The Informed Insider

Congratulations to Returnal and Housemarque for winning Best Game at the BAFTA Games Awards!

Returnal also wins:
🏆 Audio Achievement
🏆 Music
🏆 Performer in a Leading Role- Jane Perry

2023 will mark the first year in two decades where a Call of Duty game will be skipping a release

From a reporting by Bloomberg, Activision plans to skip the 2023 release of CoD, with concerns of the underperforming Call of Duty: Vanguard and short shelf life of each title

The decision was also made completely independent from Microsoft

🟢 🎮 Microsoft makes the biggest acquisition in the history of the games industry, as Activision Blizzard joins Xbox Games Studios

The deal has been estimated at $68.7 billion, with the complete handover to take place by 2023. This acquisition continues to serve Microsoft’s messaging of expanding their games portfolio to deliver a diverse catalogue of titles on their highly reputed Game Pass service, which had been often dubbed “The Netflix of Video Games”

Despite recent controversial upbringings from Activision Blizzard’s top leadership roles, Microsoft has yet to make a statement on these allegations and reports. As of now leadership remains the same at the company until the acquisition handover is complete to Phil Spencer, the current CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

Report breaking from The Washington Post:

https://cutt.ly/VIE2WOR

Bloomberg report on Activision Blizzard scandals:

https://cutt.ly/WIE49LK

🏆 The Game of the Year has been decided.

Congratulations It Takes Two and Hazelight for winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021!

It Takes Two also wins:
🏆 Best Family Game
🏆 Best Multiplayer

🏆 Congratulations Metroid Dread and MercurySteam for winning Best Action/Adventure at The Game Awards 2021!

Congratulations Halo Infinite and 343 Industries for winning Player’s Voice 2021 at The Game Awards! 🎉

Sony is planning a new subscription service codenamed “Sparatus” to combat Microsoft’s Game Pass

The service will reportedly include PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP games and act as a legacy service for PlayStation’s classic games

Here are your 6 nominees for the 2021 The Game Awards Game of the Year:

🏆 Deathloop

🏆 It Takes Two

🏆 Metroid Dread

🏆 Psychonauts 2

🏆 Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

🏆 Resident Evil Village

Congratulations to all the nominees and their respective studios!

Microsoft shadow drops Halo Infinite multiplayer on Xbox's 20th anniversary, along with the announcement of 70 new titles added to the ever-growing library of backwards compatible games

Xbox dominates the conversation today in gaming spheres by bringing in a wave of nostalgia for Xbox fans with new controllers, a documentary series, and even the original Xbox icon Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson! On top of all that, we got to see a little teaser of Paramount's upcoming Halo TV series

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/20-years-of-xbox

Grand Theft Auto 5 has officially sold 150 million units, making it the second highest selling game of all time behind Minecraft

August new games for PlayStation Now:

✅ NieR: Automata 🤖
✅ Ghostrunner 🏃‍♂️💨
✅ Undertale 🌻

https://cutt.ly/6QlzYcn

Lost Judgment will be the final game in the Judgment series, ending due to corporate differences between SEGA and acting talent agency

Talent agency of actor Takuya Kimura, who plays the main protagonist in the game, have refused a PC release of the title. Since the PC platform makes up for a large percentage of sales at SEGA, they have decided to end the series at Lost Judgment. The sudden nature of the decision has led people to believe that the situation may change.

As PC as a platform can give users plenty of freedom, the general belief is that the release on PC has been rejected to protect the image of actor Kimura. Incidents of defamation towards an actor using mods have happened before, the most notorious being in Cyberpunk 2077, where the in-game model of actor Keanu Reeves was used against the well wishes of CD Projekt.

Since this may be an evolving situation, there might still be updates from both companies. SEGA has refused to give any further updates at this time.

To follow more on actors being used to fulfill sexual fantasies, Like 👍 and follow The Informed Insider!

