TGO Daily | Tuesday July 20, 2021 | XDefiant Announced
In the news: XDefiant announced, Sumo being bought out by Tencent, and Mini Motorways is coming to Steam.
TGO Daily | Tuesday July 20, 2021
✏️ From the Author
Apologies for the lack of a newsletter for Monday. There was truly nothing particularly newsworthy to write about.
Today we’ve got some stuff, though, so let’s get into it!
Until next time,
Brandon
Ubisoft Announces XDefiant
The latest Ubisoft title is a moshpit of factions from other Tom Clancy games - particularly Ghost Recon, The Division, and Splinter Cell. XDefiant will be a free-to-play first-person arena shooter for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Amazon Luna, and Stadia. There is currently no release date set.
As a 6v6 arena shooter, we can expect some similarities in gameplay between this and Overwatch. Both with smaller maps, faster action, and ‘heroes’ (in this game called ‘Defiants’). The different factions the Defiants belong to represent classes in the game - Assault (Cleaners), Tank (Wolves), Support (Echelon), and Healer (Outcasts). Each faction will have its own unique abilities to add a layer to the game beyond being just a shooter.
You can sign up for the beta and get more game news on their site. Their first closed Beta will be August 5th. If you like arena shooters, like Overwatch, I recommend you check out the reveal trailer:
Sumo Digital to be Acquired by Tencent
Tencent, who currently owns 8.75% stake in Sumo Digital (Sackboy, Crackdown), is set to buy Sumo in a deal worth $1.27 billion USD.
In regards to the buyout, Sumo CEO, Carl Cavers, had this to say:
“Alongside the acceleration of own-IP work, Tencent has demonstrated its commitment to backing our client work and has stated its intention to ensure that we have the necessary investment to continue focusing on work with our key strategic partners on turn-key and co-development projects.”
Tencent has stake and/or ownership in a lot of studios. Check out the list below to see how many cookie jars they have their hand in (list courtesy of Tom Phillips):
“…with investment in Ubisoft, Epic Games, Remedy, Sumo, Marvelous, Dontnod, Klei, Platinum, Bohemia Interactive, Roblox and Krafton, plus ownership of Funcom, Sharkmob, Riot Games and its own enormous Timi Studios, the developer behind smartphone titans Call of Duty Mobile and the upcoming Pokémon Unite.”
Mini Motorways Coming to Steam
Imagine a game where you build roadways. There you go, you’re imagining Mini Motorways! Now, that sounds odd on paper, but execution is where things count - and Dinosaur Polo Club is trying to make it count here with their follow-up to their popular title Mini Metro.
Mini Motorways is a strategy sim for designing a road map in an ever-growing city. While the game starts off relatively simple, complexity gets added in layers as more houses and business start to accumulate in your city, causing you to constantly rework your roads for efficiency. Katharine Castle sums up her thoughts on the game:
“Most of all, though, Mini Motorways is just jolly good fun. The slow, almost imperceptible zooming out of its camera always makes me smile when I suddenly break out of my Zen-like focus and realise how far I've come in a particular run, and the gentle, ambient hum of its soundtrack never fails to put me at ease - even when it's punctuated with subtle beeps and horns from my backed up commuters.”
If you’re into sim games, you should check this one out. One advantage of it seems to be a lot more condensed games, so you’re not sitting down after dinner to play and suddenly you look up and see the sun is rising outside your window. The game releases today on Steam.
💡 Read More
Fall Guys season 5 adds a dangerous jungle adventure. The new season starts today.
EA reassures fans it's still working on new Skate. While there isn’t anything new to cover with it, there is some relief to be had that it’s still actively being worked on.
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Thanks for the read <3