2019 may have only just begun, but this year has already given us some great new games, with many more on the way. Capcom and Square Enix capped off January with two veritable blockbusters, the Resident Evil 2 remake and Kingdom Hearts 3, and February has a handful of its own marquee titles in store for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
February 15 in particular is shaping up to be one of the busiest days of the year in terms of releases. Three big-name games are set to launch on that day, including Microsoft's oft-delayed Crackdown 3, Ubisoft's latest Far Cry game, New Dawn, and Metro Exodus. Bandai Namco's star-studded crossover brawler, Jump Force, also arrives that day, while BioWare's anticipated shooter/RPG follows closely behind on February 22.
That's on top of all the titles that have already been released, including Ace Combat 7, the Advance Wars-like strategy game Wargroove, and Respawn's surprise free battle royale game, Apex Legends. There are plenty of others on the way this month as well. You can see all of the biggest game releases for February 2019 below. For a wider look at what's ahead this year, be sure to check out our complete list of game release dates in 2019.
Crackdown 3 (Xbox One, PC) -- February 15
After suffering numerous developmental setbacks, Crackdown 3 is finally ready to launch for Xbox One and PC this month. Set 10 years after the events of its predecessor, the game sees the Agency returning to New Providence to deal with a mysterious terrorist organization known as Terra Nova. Like previous entries, Crackdown 3 features the series' trademark over-the-top action along with new features like Wrecking Zone, a hectic, cloud-based multiplayer mode set in a completely destructible arena.
Far Cry: New Dawn (PS4, Xbox One, PC) -- February 15
Ubisoft is following 2018's Far Cry 5 with the post-apocalyptic spin-off Far Cry: New Dawn. Like last year's installment, the game is set in the fictional Montana town of Hope County, but it takes place 17 years in the future, after the US was ravaged by nukes in one of Far Cry 5's endings. The region has now fallen under the control of the Highwaymen, a group of bandits led by the murderous twins Mickey and Lou, and it's up to players to band together with other Hope County survivors and bring them down.
The next installment in 4A's first-person survival shooter franchise, Metro Exodus, arrives a week earlier than originally planned, and it takes the series to new places--both figuratively and literally. Set several years after the events of Metro: Last Light, Exodus follows protagonist Artyom and his companions as they trek across a post-nuclear war Russia. On the journey, players will explore larger, more sandbox-like environments that are littered with all manner of supplies to scavenge and mutants to fight.
BioWare's cooperative shooter, Anthem, officially arrives on February 22 (although EA is offering a complicated array of options for jumping in early). While the game still features role-playing elements, Anthem represents a marked departure for the renowned RPG studio. Players are cast in the role of Freelancers, fighters-for-hire who don high-powered exosuits called Javelins and take on quests, defeat monsters, and chase loot. BioWare also promises world-changing events and more to keep players coming back.
Jordan Peele's directorial debut Get Out was most of the most successful and critically acclaimed horror movies of recent years, and expectations are high for his follow-up, Us. It's another horror film and arrives next month. Following the movie's recent freaky Super Bowl trailer, a stunning new poster has been released.
The poster was tweeted by Peele himself, and it shows star Lupita Nyong'o (Black Panther) pulling aside a mask of her smiling face to reveal a much scarier version underneath. We already know that the film focuses on a family who are terrorised by a group of identical doppelgangers, and this poster is every bit as unnerving as the footage released so far. Check it out below:
Us also stars Nyong'o's Black Panther co-star Winston Duke as Gabe Wilson. Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale) and Tim Heidecker join them as members of the Tyler family, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II from Aquaman and Anna Diop from the DC Universe streaming series Titans, also appearing. It hits theaters on March 8, 2019.
2019 is set to be a big year for Peele. In addition to Us, his take on a new Twilight Zone series will debut on CBS All Access on April 1 (disclosure: CBS is GameSpot's parent company). Peele will serve as host and narrator of the show, and his production company, Monkeypaw, is set to produce the series.
In addition, Peele is producing a new Amazon series titled The Hunt. The show is set in 1977 New York City and centers on a group of people known as Hunters who track down Nazis hoping to establish a Fourth Reich in America. Last month it was reported that Al Pacino will take the lead role in the series.
BioWare has released a new video for Anthem which finally delves into the previously secretive details about how the end-game works. As you may expect your freelancer will be able to delve into extra-hard challenges to continue scoring better and better loot.
To start, three extra difficulty modes will be unlocked once you reach pilot level 30, the game's level cap. Those are called Grandmaster 1, Grandmaster 2, and Grandmaster 3. The higher you set your difficulty, the better chances you'll have to score rare gear and cosmetic items.
As for what you'll be doing with those extra difficulty modes, the end-game is composed of a few new objective types: challenges, contracts, and strongholds. Contracts are specialized missions you take on by talking to NPCs, and they improve your faction rep and unlock new blueprints. Legendary contracts are larger, multi-part missions with bigger rewards. Challenges will award you with coins and crafting materials, while strongholds are team-required missions with some of the biggest rewards.
The video also teases that you can do freeplay in the end-game. You'll also find cataclysms, which are time-limited world events. Finally, the overview promises other features coming like guilds and social hubs, along with "massive world-changing events."
Microsoft held an Xbox Insider livestream on Tuesday, and it was unusually chock full of news about the coming months and beyond. Packed into the presentation were announcements regarding the Halo series, Game Pass, Sea of Thieves, new console bundles, and more. Read on for a full recap of the news.
Halo Outpost Discovery
We're still not sure just when to expect Halo Infinite, but fans can live out their Halo fantasies this year regardless. 343 and Microsoft will be hosting a traveling event with in-universe activities, panels, and more. It will visit five cities this year, open for one weekend in each. You can explore a Halo Ring, visit a Warthog, play VR simulations and laser tag, attend panels with creators, and get cosplay tips. Plus, of course, you can just play yourself some Halo. Check whether it's coming to your neck of the woods.
