TGO Daily | February 23, 2021 | Valheim Week 3
February 23, 2021
In The News
Valheim Still Exploding
For the third week in a row I’m talking about Valheim, but for good reason. Not only has the game sold 3 million copies in 16 days, but it also had 500,000 concurrent players on Steam. As you can see in the image above, that makes it the 5th highest record for concurrent players — behind PUBG, CS:GO, Dota 2 and Cyberpunk 2077.
This is incredible performance for an Early Access title from an indie developer, and I look forward to seeing how it develops over the next few years. Wishing them tons of success.
Epic Giving Away V-Bucks
Source: theverge.com
Epic Games is currently in the midst of several class action lawsuits regarding loot boxes (all of them are several years old). While they don’t actually sell any loot boxes anymore, they did for a time in Fortnite’s “Save the World” mode. Now, as part of a preliminary settlement approval for the lawsuits, Epic has confirmed that they will be giving away 1000 V-Bucks to anybody who has bought a loot box in the game. That’s roughly the equivalent of $10. They’re doing something similar with Rocket League too, which they now own.
It’s an unexpected move, because with class action lawsuits people usually need to notify the company that they want their settlement. They’re also giving it to people worldwide, even though the suits are in the United States. Seems like an easy way for them to navigate the issue while still garnering goodwill.
Rainbow Six Siege in 2021
Ubisoft have outlined the road map for Rainbow Six Siege in 2021 (their sixth year), which consists of 4 different seasons.
The first season, dubbed “Crimson Heist,” brings Argentinian operator Flores. His special gadget is a remote control drone with a bomb attachment. He’s also the first gay character in the game, which is pretty cool. The season will also bring a rework of the map Border.
Seasons 2-4 will have a new operator representing the Nakoda, Croatia, and Ireland. It will also rework the maps Favella and Outback.
There are some larger changes heading to the game regarding balancing and game modes — feel free to read this IGN article for a full rundown.
Zelda’s 35th Anniversary
Last Sunday, The Legend of Zelda celebrated its 35th anniversary. The first game released on that day (February 21) in 1986. Unfortunately for us, Nintendo hasn’t revealed any specific plans of celebration like they did for Mario, but there’s still lots of time left in the year to make that happen. It’s possible that the Skyward Sword HD remaster is just the first step.
It’s worth noting that a lot of Mario’s anniversary celebrations are ending on March 31st, so they may have just wanted to keep the two IPs separate from each other. Nonetheless, it’s a crazy thing to think about, and might be making some of you feel old now.
Here’s a fun one. After 13 years of development, a mod has been released for Half-Life 2 that turns the game into an RTS. It’s called Lambda Wars, and is a free standalone release on Steam. It has single-player, co-op, and multiplayer modes. It’s got a “very positive” review rating, as well.
I figured I should spotlight this one, as its gotten some press coverage. It’s a true passion project that has been in beta for a long time.
Also In The News
“Little Nightmares creators are moving onto something new, though this might not be the end.”
“Perfect Dark’s former lead designer left Xbox to rejoin Sony’s Insomniac”
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