Gaming Bolt News, Tips, Tricks, Ideas

In its latest earnings report, Sega parent company Sega Sammy has revealed that the Persona franchise has sold 5.06 million copies throughout the last financial year. The sales figure, which accounts for FY 2023 (April 2023 to March 2024), includes both digital as well as physical copies of Persona titles.

After the rumored cancellation of Deviation Games’ project and shutting down last March, Sony has allegedly established a new studio comprised of its former developers. Furthermore, the team working on a new unannounced IP.

With the Xbox Games Showcase less than a month away, rumors circulated about what could appear. Gears 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops Gulf War are favorites, but The Initiative’s Perfect Dark may be another. After reports from Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb about it being in “rough shape,” insider Nate the Hate said it could make an appearance.

With the PSN account-linking crisis resolved for Arrowhead Game Studios’ Helldivers 2, players have returned to concerns about balance. It follows last month’s big update, which adjusted weapons, Stratagems and much more, but has been an ongoing conversation since the Railgun’s nerf.

Ninja Theory’s long-awaited sequel to Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, is out next week. It sees Senua venturing to Viking Iceland to mete out justice while still dealing with her psychosis, manifesting as “The Furies.” In a new video, the development team discusses psychosis alongside several experts and how it’s depicted in-game.

Link has been the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series for decades. While the titular Princess Zelda would take on more active combat roles, she’s only been playable in spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. That could change in the future, according to YouTuber PapaGenos.

Amid reports of Microsoft internally debating future Call of Duty titles coming to Game Pass, Xbox president Sarah Bond has reiterated that all Xbox games will launch on day one for the service.

Like a Dragon developer  Ryu  Ga Gotoku Studio said it would open auditions for the next title in the series soon, and sure enough, applications are available for the “Minato Girls Audition.” The audition is for female performers to appear as the Minato Girls, with selected candidates appearing in live-action and CG scenes.

Fallout 4’s Next-Gen Update arrived last month to much fanfare and hype, especially following the success of Amazon’s TV show. It wasn’t without issues, whether it’s the UI not scaling with Ultrawide displays, breaking mods or oddly targeting 60 FPS in all modes on Xbox Series X.

Turn 10 Studios has made great strides over the previous few months to address concerns with Forza Motorsport, like revamping car progression to unlock all parts at level 1. Its next update, which goes live sometime this week, will tweak Safety Ratings and their calculations, starting with bumping the required races to 20 from 10.

With over one million copies sold and 173,178 peak concurrent players on Steam, Slavic Magic’s Manor Lords has received a new patch to address multiple issues. It’s available on Steam’s experimental branch, and though accessed in the Betas tab, players should back up their saves. Some balance changes are also “still experimental”, and there may be stability issues.

Blackbird Interactive’s Homeworld 3 launches on May 13th exclusively on PC, but those with Fig Backer Edition or the Fleet Command Edition can start playing now. A new overview trailer is also available to highlight what RTS fans can expect. Check it out below.

After the Helldivers 2 account-linking fiasco, which Sony backtracked on, Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut is the latest Steam port from the company to be delisted from certain countries on Steam. According to SteamDB’s history of the listing (which you can view here), around 180 countries can no longer purchase the title.

In its latest earnings report, publisher Bandai Namco has revealed that FY23 saw the company’s highest sales and and income to date. Despite this, however, the company has also reported that the financial year saw a decrease in operating profit.

The latest round of GSD game sales data has just released, and we have a surprising revelation for this month. Bethesda’s Fallout 4 which originally released in 2015 saw a sudden spike in sales, and that too to the point that it has topped sales charts for the month of April 2024 in the UK region. Check out the complete table below for more details.

Xbox president Sarah Bond has responded to some of the criticisms faced by the company in the wake of its recent decisions to shutter a bunch of development studios, laying off employees in the process. In an interview with Bloomberg, Bond referred to the decision as one made to ensure the health of Xbox as a business.

