Ghost Recon Breakpoint “Very Disappointing” Says Ubisoft


Ghost Recon: Breakpoint’s critical and financial performance have been “very disappointing” according to an Ubisoft report released today. Ubisoft released a statement revising financial targets to offer the bad news that the 2019-2020 fiscal year isn’t going to be so hot for the French developer/publisher. Worst of all is that net bookings are expected to end up at €1.45 billion, an admittedly large amount but a long way away from the anticipated €2.185 billion. Operating income has plummeted from an anticipated €480 million to just €20-50 million.

The drop off in sales is primarily due to the “very disappointing” reception of Ghost Recon: Breakpoint which launched in early September on PC and consoles. In addition, Ubisoft notes that development for Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine will all be extended and will not be released until the 2020-2021 fiscal year.

“However, we have not capitalized on the potential of our latest two AAA releases. For Ghost Recon Breakpoint, while the game’s quality appeared on track – based on E3, Gamescom, previews and our latest internal playtests –, critical reception and sales during the game’s first weeks were very disappointing. As we have done with past titles, we will continue to support the game and listen to the community in order to deliver the necessary improvements.”

Breakpoint has been getting slammed by critics and the public since its launch last month. The game has seen a lot of backlash due to an extensive cash shop that appeared to get priority billing over the game itself which launched with severe bugs and performance issues. Ubisoft’s Yves Guillemot does not address any of the criticisms in the press release, instead blaming the game’s subpar performance on difficulty generating interest for a sequel to a live service game, imperfect implementation of gameplay innovations (whatever that means), and not enough differentiation factors to stick out among the crowd.

“In this overall context, we have decided to postpone the releases of Gods & Monsters, Rainbow Six Quarantine and Watch_Dogs Legion until 2020-21. While each of these games already has a strong identity and high potential, we want our teams to have more development time to ensure that their respective innovations are perfectly implemented so as to deliver optimal experiences for players. This decision will have a very significant impact on our financial results for this fiscal year and goes against our recent successes in building a more stable development model. However, it is in line with our strategy to maximize the future value of our brands for the long term benefit of our employees, players and shareholders. We expect it to have a positive impact on our financial performance as from 2020-21.”

Source: Ubisoft Press Release

Fallout 1st Lets You Give Bethesda More Money For Fallout 76


Now that Bethesda has completely abandoned its stance against pay to win mechanics, the company has announced and launched a premium subscription service for Fallout 76. Dubbed Fallout 1st, the membership costs $13/month or $99 for a year and grants all sorts of goodies to subscribers such as the ability to host your own private server.

You’ll also get your hands on a scrapbox that can hold unlimited crafting components as well as a placeable fast travel point with a stash, sleeping bag, and more.

For more on Fallout 76’s new pay to win systems click here.

Heroes & Generals Retires One Day Membership


Reto Moto has announced the death of one day memberships in Heroes & Generals, to be replaced with three day memberships that can be bought at the cost of two days.

“1-Day Veteran Membership is now a thing of the past, give a warm welcome to the 3-day Veteran Membership! You get 3 days of Veteran Membership for the same price of 2!”

Heroes & Generals currently carries a 55% “mixed” rating on Steam with many reviews pointing toward complaints of pay to win aspects, heavy grind, and reliance on microtransactions in the shop.

Source: Heroes & Generals

Not Massive: Fortnite Corroborates Child’s Knowledge of Guns


Who said video games would never offer real world experience?

Today’s human interest piece comes to us from a child custody case in the Eastern District of New York. The petitioner is the father of a child who had petitioned the court for the return of his son to Ecuador. The child, a nine year old, had been retained in the United States by the mother and without the consent of the father since mid-2018. The father (petitioner) owns a gun shop and warehouse in Ecuador and is a dealer of firearms and accessories (Editor’s note: It should be noted that the firearm business is legal/legitimate). During the custody hearing, the child testified to the father having guns in the house, on display, within the reach of a child. How did the child know the identity of the guns? Fortnite.

According to the testimony, the child was able to verify what he had seen in the house including a silencer and a shotgun because he had seen something similar in Fortnite.

The story does not have a great ending, as the court eventually ruled that the child would be returned to Ecuador under Hague Convention. Still, the court did not seem to have any reason to doubt the child’s game-based knowledge.

