Destructoid

It seems like there's a fair bit in store for the universe of Tom Clancy's The Division. Today, Ubisoft announced a free-to-play game set in The Division universe, and provided a few other updates on other projects as well.

In today's blog post, Ubisoft announced that its Red Storm studio is working on a free-to-play game called The Division Heartland. Red Storm has worked on various Tom Clancy video games stretching back to 1997, and Heartland will be a standalone game that will "provide an all new perspective on the universe in a new setting." It's currently set for a 2021-2022 window for PC, consoles, and the cloud.

Ubisoft also confirmed that The Division will be coming to mobile as well, with more details to come later. There's also more The Division 2 content on the way from Ubisoft Massive, including a new game mode, set for a late 2021 release and a Division Netflix film on the way as well.

That's a lot on the way if you're a fan of Tom Clancy's The Division. Even if not, a free-to-play version certainly sounds fairly interesting. And given the sheer flood video game adaptations coming to Netflix as of late, sure, I'll watch a movie starring Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal. I hope there's a montage of them grinding a raid for loot.

Ubisoft will have more news this summer, as its next Forward is currently planned for the all-digital E3 2021. 

June is just around the corner, and with it comes this year's all-digital E3. Today, several more companies confirmed their participation in the all-digital event.

In a press release, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) confirmed that Square Enix, Sega, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Gearbox Entertainment, Verizon, XSEED Games / Marvelous USA, Freedom Games, Devious Eye Entertainment, Turtle Beach, Verizon, and Binge.com are all participating in E3 2021. The ESA says these companies are preparing to bring "major announcements and reveals" to E3.

Square Enix already confirmed its participation last month, but today's announcement bumps up the count of those attending with some pretty notable companies. Others like Nintendo, Capcom, and Microsoft have already confirmed their participation in E3, and Ubisoft has announced its next Forward will be during E3 2021. (Konami, however, will not be participating.)

If you need a tubular tune to help push you into the back half of Thursday, then Bandai Namco has you covered. The publisher has released the opening anime to its intergalactic alien fighter Scarlet Nexus, which is set to launch on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox June 25.

There's a bit of cross-media marketing going on right now between DC Comics and Fornite, and Batman is no stranger to that whole process!

As you may recall, the "Zero Point" comic series debuted recently: which thrusts Bruce Wayne into the Fortnite universe, and forces the World's Greatest Detective to figure out why he has to relive a blood sport battle royale contest every day whilst losing his memory. Of course, there are skins and stuff to earn and buy as a result.

There's sort of two things going on here. Zero Point readers (either physically or through the DC Unlimited service) are getting one code per issue to input for free stuff (first issue was a Harley Quinn skin, the second issue is the Zero Wing bat glider), and Epic, in true Epic fashion, is just letting you buy the stuff over scattered increments.

That's where Batman comes in. Just yesterday Epic unleashed his bundle into the storefront, which is going for 2,100 V-Bucks (roughly $20) and includes the Batman Zero skin, his tattered cape, a grappling axe harvesting tool, the aforementioned Zero Wing glider that's sort of a double-up reward, and the "Batman From Zero" loading screen that's seen in the header in this very story. You can find the full schedule of reveals here, with eventual updates for when you can buy them on the store (Harley is in June, for example).

That's basically it for now: Issue #2 is out, and you can buy some skins and make Batman do the Naruto run and/or dab.

It's skate time!

We haven't gotten nearly enough skating sims before.....roughly a few years ago, but now we have Tony Hawk 1+2 and Session. And Skate City!

Today Skate City hits the Switch, alongside of a few other interesting releases like Raiden IV x Mikado remix. The eShop is coming off a smallish showing these past few weeks outside of the launch of New Pokemon Snap, as it awaits the next big Nintendo release in Miitopia.

Here's the rest!

Humble Bundle has announced that it will abandon its plan to replace the storefront's dividend sliders with static, capped options. The Humble Bundle store will continue to allow its customers to decide what portion of their purchases are donated to the store's many charities.