Game Pass in February
The smallest month is bringing some big games to Xbox One Game Pass, the all-you-can-eat subscription service. The February line-up includes Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Walking Dead Season 1, and Batman: Return to Arkham, to name a few. The real headliner is Crackdown 3, which is finally really coming out after years of delays. As a Microsoft first-party game, it's included as part of Game Pass, so if you're a subscriber you already as good as own it. Check out the full calendar for when each game will drop on the service.
The Division 2 and Anthem Bundles
Two more big games are dropping soon, and Microsoft is partnering with each one's publisher to offer hardware bundles. Both Anthem and The Division 2 are getting paired with Xbox Ones. The Anthem bundle includes the game's Legion of Dawn edition with bonuses, an Xbox One S 1 TB, and one-month trials of EA Access, Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold. The Division 2 is getting two separate sets of bundles, one with a black Xbox One X and one with a white Xbox One S. Check out price and release date details to plan your purchases.
Sea of Thieves Brings Your Mateys Aboard
If your adventures on the high seas are feeling a little lonely, Rare and Microsoft are making it a little easier to fill your crew. Owners of Sea of Thieves or Game Pass subscribers can gift a copy of the game to up to three people, which will let them play for free until February 13. After that, they can purchase it for a 35% discount. Keep in mind that they'll need to a Gold membership to play the online game.
New Red Controller is Sporty
If you need a brand-new controller to play all these games on, the livestream covered that too. It debuted the new Sport Red Special Edition, which aside from the nifty paint job features rubber grips along the back. Because sports. It will cost $70 and release on March 5. A matching Pro Charging Stand will also be available in North America. Read more details on the nifty piece of kit.
Microsoft Game Studios Becomes Xbox Game Studios
In a bit of branding news that you may notice when you start up a first-party game in the future, Microsoft Game Studios is no more. It's been renamed Xbox Game Studios, which corporate VP Matt Booty says is a reflection of how the Xbox brand itself has expanded. This comes just after a series of acquisitions, so the newly rebranded Xbox Game Studios is now composed of 13 teams. Booty said the teams are working on "incredible exclusives, original IP, and all-new chapters from your favorite franchises."
Disney continues to remake its classic fairy tale movies, and 2019 will see three live-action updates of animated favorites. Aladdin and The Lion King are due for release later this year, but ahead of that we have a new version of Dumbo. A new trailer has now been released.
This latest promo sets up the classic story, in which a struggling circus welcomes a new baby elephant to its ranks. Of course, Dumbo's giant ears make him unpopular with the circus bosses, until a discovery that he can fly changes everything. It's directed by Tim Burton, so looks as magical and inventive as you'd expect from the director of Alice in Wonderland and Edward Scissorhands. Check it out above.
Dumbo stars Colin Farrell as the former circus star who is now unable to perform because of a wartime injury, plus Michael Keaton as villainous entrepreneur Vandemere, Danny DeVito as circus owner Max Medici, and Eva Green as trapeze artist Colette Marchant. It releases on March 29, 2019.
In terms of other Disney adaptations, Aladdin arrives in May, while The Lion King is released in July. Further down the line, a new version of Mulan is set for a 2020 release. There are also movies based on Cruella De Ville (101 Dalmations) and Tinker Bell (Peter Pan) reportedly in development.
Apex Legends from Respawn surprise-launched this week, and already one of the top-requested features is cross-play between its various platforms. During the Q&A portion of a recent earnings call, CEO Andrew Wilson suggested that while their data has found the feature isn't widely used by players, it still plans to utilize it--especially for franchises with big player bases like FIFA.
"We think cross-play and cross-progress is going to be a very important part of our future, and you should anticipate that we'll be doing more in that space," Wilson said. "What our information would suggest to us is that there isn't a tremendous amount of play across devices, but that overall liquidity in any gaming community is a good and positive thing, even if it's only a few people or a small portion of the community that utilizes that.
"We absolutely are looking into that in the context of Apex, and we'll be looking at that across our portfolio over time. We think about franchises with tremendously large communities like FIFA, and we think that they would absolutely benefit from cross-play and cross-progress, as more and more people come into these big communities."
That doesn't sound as if the feature is high on the company's priority list, but it's not ruling it out either. Respawn has hinted that cross-platform play could come to Apex Legends in the future, but it has already ruled out cross-platform progression due to how the basic framework was built.
The EA earnings call also confirmed that in addition to Apex Legends, Respawn has another Titanfall project in the works. We know that it's a "premium game [coming] this year that is a new twist on the Titanfall universe," according to Wilson, and Respawn head Vince Zampella has since confirmed that it isn't a VR game. The earnings call also confirmed a new Need for Speed and Plants vs Zombies are both on the horizon.
Take-Two Interactive has reported strong financial results for the third quarter of 2019, led by the huge success of Rockstar Games' Red Dead Redemption 2. In a statement, the company confirmed that, to date, Red Dead Redemption 2 has "sold-in more than 23 million units worldwide." It's worth noting that "sold-in" means shipped to retailers and not necessarily to consumers. However, typically, sold-in stock is a good indication of how much is sold through to people.
Take-Two's revenue grew to $1.2 billion, which is up from $480 million during the same period in the previous financial year. "The largest contributors to net revenue in fiscal third quarter 2019 were Red Dead Redemption 2, NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K18, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, WWE 2K19 and WWE SuperCard, Dragon City and Monster Legends, and Sid Meier's Civilization VI," Take-Two said.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was also noted as being one of the largest contributors to digitally-delivered revenue in the quarter, alongside Grand Theft Auto Online, Grand Theft Auto V, and NBA 2K18, among others.
