Monthly Wrap-Up: April
Updated: May 24, 2021
Written by: Mary Joaquin
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap-Up!
Every month, we recap the news covered in our Weekly Round-Up. Here’s what you might have missed this April:
April 1 - Analogue delayed shipments until October for their highly anticipated portable FPGA console due to “severe electrical component shortages".
April 2 - PlatinumGames kicked off its newly announced Neo-Classic Arcade series with vertical shoot-em-up Sol Cresta releasing on digital stores in 2021.
April 3 - CannibalInteractive’s “My Older Sister Left The Computer So I Got On & Found Myself Trying To Coordinate A Raid In A Game & I Don't Play MMO's” game gained extended availability after its developer found unexpected success following its April Fool’s day release. It had been part of the "Games that Shouldn't Be Games Jam 2021" and only been planned for a limited release window.
April 4 - Apex Legends will get more Titanfall content, following comments on Titanfall’s importance and appearance in Season 9 by Apex’s senior writer, Ashley Reed, and game director, Chad Grenier during their panel with BrownGirlGamerCode.
April 5 - The charming monochrome adventure platformer Save Me Mr Tako is returning to storefronts after it was delisted in 2020 when developer Christophe Galati parted ways with Publisher Nicalis.
April 6 - Despite prior rumors, the Entertainment Software Association announced that E3 2021 is a free digital event from June 12-15.
April 7 - Hashtag #BoycottGenshinImpact and, eventually, #DoBetterMihoyo both went trending on Twitter for days, criticizing the popular MMO for long-standing issues with the game.
April 8 - The US-based Muslim advocacy group, The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), asked Sony, Microsoft, and Valve, to de-platform the controversial shooter Six Days in Fallujah.
April 9 - The follow-up to The World Ends With You is releasing on Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch and on the Epic Games Store on July 27.
April 10 - PlayStation set its eyes on a more prominent mobile platform, looking to hire a Head of Mobile who would “own and develop the mobile games strategy for PlayStation Studios”.
April 11 - Days Gone 2’s future remains muddled—along with its co-op possibilities—as game director Jeff Ross neither confirms nor denies prior news about its unsuccessful pitch, but does confirm part of Sony Bend collaborating with Naughty Dog.
April 12 - Pokémon Go players faced consecutive seven-day bans, after initial bans. In some cases, users who claimed they did not even break Niantic’s anti-cheat policies, also got banned.
April 13 - Capcom released the investigation results of the ransomware attack and information theft it fell victim to last November.
April 14 - Steam’s Indian Harvest Festival began, celebrating and showcasing games from Indian developers and publishers until April 22.
April 15 - Code Coven is teaming up with the International Game Developers Association and Grant for the Web for its upcoming game accelerator program.
April 16 - After a rumor spread by Bloomberg Japan and sourced from CTFN stated that several companies were interested in acquiring Square Enix last night, Square Enix responded by denying everything.
April 17 - Following internal disputes concerning acquisitions, Amazon cancelled its Lord of the Rings MMO, according to Bloomberg. This development marks yet another failed attempt by Amazon to release a successful game.
April 18 - The Dota 2 Free to Play documentary, produced back in 2011 and wholly available in Valve’s YouTube channel, heads to Netflix following the release of Dota: Dragon’s Blood.
April 19 - After three years of delays, Double Fine confirmed Psychonauts 2 for a 2021 release.
April 20 - Jeff Kaplan left Blizzard after 19 years with the company. He had served as the game director for Overwatch and vice president to Blizzard Entertainment. Aaron Keller will be filling in Kaplan’s shoes.
April 21 - The much anticipated Great Ace Attorney Chronicles finally received its localization, slated for a July 27 release on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Steam.
April 22 - Snoozy Kazoo released Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, an adventure action game where its tax-evading turnip sets out to repay his debts. The game, available on Steam, also features various dungeons to explore, enemies and beasts to fight, and multiple endings dependent on Turnip Boy’s tax evasion savvy.
April 23 - Aim Lab became the official training partner for Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six: Siege. Though the current program only features the Oregon and Clubhouse maps, more maps and features are expected to be added.
April 24 - Only on the second day of its four-day Steam open beta test, battle royale Naraka: Bladepoint, developed and published by 24 Entertainment, racked up player numbers to almost 120K concurrent players.
April 25 - Following talks of Days Gone 2’s likely inexistence, a petition aiming to convince Sony to reconsider had well surpassed its 75K signature goals and set a new 150K goal.
April 26 - Radiangames announced the late 2021 release of Instruments of Destruction, a physics-based vehicle-building destruction sandbox game, in Steam Early Access.
April 27 - EA objected to their portrayal in the media when speaking with GameIndustry Biz, after a recent Canadian Broadcasting Corporation leak in which an internal document stated they are “are doing everything we can to drive players” to paid modes of FIFA.
April 28 - The PlayStation 5 sold around 7.8 million units in the two quarters since its release in November, surpassing the PS4 sales in the same timeframe, and contributing to Playstation’s best fiscal year ever, according to an earnings call.
April 29 - In a blog post discussing the expansion of the Xbox brand, Head of Xbox Game Studios, Matt Booty, announced Microsoft PC Store is upping net revenue for developers selling on the platform—from 70 percent of sales earned to 88 percent of sales earned.
April 30 - Developer of the Hitman Series, IO Interactive, is reportedly working on a game codenamed ‘Project Dragon’ for Xbox, according to Windows Central.
TL;DR
Announcements:
Titanfall's reappearance in Apex Legends Season 9
Save Me Mr. Tako returns to storefronts
E3 2021 is fully digital and free of charge
Code Coven teams up with IGDA and Grant for the Web
Amazon cancels LOTR MMO
Coming this year:
Sol Cresta
Psychonauts 2
Upcoming Releases:
The World Ends With You sequel - July 27
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Western localization - July 27
Launches:
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion on Steam
Aim Lab's Rainbow Six: Siege training program
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