Sony has revealed the stats for its most downloaded games for the month of April. Going by the stats on the PlayStation Blog, on the PS5 side of things, Sea of Thieves topped the charts in EU, while Helldivers 2 led the way in US and Canada. The PS4, on the other hand, was dominated by Fallout 4 in both regions.

CI Games of Lords of the Fallen fame has announced that it would laying off around 30 employees as a part of its restructuring process as reported by Gamesindustry.biz. This news comes shortly after CI Games laid off 10% of its workforce in January, and the developer states that this would be the final round of layoffs.

Since Microsoft’s shuttering of developer Tango Gameworks, angry fans of the studio’s work have taken to bombarding the Steam listings for Hi-Fi Rush, Ghostwire: Tokyo and The Evil Within and its sequel with reviews. Interestingly, while movements among fanbases like this typically opt to go with negative reviews, the Steam reviews for these games are incredibly positive.

Evil Empire’s The Rogue Prince of Persia, a 2D side-scrolling rogue-lite based on Ubisoft’s franchise, has seen a delay. Previously slated for May 14th, early access will now start later this month, with a new release date to be announced on May 13th.

With Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut due to release on May 16th for PC, one has to wonder about Sony’s next PC port of an established PlayStation title. Though not official, noted leaker billbil-kun reported on Dealabs that it’s Sony Santa Monica’s God of War Ragnarok.

With The Final Shape upon Destiny 2 players, Bungie is doing what it can to lower the barrier to entry for new players. It recently made Shadowkeep, Beyond Light and The Witch Queen available to all players until June 3rd on PS4, PS5 and PC, with any Exotics, armor and weapons theirs to keep forever (or until servers go offline).

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Persona 3 Reload have been successes for Sega, and Sonic x Shadow Generations is coming later this year. Lest you’d think there’s any intention to slow down on any in the coming years, leaker Midori has reported that the current plan is to make them “annual franchises through new titles, remakes and remasters, DLC expansions and other media.”

The newest DLC for Vampire Survivors—Operation Guns—is out now on all platforms. The DLC brings with it a host of new content, including two new stages, new characters, and a new adventure. Check out the DLC’s launch trailer below.

Square Enix has announced that competitive title Foamstars will be kicking off its fourth season on May 16. In keeping with the game’s musical themed naming, its fourth season is titled Future Funk. Check out the trailer for Foamstars Season 4: Future Funk below.

Blizzard has announced that it is collaborating with car-maker Porsche for new content coming to Overwatch 2. The Porsche DLC for Overwatch 2 will be coming to the game on May 14 on all platforms. The studio made the announcement with a new trailer, which you can check out below.

Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 will receive its fourth DLC character this month with the legendary Akuma. As part of the Year 1 Character Pass, the Satsui no Hado master is older and meaner, sporting new and familiar moves to devastate enemies. A new character guide is available to outline his moveset – check it out below.

Bungie has provided new details on the new Exotic class items coming in Destiny 2: The Final Shape with the latest “This Week in Destiny.” It confirmed that they’re only usable with the new Prismatic subclasses and earned from a new activity, but the latter will only be available in the expansion’s second week following the World First raid race.

Alongside new details for the Exotic class items coming in Destiny 2: The Final Shape, Bungie released some new gameplay footage for each Prismatic subclass. They’re collectively three minutes long but provide a look at the potential play styles for Warlocks, Titans and Hunters. Check them out below.

Helldivers 2 has kicked off its newest Premium Warbond. Titled Polar Patriots, the new Warbond brings with it a host of new weapons, armours, boosters, and cosmetics. Interestingly, the Polar Patriots Warbond was released after Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johann Pilestedt asked the game’s community whether it should be released rather than delayed.

At its recent earnings call, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said during the Q&A session that he believes game development will take longer, and get more complex as time goes on. Questions during the Q&A session largely revolved around the successor to the Nintendo Switch.