The controversial plans were announced in April, and would have seen the current Humble Bundle system — which lets the customer plot the distribution of each sale between charity, publisher, and Humble Bundle itself — replaced with two flat-rate choices: "Default Donation" (5% to charity) and "Extra to Charity" (15% to charity). These options would see more money distributed to publishers, with an aim to encouraging more companies to volunteer titles for inclusion in future bundles. The community was disappointed with the change, however, and thus the original system will be retained.

"We’ve heard everyone loud and clear and apologize for the way these changes were rolled out," said Humble Bundle in a new statement. "We are now taking a moment to pause, collect constructive feedback and be more transparent about the path forward. Today, we’ll be turning sliders back on for all customers on our bundle pages while we take more time to review feedback and consider sliders and the importance of customization for purchases on bundle pages in the long term."

In case you missed it, Nintendo posted their financial results this morning for the fiscal year ending in March 2021, and there's a lot to parse. Go ahead, read it! Back? OK we'll head into what's to come now that you're done catching up on what has been.

Although it wasn't mind-blowingly revelatory, Nintendo gave us some insight into what this summer might look like before we get potentially more surprise-summer releases, and deal with the fervor of E3. Pokemon Snap just launched of course, but on May 21 we're heading into Miitopia territory.

Following that, we're getting Game Builder Garage on June 11, which was just announced (good timing!). Then on June 25 Nintendo is pushing out Mario Gold Super Rush, which we'll probably hear more about at E3. From a hardware perspective, the Nintendo Switch Lite is coming out with a new color (blue) on May 21.

In non-Switch news, Nintendo reminds us that Super Nintendo World technically had a grand opening on March 18 (which has hit some snags), and they also have a Pikmin app coming. We'll get more soon enough, but this is what their schedule looks like for now as a lot of big-time projects have been pushed back.

The reviews are out for Capcom's highly anticipated Resident Evil Village and, for the most part, critics agree that it's a bloody good time. The newest entry in the genre-defining horror franchise launches tomorrow, bringing another terrifying adventure into the supposed comfort and safety of your humble home.

We've been talking about how Animal Crossing: New Horizons has been doing well for roughly a year, but now Nintendo has the data to prove it.

Just this morning they released their latest fiscal year results (ending in March 2021), and the results are just as we expected. In the 2020 fiscal year, hardware sales were at 21.03 units: but in FY 2021, they hit 28.83 million, a 37.1% increase. The Switch and Switch Lite managed to both improve here, with 20.32 million Switch units sold in FY 2021 (up from 14.83m), and 8.51 million Lites (up from 6.19m).

For those keeping track, the grand total of public Switch hardware sales as of March 2021 is 84.59 million. That puts Switch as number eight in the all-time best-selling system list, surpassing the Xbox 360 by roughly half a million in sales. The Lite continues to be a sound investment by Nintendo to continue to penetrate homes that favor portable gaming.

In terms of software, Nintendo boasts 36 Switch games that managed to hit a million-plus in sales in FY 2021, and that list has 22 Nintendo games on it. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the top of the pops, with 20.85m, followed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (10.62), Mario 3D All-Stars (9.01m), and Ring Fit Adventure (7.38m). Animal Crossing is just shy of beating Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, only needing less than 3 million more units in sales, to take the top software spot.

The full million-seller list is below, consisting mostly of proven big names like Mario (or Luigi!), Zelda, and Pokemon titles. But there's a few success stories too, including Clubhouse Games and the aforementioned Ring Fit Adventure: a Cinderella story of sorts amid perfect timing.

[Update: Mortal Kombat is now available to stream in the U.K.! The movie is available to rent for £15.99 on Amazon Prime, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and the Sky Store.]

Warner Bros. has finally announced a U.K. release date for its cinematic adaptation of NetherRealm Studios' Mortal Kombat. As spotted by Eurogamer, the critically panned but financially successful fighting flick will hit U.K. streaming services May 6, at a rental price of £15.99.

After facing down several production woes and perpetually shifting dates, Mortal Kombat finally premiered April 23 in U.S. theaters (or at least those that are currently open) and on paid streaming service HBO Max, which will carry all Warner Bros. releases for the duration of 2021. The frenetically edited action-adventure had a hugely successful launch, hitting $22.5 million USD at the physical box office while streaming in around 3.6 million homes.

