Microsoft has been quick to respond to a backlash from gamers who have been angered by reports of the company's prevention of a PlayStation 5 version of Redfall being developed by an internal studio - Arkane. The game's creative director, Harvey Smith, has been busy with press duties this week and might have slipped up by revealing too much about the Xbox Division's directives. In an interview with IGN France, Harvey stated that Microsoft held a policy of "no PlayStation 5" in the times following an acquisition of ZeniMax (parent group of Bethesda Softworks) in 2021. He elaborated on the regime change: "They came in and they said 'we're focusing on Xbox, PC and the Game Pass." Smith indicated that he embraced the decision since it was: "one less platform to worry about, one less complexity."

A Microsoft spokesperson provided a statement to Eurogamer: "We haven't pulled any games from PlayStation. In fact, we've expanded our footprint of games that we've shipped on Sony's PlayStation since our acquisition of ZeniMax, and the first two games we shipped after closing were PlayStation 5 exclusives. We did the same thing since our closing of Minecraft as we extended the reach of that franchise. All of the games that were available on PlayStation when we acquired ZeniMax in March 2021 are still available on PlayStation, and we have continued to do content updates on PlayStation and PC. We have always said that future decisions on whether to distribute ZeniMax games for other consoles will be made on a case-by-case basis."

NCSOFT, a global premier game developer and publisher, unveiled its digital human technology together with Project M's trailer at the Game Developers Conference 2023 (GDC), currently being held in San Francisco, CA.

On March 22, NCSOFT revealed the video at State of Unreal, Epic Games' opening session at GDC held to introduce new Unreal Engine tools and technologies in collaboration with its partners. Here, Songyee Yoon, chief strategy officer (CSO) at NCSOFT, was on stage to introduce the company's latest project, Project M, and its trailer.

Today, 2K and the LEGO Group announced LEGO 2K Drive, the ultimate AAA driving adventure game, available worldwide on May 19, 2023. Developed by Visual Concepts, LEGO 2K Drive evolves the iconic LEGO play experience with a vast, open world where players can build any vehicle, drive anywhere and become a LEGO racing legend.

LEGO 2K Drive will be the first release in a multi-title partnership between 2K and the LEGO Group to develop AAA LEGO games. With 2K's proven expertise in creating high quality and engaging interactive entertainment properties and the LEGO Group's unprecedented cultural impact, the partnership will evolve the iconic LEGO games experience fans know and love in exciting new ways.

Miasma Chronicles, the post-apocalyptic tactical adventure from Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden creators The Bearded Ladies and leading video game publisher 505 Games, is set for launch on 23rd, May, 2023 for Windows PC platforms (Steam and EPIC), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

The tactical adventure sees players take on the role of Elvis, a young man abandoned by his mother in the wastelands of America, with only his robot 'brother' Diggs for company. Together they must unravel the mystery of the Miasma, a mysterious entity that threatens the last vestiges of humanity and turns all who come in contact with it into barbaric corruptions of their former selves.

Reykjavík, Iceland - 21 March 2023 - CCP Games, creators of sci-fi spacefaring MMO EVE Online, announced today that $40M in financing has been secured from external partners. This financing will allow CCP Games to build upon the discoveries of its research & development team to enable the full-scale development of a new AAA title utilizing blockchain technology, set within the EVE Universe.

"Since its inception, CCP Games' vision has been to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life. Now, with advancements made within blockchain, we can forge a new universe deeply imbued with our expertise in player agency and autonomy, empowering players to engage in new ways. This financing has marked an exciting frontier in our studio history as we begin our third decade of virtual world operations. We are humbled by the confidence from our partners in the development of this new title," said CCP Games CEO, Hilmar V. Pétursson.

Paradox Interactive today revealed more details about Life by You, created to be the most moddable and open life simulator from the Berkeley, CA based Paradox Tectonic. In Life by You, players will create humans and live out their lives without loading screens. Paradox Tectonic is led by Rod Humble, a games industry veteran known for his pioneering work on the life simulation genre. Life by You will be available in Early Access on September 12, eager players can pre-order today on the Epic Games Store for a suggested retail price of 39.99USD / 39.99 EUR / 34.99 GBP, wishlisting will also be available on Steam.

