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The games industry is caught in a tidal wave of negativity, and if you pay attention to social media, you may be forgiven for thinking the sky is falling. Sony posted a pretty positive financial report earlier this week, but the headlines that have come out of it run counter to that: PS5 declined 29 per cent year-over-year, is trending behind PS4 worldwide, and missed its revised forecast.

Square Enix announced earlier this week that it will aggressively pursue a more multiformat-focused strategy, after its big PS5 console exclusives failed to meet expectations. According to Bloomberg journalist Takashi Mochizuki, sales of Final Fantasy 16 did open in line with the company’s targets – but its momentum has since slowed and it’s failed to meet its subsequent goals. A PC port is imminent, and the publisher hopes that will get the title back on track.

Elden Ring players already know they're in for it when DLC Shadow of the Erdtree drops next month, on the 21st of June, on PS5 and PS4. Developer Fromsoftware has been cooking, going by what we've seen so far, and now the sadistic studio is teasing an enemy ripped straight from our most persistent Bloodborne nightmares.

Those itching for a dose of whimsical, old-school Atelier-esque RPG action may want to add WitchSpring R to their wishlist, a colourful, cosy outing from developer KIWI WALKS due out on 29th August. This game promises an eclectic mix of “training, collecting, and exploring” as you battle beasts in the overworld by day and enhance your witch’s capabilities back home at night. You’ll also be collecting ingredients, which you can combine and fuse to further upgrade your sorceress.

Sony has replaced outgoing CEO Jim Ryan with an all-star tag-team partnership: Hermen Hulst will lead PS Studios and its intellectual property, while Hideaki Nishino will focus on hardware and services. The pair, together, will be tasked with leading PlayStation into a new era, as PS5 enters the latter half of its lifecycle and the company explores new initiatives, like PC, mobile, and television.

The board game adaptation of goliath manga and anime series Demon Slayer is coming to PS5 and PS4, after debuting meekly on Nintendo Switch last month. The title couldn’t top 20,000 sales in Japan during Golden Week, and so Sony subsidiary Aniplex will be hoping the CyberConnect2 title sells a little better on PlayStation platforms.

If you’re yet to sample one of PlayStation’s greatest ever games, there’s no excuse for PS Plus Premium members: Sony has added a two hour trial of The Last of Us: Part 2 Remastered to the top-tier of its subscription service. That 120 minutes should give you just enough time to see the title’s controversial twist, which will either hook you or turn you off entirely. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say you’ll look at golf clubs in a different way.

If you've been wondering what Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance actually does differently compared to the original Nintendo Switch title, then you've got to give this exhaustive new video a watch. Clocking in at over 13 minutes, this official, step-by-step guide on Vengeance's various additions and improvements is robust to say the least.

The Monster Hunter franchise from Capcom continues to go from strength to strength as the publisher has announced the series has now sold over 100 million copies across its many entries. Fuelled by recent entries like World and Rise, it sits in prime position to capitalise on the series' growing popularity in the West with Monster Hunter Wilds launching in 2025.

Surpise-hit indie Animal Well was released late last week and already seems to have trapped a sizable number of players with its gorgeous pixel aesthetic and world full of secrets to uncover. Despite being a single player game, one particular secret puzzle will supposedly require 50 players working in concert to solve. Warning: vague spoilers for a post-game Animal Well secret puzzle to follow!

It doesn't come as a huge surprise, but SEGA reportedly wants Atlus to pump out a new Persona release every year. This is according to well-known leaker Midori, who claims that the publisher now places the Persona series alongside Like a Dragon and Sonic as one of its big three.

Developer Sabotage Studio and iam8bit have teamed up to bring the beloved Sea of Stars to physical retail, and it's squeaked into a top 10 that's otherwise filled with the games you'd expect. Debuting at number 10, it's a pretty solid result for the delayed physical release of a small, throwback RPG, but obviously it'll struggle to really compete with what's above it.