The German Games Industry Association has officially confirmed that Gamescom 2021 will follow a fully digital streaming format this summer, abandoning previous plans to showcase this year's iteration as a hybrid online/physical event.

Previously, Gamescom had hoped that the situation regarding the global COVID-19 pandemic would have settled enough to allow for a small-scale live show. But despite the global rollout of vaccines and steadily declining infection numbers, the organizers have decided that it remains too late-in-the-day for companies to commit to travel and marketing plans, as well as designing programs and displays for the show floor. Thus the decision was made to replicate 2020's online-only format.

"Together with game — The German Games Industry Association, we have put all our energy into making Gamescom 2021 in a hybrid format possible for fans and industry alike," said Koelnmesse CEO Oliver Frese. "However, even though the hybrid concept was very well received by the partners, we had to recognize that Gamescom still comes too early for many companies in the industry due to the required planning reliability."

Gamescom 2021 will kick off on August 25 with Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live stream. From there, Gamescom will run until the evening of August 27, showcasing a slew of announcements, trailers, developer interviews, Q&A's, and much, much more. This year's event will also see the debut of "Gamescom Epix", a community-driven experience that will allow viewers to team up for "quests" on social media and the new-and-improved Gamescom hub.

Devolver Digital has announced that hyper-gooey FPS sequel Shadow Warrior 3 will be blowing up on PS4 and Xbox One when it launches later this year. While the bombastic action game had been previously revealed for PC, console editions were yet to be confirmed.

In addition to the announcement, developer Flying Wild Hog released a new video — exclusively to IGN — that shows off some of the hellish encounters, locations, enemies, and weapons that will be entering the life of long-sufferin', hard-rockin' hero Lo Wang.

IGN's video spotlights the "Double Trouble" gore weapon, the gross "Gassy Obariyon" enemy, and finally the "Doomsday Device" map, which unfortunately appears to have little-to-nothing to do with clotheslining a man off of another man's shoulders. More's the pity.

While Shadow Warrior 3 is yet to receive a release date, it is on track to launch in 2021.

_{[Destructoid reader Nior put a much-appreciated spotlight on some great games coming out of BIG Festival 2021. -Jordan]}

The "Brazil of Games" series was born out of a desire to explore, catalog, and tell the Brazilian game industry’s history and culture. Over the last two years, that’s exactly what I did. From the ill-fated Zeebo to the unfairly reviewed Outlive, I’ve talked plenty about the past, and while there are still more stories to tell, today we’ll look to the future.

The indie scene has been on a steady and healthy growth, and one of the reasons is Brazil's Independent Game Festival (BIG Fes). You can think of it as a GDQ focusing, but not limited to, the indie scene in Latin America. This week marks the start of its 9th edition—and the second edition online because the world is a cluster-fuck right now—and it’s about time I give it the spotlight it deserves for all its contributions to our industry: the chance for developers to get some networking, the showcase of games, the talks, and of course, today’s subject, the awards!

In every edition, BIG nominates ten games for the category of Best Brazilian Video game. So let’s talk about them! Here are the nominees in no particular order!

Nintendo announced a new game out of the blue today that's all about making games. Game Builder Garage is software for learning to create and share your own video games, built within the suite of Game Builder Garage, arriving on June 11.

Using the visual programming language of Game Builder Garage, you can do basic things like attaching movement to a stick and jump to a button. Then, start expanding outwards—Nintendo's trailer shows tons of game types and ideas to get your mind thinking about where this system might be able to take you. 

There will be tutorials to teach you how to build projects through step-by-step interactive lessons, and you can also head into Free Programming mode, where you can also swap between game and programming backend to quickly test your creation.

There's also the ability to exchange and download games, either through a local wireless connection or over the internet. It can be controlled with a Joy-Con controller, Switch Pro controller, or through a compatible mouse plugged into the USB port on the Switch dock, according to a Nintendo press release.

