This week in gaming: Sony delays God of War, Amazon accidentally lists a Nintendo Switch Pro, Optus finally acknowledges that gamers exist, and more!
In the spirit of keeping our readers up to date with what’s happening in the video game industry, the Doublejump Digest is a brief collection of the major news stories from the past week. Keep an eye out for the Digest every Sunday night, and head on into the archive for news from weeks gone by!
FROM DOUBLEJUMP
- Ethan embodied his namesake to take on Lady Dimitrescu and her lovable brood in his review of Resident Evil Village.
- Abir and John joined forces to discuss Mortal Kombat’s return to the silver screen in a very special Press X to Adapt.
MAJOR NEWS
Sony delays next God of War to 2022, reveals new game from Days Gone studio
In a recent PlayStation Blog interview, PlayStation Studios head Herman Holst revealed that the company has opted to delay the upcoming God of War sequel to give its developer more time to work on it.
“And for God of War, the project started a little later [than Horizon Forbidden West),” he said. “So we’ve made the decision to push that game out to next year, to ensure that Santa Monica Studio can deliver the amazing God of War game that we all want to play.”
Unfortunately, he also revealed that both this new new God of War title and Gran Turismo 7 are going to be coming to PS4 but stopped short of addressing how this will impact both games’ existing PlayStation 5 versions.
Earlier in the interview, Holst announced that Days Gone developer Bend Studio is working on a new, unannounced game that isn’t a sequel to its PlayStation 4 zombie action title.
“And you know, Bend Studio is working on a very exciting new [intellectual property] that they’re very, very passionate about,” he said. “They’re building on the deep open-world systems that they developed with Days Gone. So I’m really happy for Bend Studio.”
Amazon Mexico accidentally lists Nintendo Switch Pro
Nintendo’s follow-up to its wildly popular hybrid console is fast becoming 2021’s worst-kept secret, as keen-eyed Twitter user @alphabeat_g spotted a listing for the Nintendo Switch Pro on Amazon Mexico last weekend.
The listing has since been removed, of course, so it could very well have been a placeholder that got published ahead of schedule. Either way, the news comes in the thick of heavy speculation from around the games industry that Nintendo could be announcing its Switch Pro at E3 (or thereabouts), giving more credence to the theory.
Optus finally acknowledges that gamers exist with new NBN plan announcement
Gamers on the National Broadband Network have had a torrid time since the network’s rollout back in 2010 (yes, it’s been that long already!), but Optus has taken a step towards helping us out by announcing its Optus Internet Gamer 100 Plan.
Offered at AU$89 per month for the first six months and AU$99 per month after that, the Gamer plan offers unlimited data with 100Mbps download speeds during the peak periods, six months of Optus’ new Game Path service and an ASUS DSL-AX5400 Wi-Fi 6 gaming router free of charge.
Given that Australia doesn’t have dedicated servers for too many online games, the plan’s traffic prioritisation features should help gamers keep their download speeds healthy throughout the day, with Game Path’s machine learning technology ensuring that you’re always connected to the best point of presence no matter what game you’re playing. It’ll also give you the option to use a static IP address, which is great for hosting games with friends. On top of that, it also includes subscriptions to Optus Sport and OS Fitness at no additional cost.
The value-packed plan is sure to be popular with gamers; you can check it out in full on Optus’ official website.
Report: The PS5 may get Dolby Vision/Atmos support after all
Microsoft and Dolby have been forced to deny reports that they have a exclusivity agreement regarding the use of the latter’s Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision technologies on Xbox Series X|S.
The reports came about after a post published on Xbox Wire France suggested that both technologies would be available exclusively on the “Xbox ecosystem” for two years. That post was quickly deleted (not before it could be cached, though!), and the companies issued separate statements to TechRadar – the outlet that first circulated the report – clarifying that there is “nothing preventing Sony from offering either Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision on PS5 in the future”.
Whether Sony takes this as a call to action and begins offering the technology on its PlayStation 5 console is yet to be seen; it’s not a certainty by any stretch of the word given that the company developed its own spatial audio technology, Tempest 3D, for the PS5.
Event attendees leak Battlefield 6 screenshots
In the latest round of Battlefield 6 leaks, Video Games Chronicle has posted alleged screenshots from the game that were sent by attendees of a recent preview event. The images – combined with official assets sent to Battlefield content creators – seemingly confirm the game’s futuristic war setting.
Either way, we won’t have to wait long to see the game in action, as EA and DICE plan to officially reveal the game next week.
VALORANT now boasts 14 million monthly players, is coming to mobile
Riot Games has announced that, a year on from its initial release, the company’s popular 5v5 shooter has passed the 14 million monthly player mark on PC.
To coincide with this milestone, the company also announced that it is bringing VALORANT to mobile platforms, with Executive Producer Anna Donlon telling Polygon that both versions are being developed independently.
“The same way that we’re not going to deliver a subpar mobile experience for mobile players, we’re not going to compromise the PC experience either,” she said. “We’re not trying to convert VALORANT PC players into VALORANT Mobile players or vice versa.”
“We’re absolutely just as committed to keeping the PC experience at the quality level it is or higher, and we’re not going to compromise it in order to address the mobile market.”
She also noted that Riot Games has no plans to implement cross-play between both versions right now but added that the developer hopes to bring the game to consoles following it mobile release by its second anniversary next June.
NOTABLE GAME RELEASES
- Necromunder (PS5)
- Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown (PS4)
VIDEOS AND TRAILERS
Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo — Teaser Trailer
Yes, someone’s actually working on adapting Alfred Hitch’s 1958 classic into a video game…
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown — Launch Trailer
Akira is back… in not pog form!
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart — Franchise Evolution
I need me one of them classic Sony CRTs.
VALORANT — DUALITY // Official Lore Cinematic
One year older, one year bolder.
Jake Colosimo and Abir Chowdhury contributed to this article.
OTHER NEWS
- An artist has alleged that Capcom stole her work to create Devil May Cry and Resident Evil assets: Polygon
- Sony’s research has found that nearly half of all PlayStation owners are female: Kotaku
- Twitch is getting ready to implement animated emotes for Partners soon: Official
- Injustice 2’s mobile developer has apologised for a Pride event where players beat up a bi character repeatedly: Eurogamer
- Nintendo is opening a company museum in Japan: GameSpot
- A bunch of potential 2K Games titles have leaked ahead of E3: VentureBeat
- Valve will start charging Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players for ranked access: Eurogamer
- SNK has delayed KOF XV to next year: Polygon
- Nintendo has won its case against RomUniverse: Kotaku
- Ubisoft wants us to know that Dani Rojas’s gender was very important to it: Twitter
- Genshin Impact is headed to the Epic Games Store next week: PC Gamer
- Razer’s announced that it’s hosting its own E3 event: GameSpot
- 505 Games has officially confirmed that a Bloodstained sequel exists: Eurogamer
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