Hi everyone, I'm Samar, Associate Game Director at Vertigo Games. We couldn't be more excited to reveal our next project, Metro Awakening, during today's State of Play. We're proud to say that, with the support of Deep Silver, for the last two and a half years we've been working to bring the post-apocalyptic world of Metro to PS VR2, Meta Quest 2+3 and Steam VR 2024. The best video games take us out of our world by putting us in the boots of someone else. They let us experience that world through their eyes. The Metro series continually strives to achieve this. Inspired by the internationally best-selling novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, and Metro Exodus delivered immersive first-person experiences at release. These games put players in the heart of a desperate battle for survival after nuclear Armageddon. Metro Awakening is an all-new Metro game made exclusively for VR, and powered by the immersive features of PS VR2 and its Sense controllers.

It's an origins story, set before the events of Metro 2033, that both offers a whole new angle for Metro fans, and a fantastic starting point for seasoned VR players ready to put on the gas mask. Set in 2028, the all-new story is penned by series creator Dmitry Glukhovsky. You play as Serdar, a doctor searching for his wife amongst the claustrophobic, irradiated metro tunnels of post-apocalyptic Moscow. As Serdar ventures deeper into the Metro his courage and sanity will be tested by the supernatural forces he encounters, and will set in motion the events that lead to his spiritual awakening as something else entirely…

During launch-weekend, Payday 3 had a peak of concurrent players (CCU) across all platforms of 218,250, and a peak of 1,347,510 unique players (DAU). Starbreeze Nebula currently has 3,794,172 registered users. Payday 3 matchmaking infrastructure has not performed as tested and expected. Matchmaking software encountered an unforeseen error, which made it unable to handle the massive influx of players. The issue caused an unrecoverable situation for Starbreeze's third-party matchmaking partner.

A new version of the matchmaking server software was gradually deployed across all regions leading to improved performance. However, a software update made by the partner during late Sunday again introduced instability to the matchmaking infrastructure. The partner continues to work to improve and stabilize Payday 3's online systems.

The launch of Payday 3 is finally upon us! Police and criminals alike quake at the rumors of the Payday Gang arriving in New York City. And today, they arrived. A brand new chapter in the Payday universe is revealed to the world and we're thrilled to have you join us on the journey. We've already shared the roadmap for the first year of Payday 3, check it out here.

The Medic Bag
Should you have any issues with the game, don't hesitate to contact our support team, if you'd like to leave us any feedback we do have a feature upvote page where you can either write your own suggestion or vote on the suggestions of others.

Hello heisters, we want to inform you that Denuvo is no longer in Payday 3. We look forward to seeing you in New York City! Payday 3's release is coming very close, and it's been a long time since we announced that Payday 3's release date is on the 21st of September, with Silver/Gold owners being able to Play Early starting on the 18th. However, one popular reoccurring question has been; At what time?

To best answer this question, our creative team has made us this fantastic asset with a world map, and the release times listed in several popular time zones all over the world. Check it out, for a fast glance at when you need can get in-game.

Anyone up for another beta? You guessed it, this weekend we'll run another technical beta of Payday 3. This time it will be OPEN for you to push our servers to the limit. Payday 3 is the much anticipated sequel to one of the most popular co-op shooters ever. Since its release, Payday-players have been reveling in the thrill of a perfectly planned and executed heist. That's what makes Payday a high-octane, co-op FPS experience without equal.

Second BETA
As you might've heard already, we're doing a second Technical BETA - in other words, a server stress test. Same build as last time—so no new UI or heists for now. We want to ensure that we have as few issues as possible ahead of our very imminent launch, so this test is meant to do just that. Between September 8th and 11th we're running an open BETA, just go to our store page, download the build and play.

As part of NVIDIA and Microsoft's collaboration to bring more choice to gamers, new Microsoft Store integration has been added to GeForce NOW that lets gamers stream select titles from the Xbox PC Game Pass catalog on GeForce NOW, starting today. With the Microsoft Store integration, members will see a brand-new Xbox button on supported PC games and can seamlessly launch these titles across their devices, provided they either purchased the standalone games through the Microsoft Store or have an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass subscription.

Hot off our recent Gamescom announcement, four blockbuster titles are coming to GeForce NOW this fall: Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion, Party Animals and PAYDAY 3. Plus, head to the cloud and stream the 25 new titles joining the cloud this week, including DOOM 2016 from Bethesda.

Heisters! We are thrilled to announce that PAYDAY 3 is hosting a technical Closed Beta from August 2nd to August 7th. Players can sign-up for a chance to play the game on Steam and Xbox Series S|X. We have prepared a FAQ regarding the Closed BETA (see below).

PAYDAY 3 is the much anticipated sequel to one of the most popular co-op shooters ever. Since its release, PAYDAY-players have been reveling in the thrill of a perfectly planned and executed heist. That's what makes PAYDAY a high-octane, co-op FPS experience without equal.