Businesses nowadays consider engagement and interest in their product line to essentially be just as important as hard sales numbers, and Sony is no different. During yesterday's conference call with investors to mark the end of Fiscal Year 2023, the general manager of finance at Sony, Sadahiko Hayakawa, explained how the PlayStation business adjusted its focus during the PS4 era as a result of network services like PSN and games designed to be played in perpetuity.

The official Alan Wake 2 soundtrack, composed by Petri Alanko, will be made available across a variety of platforms for streaming and purchase from tomorrow. 35 music tracks designed to capture «the emotion, tension, and mystery of the game’s story» will be streamable on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more while it can be purchased on iTunes and Amazon.

Following Sony's decision last week to delist Helldivers 2 in 170 regions worldwide on Steam, it seems this will be the firm's PC stance moving forward, and it has since done the same for the imminent PC release of Ghost of Tsushima. More regions have been added to the list, taking the total number of territories affected to 180, which is now consistent across both titles.

With all the «negative sentiment» in the air and Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead keen to keep its riotous fanbase calm, the release of the premium Polar Patriots Warbond presented something of a PR issue for the Finnish studio. Not wanting to appear «tone deaf,» the dev did just about the most on-brand thing ever, putting the matter to a vote.

Fallout 4 was the UK's best-selling game last month, as the popularity of the TV adaptation from Amazon Prime keeps on fuelling sales. Combined with deep discounts across the entire series, Christopher Dring of GamesIndustry.biz said the Bethesda RPG earned top spot «comfortably», with the second-placed EA Sports FC 24 presumably not even close to matching its sales.

Fishbowl is one of the indie games highlighted by Sony in its India Hero Project program, and you can now play a portion of it with a free playable demo. Available on PS5 now via the PS Store, this demo allows you to play one in-game day in this slice-of-life adventure, which takes place over the course of one month.

Following a short delay that pushed the console versions past the original PC launch, it has been confirmed INDIKA will release for PS5 later this week on 17th May 2024. An experience steeped in religious faith mixed with platforming and puzzle solving, the unusual game can be seen in action in the trailer above.

Speculation surrounding a new game from Toys for Bob is currently doing the rounds after the team updated its website to a singular shot of its Crash Bandicoot-inspired logo of a purple Tiki mask. The studio, which went independent earlier this year, is best known for its work creating Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time and the Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which brought back the first three PS1 classics on PS4.

The Finals, the fast-paced free-to-play shooter shadow dropped back in December, initially drew huge crowds, but retention has waned. Publisher Nexon just reported substantial revenues across the board, partially offset by the «lower-than-expected» performance of the live service punt.

GreedFall II: The Dying World is the first sequel Spiders Studio has ever made, but based on a new IGN preview, the RPG still appears to be very much its own thing. Not only is it actually a prequel to the first game, but the combat system has been completely changed. Taking inspiration from BioWare RPG Dragon Age: Origins, you'll slow down time and queue up actions for your party to utilise rather than engage in real-time hack-and-slash fights.

Electronic Arts, the publisher everyone loves to hate, isn't doing itself many favours among already-jaded onlookers. The company's CEO, Andrew Wilson, has already talked about implementing generative AI into its development processes, but that same earnings call saw him discuss another contentious idea: in-game ads.

If history has taught us anything, it's that when faced with tyranny, lovers of both Liberty and Democracy will fight in their defence to the last round of ammunition, the final drop of blood. In a bombshell development, it looks like developer Arrowhead may have a revolution on its hands, as outraged Helldivers 2 players who defended the developer just days ago rise up. They demand justice (and official canonisation into in-game lore) for the undemocratically dismissed community manager, now dubbed «General» Spitz.

We kind of already knew about this, thanks to a report from last year, but now it's all official. Amazon Prime Video has greenlit a live-action Tomb Raider TV series, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge attached as writer and executive producer. Here's the official post on the Tomb Raider site.

