Here at Goonhammer, we know that it’s hard to keep track of all the news happening all the time in the games industry. So much is always going on with games of all sorts, and their related media, it can be a real blink-and-you’ll miss it situation.
That’s why every week, we round up five of the biggest stories in the gaming sphere from the past week in the Games Industry News Roundup. Our trusty news boy, Dan “Swiftblade” Richardson, is here with the scoop.
Sony Reverses Unpopular Helldivers 2 PlayStation Network Requirements
Helldivers 2 was back in news headlines last week after Sony announced a massively unpopular plan to require all Helldivers 2 PC Players to link their game account with Sony’s Playstation Network starting May 6th.
Linking Helldivers accounts with PSN was a feature that was a part of the game at launch, but the overwhelming and sudden popularity of the game necessitated pausing the functionality. In a statement given last week, Sony said that this “grace period” would come to an end and all new Helldivers players after May 6th would be required to link accounts, citing safety and security concerns for players. Existing players who did not have a linked account would not be able to continue to play the game after May 30th.
This was met with a wave of criticism from fans of the game, pointing out Sony’s previous major security breaches and the limited international availability of the PlayStation Network (as of this writing, the service is available in only 73 countries). Community managers for Helldivers developer, Arrowhead, did their best on the official discord for the game to address the frustration, saying the change was an executive call by Sony.
Subsequently, Helldivers 2 was review bombed on Steam, all citing the account linking requirements. Additionally, Valve removed the ability purchase of Helldivers 2 across the vast array of countries affected by the PSN change, and the company reportedly began widespread approvals of refunds for the game even if players had played for longer than two hours.
On Monday, Sony backed down from their plans to implement the account linking requirements. The company addressed the unpopularity of the decision on their official Twitter, writing “We’re still learning what is best for PC players and your feedback has been invaluable. Thanks again for your continued support of Helldivers 2 and we’ll keep you updated on future plans.” As of this writing, Helldivers 2 Steam purchase availability has not been restored to countries that lost it.
Two Warhammer Previews Shows Scheduled for Next Week
Games Workshop announced Monday that there will be two preview shows at the Dallas Open next week, as a part of the larger Mortal Realms Reforged event.
The Mortal Realms Reforged event will be the public’s first look at the upcoming edition of Age of Sigmar, as revealed at Adepticon earlier this year. Hosted both in Dallas as well as Warhammer world in the U.K, it will include live demo games of the Spearhead game format for those interested with members of the Warhammer Design Studio team and other special guests. To kick the entire event off, Games Workshop will be showing off the entire contents of the upcoming starter box for the new edition at a live preview show at 7PM CDT. Those who’re unable to make the Dallas Open can catch the preview on the Warhammer Twitch channel.
The event will also include a second preview event on Saturday, focused on other games like Warhammer 40,000, Horus Heresy, Necromunda, and Legions Imperialis. This preview will be held live in Dallas and on the Warhammer Twitch channel on May 18th at 12:45 CDT.
Finally, a live exhibition game of the new Age of Sigmar edition will be streamed from Dallas on Saturday, May 18th at 8:30 CDT. This game will pit two seasoned Age of Sigmar players against each other in a 2,000 matched play game, and will be our first chance to see the full rules for the new edition in motion.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit Goes to Print, Retail Price Revealed
R Talsorian Games, the producers of the Cyberpunk TTRPGs that became the basis for Cyberpunk 2077, announced on Monday that the much anticipated tie-in with Cyberpunk: Edgerunners will soon be heading to print.
The Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Mission Kit is designed to be a one-stop shop for fans of the hit Netflix anime of the same name who want to try out the Cyberpunk tabletop roleplaying games. The box will include a lore book curated by the original creator of Cyberpunk, Mike Pondsmith, a rulebook for Cyberpunk RED, and a mission scenario for players explore the aftermath of the show’s finale. The box will also provide background and expanded lore on popular characters from the anime, such as David, Rebecca, and Lucy.
