The Federal Trace Commission (FTC) had branded Xbox Game Pass a "degraded product" after Microsoft announced a price hike.Microsoft is increasing the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Game Pass for PC subscriptions. It's also introducing a new 'Standard' tier that ditches day-one access for first-party titles.As spotted by The Verge reporter Tom Warren, the FTC claims that new Standard plan is a "degraded product" that essentially forces consumers to pay more for less.The U.S. regulator noted these changes come less than a year after Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion merger with Activision Blizzard—a deal the FTC heavily opposed—and claims the two are inherently linked."Microsoft is raising the price for its 'Game Pass Ultimate' product from $16.99/month to $19.99/month–a 17 percent year-over-year increase. Additionally, Microsoft is discontinuing its $10.99/month 'Console Game Pass' product. Users of that product must pay 81 percent more to switch to 'Game Pass Ultimate,'" wrote the FTC in a court filing.
UK game development conference Develop will head to Liverpool in November for Develop: North.The one-day event will take place on November 14, 2024, at The Spine in Liverpool. Registration will open in September, when more details will be announced.Develop has become a mainstay on the UK game industry calendar and takes place in Brighton in July. The show attracted a record number of attendees this year, with 5225 people heading to the seaside earlier this month—an increase of 5 percent on last year.Organizer Tandem Events said there was also a "sizable increase" in the number of exhibitors across an expanded expo floor."Over the three days Develop:Brighton 2024 played host to over 100 sessions, from roundtable discussions to headline keynotes, as well as the biggest ever industry expo and the Develop:Star Awards—celebrating industry excellence over the past twelve months," it added in a press release.This year's keynotes were delivered by Sony's Shuhei Yoshida and Greg Rice, Interior/Night's Caroline Marchal, and Super Evil Megacorp's Kristian Segerstrale."The continued growth and success of Develop:Brighton shows the desire among t…
The TV adaptation of Xbox's Halo franchise has been canceled after a two-season run.Per Variety, Paramount+ opted not to pick up the show for a third season. The cancellation comes following season two's finale airing in late March."We are extremely proud of this ambitious series and would like to thank our partners at Xbox, 343 Industries and Amblin Television," wrote Paramount. "We wish everyone the best going forward."Despite this, a source told the outlet that Xbox, Amblin, and 343 would try shopping the show around to other networks. No specific names were given, but streamers like Netflix and Prime Video have been known to pick old previously cancelled shows.
A history of Halo's transmedia journey
Microsoft was trying to get Halo out of games and into live-action since Bungie was originally helming the series. Different directors were attached to make a hypothetical movie before those ambitions were scaled down to television.To date, Halo is Xbox's only franchise to be adapted for TV and fi…
July 19 is the official release of EA Sports College Football 25, but it was already a success with its launch days earlier.EA bragged that thanks to its Early Access launch with the deluxe edition, the game amassed 2.2 million players. Through the EA Play trial, it added another 600,000 players to its ranks.Making this more impressive is the numbers are strictly for current-gen consoles. The game released only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with no PC port (at time of writing) or last-gen versions."The response we’ve seen from across the collegiate landscape, athletes, creators, celebrities and the core community has been nothing short of spectacular," said EA Sports GM Daryl Holt. "We couldn’t be more excited to welcome millions more into the game with today’s launch."
