This week in gaming: IGN apologises, Guerrilla Games shows off Horizon Forbidden West, Techland talks Dying Light 2, 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
- Tom looked back at his time in Destiny 2’s Season of the Chosen and found that Bungie couldn’t match the content season’s narrative momentum with compelling activities.
MAJOR NEWS
IGN alleges its Palestine post takedown was a “process failure”
Both Waypoint and Fanbyte have reported that IGN Chief Content Office Peer Schneider took ownership of the company’s decision to remove a post and tweet with links to aid organisations working in Palestine in an internal memo to employees.
Schneider described the original aid awareness posts going up as the result of “an editorial team process failure” and acknowledged that many within the company’s global workforce may not agree with the optics of a potentially pro-Palestine stance.
“There are likewise many other people among our 238 global employees who have and continue to privately raise concerns about why IGN is straying so far from our stated focus on games and entertainment and how and why the original post was even published with certain language and imagery in it,” he wrote (according to Waypoint’s sources). “There are IGN employees very hurt by the original position posted, as well as intimidated to the point where they will not speak up other than in a confidential setting. This truly upsets me on countless levels. That’s not us.”
Neither IGN nor parent company J2 Global have commented on the leaked memo’s veracity as of this writing.
Guerilla Games shows off Horizon Forbidden West gameplay
Horizon Forbidden West developer Guerrilla took over the virtual stage and dedicated this week’s State of Play broadcast to show off 14 minutes of gameplay from its hotly-anticipated PlayStation 5 action title.
The gameplay demo follows returning protagonist Aloy, as she tracks down a group of Raiders who have taken some Clawstriders (adorable robo-raptors) and Tremortusks (fierce robo-mammoths) as their mean-mugged pets and ambushed some of her friends.
Despite YouTube’s heavy compression, the video really showcases Horizon Forbidden West’s vibrant art style, impressive lighting effects, and dilapidated depiction of San Francisco.
While Guerilla Games stopped short of announcing a release date, in his accompanying PlayStation Blog post, Narrative Director Ben McGaw noted that “development is on track” and that the studio will share release news “very soon”.
Techland shows off new Dying Light 2 gameplay, announces 2021 release
Not to be outdone by its Swedish counterparts behind Horizon Forbidden West, Polish developer Techland released new gameplay footage of Dying Light 2.
The video not only shows more of the game’s European setting but also introduces its three main factions – the Survivors (normal folk), Peacekeepers (ex-soldiers and police officers), and Renegades (ex-prisoners) – and new mutated zombie enemies.
Techland capped off the video by announcing that Dying Light 2 is scheduled to be released worldwide on December 7 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Report: Nintendo to unveil Nintendo Switch Pro next month
According to Bloomberg and Eurogamer’s sources, Nintendo is planning to announce a long-rumoured “Switch Pro” model ahead of E3 2021 next month to allow developers to show off new titles during gaming’s peak convention season.
As of this writing, Nintendo has yet to confirm the new model’s existence, which is rumoured to feature a larger OLED screen as well as the capability to output 4K video when connected to a TV.
Bloomberg reported that Nintendo is planning to release the Switch Pro in “September or October” and will eventually phase out the current standard Switch model while keeping the Switch Lite on sale.
Ubisoft reveals that Far Cry 6 will star fully-voiced female/male protagonists
Ubisoft has released two new videos for its upcoming open-world action sequel, Far Cry 6, and also confirmed that it will be the first game in the series to feature a fully-voiced male and female playable character: Dani Rojas.
In the four-minute gameplay trailer, veteran resistance fighter Juan Cortez explains how Rojas can take on dictator Antón Castillo when the game releases worldwide on October 7 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X
Gearbox announces Borderlands 3 cross-play but not on PlayStation
Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford took to Twitter to announce that the developer is finally going to add cross-platform multiplayer to Borderlands 3 for all versions except those on PlayStation.
Pitchford noted that publisher 2K Games made the decision to not add cross-play support on PlayStation consoles but stopped short of providing any further reasoning.
However, this decision may have been partly motivated by Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation’s parent company)’s alleged policy for collecting in-game purchase royalties from developers and publishers of cross-platform games when players make these purchases on non-PlayStation systems.
NOTABLE GAME RELEASES
- BIOMUTANT (PC, PS4, and Xbox One)
VIDEOS AND TRAILERS
Sonic the Hedgehog Central — Sonic Central Presentation
We’re getting Sonic Colors: Ultimate and Sonic Origins this year and a new Sonic the Hedgehog game next year.
BIOMUTANT — Release Trailer
After almost four years, It’s finally here.
Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown — Virtua Fighter Retrospective
Take a look back at where the series – and 3D fighting games – began.
Epic Games — Welcome to Unreal Engine 5 Early Access
Developers can now try out Unreal Engine 5!
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes — First Look & Gameplay Reveal
Third time’s a (haunted) charm.
OTHER NEWS
- Twitch is going to actively monitor streams that are likely to incite violence: Official
- Unfortunately, Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown will still feature old school, “delay-based netcode”: Kotaku
- The latest Battlefield 6 leak is an almost complete trailer: Tom’s Guide
- A few ex-People Can Fly developers have formed a new studio to work on a new shooter: GameSpot
- A new study has found that 59 percent of female gamers are using non-gendered names online: Kotaku
- Twitch has issued another copyright warning following a new wave of DMCA takedowns: The Verge
- Watch_Dogs reportedly started life as a Driver sequel: VG247
- Cyberpunk 2077’s new Game Director wants to bolster content development: GameSpot
- Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot talks about the company’s tumultuous past year: Official
- Denon and Marantz are offering paid HDMI 2.1 upgrades for 2018 AV receivers: Engadget
- Ubiosft+ is getting some new rewards: Official
- Adorable otters are dominating Twitch’s new hot tub category: Polygon
- Among Us is free on the EPic Games Store right now: Rock Paper Shotgun
- Star Wars Squadrons and Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown lead June’s free PlayStation Plus free games: PS Blog
- Injustice: Gods Among Us headlines June’s Games with Gold offering: Xbox Wire
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