According to eXtas1s, Perfect Dark will apparently be releasing on PS5 and Switch 2, as indicated by job listings from studio The Initiative.

Source: https://xcancel.com/eXtas1stv/status/1885815867826442283#m

Source: https://xcancel.com/NateTheHate2/status/1885748440132456877
Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/xVhG9QJ.png
Previous rumor: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1i2posk/natethehate_hinting_at_a_new_playstation_state_of/

User: Is the first State of Play of the year still coming in February?

NateTheHate2: Yes
User: Can you say if it's early, mid or late February?
NateTheHate2: What does your heart tell you?

From Riley541 - https://youtu.be/C4jwAuOMzfM?si=mf0Y_gGNETqK-Jbt

From heaventh with the noclip showcase - https://youtu.be/gUbexWBjQWk?si=FMl3I01Hp4m9ds6Q

And a bonus from ThatWasAwesomeYT, featuring a Beta Mob of the Dead build - https://youtu.be/3vu6fDAOuwI?t=464&si=FoFyouRLbpGNYyHd

Thanks to nascar1243 for this build and thanks to heaventh for the patch for having this be playable.

For anyone's curiosity, Mob of the Dead was originally supposed to be the entire Alcatraz Island before it got scaled down due to the 7th Gen Consoles (pretty much similar to Tranzit & Origins, which funnily enough, Pre-Alpha Origins was planned to be bigger with a cut Village).

But, Riley541 and Heaventh has Pre-Alpha Mob Footage up to give a design philosophy of what Treyarch was cooking with Mob in its early stages. And a bonus from ThatWasAwsomeYT featuring a Beta MOTD build.

As for Mob of the Dead's map scale that was held back, that was ultimately fleshed out in BO4's Blood of the Dead, which while it's a mixed bag being a downgrade to Mob, it's a good map that is plagued by BO4Z mechanics that is split among the CODZ community...

But we're probably this close to early Tranzit at some point... if not, close since it's alleged that an early Tranzit Build exists.

https://xcancel.com/ausilmvs/status/1885812041471909984?s=46

“A lot of (negative) information surrounding Tony has been released recently, but this is just not true. Please do not use the shutdown as a reason to act as a source and/or spread false information”

This comes after several random sources claimed to have info regarding the actions of Huynh, and the overall management of PFG. Several leaks followed the game’s shut down announcement, including a supposed-list of planned/finished characters that will never see the light of day (which I’ll also link below, albeit it was contested to be fake by various sources), and various stories regarding his workplace behavior and personal biases towards certain characters.

https://xcancel.com/wii_loose/status/1885759139407597893?s=46

I’ll also link the big post from yesterday which claimed to know a lot of info about Tony from various sources

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/s/5MMW4GK7eC

https://mp1st.com/news/report-new-battlefield-private-playtest-starting-very-soon

It's said that the playtest will be starting as soon as this coming week

Source: https://xcancel.com/NWeedle/status/1616473735489372161

https://gtaforums.com/topic/743880-beta-vice-city/page/45/#comments

I don't know if it's true but i found It could be interesting.

There are also 4 images about new settings and Maps

https://boards.4chan.org/v/thread/701586223

https://ibb.co/LXR4rGL3

Hello, I wanted to share some information about what’s supposedly happening behind the scenes in the development of Multiversus. Just to be clear, this isn't my own information, i found it from another user on Reddit who apparently worked on the game's monetization. I want to clarify that the vast majority of their comments have been deleted, but since I consider the information relevant, I will put it here. Note: The text is quite long because I copied the comments directly. Source 1, 5 and 6 still works.

Source 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/ExperiencedDevs/s/8InD8geWDi

Chaotic and bad leadership which I would describe as ‘a cycle of neglect and abuse’. Founder had a good idea and sold it to a multinational media company, and now that company can’t get rid of the bastard with the good idea.

