TGO Daily | April 23, 2021 | PlayStation Updates
TGO Daily | April 23, 2021
In The News
PlayStation
We got a bunch of info out of PlayStation today.
Speaking to a website called Nikkei (translated by VGC), SIE CEO Jim Ryan has made the claim that they are quietly investing in more exclusives than any previous console. To that end, they announced they will be publishing the AAA multiplayer debut title from a company called Firewalk Studios (run by a of a lot of Destiny veterans). We also know about them publishing the debut game from Haven, which is a team led by Jade Raymond. Ryan mentioned that they are not opposed to more acquisitions, like what they did with Insomniac in 2019.
In other news, their streaming service PlayStation Now is going to be bumping up their service from 720p to 1080p. The option will be rolling out across the world over the next couple of weeks. Jim Ryan has also mentioned that they have grander ambitions for a cloud service, notably utilizing the Microsoft Azure partnership that was established in 2019.
Finally, it looks like PlayStation is going to be offering movies and TV shows into the PS Plus subscription. It was accidentally leaked last week, but they have now confirmed that they have begun a 12 month test in Poland. There are 15 movies and 6 TV shows being offered, with the plan to add/replace content on a quarterly basis.
Battlefield
There isn’t much news here, but EA put out a notification that Battlefield will be the talk of the town this year. They’ve got the biggest team ever working on the newest iteration, and are currently playtesting the game for polish and balance. They also revealed that it’s only going to be on current-gen consoles and PC.
Alongside the mainline entry will be a standalone mobile game that will be releasing in 2022.
Epic Games Store Expands
Today, a completely different video game storefront is heading to the Epic Games Store: itch.io.
If you’ve never heard of it, itch.io is a store which is the go-to place for small indie games. It’s been around for a long time, and now you can choose to view it through EGS. You’ll have to download it like an app, and Epic won’t be taking a percentage of any of the sales.
The store will also be adding iHeartRadio, web browser Brave, model generator KenShape, and painting software Krita. They also put Spotify on the store last December, and are planning to add Houseparty and Discord in the future. Looks like they want EGS to be more of an app store than a game store alone.
DICE Awards
The 24th annual DICE Awards have taken place, and Supergiant’s Hades took Game of the Year (as it has for so many other awards ceremonies). It also took home Game Direction, Game Design, Indie Game, and Action Game. Here’s the full list of winners, courtesy of gamesindustry.biz:
The Grab-Bag
Hey, don’t forget about my grad party! Come say hi on Sunday :)
Cheers,
Adrian
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