Today Take-Two Interactive Software held its quarterly financial conference call for investors and analysts.

During a Q&A session, someone asked how game development was going over at Take-Two’s development studios, specifically two of the newer ones, Cloud Chamber and 31st Union. The former is currently developing the next entry in the BioShock series, and the latter is working on an “ambitious and inspired new IP.“

Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two CEO, stated that things are going “very, very well” and talks about the company’s current pipeline and how working from home has affected development:

We have an extraordinary pipeline. We’ve doubled our prior pipeline of releases over the next five years. You’ve mentioned two of our studios. I really talk about all of our studios, and they’re many now. Everything is looking great and is on target. We do not expect to see any slippage. While I think working from home is tough, and I admire our colleagues for doing such a great job doing it. It isn’t the same as being in the office, and yet we have not seen any slowdown in our expected cadence of releases.

If you’re interested in Take-Two’s financial performance for the second quarter of their fiscal year 2021, you can read our dedicated article from earlier today.

In case you haven’t heard, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S launch is just around the corner. Day-one software may not be the most robust, but early adopters can still tear into games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Not so fast, though. Before we dive into dessert, we still have some tasty looking entrees left on the plate in the form of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games that still haven’t released.

These games not only have yet to launch but have also been floating in development purgatory. I’m talking about projects we either haven’t heard from in years or have simply been delayed repeatedly with no clear end goal. Before we kick off next-gen in earnest, here’s a reminder of some easy-to-forget projects still waiting in the wings for your current consoles.

With Xbox Series X/S and PS5 both set to begin their long-awaited journeys out into the wild next week, EA has detailed the next-gen enhancements coming to its biggest current-gen titles - including Apex Legends, Star Wars: Squadrons - via backward-compatibility on launch day.

Star Wars: Squadrons will, for instance, support variable refresh rates and offer the choice between better visuals and better performance on Xbox Series X/S. The former mode features an improved lighting model and runs up to 1440p at 60fps on the Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X ramps that up to 2160p at 60fps. Performance Mode, meanwhile, offers 1440p at 120fps and up to 2160p at 120fps respectively. PlayStation 5 will include improved lighting "at the same resolution and framerate as on the PS4 Pro".

The next-gen news is a little brisker for Apex Legends, which will see a "performance boost up to 1440p". EA does note, however, that "more formal enhancements" for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 are planned to arrive next year.

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On November 2, Capcom’s servers were brought down by “unauthorized access carried out by a third party”.

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New console season arrives in the midst of a pandemic

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A Take-Two report shares the update

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During Electronic Arts’ financial conference call for investors and analysts, chief executive officer Andrew Wilson talked about the publisher’s next-gen plans.

Wilson announced that EA plans to launch at least six new games for the next-gen consoles in fiscal year 2022, which means between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022.

He also confirmed that the new Need for Speed will come during that interval and the new Battlefield will release in the Holiday season 2021.

“We plan to launch at least six new games for the next-gen consoles in FY22. These will include a new Need For Speed game that will bring some outstanding visual leaps, developed by the Criterion team that launched some of the most highly-rated games in the franchise’s history.

DICE is creating our next Battlefield game with never-before-seen scale. The technical advancements of the ner consoles are allowing the team to deliver a true next-gen vision for the franchise. “

Wilson added that the game is being tested internally and receiving “very positive feedback” as EA is starting to engage the community.

The new Battlefield will release in the Holiday season 2021 and the publisher plans to share “a lot more” about it next spring.

If you want to learn more about the latest financial results from Electronic Arts you can check out our dedicated article.

If someone is planning to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X from Best Buy, they'll have to go through the store's website.

The post Best Buy Stores Will Only Sell the PS5 and Xbox Series X Online Initially appeared first on Siliconera.

Bunige offered players a minor small peek at the Destiny 2: Beyond Light

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This afternoon, Take-Two Interactive Software announced their financial results for the second quarter of their fiscal year 2021, which ran from July 1, 2020 until Sept. 30, 2020.

Their GAAP net revenue was even greater than last quarter by nearly $10 million. However, compared to Q2 fiscal year 2020, this number dropped by $16.7 million.

• GAAP net revenue was $841.1 million, an increase of nearly $10 million over last quarter
• GAAP net income per diluted share increased 37% to $0.86 
• GAAP net cash provided by operating activities for the six-months ended September 30, 2020 increased 335% to $626.7 million
• Adjusted Unrestricted Operating Cash Flow (Non-GAAP) for the six-months ended September 30, 2020 increased 1135% to $509.4 million
• Net Bookings grew to $957.5 million
• Company raises outlook for fiscal year 2021, including record Net Bookings

It’s also important to note that 59% of their total GAAP net revenue from Q2 came from recurrent customer spending. This includes virtual currency, add-ons, and other in-game purchases. This section of their revenue also saw a 56% increase in Q2.

