News Mash-Up - Week # 22 & 23

• • E3 is back! After the cancellation of E3 last year due to the pandemic, this year 18 events and conferences will fall under the banner of E3. At the time of the publication of this news mash-up the Ubisoft conference ended. To date 76 games have been announced, showcased or mentioned. Notable games so far include Elden Ring, Rainbow Six Extraction and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

  • Just before E3 Phil Spencer, President of Xbox, gave an interview and laid out some plans for Xbox in the coming years. An xCloud app for smart TVs will launch and Microsoft is also working on a Chrome like dongle to stream xCloud on all TVs. xCloud browser support is being worked on. This is the Stadia model which will enable GamePass gaming via a browser.

  • The new Battlefield 2042 game was announced with a fast paced 5-minute trailer. The game will not have a single player campaign as the focus is expanding the multiplayer mode.
    For the new consoles and the PC, the concurrent gamer count has increased from the standard 64 to 128 gamers. EA claims the maps will be the largest in the Battlefield series.

  • Call of Duty Online (the PC game) is being shut down from September. Call of Duty Online launched exclusively in China in 2015 and is operated by Tencent.

  • EA has delisted Need for Speed Carbon (2006), Need for Speed Undercover (2008), Need for Speed Shift (2009), Need for Speed Shift 2: Unleashed (2011) and Need for Speed The Run (2011) from digital storefronts. Any of these games can still be downloaded for existing owners.

  • The new Atari VCS system will launch on 15th June.

  • Take Two has expanded its mobile business with a $378 million acquisition of mobile developer Nordeus, developer of the game Top Eleven.

  • GameStop Q1’21 results have seen revenue increase by +25% versus last year up to $1.3 billion. This was not enough to turn a profit as net revenue came to a negative -$41 million.

  • Roblox Inc. is being sued for $200 million by The National Music Publishers' Association. The lawsuit is on behalf of performers (such as Ed Sheeran and The Rolling Stones) whose music has been used in games on the platform without consent.

Week commencing Monday 14 June 2021