The full entry can be found at the link below. Content Warning: The document below has been included for those who wish to view it. It contains numerous detailed allegations of the repeated physical and verbal abuse of a child by a parental figure.

Source: Eastern District of New York

[Video] Twitch Plays The Outer Worlds


It was bound to happen eventually.

This week marks the launch of The Outer Worlds, but if you want to play the game you can do so right now…Sort of. Being the crazy people they are, Obsidian Entertainment has decided to throw The Outer Worlds up for the world to play…on Twitch. This technically makes The Outer Worlds the first pre-release game to be given the Twitch Plays treatment.

Streaming is going on right now. You can head over to the Obsidian Twitch channel and play along in the chat yourself. Create the kind of playthrough that even Polygon would be proud of.

Mobility: TeeTINY Online Second Beta Launches


Teeny.studio, a Korean game developer and publisher, today released the second closed beta of their new mobile MMORPG, TeeTINY Online.

TeeTINY Online is an open world, anime-themed, fantasy casual MMORPG where players are encouraged to join together in teams and take on the world. Take on dungeons, boss monsters, raids, towers, and more. The beta is available until November 3 and includes daily quests that will span the closed beta period. The full version is set to launch at sometime in 2020.

The beta build of TeeTINY Online can be found at the Google Play store.

Source: TeeTINY Press Release

Planetside 3 Is Surely Happening, Says Daybreak


Planetside 3 is absolutely happening, says developer who suffered at least four rounds of substantive layoffs over the past two years. With Planetside 2 chugging along and Planetside Arena floundering and virtually dead in the water, Daybreak is ready to talk Planetside 3. In a post on the official website, executive producer Andy Sites noted that the studio views Planetside Arena as a stepping stone to Planetside 3 which will feature very different gameplay mechanics than Planetside 2.

So when we think about what the PlanetSide 3 experience needs to be, we know that there are incredibly high expectations from all of you. PlanetSide Arena is intended to be the stepping stone to PlanetSide 3, which we envision expanding from the current battlefields of Auraxis, to full-fledged galactic war with empires exploring, colonizing and conquering one another within an expansive galaxy. We envision PlanetSide Arena as a way to allow us to link present day PlanetSide 2 and PlanetSide 3 story lines, as well as providing an opportunity to try out new features, styles of play, etc.

We’ll see about that.

Source: Planetside 2

Free Steamy Sundaes: October 20 Edition


Today’s Free Steamy Sundaes is brought to you by caffeine, toxic consumer advocacy, and viewers like you. I don’t know how to casually introduce a new column I had the idea for while shopping for a new coffee grinder, so I’m just going to refer to Free Steamy Sundaes like it’s been going on for weeks and you’re all very familiar with it. So naturally everyone knows that this column is a weekly list of free to play games and demos that released on Steam last week.

Not Massive: Humble Monthly Increases Prices, Substantially Decreases Value


Humble Monthly is rebranding as Humble Choice and that can only mean one thing: Higher prices? Check. Lower value? Double check. Holding current subscribers hostage? Triple check.

Humble Monthly is a pretty damn good deal if you look at it. $12 per month or $132 per year for ten games per month is crazy. Add in the fact that they offer some otherwise expensive titles like Spyro and Crash Bandicoot and you’ve got an even better deal. Don’t like the games? Sell the keys and you’ll probably make back more than what you’re buying them for.

But Humble Monthly is changing. Starting in a few months the service will reboot as Humble Choice, a cynical marketing decision to make it seem like you’re getting more while stripping away value and increasing prices. The basic package will now cost $14.99, a $2 increase per month, and give you three games to choose from out of that month’s selection. Yes, you are going to pay a roughly 15% increase for 70% less product. If you want something closely resembling the Humble Monthly bundle, you’ll have to pay $20 per month and even then you don’t get all of the games. Current subscribers will need to remain subscribed in order to keep their “classic” plan in effect.

Everyone wanted to know how long it would take IGN to flip the table and start gouging Humble Monthly and it looks like the answer is two years. The most entertaining part of this announcement is seeing Humble’s PR people try to spin this as even vicariously resembling something pro-consumer.

[Video] Outer Worlds Launch Trailer


Obsidian Entertainment today released the launch trailer for The Outer Worlds, the latest science fiction game hitting PC and consoles in just under a week. The Outer Worlds sticks players in a world where giant megacorporations have taken over entire planets. Featuring branching paths, your story will change depending on how you play.

Check it out.