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Sherbytes: Industry News Megathread, v.1

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Happy 4th! Wife took the kids to her parents and I finished ff16 and working on the plat now.
I'm three trophies shy of the Thymesia Plat right now but am wavering because they're stupidly grindy ones given how short game is. I'm however refusing to uninstall in a move I liken to self-torment. The human brain – you got to love it.
<{RoseRun}>
 
UK's Lighthouse Games lands big investment. Congratu... Oh, lol.

 
VGC reports Apple is still fighting Epic in court over off-store payment options re: Fortnite payment and platform fees, now wanting to take to Supreme Court:

Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against the iPhone maker began in August 2020 after it moved to circumvent Apple’s 30% platform fees with a new direct payment option in Fortnite, leading to the game’s removal from the App Store.

The iPhone maker has largely prevailed in the lawsuit to date. In April, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court judge’s 2021 ruling largely rejecting Epic’s claims that Apple violated federal law by not allowing any competing marketplaces on its iOS platform.

However, they also agreed with a ruling that said Apple could no longer restrict developers from including links or buttons that take users to payment options outside of the App Store, potentially reducing the sales commissions it receives.

Last week, the Ninth Circuit rejected petitions from Apple and Epic asking the court to revisit its April decision, Reuters reports.


(...)​

Full read here. (External)
 
Blasphemous 2 drops 24h before Fires of Rubicon next month. What kind of sadistic world is this…
200w.gif
 
However, they also agreed with a ruling that said Apple could no longer restrict developers from including links or buttons that take users to payment options outside of the App Store, potentially reducing the sales commissions it receives.
Wasn't this the entire point for Epic? That sounds like a huge win for them.
 
Wasn't this the entire point for Epic? That sounds like a huge win for them.

Nah Epic wants apple to allow other stores not just the Apple Store. They’ll get some people with the links but most will probably just use the App Store since it’s most likely all configured and ready to go.
 
USA's Respawn currently hiring for new Jedi property developers, having many speculate a third Jedi adventure with Cal Kestis is in early stages. Survivor must have sold well; I don't remember seeing any sales numbers on that, TBH. Good for them.
 
On video game availability and older IP 'endangerment':



"Imagine if the only way to watch Titanic was to find a used VHS tape, and maintain your own vintage equipment so that you could still watch it," the Video Game History Foundation's Kelsey Lewin wrote in a blog explaining the study. "And what if no library, not even the Library of Congress, could do any better — they could keep and digitize that VHS of Titanic, but you’d have to go all the way there to watch it."

Like silent movies
That's roughly the situation the video game industry finds itself in, says the new study, which compares the commercial availability of classic video games to the survival rate of silent movies (14 percent) and pre-World War II audio recordings (10 percent or less).

The new study, which the Video Game History Foundation describes as the first of its kind, examined more than 4000 video games released in the United States before 2010, with a special focus on the Commodore 64, Game Boy, and the PlayStation 2. The Commodore 64, which was first introduced in 1982, is described as an "abandoned ecoystem with the lowest level of commercial interest," while the Game Boy is described as "neglected" and the PlayStation 2 is called "active."
 
Another Tencent acquisition; second in recent weeks:

 
Another Tencent acquisition; second in recent weeks:



I have less of an issue with non console owning companies buying up the industry. They have a vested interest in releasing all their games to as many consoles as possible. It's Playstation and MS I don't want picking up anymore studios.
 
Per EU battery directive, user-replaceable batteries (without aid of any proprietary tool or part) in handheld game consoles from 2027:

New handheld gaming consoles, such as future versions of the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck, will need to have replaceable batteries by 2027, the EU has said.
Full read here. (External)
 
UK chain Tesco to remove physical games from shelves owing to digital shift and focus on gaming currency cards:



This news hasn’t been entirely unexpected, following massive discounts to video game products across Tesco’s stores this year.

In February, VGC reported that the firm was selling high profile games like Deathloop and Call of Duty Vanguard for as little as £5.

