Another week has come to a close, and it’s been a rather eventful one in the world of gaming.
From Xbox announcements to Baldur’s Gate 3 updates and more, there’s plenty going on in the industry, so let’s take a look at some of the biggest stories that graced the world of gaming news this week!
A GLAAD study highlights LGBTQ gaming issues
This week, LGBTQ advocacy organisation GLAAD released a new report that looked at how LGBTQ gamers engage with the medium.
The report, which you can read here, found many interesting things, but chief among its findings were the fact that around 20% of gamers identify as LGBTQ, and that despite this, a shocking 2% of characters could be classed as LGBTQ according to GLAAD’s guidelines.
Happily, the study also found that LGBTQ gamers take solace in the gaming community, and that many of them feel like gaming gives them a place to belong and a crowd to call their own, so that’s encouraging, at least.
Bloober Team disavows its own Silent Hill 2 trailer
Recently, a trailer was released for the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, and it drew criticism for its heavy emphasis on combat, a gameplay element that the original Silent Hill 2 wasn’t particularly focused on.
However, developer Bloober Team subsequently essentially disavowed the trailer, stating that it isn’t representative of “what used to be, or what we’re creating now”.
Apparently, when the game does eventually get released, players will judge it very differently to that combat-heavy trailer.
We can only imagine that Konami wasn’t best pleased with Bloober Team’s comments, given that it was most likely the publisher that put the trailer together rather than the developer. It’s not a great look when conflict is happening this early on in the development cycle.
Sony says the PS5 is in the “latter half” of its lifespan
Sony released a new financial report in which the gaming giant announced it had sold a total of 54.7 million PlayStation 5 consoles.
However, the company says that it expects PS5 sales to slow in the coming years, partially due to the console entering what Sony calls “the latter stage of its life cycle”.
While it’s certainly not an inaccurate statement, it somehow feels a little disheartening to hear given that the PS5 didn’t really hit its stride until around a year after it came out, largely due to massive hardware shortages during the early stages of its release.
Still, it’s fair to say that most consoles enjoy a lifespan of around six to seven years (sometimes more), and by that metric, the PS5 is indeed entering the second half of its life.
A new Baldur’s Gate 3 update arrives
Larian Studios continues its diligent work on Baldur’s Gate 3, as a new update for the game arrived this week.
It brought much-needed improvements like extra romance animations, new idle camp actions for party members, and the ability to swap companions without needing to talk to the party member you intend to dismiss.
Being a Baldur’s Gate 3 patch, it also brought a heck of a lot of tweaks and gameplay improvements, thus bringing the best CRPG of 2023 one step closer to perfection.
Yoshitaka Murayama, creator of Suikoden and Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, passes away
In a shocking and tragic development this week, Suikoden and Eiyuden Chronicle creator Yoshitaka Murayama sadly passed away.
The official cause of death as revealed by his studio Rabbit & Bear was “complications with an ongoing illness”, so it sounds like he had been ill for some time, although he didn’t let anything on to his fanbase.
His work on the upcoming Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was complete, but his death is nonetheless immensely saddening, not least because he helped to create one of the most underrated JRPG franchises of all time in Suikoden.
Still, with the upcoming releases of both Hundred Heroes and Konami’s Suikoden remasters, we can at least be sure that Yoshitaka Murayama’s legacy is intact.
Embracer Group continues to lay off staff
2023 was, for many industry professionals, a deeply depressing year, due to mass layoffs and studio downsizing procedures.
Many of those layoffs came via the Embracer Group holding company, and in a new financial report this week, Embracer confirmed that it isn’t done streamlining its business.
This despite the fact that in the third quarter (spanning October through December last year), Embracer performed “just above management expectations”, and that the group says the performance of its strongest gaming franchises is “stable”.
It’s sad that Embracer’s situation continues to result in people losing their jobs, but hopefully the situation stabilises soon and the industry can return to something approaching normality.
Several Xbox games are heading to other platforms
Early in the week, rumours began to float that Xbox was planning to bring some of its games to other platforms.
On Thursday, those rumours proved to be true, as a new episode of the Official Xbox Podcast was released, and Xbox chief Phil Spencer did indeed confirm that several of the platform’s games are on their way outside the Xbox ecosystem.
Spencer didn’t name those games, but according to Xbox, they will be “hidden gems that deserve to be experienced more widely” and “live service games whose communities will benefit from welcoming even more players”.
We’re putting our money firmly on Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Grounded, not least because those are the games highlighted by The Verge’s Tom Warren.
You’ll have to watch this space for updates on what those Xbox games could be, of course!
Alan Wake 2 reveals its sales figures
Lastly, Remedy Entertainment revealed sales figures for Alan Wake 2 this week.
According to the Finnish studio, the survival horror sequel has sold 1.3 million units to date, with 1 million of those units being sold by December 2023.
Remedy says it expects Alan Wake 2 to continue selling like Control did, resulting in strong long tail sales for the game, even if it isn’t currently profitable for the developer.
