Disney Secures $1.5 Billion Stake in Epic Games, Plans 'Entertainment Universe' in Fortnite | Push Square

Another Thursday, another Epic Games Store freebie to add to your ever-growing backlog, this time in the form of stylish 3D side-scroller Never Yield.

The success of Helldivers 2's simultaneous launch on both PS5 and PC appears to have caught several interested parties off guard, blowing through initial projections with its ludicrously addictive brand of chaotic, cooperative gameplay. That's despite fairly serious server issues since launch on Friday, with multiple patches (including another released today) already deployed.

For the best part of this generation, Sony’s been pressured by a vocal part of the gaming community to borrow Xbox Game Pass’ unproven business model with PS Plus. The platform holder eventually decided to take a half-step, merging PS Now with its existing subscription but resisting the urge to add day one first-party software to the service. It’s described this strategy as unsustainable.

Helldivers 2 isn’t just blowing up like a traditional bomb – it’s becoming more of a nuclear blast. The game, developed by Arrowhead and published by Sony, is quickly establishing itself as one of the biggest third-person shooters on the planet – and it’s attracting the players to prove it. Despite being limited by server capacity, the title set a new concurrent users record on Steam overnight, topping a peak of over 255k.

Sony will not release any sequels or updates to “major existing franchise titles” before March 2025. The wording is exceptionally important here: this does not eliminate the likelihood of PS5 exclusives entirely, it just means you’re unlikely to see a new Ghost of Tsushima or The Last of Us in the next 12 months and a bit.

Respawn Entertainment, the developer behind the Star Wars Jedi series and Apex Legends, seems to be in the early stages of developing a first-person Mandalorian game. Sadly, it appears to be set during an earlier, pre-Grogu timeframe, but the prospect of hunting bounties for the Galactic Empire seems like a fun time.

Sony president and PlayStation chairman Hiroki Totoki was asked in a Q&A session following Sony's latest financial results briefing why the game division is seeing an increase in gross income but not profits and what the company could do to improve its bottom line. Totoki said that there are two key areas he wants to focus on in this regard: hardware and first-party games.

Wuthering Waves is poised to be the next big thing in the Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail dominated gacha space, and while there’s no dates attached to the previously announced PS5 and PS4 versions just yet, here’s a look at the title’s opening cinematic. Two perspectives are presented in the trailer embedded above: the male and female protagonists.

The Epic Games Store officially turned 5 years old in December, and while some of the fiery debate surrounding the storefront has died down, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a success yet. As part of their lawsuit against Google, Epic admitted the EGS still isn’t profitable and now they’ve released their 2023 Year in Review stats, which they obviously try to spin in a positive way, but don’t really look that promising.

If you didn’t already think Disney was taking over the world, their latest announcement alongside Epic Games should terrify you.

Microsoft has confirmed that it will «share updates on the Xbox business» this Thursday, the 15th February, at 12PM PT / 3PM ET / 8PM GMT / 9PM CET. In other words, this is when the beans will finally be spilled on Xbox's all-but-official multiplatform plans. The news will be delivered through the Official Xbox Podcast — which immediately raises questions about the potential scope of these «updates».

January seems to have been a strong month for Sony, at least in Europe. According to data pulled together by GamesIndustry, last month saw successes for the platform holder in terms of both software and hardware — not a bad way to kick off 2024.