We are back with our monthly summary about what’s happened in the gaming industry! In October, we’ve seen a number of interesting announcements as well as the release of Alan Wake 2. At Fanatic Games, we published an article, revealing a bit of our know-how in the outsourcing department. Let’s start with that!
.
Fitting the game graphics into the overall concept might not be as straightforward as it sounds. The most improtant thing is to hand out a bulletproof project brief, send relevant references, and of course communication. What else is needed? Read on to find out!
Konami has showed the very first in-engine look at Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, its upcoming remake of the fan-favorite game from 2004. As the developer announced, the remake runs on Unreal Engine 5, which rebuilds the original in all aspect, be it textures, animations, or character. Konami is yet to announce its release date, but it is expected to come out late 2024 or in 2025.
Remedy’s communication director Thomas Puha explained that the console version of Alan Wake 2 was originally built to run at 30FPS, but the studio later decided to add a performance mode with 60FPS. The initial idea was to focus on visuals and ambiance, said Puha. Alan Wake 2 was released on October 27, 13 years after the first entry to the franchise and it’s been getting great reviews, currently sitting at 87/100 at Metacritic.
In less than six weeks, 11 million players tried Starfield, Microsoft announced. The sci-fi RPG launched on PC and Xbox Series X|S in early September as perhaps Microsoft’s highest-profile first-party release since 343’s Halo Infinite came out in December 2021, IGN notes. The exact sales, however, are yet to be published.
Ubisoft’s xDefiant has been delayed indefinitely, as it did not pass the certification process by PlayStation and Xbox. Mark Rubin, the game’s executive producer, stated that Ubisoft submitted the request in July and in mid-August, the game received a Not Pass. „We realized then that we had a lot more work related to compliance than we had anticipated,“ Rubin wrote, not announcing a new release date.
Microsoft has completed the purchase of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, acquiring blockbuster games such as Call of Duty, Diablo or Overwatch. The whole process took whopping 22 months to complete, as the deal was under inspection by the government regulators.
In the last decade, the gaming industry has seen a rapid shift towards live service games. And it is no different at Sony’s PlayStation. In the 2020 financial year, the split between traditional and live service games was 88 to 12, while in 2023 it’s 45 to 55. The statistic below predicts that the split will be even bigger in two years’ time, with traditional games having 40 percent while live service games 60 percent.
Let’s stay at console gaming. Let’s take a look at the chart below, comparing the distribution of PlayStation versus Xbox game content revenue from 2023 to 2025. As you can see, PlayStation is keeping the almost-two-thirds share, while Xbox is still behind. It corresponds with the console sales as well, as Sony’s PlayStation 5 leads the market two-to-one.
.
.
Last spring, Electronic Arts announced it will no longer make Fifa-branded football games. Instead, the series continues under a new name, EA Sports FC, which gave the game an unexpected benefit. „This is technically the largest launch for a new IP this year,” said Danial Ahmad, reporting that the new football game hit the largest sale numbers in 2023 so far, even though it is just a rebranded Fifa game.
Marvel’s Spider-man 2 is out now! Check out its launch trailer to get excited for this masterpiece.
Resident Evil 4 Remake came out in March 2023 and since then, it managed to sell over 5,45 million copies worldwide. Those number will increase once the game releases on iOS, iPadOS and MacOS in December this year, as was announced on Apple’s keynote in September during the iPhone 15’s announcement.
Released on September 5, 2013, Call of Duty: Strike Team is a tactical shooter for devices with iOS and Android. The story is set in the Black Ops story arc in 2020, with players leading a US Joint Special Operations Team after the United States are attached by an unknown enemy.
.
.
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 and we use multilevel quality control. Our clients get an outstanding value for their money. We are not just outsourcers, we are your partners. We save your capacity and time.
.