Leaks courtesy of X user xj0nathan indicate that Assassin’s Creed Infinity might feature, among other things, a monthly subscription. According to xj0nathan, Assassin’s Creed Infinity will give players access to older games in the franchise, future DLC releases, and an exclusive skin or item every month.

Billy Basso’s Animal Well, a bizarre 2D Metroidvania title, is available for PS5 (including via PlayStation Plus Extra), PC and Nintendo Switch. It sees players exploring the titular world, spelunking through caves and uncovering its many secrets. Check out the launch trailer below for some teases of what to expect.

Konami has been making some big moves with its game development division, and its financials seem to be improving at a steady pace. The Japanese gaming giant has announced its financial result for FY 23-24, and the numbers are looking pretty good.

Developer Amber Studio and publisher Bandai Namco have announced that PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. Celebrating the game’s launch is a new trailer that you can check out below.

Fallout 76 has been going strong with each new update, and Bethesda doesn’t seem to have any plans of slowing down in the near future.  A new developer preview gives us a sneak peek at the upcoming Skyline Valley expansion, check out the details in the video down below.

Frontier Developments has announced a license with Universal Products and Experiences to develop a new Jurassic World title. It will be the studio’s third title in the franchise followingJurassic World Evolution 1 and2, management titles revolving around constructing parks and caring for dinosaurs.

After revealing that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League fell short of expectations, Warner Bros. Discovery announced a $200 million impact on revenue due to the game’s failure. The company suffered an impairment charge, with studio revenue dropping by 12 percent year over year to $2.8 billion, per its Q1 2024 results.

The closures of Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Studios and Arkane Austin, and folding of Roundhouse Studios into ZeniMax Online Studios may not be the end of Microsoft’s layoffs. The Verge’s Tom Warren reports that Xbox employees are “bracing for what’s next” and that there are “whispers among employees” of cutbacks at core Xbox Game Studios.

Microsoft’s closure of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin and Alpha Dog Studios (with Roundhouse Studios folded into ZeniMax Online Studios) proved shocking for the industry, especially after its layoffs earlier this year. While it has plenty to look forward to, including the next Call of Duty, it’s reportedly debating whether it – and future releases in the series – should go to Game Pass.

When Microsoft teased big changes to its Xbox business, rumors flew all over the place regarding potential first-party games for non-Xbox platforms. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 by Ninja Theory was reportedly one, and while nothing came of it, the company is reportedly considering a PS5 release, per a new report by The Verge’s Tom Warren.

After debuting in early access this week out of the blue, Supergiant Games’ Hades 2 is off to a strong start. According to SteamDB, the rogue-lite hack-and-slash title has peaked at 103,567 concurrent players on Steam alone. It’s currently sitting at 16,101 user reviews with 95 percent positive for an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating.

While it announced the Nintendo Switch’s successor, to be unveiled by March 31st, 2025, Nintendo isn’t giving up on the original console (which has sold 141.32 million units). It recently forecasted 13.5 million Switch consoles sold in the fiscal year 2025, alongside 165 million software sales.

Developer Embark Studios has released a new update for competitive shooter THE FINALS. The update, numbered at 2.7.0, brings with it a host of changes, along with the Darque Mood outfit. Check out the full patch notes, as well as a trailer for the update, below.

Developer DON’T NOD and publisher Focus Entertainment have announced that narrative role-playing game Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden now has a free demo for players to try out before buying the game. Announced through a post on social media platform X, the demo is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

In a new video as part of Square Enix’s “The Games That Made Us” series, Final Fantasy 14 and 16 producer Naoki Yoshida and composer Masayoshi Soken talk about their past in gaming. Check out the 16-minutes-long video below.

Publisher Warner Bros. Games and developer Player First Games have announced that Joker will join the playable roster of fighting game MultiVersus. The announcement was made with a cinematic trailer, which you can check out below. Joker will be available in MultiVersus when the game launches on May 28.

Along with updated sales numbers for Resident Evil 4 remake, Capcom also revealed that Dragon’s Dogma 2 has sold 2.62 million copies as of March 31st, 2024. The open-world action RPG was first announced to have sold over 2.5 million copies.

