October 2022

The latest net idol in the Pokemon universe, Iono, has finally revealed to us her partner Pokemon: Bellibolt. Like she teased in her video, Bellibolt is a “squishy” and “easygoing” Electric-type Pokemon. Despite her challenging the chat to guess what Pokemon she has, the game was rigged from the start. Undoubtedly, no one was able to guess her Pokemon considering it is a brand new one to the Paldea region.

You can watch the Bellibolt trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkfN-jyEcrI

Bellibolt is the EleFrog Pokemon, and as you can imagine, it is an Electric-type with a fat frog body. Like some amphibians and fish, some of its body parts are actually organs to generate and discharge electricity. Its “belly button” is an organ that creates electricity, which then shoots out of the “eyeballs” on the sides of its head. Its name in English is a portmanteau of the words “belly” and “bolt.” This is likely a reference to the fact that its electricity originates from its belly.

Iono’s video and her interactions with her Bellibolt give an idea of its personality and size. Granted, this may be the personality of Iono’s Bellibolt and not all of the Bellibolts in the world. After she introduces her Bellibolt, Iono reminds players that she is a Gym Leader that they will have to beat. Unlike most Gym Leaders, she refers to this as a “collab.”

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will launch on November 18, 2022, for the Nintendo Switch.

Fuji Television has uploaded the credit-less versions of both the opening and ending credits for the Urusei Yatsura anime reboot. The series began airing earlier this week, on October 13, 2022. Both themes are also available to listen to on various music streaming services. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

The opening theme is "aiue", featuring vocals from artist Minami and music from SAKURAmoti. The opening credits start off with a newly-animated Ataru juxtaposed against panels from the original Urusei Yatsura manga. He then proceeds to try and avoid Lum, an alien princess that is infatuated with Ataru.

During the opening, snippets of Lum in various forms appear. There are references to classic arcade games such as Space Invaders, as well as visual novels, JRPGS, and various other subcultures.

https://youtu.be/pEVhv4eB8Q8

The ending theme is "Tokyo Shandy Rendezvous", featuring music from artists Kafu and Tsumiki. Kafu previously wrote one of the ending themes for the anime Black Clover and has also collaborated with VTuber Kizuna Ai. The ending credits simply depict Ataru and Lum surrounded by hearts and stars, with Lum wearing various loungewear and clothes.

https://youtu.be/gpXy3_NdVEc

Renowned watch brand Tag Heuer has revealed two limited edition Mario Kart watches. Fittingly, they use the Formula 1 watch as a base. According to Tag Heuer’s website, the Formula 1 watches are a “motor-racing inspired collection for men and women who dare live life at full speed.” Well, that certainly describes all of the characters who appear in Mario Kart. [Thanks, Autoblog!]

The watches you can get for a limited time are the Formula 1 x Mario Kart Chronograph, or the Chronograph Tourbillon. The standard Chrono costs $4300 and the Tourbillon costs $25,000. This is because the Tourbillon uses grade 5 titanium whereas the Chrono uses steel. The Tourbillon will also have a more limited release. Whereas Tag Heuer will make 3000 units of the Chrono, it will only sell 250 units of the Tourbillon.

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Fangamer has opened up orders for a Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne vinyl soundtrack box set. It will cost $79. It comprises of four discs with seventy tracks in total. Fangamer states on its website that it cannot ship to Japan.

Toni Infante drew the art for the box set, which features art of the four Rider Personae. Each individual sleeve contains a close-up portrait of one of the major characters. The characters on each LP sleeve are Isamu Nitta, Chiaki Tachibana, Hikawa, and Lucifer. When you take out the vinyl, you can see a corresponding Rider in the middle. For example, the white disc that is inside the Isamu Nitta sleeve has a picture of White Rider in the center.

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Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne originally came out for the PS2 in 2003. An HD remaster version later appeared on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Windows PC. After a cult causes the apocalypse, or the Conception, the nameless Protagonist has to wander what remains while meeting the survivors. As one can expect from Shin Megami Tensei games, Nocturne is a turn-based JRPG with a focus on recruiting and fusing demons.

The Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne vinyl soundtrack box set is available via Fangamer. Those in Europe can also find it at Black Screen Records or Chipfreq.

Hands-on Impressions of the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Console Read More »

During the Silent Hill Transmission presentation, Konami revealed multiple new Silent Hill projects--including an "interactive streaming experience" called Silent Hill: Ascension. Genvid (specialist in creating video game and streaming show hybrids), Bad Robot Games, Behavior Interactive (Dead by Daylight dev), and DJ2 Entertainment (company that adapts video games to TV and film) are behind this new title, and the project is set to release in 2023.

The trailer shows text that looks like people chatting with each other online--very Twitch chat-esque--with one exclaiming, "Can we save her?" The trailer tagline is "face your traumas together."

Judging by the stacked lineup and what each of these companies do, Silent Hill: Ascension seems similar to The Walking Dead: Last Mile. Last Mile is set up as a weekly streaming show with character's actions influenced by viewers and players' decisions.

"It's a live real-time interactive series where millions of fans will watch together as the chilling story unfolds," said Genvid CEO Jacob Navok. "You can change its outcomes and even be a part of scenes." Players' decisions are final however, and there is no reset button.

In Overwatch 2 Ana is one of the support heroes, who has the ability to do a high amount of healing at a distance. Armed with a rifle, Ana can dish out healing and damage from range, something that many other support heroes don't excel at. Overwatch 2 brought new modes, heroes, and maps, along with balance changes to the hero shooter, which has shifted the meta. Here's how to maximize your healing as Ana in Overwatch 2.

You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?

Ana overview

Ana is a support hero in Overwatch 2, who provides healing using her long-ranged rifle. The rifle provides a large chunk of healing to teammates when hit and deals damage to enemies hit. Ana is also equipped with a Sleep Dart that puts enemies to sleep for a few seconds, although they will wake up when damaged. Her Biotic Grenade provides healing to friendlies, while temporarily increasing the amount of healing they recieve. Her Nano Boost ultimate ability lets one of her teammates go in on the enemy team, providing a damage boost and reduced damage taken.

Ana abilities

Biotic Rifle: Long-ranged rifle that heals allies and hurts enemies. Can be zoomed in.

Sleep Dart: Fire a dart that puts an enemy to sleep.

Biotic Grenade: Throw a grenade that heals teammates and provides a boost to their healing received, while damaging enemies and preventing them from being healed.

During the Silent Hill Transmission today, Konami announced the next core game in the Silent Hill franchise: Silent Hill F, which will be developed by Resident Evil Re:Verse developer Neobards Entertainment.

The game's story will be penned by famed Japanese writer Ryukishi07, the author of the When They Cry visual novel series. Motoi Okamoto, who previously worked at Nintendo from 1998 to 2007, has been named a producer on the project.

The trailer shows a girl standing over what looks to be a memorial of some kind, which is adorned with red and pink flowers. The video then shifts to a town overrun by red vines, which slowly take over a Japanese village and attempt to capture the girl. The final scene shows the same girl floating on a small boat after being overtaken by the mysterious plants, who then looks at the screen and sheds a single tear before her face falls off of her head.

As part of October 19's Silent Hill Transmission, a new entry in the Silent Hill series has been revealed. Silent Hill: Townfall is a collaboration between Konami, Annapurna Interactive, and the BAFTA award-winning No Code studio. While the conference featured a short teaser trailer, not much has been revealed about the upcoming game. However, No Code creative director Jon McKellan stated the game respects the Silent Hill franchise, while doing "something a little bit different" with the series' source material.

Alongside Silent Hill: Townfall's reveal, Konami shared a short teaser trailer of the game. The clip consists of a series of gruesome images and videos displayed on a CRTV pocket television. In the background, a man coldly demands to know why the listener is here. The listener then replies, "to be punished," though the speaker doesn't seem entirely convinced. The trailer ends with a flash of a man in glasses before revealing the game's title card.