Game Builder Garage so far looks like the mix of Mario Maker with general game creation suites like Dreams, so it'll be interesting to see what Nintendo brings to the game-making game genre. Game Builder Garage arrives on the Nintendo Switch on June 11 for $29.99.

It looks like some secrets are drifting around for intrepid Destiny 2 detectives to discover. Some attentive players noticed that some clips going around actually held code that, when deciphered, led them to a special new emblem.

Detailed on the Destiny 2 secret and glitch-hunting subreddit r/raidsecrets, content creators had been posting clips on social media. Poster Emutwoo had discovered that there were bits of binary, and both the subreddit and Discord got to work breaking it down.

Eventually, they uncovered that by running the binary through an ASCII converter, you could get letters and numbers. And soon, a code was uncovered that could be redeemed for the emblem "Sequence Flourish."

The code to redeem on Bungie's site, if you want to skip right ahead, is 7D4-PKR-MD7. Users are theorizing there could be more, but at least for now, that's one free, neat emblem that came about thanks to the ingenuity and problem-solving of the community. Congrats to them!

[Update: What's in patch 1.3.3? A fix for "certain Trophies" not unlocking correctly (though you'll have to retrace your steps all over), "multiple stability fixes" for "crashes/hangs," and a fix for that one nasty bug with the pre-order suits that prevents item and door interactions, along with other "minor" touch-ups.

Housemarque has also upped "the number of scout corpses available in all biomes," something people had been wondering about — have you encountered any bodies yet? Maybe now you will.]

[Update 2: Some Returnal players are reporting corrupted save data and errors in the wake of this patch, which is bad news for permanent unlocks. Clearly, there are still some bumps to smooth out.]

Not to dive into the whole "lack of saves in Returnal" thing again so soon, but yeah, it's warranted. In a tweet today, Housemarque warned users to turn off the PlayStation 5's auto-update feature:

PSA: #Returnal patch and patch notes will go live tomorrow (May 5) at noon PST, 7pm GMT.

Set your #PS5 auto-update off to keep your run.
https://t.co/ICzxVHvCEq

I don't know how I let such a long-time-coming game like Psychonauts 2 sneak up on me, but it kind of has — assuming it's coming out soon, I mean. The latest official word on launch day is still "this year," but after a recent Microsoft Store listing (with a few fun details) and the newfound ability to pre-load the game from the Xbox app (it's 27-ish GB), the sequel feels imminent. That's super exciting!

For what it's worth, the pre-load functionality in the app has since been removed. Was this all just a slip-up? Either way, there are a bunch of eyes on the game this week and I'm now among them.

eating some "Bold" Chex mix at the moment. what's going on?

— Double Fine (@DoubleFine) May 5, 2021

If you wanted some new high rez stuff, you coulda just asked... pic.twitter.com/VFYzFU6Ep0

[Update: It's that time again! You can now claim Wreckfest (PS5 only), Stranded Deep (PS4), and Battlefield V (PS4) for your PlayStation Plus library. The offer stands until June 1, 2021.]

The three games coming to PlayStation Plus members next month feature famous vehicles of destruction, from the historical and sporting to the nautical. On May 4, Wreckfest hits the PlayStation 5 lineup, while Battlefield V and Stranded Deep round out the PS4.

Wreckfest: Drive Hard, Die Last is a "full-contact racer" from the makers of FlatOut. There aren't just competitive races, but challenges involving odd vehicles like crop harvesters, and 24-player online multiplayer. Seems good for the folks who didn't get their fill of next-gen vehicular destruction from Destruction AllStars. 

Battlefield V is the series' return to World War 2, with single-player War Stories and massive multiplayer maps to fight across. It makes sense to see this on here, as the Battlefield team is teasing a reveal coming soon.

If you fancy filling your summer with a hefty dose of mid-'00s adventure, then Nippon Ichi Software (NIS) has you covered. The publisher has announced a release date for Prinny Presents NIS Classics Vol. 1, which hits PC and Switch in North America August 31, with Europe following on September 3.

Prinny Presents NIS Classics Vol. 1 includes two anime-happy adventures. The first title is Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered. This 2010 Sony PSP adventure is itself a remastered edition of the 2004 PS2 release, and sees a spirited orphan girl and her ghost pal protect their world from a terrifying demonic force. This edition of Phantom Brave is expected to be the same release that previously launched on Steam in 2016.