We're getting closer and closer to gaming's annual announcement season. Every summer sees the industry turn out for a few weeks of pre-recorded presentations and live broadcasts, all showcasing what's coming up in the near future. With E3 now sadly a thing of the past, the biggest of these events is now Summer Game Fest, created and hosted by Geoff Keighley. Whatever games you enjoy, it sounds like this will be worth watching — a lot of game developers and publishers are taking part.

The PS5 is doing fantastically overall, although the console's results for the final quarter of Sony's fiscal year 2023 means it's fallen slightly behind the company's already-lowered forecast. The machine managed to ship 4.5 million units in the three-month period ending 31st March, 2024, bringing its total for FY23 to 20.8 million. This means it's a smidge behind its forecast of 21 million sales.

It's been a torturous week for Microsoft, but we aren't quite at the weekend yet. New reporting suggests that longtime employees and even some of the brand's founders agree that things have shifted so dramatically at Xbox since the bad old days that, effectively: «It's no longer Xbox, but Microsoft Gaming.»

Another week has come to a premature conclusion, so it's time to discuss what we're playing this weekend. There's tons to choose from, so here's what's keeping us busy.

Take-Two, the publisher behind Grand Theft Auto and owner of other labels such as Private Division, has denied reports it recently shut down Rollerdrome, OlliOlli developer Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 team Intercept Games. Having been questioned by IGN during a financial call today, CEO Strauss Zelnick responded: «We didn't shutter those studios.»

Wednesdays wouldn’t be the same without a ginormous PS Store sale to sink your teeth into, and this week is no different. Sony has plunged the price on another 2,000 titles today, with offers good through 29th May, 2024. Discounts top out at up to 95 per cent off, like Killing Floor 2, which can be yours for just £1.24.

Publisher Secret Mode and developer Cosmonaut Studios has just announced the long-awaited console port of its intriguing puzzle adventure, Eternal Threads. Initially announced for PS4 back in 2022, the game is now finally coming — with a PS5 version too — on 23rd May, 2024.

Paper Trail is a puzzle game which takes a simple premise, folding and unfolding paper, to create a unique experience. You play from the perspective of Paige, a young woman who leaves home to pursue her academic dreams whilst meeting some weird and wonderful characters along the way.

Enormous asymmetrical horror outing Dead by Daylight is showing no signs of slowing, with its eighth anniversary ushering in some enormous collaborations. Dungeons & Dragons is the latest intellectual property to invade the series, with an upcoming expansion adding iconic villain Vecna as a new Killer and a Bard as a Survivor. Konami’s Castlevania will also infiltrate the series later in the year, although details are being kept under wraps for now.

Sony's handheld streaming device, the PS Portal, continues to defy the company's expectations as it's revealed demand for the machine has «exceeded supply for several months» in the USA. Responding to a question on Twitter, executive director at Circana (formerly NPD) Mat Piscatella said that while Sony isn't shifting «massive units», the handheld has still done well for itself.

This author’s got to put his hands up: there are Slack chat records of me saying Helldivers 2 would be a total and utter sales flop. As it happens, the release has now cemented itself as Sony’s fastest selling first-party title of all time, netting 12 million units in 12 weeks across PS5 and PC, accurate as of 5th May. That beats God of War Ragnarok’s record of 11 million units in 10 weeks.

As the ol’ Spice Girls song goes: two become one. PlayStation has decided to replace Jim Ryan with two executives: Hermen Hulst, the former Guerrilla managing director and current PS Studios chief, will lead a newly named Studio Business Group unit, which will oversee all of the Japanese giant’s first-party studios, as well as its other projects, like PS Productions’ movies and TV shows. He’ll be flanked by Hideaki Nishino, who will lead the organisation’s Platform Business Group, responsible for hardware, accessories, PSN, and third-party relations.

Enotria: The Last Song is a sun-dappled Souls-Like inspired by the mythology of the ancient Enotrians, a wine and theatre-loving people who thrived in Southern Italy two millennia ago. It stands out compared to other entries in the increasingly crowded genre thanks to its sunny aesthetic, and courtesy of IGN, developer Jyamma Games has released a 15-minute gameplay overview trailer.