The kit is currently headed to print, with a planned physical and digital release of mid to late June. As announced on the company’s twitter, the box will retail for $35.
Magic: The Gathering Manga Coming to Western Shelves with an Official Translation
It’s a big week for folks whose interests stand at the intersection of Magic: The Gathering and Manga. “Destroy All Humans. They Can’t Be Regenerated. A Magic: The Gathering Manga” is getting an official English release by Viz Media in Fall 2024.
The story of Destroy All Humans centers on two Japanese high school students in the year 2000, named Hajime and Emi, who develop a rivalry over Magic: The Gathering that develops into a friendship. The manga is written by Katsura Ise, and illustrated by Takuma Yokata. It was first published in Monthly Shonen Ace in November of 2018 and is still ongoing in the magazine. The series has produced 15 volumes, each one including a promotional Japanese language Magic: The Gathering card.
Despite being popular enough to receive an Anime adaptation, and working closely with Wizards of the Coast during its conception, the manga has never received an official English adaptation until now. Viz Media has given no dates on when Destroy All Humans volume one will hit Western shelves, nor has it said anything about providing official English releases beyond the first volume, but it has confirmed that the manga will include a promotional card just like their Japanese counterparts.
Wizards of the Coast Will Be Spending $1 Billion Developing Future Video Games
In an interview with Gamesindustry.biz, the head of digital product development at Wizards of the Coast, Dan Ayoub, spoke about the company’s plan to invest big on internal video game development with its four partner development studios. How big, you ask? $1 billion big.
Last month, Larian announced it would not be developing any sequels to Baldur’s Gate 3, and is leaving the Dungeons & Dragons universe to explore its own IP. With the creative minds behind one of the most critically acclaimed and popular games in recent memory stepping away, all eyes seem to be on Wizards on what they will do next in the video game world.
“Video games is an integral part of Hasbro’s strategy going into the next 100 years,” Ayoub said in the interview, “and we have to make sure that everything that comes out is top quality, is authentic, and is something we can build upon, because we’re talking about a couple studios and a couple games right now, but we have much larger ambitions for that.”
Wizards currently has four internal video game studios working on games, according to Ayoub. One of these studios, Invoke Studios, is currently working on a Dungeons & Dragons related title. “One of the great things we took from the success of Baldur’s Gate 3 is that people really, really like a great, well-executed D&D game, so we’ve got something like that,” said Ayoub, stating that Hasbro and Wizards plan to give their internal development studios the room to breathe and express their creativity in a way that can create “authentic” experiences.
Currently, there is no further information on the Dungeons & Dragons related game in development by Invoke, nor a timeline for the game’s release.
Bonus: Hades 2 Early Access Now Available on Steam
Yep, Supergiant’s done it again. They’ve released another early access banger.
Hades II surprise released into early access on steam today, though the full 1.0 release is not expected in 2024. Those who can’t wait to jump back into more Hades are eating good though: according to the Steam page for the game, “Hades II in Early Access already has more environments, foes, and fully-voiced characters than the full version of the original Hades game.”
The developer, Supergiant Games, plans to release new content and updates to the game monthly and provide more concrete details about plans for the games full release later this year.
Double Bonus: Nintendo Casually Tweets Switch Successor Announcement
Marcy: But that’s not all folks! Anyway, at around 3 AM EST on May7th, Nintendo just decided to tweet out that they’ll be announcing the successor to the Switch sometime during this fiscal year:
I have to admit that might be the most casual way I have ever seen a company announce something as massive as follow up to your console that is very likely to surpass the DS and Playstation 2 before the end of the year as best-selling console of all time. Obviously, there’s no details of what this will be, just the fact that it is apparently a thing that exists, and we will hear about it later this year.
And that wraps it up for our Games Industry News Roundup this week! Join us again next week for more news about the tabletop games industry and related media.
Have any questions or feedback? Have an interesting tabletop news story we should be including in our round-up? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. And if you want regular updates in your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter.
