Should the player earn a position of prominence, they may change the course of history.
However, they must first prove their worth battling rivals, mercenaries, monsters, spirits, and demons. On their quest for fame and fortune, players will venture through strange lands, delve into foreboding dungeons, and traverse kingdoms full of humans, elves, orks, dwarves and a few other unusual races.”

According to the Steam description, The Wayward Realms promises to be a true role-playing experience where you can shape your character however you’d like, and make decisions with concrete consequences.

There’s no set release window for The Wayward Realms just yet, but we’ll keep you updated as more info comes our way.

Today Sony announced its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021, which ended on June 30. First of all, we get an update on PS5 and PS4 units shipped during the latest quarter.

2.3 million PS5 and 500,000 PS4 units were purchased by retailers worldwide, which means that the grand total for PS4 as of June 30 is at 116.5 million units shipped. PS5 has shipped 10.1 million units in its lifetime. Incidentally, we also recently learned that the new console sold through to customers 10 million units by July 18 according to Sony’s estimates, so this is a good chance to compare shipments with sales estimates and get a confirmation that the consoles are basically flying off the shelves.

Below you can check out an overview of the performance of the Game & Network Services business (which includes both PlayStation and PlayStation Network), with all the relevant figures including software sales and more.

Following the launch of version 2.0 of Genshin Impact and its new region, Inazuma, Mihoyo released a new trailer introducing one of the new characters.

We get the introduction to Yoimiya, a talented pyrotechnician also known as the “queen of the summer festival.”

She will be available via the game’s gacha soon, on August 6. We’re likely to see a few more trailers by then.

You can check her out below, both with English and Japanese voice acting, depending on your preference.

Today, during Sony’s quarterly conference call for investors and analysts, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki talked about the company’s ability to manufacture enough PS5 units to match its sales targets.

Asked about the ongoing semiconductor shortage, Totoki-san mentioned that the target of PS5 units to be shipped this year has been set and Sony has secured the number of chipsets necessary to achieve that target.

Earlier in the call, Totoki-san confirmed that the target for the fiscal year is above 14.8 million (which would bring the console to above 22.6 million units shipped in total since it’s release. Currently, it’s at 10.1 million units by June 30, of which 10 million have been estimated as sold-through by July 18).

He also added that the plan to achieve hardware profitability with the PS5 including its peripherals is “proceeding smoothly.”

If you’d like to learn more about Sony’s financial performance (and PlayStation’s successful fiscal year) on top of official shipment numbers for PS5 and PS4, you can check out our dedicated article.

Earlier today we also heard that sales of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and MLB The Show 21 exceeded the company’s expectations. It also talked about its efforts to acquire studios and to port its games to PC.

Today, during Sony’s quarterly conference call for investors and analysts, chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki talked about the PlayStation business.

Totoki-san explained that Sony has not changed this fiscal year’s target of shipping more than 14.8 million PS5 units, which is the number of PS4 units shipped in the fiscal year after its release.

Sony believes that the gaming market has expanded significantly over the last two years. Total gameplay time for PlayStation users in the first quarter of the fiscal year (between April and June 2021) decreased 32% year-on-year, but it was 18% higher compared to 2019, which Sony sees as a “steady growth” overall.

Sales of first-party software decreased year-on-year during the quarter due to the comparison with The Last of Us Part II. That being said, sales of all games launched by Sony between April and June including Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and MLB The Show 21 exceeded the company’s expectations.

In particular, MLB The Show 21 contributed “significantly” to sales and profits during the quarter thanks in part to strong DLC sales.

Totoki-san mentioned the fact that MLB The Show 21 was sold on platforms other than PlayStation, following the “Initial success” seen by Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone on PC.

He also added that PlayStation Studios is accelerating investments to strengthen its production capabilities, mentioning the acquisition of Housemarque as an example and that seven of Sony’s thirteen studios have been acquired.

Singaporean game company Garena has invested €3 million ($3.6 million) into Spanish mobile studio Unusuall. ...

While Guile might look a bit off, both characters will get two outfit variants as well as special Street Fighter themed gear.

The post Fortnite Street Fighter Collab Will Add Cammy and Guile Outfits appeared first on Siliconera.

The cookbook will include detailed instructions and over 70 recipes of varying skill levels suited for every aspiring Culinarian.

The post Final Fantasy XIV Hardcover Cookbook Confirmed, Pre-orders Currently Open appeared first on Siliconera.

Epic Games has announced Street Fighter’s Cammy and Guile as the latest pop culture characters to arrive in Fortnite, and they’ll hit the Item Shop later this week.

The two iconic, blond-haired fighters will hit the Item Shop on Saturday, August 7 at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT.

