March was our most successful month so far. We increased the number of artists in several of our long-term projects and at the same time we started communication and test processing with two new clients. Among other things, we are currently completing three major projects related to the processing of cars, custom room creation, and processing of stylized outfits for characters.
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Outsourcing is not always clear, as there is a big question of what to outsource and what to keep in-house. We got you covered though, as the article below discusses precisely that. Outsourcing assets the client has a clear picture of? That is a good idea. But concept art with no clear vision? Not so much.
March was yet another very rich month for the gaming industry. Down below, we have chosen five pieces of news we regard the most interesting.
CD Projekt Red has officially announced a new Witcher game which will run on Unreal Engine 5. Kiciński, CEO of CDPR, said that the game will not be The Witcher 4, as the first three games were a trilogy, but that the word “Witcher” will probably not be left out of the final name. Moreover, in January, the company’s stocks dropped to its long-time low, but ever since this announcement, they have been steadily growing.
Sony is revamping PlayStation Plus, it gets two new tiers – Extra and Premium, and is merging with PlayStation Now. For $14.99, extra tier will include up to 400 PS4 and PS5 games while the Premium tier, prices at $17.99, will offer PS3 games via cloud and a catalog of PS1, PS2 and PSP classics. The revamped PS+ will be available in June.
Microsoft has announced that ID@Xbox has been of great benefit to Indie developers, generating over $2.5 billion in revenue. Moreover, the American company is further extending the Indie developers support with the ID@Azure program that will allow the developers to use cloud for their development.
The AMD’s frame boosting software FSR 2.0 will be available for Xbox series consoles. Fidelity FX Super Resolution, as this technology is called, is a direct competitor to Nvidia’s DLSS technology, and is capable of bringing faster frame rates and clearer images. However, AMD’s software, unlike Nvidia’s, does not need any machine-learning hardware in GPUs, so it is possible to implement to non-Nvidia hardware – such as Xbox Series consoles. The release date is yet to be announced.
Housemarque has announced that their latest rogue-lite title Returnal is getting a free DLC called Ascension. This DLC brings a new endless mode as well as a coop to the base game and the Ascension itself, meaning that you can enjoy the game with your friend. The Finnish studio, after being acquired by Sony, has also announced that they are working on a brand-new project. However, as of now, that is the only information we have.
Number fans gather up, as if you are a number fan, you will enjoy this section very much. Below, you can find a statistic showing the leading iPad gaming apps in the Apple App Store in the US in February 2022, sorted by revenue. On top of the list, you can see Roblox, with a huge lead ahead of Candy Crush Saga and DoubleDown Casino.
The following chart is only of interest, as it shows the revenue and download shares of IP vs non-IP mobile gaming apps in the United States in 2020. As you can see, the IP games get the shorter end of the stick both in revenue and in downloads.
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Elden Ring was a hugely anticipated game not only by the From Software fans, but also by the videogaming journalists such as Jason Schreier. On his twitter, he tweeted: “Wow. Elden Ring hitting Call of Duty numbers,” suggesting that the 12 million units sold in the first two weeks after Elden Ring’s release quite surprised him.
February was a very packed month for gaming, as games such as Horizon Forbidden West or Sifu were released. The latter one managed to sell over 1 million units in its first month after release.
Released on March 20th, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has become a commercial success with the score of 94 on Metacritic. It came out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and it takes you to fictional province called Cyrodill. The story centres around the player’s efforts to destroy the fanatical cult Mythic Dawn which has a plan to open portals for a demonic realm known as Oblivion.
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We are the pioneers of outsourced graphics for the gaming industry. We offer only high-quality work for a reasonable and fair price. Fanatic Games believes that every client has their very own specific needs and that there is no substitute for quality art, which then has a major effect on the player. We have illustrious worldwide references. We honour quality, speed, reliability, and efficiency. We manage all projects in a flexible and transparent way amd we use multilevel quality control. Our clients get an outstanding value for money. We are not just outsourcers, we are your partners. We save your capacity and time.
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