News Mash-Up - Week # 34

• • Gamescom 2022 took place from August 23-28 in Cologne, Germany. It kicked off with Opening Night Live, a two-hour livestream on the first night featuring announcements about over 35 games and other gaming-related news. Included in these announcements were updates on Dune Awakening, a new survival game based on Dune, Hogwarts Legacy, a Harry Potter game due for release in February 2023, and the DualSense Edge wireless controller, a new customizable controller for the PS5.
    
    
  • This week, Sony announced an increase in the price of its PS5 in regions across the world, including Europe, the UK, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico, and Canada. Sony has stated that this increase is due to “high levels of global inflation as well as adverse currency trends, impacting consumers and creating pressure on many industries.” Significantly, this list does not include the US.
    
    
  • Sony is currently being sued for £5 billion for charging a 30% commission on in-game purchases and digital game sales, therefore breaking competition law in the UK. All people in the UK who have bought something from the online PlayStation Store since August 19, 2016, thought to be approximately 9 million people, are a part of this claim and could potentially receive compensation.
    
    
  • The Chinese giant Tencent reported decreases in revenue in both its Domestic and International Games divisions, and the total revenue of the company decreased by 3% year-on-year to $20 billion. Tencent said in a statement that much of this decline, particularly in the International Games division, can be attributed to a “post-pandemic digestion period” as people have begun to incorporate pre-pandemic activities back into their lives.
    
    
  • Ubisoft+, Ubisoft’s namesake game subscription service currently only available on PC, might soon make its way to Xbox. A service dedicated to scraping the backend of Xbox found a Ubisoft+ logo, leading people to speculate that it may soon be available on a new device.
    
    
  • Xbox believes that its TV app in collaboration with Samsung will be crucial to bringing cloud gaming to the mainstream by making it as easily accessible and smooth as watching a show on Netflix. As of now, the app is only available on 2022 Samsung TVs.
     
  • In order to put Cooking Simulator onto Xbox Games Pass, Microsoft reportedly paid $600k to the Polish developer Big Cheese Studio. This amount of money was equal to a significant 22% of Big Cheese Studio’s earnings from the previous fiscal year.
    
    
  • The Sony game Days Gone will be adapted into a movie. Sam Heughan, known for his role as Jamie Frasier in the TV series Outlander, is reportedly being considered for the lead role of Deacon St. John. The film will be directed by Oscar nominee Sheldon Turner.

Week commencing Monday 22 August 2022