Start every weekday morning with Words About Games’ round-up of the latest news from in and around the games industry.
This morning – Four separate sources have told Kotaku that EA has put the Mass Effect series on hiatus as it downscales developer Bioware Montreal, Absolver gets an August release date, Vanquish is coming to Steam later this month and EA believes that PS4 & Xbox One sales will reach a combined total of 105 million by the end of 2017.
Report: Mass Effect put on hiatus as Bioware Montreal scales down – According to four separate sources speaking to Kotaku, EA has put the Mass Effect series on hiatus following the divided reception to this year’s Andromeda. The publisher has reportedly already begun shrinking the Montreal studio, which was the development team responsible for the game, moving them to Motive Studios. The remaining Montreal team will assist Bioware’s main Edmonton studio with the development of their new IP, which was recently delayed.
(via Kotaku)
Kinetic fighting game Absolver launches in August – Indie publisher Devolver Digital have announced that Absolver will launch on PC and Playstation 4 on August 29. The brawler allows players to explore an interconnected world alone or with friends. It features a deep combat system that allows players to create combat decks to create personal fighting styles for the game’s real time combat.
(via Press Release)
Vanquish coming to PC later this month – Sega have announced that they’re bringing action shooter Vanquish to Steam. The port will launch on May 25 with upgraded visuals and support for 4K resolutions. The game was originally developed by Platinum Games and directed by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. Sega’s senior VP of Commercial Publishing also teased “more to come from Sega in this space.”
(via Press Release)
EA expects PS4 & Xbox One sales to reach 105 million by years end – As part of yesterday’s earnings call, EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen revealed that he expects sales of Playstation 4 and Xbox One to reach 105 million by the end of 2017. For perspective, the combined sales of both consoles was at 79 million at the end of 2016. If PS4 sales hit Sony’s projections of 75 million units sold by the end of 2017, that would put Xbox One sales at 30 million within the same timeframe (it’s unclear whether Xbox Scorpio sales were included in this estimation).
(via Seeking Alpha)
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