TGO Daily | February 17, 2021 | Starbreeze FY Financials
February 17, 2021
In The News
Starbreeze Financials
Payday developer Starbreeze has reported on their full year financials, which have been pretty eventful ever since they nearly collapsed in late 2018. Numbers are down for them as always, and Payday is still their main driver of revenue, bringing in 93% of their $14.3 million in 2020.
The CEO of the company made optimistic comments about the future of the company. They’re obviously positioning Payday at the front of their business — Payday 2 had a great 2020 and actually became the largest community on Steam with a player base of 7.1 million. That’s a pretty wild statistic. From their financial report:
Starbreeze is a much stronger company today than it was one year ago. We are hugely confident, thirsting for revenge and thrilled to be able to focus to the max on developing our IP with PAYDAY front and center. With expanded development capacity, and continued good demand for everything PAYDAY, we are in prime position for future growth.
They are still searching for a publisher for the third game in the franchise, but are optimistic they will get one.
New Xbox Headset
Microsoft have announced a new Xbox branded wireless headset, selling for $100 USD this March. It will be compatible with Xbox consoles, Windows 10, and Android devices — all through Bluetooth. No dongle required for Xbox consoles, like most headsets.
They say it has 15 hours of battery per charge and has a bunch of quality of life features, like being able to balance game/voice chat volumes, and background noise filtering. You can even connect to multiple devices at once, letting you listen to music on your phone while being in a party chat on Xbox.
Fortnite Short Film Event
Fortnite likes doing in-game events, but this might be one of the coolest ones I’ve seen yet. They’re calling it “Short Nite,” and it’s a film festival! Every 30 minutes, 12 shorts will play in the game’s non-combat mode. You can either sit in front of the big screen, or have it play picture-in-picture while running around the map. It’ll kick off of the 20th for 24 hours.
I love that video games can do stuff like this now.
Nintendo Direct Announced!
Normally I don’t talk about announcements of announcements, but this one is particularly notable: we’re getting a Nintendo Direct! It’s happening today (Feb 17) at 5pm Eastern. (Livestream linked directly above).
It’s the first Nintendo Direct proper since September 2019. It’s also the longest Direct to ever be broadcast, at 50 minutes. They tend do tend to drag on by giving super specific details about the games they announce, but it seems to indicate they have more than usual to announce.
The elephant in the room is that it’s Zelda’s 35th anniversary — something they celebrated extensively for Mario. We’ll see what happens!
Also In The News
Amazon’s New World delayed again. Arriving August 31st, after originally planning to release August 2020.
Xbox Game Pass games for Feb 2021. Includes Code Vein, Pillars of Eternity II, Wreckfest, Dirt 5, and the Superhot sequel.
Blasphemous getting crossover with Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Unexpected, but pretty great idea.
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