He just accepted a buyout tho, so I suspect he’ll be rich but fucked…. Knowing everyone but his cronies hate him and want to edge him out

Source 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/MultiVersusTheGame/comments/1exu9nf/comment/ljbo5f3/

I was the meta systems designer, yeah. Full disclosure, I left because of the dev chaos and some problems with leadership (I will not present my case, that's needless drama).

I wasn't at the company when the decision to do F2P was made (I came in to fix the economy basically), but the story is the same. F2P is a high risk high reward model. if it works, you make way more money than a premium model, but the chance of succeeding is much lower because you have to get conversions.

This is doubly bad in a fighting game, because you can't sell power. Like in a mobile f2p game, I can sell you gacha and people accept it. That won't work in a fighting game, the players would rightly rebel, and the competitive scene (required for success, if only as a marketing angle) would collapse.

So, the goal is to sell cosmetics... but most people won't bother, so you have to figure out how to sell something else.... and the solution you basically always end up on is selling time. I can tell you, I know players will pay for early access, and just as much that the people unwilling to do so will hate it. The thing is, in well over a decade in the industry, I've learned that the people that complain on social media don't really impact the people that spend. And we need that spend (40+ staff and server fees, and in MVS case a surprising amount of licensing fees: there's no goku because the japanese IP holder charges a flat $20,000,000).

Anyways, back to selling time. The logic of early release is easy. All players can get the character for free, but we tax the impatient (and there are more impatient than you think). Everyone else can wait, or pay.

And that was the plan I proposed: 3 phases:

Premium only (bundle or Gleamium) for a fixed amount of time (tax the impatient) Increased SC cost (more Character currency) for a fixed amount of time. This drains the hoarders slightly and puts soft pressure to spend Established character, reduced SC cost (my suggestion was start this on the next season). We're not gonna monetize on these characters much at this point anyways, so make them more available. This is a system of soft incentives to spend. We need to add pain points, we have to to keep the game active. The trick is to do it in a way that the free players still have a way to progress.

Because free players are content for the paying players. Now this might seem a dark comment, but it's true. You can't sustain a F2P game with only the players. You NEED the free players and need them to have some sense of fun, so the paying players feel the value of their spend. So there's selfish value in keeping free players involved. But we have to have pain points.

Anyways sorry for ranting, I wouldn't be lying to say design is my passion, and I feel really strongly about the player rhetoric around this stuff. You can't please players to some degree.

Source 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/MultiVersusTheGame/comments/1ezgsqx/comment/ljles14/

Problem with PFG is top down.

Tony had the great (if obvious) idea and the connections to start a company to pitch it.

He's also terrible at management and all elements of design except for gameplay, while holding a Musk-esque sense of his own genius. This leads to an incredibly chaotic dev environment and incredibly jagged design (as he alternates between ignoring things and hyperfocusing on it - he'll micromanage the things he thinks are cool, like rifts, and ignore things he thinks are dull like missions - and then sweep in one day and demand people change everything). The head of engineering is good in engineering but has the same terrible design instincts Tony does.

I don't know WB's plans (obviously), but from what I do know, they want Multiversus but without Tony. So they bought his company. Just edging out a CEO takes time in most cases, especially since he made himself the face of the game.

Source 4: https://www.reddit.com/r/MultiVersusTheGame/comments/1exm4e5/comment/ljaqswj/

So here's the thing.

There is a QA team, but what there isn't is a QA Plan. They just all play the game (largely with Tony) and do feedback about balance, when they're not telling the other designers what to do. This is a problem because they're friends with Tony (or at least he thinks so).

This makes QA incredibly inconsistent and biased, because they just don't bother to test things sometimes, or just don't notice things... And they're immune to criticism (trust me, don't slip up and tell Tony that QA didn't test something, he gets mad).

Chaos and lack of plans is an overall problem at the company, but QA is especially bad because there's no real QA management (note: The positions are technically full) and they mostly just randomly play the game.