We also got details on which of their franchises contributed most to their revenue during Q2 as well as some details on how much of their revenue came from digital sales.

The largest contributors to GAAP net revenue in fiscal second quarter 2021 were NBA® 2K20 and NBA 2K21; Grand Theft Auto® Online and Grand Theft Auto V; Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online; Borderlands® 3; PGA TOUR® 2K21; Social Point’s mobile offerings; the Mafia: Definitive Editions and Mafia: Trilogy; Sid Meier’s Civilization VI; and the WWE® series.

Today Take-Two Interactive Software announced some impressive new shipment figures for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V during its quarterly financial conference call for investors and analysts.

During the call, we hear that Grand Theft Auto V “continues to grow its audience,” with the title surpassing 135 million units sold. Also, consumer spending on GTA Online outperformed Take-Two’s second-quarter forecast.

Red Dead Redemption 2 also outperformed and has sold over 34 million units worldwide. Net bookings from Red Dead 2 grew “an outstanding 124%, including 106% growth in full game sales.

There was also a growth of 47% growth of new players.

We also hear once again that GTA Online and Red Dead Online will continue to be supported to keep new and returning players “excited and engaged.”

You can read our Red Dead Redemption 2 review here if you want to find out why it sold so well.

If you’re interested in Take-Two’s financial performance for the second quarter of their fiscal year 2021, you can read our dedicated article from earlier today.

The post Red Dead Redemption 2 Has Sold Over 34 Million Units; Grand Theft Auto V Over 135 Million appeared first on Twinfinite.

How do you enjoy Fall Guys? Like it? Love it? Reckon you’re the game’s biggest fan? Well tough luck, mate, because that honour goes to the bean stumbler’s upcoming new stage, a whirly-twirly fan-packed gauntlet arriving in next week’s midseason update. Oh, and it also looks like there’s another mystery obstacle on the way, in the form of…

Oh, they called it Little Yeety? Sure. Why not. Fine.

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Call of Duty: Warzone, Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War are all getting a cross-title Prestige system of sorts.

Season One of Black Ops Cold War, which starts in December, brings universal and synchronised player progression that works between Black Ops Cold War, Modern Warfare, and Warzone.

The Black Ops Cold War progression is similar to Modern Warfare's and incorporates a Prestige system, Activision said.

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Next-gen is online only at Best Buy

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Electronic Arts has just announced that its EA Sports division will be continuing its partnership deals with the NHL and UFC for years to come.

This means that the company will retain the exclusive rights to the in-game use of some of the most famous hockey players and MMA fighters in the world.

EA’s UFC 4 launched on Aug. 14, while NHL 21 was released almost a month later on Oct. 16.

NHL 21 managed to achieve the most daily active players at launch for the franchise in the last three years. UFC 4’s launch week boasted over 54 million in-game fights across all players, which is a significant increase over UFC 3’s numbers.

Today, EA is stating that fans of both series will be seeing much more of them in the future. For the UFC, the EA Sports partnership has already lasted over 10 years, while the NHL deal has been ongoing for over 30 years.

NHLPA Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider had this to say about the NHL extension:

The NHLPA is proud to renew our long-standing partnership with EA, ensuring their exceptional NHL hockey franchise will continue showcasing the players to fans around the world for the coming years

Tracey Bleczinski, Senior Vice President of UFC Global Consumer Products, had a similar statement expressing how thrilling the deal is.

Today Electronic Arts released its financial results for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2021, related to the period between July 1 and September 30, 2020.

Firstly,  the accompanying press release includes statements from Chief Executive Officer Andrew Wilson and Chief Operating and Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen.

Wilson boasts “significant growth” for EA’s business and predicts further expansion into the next fiscal year and beyond.

“Thanks to the incredible work of our teams and everything they continue to do for players while working from home, we’re delivering more fan-favorite games, growing our leading live services, and engaging more players across more platforms than ever before.

Our business has grown significantly this year, and we are projecting continued expansion into FY22 and beyond.”

Jorgensen mentions that the results for this quarter were well above predictions, also mentioning that Apex Legends is expected to become a billion-dollar franchise by the end of the year.

“We delivered a quarter well above our guidance, driven by our live services, particularly Madden and FIFA. This resulted in a new record trailing twelve-month cash flow of $2.04 billion. We are pleased to announce a new share repurchase program and also to initiate a dividend for the first time in EA history.

The next generation of gaming is almost here and the PlayStation 5, much like the Xbox Series X, boasts impressively fast loading times and crisp performance for the years ahead. Thanks to the PS5's SSD, getting into a game is easier and faster than ever, but the actual storage? That could use a little improvement. 