Experiment 101's anthropomorphic adventure Biomutant is almost with us, after years of quiet contemplation and fervored development. As part of its final marketing furlong, publisher THQ Nordic dropped a brand new trailer yesterday, May 4, known in some corners as "Star Wars Day."

The Mass Effect Legendary Edition is fast approaching, and its box art is adorned with the many crewmates of the Normandy from throughout the trilogy.

But maybe you don't like how they're arranged? Maybe you're a little more Paragon or Renegade, or you'd rather spotlight the shady station of Omega or the pristine Presidium. Honestly, Kasumi deserves some box art respect too, right?

Well, you can make it all happen with a new creation tool that BioWare put out today. This handy-dandy site lets you pick your morality, location, and favorite crewmates to create your own personalized version of the Legendary Edition box art.

It even comes in multiple sizes, so you can share the image around easily between devices. Get a 4K wallpaper render, a square size for a social media icon or 9:16 for your phone background, and then of course, a full box art for PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.

The only trick is you have to, essentially, rank the crew of the Normandy. You pick out various characters for slots like "Favorite Squadmates" and "Trusted Companion," though some are unavailable for some of the spots on the lineup. Then, after somehow choosing favorites, it creates your own beautiful lineup, personalized to your favorite crew.

It's taken a while to get to this point, but developer ININ Games finally has a launch date for the incoming Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World. The cutesy retro remake will launch on PS4 and Nintendo Switch on May 28, with a PC port hitting Steam a month later on June 29.

The Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 remasters are finally making their way to Nintendo Switch, so yes, you'll soon be able to ride switch on the Switch.

Activision announced today that last year's great remaster of the first two Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games is coming to Nintendo Switch on June 25. This will be the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater to debut on the Switch,  and it's arriving with everything included: all original levels, skaters, and the sick tracks.

Grab your board and #NintendoSwitch, and get ready to drop in to @TonyHawktheGame 1+2 on June 25th!

Skate through all the classic levels with some of your favorite pro skaters and a whole lot more.

🛹: https://t.co/H4HKkmgysa pic.twitter.com/WBUMpz7CDV

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 5, 2021

According to the Nintendo eShop page, the Switch version will also have Create-A-Park and Create-A-Skater, as well as online multiplayer and leaderboards. The GIF in the tweet above also shows the game in action, and it looks fairly smooth. Hopefully the transition to Nintendo Switch holds up well, because I don't think you'll need to twist my arm to get me to play some Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the go.

In real out-of-the-blue news, retro-lovin' publisher Microids has announced that the 16-bit adventure classic Flashback is to receive a sequel. The new game, tentatively titled Flashback 2 is scheduled to launch on PC and consoles sometime in 2022.

Originally released on the Amiga in 1992, Flashback is an action-packed platformer telling the story of Conrad Hart, an amnesiac federal agent whose memories contain information pertaining to an alien invasion. Players guide Hart through a futuristic cyberpunk setting, completing missions, engaging in wild gun battles, and even becoming a contestant on a Running Man-style game show in efforts to return to Earth and overthrow the subterfuge.

Flashback won over critics and fans with its intelligent storytelling, beautiful animation, and immersive atmosphere. Flashback would be followed by pseudo-sequel Fade to Black in 1995, and has received multiple remasters and remakes since release. Microids' new project appears to be a straight sequel to the original title, although no details have been released regarding its gameplay or aesthetic approach.

Importantly, original Flashback designer Paul Cuisset is on board with the project.

"Developing a sequel to Flashback is an idea I've had for a very long time. I can’t wait for players to discover the new adventures of Conrad B. Hart, a character created almost 30 years ago," said Cuisset of the project. "With Microids, we are really aiming to please the fans of the original title while being appealing to any players with a weak spot for futuristic games."

Detective Pikachu is a really strange subseries for The Pokemon Company. Beginning life as a 3DS game, it spun off into a film that did fairly well, and it even got a giant amiibo! It's on their radar to an extent, but only just.

