News

Bungie Scaling Back Eververse in Destiny 2 Content Roadmap

Published

5 years ago

January 12, 2018

Anthony DiMoro

Bungie always seems to be dealing with backlash from gamers who are upset with how badly Destiny 2 has panned out.

One of the major complaints, is Bungie’s Eververse and other reward programs such as the recent holiday event, The Dawningm and the developer is aiming to change how Destiny 2 rewards work.

One of the changes that Bungie is looking at is scaling back the importance of Eververse.

“We recognize that the scales are tipped too far towards Tess at the moment, and Eververse was never intended to be a substitute for end game content and rewards,” Bungie game director Christopher Barrett said.

“So, we’ll be making three changes for upcoming Seasons:

“We’re shifting the balance of new content in favor of activity rewards over Bright Engrams. This includes adding Ghosts, Sparrows, and ships (to date found only in Bright Engrams) to achievement reward pools.
“We’ll provide a gameplay path to earn Bright Engrams and all contained rewards (including Event Engrams).
“We’ll give players more direct purchase options and make adjustments to Bright Engrams to allow players to get the items they want more often.”

The Strike-Scoring system is poised for a return as well.

“Strike Scoring is coming to Nightfall [Strikes] and replacing the current time limit mechanic,” Barrett said. “The scoring is similar to the Destiny 1 system but with adjustments to emphasize competitive execution of Strike objectives and support for player selectable score modifiers. In February, Nightfall High Scores will be exposed in-game via new emblems and will unlock rewards. We also have plans for Clan and Community High Scores in the works.”

Barrett said Bungie plans to offer updates on the following features and improvement by fall 2018:

Item Collections and Records
Weapon Slot and Archetype Improvements
Additional Crucible Playlists (e.g. Rumble)
Better Clan Rewards
Masterwork Exotics
Pinnacle Weapon and Gear Improvements
Trials of the Nine improvements
Shaders and dismantling
The Future of Guided Games
Address Solo Vs Fireteam matching

The developers are also re-thinking their expansions after the backlash over the poorly executed Curse of Osiris DLC.

“We’re taking the time we need in development of Expansion 2 that will allow us to react to player feedback from Curse of Osiris,” Barrett said. “In the coming months, we’ll talk to you more about what you can expect to find in Destiny 2’s next story. The team is eager to show you what they’ve been working on.”

Console

Microsoft Unveils Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit

Published

2 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Xbox has officially unveiled the Xbox Developer Sustainability Toolkit which is aimed to help creators reduce energy consumption and measure carbon emissions during game development processes.

The Xbox Developer Sustainability ToolKit includes resources that include:

Power Monitor tools
Certification reports
Power consumption dashboards
Best practices

Ubisoft and 343 Industries were named as early users of the Xbox Developer Sustainability ToolKit with 343 Industries able to reduce energy use by 15% without impacting the player experience at all.

Ubisoft and Xbox are co-developing an energy-efficient eco-mode for users.

You can check out the full report right here.

Business

Epic Games Store Hits $820 Million in Player Spending During 2022

Published

2 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

Epic Games has officially released financial data related to it’s growing marketplace on PC, showing that $820 million was spent on the Epic Games Store during the 2022 year, and promised support for third-party subscription services and new ‘content hubs’ to help companies promote their titles.

According to the data:

The numbers

Total users of Epic Games Store PC: 230 million (up 19% year-on-year)
Epic cross-platform accounts: 732 million
Daily active users peak: 34.3 million
Monthly active users: 68 million (up 10%)

Total spending, incl. Epic’s games: $820 million (down 2%)
Spending on third-party games: $355 million (up 18%)
Free games claimed: 700 million
Number of new PC releases: 626
Total library of PC games: 1,548 (up 68%)

Epic Games stated on it’s blog that more PC games launched during the 2022 year than in any year prior.

Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto 5, Rocket League, Genshin Impact, and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands were among the most popular titles related to player engagement and player spending, and Epic Games looks to deepen their focus in 2023 as they aim to improve the store launcher’s performance.

Epic Games also aims to add support for subscription services from third-party publishers and live service products by the end of the 2023 year, adding that they are also working on ‘content hubs’ which will be separate from product pages and will enable publishers to “share information with users in a robust editorial format.”

Business

California Judge Dismisses Gamers Lawsuit Filed Against Microsoft

Published

2 days ago

March 22, 2023

Anthony DiMoro

A federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that the group of 10 plaintiffs “[lacked] allegations” in their lawsuit filed last year that claimed Microsoft’s ownerships of Activision Blizzard would harm consumers and competition in the video games market, according to a filing shared by Reuters.

While US District Judge Jacqueline Corley dismissed the case, she also gave the plaintiffs 20 days to refine their lawsuit and resubmit it, and the group’s lawyer, Joseph Saveri, said that there are plans to officially submit an amended lawsuit with “additional factual detail” that will address the judge’s concerns.

It marks a victory for Microsoft, but their battles are far from over as they still face a hearing over the Federal Trade Commission’s legal complaint, which is currently slated to take place in August of this year.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard originally expected the transaction to be complete by June 30, 2023.