Though the trailer was fairly hard to decipher, McKellan alluded to possible Easter eggs hidden within the short video. Following the teaser trailer, McKellan stated, "it might be worth watching that trailer again and seeing what you might have missed."

After months of speculation and reports, Konami officially confirmed its Silent Hill 2 remake during the Silent Hill Transmission video presentation. The game, which opened the presentation with an impressive trailer, looks to be rebuilt from the ground up while still keeping the essence of the 2001 original intact.

The trailer gives us a look at the new James Sunderland, who has ventured to Silent Hill to rescue his wife Mary--long believed dead. We see some signature series elements in the trailer, as well, including the fog-filled streets and a few familiar enemies. Those, naturally, include Pyramid Head.

Silent Hill 2 is in development at Bloober Team and is a PS5 console exclusive. It is just one Silent Hill project currently in the works, with Silent Hill: Ascension and Silent Hill F also in development. Additionally, there are a number of special collectibles being made, including an Inu-End coin bank as a nod to Silent Hill 2's joke ending.

As long as PlayStation has been around, it has been seen as one of the best consoles to have for fighting game fans. A rock-solid line-up of games, legacy franchises, and one of the best controller D-pads for multiple generations has made Sony's gaming hardware the default choice for some of the greatest fighting games of the era, and right now, not much has changed on that front.

With the PS4 being a hub for fighting games during their renaissance in the 2010s and the PS5 being backwards compatible with the vast majority of that library, we've slipped into our most comfortable Walmart-sourced karate gi and stepped into the ring to face off with the best that the PlayStation has to offer. Below, you'll find our picks for the best PlayStation fighting games to play on PS5 and PS4. Instead of ranking these fighters, we've listed our choices in alphabetical order.

For more lists, you can check out the best RPGs for PS4 and PS5, the best free PS5 games available right now, and the must-play PS5 titles for the system.

Netflix's relatively new gaming section launched at the end of 2021, and in 2022, the company has been ramping up its library with games--some of them quite impressive, like the mobile port of Into The Breach Advanced Edition. But it appears the company not only wants ports, but also wants to develop original games as well.

According to Netflix's Q3 investor letter and a TechCrunch Disrupt event, the company has 55 games currently in development. Some of them are based on Netflix's existing IPs, and Netflix is looking at generating attention between media formats. An example Netflix cites is the synergy between Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk 2077, as the anime brought viewers-turned-players over to CD Projekt Red's other games.

Netflix says it's seeing "some encouraging signs of gameplay leading to higher retention." Though as far as August 2022, a report revealed that less than 1% of Netflix subscribers actually venture into the gaming section.

Development of original games means that Netflix is also opening and acquiring studios. Chacko Sonny, who worked on both Overwatch and God of War, is set to open a new studio under Netflix. What games Sonny is spearheading is currently unknown. Netflix also bought Oxenfree devs Night School Studios recently and currently owns five internal studios in total.

Overwatch 2 is full of changes to the hero shooter, some of which have made Sombra is a top-tier hero. The switch to 5v5 with one less tank and the removal of some crowd control abilities means that Sombra has a much easier time flanking the enemy team and getting away unscathed. Here's how to best play as the hacker Sombra in Overwatch 2.

You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?

Sombra overview

Overwatch 2's resident hacker comes equipped with a high-powered machine pistol, which has a short effective range, but is deadly at short distances. Sombra is designed to be a flanker and a disruptor. Typically, you want to find a health pack, hack it, and set up your Translocator. After that, use Stealth to flank the enemy team, hack someone on the back line, preferably a support hero, and kill them. Once they die or you are close to death, use the Translocator to teleport out and get health from the hacked health pack. Rinse and repeat, leaving the enemy team disoriented and down a support at every opportunity.

Sombra abilities

Machine Pistol: Short-ranged automatic weapon.

Hack: Hold to hack. Hacked enemies cannot use abilities for a few seconds and can be seen through walls. Hacked health packs respawn faster and cannot be picked up by the enemy team. Taking damage interrupts the hack attempt.