The rumours surrounding a potential Horizon and LEGO crossover game have picked up steam today as Insider Gaming reports the title is called LEGO Horizon Adventures, and is essentially "Horizon Forbidden West but LEGO", and features «realistic graphics». In trying to envision what this game might look like, some people have pointed to LEGO Builder's Journey, which places LEGO pieces on a blank but colourful background.

Stumble Guys, a free-to-play, Fall Guys-like knockout platformer, is now available to download and play on both PS5 and PS4. Check out the trailer above to get an idea of what to expect.

As promised by Bethesda at the end of last week, the developer has today released a new PS5 patch for Fallout 4 that works to improve its suite of graphical options alongside «further fixes and improvements». The update is available to download now on PS5, weighing in at a tiny 189.4MB. You'll have it downloaded and installed in seconds.

Frontier Developments, the studio behind fine management sim series like Planet Zoo and F1 Manager, isn't looking to break the mould. The studio announced that it has three titles in this style currently in development, one of which has been confirmed to be a Jurrasic World game, with the developer inking a deal with Universal Products & Experience to licence the IP.

Capcom’s knockout brawler Street Fighter 6 is getting some big balance changes alongside the release of Akuma on 22nd May. A brand-new trailer, embedded above, teases the tweaks, with the headline being a new wakeup Drive Reversal mechanic. This effectively gives you a new tool to counter combos, especially when you’re trapped in the corner of the screen.

With the week Helldivers 2 players just went through IRL, distracted by Sony's regrettable own-goal and subsequent reversal, it should be no surprise that the ongoing Galactic War effort has suffered similarly, with the situation looking worse all the time. Having failed to contain the Terminid Supercolony on Meridian, the Barrier Worlds in the Umlaut System have been lost; Super Earth has shifted its efforts to the wholesale decommissioning of Automaton forces, using the associated scrap to construct a new Strategem.

EA Sports’ long-awaited return to the college football scene will finally be fulfilled on 19th July, when the imaginatively named EA Sports College Football 25 launches on PS5. There’ll be two versions available: the bog-standard edition for $69.99, or the Deluxe Edition for $99.99. The latter comes with all kinds of bells-and-whistles, including three days of early access from 15th July, the Heisman Hopeful Ultimate Team Pack, and 4,200 College Football Points.

In a development you don't see every day, following the closure of Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, swarms of fans have expressed their outrage by positively review bombing the game on Steam. This reverse review bombing campaign has resulted in several thousand Positive new reviews rising to the top since the news of Bethesda's Microsoft-mandated restructure broke last week.

Speculation of a second game in production at Ghost of Tsushima studio Sucker Punch Productions tied to the late Sly Cooper series has been doing the rounds this weekend, but none of it's actually true. Alongside a presumed follow-up to the developer's samurai hit, Jeff Grubb of Giant Bomb suggested the team may have another title in the works, though it wasn't based on discussions with sources; it was simply a «pie in the sky» proposal.

NieR director Yoko Taro, NieR series producer Yosuke Saito, and NieR composer Keiichi Okabe are all working on a new game together, it's been confirmed, but nobody's willing to say whether the project is actually a NieR title yet. Speaking to Famitsu, Saito teased: «I'll have something a bit more put-together to say in the not-too-distant future, so please stay tuned. It might be NieR, it might not be NieR. (Laughs.)»

Ubisoft has shared the full reveal of Assassin's Creed Shadows with a nearly four-minute cinematic trailer, announcing a PS5 version and the release date of 15th November 2024. You can catch the trailer above.

Fans of papercraft may be interested to know there are a couple of official Horizon Forbidden West paper models. Over on the series' official site, scroll down on the community page and you'll find altogether more flimsy versions of two of the game's machines, waiting for you to fold them into shape.

Take-Two has announced in its financial earnings for the end of Fiscal Year 2023 that Grand Theft Auto 6 will release for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S during the Fall of calendar year 2025. Therefore, the open worlder from Rockstar Games could release anywhere between September and November of next year.