Capcom has released its financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2024, providing updated sales numbers for its biggest games. This includes Resident Evil 4 remake, previously confirmed to have sold over seven million units but now with a more concrete figure – 7.02 million.

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition has been announced for the Nintendo Switch. Slated for a July 18 release, the game is a collection classic NES titles—you can find the complete list below—that were part of the original Nintendo World Championships event. Check out the announcement trailer below the list of titles.

Developer Super Spin Digital’s Spin Rhythm XD is a rhythm game that tasks players to match the beats with appropriate button prompts, and it will be making its way to PlayStation platforms in the near future. Check out the trailer down below.

Video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella has revealed that growth for video game subscriptions has been stalled. According to Piscatella, spending on non-mobile game subscriptions only rose by 1 percent compared to April 2023.

In light of the recent closure of Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, the studios original founder, Shinji Mikami, has taken to social media platform X to share his thoughts.

Street Fighter 6 has been a smash hit for Capcom, and the Japanese gaming giant is already hard at work on post-launch content for the same. It was previously announced that franchise favourite character Akuma would be coming to the game as a playable character. The developer also released an OST for Akuma’s theme, check it out down below.

As stated by rumors beforehand, Sega has revealed Sonic Rumble, a new mobile title coming to iOS and Android this Winter. Sign-ups are currently available for a closed beta test, which starts on May 24th and ends on May 26th. Check out the announcement trailer to see how the game plays.

Dambuster Studios launched its second story expansion for Dead Island 2 last month with SoLA, just in time for the action RPG’s first anniversary. In a new blog post, the developer thanked fans for their support and confirmed over seven million players for the title, who have slayed 24 billion zombies.

While the closed alpha test for Marvel Rivals is still a day away, the game has already been datamined with a host of new details about the title being revealed. As part of the datamine, some of the game’s playable characters, as well as NPCs have been revealed.

While previously alleged for May, the gameplay reveal of Assassin’s Creed Codename Red is seemingly happening at Ubisoft Forward on June 10th. Sources speaking to Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson revealed that press and content creators will go hands-on with it during the Summer Games Fest week, with the embargo ending on June 12th.

Developer Evil Raptor and publisher Plaion have announced a new third-person action title, Akimbot. Slated for release on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, Akimbot will be out later this year. Currently, the game can be wishlisted on all three platforms. Check out the teaser trailer announcing Akimbot below.

The Xbox Games Showcase and Summer Game Fest will return in June, but in the meantime, Sony is allegedly hosting a new PlayStation Showcase this month. The company hasn’t confirmed the same, but Giant Bomb’s Jeff Grubb recently reported that it’s still coming.

Microsoft has been catching flak after the closure of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Roundhouse Studios and Alpha Dog Studios. While Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty assured employees of upcoming Bethesda releases in an internal email, its other projects are an entirely different matter. The Initiative’s Perfect Dark, announced in December 2020, is a good example.

After five years of development, two of those in early access, Stunlock Studios’ V Rising is now available on PC. The action RPG sees players as vampires who suddenly awaken in a world of humans. Survival is paramount, especially when hunters (including Simon Belmont from Castlevania) and other supernatural threats abound. Check out the latest trailer here.

Developer Codemasters has released a new deep dive, detailing how the changes to the circuit and drivers in F1 24 will make the game a more authentic driving experience for players. Accompanying the post is a video, which you can check out below.

Electronic Arts has revealed that it is planning on releasing two currently-unannounced titles before the end of the current fiscal year. For context, the fiscal year is set to end on March 31, 2025. As caught by VideoGamesChronicle, the company made the announcement through an update to its product release slate.

While Electronic Arts has been quiet about the future of the Battlefield franchise, it looks like a new title in the multiplayer shooter series is in the works. As caught by Geoff Keighley of The Game Awards, EA CEO Andrew Wilson has revealed that he has been playing the next Battlefield game with the development team.