The Lord of Wolves Exotic shotgun has been disabled in Destiny 2 after Bungie found it dealt more damage than intended.

In a tweet, the Bungie Help account announced the gun's temporary removal. Bungie is targeting a fix for next week's update and more information will come when it is available.

One of the features of today's patch was an adjustment of Lord of Wolves, changing its Release the Wolves mode to be more balanced in PvP. In detail, the patch removed a 25% universal base damage buff, replacing it with a 40% PvE buff. The patch also removed a 50% critical hit multiplier plenty and reduced ADS accuracy penalty from 10x to 3x. These fixes should have helped the gun become see a more balanced usage in PvP, but until a fix is introduced, it just made the gun even more powerful.

This is not the only glitch to enter into the game from this patch. Players found that Spectral Pages would not correctly spawn, preventing players from completing an early quest as part of the Festival of the Lost. Bungie Help announced that a hotfix has already released to address the problem.

Torbjorn is one of the many returning heroes in Overwatch 2 and he remains largely unchanged from the original game. Armed with a Rivet Gun and an auto-turret, Torbjorn is great for defending an objective or providing your team with a bit of extra fire power. Torbjorn can also be used to set up a chokepoint in the new Push game mode as well. Here's how to best utilize Torbjorn in Overwatch 2.

You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?

Torbjorn overview

Torbjorn is a damage dealer who has an auto turret he can set up to deal additional damage. While the auto turret has a high damage output, Tobjorn himself is still capable of dealing damage to enemies all on his own. In addition to the turret, Torbjorn is equipped with a Rivet Gun, which can fire long distance projectiles or a short distance shotgun blast. Trobjorn also has the ability to Overload, increasing his speed and attack rate. His ultimate is Molten Core, which covers a section of the map in hot lava, which kills enemies standing in it.

Torbjorn abilities

Rivet Gun: Primary fire is a slow-firing, long-ranged weapon. Secondary fire is an inaccurate but powerful short-ranged blast.

Forge Hammer: Swing to repair turret damage or deal damage to enemies.

Deploy Turret: Deploy a self-building turret.

In a PlayStation Blog post reflecting on the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves' Collection PC port, Naughty Dog said the company is still focused on developing games for the PlayStation 5. This is no surprise as Naughty Dog has been owned by Sony since 2001, and its games have been PlayStation exclusives at launch for that stretch of time.

But with the Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves port, co-developed with Iron Galaxy, and the upcoming, but currently unreleased, The Last of Us Part I PC port, Naughty Dog said it wants to also serve PC players--a move the company stated is an important part of how it'll release games going forward. "We’re excited to be offering The Last of Us Part I on PC in the future, and know that, moving forward, adding PC development to the way we develop games," said Naughty Dog, "which in no way undermines the importance of PlayStation 5 as our primary platform, will continue to benefit our team in the long run.

In the post, Naughty Dog also said it chose Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy as its initial foray into PC ports because the "beautiful, globetrotting stories of the Uncharted series felt like a natural fit to introduce to players all around the world." Naughty Dog opted to not start with a port the first three Uncharted games due to how much retrofitting the team would've needed in order to update the graphics and bring it up to standards for a modern PC release.

It was just a few months ago that I wrote about the legacy of Left 4 Dead and its many descendants that have emerged over the years. These "horde shooters," as I call them, are so numerous that it's hard to get an accurate headcount, but one of the teams doing the best work in that space has long been Fatshark. First with the two games in the Warhammer Vermintide series, and now with the forthcoming Warhammer 40K spin-off, Darktide, it's been fun to watch how this team has reimagined and sometimes improved on the core of such games created by Left 4 Dead nearly 15 years ago.

The recent Darktide closed beta was yet another example of how studios making games like Left 4 Dead aren't content to just rehash the same material, but rather seek to redefine the co-op horde shooter genre. Darktide adds a new wrinkle with its robust character creator that gives purpose and personhood to my monster-maiming anti-hero like few games in the subgenre ever do.