Is there room for a film sequel? Speaking to Inverse, star Justice Smith (who plays Tim Goodman) doesn't think it's going to happen, though he is game if it does.

It had to happen at some point. But so soon?

Hot on the heels of yesterday's Barney the Dinosaur mod, the Resident Evil Village homebrew community has taken its creativity one step too far, birthing what one of the most disturbing and frightening images in the storied history of Capcom's survival horror franchise. Curse you, Crazy Potato, for unleashing the "Count Theodora" mod, which transforms the beautiful-yet-unsettling face of Lady Alcina Dimitescu into that of Resident Evil's trademark stalker: Thomas the Tank Engine.

Be afraid... Be very afraid.

The opening moments of the Epic vs. Apple antitrust suit were rendered amusingly farcical yesterday, after a public conference call failed to mute all of its listeners, leading to a chorus of Fortnite players dialling-in to sound off about the restrictions placed on their favorite battle royale title.

The conference call — implemented in many courtrooms — allows members of the public to log on and listen to proceedings live as they take place. But, as reported by The Verge, the court failed to mute all of yesterday's listeners, leading to over 200 participants simultaneously caterwauling that Fortnite remains unavailable on iPhone and iPad. Some listeners reportedly made the most of the opportunity, taking time out to advertise their YouTube and Twitch channels. You gotta hustle, I guess...

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is kind of a weird game! I mean, I didn't expect Electronic Arts to release a full single-player Star Wars experience that wasn't nickel and dimed into oblivion, but here we are.

Fallen Order managed to carve out a nice little fanbase since 2019, and it's been deemed worthy enough of a current-gen upgrade later this year. For free, no less! Its legacy continues. This week, in fact! If you're on the fence about Fallen Order, you can climb it for free starting this week and take your ball and go home.

It's part of Stadia's "Pro" subscription now, which allows players to claim games for free to their account. Note that "free with a subscription" is always a qualifier, but if you give the Stadia Pro trial a shot, you can finish it over the course of a few days. Think of it like a rental!

Other Stadia Pro games currently on offer include Trine 4, Resident Evil 7 (Gold Edition), Hitman Season 1, Floor Kids, and Ys VIII. It's a good spread, and a hell of a collection of games to spend a weekend on if you trial up.

Stadia Pro [Google]

In mind-blowing but completely believable news, it has been discovered that Epic Games' Fortnite — undeniably one of the biggest global phenomenons in the history of video games — raked in over $9 billion USD during its operation period of 2018 to 2019.

The ridiculous figure, brought to the forefront by The Verge, was released as part of the ongoing antitrust battle between Fortnite publisher Epic Games and industry overlord Apple. During the first day of the eyebrow-raising trial, a document was released from a January 2020 in-house presentation, revealing that the battle royale title made $5.4 billion in 2018, followed by $3.7 billion the following year, for a total over $9.1 billion in just two years.

Given the reduction in revenue between these two years, Epic predicted the downward trend would continue, and that Fortnite would make in the region of $2.7 billion in 2020. Instead, the figure actually increased, with players spending $5.1 billion in a year that turned out to be incredibly profitable for a large portion of the video game industry. The document also notes that Epic's sales platform, Epic Games Store, made $235 million during the 2018-2019 period, though it should be reiterated that, despite this, EGS currently operates at a loss.

In today's contest you can win a Star Wars bundle from fun.com!

It's May 4th, and you know what that means -- tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo! Get your tacos and margaritas ready to appropriate foreign culture in the most American way possible!

Oh yeah, and today is Star Wars Day, so win this Star Wars t-shirt and plush bundle from our friends at fun.com! And May the fourth be with you, because for most of us, May the fifth will be a drunken blur.

It's 2021. Street Fighter V has been out for five years, it's receiving its final season of content, and a sequel appears to be on the horizon. What is it like to enter its highly competitive scene in this environment? Is it populated mostly by veterans who will absolutely destroy you? Or is there a healthy base of beginners? Here's what I learned on my journey through the ranks. 

