A new month has arrived, which means we've got a slate of new games coming. While June is often associated with the excitement of E3, that doesn't mean the game releases will be slowing down. This month features an array of exciting new games, which includes big names like Nintendo's Super Mario Maker 2, a remaster of PS1 classic Crash Team Racing, and Yakuza series spin-off Judgment.
You can see all of the biggest game releases coming out in June in the table below. For a broader look at what's ahead this year, be sure to check out our complete list of game release dates in 2019.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch) -- June 21
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a remaster of the PS1 classic of the same name. It follows in the line of Activision's most recent Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon remasters with vibrant new visuals and revamped control schemes. While Nitro-Fueled contains all of the original's tracks, it'll also include remastered content from later games in the series, such as Crash Nitro Kart and Crash Tag Team Racing.
Judgment is the latest from Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. It's a spin-off of the Yakuza series' universe that puts you in control of private detective Takayuki Yagami, who becomes embroiled in the mystery of a serial murder case. Judgement takes place in familiar locales from the Yakuza series, but its story and gameplay are a bit different. You beat up thugs in typical over-the-top fashion, but you also investigate crime scenes and gather leads in your case in hopes of discovering the truth.
Super Mario Maker 2 is the sequel to the Nintendo's much-loved Super Mario Maker. Much like the original, the sequel allows you to create and share your own custom Mario levels. As to be expected, the stages can be made in the style of the original Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, or New Super Mario Bros. U. This time around, Nintendo has also added Super Mario 3D World assets. Other major improvements include the ability to customize how auto-scrolling levels scroll, more diverse objective sets, and an assortment of new tools.
Microsoft has said for months that it plans to "go big" at E3 2019, and with rumors of a next-generation Xbox console announcement at Microsoft's E3 press conference, it's only fitting the company would throw a big sale to get Xbox One owners even more hyped for all the upcoming news. Microsoft revealed its biggest Xbox sale of the year will launch Friday, June 7--just two days before Sunday's big event--with major discounts on newly released games, consoles, bundles, and more.
Xbox One S Fortnite Battle Royale Special Edition Bundle (1 TB) - available 6/7
A brand-new Xbox One console is launching as part of the huge Xbox sale. Starting June 7, fans can get their hands on an Xbox One S Fortnite special edition bundle (1 TB), which comes with the new gradient purple console, a matching controller, 2,000 V-Bucks, and a Dark Vertex Fortnite cosmetic set that comes with a Legendary Outfit, Epic Glider, and Rare Pickaxe (available only in Battle Royale and Creative modes). You'll also get one month free of Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass. The complete bundle will sell for $300, and during the sale, you can get it for $50 cheaper.
In terms of other hardware, you'll also be able to save $100 on a brand-new Xbox One X and get $50 off other Xbox One S bundles and the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. If you're in need of new controllers, you'll be able to save $10 on black, white, special-edition, and limited-edition Xbox wireless controllers. PC hardware will also be marked down, with up to $500 off a new gaming PC or laptop from Microsoft's partners, like Asus, Razer, and MSI.
Xbox One X Enhanced titles (playable in 4K ultra HD) will be on sale, too.
Stay tuned for more info on Microsoft's E3 gaming sale, which will run June 7 through June 17 online and in stores. If you've also got a PS4, be sure to check out all the upcoming game deals in Sony's Days of Play sale, which kicks off the same day.
Square Enix has teased some of the games it plans to show at its E3 2019 presentation, and now the company has added another. In a brief teaser video, it announced a game called Outriders, and promised more details at Square's stage presentation on June 10.
The teaser is very short, simply showing a mysterious figure asleep in a cryo-chamber, with red alarms sounding in the background. The figure gasps awake and then stares menacingly at the viewer. It then transitions to a logo along with the debut date. The tweet that accompanies the video reads, "Initialize Cryostasis wake-up procedure."
The press conference will take place on June 10 at 6 PM PT / 9 PM ET. UK and Australian viewers will watch it at 2 AM BST and 11 AM AEST on June 11, respectively. To mark your calendars and plan your viewing or Square Enix along with all of the other press conferences and presentations, be sure to check out our full press conference schedule.
There are plenty of streaming services for people to subscribe to, and each week, they all get new content. We have the upcoming releases for Amazon, Hulu, and Shudder all packed into one place for you. The new releases for Netflix this week are located here.