The PlayStation 5 system does have an internal slot that is meant to host external storage options, though at launch this feature will be disabled regarding the SSD specifically. A Sony rep confirmed this to The Verge, saying that external storage support is "reserved for a future update." 

While this won't be a massive surprise to PlayStation fans due to Sony's Mark Cerny opening up about storage options earlier this year, the confirmation that external storage options won't be available right out of the gate is important to know. Even more so with the massive size of game downloads, some even over 100GB (like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War).

Sony has shared fresh details on Destruction AllStars, developer Lucid Games' PS5-exclusive multiplayer driving romp, and tossed in a new gameplay trailer for good measure.

Destruction AllStars had initially been pencilled in as a PS5 launch title, but was delayed last month for release in February 2021, when it will be given away to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Despite its relative imminence, however, details have remained rather thin on the ground.

Now, though, in a PlayStation Blog post, Lucid Games has shared a new Destruction Allstars gameplay trailer, alongside word on the four game modes set to be included at launch - titled Mayhem, Carnado, Stockpile, and Gridfall - which will be playable solo, in a team with AI, or with friends and rivals in online multiplayer.

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This is the kind of Crash you'll want in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, as Crash Bandicoot items will be added to the game for your skaters.

The post The Good Kind of Crash Is Heading to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 appeared first on Siliconera.

Thursday’s Best Deals | Kinja Deals

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Family Sharing, a Stadia feature that was announced a long, long time ago, is finally beginning to roll out on the eve of the video game streaming platform’s one-year anniversary.

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T-minus another year ’til takeoff, astronauts. Spacefaring simulator sequel Kerbal Space Program 2 has delayed its launch once more, and now won’t shoot for the starts until 2022 at the earliest. It’s the third time the game’s been delayed, but the devs reckon they’ll need the extra time to make sure their cobbled-together starship is built for the long haul.

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Today’s TWAB, the last one before the next Destiny 2 expansion Beyond Light releases, contained a surprising amount of new information. It included a brand new service at the tower, a new currency and slipped in towards the end, a massive improvement to the quality of life and fun factor of Destiny 2.

First let’s start with the new Quest and Exotic Archives. These are two new kiosks at the Tower that will be accessible when Beyond Light arrives. The Quest Archive will be where your abandoned quests live now so that way they are housed in one location and aren’t clogging up a random vendor somewhere. This will also be where you can try out the New Light experience if you starting playing after it was added into the game.

The next is the Monument to Lost Lights Exotic Archive. This kiosk will serve as a shop where you can purchase old exotics that were tied to quests from previous years that had their quest retired or vaulted.

By design, the price to purchasing these exotics will be steep in order to compensate for the effort that you needed to put in to get them originally. Here’s what you’ll need according to Bungie:

Players will need an amount of Glimmer, destination materials, masterworking materials, and an Exotic Cipher or Ascendant Shard in order to purchase the Exotic or Legendary which they desire. We’re also introducing a currency, Spoils of Conquest, which can only be acquired when completing raids. This currency will be required for Exotics previously tied to Vaulted raids. 

Seems fair enough for me. The big prize, though, came in near the end. Here we go:

Fall Guys gets an Only Fans (level)

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Disney Plus, Netflix, and Apple lead a list of big players

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Are you ready to become a Destruction AllStar? The PlayStation 5 exclusive arrives in February, but Sony has given us a look at gameplay today along with some information about game modes. First, check out the trailer below to get a taste of gameplay and what Destruction AllStars actually looks like in action!

Let's crash some cars! The trailer shows off how all the speed-crashing and wrecking looks on screen, piloted by colorful characters and outfits. Is that a wolf outfit? Special invisibility abilities? Big plays after you've been blasted out of your vehicle? They're all here on display in this first time we're seeing gameplay from Destruction AllStars. The Lucid Games title has plenty of vibrant sights and sounds as you rip around the arenas at frenzied speeds. Like many other multiplayer-centric experiences, you'll have your choice of game modes for tearing the other racing riders apart.

Today D3 Publisher relased a large gallery of screenshots and new details about the upcoming JRPG Maglam Lord.

We heard about the mysterious process called “Concat” which the Demon King (the male or female protagonist of the story) learns about from a strange man who defines himself “Concat Master G.G.”

The newcomer tells the Demon King that the feeling of emptiness that caused the loss of their powers is caused by soul hunger. This can be cured simply by love, by finding a soulmate.

After that, you can access the Concat Dojo, where you can check your relationships.

In order to improve said relationships you can fight together with one of the other characters, choose the right options when talking to them, and give them their favorite food.