In Darktide, character selection is so much more than choosing a class or a favorite face. You don't choose a character as much as you create one from the ground up, accounting for their whole life through detailed backstory that feels ripped right out of the Warhammer lore bible. With its history tied to tabletop RPGs, maybe I should've seen it coming, but as it's a facet that even Vermintide didn't offer, it took me by surprise.

Netflix is pushing deeper into the world of video games. It has 55 new games in development and now owns five internal game development studios. What's next for Netflix's big gaming push? It could be a streaming service not unlike Google Stadia or Amazon Luna.

Netflix gaming boss Mike Verdu said at a TechCrunch event this week that the company is "very seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering" for TV and PC. Netflix already releases games on mobile, but this new service would seemingly target those additional platforms.

"We'll approach this the same way we did with mobile, which is start small, be humble, be thoughtful, and then build out. But it is a step we think we should take to meet members where they are, on the devices where they consume Netflix," Verdu said, as reported by VGC.

Fans may roll their eyes at yet another gigantic technology company trying to make waves in the gaming space with a streaming offering, but Verdu believes any streaming platform for games from Netflix would be complementary to the existing Netflix experience. In that way, it would stand apart from the likes of Google Stadia, which billed itself as a console replacement.

Winston in Overwatch 2 is one of the most mobile tanks in Blizzard’s FPS game, capable of leaping across the field to sow discord among the enemy ranks. The jumping primate wields an electric laser beam that bypasses common obstacles such as Genji’s Deflect, but Winston struggles with distance combat. However, at close range, you barely even have to aim to deal damage. Here's how to play well with Overwatch's great ape.

You can see how all heroes, including this one, stack up in our Overwatch 2 tank tier list, DPS tier list, and support tier list. Where did your favorite land?

Winston overview

Winston is a different kind of tank, one whose defense capabilities take a backseat to mobility and ease of use. Winston’s electric laster has a wide hitbox, which means it connects and deals damage even if your aim isn’t precise. Jump Pack lets Winston cover an impressive amount of distance in seconds, perfect for distracting enemies and giving your DPS units a break so they can move forward.

Just don’t expect his Barrier Projector shield to withstand much fire. Barrier Projector is one of the weaker shields in the game since heroes can move freely in and out of it, but with the right planning and a bit of help from your teammates, you can still make good use of this protective bubble.

After revealing the first part of the Pokemon Go Halloween Event last week, Niantic has revealed what players can look forward to in Part 2 of the event.

The Pokemon Go Halloween Event Part II begins October 27 at 10 AM local time, and it will run until November 1 at 10 AM local time. The event will introduce new "Spooky Festival" costumes for five Pokemon: Gengar, Vulpix, Ninetales, Pumpkaboo, and Gourgeist. Gengar will only be available in raids, while the rest of the group will be found in the wild.

Costumed variant Pokemon that were released during previous Halloween events will return during Part 2 as well, including Pikachu, Piplup, and Drifblim. Perks and bonuses that began during Part 1 of the event, including special Lavender Town-themed music and extra candy being earned for catching Pokemon, will continue throughout Part 2.

The full slate of encounters and debuts for the Pokemon Go Halloween Event Part 2 is as follows:

Bethesda senior game designer and games industry veteran, Ferret Baudoin has died.

News of his death was announced on Facebook, with the creator of a tribute group writing that he "died suddenly on October 15, 2022."

"He [was] surrounded by his family. He loved real life as much as games. He was a devoted husband, father, brother, and son," the statement said.

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The UK games market saw a big jump in console sales during September, but the overall sector remains down over 2021.

That’s according to the latest data from GfK (accessories and consoles) and GSD (physical and digital games).

3.17 million games were sold across the UK last month, which is up over 83% compared with August, but down 6% over the same period in 2021. Over 957,000 physical games were sold, with the remaining 2.2 million coming from digital retailers.

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Long gone are the days where games were limited solely to the bleeps and bloops of retro processors and sound chips – but that doesn't mean today's expansive 3D sandboxes are safe from sounding flatter than a 2D side scroller.