Both Amazon and Hulu are getting District 9 and Jackass 3D this week, but Amazon gets it a day early on Monday, June 3. Also landing on Monday is the new podcast series Visitations on the horror-themed streaming service Shudder. Hosts Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah discuss turning fear into art with creators within the film industry, including Taika Waititi, John Landis, and more.
The most anticipated release on these services this week is Season 3 of The Handmaid's Tale. You can check out the latest trailer for the new season above. The new episodes lean heavily towards a growing rebellion within the country, and it seems pretty intense.
Below, you'll find a full list for what's coming to Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Shudder for the week.
Amazon Prime Video:
June 3
District 9 (2009)
Jackass 3D (2010)
June 4
Chasing Happiness – Amazon Original movie
Creative Galaxy S3 – Amazon Original series
June 7
Home Again (2017)
Hulu:
Available June 3
The Weekly: Series Premiere (Hulu Original)
Vox Lux (2019)
Available June 4
District 9 (2009)
Jackass 3 (2010)
Available June 5
The Handmaid's Tale: Season 3 Premiere (Hulu Original)
Available June 6
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Available June 7
Into The Dark: They Come Knocking: Episode 9 Premiere (Hulu Original)
Every week, Netflix and other streaming services launch new content, providing users with new experiences in television in movies. And this week, a highly-anticipated series returns.
On Wednesday, June 5, Black Mirror returns to Netflix with three new episodes. Last month's trailer detailed what each of the stories would be about a bit more. This newest season features stars like Miley Cyrus, Anthony Mackie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Topher Grace. Per usual, Black Mirror will explore the potential horrors of technology and will depress everyone that watches it.
There are some other interesting releases this week though. In the Netflix original film I Am Mother, after humanity is destroyed a young woman is being raised by a droid, and her world is turned upside-down when she encounters another human being, played by Hilary Swank. What seems like a teen-driven sci-fi film quickly becomes something bordering on the horrific.
As far as non-Netflix originals go, there isn't a lot coming this week. There's the third season of IFC's comedy series Documentary Now, 2018's animated Dr. Suess' The Grinch, and the 2016 animated movie A Silent Voice.
Below, you'll find the list for this week's releases on Netflix. If you're interested in planning ahead, check out Netflix's releases for June.
Monday, June 3
Documentary Now!: Season 3
Malibu Rescue: The Series -- NETFLIX FAMILY
Tuesday, June 4
Miranda Sings Live…Your Welcome -- NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Magic: The Gathering has been a hugely popular game for more than 25 years, but while video games, comics, and books have been produced in that time, a screen adaptation is yet to happen. This is about the change however, with the news that Avengers: Endgame director Joe and Anthony Russo are adapting the fantasy card game into an anime series for Netflix.
The streaming giant has announced that the Russos will be teaming with Wizards of The Coast, which first released Magic in 1993, and its parent company Hasbro, to executive produce the show. In a statement, the Russos said: "We have been huge fans and players of Magic: The Gathering for as long as it has been around, so being able to help bring these stories to life through animation is a true passion project for us."
Netflix states that the show will "expand on the stories of the Planeswalkers." Planeswalkers are the most powerful beings that the player can take the role of, as well as a type of card in the game. Beyond that no further plot details are known, and a release date is yet to be announced. The show will be written by Henry Gilroy, who worked on the animated Star Wars shows The Clone Wars and Rebels, and Jose Molina, whose credits include The Tick and Agent Carter.
Magic: The Gathering was the first ever trading card game, and 2015 it was reported that it has more than 20 million players worldwide. A Magic movie was previously in the works, initially at Universal, and more recently at Fox. It is unknown if a film is still being developed.
In related news, it was confirmed last week that production of The Witcher, Netflix's adaptation of the fantasy novel series-turned-video game has now finished. The show is set to arrive later this year.
The partially crowdfunded sequel Shenmue 3 needs more time in development and has been delayed. The game had been slated for release on August 27 but has now been pushed back to a fall release of November 19. In a letter on the game's Kickstarter page, creator Yu Suzuki explained the delay.
"Whilst almost ready, the game simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished," it states. "We feel that the extra time we have will help us deliver the true Shenmue experience players around the world deserve! We thank you for your patience and understanding."