Guile will come in his classic green fatigues and also comes with a ‘Glistening Guile Variant’ and K.O. Back Bling.

Cammy will also come with a classic outfit, as well as her ‘Tactical Cammy Variant’ which dons her in camo pants and a dark brown crop top. Players will also get the Borealis Backer Back Bling as part of the bundle.

A clutch of Pokémon who debuted in last year's Sword and Shield arrive in Pokémon Go later this month.

The game had teased a surprise for its last big summer event and, indeed, this was not what fans were expecting.

Pokémon Go features a few Galar-region creatures already, but only forms and evolutions of existing Pokémon such as Zigzagoon and Ponyta. Now, developer Niantic is rolling out more of the Pokémon's Gen 8 - including its signature Legendaries.

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Grand Theft Auto Online players are walking around in circles while AFK to grind for Tuner RP in the new Los Santos Tuners update.

As reported by Kotaku, the update's new reputation system has a huge rank cap of 1000 and reaching the higher levels takes a lot of time. The only way to earn RP is through Tuner races, testing out new cards, and passively by walking around the car meet.

Players have figured out the passive RP method can be exploited easily. As long as they can keep their character moving around in the car meet, they won't be booted from a server for inactivity and can get on with something else in the real world.

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Street Fighter 5's final character is Luke, who is due out in November.

Capcom described the brand new character as someone who "will help expand the world of Street Fighter".

The teaser video is below:

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If you ever felt like Skyrim's third-person gameplay could do with an update to give it a more modern action-RPG feel, this could be just the ticket.

"True Directional Movement - Modernised Third Person Gameplay" is a mod by Ershin for Skyrim: Special Edition on PC that, well, does exactly what it says on the tin. The mod overhauls Skyrim's third-person gameplay to allow you to move and attack from any direction, while there's also a target lock component to help you keep track of enemies. This target lock comes with an animated health bar widget above enemies, with bosses getting their own (much larger) health bars.

Here's a demonstration of what all this looks like in practice:

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Fortnite is adding Cammy and Guile of Street Fighter fame.

The two fighters land in Fortnite's Item Shop on 8th August, at its daily 1am UK time reset.

This latest crossover is dubbed "Round 2", as both Ryu and Chun-Li joined first earlier this year.

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I know what you're going to say: "They have!" And yes, they have. There have been lots of Olympics games. Even Mario & Sonic put aside old rivalries to compete, though it's obviously unfair having those characters against each other because Mario is always going to win a plumb-off. And actually, while it says they're at the Olympic Games, I've been watching and they're not, you know, they're not there. So that's a lie, Sega. A big fat lie.

But I don't mean that kind of Olympics game. I don't mean the kind of game that's filled with mini-games you have to button-mash your way to victory in, although I do rather enjoy this because everyone looks silly while playing. It's a lot of fun. But I'm talking about something a bit deeper. Because what really struck me while watching Tokyo 2020/2021 - I'm still watching it (I'm watching it right now) - was how powerful the human stories are in it.

That moment when Simone Biles pulled out of the team gymnastics: that was one of the moments of the games. But it wasn't because she won or got the highest score, it was because she was suddenly human. That conversation about mental health that arose afterwards was brilliant, and sorely needed. Did anyone see GB diver Chris Mears on the BBC shortly afterwards, opening up about his battle with depression following his Rio 2016 diving gold? It was a wonderfully refreshing moment of TV, and brave of him to share it. I would never have considered a gold medal could have that effect.

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Hardware and peripherals drove a modest net sales increase within Sony's Game & Network Services segment during the first quarter of the fiscal year. ...

Blizzard Entertainment president J. Allen Brack stepped down from his position yesterday, leaving the Overwatch and World Of Warcraft developers. But he wasn't the only executive to make a departure - Jesse Meschuk, Blizzard's now-former senior vice president of HR, has also left the company. All of this follows a lawsuit that alleged Activision Blizzard's company culture created a "breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women".

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Though I couldn’t name a character or recount a story beat from it, I played Far Cry 5 for 36 hours. That’s not bad. I did a lot of shooting, adventuring and crafting, and then moved onto another shiny treat in my library (or returned to Overwatch). You can probably see and do everything I did during the upcoming free weekend. It stretches from Thursday August 5th (tomorrow) at 2pm until Monday August 9th, and lets you play the whole game solo or with a co-op buddy.

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As someone who both plays video games and has worked in retail, my faith in humanity has long since taken on the form of a stain in the carpet of my brain. I've thought about scrubbing it away and starting afresh, but it's been baked in for so long, I didn't even think a double dose of Daz would do the job.

