Gaming Week In Review: December 19, 2020
What has been meant to be a painless week in gaming has proven to be otherwise. Bugs in the newest Cyberpunk game, a game developer goes out of business, and some more news on the gaming phenomenon that is Among Us. All this and more in this week’s inaugural chapter of Gaming Week in Review.
Pocket Mortys game developer going out of business
We start off with some somber news to those loyal to Rick and Morty.
Big Pixel Studios, the developer of the popular mobile spinoff Pocket Mortys, is shutting down. The studio has been owned by Adult Swim since mid-2018. The purchase was done shortly after the Pokemon-like RPG/adventure game was made. Adult Swim is a media subsidiary of WarnerMedia, which coincides its nighttime programming with Cartoon Network.
The London-based studio, in their announcement, will close at the end of the year. As a result, roughly 40 people will be impacted by the closure
Developer Laurie James would announce the news on Twitter, alluding to a game that was under development. With the closure, that unknown game will never see release.
“Some hella good people here, who made something proper cool,” James tweets. “Unfortunately you’ll never get to play it, because [of] capitalism.”
A spokesperson from Adult Swim states that the decision was made “as part of WarnerMedia’s larger transformation.” However, the games based on their intellectual property “will continue to be a priority” going forward.
While Pocket Mortys has continued to receive updates, it is unclear whether it will remain the case.
Big Pixel was also the developer of fellow Rick and Morty game Jerry’s Game. Additional games include Mega Coin Squad and Off the Leash.
Among Us coming to Xbox consoles for Game Pass in 2021
We previously covered Among Us in a recent article, regarding its PC inclusion to Xbox Game Pass.
Now we have a better idea as to how soon the popular game will be on Xbox consoles.
Following the Indie World Showcase, developer Innersloth made a surprise release of the game to Nintendo Switch. Additionally, it is now live for Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Microsoft specifies in a blog post that the game is available on Game Pass or as a standalone $5 purchase. An exact release for Xbox One or Series X/S is unknown. However, Innersloth’s social deduction game should be available sometime in 2021.
The game originally debuted in 2018. However, it would be catapulted to success this year, thanks to popular streamers. It allows cross-play between all mobile devices, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Game Pass.
In the previous report, it did mention that a new airship map will be debuting in 2021.
Bad week for CD Projekt Red and Cyberpunk 2077
This week was supposed to a week of promise for CD Projekt Red (CDPR) and their newest game release. However, A massive number of glitches and game bug reports would result in Cyberpunk 2077‘s removal from the PlayStation Store.
The Polish game developer is vowing to bring the game back to the platform “as soon as possible” in a statement to players. However, they released a new public-facing statement on Twitter. CDPR would reiterate that both versions of the game for PlayStation will continue to receive updates. This is even while the digital version of the game is not available for retail sale.
No timeline was given as to when the game will return to the PlayStation Store.
The statement likely implies that the game’s removal was mutual by the developer and Sony. This is in order to grant refunds without breaching existing Sony policies. This is important, according to IGN, as the policies have caused trouble for many people seeking to return their digital copies.
PlayStation players can opt-in for their refund through this website.
Xbox not delisting Cyberpunk 2077
In contrast to the actions taken by Sony, neither Microsoft nor Xbox plans to remove the game from their catalog.
Developer co-CEO Adam Kicinski tells Reuters in a staff report that CDPR is not in talks with Microsoft for game removal. However, this doesn’t mean Xbox players are being left out in the cold.
Players are reporting the ability to receive a refund on their purchases when contacting Microsoft support. In contrast to Sony, Microsoft does not have an explicitly specific refund policy for Xbox.
While the game is still available for Xbox One and Series X/S owners, it is not recommended to purchase the game on last-gen hardware at this time.
The game has experienced issues across all platforms. There were a plethora of issues on PC. The game appears to be a relatively unfinished project on Xbox One and PS4.
The issues range from game physics and scripting problems to improper loading of textures and even full game crashes.
The result from the chaos this week: four CDPR executives lost roughly $1 billion in stock value. Share prices for the OTC market stock sharply fell in after-hours, overnight, and early morning trading. Entering after-hours trading on Thursday, the stock was sitting at $88.00 per share. However, overnight and early morning trades on Friday would reflect a decline to a new low at $72.00 per share. The stock would recover some, as it would close business at $78.80 per share.
The stock has been in decline since earlier this month, where its high was just over $120.00 per share.
Native versions of the game for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 are in the works for a 2021 release date. Additionally, some things are in the works for a standalone multiplayer experience.
It’s not currently clear how the game launch issues will affect those plans. What is currently certain is that the development of the game versions already available is far from finishing or polishing.
Xbox giving away Mandalorian-themed game controllers
Yes, you’ve heard that correctly. Xbox is featuring two key characters from the Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian as custom Xbox controllers.
Baby Yoda and Mando are the characters on this controller set, depicting their first meeting in the series premiere. Competition details from Microsoft estimate the prize value at $149.
Entry guidelines are quite clear. You should follow Xbox’s Twitter account and retweet their post with the hashtag #TheMandalorianXboxSweepstakes. You must also be a resident of the U.S., age 18 or older.
The Season 2 finale aired on Disney+ on Friday.
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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
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