The sequel to Shenmue has been a long time coming. Shenmue 2 was released in 2001, and being aware of the development through the crowdfunding campaign has made the length of this sequel's development stand out. It has gone through multiple delays, and Suzuki has let fans in on the process and promised changes based on feedback.
Blood & Truth has made history by becoming the first ever VR title to top the UK all-format sales chart, according to sales monitor Chart-Track. Sony's new shooter debuts at No.1, despite requiring PSVR to play.
The PS4 exclusive is followed by FIFA 19 at No.2, while Team Sonic Racing and Days Gone fall to No.3 and No.4, respectively. Two more new games enter the chart for the week ending June 1, meanwhile. Cricket 19 debuts at No.6, while Nintendo Switch exclusive Little Friends: Dogs & Cats enters at No.24.
Blood & Truth, however, is the success story of the week following its warm critical reception. We awarded it a 7/10 in our verdict.
"Blood & Truth is uneven, especially when it's determined to get you to focus on an uninteresting story while you're putting up with the shortcomings of VR," wrote our critic, Alessandro Barbosa, in GameSpot's Blood & Truth review. "But the beauty of Blood and Truth is that it also does marvelous things with the platform. The addition of motion control makes familiar and mundane mechanics engaging, while also breaking up the smartly designed first-person shooting and establishing a great rhythm to the six-or-so-hour campaign. Blood & Truth doesn't manage to stick the landing in all aspects, but it's definitely a step forward for PSVR shooters."
You can read the full top 10 sales chart for this week below, courtesy of UKIE and GfK Chart-Track. Note this table does not include digital sales data, and so should not be considered representative of all UK game sales.
EA has detailed some of the gameplay improvements it will make to FIFA 20--before it's even announced the game. In a post on the FIFA blog, the series' gameplay team set out its priorities for the "next product iteration."
Top of the list is AI defending, EA said, with a larger emphasis and incentive placed on manual defending, as opposed to letting the computer defend for you. One of the ways EA plans to do this is by increasing the likelihood a manual tackle will propel the ball to a teammate. Automatic defending will see its overall efficacy reduced and reaction times slowed.
Shooting is also being revamped, with attackers given greater accuracy during easy shooting scenarios, such as being clean through against the 'keeper. Goalkeepers' reaction times will be reduced in these situations to resolve the sometimes "superhuman" reactions players complained of. Additionally, the timing window for green timed shots is being reduced to two frames for all shots, and they'll also be "slightly less precise." EA did, however, reassure players that green timed shots will "still be more accurate than non-timed shots."
Lots of work is being done on making passing and shooting more realistic, EA says, especially when it comes to difficult strikes. Volleys will be more variable and less accurate, for example, while 180° and first-time passes will result in "slower/weaker balls." To compensate, easy situation passes will now be more accurate. Two new passing options will also be introduced: the driven pass-and-go (which will replace the current manual pass button combo) and the dinked pass, which will cease to be an automatic, contextual pass variant and instead be user-controlled only.
FIFA 20 has not yet been announced, but EA plans to talk about the future of the franchise at EA play, right before E3, on June 8. For more, check out everything we know about EA's E3 2019 plans.
Rainbow Six Siege's developer, Ubisoft, has long maintained its desire to get the Tom Clancy shooter to the 100 Operator mark before making a sequel. The company has again repeated that wish, saying it still doesn't plan on making Siege 2, even when the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles launch.
"We don't want a sequel whatsoever," Siege's brand director, Alexandre Remy, told the Daily Star. "The reason behind this is we don't want to segregate our community between the different platforms. In an ideal world, we'd love players from every platform to be able to play together. We are approaching next-gen with the same spirit."
Remy's comments indicate Ubisoft's opposition to both making a sequel and also its dream to make cross-play a reality--both across generations and within them, with PS4 players and Xbox One players able to play together with PC users. He elaborated: "We've been asking how can we make the player base of Siege today be able to migrate--if they want to migrate, that is--but also make this cheaper [than buying a new, next-gen copy of the game] as much as possible or through backwards compatibility.
"The strength of any multiplayer game is the size of its community, so I do believe that we have to make every effort possible that when next gen comes in, they are treated as a high-end PC versus another PC."