Sources used:
https://cutt.ly/emOHVsN

https://cutt.ly/GmOH0Ut

GTA VI will likely be set place in Vice City, as multiple industry journalists corroborate on new information

7 years after the release of GTA V, there is still little to no information on the sequel to the acclaimed entry in the GTA franchise. One of the major reasons Take Two is taking little incentive to rush out a new GTA title, is the rising popularity of GTA Online, which has been one of their primary sources of revenue.

After months of speculation and rumours with no backing sources, some games media journalists have now banded together to confirm details on GTA VI, the more well known being Bloomberg's Jason Schreier. Some of those details include:

✅ Modern day setting
✅ Evolving open world map
✅ Features multiple protagonists
✅ Expected to release around 2024-2025

It's apparent that this highly anticipated entry is much farther away than fans had hoped. Since none of the information is set in stone, a lot can change since the game is likely in early development.

To keep up with all the GTA VI news over the coming years, Like 👍 and Follow our page!

Sources:
Jason Schreier- https://cutt.ly/MmxuSx3
Andy Robinson- https://cutt.ly/CmxuK2J

July monthly games for PlayStation Now:

✅ Red Dead Redemption 2 🤠
✅ Judgment 🕵️‍♂️
✅ Nioh 2 👻

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut announced, including a brand new expansion, Iki Island. Coming August 20th

PS5 exclusive features:

✅ 4k 60 FPS mode
✅ Japanese lip syncing
✅ Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers
✅ 3D Audio
✅ Improved load times

The Iki island expansion will feature a whole new map with new enemies, armour sets, minigames, enemy types and combat techniques. It will also feature new story content that will tackle Jin's traumatic past

Those who already own Ghost of Tsushima will be able to upgrade to the director's cut for $20 (PS5 will be $30) and if you own the director's cut on PS4 the PS5 upgrade will be $10 due to exclusive features available only on PS5

Most upgraded features will be PS5 exclusive, but all users will have shared new features (free patch):

✅ Photo mode updates
✅ Button mapping
✅ Target lock on for combat
✅ Hide quiver during gameplay
✅ New Legends content (Multiplayer)

https://youtu.be/A5gVt028Hww

PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment has acquired the long affiliated studio Housemarque

Known best for their PS4 launch title Resogun, and the recent PS5 roguelite shooter Returnal, Housemarque has had a long history with PlayStation and their consoles, going as far back as the PS3. Here is what the Managing Director Ilari Kuittinen of Housemarque had to say for this aquisition:

"𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 26 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘏𝘋 𝘰𝘯 𝘗𝘚3 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘚5, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥-𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴."

With their back catalog of critically acclaimed games, and Returnal being a massive hit as a brand new IP, the potential of Housemarque studios is unparalleled. Their long history with PlayStation and industry topping talent will undoubtedly create quality games over the coming generation of PlayStation consoles.

https://cutt.ly/7moepCV

⛩ Circulating rumours hint at a standalone expansion to Ghost of Tsushima, allegedly titled "Ghost of Ikishima", coming to PS4 and PS5 in 2021

Eliciting from the rumoured name, the game seems to be drawing inspiration from the archipalego of Iki, in the Nagasaki prefecture of Japan. The chain of islands is located close to Tsushima itself, in the same ocean channel.

This standalone expansion may be akin to the short format adaptation of other hit PlayStation franchises, such as Uncharted: The Lost Legacy or Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Each of these games have had reduced price tags, and in turn gave shorter experiences of what is usually expected of a PlayStation Studios title.

Are you excited for a potential new expansion for Ghost of Tsushima from Sucker Punch? Are you skeptical of the rumours?

Make sure to like 👍 the page to be Informed first about more from Sucker Punch and PlayStation

is now back on the PlayStation Store.

You can play the game on PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 5. Additionally, a free next gen upgrade will be available for all owners of the PS4 version of Cyberpunk 2077 in the second half of 2021.

Users may continue to experience some performance issues with the PS4 edition while we continue to improve stability across all platforms. The PS4 Pro and PS5 versions of the game will provide the best experience on PlayStation.