"Our outperformance was driven primarily by the record-breaking launch of Red Dead Redemption 2 along with strong results from NBA 2K19," addedTake-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. "In addition, consumers engaged significantly with our offerings, and recurrent consumer spending grew 31% to a new record. We generated strong cash flow and ended the period with $1.6 billion in cash and short-term investments, after deploying $109 million to repurchase 1 million shares of our stock."
Red Dead Redemption 2 has now outsold its predecessor, Red Dead Redemption, by a comfortable margin. As of February 2017 the first Red Dead Redemption has sold 15 million units in total. Its sequel has managed to shoot past this number in a fraction of the time. In an investor call, Zelnick highlighted that Red Dead Redemption 2 has "sold more in its first eight days than its predecessor sold in eight years."
Red Dead Redemption 2 has received critical acclaim, earning a 9/10 from GameSpot. Kallie Plagge described it as "an excellent prequel, but it's also an emotional, thought-provoking story in its own right, and it's a world that is hard to leave when it's done." You can read our full Red Dead Redemption 2 review for more of Kallie's thoughts on it.
Following the launch of Apex Legends, developer Respawn Entertainment confirmed it is working on a new Titanfall experience. Little is known about what this project is, but the studio has said it isn't a third entry in the mainline series. While many have speculated that it could relate to the VR game Respawn is known to be developing, studio CEO Vince Zampella has said this isn't the case.
On Twitter, Zampella replied to a user that suggested that the other Titanfall project Respawn is working on is for VR, and outright shot down the idea.
Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game set in the Titanfall universe. However, it is missing many of the hallmarks of a Titanfall game, most notably the mechs and the parkour-inspired movement mechanics. Naturally, fans of the first two Titanfall games were left somewhat disappointed when Respawn said Titanfall 3 isn't happening. However, Zampella gave them some hope.
"We are also working on more Titanfall for later in the year (yes, I said the T word)," he said. "We love being able to experiment in this crazy universe!" EA later released its earnings report and, as part of the statements it made alongside it, committed to "[growing] Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences."
Respawn is also working on Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, which is expected to release this fall. The game was briefly mentioned in EA's financial reports, alongside other upcoming titles from the publisher. Surprisingly, EA also confirmed it was working on new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles.
Apex Legends has had a successful launch, and reached 1 million unique players in under eight hours. A day after its initial launch, EA confirmed the game had gathered 2.5 million unique players and seen 600,000 concurrent players.
One of the franchises that Disney will get when its deal to buy the bulk of 20th Century Fox's assets is complete is the Deadpool series. Unlike a lot of Disney's programming, Deadpool is not family friendly--that's part of the appeal and what makes the series so refreshing and unique. But will the House of Mouse's acquisition of Deadpool change that? It sounds like no.
Disney chief Bob Iger said on an earnings call that he understands there is significant interest in the R-rated Deadpool movies, and he pledged that Disney will "continue in that business," and potentially even expand to do more.
"We do believe there is room for the Fox properties to exist without significant Disney influence over the nature of the content, meaning that we see that there is certainly popularity amongst Marvel fans for the R-rated Deadpool films, as a for instance," he said. "We're going to continue in that business, and there might be room for more of that."
Iger added that it is not concerned about "standards and practices" considerations when it looks at the assets it's acquiring from Fox. In addition to Deadpool, Disney is getting The Simpsons and Family Guy, which are known to be edgier and less family friendly. The important matter will be ensuring that more adult-focused programming is branded that way, Iger explained.
"There's nothing that we've really seen in the Fox either library or in the activities that Fox is engaging in today from a standards perspective that would be of concern to us as long as we're very carefully branding them and making sure that we're not in any way confusing the consumer with product that would be sort of either Disney product or the more traditional Marvel product," Iger said.
While Deadpool 2 hit theatres as an R-rated film, a toned down PG-13 cut featuring Fred Savage was released around the holidays in an attempt to reach a wider audience.
No new Deadpool films have been announced, but given the enormous success of the franchise so far, you can expect more to come at some point down the road. Deadpool 2 made a massive $785 million at the box office against a budget of $110 million.
In other Disney news, Iger also commented on how Disney struggled to publish video games internally, so that's why Disney has partnered with companies like EA for licensing deals.
Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo have reaffirmed that the current cut of the much-anticipated film is three hours long; the editing process isn't over yet, but it appears Endgame will end up being the longest Marvel movie ever.
Asked by Collider if Marvel and Disney are OK with Endgame running for as long as Titanic, the Russo brothers said Marvel/Disney are "down with what the best story is," even at three hours.
Endgame is so long because it's said to wrap up a story that started 22 movies ago. Not only that, but extra time is required for scenes to allow the film to deliver emotional resonance, they said.
"Right now, we think the movie is playing well and we've had great responses from our test audiences and we're feeling very good about where it is," they said. "We're still doing work to it. We're not done with it. Again, this is a culmination film of 22 movies, it's a lot of storytelling to work into it. Emotion is an intrinsic part of that to us. When you have to tell a really complicated story and you want strong emotional moments with the characters, it just requires a certain amount of real estate. This one, in particular, feels like three hours worth of real estate."
They added that in the four screenings for test audiences so far, not one person has left their chair to use the bathroom.
For comparison, Avengers: Infinity War was already a long movie, running for two hours and 40 minutes.
Endgame hits theatres in the US on April 26. A new trailer for it was shown during the Super Bowl this weekend; for more, check out GameSpot's breakdown in the video embed above.
With this new era of reboot television, some might be wondering if one of the most famous modern TV shows, Lost, might be eyed for a revival someday. It may never return to screens, but ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke hopes it might someday.