You've been asking for it, and today is the day. With two upcoming downloadable content releases and additional, exciting cosmetic updates, players can look forward to a new level of adventure in Dead Island 2. Let's dive into what awaits:

First expansion: How does a billionaire prepare for the zompocalypse? A techno-death cult with a healthy splash of debauchery and gore! The first story expansion, Haus, will release in Q4, 2023.

Second expansion: Welcome to the SOLA festival, where LA's party people can greenwash their way to ecstasy and save the planet, one rave at a time. So L.A! SOLA Festival, will launch in Q2, 2024.

Following the global launch of Dead Island 2 on Friday 21st April, Deep Silver and Dambuster Studios have announced it has sold over 1 million copies after just three days on sale.

Dead Island 2 has won fans from around the world with countless players snapping up a copy of the drop dead gore-geous game in the first 72 hours.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CO-OP - Dead Island 2 is a great single-player experience, but it's fun to play with friends too as playing together has always been essential for our community. Co-op supports up to three players. You and your potential other two teammates have six characters to choose from, and your fellow co-op Slayers won't... well, shouldn't hurt you. So, let's dive into everything you need to know about co-op in Dead Island 2!

When does co-op unlock? You unlock the co-op feature once you reach Emma's mansion. That will happen during the "Call the Cavalry" mission, around 20 to 30 minutes into the game (depending on your playstyle).

Deep Silver's intended hype train, has been derailed slightly today, for its forthcoming zombie splattering blockbuster ARPG shooter Dead Island 2. A launch trailer was uploaded to the game's official YouTube channel this afternoon, in hope of generating more pre-release internet interest. The uptick in marketing efforts has gained some gaming community attention, but leaked gameplay footage was uploaded to YouTube only hours before the debuting of the official launch video. A streamer identifying as Lucas Cosmico is reported to have played a pre-release version of Dead Island 2 last night, and proceeded to stream the opening moments of the single player campaign - 30 minutes of gameplay footage is still accessible on their YouTube channel at the time of writing, but potential legal action is likely to result in a takedown order.

The Dead Island 2 development cycle has not been a pleasant experience for those involved, according to multiple news pieces reported across the project's lifespan of more than a decade. Several studios have worked on the game, but publisher Deep Silver sought to remove the involvement of Yager and Sumo Digital at different stages of development. Dambuster Studios was declared, by THQ Nordic back in 2019, as the final resting place for Dead Island 2's production push. The Nottingham, UK-based studio happens to be a subsidiary of Deep Silver - the studio was offloaded to D.S. by Crytek in 2014, following substantial financial difficulties.

Deep Silver has revealed the official PC system requirements for the upcoming Dead Island 2 game. The technical FAQs posted over at the official page also reveal a bit more technical details details. As expected, Dead Island 2 will only support DirectX 12 and, surprisingly, it will only have support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR 2) as well as AMD FidelityFX Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS), but there is no DLSS support, at least not at launch. The game will not support cross-play, but will have a co-op story mode for up to 3 players. It is also cross-gen, and more details will be available soon.

When it comes to PC system requirements, Dead Island 2 revealed minimum, recommended, high, and ultra system requirements. The minimum includes AMD FX-9590, or Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, 10 GB of RAM, and either an AMD Radeon RX 480 or an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. In order to run everything at ultra settings with 4K/UHD resolution at 60 FPS, you'll need an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or an Intel Core i7-13700K CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and last-gen high-end graphics cards, the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. You'll also need 70 GB of storage space to install the game. Dead Island 2 is coming to Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and the PC on April 21st.

Paradox Interactive and Deep Silver today confirmed details about the physical release of Age of Wonders: Planetfall. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the upcoming Sci-Fi-Strategy game and series successor from Triumph Studios will be released and available at retail on Aug. 6, 2019.

Emerge from the cosmic dark age of a fallen galactic empire to forge a new future. Build an empire with one of six unique factions, ranging from the militant Vanguard to the dinosaur-riding Amazons and the cyborg-zombies of the Assembly. Progress through each faction's missions using wits, military strength, and diplomacy, exploring planetary ruins and encountering other survivors as the history of a shattered civilization unravels. Fight, build, negotiate, and technologically advance a path to utopia in a deep single player campaign, on random skirmish maps, and against friends in multiplayer.

We reported earlier this month how Steam users were resorting to review bombing of the previous game entries in the Metro franchise, mostly driven by Deep Silver/Koch Media's decision to take Metro Exodus over to the Epic Games Store for a timed exclusive. 4A developers commented on how this could impact further game development on the PC platform, and that ended up being more kindling to the fire despite some language communication gaps in play. Metro Exodus has since launched, and has been getting reviews from the media and players alike, with the former mostly agreeing it is a good game, but not necessarily as good as the previous entries were. The latter, however, is where things got interesting- especially on Steam.

