For gaming news this week, contentious changes from Xbox Live and Blizzard are revealed, alongside some exciting new studio and game updates teasing future projects. 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, Microsoft implements and walks back significant changes to Xbox Live Gold subscriptions due to backlash. Capcom held a showcase for Resident Evil Village, announcing the game's release date among other new updates. Vicarious Visions is reassigned directly to Blizzard as a support studio. Sony's formed a new development team in San Diego to work on "existing franchises" for PlayStation. Unsurprisingly, PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles continue to sell out at retailers within minutes. Some interesting new patents provide subtle hints at future gaming innovations. Here's a recap of the biggest gaming news of the week.
Microsoft Implements, and Subsequently Reverses, Xbox Live Gold Changes
Microsoft made some contentious changes to Xbox Live Gold on Friday, changes that were quickly reversed after vocal Xbox fans' backlash. Originally, Microsoft had announced that the subscription rates for Xbox Live Gold were increasing after nearly a decade. One month of Xbox Live Gold would increase to $10.99, three months would increase to $29.99, and six months would increase to $59.99.
Price changes would only affect new customers, not existing Xbox Live Gold subscribers, but regardless the changes were contentious. After feedback from fans expressed serious negative reaction, Microsoft made the decision late Friday to reverse the decision in the wake of backlash. These changes come in the wake of Microsoft previously removing the Xbox Live Gold one year subscription option, presumably as part of this pricing restructuring.
Resident Evil Village Announces Release Date, New Demo Available Now
From Capcom, this week featured the Resident Evil showcase bringing news on Resident Evil Village and some additional announcements. Alongside a new trailer, Resident Evil Village is set to release on May 7, 2021. Some players can get their first tastes with the PS5-exclusive demo "The Maiden," available now. A separate, additional demo is coming to all platforms later this spring as well.
Additionally, Resident Evil is getting another Resistance-style multiplayer game called Re:Verse, a mash-up Mercenaries style game with comic book style graphics. Outside of games, the showcase outlined different special editions for Village, as well as updates on the Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness CGI series on Netflix.
Vicarious Visions Studio Merges with Blizzard as Support Studio
Long-time Activision studio Vicarious Visions has now been assigned exclusively to Blizzard projects moving forward. Previously, Vicarious Visions (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy) reserved its independence under Activision, but will now be a Blizzard support studio instead.
Of course, many see this as a potential nod to Diablo 2 remake rumors, but it also means Vicarious Visions may no longer serve as lead developer on projects outside of the Blizzard umbrella of games/IPs. Much like Neversoft being absorbed into Infinity Ward, this is the second time a Tony Hawk's development studio was absorbed into a larger studio.
Sony's New San Diego Team Expanding "Existing Franchises" for PlayStation
On the Sony side, it seems PlayStation has something big in the works at its new San Diego studio. According to a LinkedIn post by former PlayStation studio head Michael Mumbauer, Sony has a new "AAA Action/Adventure development team" working to "expand upon existing franchises" in the PlayStation games lineup.
Of course, Sony hasn't acknowledged this new studio team or new project in any official capacity, but this is separate from the existing PlayStation studio in San Diego responsible for the MLB: The Show franchise.
Valve President Gabe Newell Confirms Additional Games in Development
While it's certainly no Half-Life 3 announcement, Valve has confirmed it does have additional games on the way after Half-Life: Alyx. Valve president Gabe Newell confirmed in an interview that additional games are in development at Valve's studio. Newell expressed an interest in singleplayer games specifically, but didn't comment on whether that relates to the games currently in development.
"Alyx was great," said Newell. "to be back doing singleplayer games. That created a lot of momentum inside of the company to do more of that."
Ps5/Xbox Series X Consoles Continue to Sell Out Within Minutes
As demand reaches an all-time high for consoles in the new year, the PS5 and Xbox Series X hardware continues to sell out immediately. Both Best Buy and GameStop announced restocks for the next-gen consoles this week, and both were sold out within minutes of the store pages going live.
This story has been returning like a broken record every time next-gen consoles are put up for sale. The scalping and reselling issues continue to persist moving into 2021, with some scalping groups even stating that it "just keeps getting easier every time."
Various Patents Filed By Gaming Companies Hint at Future Innovations
A slew of several different patents were discovered this week, detailing some interesting changes from various gaming companies. EA, Activision, and Take-Two Interactive filed patents for innovative tech, each with different possible functionalities in singleplayer and live-service games.
EA filed two distinct patents: One of which regarding implementing a universal in-game currency across multiple online games, while the other involves a tweaked AI system that utilizes machine learning based on players' actions in-game.
Activision filed patents for advanced facial and motion capture technology, whilst also filing a strange "reality-based" input system between a video game peripheral and real world item (the patent used a car as the primary example). Lastly, Take-Two Interactive filed a patent related to "virtual navigation in a gaming environment," illustrating a system of nodes used to better program AI to perform actions multilaterally between online players in a single session.
Halo Infinite Has Multiple Beta "Flights" Planned for 2021
Lastly for the week, Halo fans can expect several online betas for the upcoming Halo Infinite. Based on efforts made on The Master Chief Collection on PC, 343 Industries will be implementing a similar "flighting" infrastructure of beta-testing on the upcoming Halo sequel as well.
343 Industries is currently drafting up plans for several different "flights" scheduled throughout 2021, prior to the release of Halo Infinite. Each game added to The Master Chief Collection on PC last year utilized flights as a form of repeat beta-testing to assist with rolling out each entry smoothly on to PC.