For a little background, I'm not unfamiliar with fighting games. I've played plenty casually and got semi-serious about Dragon Ball FighterZ for a bit, but Street Fighter is a different beast. The unique combo timing and ground-based neutral game were foreign concepts to me. I had played it a bit on launch in 2016 but left due to not really understanding the game and a lack of content.

Credit to Capcom though, they have improved the game immensely since then. The new content and mechanics they've added have been stellar. Street Fighter V is in a great spot and the community is the happiest it has been with the game in a long while. 

But what is it like to actually rank up in 2021? Well, the good news is that, according to data compiled by Reddit user LimitlessCSGOTV, more than half of the players are in Rookie or Bronze. These numbers include inactive users as well but the player base seems to be healthy. 

The series of demos for Resident Evil Village have come and gone, but they were here long enough for some modders to already get to work. And while replacing characters like the Duke or Lady Dimitrescu is one thing, turning the castle's horrors into giant purple monstrosities is another.

As spotted by PC Gamer, modder Marcos RC has been showing off a few model swaps with the Village demo. Before their time ran out, they got one more implemented: a horrifying swap that puts the lovable children's mascot Barney in place of the castle's evil creatures.

Of course, modders have also been fiddling with things like extending the timer on the demo and other odds and ends, but this Barney mod is truly horrifying. Hopefully Capcom never sees this and gets any ideas. Or at least let the puppets handle it.

The demo window is open a little while longer, but it won't be long until Resident Evil Village is out for all on May 7. If it's anything like Resident Evil 2's modding scene, look forward to even more model swaps, I guess.

The question of which studio is helming this year's Call of Duty title has been answered. Sledgehammer Games is leading development on the still-untitled Call of Duty for 2021.

On an earnings call earlier today, Activision Blizzard confirmed that Sledgehammer Games would be taking charge. At the same time, the Sledgehammer account posted a GIF of The Undertaker rising from the coffin without a caption, later confirming that they are "leading the charge on [Call of Duty] this year and can't wait to share more."

We’re so excited to be leading the charge on @CallofDuty this year and can’t wait to share more. https://t.co/pMuaFybT1r

— Sledgehammer Games (@SHGames) May 4, 2021

Sledgehammer previously led the charge on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Call of Duty: WWII, and assisted fellow CoD studios Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Raven Software with both 2019's Modern Warfare and last year's Black Ops Cold War. The studio will also be expanding with a new team in Toronto, CA.

In its quarterly earnings, Activision Blizzard noted that 88% of its revenue was generated via digital full game downloads or in-app purchases. Call of Duty Mobile has also passed 500 million downloads.

The Last Blade 2's Hibiki Takane has always been an emotional sort. It's totally understandable, given the young swordswoman's exceptionally tough and violent childhood.

In her short video game career, Hibiki has been both a delicate flower and a throat-slitting executioner at one and the same time. Recognizing this, SNK has given her recent Samurai Shodown iteration a very novel twist, allowing the player to designate Hibiki's mood as they see fit, toggling Takane's mood between that of stoic, reluctant expertise, or vengeful, fiery-eyed fury — both of which I can relate to on any given day at Destructoid.

Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, has resigned from CD Projekt following claims of workplace bullying.

As reported by Bloomberg, Tomaszkiewicz had been the subject of a months-long investigation over allegations of "mobbing, a Polish term for office bullying." Tomaszkiewicz has denied these allegations, and Bloomberg reports that in the email to CD Projekt staff, Tomaszkiewicz writes that a commission had been formed to look into the allegations and "had found him not guilty."

"Nonetheless, a lot of people are feeling fear, stress or discomfort when working with me," wrote Tomaszkiewicz, who apologized to staff "for all the bad blood I have caused." According to the email to employees obtained by Bloomberg, he also says the decision was agreed upon with the company's board.

"I am going to continue working on myself," wrote Tomaszkiewicz. "Changing behavior is a long and arduous process, but I'm not giving up, and I hope to change."

He confirmed his departure to Bloomberg, telling the outlet he was "sad, a bit disappointed and resigned," while CD Projekt declined to comment. 