As your bond grows, you can use the mysterious powers of the Concat master to go on dates to places like hot springs, bowling alleys, and more.

On top of Concat Master G.G. we meet other characters, the mechanical doll Mauve, the “Assault Adventure Beastgirl” Juliet, the saint Aklao, and the Demon King’s first new friend, Lilika.

You can check out all the new screenshots below.

Maglam Lord is developed by Summon Night 5 studio Felistella, while the scenario and the world view are by Summon Night series writer Kei Miyakozuki.

It's almost time to live out that Viking fantasy with Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Valhalla and to celebrate the impending launch, we have another exclusive first-listen musical track from the game's OST. 

A carefully constructed soundtrack can make or break any game experience, and with a title like Valhalla that aims to inspire total immersion, the right sound is key for taking that journey to the next level. Composer Sarah Schachner has been the mind behind incredible tracks for games like Assassin's Creed Origins and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and now she's bringing her talent to the forefront once more with the song The First Departure. 

Schachner is in good company when crafting the original soundtrack for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, working alongside fellow composers Jesper Kyd and Einar Selvik. The soothing sounds of The First Departure gradually evolve into a more somber and harrowing auditory experience that inspires both a sense of adventure and almost a tinge of loneliness. Knowing that our protagonist Eivor must endure betrayal and danger at every turn, it's easy to see a bigger picture when listening to the tale told within the latest track to be revealed. 

In this week's episode of The Game Informer Show, we discuss a handful of the games we've been playing recently, including: Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Visage. At the end of the show, we run an interview with Brenda Romero and her team at Romero Games who is working on the prohibition-era strategy game Empire of Sin. Brenda talks a bit about her family history with prohibition and what its like making games in Scotland. Of course, the show also includes another fantastic round of community emails. So please join Dan Tack, Jeff Cork, Alex Van Aken, and myself for another wild and ever-entertaining episode!

Two icons of being super rad finally combine

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Finally, quarantiners get to find out what Christopher Nolan is up to

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Today Square Enix released a new trailer of its mobile JRPG Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent.

The trailer introduces a character that appeared in the game as of today, but fans of the original game won’t have any trouble recognizing her.

H’aanit is back, and you can see her in action in the new game below.

Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent is set a few years before the original Octopath Traveler released for Nintendo Switch and PC, which has now shipped 2 million units on both platforms worldwide.

At the moment, there is no information on whether this mobile prequel will come to the west, but it launched in Japan on October 28.

With Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition upon us, Siliconera caught up with Matt Walker to talk about Vergil, Lady, Trish, and Before the Nightmare.

The post Capcom’s Matt Walker Talks About Devil May Cry 5’s Vergil, Lady, and Trish appeared first on Siliconera.

Say what you want about modern games, but they’ve gotten pretty good at rendering fauna. If Red Dead Redemption 2 wants to show you a goose, it’ll damn well show you a goose. Last month, a new Twitter account popped up to remind us that this is a fairly recent development, cataloguing the smart, strange, and downright cursed wildlife created in the name of saving a few dozen polygons.

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A new Outriders broadcast has arrived and this time, we're diving into the post-campaign content of the game while also getting an even closer look at the Technomancer, the game's fourth class. 

Outriders is a shooter with heavy RPG elements that we couldn't get enough of when we got some additional early hands-on time with the title. Mass Effect meets Borderlands with a heavy Bulletstorm influence, Outriders offer a lot for players looking to squad up or take to the dangerous world of Enoch. 

The latest video deep-dive goes into how the Technomancer class uses the in-world technology to its advantage in its "most brutal capacity." For those that enjoy taking a more tactical approach to combat, the Technomancer class is the way to go. Personally, I love to go sniper when playing games like this, and the studio at People Can Fly say that sniper weapons and Technomancers go hands in hand. 

Gadget-heavy playstyle aside, the latest showcase also highlights what fans can look forward to once the base part of the game is completed. A major component of post-campaign enjoyment relies on Expeditions, new quests to take on that explores even more stories hidden within the world of Enoch. 

With PS5 looming on the horizon like some giant obelisk which might also struggle to fit under your TV, the floodgates are now open and news around Sony's console continues to emerge, including official re-confirmation that SSD storage expansion won't be supported at launch.

PlayStation 5 will, of course, include a lightning-fast 825GB solid-state drive on release, and Sony has previously confirmed owners will be able to expand that SSD storage space via the console's dedicated internal M.2 slot.

However, speaking to The Verge, Sony has reiterated a point made by lead PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny earlier this year, confirming that PS5's M.2 slot will be disabled out of the box on launch day, and that it won't be activated for players until a "future update". USB external storage support, suited to the likes of PS4 titles, will be available on day one, however.

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