Biggest Gaming News of the Week: 4/26/21 - 5/2/21 | Game Rant
Sony and Insomniac Games had plenty to show with the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, as Microsoft celebrates massive Xbox success in this week's gaming news recap. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
In this week's recap of gaming news, PlayStation showcases a ton of new information on the upcoming Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart for PS5, while Xbox reveals some new information on this fall's Halo Infinite. Microsoft as a whole saw record revenue in the beginning of 2021, but a large portion of that revenue stemmed from record increases in Xbox revenue. Meanwhile the PS5's early month sales have already outpaced the PS4's sales from 2013. IO Interactive becomes the subject of rumors involving a potential Xbox-published fantasy IP, with many affirming the rumor. That and more in this week's roundup of the biggest gaming industry news stories.
Sony's big presentation this week brought with it a ton of information on arguably the next biggest AAA game coming to PS5. This week's State of Play brought with it a ton of new Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart information and glimpses at gameplay. Fans got info on new gadgets and equipment, much of which will be purchased through the unexpected Mrs. Zurkon. The State of Play also showed off a ton of new movement options available to Ratchet and Rivet, like mid-air dashing, wall-running, as well as the already-shown rift teleporting central to the game's themes.
Additionally, outside of Ratchet and Clank, this week's State of Play also introduced Among Us' PS4/PS5 release, paired with exclusive Ratchet and Clank cosmetics. Alongside that was the showcase of the Subnautica: Below Zero expansion coming to PS5, as well as the original Subnautica PS5 release.
On Microsoft's side of first-party gaming, 343 Industries also had plenty to share regarding Halo Infinite, specifically on the PC end of things. As the first game simultaneously releasing on Xbox and PC, Halo Infinite is receiving a ton of PC-centric features like ultrawide resolution support, FOV slider, triple keybinds, as well as advanced graphics options. There's even compatibility for hosting a LAN multiplayer server as well.
Additionally, all versions of Halo Infinite will feature crossplay and cross-progression across Xbox and PC. More specifically; campaign progress, as well as progress in the free-to-play multiplayer mode, will persist across all available versions of Halo Infinite.
Beyond Halo Infinite, Microsoft in general had an incredibly profitable first financial quarter of 2021. As the tech company's third quarter in its 2021 financial year, Q3 2021 netted Microsoft $3.5 billion total operating revenue. Xbox ended up playing a big part in that revenue, with huge boosts in revenue in several key areas: Xbox hardware sales rose 232% with the launch of Xbox Series X/S, as well as 34% boost in content and services revenue.
Likely as a result, Microsoft's Windows 10 Store will be adopting an 88/12 revenue split for its PC store. A similar rumor started to spread regarding the Xbox marketplace as well, but Microsoft confirmed that was not true.
After picking up Project 007, IO Interactive is expanding even further beyond its highly successful Hitman reboot. According to a recent rumor, IO Interactive will be working alongside Microsoft for an Xbox-exclusive fantasy IP. This medieval AAA project is reportedly in early development, corroborated by both Eurogamer as well as Windows Central's independent reports. Both cite a job listing on IO Interactive's website, as well as an unnamed source familiar to the situation.
News from Chinese outlet Baidu confirmed that a man was arrested for the attempted murder of the co-founders of miHoYo. The developers of the free-to-play action RPG Genshin Impact, miHoYo was infiltrated by someone armed with a knife, though the suspect was apprehended without injury or altercation. The man was supposedly planning to attack Liu Wei and Cai Haoyu after an update to Honkai Impact 3rd (miHoYo's previous game) received lots of negative reactions.
According to the most recent sales numbers, the PS5 is already beginning to exceed the sales rate of the PS4 in the early months. Six months in, the PS5 has shipped 7.8 million units, already outpacing the 7.6 million PS4 consoles sold in the same timeframe back in 2013. Even in the face of massive shortages and high demand, the PS5 continues to sell extremely well. According to CFO Hiroki Totoki, Sony expects the PS5 to continue outpacing the PS4 in its second-year sales as well.
Respawn Entertainment made history as the first video game company to win an Oscar, tangentially related to the recent Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Alongside the game's release was a gallery that included various WW2 documentaries, one of them being Colette. Telling the story of a former member of the French resistance during the German occupation of Paris, Respawn Entertainment's documentary netted the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the awards show.
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May 02, 2021
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