This past week saw a Bank Holiday landing on Monday, which means the industry (in the UK, at least) collectively breathed a sigh of relief and took a brief break from its onslaught of news.
Things quickly returned to normal, however, and it turned out that another eventful week of industry news was in store for us, with big Xbox Game Pass reveals, PlayStation showcases, and much more in store.
Here’s our newest rundown of the week in gaming news!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will hit Xbox Game Pass on day one
Microsoft announced some big news this week that will doubtless please first-person shooter fans. The newest Call of Duty instalment is coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one.
We don’t know much else about the game’s Xbox Game Pass release yet; we’ll doubtless learn more at the Xbox Showcase later this month, so make sure to tune in for that.
It’s pretty big news that a Call of Duty game, a tentpole release for Activision and Xbox, will be hitting Game Pass on the day of its release, although it’s not entirely unexpected given Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.
Sony deletes its Neil Druckmann interview
Recently, Sony held an interview with The Last of Us head Neil Druckmann about his vision for the future of the gaming industry, among other topics.
The interview was controversial owing to comments Druckmann apparently made, including that AI would “revolutionise” the creation of games and that Naughty Dog’s next game could “redefine” perceptions of the medium.
It seems that someone at Sony made a pretty howling mistake, though, because that interview was scrubbed this week. It’s now been replaced by a message in which Sony says the interview contained “several significant errors and inaccuracies”.
Oops!
Minecraft is getting a series
The domination of Minecraft over the landscape of gaming is pretty much assured, but the property has yet to make the jump to other media (although a live-action movie is in the works).
Netflix is hoping to change that, though, as a new animated Minecraft series was announced for the platform this week as part of the property’s 15th birthday celebrations.
The series is in production at Sonic Prime studio WildBrain, but we don’t know who’s in charge of it or what it’ll be about yet. It’ll be interesting to see how this non-narrative-focused property gets adapted into a series.
Sony holds a PlayStation State of Play showcase
After weeks of speculation, Sony finally announced – and held – its latest PlayStation State of Play showcase this week, bringing a slew of PlayStation-focused announcements.
Chief among them were a PC release for God of War Ragnarok, a release date for Konami’s Silent Hill 2 remake, and a brand new Dynasty Warriors game, which should please longtime fans.
One big surprise that put a big smile on our faces was the announcement of Astro Bot, a cute 3D platformer starring the mascot of PS5 launch title Astro’s Playroom.
Some reveals, like free-to-play shooter Concord, were decidedly less well-received, but overall, it was a pretty decent showing for Sony.
Toys for Bob teams up with Xbox for its next game
In February, Toys for Bob, a studio you might know from its work on Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, announced it would be going independent (although the link to that blog post now appears to be dead).
This week, the developer revealed that it will, in fact, be partnering with Xbox as a publisher for its next game, sparking fresh rumours that the title in question will belong to one of the aforementioned franchises.
Toys for Bob has done pretty excellent work on Spyro and Crash, so it’ll be interesting to see what the studio is cooking up. We really hope it’s a new Spyro game!
Destiny 2’s upcoming expansion leaks online…or does it?
This week, reports suggested that Destiny 2: The Final Shape had leaked online in its entirety owing to a mistake made by Sony with regards to its PS5 streaming feature.
Players reported that they were able to access some of the expansion’s early missions, as well as browse its battle pass items and Collections, potentially revealing story spoilers.
Bungie later confirmed that the leak had happened, but made reference to “a portion” of The Final Shape leaking online rather than the whole thing.
Some players reported that they were prompted to create new accounts for the expansion, and the leak was taken down after just a few hours, so it’s arguable that no lasting damage was done.
PlayStation VR2 is coming to PC in August
Sony had already announced that we would be able to use our PlayStation VR2 headsets with our PCs earlier this year, but this week, we got a concrete release date for that feature.
The PS VR2 adapter for PC is coming on August 7th, and it’ll allow you to hook up your PlayStation VR2 headset to your PC and enjoy Steam VR games.
It doesn’t look like you’ll be able to access other storefronts, though, and you will need both the adapter and a DisplayPort cable if you want to use PS VR2 with your PC.
You’ll also need a PC that meets the range of minimum requirements Sony has outlined. You can see those in the blog post we’ve linked above.
GAME puts an end to its reward scheme
This story is more of a PSA to our UK readers than anything else, but it’s important, especially if you regularly shop at the GAME high street chain.
Earlier this week, GAME revealed that it would put an end to its GAME reward scheme, meaning that you won’t be able to earn points on purchases and put them towards other items anymore.
The scheme is coming to an end on July 31st, and GAME urges you to spend your points before then, as your total will be reset to zero and you won’t be able to accrue further points after that date.