Source 5: https://www.reddit.com/r/MultiVersusTheGame/comments/1iekklt/from_an_industry_vet_where_the_buck_stops/

So, there are a ton of posts blaming WB on here, and just knowing how game development works, that's really crazy. So, a counterpoint:

For all but the last ~4 months, PFG was a Second party, independent developer. Even after the buyout, Tony was still studio head and functional Design Director Similarly the CTO didn't change with the buyout WB had little or no control over the internal testing and QA. So what does this mean?

Put simply, Tony had final say on every decision, and at most WB could pressure him. And Tony frankly has Elon Musk syndrome and thinks he's a perfect design genius.

This is Tony's and the CTO's failure, and it's a failure of leadership and direction. There are plenty of signs

Inconsistent and flip-flopping design decisions (often driven by being overreactive to social media influencers) Features (like rifts) driven into the ground by people who transparently don't understand how a mode like that could be made Monetization decisions that end up in a weird middle space that the players still hate, but also dont' make sufficient money to keep running the game. Truly atrocious testing with both large gameplay bugs and data errors in events going live regularly (Per industry scuttlebutt) A toxic and chaotic dev environment And all of this lands on the Studio Head, especially when they were 2nd party (and let's be honest, by the time of the buyout it was too late). I always presumed the buyout was to try to push Tony aside and get someone competent in place, but that takes time.

So if WB has fault, it's on backing a game with a mecurial would-be genius (with one admittedly great idea) that wasn't remotely ready or qualified to run a studio.

The Creative studio head problem

This is actually a huge hidden issue in the game industry. So many startups are started by industry veterans who were at best lead level, but often individual contributers, who have a brilliant idea they can sell to investors.

So they recruit their friends as the leadership team, get some funding and start a company.

But they don't actually know much outside of their specialty, and corporate leadership is a specific profession and skill on its own.

So you have managers that can't manage at that scale, and gameplay designers that are absolutely certain they know everything there is to know about live ops... and can push their views.

MVS isn't remotely unique in this regards.

So anyways, the Buck stops with Tony and the other founder/CTO. Blaming WB is a bit parasocialt

Source 6: https://www.reddit.com/r/MultiVersusTheGame/comments/1gs6br6/in_the_name_of_sanity_a_professional_opinion_on/

So this is a direct response to the crazy AI post that claims PFG is doing the decisions players won't like on purpose, which is... insane. I work in the industry so wanted to give some insights as to how the decision making for these things work.

Note that this is not a defense of PFG, I think the people they have left are really bad at this (PFG has really good gameplay designers and basically nothing else), but an explanation of how these decisions come about in the name of sanity.

But first of all, a bit about me: I do not work for PFG or for WB games, but I do work in the specific discipline we're talking about here: Systems, Economy, and (especially F2P) monetization. Still I'm not affiliated with them, and if anything am probably a bit hostile. That said, it's a small discipline in a small industry. Everybody knows somebody.

So that said, let's talk about season 4

What happens when a game is losing money

There's really 2 ways this can go, (the slow wasting away or waiting for the publisher to pull the plug), but for decision making, you end up in the same place.

You have to increase revenue while not cratering your player base. There's an adage I use a lot, which applies here: "It's always better to have 20,000 $2 payers than to hope for 2 $20,000 payers". Getting a lot of ARPPU (average return per paying user) is useless if your player base is tiny and shrinking.

So, it's always a balancing act. You have to figure out ways to get more money without obviously alienating all your players. The trick is this is incredibly hard and often doesn't work if you do everything right. The vocal players are nasty and entitled and will always insult you and say you're trying to cheat them. That's what they do, and although I don't think Ajax is very good I really sympathize with what his DMs must look like right now.

So, you're desperate, and flailing and looking for the idea that will make everything work. Now remember, that PFG is a gameplay design oriented team. They don't really have good systems design, and never have (the beta was even more untenable than release, although it was more generous to players). But they're still designers, and all designers have ideas (and Tony seems to have Elon Musk syndrome).

So ideas come up, and people cling to them. They convince themselves that this is the one idea that will save them, and in fact get really excited about said idea. I've been there many times myself.

