Clouded Leopard Entertainment will release Ys: Memories of Celceta Kai for PC via Steam with Japanese audio and Traditional Chinese and Korean text this spring, the publisher announced.
19.01.2024 - 15:59 / gamesindustry.biz / Chris Avellone
This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.
Monday was a day the games industry had been waiting for a long time, as UK retailer GAME reportedly informed staff that it would be exiting the pre-owned game market, and would stop accepting customer trade-ins of games beginning February 16.
There was a time when this would have been cause for celebration in the industry, which may sound absurd in 2024 but not half as absurd as the vitriolic way otherwise respectable games industry executives talked about used games a couple generations ago.
QUOTE | "OK, so basically the industry now has the used-game virus." – In a 2009 blog post during his free-to-play Acclaim days, David Perry compared second-hand sales to a disease and said used game stores were "stabbing the industry in the back."
QUOTE | "One of the greatest things about digital distribution is what it does to reduce the used game market. I hope digital distribution stabs the used game market in the heart." – In 2011, Obsidian chief creative officer Chris Avellone indulges in violent fantasies about a world where players can't trade their games in .
You see? Video games don't make people violent, but used video games sure seem to.
When they weren't getting needlessly stabby about used games, industry execs offered arguments against it that could be described as foolishly simple-minded or cynically self-interested, depending on your point of view.
QUOTE | "We believe used games aren't in the consumer's best interest. Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don't see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in videogames." – In a 2009 interview, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé headfakes like he's about to explain why actual ownership of games isn't in the consumers' best interests, but then pivots to ignore the existence of second-hand book, DVD, and CD stores.
Fils-Aimé would presumably have a change of heart on this point as he joined the GameStop board of directors in 2020.
QUOTE | "I'd actually make the point that for us second-hand sales is a very critical situation, because people are selling multiple times intellectual property… In our understanding of the business model we are actually giving away the rights to play, and if you just pass it on, pass it on, pass it on, that is not comparable to second-hand
Clouded Leopard Entertainment will release Ys: Memories of Celceta Kai for PC via Steam with Japanese audio and Traditional Chinese and Korean text this spring, the publisher announced.
Remember the PlayStation-exclusive content for Hogwarts Legacy that was available when the game launched in February 2023? It’s finally coming to other platforms later this Summer, per the official Twitter. There will also be additional “updates and features”, and players should stay tuned for more details this year.
This weekend sees another bumper crop of new movies and shows arriving on streaming, so there's never been a better time to hunker down in front of the TV. First up, Second World War drama Masters of the Air kicks off on Apple TV Plus, featuring Austin Butler swapping Graceland for the cockpit, while new crime series Griselda hits Netflix. Elsewhere, The Farewell director Lulu Wang's new series Expats, starring Nicole Kidman, arrives on Prime Video, a prequel to Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast is now streaming on Paramount Plus, and the Queer Eye gang is back for an eighth season on Netflix.
Fortnite will return to Apple devices in some regions "later this year", as new EU regulation combats Apple's ability to compel developers to use its app store. This follows more than three years of conflict between Apple and Epic Games, after the Fortnite developer was booted from iOS for setting up its own systems to avoid paying Apple's cut of each in-game purchase.
If you’re anything like us, you’re always on the lookout for the next big thing on Netflix. You might just be in luck: a taut 90-minute German-language thriller has suddenly leapt up the charts on the streamer.
Epic Games has promised the return of Fortnite this year on iOS, over three years since it was pulled from the Apple App Store, but only in select regions.
Epic Games has announced that it will be bringing Fortnite back to iOS devices later this year thanks in part to a change in EU law.
As far as bread goes, I'd say those unlimited top-ups you get with fancy meals can sometimes supersede the actual meal itself. A little swirl in olive oil and balsamic? Mwah, delicious. For a more regular transaction, I do love a multi-seeded loaf for the added texture. Now, would I say I like bread more than… anime? That's tough. But thankfully I don't need to decide, as there's a demo of a game out right now that combines both interests. In Aeruta you play as an anime girl who defeats monsters and uses their innards to fuel her bakery business. Perfect.
The British military is using Fortnite Creative as a recruitment tool, seemingly in a bid to appeal to younger audiences. The army plans to livestream the private map, Operation: Belong, next week.
Plants vs Zombies 3: Welcome to Zomburbia is coming to mobile devices this year, a whole 11 years after the last mainline entry.
Disney Lorcana has unveiled a more accessible, two-player starter set that promises to "ease new players into the game and [trading card game] space" in general.
Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launches next week, but players are likely to encounter an amusing bug as they make their way through the game, as reported by IGN. One of the game’s NPCs is voiced by a text-to-speech program, complete with the slightly robotic tones we’ve come to associate with these services.