Speaking at the Television Critics Association event recently, Burke said she dreams about Lost coming back to TV, but she stressed that no official conversations have taken place about it.
"It's literally at this point just what I dream about when I go to bed at night," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I have not spoken to [executive producers] Carlton [Cuse] or J.J. [Abrams] or ABC Studios about it. But I do often get asked the question what show would I reboot and often my answer is Lost--sometimes Alias. Nothing to report yet. Maybe ever. But it would be a fun thing to have a conversation about."
If a Lost revival does happen, Cuse may not be a part of it. Cuse told THR last year that he and Lindelof have said for a long time that they wouldn't work on Lost again because "we told the story that we wanted to tell." Cuse added that he would personally be OK if ABC brought someone else on to reboot Lost with characters who go to the island at a different period of time.
"I would be less excited if they wanted to use the characters that we had in our show," he said.
Lost ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2010. One of its other co-creators was JJ Abrams, who would go on to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the new Star Trek.
Would you be interested in a reboot of Lost? Let us know in the comments below!
Microsoft has announced two more Xbox One bundles that join the already-massive array of hardware bundles that the company offers. As part of the Inside Xbox broadcast today, Microsoft announced that Anthem and The Division 2 are getting Xbox One bundles.
The Anthem Xbox One S bundle comes 1 TB white system, matching white controller, and a copy of Anthem's Legion of Dawn Edition. This includes armor packs, a weapon, and other bonuses. Also included in the package are one-month trials for EA Access, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold. The bundle arrives at retailers alongside Anthem on February 22; it's priced at $300 USD.
As for The Division 2, it's getting bundles for Xbox One X and Xbox One. The $500 USD Xbox One X edition comes with a 1 TB black console and a matching controller, as well as a copy of the game's standard edition. It also comes with a one-month trial for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. The $300 USD Xbox One edition comes with a 1 TB white system and a matching white controller, as well as a copy of the game's standard edition. It also includes one-month trials for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. Both go on sale March 16 alongside the game.
It's a new month, and that means Nintendo Switch Online subscribers are getting even more free classic NES games to play. Available from February 13 will be Super Mario Bros. 2 and Kirby's Adventure, Nintendo has announced.
The NES library for Switch Online subscribers launched with 20 big-name games, including Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Dr. Mario, Ice Climber, Metroid, and Donkey Kong. As you can tell from January and the titles coming in February, the catalog is adding some great games.
Nintendo Switch Online costs $4 USD/month or $8 USD for three months. A 12-month subscription goes for $20 USD, while a Family Membership for up to eight Nintendo Account members costs $35 USD for a year. New subscribers can sign up with a seven-day free trial. In addition to free NES games, subscribers get access to cloud saves, and online play for many titles such as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Mario Kart 8 Ultimate.
Nintendo recently confirmed that Nintendo Switch Online had reached 8 million members, and teased that it will "expand" the service. "Nintendo Switch Online has had a good start," president Shuntaro Furukawa said. "In keeping with the goal of providing Nintendo Switch owners with 'More Games. More Features. More Fun,' we are working on continuing to expand the service offerings."
In battle royale games, winning is a pretty big deal. The very nature of the genre puts extreme emphasis on victory because it happens so rarely and is so tough to achieve. Winning requires being the last one standing of an often-huge number of players or teams, and it's possible to go a long time--maybe forever--without winning a match. So the fact that winning in battle royale games is often kind of boring is, really, pretty strange.
Apex Legends, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall-linked squad shooter, is only the latest game to suffer from dull wins. Surviving skirmishes with 19 other three-player teams earns you a big "Champion" sprawled across your screen, and other players see your squad's names and characters, but there's really not much else. You might get a little recognition later, if you're designated top-ranked champion squad in the next match, but Apex Legends' minor celebration for a hard-fought victory right now leaves something to be desired.
It's weird that battle royale games don't make a bigger deal of victory, really. Fortnite has learned that lesson a bit, adding confetti effects and music to the celebration at the end of a match, but there's still not an especially high degree of fanfare. By contrast, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which could be credited with popularizing the whole BR trend, more or less made a gag out of how dull its wins are with the "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" note that appears in the corner of the victor's screen. The game makes so little deal out of winning that you might almost think you actually lost. It's certainly not much of an ego boost after fighting like mad to survive.
But Apex Legends brings a level of shooter polish and pedigree to battle royale that it hasn't really had up to now. The win screen is another place where Respawn could differentiate itself from PUBG, Fortnite, and others in the genre.
And since so much effort is put into teamwork, it also makes sense to put a greater emphasis on recognizing a team's accomplishments in working together--not just in racking up kills. Right now, with kills and damage being two of the main stats portrayed during wins, it's very easy to look like the member of a team who was getting carried, even though there's often a lot more to a victory than getting the final shot on opponents. Apex Legends does track other stats, and you can show them off by unlocking trackers for your character's banner that show, say, how many revives you notched over time. But that information is general and spread out over your career, rather than being reflective of your contribution in your last match.
Giving a winning team more things to congratulate each other about helps incentivize teams to stay and work together. And showing other players the impressive stuff a winning team does, even if that's not gunning down opponents, can help encourage them to jump into more games, even if their talents aren't in becoming the next kill leader.
Consider Overwatch by comparison. The team-based shooter's influence on Apex Legends is obvious, with the focus on individual characters, team dynamics, and some of its in-game fanfare. But Overwatch leans into its post-match celebrations. Its Play of the Game video that grabs a key moment from the just-finished match is one of its best features, and something that made a big splash when Blizzard's shooter arrived on the scene. And end-of-match readouts don't just focus on who had the most kills, but show a variety of top stats. Making wins feel good and teamwork feel like it's worth it are two things Overwatch does extremely well.
