Written By: Max Mitchelson
Welcome to the Weekly Gaming Round-Up!
While we are still in a slow patch for new releases, the slump is almost over, with new releases arriving this month and next. Despite the scant release schedule, the news doesn't stop. Re-logic has canceled their Terraria Stadia port, 'unknown actors' hacked CD Projekt Red, and a hotfix broke Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2005).
In a surprising turn of events, the long canceled game, Six Days in Fallujah, has been resurrected, and unsurprisingly the NPD reports a record month for game sales in January 2021.
Monday, Feb. 8th
Taking to Twitter late Sunday night, head of Re-Logic, Andrew Spinks, said he was canceling the Stadia port of Terraria.
This latest cancelation comes after Google closed two of its internal game studios last week. For Spinks, however, it wasn’t the uncertain future for the platform that led to cancelation. Spinks says he has been locked out of all his google accounts for weeks and is cutting ties with the company.
“I absolutely have not done anything to violate your terms of service, so I can take this no other way than you deciding to burn this bridge. Consider it burned,” wrote Spinks on Twitter.
Google has given no statement or reasoning for the bans, and the accounts remain locked.
Tuesday, Feb. 9th
Hackers demanded ransom from CD Projekt Red, according to a statement the company released on Twitter.
Yesterday, CD Projekt Red said that they first discovered the hack and the ransom text document. The hackers are demanding payment in exchange for internal information and stolen source code for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 (including an unreleased version), and Gwent. If the hackers are not contacted in 48 hours, they claim they will sell the information to interested buyers.
CD Projekt Red said in the statement, "the compromised systems did not contain and any personal data of our players or users,” and that they “will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor.”
Wednesday, Feb. 10th
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Classic, 2005) released its first update on steam since 2018 on Tuesday, and today the changes were reverted due to technical issues with the patch.
The patch added official controller support and improved UI scaling on modern resolutions. Problems with the hotfix were as numerous as there were varied. The Steam discussions were bustling with complaints of everything from resolution incompatibility to animation glitches. The hotfix also broke many of the mods created over the past few years.
Patch notes were deleted and replaced with the statement, “reverting to the previous version.”
Thursday, Feb. 11th
The controversial FPS, Six Days in Fallujah, was canceled by the publisher in 2008. Now Highwire Games and publisher Victura plan to resurrect the long-dead project.
Initially, the game was canceled due to criticism from anti-war activists and veterans for depicting a devasting battle as an action game. Notably, the battle itself is also controversial due to various war crimes committed during the battle. Highwire Games, made up of former Bungie employees, is depicting the Second Battle of Fallujah as a tactical shooter.
The game claims to be “the most authentic military shooter to date,” stated Victura in the announcement. But, this latest effort is not without criticism.
Twitter user and games analyst Daniel Ahmad stated, “I couldn't possibly guess why Six Days in Fallujah is being revived at a time when US army recruitment is at an all-time low. This reboot is from the same people that worked with the FBI and CIA on training systems and is basing its game on excusing US war crimes.”
Friday, Feb. 12th
According to today’s report from the industry tracking and market research firm NPD, Americans spent more on video games in January than ever before.
Overall US consumers spent $4.71 billion last month on video games. Hardware sales are up 144 percent due to new console launches and high demand for the Nintendo Switch. Though the Nintendo Switch is leading in units sold, the Playstation 5 has made more by the dollar.
Though the top-selling games charts have moved little in the last few months due to a lack of big new games. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is sitting at number one while the troubled saga of Cyberpunk 2077 follows its sales number as it drops to the 18th spot from the 2nd spot it held in December.
EGD’s Weekly Gaming Round-Up gives a quick look into the newest news in the games industry. From blockbuster triple-A games and indie startups and mods, the Weekly Gaming Round-Up covers it all.
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