TGO Daily | March 15, 2021 | EA-Gate
March 15, 2021
Hey there! We’re back to the old newsletter service. I’m eventually going to make another change, but I know I can comfortably go back to this one without any issues so we’ll start here. Again, none of this should affect you, but I figured you might want to be in the loop.
Hope you had a great weekend! Let’s talk video games :)
Adrian
EA Investigating FIFA Scandal
In what has become a fairly large scandal in the FIFA community, Electronic Arts is now investigating and addressing what went wrong. Essentially, an employee of the company was caught directly selling super rare content which could normally only be acquired through loot boxes. Some people have spent thousands of dollars on content received directly from an EA employee.
EA have come out and said that they would be punishing any employee they found doing this, the items would be removed, and the players banned:
“The alleged behavior is unacceptable and in no way do we condone granting or purchasing player items in exchange for money…We also appreciate how extremely annoying and frustrating it is that this practice might have come from within EA. We’re angry too.”
They went on to explain the reasons some people have the ability to do even directly grant content in the first place, which “happens all the time.” The biggest thing is returning/replacing any lost content in the game for customer support reasons. They also give away content to celebrities, partners, or particularly notable employees as ways to improve relations with them. Though, none of the things they give away can typically be traded on the open market.
This situation has been a pretty big deal in the FIFA world. It even hit mainstream news outlets. Of course, the fact that items aren’t directly purchasable in these games in the first place is a real shame. EA won’t be stopping loot boxes unless legislation is implemented, considering how much money it makes them.
NPD February 2021
The NPD group have released their February 2021 report, covering US sales metrics for all kinds of verticals in the gaming industry. Courtesy of Mat Piscatella on Twitter, here’s the highlights:
In terms of hardware, the PlayStation 5 has now become the fastest selling console launch in the US (based on dollar sales in the first four months of release). It was still only #2 to the Nintendo Switch last month though, which has now been the best-selling console each month for a record 27 consecutive months. No signs of that one slowing down, especially with the reports of a Switch “Pro” model being announced this year.
Video games themselves were largely uneventful, besides the new releases. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury took the #1 spot, despite Nintendo not sharing digital sales metrics with NPD. The other new entries were Persona 5: Strikers at #3 and Little Nightmares II at #6. Otherwise, it’s the usual titles that you see in the top 20.
Crash Bandicoot 4 on PC
The most recent Crash Bandicoot game is now available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X! If you never got the chance to play it, it has gotten pretty rave reviews ever since it initially released late last year. Activision have also now announced that the game will be available on PC in just two weeks, on March 26th.
Interestingly, the pricing is different based on what platform you’re on. On Xbox and PlayStation it’s the usual $60 USD, but on the Switch and PC it’s $40!
Game DLC
There are two new DLC announcements that happened over the weekend:
Immortals Fenyx Rising is getting its second DLC “Myths of the Eastern Realm” on March 25th. It moves from Greek to Chinese mythology, following a new protagonist, and introducing a new martial arts fighting style.
Crusader Kings III gets it’s first paid DLC, though it’s fairly small. It’s called the “Northern Lords Flavour Pack,” and it essentially functions as a strategy-game version of cosmetics. They’ve been making smaller free updates over the past few months before they get to the first big expansion that the games are so well known for.
The Grab-Bag
Apex Legends on the Switch is struggling. Also, turn off cross-play.
“Xbox update fixes ‘many of the controller disconnects’ players have reported”
Say Hello!
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