With Stellar Blade now out in the wild, impressing players with its action combat and plethora of cosmetic options for protagonist Eve, Shift Up director Kim Hyeong-tae has put a particular conspiracy to bed. Kim says that the redesigns of some Stellar Blade outfits were always intended to be the «final result» and not because of an overbearing Sony intent on censorship.

Here’s some potentially huge news, unearthed by the eagle-eyed Gematsu: a new PS2 emulator appears to be imminent for PS5 and PS4. As many of you will already know, Sony has been gradually deploying PS1 and PSP titles on the PS Store as part of its PS Plus Premium subscription, with all releases boasting video filters, quick save, and rewind.

The announcement that Jake Solomon, first amongst the legendary Sid Meier's pupils, had left Firaxis to start his studio, Midsummer Studios, comes as a surprise, especially with the switch from strategy to the life sim genre. Looking towards the opportunity to create something entirely different, Soloman reflected on where his last game, Marvel's Midnight Suns, went wrong.

Concord, the PS5 and PC shooter from new Sony team Firewalk Studios, will deploy in 2024 – at least, that’s the plan according to a business briefing from the Japanese giant. While the firm notes that release schedules are always subject to change, it included the title’s tentative launch window in a live service slide alongside Destiny 2: The Final Shape, which is due out on 6th June.

What new PS5 and PS4 games are releasing in physical retailers and as part of the PS Store update this week? It's a really slow week where you may need to dig into your backlog. Click through the links for a full list of all new PS5 games release dates in 2024, all new PSVR2 games release dates in 2024, and all new PS4 games release dates in 2024.

It feels oddly surreal to be reviewing a classic like Braid in the year 2024. If one were to rewind back to 2008 when it first released onto Xbox Live Arcade, the video game landscape would look far different than it does today. Braid, alongside other indie classics like Super Meat Boy and Fez, reshaped the entire indie game industry, inspiring hundreds if not thousands of games in the years following its release. It proved that independent creators and their passion products can thrive on digital storefronts while holding their own against AAA releases at the time. In the years following its release, Braid has become one of the most notable indie games of all time, being featured in Indie Game: The Movie. While it never received a sequel, the release of Braid, Anniversary Edition provides fans of the original an excuse to revisit the world on modern platforms.

Square Enix has confirmed in a new medium-term business plan that it intends to «aggressively» pursue a multiplatform strategy across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC platforms. Instead of allowing select AAA games from its biggest series to be locked onto one system, the company will look to «build an environment where more customers can enjoy our titles».

Pushing through the Assassin's Creed Shadows campaign will be reflected in the changing of the seasons, mixing up gameplay and the overall Japanese setting, a new deep dive into the open world game reveals. Via IGN, it's confirmed the single player story will move from spring and summer and into autumn and winter as you progress the plot. Doing so changes how you interact with the world and what it looks like.

Perhaps the most anticipated game of all time, and considering developer Rockstar's secretive nature, even the most minor GTA 6 morsels can send the series' legions of starving fans into a tizzy. Case in point: GTA 6 has been added to Rockstar's website database, with placeholders for four screenshots, cover art, and a release date appearing, and fans are frothing at the mouth. Apparently, it wasn't meant to go live just yet; Rockstar has since rolled these changes back.

A final update for Hi-Fi Rush released this week: a gift from developer Tango Gameworks before it closes its doors for good. The update fixes a selection of minor bugs on PS5, and will be the final title update, as Xbox has decided to shut down the decorated Japanese developer. The studio, founded by industry icon Shinji Mikami, released several acclaimed titles under parent company Bethesda’s banner, including The Evil Within and Ghostwire Tokyo.

An unexpected rumour has surfaced this weekend regarding the possibility of a LEGO-themed Horizon game. In truth, the speculation is vague, and it’s not clear at this stage whether the collaboration involves a full-blown PS5 title or a physical set, similar to the one featuring the Tallneck which sold out around the world last year.