Life by You allows players to design and live out the lives of the humans that they create in an open game world where everything is customizable. Players create their households, build their homes and tell life's many stories. With real language conversation and the ability to switch from third-person to direct control gameplay, players will connect with their humans on an emotional level. A wide variety of Creator Tools and Editors will allow players to tweak every aspect of their experience, giving them the ability to live life to the fullest - or break the rules, as they see fit.

We're about to enter the third month of the year and after last week's loaded release schedule, it appears that we're back to more of an average week of new game releases. This week's AAA title is an RPG game from Japan and we also decided to include a DLC in this week's roundup, simply because it's for a very popular game which often has over 100k PC players online, not taking console players into account.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty / This week's AAA title / Friday 3 March
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a dramatic, action-packed story of a nameless militia soldier fighting for survival in a dark fantasy version of the Later Han Dynasty where demons plague the Three Kingdoms. Players fight off deadly creatures and enemy soldiers using swordplay based on the Chinese martial arts, attempting to overcome the odds by awakening the true power from within.

On Tuesday, Microsoft and NVIDIA announced the companies have agreed to a 10-year partnership to bring Xbox PC games to the NVIDIA GeForce NOW cloud gaming service, which has more than 25 million members in over 100 countries. The agreement will enable gamers to stream Xbox PC titles from GeForce NOW to PCs, macOS, Chromebooks, smartphones and other devices. It will also enable Activision Blizzard PC titles, such as Call of Duty, to be streamed on GeForce NOW after Microsoft's acquisition of Activision closes.

"Xbox remains committed to giving people more choice and finding ways to expand how people play," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. "This partnership will help grow NVIDIA's catalog of titles to include games like Call of Duty, while giving developers more ways to offer streaming games. We are excited to offer gamers more ways to play the games they love."

2K today announced that industry veteran and Firaxis Games Chief Operating Officer, Heather Hazen, has been promoted to Studio Head, ushering in a new era of development at the legendary interactive entertainment studio behind Sid Meier's Civilization, XCOM, and the recently-released and critically-acclaimed Marvel's Midnight Suns.

As Studio Head, Hazen will manage Firaxis Games' development teams and lead its mission to build the best strategy games on the planet. With 22 years of experience in gaming and entertainment, Hazen joined Firaxis Games in 2020 as the studio's Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Firaxis Games, she was an Executive Producer on Fortnite at Epic Games, as well as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled while at PopCap Games. Hazen's promotion comes as longtime Firaxis Studio Head, Steve Martin, will be leaving the studio after more than 25 years with the organization.

We're already approaching the end of January and this coming week we're looking at both a new AAA title and a remake of an older AAA title that also gets a collectors edition. In other words, a lot of exciting things are happening, if you're looking at getting a new or old game with improved graphics to play.

Forspoken / This Week's AAA Title / Tuesday 24 January
Mysteriously transported from New York City, Frey Holland finds herself trapped in the breathtaking land of Athia. A magical, sentient bracelet is inexplicably wrapped around her arm, and Frey discovers the ability to cast powerful spells and use magic to traverse the sprawling landscapes of Athia. Frey nicknames her new golden companion "Cuff" and sets off to find a way home.

LG Electronics' (LG) latest UltraGear gaming monitor (model 25GR75FG) has been named the official display of the League of Legends EMEA Championship (LEC) 2023. The new monitor will make its debut during the upcoming LEC season, which begins this weekend, supporting players from the region's top teams as they battle it out for tournament honors. LG UltraGear is proud to continue its strong partnership with LEC, one of the world's most popular esports leagues, and remains committed to fostering the growth of esports internationally.