That is, until I started playing MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. So far, all the cat people and elves and gnomes I've encountered have been - dare I say it - alright. They've actually been really quite, well... nice?

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A Total War Saga: Troy’s upcoming DLC Mythos fills the historical battle sim with fantastical beasts. One of those, Cerberus, is the tri-headed guard dog of Hades. It’s a creature so intimately entwined with death that it draws strength from souls wrenched from their bodies during battle. He can summon shades, filling his army with the walking dead. His roars are known to cause armies to retreat in chaos. But he’s still a good boy, and will roll over and let you pet him.

If there’s any justice in the world, it’ll also have some sort of effect in the game. There are two other incredible beats to hunt down in Mythos, but there’s no yet on whether or not you can boop the Hydra’s snoot, and no information on if you can stroke the Griffin’s beak.

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NieR series Producer Yosuke Saito revealed that he wanted to be a producer on Final Fantasy XI.

The post NieR Producer Yosuke Saito Wanted to Be a Producer on Final Fantasy XI appeared first on Siliconera.

It's just not summer without a good fireworks show or two.

The post Genshin Impact Yoimiya Will be a Pyro Powerhouse appeared first on Siliconera.

The lawsuit regarding potential patent infringement has finally come to a close.

The post White Cat Project Developers to Pay Nintendo 3.3 Billion Yen in Lawsuit Settlement appeared first on Siliconera.

Activision Blizzard has begun teasing the next big Call of Duty game under the shadow cast by the recently-filed discrimination lawsuit.

Yesterday, as Activision Blizzard executives such as boss Bobby Kotick insisted "we will be the company that sets the example for this in our industry" during a financial call aimed at the investor community, a coalition of workers from across multiple Activision Blizzard studios criticised the decision to hire WilmerHale, the same law firm helping Amazon keep its workers from unionising, to review the company.

As reported by IGN, the employees, collectively called the ABK Workers Alliance, said Kotick did not "meaningfully address" workers' demands following last week's high-profile employee walkout.

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Ubisoft appears to be planning the return of a major Assassin's Creed character in a forthcoming update for the Viking-set Valhalla.

Details of the character are included in datamined quest data and dialogue lines found within Valhalla by the ever-reliable Assassin's Creed leaker J0nathan.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW.

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Recently, I've been skateboarding. I've been skating before starting work for the day, and I've skated once I'm all done. Unlike a fair share of my colleagues, I haven't picked up actual skateboarding during the pandemic - I've looked to videogames as wish-fulfilment for that, and my latest obsession is called The Ramp.

When I first saw The Ramp, it was via a gif on Twitter - a ramp in front of a blue background, lit by the digital approximation of a low afternoon sun drawing some choice shadows. The skater taking off on the lip of the ramp, gaining speed jumping, a simple nosegrab, repeat. A perfectly cut thing that I must've watched for hours by now. The Ramp was announced to a pretty large echo, not only because it looks very good thanks to bold colours and an isometric perspective, but also because its developer, game design student Paul Schnepf, offered a refreshingly honest description to go with it. "No missions, no point, no unlockables, no guns, explosions or helicopters," the game's description on Steam reads. "Just tons of flow. Easy to learn, difficult to master." For me, it felt as if someone was giving me permission to relax. Don't get me wrong, collecting letters in Tony Hawk can be tremendous fun, but it's great to play a game and not feel like you have to win something.

Almost a decade after its original Wii debut, Nintendo’s released The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD for the Switch. And let’s be frank: Skyward Sword wasn’t the best-received Zelda title ever. Even as it charmed most media outlets, many fans bemoaned its linearity and questionable controls. Frankly, it wasn’t many…

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The Ascent earned a record $5 million in sales revenue for publisher Curve Digital during its launch weekend. ...

Sony isn't phased by a recent drop off in PlayStation Plus subscribers and PlayStation Network monthly active users (MAU). At least, not yet. ...

In this new game from Nippon Ichi, the investigating protagonist will warp back in time when a murder takes place.

The post Asatsugutori Is a New PS4 and Switch Investigative Game appeared first on Siliconera.

Sega will bring Beat, the star of Jet Grind Radio and Jet Set Radio, back as one of the playable characters in Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania.

The post Beat from Jet Set Radio Returns in Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania appeared first on Siliconera.

The financial reports also reveals that the number of PlayStation Plus subscribers has risen.

The post PlayStation 5 Sales Reach 10.1 Million Units Worldwide appeared first on Siliconera.

Keisuke Kikuchi hopes that the Maiden of Black Water ports can connect to a new Fatal Frame sequel.

The post Fatal Frame Sequel Prospects Raised By Koei Tecmo’s Keisuke Kikuchi appeared first on Siliconera.