The software price cuts followed heavy discounts on Nintendo Switch and Xbox hardware earlier that month. Tesco was also offering first-party Switch games, including Pokémon Legends Arceus and Super Mario 3D World, for around £20.

Tesco will continue to sell currency cards that can be used to purchase digital games from online marketplaces like PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and Nintendo eShop.
 
UK chain Tesco to remove physical games from shelves owing to digital shift and focus on gaming currency cards:



This news hasn’t been entirely unexpected, following massive discounts to video game products across Tesco’s stores this year.

In February, VGC reported that the firm was selling high profile games like Deathloop and Call of Duty Vanguard for as little as £5.

The software price cuts followed heavy discounts on Nintendo Switch and Xbox hardware earlier that month. Tesco was also offering first-party Switch games, including Pokémon Legends Arceus and Super Mario 3D World, for around £20.

Tesco will continue to sell currency cards that can be used to purchase digital games from online marketplaces like PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store and Nintendo eShop.


Its been like that in Supermarkets not just Tescos here for nearly 2 years, its not that big of a deal
 
Its been like that in Supermarkets not just Tescos here for nearly 2 years, its not that big of a deal
Yes, that's noted in the article. A chain-wide decision has now been made in observation of which. It's just current affairs (goal of thread), not doomsaying one way or another. Some Nordic stores still have quite a lot of physical game media shelved (particularly anything PlayStation platform) but platform currency cards are ubiquitous and even at grocery, which sounds not unlike situation in UK.
 
Portal: Prelude RTX, a free RTX remix mod feturing Full Ray Tracing, DLSS3 and Nvidia RTX IO (making its debut, will also be in the Ratchet and Clank : Rift Apart PC Port)

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/portal-prelude-rtx-available-now-for-free/



Portal remains a timeless classic; in December we released Portal with RTX, a fully ray-traced reimagining of Valve's award winning game, which used the performance multiplication of NVIDIA DLSS 3 to power the most realistic path-traced lighting ever seen in a real-time game.

Portal with RTX was created using NVIDIA RTX Remix, a free, upcoming modding platform built on NVIDIA Omniverse, which enables modders to quickly create and share #RTXON mods for classic games, each with enhanced materials, full ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS 3, and NVIDIA Reflex.

Now, RTX Remix has been used to remaster Portal: Prelude, the highest rated Portal mod, the 2008 Portal ModDB winner, and #3 overall Player's Choice mod of 2008. Created by Nicolas "NykO18" Grevet and others, Portal: Prelude is an unofficial Portal prequel, set before the time of GLaDOS, featuring a new extremely challenging 8-10 hour campaign composed of 19 new test chambers, new advanced gameplay mechanics, a fully voiced story with NPCs, and a whole lot more.

Portal: Prelude RTX is available today to download from Steam, for free!

 
GTA 6 coming with 2B USD price tag, it's reported. Tough to recoup, I'd hazard:

 
So, Disney might see purchase by Apple as Disney expects to eat 800M USD in Q3.

I bring this up because people are mentioning Activision Blizzard's Kotick saying previously as well as during recent court testimony how sub services and streaming are money losers, not makers – an opinion shared by Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two, PlayStation's Jim Ryan, and others. He said, iirc, that Call of Duty for one would never on his watch be a day-and-date Game Pass addition. We can joke about his being kicked to the kerb post-acquisition but that's outside the point. Kotick, while having one of the most punchable faces in gaming, IMO, is a cunning cat, so his opinions are worth examination.

Are any streaming service money makers across gaming and entertainment? Big fan of Disney+ myself and one of the few platforms I sub to. It feels like every time I hear about the media form, it's an investment on an idea that to date has little to negative ROI. Maybe we're all headed back to the multiplatform collapse that is cable television, ironically. /hot take



Obviously, this is surprising news. Disney has gradually made its way to the top of the entertainment food chain. Their acquisitions include Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. But, as noted via Bloomberg, Iger could be considering the opposite with the decision to sell Disney altogether.