Designed for competitive esports, the latest LG UltraGear gaming monitor delivers outstanding picture quality and speed thanks to a 24.5-inch Full-HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS display with a 360 Hz refresh rate and 1 millisecond Gray-to-Gray (GTG) response time. The performance of LG's new gaming display is further boosted by the integration of NVIDIA G-SYNC technology, which minimizes screen-tearing for seamless visuals, and NVIDIA Reflex, which helps to reduce click-to-display latency for more precise control of the onscreen action. VESA Display HDR 400 certified, the 25GR75FG also ensures bright, clear images and has a 3-sided borderless design that helps increase players' sense of immersion, making it easier to focus during fierce competition.

Three weeks into the new year and another week without any big game releases, although SEGA/Atlus is about to release updated versions of Persona 3 and 4, which ends up being the most well known game releases this coming week. That said, there are a couple of other potentially interesting games coming out, so check out the full list for more details on those.

WW2 Rebuilder / Monday January 16
It's 1945. It's the end of World War II, the war that left a mark. Now people like you have to leave their hometowns to rebuild their countries. Motivated by different reasons, they get set on the same quest - to repair and renovate places completely destroyed during the war.

Fortnite maker, Epic Games, has on Monday reached a settlement in court in an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to pay a total of 520 million US Dollars in fines. This fine is because Epic deployed shady tactics of manipulating children into purchasing Fortnite V-bucks, skins, etc., without proper consent forms and purchase order confirmations. Even with millions of complaints from parents, Epic decided to proceed with its tactics and used dark patterns that deceived the original intent. Thus, the FTC has made a case that this violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule, and Epic Games will have to pay the fine.

The fine is consists of two separate causes. The $275 million monetary penalty for violating the COPPA Rule—the largest penalty ever obtained for violating an FTC rule, and the $245 million to refund consumers for its dark patterns and billing practices. The refund fine is FTC's most considerable refund amount in a gaming case and its most significant administrative order in history. Epic said, "Over the past few years, we've been making changes to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry. " The official statement is far longer, and you can read about it here.

Redemption Reapers, the dark fantasy tactical RPG developed by Adglobe and published by Binary Haze Interactive (ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights,), sneaks into striking distance and prepares for launch on Steam for Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in February 2023. Redemption Reapers is being brought to life by industry luminaries, including tactical RPG veteran Masayuki Horikawa (Fire Emblem series director and scenario/level designer; Kingdom Hearts III planning), as well as a star-studded voice cast featuring Kyle McCarley (13 Sentinels: Aegis of Ruin, NieR: Automata), Allegra Clark (Apex Legends, Dragon Age: Inquisition), David Lodge (Persona 5, Final Fantasy XV), and Lucien Dodge (Fire Emblem: Three Houses, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series).

Hope fades across the land following the sudden appearance of the ruthless Mort armies. Efficient as they are brutal, the macabre forces descend upon civilizations, leaving destruction in the wake of their nightly raids. As entire nations fall to the Mort onslaught, the Ashen Hawk Brigade, a contingent of mercenaries specializing in surprise tactics, band together to fight back against the invading legions.

Welcome to a new addition to TechPowerUp! where we give you an overview of new games that are set to launch in the coming week. This will be a weekly feature and it'll contain a short blurb about each game, some screenshots and maybe a video as well. We're open to feedback about this format and we'll make adjustments as we go along.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition / This week's AAA title / Wednesday December 14
Enhanced with the power of next-gen consoles and modern PC hardware in mind, the upcoming release of CD Projekt Red's award-winning role-playing game will feature dozens of visual, performance, and technical enhancements over the original. These include ray tracing support, faster loading times on consoles, as well as a variety of mods integrated into the experience, among many others. Along with new additional content inspired by The Witcher series from Netflix, these will be covered next week in a dedicated REDstreams event on Twitch, where the studio will present gameplay from the next-gen version of the game.

Ghost Story Games, the development studio led by game creator Ken Levine, today announced that Judas, an all-new single-player, narrative first-person shooter is in development for the PlayStation 5 computer entertainment system, Xbox Series X|S console systems, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. The new project was revealed at The Game Awards 2022 as a world premiere unveiled by Geoff Keighley. In conjunction with the project reveal, Ghost Story Games has launched the official pages for Judas on Steam and the Epic Games Store where fans can now add the game to their Wishlist.

