Sparkers Blog

News Mash-Up - Week # 38

Written by Sparkers | Tuesday, 27 September 2022

  

Top News Items


    • Apple has announced that beginning on October 5, it will increase prices on the App Store and for in-app purchases across countries using the Euro as currency as well as Poland, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Chile. It appears that the lowest price of purchase will be raised from €0.99 to €1.19. This price increase excludes already automatically occurring subscriptions, and developers will be able to decide whether they want to maintain the current prices for already-subscribed customers.

    • Xbox has stated that it will continue to pursue M&A activities. Given the current frequency of mergers and acquisitions among gaming companies across the industry, Xbox has decided to proceed with their own M&A pursuits to stay competitive. Additionally, Xbox has stated that there are currently no plans to raise prices of either the Series S or X models of the console.

    • In the stock market on Friday, September 16, Roblox Corp.’s (RBLX, +0.79%) share price faced a decline in stock prices, ending the day at with decrease of 9.2% at a price of $39.50. On Thursday, September 15, after Roblox Corp.’s Investors Day, the share price declined as well. For the week as a whole, the company’s share price decreased by 13.22%. These declines in price came after Wall Street analysts speculated that many of Roblox’s current strategic goals, including catering to an older audience, could prove problematic.

    • Rockstar has admitted that it was hacked during the weekend of September 17, leading to a large leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 development materials that are currently in-progress. Rockstar said that it was “extremely disappointed” at the event, but also expects its live services like GTA Online to continue without issue. During the day, shares of Take-Two, the publisher of GTA, dropped 6%.

    • Twitch recently announced that there will be a partial gambling ban put into place on October 18. The gambling ban will target roulette, slots, and dice games as well as cryptocurrency gambling sites due to their damaging effects to young users. Notably, it does not include sports betting, such as fantasy sports.
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    • Sega has decided that with the release of Like a Dragon: Inshin in the West, it will be excluding the name Yazuka from all future releases in the RPG series. The “Like a Dragon” name “more closely align[s] with the Japanese name.”

    • Sony is reportedly in the process of creating a PS5 with a removable disc drive, to be sold either with or without the disc drive. The planned release date for this console is reportedly around September 2023. With PS5 production costs on the rise, this could be a way for Sony to cut some costs by moving towards a single PS5 model in the future with an optional drive for consumers who choose it.
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    • Following the reveal of the new PSVR2 headset for PS5, Sony has stated that games for the first PSVR will not be compatible with the new headset. This is because “developing games for PSVR2 requires a whole different approach than the original PSVR” to “deliver a truly next-generation VR experience” according to Hideaki Nishino, the Senior Vice President of platform experience. New features of the PSVR2 will include a 4K HDR display, eye-tracking, and 3D audio among others.
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    • Microsoft has announced that the PC Xbox app will be integrated with HowLongToBeat, a crowdsourced website that shows the average time that players generally spend completing a game. The information from HowLongToBeat will be appended to “most” PC Game Pass games in the store.
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    • Microsoft recently removed online DRM or “digital rights management” checks when playing an Xbox One game on a Series X console. These DRM checks previously made an online connection imperative to play many games, rendering them unplayable in the case of, for example, a power outage. Now, with this requirement removed, players are another step closer to always having access to their games.
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    • The video card manufacturer EVGA has decide to stop its production of video cards after facing issues with the multinational technology company NVIDIA. Video cards currently make up 78% of EVGA’s income, but the partnership with NVIDIA was “not ultimately profitable” according to the company.
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New games

Week commencing Monday 19 September 2022

Date Title Platform(s) Genre(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s)
19 September Return to Monkey Island Win, NS Adventure Terrible Toybox,  Lucasfilm Games Devolver Digital
  There is No Light Win Action-adventure Zelart HypeTrain Digital
20 September Amnesia: Memories NS Visual novel Idea Factory Idea Factory
  Amnesia: Later×Crowd NS Visual novel Idea Factory Idea Factory
  Construction Simulator Win, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX Simulation weltenbauer Astragon
  Deathloop XSX First-person shooter Arkane Studios Bethesda Softworks
  Hardspace: Shipbreaker PS5, XSX Simulation Blackbird Interactive Focus Entertainment
  Jack Move NS, PS4,  XBO Role-playing So Romantic HypeTrain Digital
  The Outbound Ghost Win Role-playing adventure Conradical Games Digerati
  Soulstice Win, PS5, XSX Action, hack and slash Reply Game Studios Modus Games
21 September Gundam Evolution Win First-person shooter Bandai Namco Studios Bandai Namco Entertainment
22 September Beacon Pines Win, NS,  XBO, XSX Narrative adventure,  visual novel Hiding Spot Games Fellow Traveller
  Bullet Soul Double Pack NS Shoot 'em up Tachyon Mages
  The Diofield Chronicle Win, NS, PS4, PS5,  XBO, XSX Tactical role-playing Square Enix, Lancarse Square Enix
  Jyuzaengi: Engetsu Sangokuden 1&2 NS Visual novel Otomate Idea Factory
  My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Game Collection NS Visual novel Mages Mages
  No Place for Bravery Win, NS Action role-playing Glitch Factory Ysbyrd Games
  OneShot: World Machine Edition NS, PS4,  XBO Adventure, puzzle Future Cat Degica
  Piofiore: Episodio 1926 NS Visual novel Design Factory Aksys Games
  Potion Permit Win, NS, PS4, PS5,  XBO, XSX Simulation,  role-playing MassHive Media PQube
  Serial Cleaners Win, NS,  PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX Action,  stealth Draw Distance 505 Games
  Session: Skate Sim Win, PS4, PS5,  XBO, XSX Sports Crea-ture Studios Nacon
  Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Collection II NS Platform,  visual novel El Dia El Dia
23 September DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms Win, NS,  PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX, Stadia Adventure A Heartful of Games Outright Games Ltd.
  Shovel Knight Dig Win, NS,  iOS Action-adventure Nitrome Yacht Club Games
  Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival NS Rhythm Bandai Namco Studios Bandai Namco Entertainment