Sound design is key to helping developers add depth to their game worlds, weaving in subtle details for unspoken narratives and transforming all manner of games into truly immersive escapes.

With the right approach, sound design works wonders for the player experience, both adding another dimension to 2D and 3D realms alike and helping virtual spaces feel larger than life.

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EA Sports announced that it will be investing $11 million in women's soccer via its Starting XI Fund.

The initiative intends to grow the sport as it will fund in-game, league, club and athlete investments.

Next year, the gaming firm said that it will also invest in a women's football internship initiative. Which it said will extend to each current and new women's league partner.

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Following the report by former director Kdin Jenzen about Rooster Teeth's alleged culture of harassment and crunch, an internal statement signed 'Jordan' (believed to be Rooster Teeth general manager Jordan Levin) addressing the situation was sent to staff, repeatedly referring to the issues as "past events."

The email was forwarded to the entire company by Rooster Teeth's HR team on behalf of Levin. GamesIndustry.biz has since obtained a copy of this message and reviewed it.

In his message, Levin said he is "not denying the existence of past events," and highlighted changes made at the company since the "reckoning" of 2020, including the pay review that was mentioned in the official statement.

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Releasing a sequel to a critically acclaimed game can be tough. It has to be bigger and better than the game that spurred it and offer a new experience, while staying true to a particular vision or audience.

One studio on its journey to find that balance is Slime Rancher developer Monomi Park, having just released Slime Rancher 2, the follow up to the 2016 hit. So far, the reception is largely positive – the early access title has sold over 400,000 copies in its debut week at the end of September, and is already lining up nominations for awards, just like its predecessor.

For Monomi Park founder and CEO Nick Popovich, making a follow up to a successful indie a dicey business.

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Netflix continues to ramp up its games strategy with talk of a cloud gaming service and the announcement of a new development studio in Southern California.

The news comes from an on-stage session with the company's vice president of gaming Mike Verdu at TechCrunch Disrupt, who said that Netflix is "seriously exploring a cloud gaming offering."

While Verdu did not share details, he did suggest this will not be positioned as a platform in its own right.

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The National Labor Relation Board approved the Blizzard Albany QA team's efforts to seek a vote on unionization Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.

Activision Blizzard had argued that the unionization vote should be put to the entire studio instead of just the QA team's 21 members in a move that would have seemingly reduced the chances of a vote in favor of organization.

The NLRB rejected the publisher's argument, saying the QA team's low pay (roughly $42,000 annually compared to $56,000 to $175,000 earned by others at the studio) made them appropriate as a distinct group of employees separate from the rest of Blizzard Albany.

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The winners of the Canada GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards 2022 have been revealed.

The awards event is all about making the games industry a better place to work, and are decided by an in-depth survey of employees. You can see how the awards are judged right here.

The 16 winners, plus a series of special winners, were announced via a 35-minute online ceremony (watch below). EA was the biggest winner with EA Full Circle and EA Motive both picking up badges. EA Canada was also the winner of the Corporate Social Responsibility Award.

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Turkish mobile developer Magic Games has raised $5 million in a seed round led by Makers Fund, with participation by Hummingbird Ventures managing partner Firat Ileri.

The studio was founded by former Peak Games executives Çağrı Öztürk, Rüya Çelikcan and Mert Kasar, with experience on titles such as Toy Blast and Toon Blast.

It aims to use the funding to build out its team, open a European office, and fuel its debut title, an unannounced match-3 game.

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A Plague Tale: Innocence was the surprise hit of 2019. Telling the survival tale of young siblings Amicia and Hugo in 14th Century France, it was its development team's first foray into the stealth adventure genre and it ended up selling one million copies in just over a year.

Now, three years later, Asobo Studio is back with a sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, which releases today.

Talking to us at Gamescom, game director Kevin Choteau admits that the team did not expect A Plague Tale's success.