For those who were able to add the game to their Steam library before it got moved, and there are a lot of those too given Metro Exodus rose to the top spot of best selling titles once that news broke, the game appears to be more than satisfactory at first glance. While many were expecting users to review bomb the title negatively again, the current status of the game on Steam is "Very Positive" as far as user reviews go. Discussions have been mostly on point as well, until you dig deeper. The most helpful reviews, as rated by other Steam users, are really just a dig at the Epic Games Store, with language used that is less mature than the game rating itself. Newer reviews continue to do the same, so perhaps this was an attempt by many to appease the game publisher by leaving positive reviews of the game, but still making it more about the Epic Games store than the game itself. Not the best way to go about things, but it is still better than review bombing the game.

The drama surrounding Metro Exodus continues unabated. Deep Silver which has ownership over the IP, was the one that decided to pull Metro Exodus from Steam in favor of a 1-year timed exclusivity deal on the Epic Games Store. If you've been following the drama thus far this is all public information. Furthermore, it was speculated that this move was made at the very last minute considering other retailers were originally advertising preorders as being Steam keys for quite some time right up until the news of the digital platform switch broke. Lending more credence to the fact this was a disruptive switch at the last minute is the physical packaging which was not altered for the game's launch and instead has a sticker covering the Steam logo. Truly for such an outstanding game, the mess of its launch should be remembered as a great example of how not to release a game.

Update 2: February 5th, 2019: A post on TwitLonger from the official @MetroVideoGame handle has looked to bring a more positive outlook to this whole scenario, in an attempt to bridge the gap between a lone developer's sentiment and the entire 4A Games studio. The post follows:

The recent decision to move Metro Exodus from Steam to the Epic Game Store was made by Koch Media / Deep Silver alone.

The recent comments made by a member of the 4A Games development team do not reflect Deep Silver's or 4A Games' view on the future of the franchise. They do reflect the hurt and disappointment of a passionate individual who has seen what was previously nothing but positive goodwill towards his work turn to controversy due to a business decision he had no control over. We respectfully ask that any and all valid feedback over this decision is directed at Koch Media / Deep Silver, and not the developers at 4A Games.

The future release strategy of the Metro series lies with Koch Media / Deep Silver. Our decision to partner with Epic Games was based on the goal of investing in the future of the series and our development partner at 4A Games. We have every intention of continuing this franchise, and a PC version will always be at the heart of our plans.

The system requirements for 4A Games' Metro: Exodus, the studios' first open-world effort that comes with baked-in NVIDIA RTX support, have been outed. The minimum system requirements for 1080p gaming at 30 FPS uses the Low IQ settings, and should be achieved by an i5-4440 CPU, paired with a 2 GB VRAM graphics card (GeForce GTX 1050 or Radeon HD 7870) and 8 GB of RAM.

For the Extreme IQ settings, at 4K 60 FPS, though, you'll require, obviously, a beast of a system. An Intel Core i9-9900K is the CPU of choice here, paired with 16 GB of RAM and the top of the line NVIDIA RTX 2080 Ti. These requirements pressupose the absence of any RTX features, however, so prepare to see your maximum resolution with those features on coming down quickly as you scale the ray tracing capabilities. RTX-specific performance profiles will be released by 4A Games in the coming days.

4A Games has announced that they're happy with the development on Metro: Exodus as it stands today, and have announced that the game has gone gold (meaning, that it is in a state where it can be produced en-masse and shipped to the achingly awaiting public). Metro: Exodus, the third game accompanying Artyom's struggle to survive in post-apocalyptic Russia, is the first game from the developer to feature an open-world design, and confidence should be going through the roof as it relates to this particular title's quality.

The game has a launch date for February 15th, and will be featuring support for NVIDIA's RTX technology (expectedly, upon launch day). We'll be here to see how that works out in this particular title, of course. In the meantime, 4A Games and publisher Deep Silver have released the full title sequence for the game, which should whet your appetites for the survival game that's coming soon.

CORSAIR , a world leader in PC gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today announced a partnership with major video game publisher Deep Silver and developer 4A Games, bringing custom PC and peripheral lighting integration to the highly anticipated game METRO EXODUS with CORSAIR iCUE software.

METRO EXODUS is a sprawling, story-driven first-person shooter developed by 4A Games that blends pulse-pounding combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror, creating one of the most engaging in-game worlds ever seen. For the first time ever, METRO players will leave the underground tunnels of post-apocalyptic Moscow to lead a band of Spartan Rangers on an incredible, continent-spanning journey across the radioactive ruins of Russia.