Are the ideas good? Well from a systems design perspective I wouldn't do them.

Split battlepass is fine in concept, but won't likely move the needle much. More tiers with worse rewards however won't fool anyone*.* That though seems to be a resource crunch. They're sitting on a whole bunch of old assets and can reuse them and save on content pipeline. The thing is, putting them in the BP (and leaving dead levels) is incredibly foolish. You do need to reuse those assets, but rotate them into the store. Fighter Road is just... dumb. My presumption is that they wanted a more focused experience, but if you look at it from a systems perspective fighter's road experience is functionally the same as fighter currency except there are more limitations on spending it. My guess is that they were trying to get away from some of the 'staged cost' ideas floating around, which the entitled twitter denizens hate, but this breaks all kinds of basic precepts. But...

Let's go back to Hanlon's Razor. People saying they're doing this on purpose and that everyone who disagrees with them are astroturfing bots are to do another quote thinking "PFG is smarter and stupider than they actually are" (original is in reference to New Coke conspiracy theories). They're just clinging to the lifeboats and certainly really believe that this is a good compromise solution to the problem. They're just wrong. They're incompetent, not malicious.

Extra Notes

Even with WBD buying PFG out, Tony is still the game director. While WBD can technically force him to do things, in over a decades experience in the industry that only actually happens if the person is basically already on their way out. The buck stops with him, and transferring the blame to WBD doesn't matter anyways, since the design is the design. From what I've heard, they really do believe themselves "Player First", but they listen to the wrong players. Specifically PFG seems super reactive to Ajax & Crew (who are hardcore player mindset, not design mindset) and the loudest accounts on twitter. My read is that they act reactively to complaints rather than dig into player behavior an analytics. As the current situation shows, this never actually works. The vocal twitter/reddit fans will never be happy, and they don't represent the player base anyways (this goes up to the parallel above, it's the social equivalent of "chasing whales". In my professional opinion, F2P was always too big a risk, they should have done a paid product with a 'free option' upfront rather than hoping for a huge F2P upside fighting game players especially hate F2P, and the limitations of a skill-based game (so you can't really sell competitive power) work directly against the motivations that traditionally drive players to monetize. It could have worked with a solid beta launch, but would be uphill even then. On the relaunch they were probably trapped, but the situation became much harder. Anyways, hope this gave some insight as to how things work and can head off the crazier conspiracy theories, coming from an industry POV rather than a fan one.

PS: Astroturfing happens, but the people ranting about it should be thrown out, it borders on solipsism.

Edit: Forgot to add, intentionally using "Anchor theory" is something no sane designer would ever do, especially in a game already losing money. If your player base is collapsing and you're losing money, intentionally making things worse in order to get people used to a change would be treated as putting a bullet in your head. The most important thing is having an active, engaged player base -- people you can hopefully convert into spenders. Intentionally driving people off in the hope that the ones that remain will spend more is way way too risky.

Info is via Bloomberg, BioWare sources told Bloomberg the studio has been downsized to under 100 people.

But at least they got to keep their jobs. During the same reorganization this week, around two dozen other people at BioWare were laid off, according to the people familiar, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information. Writer Trick Weekes and producer Jen Cheverie said on Bluesky that they were among the veteran workers who’d been cut.

BioWare is now down from more than 200 people two years ago to less than 100 today, according to the people familiar. A small team will remain to work on the next Mass Effect game — led by company veterans who oversaw the development on the original trilogy as well as on 2019’s Anthem — in hopes of expanding as the game gets further into production.

The company announced the reorganization on Wednesday, saying it planned to “become a more agile, focused studio,” without mentioning the job cuts and the relocation of staff permanently to other studios. A spokesperson for EA declined to comment on specific numbers.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was undeniably divisive, but to many who worked on it, it was a miraculous accomplishment to even ship a complete game after EA forced live-service into it, then reversed course. Now, their reward for the long hours and hard work is layoffs and transfers.

