In The News
Time to talk money. Take-Two Interactive reported its quarterly earnings yesterday. CEO Strauss Zelnick “says he has been shocked by the continued success of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V,” Chris Morris at Fortune writes. “GTA V was the single biggest contributor to recurrent consumer spending, which saw sales grow 71% year-over-year (and which made up 58% of the company’s total net sales).”
Recent GTA V and GTA Online controversy involving the modding community hasn’t seemed to have any substantial effect beyond the deluge of angry Steam reviews the game received. GTA V’s Steam rating has, however, stayed at “Mixed.”
TheDW can’t see into the future, but we have an idea how this is going to go. Psychic Readers Network is suing Rockstar Games for alleged improper use of Miss Cleo’s likeness for an in-game character named Auntie Poulet. “‘Vice City’ came out like 15 years ago — but PRN says Rockstar continues to make money off the game due to reissues and bundle ‘GTA’ packages that are being sold to this day,” TMZ reports.
Rockstar responded to the lawsuit, telling TMZ, “‘These claims are entirely meritless and completely ridiculous. We will vigorously defend ourselves with regard to this matter.’”
“Moral panic and political pressure” may be harming the actual science and medicine behind a video game addiction diagnosis (if such a thing even exists), Polygon’s Charlie Hall reports.
“‘In the whole field of ‘video game addiction,’ Bean told Polygon, using air quotes for emphasis, ‘the incidence ranges all the way from 0.8 percent all the way up to 50 percent of the gaming population, depending on which study you decide to look at … ‘We don’t know what video game addiction is. … The psychology and medical fields took the concept of addiction — whether it’s substance abuse or anything like that — and just switched it out with video games. The thinking was, ‘Oh, it’s a form of addiction. It’s like any other addiction.’ But it’s not the same.’”
*Gasp* How naughty, Nintendo. Super Mario Odyssey, set to release Oct. 27, has received an E10+ rating from the ESRB. No other “fully fledged” Mario game has been given anything higher than an E rating, Pocket Gamer’s Harry Slater writes. “E10+ means the game is suitable for everyone older than 10. The E rating means it’s for literally everyone in the world. So don’t expect Mario to be dropping C bombs or beating up hookers.”
Rocket League is implementing a new ban system. “An additional automation system serves as a ‘Language Ban’, instantly blocking players from the online multiplayer if they are reported to use certain words such as racial slurs,” James Batchelor at GamesIndustry.biz reports. Each word reportedly has its own tolerance threshold.
Rocket League fans of the Australian variety, you can watch Rocket League’s Grand Finals “on Syfy in Australia (as well as the UK, Germany, and Latin America), while Americans can watch it on NBC Sports,” Eddie Makuch at GameSpot reports. “The Grand Finals, which features 16 teams competing for the first-ever title and a share of a $100,000 prize pool, can be streamed live on syfy.com.au and through the traditional linear Syfy TV channel.” The finals will be aired Aug. 27-28 in Australia.
Sony’s cross-platform suitors are back, and woo-ier than ever. A new Mojang blog post titled “Better Together Faq” had this to say: “While we are thrilled to be able to confirm the new version of Minecraft is coming to Nintendo Switch, we are still in discussions with Sony about PlayStation and have nothing to confirm. We would love to work with Sony to bring players on PlayStation 4 into this ecosystem as well.”
I’m more impressed by the headline puns news outlets are coming up with than the actual copies sold. Friday the 13th, released May 26, has sold 1.8 million copies. “The game itself has one player taking the role of Jason and the other players trying to escape as camp counselors,” Game Informer’s Imran Khan reports.
Usain Bolt is making an appearance in Konami’s newest Pro Evolution Soccer game, out Sept. 12. You can play as Bolt if you pre-order the game, Joe Donnelly at PC Gamer explains.
Gee, that seems fun. A new comedy game called Comedy Night allows you to “perform comedy on a virtual stage (but with your own microphone and mouth), either on your own or while facing off with another comedian,” Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson reports. “The audience will be made up of real people, who can encourage you, heckle you, or even vote you off the stage.”
Smash.gg has raised $11 million “in Series A capital from Spark Capital, Accel and Horizon Ventures,” according to GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring. Smash.gg was originally intended for Super Smash Bros. Melee but has branched beyond that to focus on being a tool to “simplify organising eSports matches and lower the barrier to entry for those looking to compete.”