Sony's online PSN service is growing year-on-year at the moment, as 118 million monthly active users for the Q4 period of fiscal year 2023 represents an increase of 10 million compared to Q4 FY2022. The result beats all totals in the past fiscal year, with the only blemish on the record being it could have been even better for Sony. In Q3 of FY2023, it had 123 million active users, meaning it lost five million active members between individual quarters.

Returning WWE fan-favourite CM Punk is the headline addition of the first WWE 2K24 DLC pack, releasing this coming Wednesday, 15th May 2024. His first appearance in the games since WWE 2K15, the wrestler will be part of the ECW Punk Pack, which also includes tag-team partners Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, and Sandman and Terry Funk.

Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks has confirmed the upcoming physical version for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will still be released via Limited Run Games despite Microsoft's plans to close the studio. In addition, one last update for the game will be available later today «to address some minor issues».

In a bid to redeploy «resources to bigger opportunities such as XDefiant and Rainbow Six», Ubisoft has today announced the cancellation of its free-to-play spin-off of The Division series, The Division Heartland. The move arrives as part of a bigger restructuring within the French publisher that's geared towards focusing on fewer but bigger games, such as the newly revealed Assassin's Creed Shadows.

HBO created a lot more The Last of Us fans with its super successful TV adaptation. The first season launched last year, finding a huge audience and critical acclaim, and the second series is now in production, heading to screens in 2025. Now, the company has provided our very first look at official shots from the anticipated new season:

The Assassin's Creed series is essentially a single player live-service offering at this point, and with the introduction of a franchise hub in Assassin's Creed Infinity, those efforts at Ubisoft are only being furthered. You can still keep your DLC consumption to a traditional standard in the newly unveiled Assassin's Creed Shadows, though, as its PS Store listings reveal a season pass promising two expansions post-launch.

PS Plus is back on the rise after a slightly rocky time following the service's big overhaul in 2022. As per Sony's latest financial results, the network services category — which comprises revenue from PS Plus and advertising — is up quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, meaning it's comfortably improved since moving to the current three tier system.

Following Deviation Games' closure and the mothballing of the high-profile PS5 game it was working on, it was unclear where the studio's storied talent would surface next. According to one former Deviation dev, many of the affected staff have formed a mysterious new studio at Sony, again working on an as-yet-unknown IP.

As the industry digests the latest deluge of earnings reports, attempting to parse the information and present a clearer picture, one piece of news is likely to fuel more than a few pointless arguments on social media: despite marginally missing its own revised target, Sony shipped 4.5 million PS5s last quarter, estimated to be almost five times as many as Microsoft managed with its Xbox Series X|S consoles combined.

Update: After catching a lot of heat about online requirements for its single player games, Ubisoft has released a statement regarding Assassin's Creed Shadows. In it, the publisher explains that, while you will need an online connection to complete the installation of the game, you can play the whole adventure offline:

Former developers of XCOM, Marvel's Midnight Suns, and The Sims have come together to form a new studio called Midsummer Games, all in the name of rivalling The Sims in the «life simulation» genre. Jake Solomon and Will Miller, best known for their work on Firaxis titles like Marvel's Midnight Suns and XCOM, founded the company after raising $6 million in investment. Now, the team will set out to build a next-gen life sim game.

PlayStation has been porting its titles to PC for years now. The landscape has changed quite dramatically in the last decade or so, and companies like Sony have seen a need to expand their reach, even if it means sacrificing the more traditional concept of exclusive games. Even now, we're witnessing a significant shift in the longstanding dynamic, as Xbox allows titles like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves to cross the border — and it feels like this is only the beginning.

Sony is focusing on expanding its PS5 install base, the «enhancement of first-party software and PC deployment», and giving players «richer gaming experiences» as part of a three-year plan detailed in its latest financial results. The mid-term focus was quickly covered during the earnings call, revealing that Sony is preparing a significant first-party lineup once the current drought is over.