Sony’s PS5 finally beats a long-standing sales record held by Nintendo, while EA makes an interesting hiring choice, as part of this week’s biggest news in the gaming industry. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
In this week’s recap ofgaming news, September marks the first month where the Nintendo Switch was not the best-selling hardware platform for gaming, usurped by PS5.God of Waris the next game from PlayStation’s PC initiative to join the Windows platform alongsideDays GoneandHorizon Zero Dawn.Halo’s co-creator will be joining EA as part of a new Seattle development studio.Stardew Valley’s indie developer has finally unveiled their next project in development.Elden Ringreceives a short delay of a month, but it’s not all bad news. All that and more in this week’s roundup of the biggest news in the gaming industry.
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Sony’s PS5 Beats Nintendo Switch In Units Sold For the First Time
In terms of unit sales, Nintendo’s handheld-hybrid console has been nearly unstoppable for over a year, but the Switch was recently toppled by Sony. As of September 2021, this is the first month in a 33-month streak where the Nintendo Switch was not the best-selling gaming hardware to date. According to a spending report published by the NPD Group,PlayStation 5 was the best selling gaming platform"in both units and dollars" for the month of September.
Nintendo Switch still certainly leads in yearly unit sales, though that margin may be thinning according to September’s sales trends. Due to the difference in pricing between consoles, the PS5 is already leading Nintendo’s console in dollar amount,though that could change with the Switch OLED model. Beyond that, Nintendo’s maintained the highest unit sales since November of 2018, of which Sony’s PS4 was the previous leader in unit sales.
God of War Coming to PC Platform in 2022
Speaking of Sony, as part of the company’s larger plan to bring the PlayStation brand of exclusives to PC,God of Waris the next major title to come to Windows platforms next year. As Santa Monica Studio pointed out with the official announcement on the PlayStation Blog,God of Warsold 19.5 million units on PS4, and wishes to spread the love to PC players, as PlayStation has done with several other previously-exclusive games likeDays GoneandHorizon Zero Dawnpreviously.
Santa Monica Studio also mentions that this PC port will go above and beyond when it comes to performance optimization and customization.God of Waron PCwill support “true 4K resolution,” as well as unlocked framerate, higher resolution shadows, improved ambient occlusion, all part of presets and options for players to mess around with.God of Warwill also be compatible with Nvidia’s DLSS tech on RTX cards, as well as the low-latency Nvidia Reflex tech as well.
Halo Co-Creator Marcus Lehto Joining EA
As part of EA’s new game development studio centered in Seattle,Haloco-creator Marcus Lehto will be joining EA’s new studioas game director on an as-yet-unannounced project. All Lehto was able to share in the official announcement was that they would be returning to development on “first-person games,” presumably referring to FPS development. Previously, Lehto was game director at independent studio V1 Interactive, the developer of experimental shooterDisintegration.
Lehto is most famously known for his work on theHalofranchise, from the iconic shooter’s inception in 2001, to Bungie’s final game in 2010’sHalo: Reach. Lehto also worked in the early days ofDestiny’s development before moving on to form V1 Interactive in 2014.
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Stardew Valley Developer ConcernedApe Reveals New Project
Beloved indie developer Eric “ConcernedApe” Barone, most famously known for developing the popular indie gameStardew Valley, confirmed development on their latest new project.TitledHaunted Chocolatier, players take on the role of head chef at a gourmet chocolate shop that specializes in “magical haunted ghost chocolate.” Similar in art style and aesthetic toStardew Valley, ConcernedApe’s upcoming project seems to focus more on combat and fantasy elements. The game is currently in development with no release date set.
Elden Ring Delayed By One Month, Closed Network Test Announced
Bandai Namco recently confirmed that FromSoftware’sElden Ringwould be delayed one month, to February 25, to help further polish the title in preparation for the game’s launch. While the delay is short, Bandai Namco also took the opportunity to announceElden Ring’s official Closed Network Test, taking place over several days in November. From November 12-14, players who register forElden Ring’s network test will potentially get a chance to play the game early prior to its 2022 release date.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy Gameplay Reveal, Release Date
Gameplay of the long-rumored and teasedGTAremasters were unveiled this week asGrand Theft Auto: The Trilogy— The Definitive Edition, bringing togetherGTA 3,GTA: Vice City, andGTA: San Andreastogether in one remastered collection. All three games are receiving some pretty substantial graphical enhancements and quality-of-life changes, while simultaneously retaining some of the old-school charm.Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogyreleases on November 11for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, with mobile versions launching on iOS and Android in 2022.
Overwatch’s McCree Name Change Confirmed: Cole Cassidy
In the wake of the ongoing lawsuits against Activision-Blizzard, some significant changes are coming to existing Activision-Blizzard titles,includingOverwatchcharacter McCree. Now known as Cole Cassidy, presumably based on famed cowboy Butch Cassidy, the cowboy hero fromOverwatchhad their name changed due to the character’s ties to a real-life inspiration at the company. That same person was tied to one of the many individuals participating in the company’s culture of harassment, and thus, theOverwatchteam deemed it necessary to reinvent the game’s iconic cowboy into something that made more sense for his character background.