Play of the Game footage might be untenable for Apex Legends (grabbing footage from 60 players in every match is a lot for servers to handle, one assumes), but the things Overwatch does at the end of its matches are at least in the right headspace. The emphasis of much of Respawn's game is on making players feel like victorious gladiators in a giant sport, and most of its mechanics are about encouraging smart teamwork. Spicing up those victory moments is right in line with what Respawn is already trying to do, and highlighting more ways that squads contribute to one another is only going to make chasing those wins feel all the better.
Disney has announced that Captain Marvel, scheduled to premiere in theaters on March 8, will be the first of the company's films to not come to Netflix. Instead, sometime after exiting theaters, Captain Marvel will debut on the upcoming Disney+ streaming service.
According to Deadline, Disney CFO Christine McCarthy predicts the decision to keep Captain Marvel, and all other 2019 Disney movies, off of Netflix will cut the company's operating income for the year by about $150 million USD. "What we're basically trying to do here is invest in our future," Disney CEO Bob Iger said. "It's almost the equivalent of deploying capital to build out our theme parks. This is a bet on the future of this business."
No exact launch date has been confirmed for Disney+ as of yet, but the service is scheduled to release sometime in 2019. Disney+ will become the new streaming home for all of the company's existing movies and TV series, as well as the platform that hosts new content. Disney already has three new series scheduled for the service. All three will be live action, with one starring Tom Hiddleston reprising his MCU role of Loki, another focusing on Scarlet Witch and Vision, and the third acting as a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story that stars Diego Luna reprising his role as Cassian Andor.
Captain Marvel is far from the only Disney movie scheduled for 2019, nor will it probably be the biggest. After Captain Marvel, Disney sees the debut of Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Avengers: Endgame, and a few other films. Avengers: Endgame will probably be the biggest superhero film of the decade, which concludes the overarching Infinity Stones-focused arc that began in 2008's Iron Man. Avengers: Endgame is scheduled to premiere April 26.
At one point in time, media giant Disney published video games like Disney Infinity and Epic Mickey in-house through its now-defunct Disney Interactive Studios. That's no longer the case, as it now primarily licenses its franchises to outside studios instead. One major partner is Electronic Arts. In 2013, Disney and EA signed a 10-year deal to make EA the exclusive publisher of Star Wars games on console, and now Disney chief Bob Iger has commented on the company's philosophy about publishing games and its relationship with EA.
He said on an earnings call that Disney's history of internal development and publishing of games has been shaky, so he's happy that Disney has now shifted to a licensing model.
"Over the years we've tried our hand in self-publishing, we've bought companies, we've sold companies, we've bought developers, we've closed developers. And we've found over the years that we haven't been particularly good at the self-publishing side, but we've been great at the licensing side which obviously doesn't require that much allocation of capital," Iger said.
Regarding EA specifically, Iger said Disney's relationship with the publisher has been "good," despite what could be seen as issues recently.
"We've had good relationships with some of those we're licensing to, notably EA, and the relationship on the Star Wars properties, and we're probably going to continue to stay on that side of the business and put our capital elsewhere," he said.
While Disney has been enormously successful in the areas of making its own movies, theme parks, cruise ships, and TV shows, video games have been a tough nut to crack. "We've never managed to demonstrate much skill on the publishing side of games," Iger said.
EA has released two Star Wars console games, Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Battlefront II, since its licensing deal with Disney began in 2013. The next one is Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Titanfall developer Respawn that is due out this fall. In other news, it was recently reported that EA canceled an open-world Star Wars game, with its developer EA Vancouver, now focusing on a smaller-scale project that can be released sooner. EA maintains that it is "fully committed" to making more Star Wars games as part of its deal with Disney.
Assuming EA's deal with Disney for Star Wars video games hasn't been updated, it runs until 2023. Unlike wholly owned franchises like Battlefield and Dragon Age, EA must pay Disney a licensing fee for its Star Wars games. However, the specific terms of the licensing agreement between Disney and EA is unknown.
In the first Kombat Kast livestream since the reveal of the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat 11, the NetherRealm team unveiled that Kabal is returning to the roster. In addition, D'Vorah was announced to be another returning character during the Inside Xbox stream. However, it may come as a disappointment to some that NetherRealm confirmed Shaggy of Scooby Doo fame will not be a guest character, regardless of how loud you scream the memes.
Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon himself got in on the meme when he tweeted a fan art mock up of "Hack and Slash Shaggy variation" hitting Scorpion with a brutal knee. But today during the Kombat Kast, community manager Tyler Lansdown stated, "Shaggy will not be in the game, ever, sorry, dead meme!" The series has a strong history of bringing in guest characters with the likes of Leatherface and Jason, but Shaggy will not be using any percentage of his power for Mortal Kombat 11.
If you're not caught up on what's going on with the latest sequel in the long-running franchise, be sure to check out every character confirmed so far, our compilation of fatalities of the initial seven announced characters, or see all the wild things happening in Mortal Kombat 11's story mode. We also caught up with Ed Boon during the reveal event to pick his brain about how fatalities are made and what microtransactions will look like for the game.
Props to everyone who tried to let their memes not be dreams. Mortal Kombat 11 is set to launch on April 23 this year for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Video game giant Electronic Arts reported earnings today for its fiscal third quarter ended December 31, and it could have gone better during the all-important holiday period. While EA did post gains in revenue and profit, the company said in its official remarks that it was a "difficult quarter" that saw the company fail to meet its commercial expectations.
CFO Blake Jorgensen said in prepared remarks that 2018 was a "tumultuous" year for the gaming industry overall. Though he did not share any specifics, he might have been referring to the way in which the absolute juggernaut Fortnite shook up the industry in the past year. Not only that, but Red Dead Redemption 2's release in October might have impacted sales of EA's games.
