franchise Archives

AppWizard

November 8, 2024

Sega sells Amplitude Studios

Sega has divested from Amplitude Studios, confirmed in their financial report for the six months ending September 30th. Amplitude Studios underwent a management buyout, regaining independence after being acquired by Sega in 2016. Sega reported an extraordinary loss of approximately ¥5.9 billion (.7 million) for the second quarter due to this divestiture, part of a broader restructuring that included layoffs at Creative Assembly and the separation from Canadian developer Relic. For the six months ending September 30th, 2024, Sega reported a 4.5 percent decline in net sales to ¥211.7 billion (.4 billion) and an 18.1 percent decrease in operating income to ¥32.8 billion (4.9 million). Amplitude Studios expressed enthusiasm about their independence and commitment to their core values of creativity, innovation, and community collaboration.

BetaBeacon

November 8, 2024

Best new mobile games on iOS and Android – November 2024 round-up

Bloons Card Storm is a turn-based card collecting game with multiplayer at its core, where players need to think about both attack and defense. The game has some balancing issues and a problem where if your opponent quits, you get a smaller reward.

AppWizard

November 7, 2024

Take-Two CEO says Grand Theft Auto 6 is on track for ‘fall’ next year, GTA 5 has sold over 205 million, and ‘PC will be more and more a part of [our] business going forward’

Take-Two Interactive reported net bookings of .47 billion for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, within its projected annual target of .55 to .65 billion. The company attributed its success to the popularity of its franchises, particularly Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands. Grand Theft Auto 5 has sold over 205 million units globally, and Grand Theft Auto Online's membership in the GTA+ service has grown by 35% over the past year. Red Dead Redemption 2 has sold over 67 million units. The anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto 6 is expected in the fall of 2026 at the earliest. The recent Borderlands film has been criticized but positively impacted catalogue sales.

AppWizard

November 7, 2024

Death Stranding: Directors Cut out now on Xbox Series Consoles

505 Games has announced that Death Stranding: Director's Cut is now available on Xbox Series X|S, currently on sale for 50% off at £17.49 in the UK. The game includes the 'Play Anywhere' feature, allowing access to both console and PC versions. Enhancements include high frame rate performance modes, a dedicated photo mode, and ultra-wide support for PC. The game features crossover content from Valve's Half-Life series and CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077. The release follows a five-year exclusivity period with Sony, which has now ended. A sequel, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, is in development exclusively for PlayStation 5. Kojima Productions has reportedly re-acquired the rights to the Death Stranding franchise, allowing for potential future releases on Xbox. Additionally, Hideo Kojima's upcoming project, OD, was announced for Xbox consoles, featuring a cast that includes Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schaffer, and Udo Kier.

AppWizard

November 7, 2024

Take-Two revenue up 4% year-on-year

Take-Two Interactive reported a four percent increase in net income for the quarter ending September 30th, generating .35 billion in revenue and .47 billion in net bookings, a two percent rise from the previous year. Eighty-one percent of net bookings came from recurrent consumer spending, which grew six percent year-on-year. The company's net loss decreased by 39 percent to 5.5 million. CEO Strauss Zelnick projected fiscal year 2025 Net Bookings guidance of .55 to .65 billion and expressed optimism for record levels in fiscal years 2026 and 2027. Upcoming titles include Grand Theft Auto VI, Borderlands 4, and Mafia: The Old Country.

AppWizard

November 6, 2024

The StarCraft Games Have Officially Joined PC Game Pass

StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection are now available on PC Game Pass. The original StarCraft was released on March 31, 1998, and became a cornerstone of the real-time strategy genre. The remastered version was released by Blizzard in 2017. The announcement was made via the official StarCraft Twitter account and Xbox Wire. Currently, these games are exclusively available on PC Game Pass, marking a significant step in the integration of Activision Blizzard titles into Xbox’s services.

AppWizard

November 5, 2024

Atari has acquired Transport Tycoon

Atari has acquired the Transport Tycoon franchise from its original creator, Chris Sawyer. The financial details of the transaction are undisclosed. This acquisition allows Atari to publish Transport Tycoon both digitally and physically, and it opens opportunities for new entries in the series, as well as merchandising and branding efforts. Transport Tycoon was first released in 1994, with the latest version being a mobile port from 2013. Wade Rosen, the chair and CEO of Atari, expressed commitment to honoring and advancing the franchise. This acquisition is part of Atari's strategy to expand its portfolio, which also includes the Surgeon Simulator series and publishing rights for Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, along with earlier acquisitions of Nightdive and Digital Eclipse.

AppWizard

November 5, 2024

‘StarCraft: Remastered’, ‘StarCraft II’ Now Available on PC Game Pass

Blizzard Entertainment has added ‘StarCraft: Remastered’ and ‘StarCraft II Campaign Collection’ to the PC Game Pass lineup. Players can install these titles via the Battle.Net client. ‘StarCraft: Remastered’ enhances the original game and its expansion, ‘StarCraft: Brood War’, with improved graphics and audio while maintaining classic gameplay. ‘StarCraft: Cartooned’ offers a whimsical reimagining of the game in a cartoon style. The ‘StarCraft II: Campaign Collection’ includes over 60 missions across three campaigns: Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void, featuring the three races: Terran, Zerg, and Protoss, each with unique characteristics and strategies.

AppWizard

November 5, 2024

CHARTS: Black Ops 6 spends second week at No.1 on Steam

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was launched on October 25th and has become the most successful entry in the franchise's history, leading to an increase in Game Pass subscribers. The Steam Top Ten for the week ending November 5th includes: 1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Activision 2. Counter-Strike 2, Valve 3. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, EA 4. Throne and Liberty, Amazon 5. Monster Hunter Wilds, Capcom (P) 6. Steam Deck, Valve 7. War Thunder, Gaijin Entertainment 8. Naraka: Bladepoint, NetEase 9. Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt 10. Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Dragon Age: The Veilguard peaked at over 89,000 concurrent users since its release. Naraka: Bladepoint surged 29 spots due to a new hero, Cyra. Cyberpunk 2077 returned to the Top Ten after a 50 percent price reduction. The PC version of Red Dead Redemption debuted at tenth place.

AppWizard

November 5, 2024

Dragon Age: The Veilguard PC Performance Analysis

EA has released Dragon Age: The Veilguard for PC, built on the Frostbite Engine. The performance analysis was conducted using an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and various AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards. The game features extensive graphics settings, including options for Textures, Lighting, Level of Detail, Terrain, Ray Tracing, DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3.0, and Intel XeSS. It does not have a built-in benchmark tool, but performance was analyzed in a demanding initial area. The game can utilize more than eight CPU cores, with minimum framerates improving when Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) is enabled. A minimum of six CPU cores is recommended for optimal performance. At 1080p with Ultra Settings and no Ray Tracing, the game runs smoothly on various GPUs, with the NVIDIA RTX 2080Ti achieving over 70FPS. For 1440p at Ultra Settings, an NVIDIA RTX 3080 or equivalent is advised, while the AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX and NVIDIA RTX 4090 maintain over 60FPS at native 4K with Ultra Settings. The game showcases high-quality character models, detailed environments, and smooth gameplay without stuttering issues.