The Biggest News in Gaming (Week Beginning 4/11/19)
We’re back after a week off, and what a week it’s been — PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios had a surprise change of leadership, while China cracked down on so-called “gaming addiction” with tough new legislation. Check out these stories, and more, down below.
Guerrilla Games Co-Founder Takes The Reins of PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios
In yet another surprise change of Sony leadership, industry legend Shuhei Yoshida has stepped aside as president of PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios.
Guerrilla Games’ own Hermen Hulst has been promoted to the newly vacated position, and going forward will apparently “manage and lead all game development across the 14 studios that form Worldwide Studios.”
Yoshida, meanwhile, is slated to lead a new initiative that focuses on building and nurturing more indie games studios within the PlayStation space, an area that has arguably been underdeveloped in the current generation of PlayStation consoles.
PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan released the following statement praising Hulst as part of the announcements: “Hermen is one of the most effective and well-respected leaders in the video game industry. He is a passionate advocate for the teams he leads and understands how to empower creative talent to build great experiences. I have no doubt Hermen can lead our teams to deliver compelling and diverse experiences at a steady cadence.”
In terms of Yoshida’s new role in the indie game space, Ryan went on to say that “these wildly creative experiences deserve focus, and a champion like Shu at PlayStation who will ensure the entire SIE organization works together to better engage with independent developers through a culture of supporting and celebrating their contributions to PlayStation platforms.”
Players of the Original Overwatch Will Receive Most of the Content Announced For Overwatch 2
In case you missed it, Blizzard took the chance at BlizzCon 2019 to officially announce a sequel to 2016’s massively popular Overwatch. The sequel will feature new heroes, new maps, and new modes — but bizarrely, all of this content will also be available to owners of the original game via online updates.
Overwatch 2 will introduce an exclusive campaign mode centred around PvE, with new cutscenes that develop on the series’ fairly murky lore, but pretty much all other content introduced in the new game will be added to the old game as well. This content-sharing will work both ways, as any cosmetics earned in the first game will follow players to Overwatch 2.
Speaking to Kotaku Australia, director Jeff Kaplan spoke of trying to convince Blizzard that this was the right move: “I try to tell [Blizzard execs] if we do what’s right by the players, they will be happy, we will have a better game, and we will end up in a better place in the long run. Rather than having this short-sighted thinking that’s usually driven by anxiety of ‘the only way to get players to play Overwatch 2 is to cut off all the Overwatch 1 players and starve them out and force them to come over and, you know, make that game just sort of die on the vine.”
The move is certainly ballsy; so far, details on graphical and mechanical updates in the new game have been thin on the ground, begging the question “is it worth making the move to the new game at all?” Only time will tell, so stay tuned to our news outlets for further updates.
Chinese Government Introduces Online “Curfews” To Curb Gaming Addiction
With fears of “gaming addiction” plaguing the discourse more and more over the past few years, the Chinese government has introduced new legislation that will limit young people’s exposure to online gaming.
According to the new rules, gamers under 18 years of age will be prevented from playing online games between the hours of 10 PM and 8 AM. Furthermore, their actual play-time will be monitored — on weekdays, minors will be limited to 90 minutes of online play per day, while on weekends and public holidays it will be extended to 3 hours.
Finally, restrictions are being introduced to the amount of money players can spend on online games per month — 16 to 18-year-olds are allowed to spend 400 yuan per month on their online accounts, while 8 to 16-year-olds can only spend 200 a month.
The onus to enforce these rules will fall on any and all online gaming platforms operating in China. The government is currently working with police to develop a real-name registration system to track players’ game time, and if companies fail to limit them according to the new rules, they may face consequences as dire as having their licenses revoked.
Major Modern Warfare Update Adds New Maps, Begins to Address Player Complaints
The first major update for FPS Modern Warfare was released earlier this week, clocking in at a hefty 8–10 GB depending on your platform, and addressed a number of player complaints as well as adding several new maps.
The first new map, Shoot House, is a classic 6v6 map and has been inserted into the regular multiplayer rotation; however, if you don’t want to leave it up to chance, there’s also a featured 24/7 Shoot House playlist currently available that includes the Team Deathmatch, Domination, Kill Confirmed, and Headquarters modes. The second map, Krovnik Farmland, is now in rotation for the Ground War game type.
Other changes as part of the update include tweaks to two highly controversial weapons — the 725 shotgun and the M4A1 assault rifle. The 725, a shotgun that people were literally able to use as a sniper rifle with a few adjustments, has had its range nerfed, with further tweaks planned in future updates. The M4A1 has also had its range reduced, and its recoil has been slightly increased, making it less of a lethal laser beam at long range.
Elsewhere, changes have been applied to claymore damage, riot shield defence, battle chatter, and footstep noise to help balance gameplay.