While it might not have been the quarter EA wanted, Jorgensen said EA is "making adjustments to improve execution and we're refocusing on R&D." EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the company is looking to "sharpen" its execution going forward.
One title that struggled during the period was Battlefield 5. The World War II shooter sold a massive 7.3 million copies, but this was 1 million shy of what EA expected. For more on this underperformance, you can check out this story that explains the downturn.
This is all to say that while EA's latest financial quarter might not have been the rosiest, the company is still doing just fine and it has a pipeline of major titles in the works. It made $1.29 billion in revenue over the three-month period and a profit of $262 million; both figures are up year-over-year. Despite those gains, EA's stock price is free-falling; it's down more than 15 percent in after-hours trading currently.
Electronic Arts has offered a tease about bringing a subscription service to a new platform, and it could be EA Access for PlayStation 4. During the company's latest earnings call, management said, "In the year ahead we plan to offer a subscription service on another major platform."
No further specifics were divulged, but EA Access for PlayStation 4 lines up with the tease. It is one of EA's subscription services, and PS4 certainly is a "major platform."
EA Access launched in 2014 on Xbox One, before coming to PC in 2016 under the name Origin Access. A Sony representative said in 2014 that EA Access "does not bring the kind of value PlayStation customers have come to expect."
"We don't think asking our fans to pay an additional $5 a month for this EA-specific program represents good value to the PlayStation gamer," Sony said at the time.
That's a hard line against EA Access, but Sony also initially refused to allow cross-play before eventually allowing it for Fortnite and later Rocket League. Things can change.
Reached for comment, an EA representative told GameSpot that the company has "no further details to share at this point" regarding the tease made during the earnings call. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.
EA Access is a subscription service that, for $5/ month or $30/year, gets subscribers access to a growing library of free games, along with discounts on all EA digital content. Not only that, but members can play EA's upcoming games ahead of time. Because no version of EA Access is on PS4, it's the only platform where the game is unplayable perform launch. There are also perks like bonuses in new EA games like Apex Legends.
EA is also working on a new streaming subscription service of its own as part of its ridiculously ambitious-sounding Project Atlas platform. However, the comment from the earnings call about the subscription service coming to "another" platform suggests it's an existing service not a new one.
Would you be interested in EA Access on PS4? Let us know in the comments below!
Microsoft has announced a nice new deal for Sea of Thieves that lets you invite friends to play for free for a limited time. If you own the game--or possess an active Xbox Game Pass subscription--you can gift copies of the pirate-themed game to three people, who can then play for free until February 13.
The offer starts on February 6. All you need to do is visit the Sea of Thieves website to grab your codes. After the promotion ends on February 13, anyone who received free play codes can purchase the game permanently at a 35% discount. Note your friends will need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play on either Xbox One or PC.
Developer Rare has also teased "big news" for Sea of Thieves scheduled for its one-year anniversary on March 20. The company has continued to support the multiplayer adventure since launch last year with all sorts of free DLC.
Elsewhere in today's Inside Xbox briefing, Microsoft revealed the free February Xbox Game Pass titles. Crackdown 3 is the headliner of the month, and like other first-party games it will be included on its release date, February 15, for Game Pass subscribers. Shadow of the Tomb Raider and more will also be added as the month progresses.
February is upon us, and Microsoft has announced the next round of Game Pass games that will hit the service for Xbox One over the coming month. This is the shortest of all months but the company still has plenty of games slated for its all-you-can-eat games subscription service.
Crackdown 3 is the headliner of the month, and like other first-party games it will be included on its release date, February 15, for Game Pass subscribers. As you may expect if you've played other Crackdowns, you're a super-powered agent taking on a gang-filled city. This one adds the new Wrecking Zone 5v5 multiplayer mode. We recently had a look at it and came away surprised.
The rest of the month is no slouch. Hot on the heels of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, which was added on January 31, you can play Shadow of the Tomb Raider on February 7. Since Rise of the Tomb Raider is already on the service too, that makes the whole trilogy right available to play through from start to finish.
These all join the growing library of Game Pass games, which includes a wide array of Xbox One games, along with a handful of Xbox 360 and original Xbox games playable through backwards compatibility. Check out the full Game Pass listing, and see below for a handy list of notable dates this month.
February Game Pass Games
Shadow of the Tomb Raider - February 7
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season - February 7
Major game publishers rarely share unit sales figures or projections publicly, but that happened today when EA announced how many copies it expects BioWare's Anthem to sell right away.
CFO Blake Jorgensen said EA is modeling sales of 5-6 million units by the end of March. Anthem launches on February 15, so this would only represent sales for about a month and a half. Lifetime sales could end up being higher. Jorgensen said the popularity of the recent Anthem demo gives EA confidence that Anthem will perform well commercially when it launches.
Not only that, but management said it expects Anthem to make even more money from its microtransactions, which EA calls "live services." It's too soon to say how lucrative Anthem's live service component might be, however, EA acknowledged.
People who played the Anthem demo discovered placeholder pages for Anthem's microtransactions, with some players expressing concerns about the pricing. EA responded in a Reddit post by saying nothing is decided yet.
"We are iterating on our economy design and balance almost daily, so you're seeing a snapshot of one iteration. This is why we tend to not discuss things like pricing, because it's one of those iterative things that's sure to change frequently right up until the day you play the game," BioWare said.
In other news, EA announced that Battlefield 5 failed to meet the company's sales targets. The game sold 7.3 million copies, and while that it a massive figure that most games will never achieve, it was 1 million units short of EA's expectations.