Confirmation from TheSims: https://xcancel.com/TheSims/status/1885357884013248577

Original Rumor: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1i1frue

Sources close to Icon Era have told that a PlayStation 5 version of Halo: Infinite is in the works at Microsoft, with a fully playable PS5 build being shown around 6 months ago.

Despite having chances of being revealed at the Halo Spring Community Update Today, no specific date was given. No word on Halo Master Chief Collection was given.

Source

https://xcancel.com/shiinabr/status/1885376822830932335?s=46

I heard about Multiversus shutting down before yesterday’s rumors surfaced, I was told the game indeed caused the halt of DC collabs.

Now, Warner Bros.' new tactic is to double down on collabs with other games again, including Fortnite.

In any case, a bad day for the devs 😕

https://i.imgur.com/ssZKdbb.png

https://bsky.app/profile/tomwarren.co.uk/post/3lh2icc575s22

I see people are surprised at the idea of Halo and Gears coming to PS5. I reported last year that Microsoft was weighing up doing this. The new reality is that Xbox games can and will be multi-platform, and Microsoft has made that even clearer in recent weeks.

Source

Transcript:

I can talk about Gears Collection because Gears Collection has cost me a lot to corroborate its existence but it seems that it exists and I can confirm that at the moment in which Gears Collection is announced, which I don't know when it will be but it will be announced as multiplatform day one. I repeat again. When these kinds of remasters are announced, remasters of the old Gears games are going to be able to be cross-platform play simultaneously. The only thing I haven't been able to confirm is the launch of a Switch version but it can be played cross-platform on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

Source

Following up on this post from yesterday.

Source: https://xcancel.com/multiversus/status/1885327981758865568?t=lt-Kk5ijcVy1k6por0GP4A&s=19

Vandal is one the larger Spanish sites for videgames on the context on who the source is.

Translated text from Spanish:

"Recent leaks have talked about Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Gears of War: U|timate Edition - or a remastered collection of the series - on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. According to our sources, some of the closest ones are Killer Instinct and Starfield, which has been in development for at least PS5 since its launch on Xbox Series and PC - late 2023"

"There are more games in the works including Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 or Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition , which was found testing online late last year; Tom Warren speculated about Age of Mythology: Retold and Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 . We have information about another game that has already started its adaptation to PS5 and/or Switch 2: the new Fable from Playground Games, so it's possible that in this case the launch will be simultaneous on all platforms"

Source: https://vandal.elespanol.com/noticia/1350777664/starfield-fable-y-microsoft-flight-simulator-2024-llegaran-a-playstation-5-y-switch-2-segun-nuestras-fuentes/

Source: https://www.goodsmileus.com/product/nendoroid-more-robobot-armor-amp-kirby-figure-14769

Previous rumor: https://old.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1h84789/nate_the_hate_kirby_planet_robobot_is_coming_to/

More smoke for the Kirby Planet Robobot Switch remaster.

https://xcancel.com/ShiinaBR/status/1885257088399536396?t=vVWW01vwAt_flMXJ16kGWw&s=19

https://xcancel.com/ShiinaBR/status/1885257266166657224?t=vVWW01vwAt_flMXJ16kGWw&s=19

The Sims 1 Anniversary Collection and The Sims 2 Anniversary Collection.

This is NOT a remaster or remake, it's a re-release MAYBE with fix (better compatibility, modern UI, crash fix etc)

The game will be release today.

https://pegi.info/search-pegi?q=the+sims+&op=Search&age%5B%5D=&descriptor%5B%5D=&publisher=&platform%5B%5D=&release_year%5B%5D=&page=1&form_build_id=form-xPbMnTrffBZx8QH7nWmJ4FW8aqvrla5PrYF_LUohD0w&form_id=pegi_search_form

A compilation of news and rumours from Bioshock's new installment.

• Kotaku reports that a "top-secret studio" is working on a new Bioshock, codenamed "Parkside" - April 13, 2018

"Some went to other game companies; others moved to the top-secret studio next door to work on an unannounced new BioShock game."