Remy does warn, however, that this is just a target Ubisoft is aiming for and that there is a long way to go before cross-play becomes a reality for Siege. Cross-platform play has become more common in the past couple of years, with Rocket League, Fortnite, and the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare all allowing players from different platforms to play together.
Rainbow Six Siege's new season, Operation Phantom Sight, is about to launch for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It brings a redesign of Kafe Dostoyevsky as well as two new Operators, Nokk and Warden. A release date for Year 4, Season 2 is expected in the next week or two.
This year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare might be reintroducing a single-player campaign to the mix--and adding in some new co-op features--but it will not feature a Zombies mode. Campaign gameplay director Jacob Minkoff said in a new interview that the "out-there" nature of Zombies modes in previous games doesn't exactly fit with Infinity Ward's ambition of making a gritty, realistic game.
"Because they focus on more of the stylized, graphic novel, super-hero experience, they can have the much more 'out there' different types of gameplay in their games," Minkoff told PlayStation Lifestyle about the games that Zombies creator Treyarch makes. "But for us, we're trying to create an authentic, realistic feeling world. We don't have the flexibility to do something like put zombies in the game."
Minkoff said having a Zombies mode in Modern Warfare would "compromise" the developer's vision for the game. "That would compromise the feeling of playing in a world that feels realistic and authentic and relative to today's conflicts and things we face," he said.
Apart from being tons of fun, the Zombies modes in previous Call of Duty games have provided players a chance to play together in co-op. Thankfully, the new Modern Warfare will offer co-op gameplay opportunities, but Infinity Ward isn't ready to talk about them. "What I will tell you is that the single-player storyline goes directly into the co-op storyline. No stop. The events just continue. So those elements--gameplay, progression, story--they just continue throughout everything that we have on the disc or digital download," Minkoff said.
That is a theme of Modern Warfare. Unlike previous games that have siloed off campaign and multiplayer into their own distinct buckets, Modern Warfare will unite all of its modes. As we reported, Infinity Ward said it's going for "continuity and consistency" across all modes in Modern Warfare. Weapons will feel and handle the same whether you're in single or multiplayer. Progressing your character, unlocking killstreaks, and increasing your levels with different guns will track across all modes, so you won't feel penalized for preferring single player over multiplayer or vice versa.
It is not surprising that the new Modern Warfare doesn't have a Zombies mode, as the previous Modern Warfare titles also did not offer this (though Infinity Ward's Infinite Warfare did). Treyarch created the Zombies mode, and it is a mainstay of the Black Ops series.
While it is now confirmed that Modern Warfare doesn't have a Zombies mode, it's unknown if the game will have its own battle royale mode. Black Ops 4 had Blackout as its battle royale mode. Unlike that game, the new Modern Warfare has a dedicated campaign mode.
In other news, it's been confirmed that the new Modern Warfare supports cross-play and that it will not have a season pass. For lots more, check out the story linked below.
A Pokemon Go-style Dragon Quest title is in the works for Japan. Dragon Quest Walk was announced today in a Square Enix press conference.
The game is launching this year for iOS and Android. A closed beta test will begin on June 11 for a limited number of users. Right now, Dragon Quest Walk appears to be confirmed only for Japan.
The game's official website, translated by Gematsu, states that in Dragon Quest walk, "everyday life becomes an adventure." You can visit landmarks in the real word to unlock quests, while players can also build a room and decorate it with items they unlock by playing the game.
According to Gematsu, series executive producer Yuu Miyake said during the briefing that Dragon Quest Walk may have some connection to the unannounced Dragon Quest XII in some capacity. "By the way, about Dragon Quest XII, which I'm sure is on everyone's mind--[Yuji] Horii and I are currently making preparations on series developments that will connect to XII. I think it's still too early, but we would like announce it in some form, so please wait a little while longer."
Industry analyst Dr. Serkan Toto says Dragon Quest Walk appears to be a "shameless clone" of Niantic's Pokemon Go. Presumably in response to the game's announcement, Square Enix's stock price is up by more than 5 percent in Japan.
Pokemon Go, which uses AR to blend the real and virtual worlds, was released in July 2016 and it became a global phenomenon that continues to be very popular to this day. Niantic followed up Pokemon Go with another similar game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Another Pokemon Go-style game, Minecraft Earth, is also in development.