As part of an Inside Xbox broadcast packed with news, Microsoft revealed the second in its Sports series style of Xbox One controllers. The new version, named the Sport Red Special Edition, is, well, red, and "inspired by the world of activewear and sports lifestyle."
The new controller, which boasts rubber grips on its rear, launches worldwide on March 5 and costs $70 in the US. International pricing has not been announced. Microsoft says the pad includes a 14-day trial for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass "in select regions."
In addition, the publisher has unveiled a matching Pro Charging Stand, also in Sport Red. The charging stand comes with a six foot cable for long-distance charging and launches on May 1 in North America for $50. It's unclear whether Microsoft plans to bring the Sport Red charging stand to other territories.
Microsoft Game Studios has rebranded as Xbox Game Studios, a change that corporate vice president Matt Booty says reflects the company's evolution. "As we've expanded our focus beyond the console, the Xbox brand has also evolved from its original roots," he explained.
"Xbox is our gaming brand across all devices, no matter how or where you want to play, or who you want to play with. In that spirit, I'm pleased to share that we are changing the name of our game development organization from Microsoft Studios to Xbox Game Studios."
Xbox Game Studios is comprised of 13 teams including "343 Industries, The Coalition, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, InXile Entertainment, Minecraft (Mojang), Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games, Rare, Turn 10 Studios, Undead Labs, and [Xbox's] Global Publishing Group."
According to Booty, these teams are "working hard to deliver incredible exclusives, original IP, and all-new chapters from your favorite franchises." Looking ahead, he noted that 2019 will offer Xbox owners Crackdown 3 (coming later this month), Gears 5, and Ori and the Will of the Wisps, all of which will be available on both Xbox One and PC and through Game Pass.
In 2018, Microsoft went on an acquisition spree, adding seven new game studios to its roster. While the new games these teams are working on haven't been revealed, Booty said, "as a gaming organization, [Xbox has] never been in a better position to deliver a diverse line-up of exclusive games for Xbox fans now, and in the future."
Microsoft and 343 have announced a traveling Halo event filled with in-universe activities and games, panels with the Halo creators, and more. The weekend-long Halo Outpost Discovery will kick off this summer and visit five major cities across the United States.
The announcement promises you can explore a Halo Ring, see a real Warthog, play Halo-themed laser tag, and take part in VR simulations of Halo adventures. You can also attend a panel to hear the creators talk about their work building the Halo universe, or take part in one of the community themed panels revolving around livestreaming or cosplay. Finally, hundreds of game stations will let you kick back and just play some Halo.
Halo Outpost Discovery boasts a 300,000 foot area, and will debut in 2019 with stops in Orlando, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston, and Anaheim. Check below for the full schedule and read more details at the official site.
It's been quite a while since 343 has brought out a major Halo release. Halo 5 Guardians released in 2015, and since then the only hint at something new that we've seen has been teases for Halo Infinite. The studio has clarified that Infinite is Halo 6, but we still have no idea when to expect it. The Outpost Discovery does begin after E3, though, and Microsoft has promised it's "going big" this year, so the event may boast some Infinite content.
Another Shiny Pokemon is now available in Pokemon Go. As part of a new special event, players will have a chance of encountering the Shiny form of the series' newest Mythical Pokemon, Meltan, but it'll only be around for a limited time.
Meltan is unique among Pokemon in that its appearance is tied to the Mystery Box--a special item you'll receive in Go when you transfer a Pokemon over to either Let's Go Pikachu or Eevee on Nintendo Switch. Once the Mystery Box has been opened, Meltan will spawn in the wild for 30 minutes. After that time has elapsed, the Mystery Box will close, and you'll need to wait seven days before you can transfer another Pokemon to Let's Go and open the item again.
Thanks to this new event, any time you open the Mystery Box through March 4, you'll now have a chance of finding a Shiny Meltan in the wild. You can tell the Shiny variant apart from a typical Meltan by its slightly darker head and blue (rather than red) tail. Moreover, Niantic has reduced the time you need to wait to open the Mystery Box by three days, allowing you to find Meltan much more quickly than before.
Unlike other Mythical Pokemon, Meltan is capable of evolving, which means this is also your first opportunity to get a Shiny Melmetal. You can read more on how to catch the Mythical Pokemon in our Meltan and Melmetal guide. Additional details about the Meltan event can be found on the Pokemon Go website.
In addition to Shiny Meltan, Pokemon Go players have their first chance to catch Shiny Spoink as part of the game's Lunar New Year event, which runs until February 13. As part of the event, players will also receive twice the normal amount of XP for catching and evolving Pokemon, and certain monsters such as Dratini, Electabuzz, and Torchic will appear more frequently in the wild.
Electronic Arts announced earnings results for the all-important holiday season, and it wasn't the kind of performance the company wanted to see. Amid a "tumultuous" year, EA said the company overall did not perform up to expectations. One title that failed to hit targets was the World War II shooter Battlefield 5.
The game sold a massive 7.3 million units in the time between launch in November and the end of the year, but this was 1 million short of what EA had projected. As for why the game struggled, EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the marketing campaign failed to capture the attention of players. The campaign lacked a "creative center," the company said, though it shared no other details.
Wilson added that the game's delay from October to November hurt Battlefield 5 because it meant that the game was going up against titles already discounted for the holiday season. Not only that, but Battlefield 5 struggled because of "unprecedented competition," Wilson said. He mentioned Fortnite, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Red Dead Redemption 2 as titles that ate away at Battlefield 5's sales to some degree.
Not only that, but Wilson suggested that EA's decision to prioritise Battlefield 5's single-player over the new battle royale mode, Firestorm, hurt Battlefield 5's sales. Firestorm is launching in March, and it won't be the first battle royale game from EA, as it just recently launched Apex Legends from Titanfall studio Respawn Entertainment.