SUPER SMASH BROS. × TEKKEN

Kazuya and Heihachi makes their way over to Super Smash Bros.!

Check out the latest game coming from Ubisoft's studio Massive, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, a first person open world adventure game

Taking place in James Cameron's Avatar universe, the game explores unknown parts of Pandora, interacting with unique creatures while pushing back on RDA forces that threaten the land. The game is being developed on Ubisoft's updated Snowdrop engine, boasting visuals better than ever.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora comes out sometime in 2022 and will be available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

https://youtu.be/Axmg1E4HrVE

Gameplay Screenshots of From Software's Elden Ring, coming January 22nd 2021

https://youtu.be/6Jk_V7DHQtQ

Live from Summer Game Fest, Elden Ring has been announced to release on January 22nd, 2022

The highly anticipated From Software collaboration with George R.R. Martin, has revealed a first look at it's gameplay in a beautiful fantastic world full of magic, spells and giant enemies

The game is coming to both next gen and current gen consoles, including, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC

https://youtu.be/6Jk_V7DHQtQ

🌪 The next entry in the Battlefield franchise has been announced! Featuring tornadoes and huge tanks!

Here are some details of Battlefield 2042:

✅ 128 players per match on PS5, Series X|S and PC, 64 players on PS4, Xbox One

✅ No Single-Player Campaign

✅ 7 Large Maps on PC and next-gen consoles, smaller maps on PS4, Xbox One

✅ Dynamic events (storms, ground deformation, etc.)

✅ Season and Battlepass implementation (live service)

✅ New modes added, along with return of Conquest & Breakthrough

✅ Enhanced terrain deformation (more live destructable environments)

✅ Priced $70 for next-gen consoles, $60 for PS4 and Xbox One and PC

The game releases October 22nd on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. A gameplay reveal is scheduled for June 13th

Make sure to like and follow the page for all gaming updates for E3 2021!

Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase at E3 2021, scheduled for June 13th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time

E3 season has started folks.

Source:
https://cutt.ly/0nynHzA

Sony announces a new State of Play scheduled for May 27th, featuring an in-depth look on Horizon Forbidden West

Show will run for 20 mins with 14 mins of new gameplay, captured on PS5

Timings:
2 p.m PT, 10 p.m. BST, 11 p.m. CET

Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating.

🐺 Resident Evil Village early review scores:

♦️Metacritic (PS5)- 85 based on 37 critics*
▪️ https://cutt.ly/XbQjR4I

♦️IGN- 8
▪️ https://cutt.ly/vbQjP7o

♦️GameSpot- 9
▪️ https://cutt.ly/5bQjLT7

♦️Game Informer- 9.25
▪️ https://cutt.ly/rbQczpQ

Additional scores:
Easy Allies 9
Destructoid 9
Press Start 9
The Gamer 4/5
VGC 4/5

Platform(s)- PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Google Stadia
Release date- May 7th, 2021

*Subject to change

May monthly games for PlayStation Now:

✅ Streets of Rage 4 👊
✅ Nioh 👻
✅ Jump Force 💢

Returnal early review scores:

♦️Metacritic- 87 based on 37 critics*
▪️ https://cutt.ly/vbdSfOT

♦️IGN- 8
▪️ https://cutt.ly/EbdSO6Q

♦️GameSpot- 9
▪️ https://cutt.ly/RbdSBhK

♦️Game Informer- 9.5
▪️ https://cutt.ly/NbdGJta

♦️Eurogamer- "Recommended"
▪️ https://cutt.ly/9bfebdu

♦️ ACG- "Buy"
▪️ https://youtu.be/bQVI0j9xrKU

Additional scores:

Push Square 9
Easy Allies 8.5
Destructoid 7.5
GamesRadar+ 4/5
VGC 4/5
The Gamer 3.5/5

Platform(s)- PlayStation 5
Release date- April 30th, 2021

*Subject to change

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