"We founded Ghost Story Games to build upon the legacy of System Shock 2, BioShock, and BioShock Infinite," said Ken Levine, President & Creative Director. "With Judas, we've created an entirely new world and set of characters while exploring different approaches to single-player, narrative first-person shooters."

Leading video game publisher and developer Bandai Namco Europe and FromSoftware, Inc. today announced a new action game, ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON. Jointly developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. and FromSoftware, Inc. this is the latest title in the ARMORED CORE series, now revived and reimagined as a new action game after 10 long years since the last entry in the franchise.

ARMORED CORE VI FIRES OF RUBICON will offer a game experience based on the mech game know-how FromSoftware cultivated over 25 years of developing games in the series, but now introducing groundbreaking gameplay found in the developer's recent action games. The new ARMORED CORE title will combine these elements into thrilling action that only mechas can provide. The game promises to be a unique entry in the mech action game genre.

Following the game's reveal at Gamescom 2022, Funcom is now excited to show off the first pre-alpha footage of Dune: Awakening, their ambitious Open World Survival MMO. Inspired by the sci-fi masterpiece DUNE written by Frank Herbert and Legendary Entertainment's award-winning, blockbuster film from Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Awakening is built with both Dune and Survival fans in mind by the veteran developers at Funcom. Witness the vastness of Arrakis in today's brand-new teaser trailer.

ncom has innovated in the Massively Multiplayer and Survival genres for over two decades, most recently with Conan Exiles. Dune: Awakening builds upon this strong foundation, weaving together Open World Survival and MMO aspects into a Dune tapestry that brings Frank Herbert's epic universe to life in a completely unique way. With this gameplay teaser, Funcom has also updated the Dune: Awakening website, giving a panoramic view of the player experience.
In Dune: Awakening you strive to survive the countless dangers of Arrakis alongside thousands of other players. Explore your role and identity while experiencing an epic personal journey, from searching for water and building shelters against storms to controlling the flow of spice in the top echelons of the planet.

Ascendant Studios, an independent team of veteran developers with BAFTA and Game of the Year award-winning experience, has partnered with Electronic Arts Inc. EA Originals Label to release the studio's debut title, Immortals of Aveum. Immortals of Aveum is a groundbreaking new single-player, first-person magic shooter that delivers a visceral, cinematic campaign experience. The game is set in an original fantasy universe engulfed in magic, rife with conflict, and on the verge of oblivion. It will release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC in 2023. Watch the teaser trailer, which debuted at The Game Awards, on the official Immortals of Aveum YouTube channel and follow the game on Twitter and Instagram.

"I was the creative director on four big games in a row, the original Dead Space and three Call of Duty titles, and I had an amazing opportunity to start my own studio and build an incredible team that I'm lucky to work with every day," said Bret Robbins, CEO and Game Director at Ascendant Studios. "I founded Ascendant Studios to make original and epic games, and here we are, four years later, about to finish our first one. What started as a crazy, exciting idea has grown into a crazy, exciting triple-A game. I chose EA as our publishing partner because we know they'll help Immortals of Aveum reach the biggest audience possible. I'm thrilled to have the expertise and resources of EA backing us and I can't wait for everyone to play!"

Tomorrow is your coronation day, Sovereigns! Knights of Honor II: Sovereign is launching, and today's video presents all aspects of the game in a play session from developers Black Sea Games. As rulers of the small Spanish kingdom of Aragon, they attempt to gain control over the whole of Spain - but must overcome many obstacles, including a tragic death. Check out how - and if - they can manage to regain their strength.

Choose your kingdom and be the king as you wrestle over control of Europe in this fresh take on medieval real-time grand strategy. Knights of Honor II: Sovereign includes all the depth players desire while being the gate-way game to the grand strategy genre, presenting the world as a living, breathing miniature, alive and ripe for the taking. Choose your royal court carefully and determine the destiny of your people, be it riches, conquest, intrigue, trade, or defeat! Raise armies to defend your lands or take war to the enemy - even jump into battle directly in action-packed RTS combat. The path is open: become the true Sovereign of your people.