Overall, Battlefield 5's launch failed to catch on with players and it never caught up, Wilson said. Despite Battlefield 5's commercial underperformance, the game was generally well-liked by critics, and the franchise remains strong, Wilson said. As such, the focus for EA and developer DICE now is on bringing new players into the title going ahead.
EA has many months of new content planned for Battlefield 5 over time, including new maps, customisation items, the battle royale mode, and more. Despite all the new content coming, EA said it only has "modest expectations" for Battlefield 5's live service revenue. The same can be said for Anthem, EA said, and this is because both titles have yet to prove themselves.
You can read Wilson's full comments on Battlefield 5's performance below.
Overall, EA generated $1.29 billion during the quarter ended December 31 and profit of $262 million. Keep checking back with GameSpot soon for more from EA's earnings report.
Wilson's statement on Battlefield 5 performance:
"We made some decisions on launch timing and key features of this game that we felt would improve the quality of the experience. For context, Battlefield V was designed from the beginning to offer a long-term live service. In August, we determined that we needed some more time for final adjustments to the core gameplay to fully deliver on the potential of the live service, so we moved the ship date to November to accommodate those goals. Unfortunately, the later release date meant the game launched deeper into a competitive holiday window where heavy price discounting was a big factor. In addition, we also made the decision to prioritize other features, including a single-player experience, at launch over a battle royale mode. This year, battle royale modes became incredibly popular in shooter games. As a result of these decisions, we struggled to gain momentum and we did not met our sales expectations for the quarter."
EA has released its financial report for the third quarter of its current financial year. Although the report began with a rather negative take on EA's 2018 performance, there was mention of a hopeful future for the company, including the confirmation that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is coming this fall.
"Looking forward, we're delighted to launch Anthem, our new IP, to grow Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences, to deliver new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles, and to add Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to our sports titles in the fall," EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said.
At E3 2018, Respawn Entertainment CFO Vince Zampella announced the new Star Wars game is scheduled specifically for 2019's holiday season. This suggested Fallen Order would arrive in late November or early December. It's probable this is still the case, although the use of "fall" in the EA financial report instead of "holiday season" could suggest the game is now scheduled to release a little earlier.
Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Fallen Order puts you in control of a Jedi Padawan who survived Order 66 and is now on the run. No other plot details or gameplay mechanics have been confirmed, but Zampella did announce that you'll be able to use a lightsaber.
EA's history of developing Star Wars games hasn't been very good recently. Battlefront II, though mechanically sound, was plagued by unfair, pay-to-win microtransactions that players managed convinced EA to drop prior to the game's launch. Visceral was working on a single-player Star Wars game, but EA shut the developer down and transitioned the project to its Vancouver studio before cancelling the title altogether. Respawn is currently the only known EA studio continuing development on a Star Wars title, which it has been working on alongside the recently released Apex Legends and an unannounced VR title.
Blizzard is kicking off a new Hearthstone community event today that will spread a nifty reward around like a virus. The "Curse of Hakkar" event features a new exclusive card back that has been distributed to a small group of players, but will infect everyone who comes in contact with it.
Playing against a player with the new "Mark of Hakkar" card back will reward you with it. Then you can equip it and begin spreading it to others. You'll need to play a full match to spread the item, so conceding or leaving immediately won't get you the reward. If you want to gift it to your friends, you can queue up friendly matches to distribute it to them.
The community event is a reference to one of the cards from the most recent expansion, Rastakhan's Rumble. Hakkar the Soulflayer is a neutral Legendary card that shuffles "Corrupted Blood" into each player's deck upon dying. That Corrupted Blood replicates and multiplies itself, so if a match goes on long enough it makes going to fatigue much more risky. It also serves as a hard counter to Mecha'thun, which requires an empty deck to function.
Recently Blizzard announced a new set of balance changes coming to Hearthstone, which strike particularly hard at classic mainstays that have been used in multiple decks across the game's lifespan. This all comes in advance of the new Standard rotation, which will cycle when the first expansion of 2019 releases. That will rotate out all the cards from Journey to Un'Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds and Catacombs, to make room for this year's new sets.
EA this week reported its earnings for its third fiscal quarter (October - December 2018), expressing disappointment at its performance and specifically that of Battlefield V. In order to assuage any fears from investors, it revealed several new games that are in the works, including a new Plants vs. Zombies and a new Need for Speed.
"Looking forward, we're delighted to launch Anthem, our new IP, to grow Apex Legends and related Titanfall experiences, to deliver new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed titles, and to add Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to our sports titles in the fall," said COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen, in the announcement.
In a subsequent earnings call, the company confirmed the new PvZ game is a shooter, and the official game account tweeted that it's coming for PC and consoles. That would seemingly all but confirm it's a new Garden Warfare game.
Last year a retail listing appeared to have leaked Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 3, but no official announcement has been made. In an interview with Edge Magazine (via Xbox Achievements), EA Motive's Jade Raymond mentioned another PvZ was on its plate, likely assisting PopCap. More recently, though, Raymond left EA Motive altogether, leaving Samantha Ryan (who runs the mobile, BioWare, and Maxis studios) in charge of that studio.
The last PvZ shooter was Garden Warfare 2, released back in 2016. The most recent Need for Speed game was Payback in 2017, which was among our worst-reviewed games of the year of its release. Bear in mind that either or both of these teases could mean mobile games or other spin-offs, not necessarily full-fledged console/PC releases.
Jorgensen's comment is also the second recent indicator that another Titanfall is still in the works. Respawn's Vince Zampella said that the studio is working on "more Titanfall for later in the year," alongside its new game Apex Legends. Apex takes place within the Titanfall universe, but doesn't use the series' mech combat or wall-running.
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