The past week was fairly eventful as Epic announced that their store will be getting even more exclusives in the next two years. Furthermore, we got a new exciting sequel announcement, one expansion announcement, and even a highly anticipated port announcement. Then there was Blizzard who just can’t seem to do anything right these days.
Final Fantasy 14 is getting a new expansion later this year
This could be the epic conclusion for the story of the popular MMO
Final Fantasy 14 is one of those success stories where the developer managed to turn a sub-par release into an awesome MMO experience. Much of this is due to how great the expansions were, and Square is looking to continue this with the newly announced Endwalker expansion coming later this year.
As per the reveal, the story will continue directly from the previous expansion and will see Warriors of Light in a fight against the darkness that will see them eventually make their way to the Moon. The expansions will also have two new jobs – a Sage healer and a possible necromancer DPS. Endwalker is also hinted at as being the last FFXIV expansion, meaning perhaps a full-blown sequel might be in works at Square. Guess, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Apex Legends is soon coming to the Nintendo Switch
If Doom is anything to go by, this will be a great port
The Nintendo Switch is often regarded as a title where indie and older titles find their place years after the original release. While it might be true that Switch often sees a later release, the console definitely shouldn’t be overlooked in regards to bigger-name titles. One of the latest ones to join that list will be Apex Legends.
Yes, the excellent battle royale is finally coming to the Nintendo Switch this March 9th after Respawn has announced a delay last year to give the system justice. Respawn noted that porting Apex to the small screen of the Switch was a particular challenge and took the opportunity to thank their friends at Panic Button – a studio that successfully ported Doom to the console as well. For the full statement from Respawn and more information on the Switch port of Apex Legends, check our original news coverage.
Epic Store will have even more exclusives over the next two years
We could be getting over 50 Epic Store exclusives over the next 2 years
Epic Games Store took the world of digital storefronts by storm by offering tons of free games as well as numerous timed and permanent exclusives. Many gamers were critical of the practice which spread out their purchases across multiple game launchers. Well, if you fall into that group of gamers – we have some bad news as Epic stated that their store will be getting a lot more exclusives over the next two years than they had in the past.
Currently, Epic has around 20 completely exclusive games, while around 50 of them were exclusive to the store for a limited time. There are very few exclusive announcements for the foreseeable future so it’s not very clear just how many of them we’ll be getting over the next 2 years. Taking the above numbers into account, it could be over 20 or well over 50. Hopefully, we’ll have much more info by the end of Q1.
Total War: Warhammer 3 has been announced
Promising to be bigger, better, and more prone to demonic incursions
Creative Assembly has announced the brand new installment in the Total War: Warhammer series. A series of cryptic tweets culminated with the release of a full-on trailer featuring an army from the nation of Kislev lead by Tzarina Katarin facing off against an army of Khorne Daemons on a snow-covered battlefield. This will mark the first time Cathey and Kislev as fully playable factions inside any Warhammer fantasy property.
Also, demon races will also be fully playable factions for all of those a bit more “chaos” inclined. It’s going to be amazing to see this series reach its third installment and we can’t wait what sort of a gigantic map they’ll have for us this time around. Now only if they switch over making a Total War game set in 40K – that’d be great. In the meantime, check our original news coverage for the full trailer and more info on Total War: Warhammer 3.
Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 will not release in 2021
2021 will be devoid of high-profile Blizzard games
Publisher Activision-Blizzard will not be releasing either Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV this calendar year, as noted from yesterday’s earnings call with shareholders. While no one was holding their breath for Diablo to release this year, Overwatch 2 came as a bit of a surprise. Sure, the game will feature some more narrative elements and a PvE segment, but it’s been cited numerous times as being more of an expansion than a full-blown sequel.
It is possible that Blizzard is looking to further expand these elements to bring truly great experiences for both games in order to win back some goodwill they lost with some rather questionable recent moves and decisions. To find more, check out our original news coverage, and we’ll definitely keep you posted as we get even more info during this year’s BlizzCon.
Xbox and PlayStation see record-breaking sales in 2020
New consoles took the world by storm
New consoles from Sony and Microsoft have always released with much hype, but I think we were all a bit surprised at just how popular their latest ones are. Both the Xbox Series X/S and the PlayStation 5 report record-breaking sales since launch. By December 2020, the PS5 had shipped 4.5 million units. Although Microsoft is not disclosing sales figures, CEO Satya Nadella claims that the launch of the Xbox Series X/S is the most successful in the company’s history.
This info is all the more impressive if you take into account the material shortages, COVID lockdowns, and other factors that should have negatively impacted the production and release of the new hardware. The sales figures would have likely been even bigger if Sony and Microsoft matched demand with supply as currently many gamers can’t get their hands on Xbox Series X and especially the PlayStation 5. For more information on the sales, shortages, and much more, check out our original news coverage.
Viking themed survival game Valheim tops Steam charts
An early access game selling 1 million copies in the first week
Not many people batted an eye when Valheim was first announced. It was to be just another bloated survival game where the Viking theme was its only distinguishing feature. Well, it seems the meek initial reaction was to be short-lived as the game sort of went viral. It’s currently immensely popular with gamers and the press alike and it even reached a staggering number of 1 million units sold in its first week.
This open-world, 10 player game about Vikings that have to prove their worth to Odin even broke the top 10 most played games on Steam and is currently holding an “overwhelmingly positive” rating. YouTube is positively swamped with videos of players exploring and having fun in its massive open-world filled with surprising events that you can’t get anywhere else. Be sure to check the game out on Steam yourself and see if it tickles your fancy.
