Within its first three days of release, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree topped 5 million copies in sales.FromSoftware's one and only expansion for its 2022 hit started off strong, with the milestone deemed the result of "tremendous support from players all over the world, to whom we express our heartfelt gratitude.""To the many who tread the path left by Kindly Miquella, we extend our heartfelt gratitude," it added.When Elden Ring's base version released two years ago, it sold 12 million copies within a month. With critical acclaim and strong word of mouth, it's gone on to net 25 million copies and players, and was a big driver for Bandai Namco's 2022-2023 fiscal year.The expansion met similar acclaim, and further shows how much FromSoftware's…
Shift Up considers Stellar Blade a successful launch and claims its sales have surpassed 1 million copies worldwide over the past two months.Per Game World Observer and GameMeca, the South Korean studio held a recent press conference for its future IPO. During the conference, CFO Ahn Jae-woo noted the PlayStation 5 exclusive's "smooth" launch.Sony has yet to comment on Stellar Blade's commercial performance, which may cause some discrepancies with Shift Up's numbers. But in May, the studio claimed the game "exceeded expectations," and other developers (namely Koei Tecmo) have also been open about the launches of their recent games.Shift Up further claimed Stellar Blade made 22 billion won (or 15.8 million) in royalties from Sony. 15.7 billion won came fro…
Since its reveal in May, Assassin's Creed Shadows has courted racist backlash due to its co-lead Yasuke (famously known as the first Black samurai), and Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has no time for it.During a newly published company Q&A, Guillemot was asked about facets of the industry he's disappointed by. He went on to talk about the "malicious and personal attacks" directed at Ubisoft staff, some of which came courtesy of Twitter head Elon Musk."I want to make it clear that we, at Ubisoft, condemn these hateful acts in the strongest possible terms," said Guillemot, "and I encourage the rest of the industry and players to denounce them, too."The Assassin's Creed franchise has never been a stranger to historical fiction, but Yasuke marks the…
Mystic Forge, a self-styled boutique publisher based in the Netherlands, has secured €2 million ($2.1 million) in funding.The investment round was led by ForsVS and ROM Utrecht Region and will enable the publisher to expand its portfolio.Mystic Forge was founded by Good Shepherd Entertainment vets Paul Hanraets, Randy Greenback, and Vernon Vrolijk, and wants to make and impact within the indie game market by deploying an "innovative collaboration model.""Specializing in strategy, simulation, and RPG games for PC, Mystic Forge adopts a proactive approach, selecting projects meticulously but also initiating collaborations by connecting developers within its extensive network," reads a press release."This strategy allows the company to dedicate substantial resources…
EA is sunsetting three Battlefield titles on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this month.The publisher confirmed Battlefield 3, Battlefield 4, and Battlefield: Hardline will be removed from digital storefronts on Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 31, 2024. DLC and "all extra related content" will also be pulled from sale."Online services for these titles on these platforms will end on November 7th, 2024. While the online components of these titles close for these platforms, if you own the game, you will still be able to play the single-player component," added EA.Battlefield 3 will remain playable on PC, while Battlefield 4 and Battlefield: Hardline will remain playable on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
Epic Games is bringing its storefront and Fortnite to Japan in 2025.Epic revealed the news on Twitter, attributing its arrival to a new law recently passed by Japanese parliament. Per Apple Insider, it's similar to the recently enacted European Union law, a ruling that established the right of third-party app stores to exist on Apple Japan's App Store.The bill was proposed in June 2023, but won't take effect until late 2025. Both Apple and Google will be required to let users download third-party app stores and alternate payment systems.Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic, called both bills part of a "new free world, from the point of view of app developers and users."
U.S. publisher EA has revealed how much its executives netted during FY2024, a 12-month period that saw it deliver annual net bookings of $7.43 billion but also cut 5 percent of its global workforce.As noted in the company's annual Proxy Statement, which details its executive compensation plan, EA's named executive officers collectively earned over $60 million during the last fiscal year. That total includes individual base salaries, stock awards, and incentive plan compensation.The biggest earner was EA CEO Andrew Wilson, who took home over $25.6 million after helping the company execute on "key strategic and operating objectives" such as restructuring the business around the new-look EA Sports and EA Entertainment pillars and launching the EA Sports FC brand.Wilson wa…
U.S. publisher EA has revealed how much its executives netted during FY2024, a 12-month period that saw it deliver annual net bookings of $7.43 billion but also cut 5 percent of its global workforce.As noted in the company's annual Proxy Statement, which details its executive compensation plan, EA's named executive officers collectively earned over $60 million during the last fiscal year. That total includes individual base salaries, stock awards, and incentive plan compensation.The biggest earner was EA CEO Andrew Wilson, who took home over $25.6 million after helping the company execute on "key strategic and operating objectives" such as restructuring the business around the new-look EA Sports and EA Entertainment pillars and launching the EA Sports FC brand.Wilson wa…
A recent patch for Steam may have quietly wiped away Mac support for older Valve-developed games.Per iMore, both Portal games and Team Fortress 2 were among those made unplayable on Apple computers. Thus far, other games include Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, Half-Life 2 (plus its "Lost Coast" level and two episodic spinoffs), and Left 4 Dead 2.At time of writing, titles like DOTA 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (via a "legacy" version) still function natively on MacNo mention of this dropped support was made by Valve on social media, or the game's Steam pages. It's a contrast to how it announced it'd stop Mac support for Global Offensive last year shortly before Counter-Strike 2's launch.Interestingly, these games being unplay…
Shawn Layden has looked at the last two years of strife within the game industry and come to a conclusion: publishers need to relax.Talking to GamesIndustry for its new GI Sprint podcast, the ex-PlayStation boss decried the industry for being so quick to shut down a studio or lay off employees. It's "real frustrating" for newer studios, he added, since they don't get a real chance to grow."When you bring completely new things that people have not seen before," he said, "the publishing industry doesn't have patience now to nurture these things, and they feel they need the quick big win."Layoffs have been hitting the industry hard since 2023, particularly newer studios. Some have closed down before their debut project was revealed (much less relea…
According to The Information (and spotted by Ars Technica), Apple is already looking at getting a cheaper version of its $3,500 Vision Pro headset out the door.A lighter, more affordable iteration of the augmented reality device (which released in February) is such high priority, development on its more high-end successor was halted. This reduced Vision Pro is being eyeballed at a reported price point of around $1,600.It sounds like a steal, but there'd be some tradeoffs: namely, less cameras and speakers. The outlet further claimed the tech giant hoped to release it alongside the original Pro (like it does with phones), but it's now set to arrive before the end of 2025.Pricing always matters when it comes to tech, but especially so for mixed reality headsets. Meta has played aro…