World of Warcraft : Dragonflight, the ninth expansion to Blizzard Entertainment's critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, is now live! Heroes of the Horde and Alliance are called back to Azeroth to explore the mystical Dragon Isles and its ancient secrets, where the dragon aspects have returned to reclaim their kingdom and ancestral home.

"Dragonflight goes to the heart of what players have always loved about World of Warcraft—exploration, customization, and the feeling of wonder as the world and its stories unfold," said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "The updates to core systems, such as the new talent trees, build on the legacy of WoW for players of all types, allowing old friends and new to enjoy everything Azeroth has to offer for years to come."

OddBallers, the new multiplayer party game, releases on January 26 for Switch, Xbox One, PS4, and PC, as well as Xbox Series X|S and PS5 via backwards compatibility. A new type of dodgeball game, players in Oddballers can throw anything and everything at their opponents to win - the more absurd, the better. With many different arenas, a variety of mini-games, and perilous environments that include electric fences, explosive gas tanks, and tennis ball launchers, OddBallers provides a fresh experience with every match.

Up to six players can compete locally on the Switch, and up to four players on other platforms. For long-distance competitions, dodgeballers can also play OddBallers online, taking on opponents around the world. Each match also comes with customizable accessibility features, allowing players to adjust match length and difficulty. Players can also customize their avatar, celebratory dance moves, and choose which mini-game to play thanks to OddBaller's custom mode. You can pre-order OddBallers today, and be sure to challenge your friends and family to some goofy dodgeball when the game releases on January 26, and stay tuned to Ubisoft News for more updates.

Fringe Realities are pleased to announce that their atmospheric horror VR game Project: Nightlight is planning to be released on Steam VR with a release window of Q1 2023. Project: Nightlight sees the player take control of a nightguard, unravelling the mysteries of The Department and the secrets it's trying to keep from going public. When something is amiss with the contained Artifact, the player will be guided by the distressed co-worker Dave over the walkie-talkie.

Project: Nightlight aims to provide a whole new level of immersion thanks to the unique capabilities of virtual reality. The game allows the player to interact with objects with an acute attention to real-life accuracy, such as handling bolt cutters or melting locks with a blowtorch. Further details will be provided in the leadup to the launch of Project: Nightlight on Steam VR in Q1 2023. For more information and future updates, they'll be available on the official Twitter page @FringeRealities.

Samsung Electronics announced exciting new ways for gamers to experience game streaming with the addition of new partners and the introduction of game streaming to select 2021 Samsung TV models and 4K games, further delivering on its promise of bringing the future of gaming to consumers across the globe.

Antstream Arcade is the world's largest cloud gaming service that provides players access to over 1,500 iconic games and weekly new multiplayer challenges and tournaments. Select Samsung TV owners will soon be able to battle their friends and the global community at the best games from the 80s, 90s and 00s, from Pac-Man to Mortal Kombat and Metal Slug.

Award-winning studio Owlcat Games is thrilled to reveal the first gameplay trailer for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - the first cRPG set in the legendary grim darkness of the far future of Warhammer 40,000. Set to be released on PC and consoles, the game features turn-based combat and is being produced in close collaboration with Games Workshop.

Owlcat unveiled a new gameplay trailer during the PC Gaming Show 2023 Preview, giving viewers a taste of what it truly means to be a Rogue Trader. The launch of the trailer is also heralding the opening of the Steam and GOG wishlists for the eagerly anticipated title. The fabulous Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader collector's box revealed on the show includes an 8-inch painted figure of Navigator Cassia Orsellio, hardcover art book, Warrant of Trade that you can personalize with your name, Rogue Trader banner, and sticker pack. Together with physical items you will receive a digital version of the game in a selected store with the pack of various in-game goodies and access to Alpha and Beta versions. The Collector's Edition is available for pre-order via owlcat.games' website.