A new game trailer and some gameplay footage to get excited (or not) about, Call of Duty Beta dates revealed, global gaming revenue still climbing, Xbox dont have any money for marketing in the EU, the FTC is like a dog with a bone, Splitgate 2 announced,the strangest Starfield galaxy so far and Forza crosses a milestone. All in This Week in Gaming.
Flintlock Seige of Dawn Reviews are in
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn has launched as a cross platform title but also as a day 1 release on Xbox Game Pass (which strikes us as rather strange). The overwhelming consensus is that the game is a solid souls lite experience but one which veteran players of the genre may not find that much joy with. For everyone else, and especially those on Xbox Game Pass, this is something well worth checking out, and perhaps a must play for the Souls-Lite Curious! We can best describe the game as a playable action-RPG experience with some innovative mechanics, but it falls short in several areas compared to other games in the genre. It is recommended for players looking for a less challenging Soulslike experience but may not satisfy those seeking a more polished and engaging adventure.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Leaks online.
As reported by Xbox Era here Focus Entertainment has addressed the recent leak of a full build of “Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2,” which surfaced online earlier this week. The leaked build, dating back to February, is approximately 75 gigabytes in size and appeared on torrent trackers unexpectedly. In their statement, Focus Entertainment and developer Saber expressed their disappointment that the leak spoiled many of the game’s surprises. They emphasized their dedication to delivering a high-quality game and urged fans to avoid the unfinished build to preserve the intended experience. “Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2” is set to release on September 9, 2024.
Xbox Marketing – “We have no money”
In a recent interview with Marketing Week, Michael Flatt, the EMEA marketing director at Xbox, revealed that the company faces budget constraints in the region, which affects their marketing efforts compared to PlayStation. Flatt noted that Xbox has to adopt a “fiscally responsible approach” and be “scrappy” and “tenacious” to compete for marketing funds. This comes amid reports that Microsoft may shift its focus in the EMEA region from console sales to promoting Game Pass, Cloud Gaming, PC, and Xbox controllers. In what can only be described as a bizarre state of affairs, given the vast wealth of the Microsoft corporation, Flatt was quoted as saying
“They’re blessed with marketing funds that we’re just not able to enjoy,” Flatt said. “But that’s totally fine. We adopt what I would call a more fiscally responsible approach to media investments.”
Rightly or wrongly PlayStation are seen as the default and the brand and console are synonymous with Fifa, Fortnite and Call of Duty. PlayStations marketing is everywhere. They sponsor sporting events like the Champions league and just have more of a prescence on the average high street. Xbox has a lot of marketing work to do to change that perception and its certainly wont be helped by a lack of funds. They talk of being scrappy so lets see it. For starters I’d stick an Xbox or Microsoft logo in front of every Call of Duty title released from here on out. If every time a PlayStation user loads up COD they are greeted by an Xbox logo it will raise awareness and challenge the perception that PlayStation is the only real choice for big franchise and casual players. It’s the little things…..
IGN reveals outlaws gameplay
In the run up to the release of Star Wars Outlaws IGN are running a months worth of deep dives into the new game. The first installment featured 10 minutes of unseen gameplay and the reaction from pretty much eveyone was decidely mixed. The game is due out in a month and looks “fine”, but viewers were quick to point out dropped frames and simplistic combat and just a general lack of polish. We have outlined some of our fears already here and frankly this showcase did nothing to alleviate those fears. The reaction from Twitter/X was exactly as you’d expect, but thats not great from Ubisofts point of view.
Add to all of the the pricing model and we have the possibility of this game underperforming, which is exactly not what the Star Wars franchise needs right now.
Is there no end to Starfield?
Youtuber @xGarbett has finished the New game + for the 22nd time and ended up in a universe where every member of Constellation at the lodge is you. Yes YOU. Its suitably weird and shows the breadth of the game and the creativity of the developers to hide details this deep in to the new game + experience. Watch what happens when you enter the lodge and meet all of you.
Game Pass a degraded product
Microsoft’s recent changes to Xbox Game Pass have drawn criticism from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The company announced price increases for PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, along with plans to introduce a new Game Pass Standard tier. In a submission to the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the FTC expressed concerns about these changes, viewing them as indicators of post-merger market dominance.
The new Game Pass Standard tier, priced at $14.99, will not offer immediate access to first-party Xbox games on release day, unlike the current $10.99 Game Pass for Console. The FTC has labeled this new tier as a “degraded product” and alleges it is part of a wider set of behaviour, including mass redundencies and less quality output, which can be attributed to its market dominance post merger.
Tom Warren sums things up for us here, but I am sure Microsofts army of lawyers will refute this characterisation, citing perhaps that most of its users are on Game Pass Ultimate anyway and they havent removed this tier from existing users, only new sign ups.
Later in the week Microsoft responded calling the FTC’s version of events a….
“misleading, extra-record account of the facts” and says the FTC is wrong to call Game Pass Standard a “degraded”
This will rumble on and on as the regulators seek some recourse to the Microsoft victory in the ABK aquistion.
Call of Duty Beta dates release – available everywhere Sept 6
In a change to the usual availability of previous beta tests for Call of Duty the release of COD BO6 will happen simiultaneously for all players on the 6th of September, regardless of platform. The game will also be available for those who have preordered or are subscribed to Game Pass
Splitgate 2 announced
And speaking of new game releases we also got a first trailer for the sequel to the underrated Splitgate. Imaginatively titled Splitgate 2 the sequel is scheduled for release in 2025. It appears to move away slightly from the formula of the first game by adding some hero shooter elements but until more details are confirmed we will simply say the first game was loads of fun and this looks like carrying on that tradition. It is some way off of course but developers 1047 games promise plenty of story content delivered through comics, playing cards and the official companion app (which you can download for free on Android and Apple) to keep fans interested until the launch finally happens next year.
Global Gaming revenue to surpass 300 Billion
Insider-Gaming reported this week that the global revenue of the gaming industry is set to tsurpass 300 Billion dolloars. Thats a lot!
This is all being driven by trends such as the proliferation of free-to-play games with microtransactions and rising costs associated with gaming. According to a financial forecast by Bain & Company, the industry is expected to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9%, increasing from $199 billion in 2022 to $307 billion by 2027. Whilst this is good for those investing in games companies its not clear that this change in the gaming model has gamers best interests at heart. Whilst there have never been more ways to play for “free” developers and publishers are clearly well adept at turning free to play users in to paying customers. And in an industry which is largely unregulated this doesnt bode that well! Read the Insider gaming post below.
Forza hits 40 million players
SnapBlastPlay over on Twitter noted that Forza has hit the 40 million players milestone. Quite an achievement for any game and shows the power of having a diverse line up of first party titles in the xbox ecosystem. Driving games dont always get the most hype in a wordl filled with free to play FPS black hole games and massive 100 hour open worlds but the simple pleasures of racing round a track really really fast cannot be understated. And clearly 40 million gamers agree!
Twice the bits 
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