The Biggest News In Gaming (Week Beginning 20/01/20)
After a lengthy hiatus over the Christmas break, we’re back to bring you your weekly update on the biggest news stories in gaming. Read on to see what’s made headlines this week!
Delays Hit Several Major Games Meant To Release in Spring 2020
Yes, that’s right, delay season is well and truly underway in the video game world; no less than four high-profile games have seen hefty delays so far this month.
Publisher Square Enix kicked things off this year by announcing that their Final Fantasy VII Remake would be pushed back from March 3rd to April 10th. Meanwhile, the May release of Crystal Dynamics’ controversial Marvel’s Avengers has been pushed until September of this year. The supposed reason for both delays is to allow the studios time to “polish” the respective titles.
Just two days later, CD Projekt Red took to the internet to announce the unfortunate delay of Cyberpunk 2077, from April 16th to September 17th. Despite the significant delay, CD Projekt Red is adamant that Cyberpunk is “complete and playable”, again citing a desire to “finish playtesting, fixing, and polishing” before release.
The most recent delay this month comes in the form of Techland’s Dying Light 2. Originally the game was destined for release in Spring 2020, but Techland announced via Twitter that they were delaying it indefinitely. The studio said that they needed more development time to achieve their vision, stating “our priority is to deliver an experience that lives up to our own high standards and to the expectations of you, our fans”.
Netflix’s “The Witcher” Will Receive the Anime Treatment After Hugely Successful Launch
In a letter to shareholders rounding up their success in Q4, Netflix confirmed that their TV adaptation of The Witcher starring Henry Cavill was set to become their “biggest season one TV series ever”, accruing 76 million member views in its first four weeks of release. The success of the series had the knock-on effect of reinvigorating sales for both The Witcher book series and video game series, with 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gaining 10,000 concurrent players over the festive period — the highest number of concurrent players in its 5 years on the market.
The series’ original song “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” has also been a viral success; various versions have cropped up on YouTube, scoring millions of hits per video, and due to fan demand the single is now available to stream on Spotify.
Off the back of this unprecedented success, Netflix announced this week that they would be producing a spin-off anime movie titled The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf. Several team members from the live-action series are set to work on the film, including producers Lauren Hissrich and Beau DeMayo. Studio Mir, an animation studio known for The Legend of Korra, is set to be involved in the movie’s production as well.
While specific details about the project are thin so far, Henry Cavill is expected to provide the voice of Geralt, as The White Wolf takes on “a new threat [facing] the continent”.
Pokemon-Inspired Early Access MMO “TemTem” Hits Nearly 30k Concurrent Players on Steam in Just Two Days
The eagerly anticipated, Pokemon-inspired MMO Temtem has released to the public in Early Access this week, to uproarious success — in just two days, the game has seen its concurrent players peak at just over 29,000.
It’s not all sunshine and roses for developer Crema, however; the game’s near-instant success has put a strain on the servers, leaving some players in lengthy queues to join, while others who have gotten into the game have experienced frequent disconnections and game freezes. In response, Crema has worked hard to fix Temtem’s issues as quickly as possible, churning out several hotfixes and larger patches to address fan complaints.
Players who download the game on Steam today can expect ~20 hours of campaign play across three unique islands, as well as 76 Temtems to catch and battle. Like any MMO, this can be experienced more or less as a solo player, but the main draw of the game versus competitor Pokemon is the ability to explore and battle seamlessly alongside friends, combining different monsters and strategies on the fly.
More features will be added as the game makes its way through early access and the price of the game increases, rewarding early adopters who were willing to put up with Temtem’s growing pains.
Modern Warfare Receives Another Hefty (And Buggy) Update, Adding Crossbows and Additional Loadout Slots
Despite my cries for help, Infinity Ward has just released another chunky update for Modern Warfare. However, fans of the series would be wise to read the studio’s official statement about the update before installing it, as it seems certain players’ stats and progression records have been deleted upon re-starting the game.
On the plus side, the update introduces several features including a crossbow and five additional loadout slots. The slots are available immediately upon updating the game (although you may have to customise them more than once to make the changes stick), while the crossbow can be earned through an in-game challenge. All you have to do to unlock it is equip a Marksman Rifle with a Reflex Optic, then get five kills across 25 matches, meaning even the most casual Modern Warfare player shouldn’t have much trouble meeting the requirements for the new weapon.
Also introduced in the update are additional game modes Capture the Flag and Shoot the Ship, which have been added to the main playlist (replacing Shoot House 24/7), along with multiple bug fixes to existing maps and weapons.