The latest box office numbers are in, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters was No. 1. It made an estimated $49 million in the United States and Canada to come out on top in its debut weekend. That is a massive number, but it was slightly below industry projections of $50 million, according to Entertainment Weekly, which supplied all the box office numbers.
Additionally, the $49 million start is well below the movies that it serves as a sequel to. 2014's Godzilla made $93.2 million over its opening weekend, while 2016's Kong: Skull Island--which is in the same MonsterVerse--debuted with $61 million over its first weekend.
King of the Monsters made $130 million from overseas markets for a global opening-weekend haul of $179 million. The movie stars Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, and Ken Watanabe; it was directed by Michael Dougherty (Superman Returns, X-Men 2).
Disney's Aladdin made $42.3 million in its second weekend to finish No. 2, while the Elton John biopic Rocketman starring Taron Egerton was No. 3 with $25 million. Another new movie, the Octavia Spencer-starring horror film Ma made $18.3 million to land at No. 4, while John Wick 3 rounded up the top five $11.1 million.
Avengers: Endgame made a further $7.8 million to to push its lifetime domestic box office to more than $815.5 million. Worldwide, Endgame has made $2.713 billion, which is still behind Avatar's all-time record of $2.788 billion.
Beyond Good & Evil 2, the long-awaited Ubisoft sequel, will not be at E3 2019 this month. In a blog post, the developer said it's focusing on "core development milestones." As such, Beyond Good & Evil 2 won't have a presence at E3 2019.
"This year, as we are focusing on core development milestones, we will not be attending E3 2019," reads a line from the blog post.
More gameplay footage and other news about the game will be announced "when the time is right." On the more immediate horizon, the next Space Monkey Report livestream event for the game will take place on June 5 at 6 PM PT. You can watch on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook.
"You continue to inspire us by sharing your ideas and creativity with the Beyond Good and Evil 2 dev team and community, and we really appreciate our Space Monkeys' passion and dedication!"
This development follows the news from April when Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot suggested that changes might be afoot for Beyond Good & Evil 2. At the time, Guillemot said he recently spoke with creative director Michel Ancel about "another direction" for the game.
"I spoke with Michel last week about it to see where it was going; how we should move in one or another direction," Guillemot said in a video that was apparently recorded in March. "We see the potential of this universe is fantastic, and Michel is really passionate [about it]. It's going to be fantastic, I think.
In an intriguing bit of news, actor Joseph Gordon Levitt's creative company, HitRecord, is partnering with Ubisoft for the tools so anyone can create content for Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is a prequel to the 2003 original. It's been in the works for a long time, but there is still no release date or announced platforms.
Ubisoft's press conference will take place on Monday, June 10 at 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST (6 AM AET on June 11), sandwiched between Limited Run Games and Square Enix. You can check out the full press conference schedule for full details.
A new trailer for Walt Disney/20th Century Fox's upcoming racing movie Ford v. Ferrari has arrived. Matt Damon stars as Ford car designer Carroll Shelby whop recruits British driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to create a car that could beat Enzo Ferrari's at the Le Mans competition in 1966.
John Bernthan, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Caitriona Balfe, Noah Rupe, Ray McKinnon, and Remo Girone also star in the movie that's directed by Oscar nominated director James Mangolf (Logan, Girl, Interrupted). Ford v Ferarri opens on November 15.
Walt Disney/Fox also released a new poster and a series of production stills for Ford v Ferrari. Click through the images below the poster to see them all.
Cuphead, the extra-challenging indie game from StudioMDHR, is coming to a new platform, but it's probably not the one you'd expect. The game is coming to Tesla's suite of electric vehicles.
Tesla founder Elon Musk confirmed this in an interview with the Ride the Lightning podcast. The game is already up and running for Tesla's Model 3, Model S, and Model X, and Tesla worked with the game's developer, StudioMDHR, to get it running.
Cuphead runs on the Unity game engine, which Tesla has been working to port to Tesla's own operating system. Musk also said there is a dune buggy game in the works for Tesla.
The game developer StudioMDHR confirmed to IGN that they're looking to launch Cuphead for Tesla cars this summer. The game only includes the Inkwell Isle One part of the game due in part to storage space considerations.
"When Tesla reached out to us to bring Cuphead to their vehicles, we were thrilled!" StudioMDHR's Maja Moldenhauer said. "Finding out that Mr. Musk was a fan of our game was extremely humbling and getting a chance to work with such an innovative company has been really exciting. We hope Cuphead can add some classic fun to such forward-thinking vehicles."