Bungie and PlayStation have announced a new initiative for Destiny 2 players called Expansion Open Access. From May 7th to June 3rd, PS4, PS5 and PC players can play throughThe Witch Queen, Beyond Light and Shadowkeep for free. Check out the trailer below.

Arkane Lyon director Dinga Bikaba has taken to Twitter to condemn the closure of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Roundhouse Studios and Alpha Dog Studios by Microsoft. Calling these events “absolutely terrible,” he implored gaming company executives to “make us proud when times are tough.”

With Arkane Austin shutting down and the previous update or Redfall being its last, players who own the Hero Pass won’t have anything to look forward to. Servers are also online for now, but the promised offline mode is also not happening. Despite the lack of updates on future content, IGN reports that the developer was working on a roadmap before its closure.

THQ Nordic is gearing up to bring back the Gothic series in the form of the Gothic Classic Khorinis Saga, which includes both the original and the classic in a handy package. The collection will feature Gothic Classic Edition and Gothic 2: Complete Edition, which will come out for Nintendo Switch on June 27, 2024.

Alan Wake 2, Control developer Remedy has announced that it has cancelled its multiplayer project, codenamed Kestrel. The studio has revealed that it will instead be focusing more on its existing franchises. According to the announcement, Kestrel had started development in November 2023, and was a reboot of previous project, Vanguard.

Arrowhead Game Studios has released a new update for co-op shooter Helldivers 2. The update focuses on quite a few things, including weapon and enemy balancing, fixes to crashes, fixes to the Social menu, fixes to damage over time effects, fixes for misaligned scopes, and other improvements. Check out the complete patch notes below.

Media Molecule co-founder Mark Healey has revealed that the studio’s next major title will focus more on its gameplay aspects rather than offering players with a development kit. Speaking with MinnMax’s Ben Hanson on the heels of his recent departure from Media Molecule, Healey talks about the future of the studio.

After a month of testing, CD Projekt RED has announced that The Witcher 3‘s mod tools, dubbed The Witcher 3 REDkit, will be available to everyone on May 21. The mod tools will be available to all players that own The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC.

Spike Chunsoft has announced that Master Detective Archives: Rain Code+ will be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on July 18. Making the announcement on social media platform X, the announcement is accompanied with a short trailer with characters from the game speaking with each other.

Supertrick Games director Hideyuki Shin has revealed that as part of the studio’s redevelopment efforts for Deathverse: Let it Die, elements of older title, Let it Die, will also be making it into the game. Shin spoke about the game in a new developer diary, which you can check out below.

Developer Red Hook Studios has announced that modding tools for roguelike dungeon crawler Darkest Dungeon 2 will be coming to PC soon. In its announcement, the studio has revealed that modding support for the game is “nearing its first deployment”. The modding tools are slated for before the end of June.

Developer Starward Industries has released a new update for its narrative adventure game The Invincible. The update, dubbed the Voyager update, has a new trailer that you can check out below. Among the features of the Voyager update are the addition of dynamic camera views for when the player is riding the rover, allowing players to switch between first-person and third-person perspectives.

Ubisoft’s Rocksmith+ has proven to be a great source of learning music through play for fans across the globe, and the game will finally be making its way to Steam after being available on PC via the Ubisoft Store. Ubisoft announced this news via an official tweet, and you can check that out down below.

After layoffs earlier this year that impacted Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox, Microsoft has shuttered four major studios under Bethesda. Arkane Austin (Redfall), Tango Gameworks (Hi-Fi Rush), Alpha Dog Studios (Mighty Doom), and Roundhouse Games will be shuttered due to a “reprioritization of titles and resources.” The number of employees laid off has not been specified.

Redfall celebrated its first anniversary recently, with fans questioning the lack of information on DLC characters promised with the Hero Pass. With Microsoft shutting down Arkane Austin, the co-op shooter’s November update is the last, and development has officially ceased.