Metro Exodus was originally set to be released in Autumn of this year. However, Deep Silver and 4A Games recently announced that the game has been delayed until the first quarter of 2019. They want to continue polishing the game to deliver the best user experience possible. In Metro Exodus, the player takes control of Artyom and must lead a band of Spartan Rangers across a hostile, post-apocalyptic Russia to search for greener pastures in the East. Earlier this year, 4A Games also announced their collaboration with NVIDIA to feature the company's RTX real-time ray tracing technology in Metro Exodus. We'll get to see it in action at E3 this year as both Deep Silver and 4A games have confirmed that they will be releasing some new gameplay of the game at the venue.

The development of Metro Exodus is progressing well; we are all really excited by what we are seeing. We have been constantly reviewing the games progress to ensure that we deliver a product that gamers and fans of the Metro series want and deserve, as well as keeping an eye on announcements from our competitor products. We want everyone to be able to experience what is the most ambitious Metro game to date at its absolute best and therefore we have taken the decision to move the release date to Q1 2019. We know that this will be disappointing news for fans that had hoped to play the game this year, but also know that you will appreciate the results that this additional development time and new release date will bring.

Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced a new digital distribution platform for PC games - the Razer Game Store - which goes live globally today. The Razer Game Store offers instant access to thousands of digital games and rewards customers with every purchase. Games are delivered in the form of Steam or Uplay product keys. With Razer's global leadership in gaming peripherals, laptops and software, the Razer Game Store is the next step in its expanding ecosystem for gamers.

Get Games, Get Rewarded
When gamers buy games from the Razer Game Store, they get access to exclusive offers, Razer Game Store vouchers, discounted Razer peripherals on the RazerStore or other perks. In addition, gamers will also earn zSilver loyalty rewards credits with each purchase on the Razer Game Store, including credit card transactions. Paying instead with zGold grants even larger zSilver rewards. With its unique rewards system , buying a game from the Razer Game Store grants more value than in any other digital store as gamers are then able to redeem their rewards for other Razer products and more each time they checkout.

After the world was introduced to the Microsoft and NVIDIA partnership to bring real time raytracing solutions to DirectX 12 via NVIDIA's RTX initiative, we now have confirmation of what is expected to be the first game studio - and AAA game experience - to feature the technology. In a post from their official Twitter account, 4A Games has announced that they are collaborating with NVIDIA to bring RTX's effects to their upcoming Metro: Exodus open-world video game.

The company further warned users to keep at attention towards the impending release of a proof of concept video to be released during GDC. 4A Games is one of those companies that has been delivering incredible experiences through and through, and has already dabbled with NVIDIA's technologies in the past (particularly with their first game, Metro 2033). Here's hoping that AMD can work its drivers into great performance levels in supporting this DX12 technology on their graphics cards as well.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance was released on Steam on February 13, but we know that many of you were waiting anxiously for the DRM-free version. Well, we come bearing great news! Kingdom Come: Deliverance is available as of today on GOG. The DRM-free version, which doesn't require activation or an online connection to play, carries a price tag of $47.30. Surprising or not, that's $12.69 cheaper than Steam's asking price. If you want to spoil yourself just a little bit, the OST and artbook bundle can be had for $51.46 which, if you look at it, still costs less than the standard game on Steam. Wondering if your PC can handle the game? Take a look at our Kingdom Come: Deliverance performance analysis.

Medieval RPG "Kingdom Come: Deliverance" is on course to becoming 2018's first gaming blockbuster. The game sold over a million copies in its first week since launch, with the PC platform amounting to 45 percent of the sales, through Steam. The sales data was compiled by SteamSpy, accounting the first week of sales since the game's February 13 release across Windows (PC), Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 platforms. Czech developer Warhorse Studios debuted with the game, which is published by Deep Silver.

In related news, the game already received its first major patch, version 1.2.5, which fixes controller issues on the console platforms, such as an unresponsive R2 button; bugs in quests with Hans Capon; and bugs in the "Ginger in a Pickle" quest. "We're about one million when I count all the platforms and distribution channels. We certainly thought about one million. The number is surprisingly positive, but it's not something we thought we could not achieve," said Martin Frývaldský, CEO of Warhorse Studios.

Deep Silver and 4A Games today announced that Metro Exodus is set for release in Autumn 2018, on Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PlayStation4 computer entertainment system, and PC. Revealed during The Game Awards, The Aurora Trailer offers a glimpse of post-apocalyptic Moscow - a hostile world locked in an endless nuclear winter. The desperate survivors who cling to existence beneath the surface in the ruins of the Metro have long given up hope of a life beyond Moscow... all except for one.

As Artyom, you must flee the Metro and lead a band of Spartan Rangers on an incredible, continent-spanning journey across post-apocalyptic Russia in search of a new life in the East. This thrilling story-line will span an entire calendar year through the changing seasons. Inspired by the internationally best-selling novels Metro 2033 and Metro 2035 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro Exodus continues Artyom's story in the greatest Metro adventure yet.