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To succeed in mobile games today, you not only need to make a great game, but you need to have a strong monetisation plan from the very beginning.

In this special GamesIndustry.biz Podcast, Meta Audience Network’s Michael Bertaut discusses the state of in-game advertising, player acquisition and the future of monetisation. He reveals the latest data on where things are heading and details Meta’s view on how developers can make the most of the new opportunities.

"We’ve noticed a shift from building great games to building a great gaming business," said Bertaut. "Sure, great games are foundational, but long term-success means shifting the focus a bit. To build a strong and sustainable gaming business, one needs both great games and game monetization expertise.

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Simon Hellwig, co-founder, owner and joint managing director of German publisher Kalypso Media, has passed away, as confirmed by the company.

Kalypso announced that Anika Thun will continue to lead the company as managing director as planned, with support from senior management.

Hellwig co-founded Kalypso Media in 2006, and has been overseeing the growth of the firm and its subsidiaries since. The company now employs over 200 staff across five countries, and owns five development studios, as well as digital label Kasedo Games.

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Since 1994's Arena – and particularly since 2002's Morrowind – the Elder Scrolls IP has been synonymous with vast open-world single-player RPGs where fantasy fans can lose themselves in a mix of epic main quests, exploration and an abundance of side content.

But how does that translate to an MMO, where each hero is surrounded by potentially millions of other similarly epic heroes?

"That's the hard part – most Elder Scrolls fans don't want other players in their game," Rich Lambert, ZeniMax Online's creative director for The Elder Scrolls Online, tells GamesIndustry.biz.

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The Mayor of London will pour a further £1 million into Games London, the organisation behind the London Games Festival and its associated activities.

The funding, which will be provided by the Greater London Authority, will be used to support Games London's events over the next three years, including future iterations of its flagship festival.

The mayor previously committed £1.2 million to the organisation back in 2018, and the continuation of this investment is a sign of his ongoing support for the games sector in the UK capital.

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Microsoft has laid off hundreds of employees from across the entire breadth of the company.

Business Insider reports that less than 1,000 staff have been affected, according to its sources. One employee told the site they had only been hired a month ago.

In July, Microsoft announced it would lay off less than 1% of its workforce – which stood at around 180,000 people in total – and would significantly slow its recruitment efforts in the face of an upcoming recession.

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League of Legends firm Riot Games has acquired Wargaming's Sydney development studio.

Wargaming Sydney was originally BigWorld, based in Australia and founded in 2002. Its BigWorld Technology was used to serve over 30 MMO titles. The studio received the Guinness World Record for most players online simultaneously on one MMO server.

The studio was purchased by Wargaming in 2012 for $45 million.

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Original story, October 17, 2022: The original voice performer of the Bayonetta character has called for a boycott of Bayonetta 3 in advance of the game's release later this month.

In a series of videos posted to Twitter, Hellena Taylor says she did not reprise the role for the third game in the series because PlatinumGames lowballed her with its offered payment.

"The final offer to do the whole games – as a buyout, flat rate – was $4,000," Taylor said. "This is an insult to me, the amount of time I took to work on my talent, and everything that I have given to this game and the fans. I am asking the fans to boycott this game and instead spend the money you would have spent on this game, donating it to charity."

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PQube restituted grant funds to Toge Productions as well as rights to its game, A Space For The Unbound.

A statement posted on the title's Twitter last Friday read that "Toge Productions, Mojiken Studio, PQube and Chorus Worldwide have reached an agreement to the satisfaction of all parties with regards to the release of A Space for the Unbound."

Chorus will act as the publisher for the title's upcoming release on console, while Toge will continue to handle the PC edition.

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A new report details the struggles Meta is facing in trying to establish its virtual reality experience Horizon Worlds as a popular metaverse.

The Wall Street Journal cites internal documents that show the company, which renamed itself in the belief that metaverses are the future of technology, has failed to achieve its early ambitions.

The report centres around Horizon Worlds, a collection of virtual reality social spaces where players can engage in activities like shopping, partying and playing mini-games like an arena shooter.

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