Microsoft has responded to recent reports that the publisher is planning to reduce the amount of money it makes on each and every Xbox game sale. According to the industry giant, it currently has no plans to take any less of a stake in the sales of any Xbox platform software.

The rumor came about following the publishing of a confidential document by The Verge. The presentation slide, which is titled "Microsoft Store Policies & App Store Principles" and was written in January 2021, seemed to suggest that Microsoft was preparing to readjust its revenue on each game to 88/12 in a developer's favor, down from the 70/30; the standard for most of the AAA gaming industry.

But in a new statement to The Verge, Microsoft openly said that it has no plans to adjust revenue share on Xbox games. The publisher originally stated "We have no plans to change the revenue share for console games at this time", before later returning with a far more definitive "We will not be updating the revenue split for console publishers".

It's easy to see why people could consider the adjustment a possibility. Microsoft recently adjusted the revenue share on PC games to 88/12, in keeping with similar schemes offered by publishers such as Epic Games Store. Applying this same strategy to consoles would have serious ramifications throughout the industry, possibly forcing the hand of both PlayStation and Nintendo to follow suit or risk losing out to Xbox exclusivity deals. While such a strategy would be bold — not to mention better for developers — it seems that Microsoft is choosing to stick with the status quo.

In news that might be apropos of nothing, Sony Interactive Entertainment has officially trademarked the Sunset Overdrive brand, making the former Xbox exclusive an officially owned Sony IP.

When developer Insomniac Games took its crazy, hypercolor shooter to Microsoft way back in 2011, part of the exclusivity deal was Insomniac retaining ownership of the Sunset Overdrive IP. Insomniac Games would, of course, be purchased by SIE in August 2019, bringing Spider-Man and other Insomniac brands into the Sony portfolio.

This new trademark registration, (spotted by Resetera user Sillegamer) could simply be be a case of Sony finally rubber-stamping its ownership of Sunset Overdrive — dotting the i's and crossing the t's, as it were — but the news has understandably gotten franchise fans antsy for the possibility of a PlayStation remaster or, even better, a brand new sequel.

The button-mashing speedrunners over at Games Done Quick are getting set to sweat once again. The GDQ organizers have announced that sibling community Frame Fatales will be holding another fantastic, all-women's speedrunning event this coming summer.

Rebranded "Flame Fatales", the week-long event will see some of the world's greatest speedrunners gather online to showcase their twitchy, glitchy abilities. Game submissions are set to open on May 18 and will remain open until May 25. So if you're a fast lass and want in on the action, drop a DM to the Frame Fatales Twitter for access to the official Discord, where you can speak to the event organizers and meet the friendly Frame Fatales community.

The "Fleet Fatales" event back in November 2020 successfully raised over $80,000 for The Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that fights to ensure women and girls across the globe are afforded access to safe, free, and high-quality education, regardless of status, background, nationality or economy. The team will no doubt be looking to smash that number this summer, so be sure to check out the action come August. Don't worry, we'll be sure to remind you!

Flame Fatales takes place August 15-21. For more information, visit Frame Fatales on Twitter.

We're this close to figuring out why Metroid can't crawl, and we may never know, if the plans in this Epic versus Apple court document never sees the light of day.

So in case you missed it, the huge court battle between Epic and Apple is happening now, which will potentially determine the fate of both the App Store and Epic's forthcoming business plan. There's a lot to unpack here from a legal standpoint, but one of the more interesting elements that came out of the proceedings was...spoilers?

It's tough being a member of melodramatic counter-terrorist strike team Rainbow. One moment your saving hostages and Fuzing your own teammates, the next you are literally the last hope for the continued survival of all mankind. At least that's what's Rainbow Six Siege fans are being led to believe in the multiplayer shooter's brand new event: Apocalypse.

Kicking off today and running through May 18, Apocalypse is a limited-time event that sees a handful of Team Rainbow's operators tasked with protecting the last bastion of life after some dreadful, ungodly war. The new mode sees a team of Defenders — comprised of Maestro, Melusi, Rook, Smoke, and Valkyrie — protecting Earth's last living plant from a team of Attackers, consisting of Fuze, Gridlock, Maverick, Nomad, and Twitch.