You need a wired USB controller to play Cuphead in a Tesla; it does not support touchscreen controls.
Cuphead is not Tesla's first in-car game. A number of Atari classics are already available, including Asteroids and Lunar Lander. In all cases, video games can only be played in Tesla cars when they're parked.
Cuphead initially launched in 2017 for Xbox One and PC before launching for Nintendo Switch in April this year. The game has sold more than 3 million copies (but this doesn't count the Switch version).
Robert Pattinson is the new Batman, and the upcoming 2021 film will be the first in a new trilogy. That's according to Deadline, which said he heard from sources that Warner Bros. is preparing three Batman movies under "The Batman" name.
Matt Reeves, who directed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes, is directing the three new Batman movies.
The Batman 1 is scheduled for release on June 25, 2021, but no dates have been set for the two sequels. Apart from Pattinson, no other actors for The Batman have been announced, while story details are under wraps for now as well. Nicholas Hoult was reportedly the other front-runner to get the role of Batman before Warner Bros. decided on Pattinson.
Pattinson is perhaps best known for his starring role in the Twilight series as Edward Cullen. Before that, Pattinson played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. His latest movie was the black-and-white horror film The Lighthouse.
Ben Affleck was originally set to star and direct The Batman. Affleck, who played Batman in Batman v. Superman and Justice League, stepped down as director in early 2017, and more recently confirmed that he was no longer involved at all, stating that he had "tried to direct a version of it, but couldn't crack it."
In a recent interview, Reeves hinted at what fans could expect from the movie. "It's very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale," he said. "It's told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it's going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional.
"It's more Batman in his detective mode than we've seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He's supposed to be the world's greatest detective, and that's not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been."
Fallout 76's poor release did damage to Bethesda's reputation and the Fallout brand overall, according to Todd Howard. He said in a new interview that the game, which launched in November 2018 to poor reviews and plenty of technical issues, created "some" damage to Bethesda's reputation and the perception of the Fallout brand.
He went on to acknowledge that, due in part to the always-online, multiplayer focus of Fallout 76 being new ground for Bethesda, the team anticipated a rocky launch.
"We knew we were going to have a lot of bumps. That's a difficult development; a lot of new systems and things like that. 'Hey, we're going to try this new thing.' Anytime you're going to do something new like that, you know you're going to have your bumps; you know a lot of people might say, 'That's not the game we want from you.' But we still want to be somebody that's trying new things," Howard said. "That was a very difficult, difficult development on that game to get it where it was ...a lot of those difficulties ended up on the screen. We knew, hey look, this is not the type of game that people are used to from us and we're going to get some criticism on it. A lot of that--very well-deserved criticism."
Howard went on to say that Bethesda never expected Fallout 76 to get the highest review scores. "Even from the beginning, [we thought], 'This is not going to be a high Metacritic game; that's not what this is, given what it is,'" Howard said.
Despite predicting technical issues and lower review scores, Howard said the team at Bethesda felt strongly about making an online, multiplayer Fallout game. He also said he expects Fallout 76 to improve over time, similar to the way in which Bethesda's MMO The Elder Scrolls Online sputtered at launch and has since grown to be one of the most popular MMOs on earth with more than 8.5 million players.
"It's not how you launch, it's what it becomes," Howard said about Fallout 76, going to tease that Bethesda has "some awesome stuff" to reveal at E3 in June.
Though Fallout 76 was criticized, Howard pointed out that it was still a "huge" release for Bethesda. No sales numbers have been announced, however.
Howard said Bethesda's main takeaway or lesson learned from Fallout 76 was that the developer should have kept the game in a testing phase for a longer period of time. The game might have benefitted from being in beta for "a number of months" before launching, he said.
"If there is one thing I would have done differently, [it would have been to] find a way to, at scale, let people be playing the game 24/7 before you say, 'Everybody in. Here you go. Pay us.'"
Howard also clarified that Fallout 76 was developed not principally by the main team at Bethesda Game Studios in Maryland. Instead, the entire Bethesda team in Austin, Texas worked on Fallout 76, with support from teams in Dallas, Montreal, and home base in Rockville, Maryland where "a lot" of people contributed.
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