• 2K officially announces a new Bioshock, alongside the studio Cloud Chamber - December 9, 2019
• The game is set to take place on an open-world city - 2019

"Design and development the game’s biome-based ecologies for open-world content."

• Details about the game are found in job listings - December 9, 2020

"The Senior Voice Designer listing refers to the game as a ambitious, narratively-driven project full of character and personality" and the applicant is to help design the 'dialogue systems'."

"The applicant is responsible for: Interactive world systems and non-AI systemic ecology, Player growth systems & progression and Game balance and economy"

"The developer is also trying to make strides in terms of AI as they are creating: a meaningful AI urban crowd system and the systemic tribal ecology of a sometimes hostile AI."

• The game's engine is revealed to be Unreal Engine 5 - May 27, 2021
• Shpeshal Nick reports that the game could be a temporary PS exclusive - May 30, 2021

"I have been told that Sony is up to their shenanigans again, and the new BioShock game is being money-headed by Sony"

• Colin Moriarty reveals the game's setting, with a possible title - December 3, 2021

“The new BioShock game takes place in the 1960s, in Antarctica, and in a city called Borealis.”

“...and the games are inter-connected, which is not a huge surprise.”

"I went to a new source that I haven't worked within a while, but this source is reliable and was able to confirm what we already know based on a leak that happened a few days ago. that the game is called BioShock Immortal."

• Screenshot of a build from 2021 leaks, showing time-based abilities and a "Ricochet Shotgun" - July 13, 2024

"The image below is from an early demo build of the game featured in a 2021 showcase reel, and you can see the “Parkside” codename in it."

Link : https://xcancel.com/eXtas1stv/status/1885069626846892205#m

Google Translation

From Reddit, someone who is able to play Avowed confirms that:

There will be 30/40/60 fps modes for Xbox Series

And 30/40 fps for Xbox Series S

Obsidian has fulfilled (Check)

PS: Warm image of the main menu.

source

Footage from this project was first leaked in 2023. The game is supposed to be a Sci-Fi RPG made in UE5 by a studio based in Europe. It could also include multiplayer.

According to IconEra Forum sources, there are two PS titles not coming to PC, despite rumors:

• Demon's Souls is not currently being ported to PC and it looks like it might never be
• GT7 port has been shelved and will no longer be ported to pc.

Previous leak from the same source.

Edit: The cancelation of GT7 has nothing to do with changing PC releasing policies, but due to some future plans and it was canceled a few months ago, according to the source.

Source: https://xcancel.com/eXtas1stv/status/1885045313284546583?t=tSea6JzlczAU3fCMgtpHtA&s=19

https://famiboards.com/threads/nintendo-direct-speculation-st10-everybody-1-2-switch-directs.12257/post-1594988

Quote of post:

They have done a Switch Direct almost every year in February on a Wednesday, if this tradition continues, expect the Direct to happen on a Wednesday, which is the 5th, 12th, or 19th of next month.

For the past 6 years, the Earnings Release (aka Investors meeting) has been in the same month or close to the same month as the Direct. And there is an investors meeting next month, on February 4th. Which means a Direct is around the corner.

https://xcancel.com/JezCorden/status/1885032299441377319

Just announced on the Forza website: https://forza.net/news/forza-horizon-5-comes-to-ps5

With nearly 900 cars available in the game, over 40 thematic game updates, two expansions, and so much more content, our team is excited to announce that this spring, PlayStation 5 players will be able to explore Mexico’s beautiful roads and experience the Horizon Festival for the first time as we are officially launching Forza Horizon 5 on PS5.

The PlayStation 5 version of Forza Horizon 5, developed by Panic Button in partnership with Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games, will have the same content as the Xbox and PC releases of the game. Previously released Car Packs, as well as the Hot Wheels and Rally Adventure expansions, will also be available for purchase.

Previous Rumour: https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/s/6VhgmtgBBH

https://xcancel.com/ShiinaBR/status/1885022431372267696?t=61Au_irdmpHMXks7icg7mQ&s=19

One of the skins will be Sukuna