EA Sports has another winner on hand
Sports games tend to do very well for EA in terms of players and revenue. The deluxe edition for College 25 ran for $90, and that gamble has clearly paid off for the publisher.College 25 is the first new in…
The FTC recently claimed Microsoft had turned Xbox Game Pass into a 'degraded product' by increasing the price of certain subscriptions and removing day-one access to first party titles from a new 'Standard' tier. Microsoft begs to differ.The Xbox maker has issued a reply to the FTC and claims the regulator has pulled together a "misleading, extra-record account of the facts."The company fired back in a letter spotted by The Verge reporter Tom Warren and indicated the FTC is attempting to "reinvent" its case against the tech giant after failing to stop its merger with Activision Blizzard.It claims the FTC failed to take key facts into account when appraising the new Xbox Game Pass tiers and price plans, such as the inclusion of Call of Duty for Ultimate members and multiplayer access for Standard subscribers."Microsoft is offering a new service tier, Game Pass Standard, which offers access to hundreds of back-catalog games and multiplayer functionality for $14.99/month. It is wrong to call this a 'degraded' version of the discontinued Game Pass for Console offering. That discontinued product did not offer multiplayer function…
Last week, mobile developer Rumble Games (or R Studios) closed its doors, laying off 36 people. According to senior web architect David Bethune, the hammer came down from parent company Forte."This is [Forte's] second recent studio axing after Phoenix Labs got this treatment a few weeks ago," wrote Bethune. He added that the now ex-staff will only receive a single month of severance.Founded in 2011, Rumble was known for a number of free-to-play mobile games like Towers & Titans. At this moment, it's unclear if the title will be kept operational, and what studio will continue development if that's the case.Bethune also shared some thoughts on his former employer, and Rumble's previous owner Aristocrat. To him, both studios were "ruthless about pursuing mythical future profits while they can the teams that actually make things."His words echo previous statements made amidst the industry's layoff spree in recent years. Back in March, Dwarf Fortress designer Tarn Adams said layoffs were conducted by "greedy, greedy" executives driven by incentives to cut staff when possible."I'm tired of it!" Bethune continued. …
As MultiVersus heads toward its second season (for the second time), its creator Player First Games has been officially acquired by Warner Bros.Per Variety, co-founders Tony Huynh and Chris White will retain leadership of the developer. The former noted that being a part of the WB Games umbrella will benefit the studio and its playerbase."We have worked with Player First Games over several years to create and launch MultiVersus," added WB Games head David Haddad. "We are very pleased to welcome this talented team to Warner Bros. Games."MultiVersus first launched with an open beta in 2022, and was gained popularity not long after. WB Games affirmed it'd stick with the title and Player First, all but saying it was safe from the then-aftereffects of the WB Discovery merger.After its beta was shut down last year, MultiVersus returned as a full (but still free-to-play) game. Now running on Unreal Engine 5, the title appears to be doing well enough that WB wants to further invest in it and its studio.Warner Bros. previously said it wanted MultiVersus to be one of its live-service champions. Time will tell if the game can live up to those ambitions, and what else …
A trio of alums from Pixelberry Studios have formed a new team of their own in Candlelight Games. Per the website, the Washington-based team will make narrative-based titles "[that] unite people through shared experiences.""Our mission is to deliver heartfelt, character-centric narrative games with meaningful choices that truly resonate with players," wrote co-founder Andrew Shvarts. "We're…committed to creating immersive experiences that stay with you long after the credits roll."Shvarts previously worked at Pixelberry as a creative director on its mobile narrative game, Choices. His fellow co-founders, Megan Schwarz and Royal McGraw, also worked on the game as a respective lead writer and executive producer.Schwarz and Shvarts were among those let go from Pixelberry earlier this year when the studio laid off an unspecified number of staff. More recently, the Choices developer was acquired by Series Entertainment.The three have individually said they'll offer a first look at their unannounced debut project "soon."…
Space Goblin Studio – an indie team with “AAA credentials” – has revealed its debut game, Astrobotanica, is set to release in early access in 2025.
Delivering a “unique blend of survival, exploration, and plant wizardry”, Astrobotanica is described as a “lush open-world survival adventure” that “transports players to prehistoric Earth, where an alien botanist crash-lands while searching for plant species to save their dying home planet, Aya”.
You can see it in action in the teaser below:
ASTROBOTANICA – Official Announcement Teaser
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The sad and beautiful wolf adventure Neva has a release date.
Neva, which was initially announced back in May last year, will launch across PC, Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on 15th October, the team announced during today’s Nintendo Direct. On its release, it will retail at £16.99.
Described as an “emotionally-charged new adventure”, Neva follows the story of a young woman named Alba and her lifelong bond with a wolf.
Neva | Release Date Trailer | Coming October 15
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