This rumor follows as Iger puts the company’s television assets up for sale. It looks like the company’s streaming goals with Hulu and Disney Plus haven’t quite been hitting their mark. In fact, their “streaming business is expected to register a loss of about $800 million in the company’s just-ended third quarter.”
 
So, Disney might see purchase by Apple as Disney expects to eat 800M USD in Q3.

I bring this up because people are mentioning Activision Blizzard's Kotick saying previously as well as during recent court testimony how sub services and streaming are money losers, not makers – an opinion shared by Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two, PlayStation's Jim Ryan, and others. He said, iirc, that Call of Duty for one would never on his watch be a day-and-date Game Pass addition. We can joke about his being kicked to the kerb post-acquisition but that's outside the point. Kotick, while having one of the most punchable faces in gaming, IMO, is a cunning cat, so his opinions are worth examination.

Are any streaming service money makers across gaming and entertainment? Big fan of Disney+ myself and one of the few platforms I sub to. It feels like every time I hear about the media form, it's an investment on an idea that to date has little to negative ROI. Maybe we're all headed back to the multiplatform collapse that is cable television, ironically. /hot take



Obviously, this is surprising news. Disney has gradually made its way to the top of the entertainment food chain. Their acquisitions include Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. But, as noted via Bloomberg, Iger could be considering the opposite with the decision to sell Disney altogether.

This rumor follows as Iger puts the company’s television assets up for sale. It looks like the company’s streaming goals with Hulu and Disney Plus haven’t quite been hitting their mark. In fact, their “streaming business is expected to register a loss of about $800 million in the company’s just-ended third quarter.”


I've seen a few places have said its more of the TV side of stuff like FX , ABC ,Freeform they may look at selling off to being with, plus theres part of Hulu that they still dont own so some of the cash they could make with this sale could go towards that. Plus thier streaming business in India is one of thier biggest areas for loss currently as they lost the streaming rights to the IPL cricket competiton which saw them lose 8.4million subscribers within 2 quarters over there
 
So, Disney might see purchase by Apple as Disney expects to eat 800M USD in Q3.

I bring this up because people are mentioning Activision Blizzard's Kotick saying previously as well as during recent court testimony how sub services and streaming are money losers, not makers – an opinion shared by Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two, PlayStation's Jim Ryan, and others. He said, iirc, that Call of Duty for one would never on his watch be a day-and-date Game Pass addition. We can joke about his being kicked to the kerb post-acquisition but that's outside the point. Kotick, while having one of the most punchable faces in gaming, IMO, is a cunning cat, so his opinions are worth examination.

Are any streaming service money makers across gaming and entertainment? Big fan of Disney+ myself and one of the few platforms I sub to. It feels like every time I hear about the media form, it's an investment on an idea that to date has little to negative ROI. Maybe we're all headed back to the multiplatform collapse that is cable television, ironically. /hot take



Obviously, this is surprising news. Disney has gradually made its way to the top of the entertainment food chain. Their acquisitions include Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. But, as noted via Bloomberg, Iger could be considering the opposite with the decision to sell Disney altogether.

This rumor follows as Iger puts the company’s television assets up for sale. It looks like the company’s streaming goals with Hulu and Disney Plus haven’t quite been hitting their mark. In fact, their “streaming business is expected to register a loss of about $800 million in the company’s just-ended third quarter.”


Not surprising. When all these streaming services started popping up many people predicted that most would fail and simply sale their shows to whoever remained. Didn't think Disney+ would be one of the failures but if they are failing I can only imagine how bad everyone below them is doing.
 
Looks like we could be getting some 2000AD Comics based games

https://venturebeat.com/games/good-...d-on-rebellions-comic-books-like-judge-dredd/

Good Shepherd Entertainment, a division of Devolver Digital, has partnered with Rebellion to make games based on Rebellion’s 2000 AD comic books.

The comic book property, which Rebellion purchased in 2000, includes intellectual properties such as Sláine, Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper.


The agreement includes game adaptations of stories from 2000 AD, as well as Rebellion’s other comic intellectual property including Roy of the Rovers and Battle Action.
 
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