Doublejump Digest: February 4, 2018
This week in gaming: Rockstar delays Red Dead Redemption 2 again, Kaz Hirai says goodbai to the CEO role, EA gives some bittersweet Anthem news, and more!
In the spirit of keeping our readers up-to-date with what’s going on in the video game industry, the Doublejump Digest is a brief collection of the major news stories that happened in the past week. Keep an eye out for the Digest every Saturday night, and head into the archive if you’ve missed any!
From Doublejump:
Cav played Rocwise Entertainment’s take on the Call of Duty formula and found it to be a poor attempt to promote “the Turkish government’s hatred of terrorism, through a game that makes you hope the terrorists win.”
Major news releases:
Red Dead Redemption 2 delayed again, now slated for October 26:
Rockstar Games made the announcement on its Newswire this past Thursday, noting that “while [it] had hoped to have the game out sooner, [it requires] a little extra time for polish.”
To tide fans over in the meantime, the studio released the following set of six screenshots from the game and promised to share “a lot more information with [us] in the coming weeks”:
Kaz Hirai steps down as Sony CEO, PS4 holiday system figures dip:
The company announced the move, which Hirai proposed to the Sony Nominating Committee himself, on Friday, noting that Hirai’s position would be taken up by current Chief Financial Officer Kenichiro Yoshida as of April 1, 2018. In a statement to the press, Hirai noted that he made the proposal “for the future of Sony and also for [himself] to embark on a new chapter in [his] life.”
Hirai will remain on Sony’s Board of Directors as he becomes the company’s Chairman, continuing a partnership with Yoshida that began back in December 2013. The transition occurs at a “crucial juncture” for the company, as it moves into a new two-year “corporate plan” after the current one’s success.
In related news, Sony also revealed that it had shipped 9 million PlayStation 4 systems worldwide this past holiday period compared to 9.7 million units the year before, but increased game sales saw the company’s Games and Network division make increased operating income.
EA confirms Anthem’s 2019 delay and new Battlefield for this year:
Early this week, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen told the Wall Street Journal that the company has moved Anthem’s release from this Spring to early next year but claimed that “it’s not a delay” that was caused by development issues as per Kotaku’s original report.
Jorgenses also confirmed that DICE will fill-in for BioWare by releasing a new Battlefield game in October, but he stopped short of providing any further details about the new multiplayer shooter. (Abir — I really hope that it’s set in the 1980s-1990s!)
Ubisoft details Far Cry 5’s season pass, announces Far Cry 3 re-release:
Senior Community Manager Giancarlo Varanini took to the company’s official news blog to reveal that Far Cry 5’s season pass will include three “adventures” in three separate locations: Dead Living Zombies (a zombie horde mode based on “B-movie scenarios”, Hours of Darkness (a mini campaign set during the Vietnam War), and Lost on Mars (an alien-focussed mode set on the red planet).
Varanini also announced that Einstein-quoting bad guy Vaas will debut on PS4 and Xbox One in Far Cry 3 Classic Edition, which is a re-release of the game’s single-player story. Season pass owners will be gifted the game for free on console, with PC players gifted a copy of the original game when purchasing the season pass or Far Cry 5’s “gold edition”.
Far Cry 3 Classic Edition is also set to be released as a standalone title before the end of this month, four weeks before Far Cry 5’s March 27 release.
Notable game releases:
- EA Sports UFC 3 (PS4, Xbox One)
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT (PS4)
Major video releases:
Far Cry 5 — Story Trailer:
Ubisoft Montreal wants to remind us that this game is a shoe-in for 2018’s “most creepy world” award…
Shadow of the Colossus — Story Trailer:
Next week’s going to be a real treat for PS4 owners!
Total War: Thrones of Britannia — Five New Things Coming to Thrones:
Fans finally have a release date to look forward to: April 20.
Interesting reads:
- Gamasutra took a look into game development in the Oceania region, focusing on Australia and New Zealand.
- Eurogamer’s technical workhorse Digital Foundry described Bluepoint’s remake of Shadow of the Colossus as “one of the best remakes of all time”!
Other news:
- Check out the winners of the first-ever EVO Japan fighting game tournament: EventHubs
- Take a look at the Nintendo Labo’s Toy-Con Garage feature: Polygon
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection getting a huge update, three years after release: GamesRadar
- Halo 6’s development won’t be impacted by this ongoing support: GameSpot
- Pokémon GO developer acquires AR API maker Escher Reality: GamaSutra
- PS4’s year-over-year sales have dipped: GameSpot
- Here’s some beautiful concept art from the Final Fantasy VII Remake: DualShockers
- Eight more titles added to the Xbox Game Pass: GameSpot
- Gigantic’s latest update is also its last, as the game will close down in July: Eurogamer
- Fortnite’s next update has been delayed on all platforms: GameSpot
- We’ve got some more information about Rainbow Six Siege’s next big event: GameSpot
- Supercell makes a huge investment in Trailmix Games: GamaSutra
- Here’s Final Fantasy XV’s Windows benchmarks for you to test against: DualShockers
- Battlefield 1’s Turning Tides expansion looks suitably epic: YouTube
