Category: Gamespot

The success of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds has been swift and massive. Released on Steam Early Access back in March, the Hunger Games-like PC shooter has reached an astonishing 10 million copies sold since then. The game continues to sell well, and now Playerunknown himself, Brendan Greene, has said it might be possible for the title to reach League of Legends-like success when it comes to player figures.

Riot’s massively popular free-to-play MOBA reached 100 million monthly players back in 2016, and Greene said this figure may not be out of reach for Battlegrounds.

“Our sales curves are just going up,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “They’re not slowing down. I’m still waiting for that plateau, and it’s just not happening yet. When you ask about growth on PC, I just look at League of Legends. 100 million active users a month, I think, something stupid like that? If we play our cards right, maybe we can get to that level of users.”

At 10 million copies sold, Battlegrounds, which costs $30, could have brought in as much as $300 million in revenue. Greene also said in the interview that there are no plans to raise the price of Battlegrounds for its official release, when it leaves Early Access. Another popular Early Access game, Ark: Survival Evolved, raised its price from $30 to $60 for its official release, and this generated some of amount of controversy.

For Battlegrounds, there is no plan to raise the price right now, but “that could change,” Greene said. “We’re happy. $30 is a good price for what you’re getting, and this is a game that could last for five or ten years. You’re buying into something bigger than just a year-long game,” he explained.

Developer Bluehole will release an Xbox One version in “late 2017,” with Microsoft as its publisher. Despite the Microsoft announcement, developer Bluehole has suggested it may come to other consoles too (although it’s not talking specifics at this time).

Bluehole continues to release new content for the game’s PC version. We recently got confirmation that PUBG’s desert map will be huge. The map’s release is still a long way off, but you can get an early idea of what it looks like in this image here.

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Destiny 2 doesn’t officially launch on PS4 and Xbox One until tomorrow, September 5, but some lucky players are in ahead of schedule. Bungie has apparently brought the servers online, allowing certain people to play early.

Before you go racing to your console to check, digital copies (except for those intended for reviewing the game) are exempt from this. But if you’ve somehow gotten your hands on an early physical copy, you can also start playing right now, according to reports from numerous players on places like Reddit. As such, you may want to be wary of spoilers, as there will undoubtedly be those who rush through the game and talk about it online. Of course, spoilers have already been circulating due to a number of leaks, including one that revealed all of Destiny 2’s Exotics.

For everyone else, Destiny 2 unlocks at midnight in your respective region. That means, for instance, that those on the west coast in the United States can start playing at 9 PM PT tonight. But whether you get in early or not, everyone will be waiting for the Raid and Trials, which don’t unlock until next week. The first Nightfall Strike, however, is available immediately.

Our Destiny 2 review-in-progress is now live, and we’ll be playing more now that the game is live in order to deliver a full review. You can also check out our rundown on Destiny 2’s five biggest changes for more of an idea for what to expect once you get online.

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With Destiny 2 now available in some parts of the world, players are jumping into the game for the first time. What they won’t find in Destiny 2 right now are its Clan features. Bungie confirmed on Twitter that in-game Clan features won’t be available until later.

“In-game Destiny 2 Clan Features will be unavailable for the first several days after launch. Stay tuned for announcements of availability,” Bungie said.

Destiny 2’s Clan features are available through Bungie’s website. There, you can create a Clan and do things like invite members, set an emblem, and more.

Also not yet available in Destiny 2 is the first raid, which will unlock on September 13; the first Trials will go live on September 15. You can, however, now try out the Nightfall Strikes, as they are available in the game right now.

In other news, Bungie senior technical artist Nate Hawbaker shared a cool image of what it looked like at the studio when the Destiny 2 servers went live. Check it out above.

For more, check out GameSpot’s Destiny 2 review in progress here. Keep checking back for lots more on the game later today and in the days and weeks ahead.

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Destiny 2 is out now, and among the elements that you can play beyond campaign and the Crucible is the first of the game’s weekly Nightfall Strikes. A Nightfall Strike is a special version of the activity, with special modifiers to crank up the challenge.

A post on Bungie’s website confirms many of the details about this first Nightfall Strike, including the name, “The Arms Dealer.” Your task is to “shut down the operations of an ironmonger providing weapons to the Red Legion.”

Unfortunately, the modifiers are being kept under wraps. So you’ll have to discover those for yourself when you play the game.

We do know the challengers, however, and these include the following:

• Speed Of Dark: Complete the Nightfall with at least 5 minutes remaining.
• Unbroken: Complete the Nightfall with fewer than 3 deaths.
• Trash The Thresher: Shoot down a Thresher while fighting Bracus Zahn.

Nightfall Strikes, along with their modifiers, rotate weekly, so you’ll have many more chances in the future to try your hand at them. Given that the modifiers change, it is recommended that players select a loadout with the modifiers in mind, but you can do whatever you want.

For lots more on Destiny 2, check out GameSpot’s roundup of everything you need to know. It covers our review in progress and many other key details.

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FIFA 18 is launching on Switch simultaneously with its PS4, Xbox One, PC, and last-gen counterparts, but because of EA’s somewhat short-lived support of portable FIFA games and of Nintendo consoles in the past, some fans worried this would be the first and last football game available on the console.

However, in an interview with GameSpot, FIFA supervising producer Andrei Lazarescu said he believes the series will return to Switch after FIFA 18. When asked whether we’ll see more FIFA games on Nintendo’s new console after this year’s edition, he replied, “I think we are going to see more FIFA on Switch in the future.”

Elsewhere in our interview, Lazarescu stated believes FIFA 18 on Switch is “the best portable FIFA we’ve ever done,” and he also addressed criticism of the Switch version lacking some modes seen in the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game.

“The Journey is a mode powered by Frostbite [the engine that current-gen versions of the game run on], it only exists because of Frostbite–they are not separate. You can’t just [put it on Switch] without taking the whole Frostbite engine. So because this doesn’t have Frostbite, it doesn’t have The Journey.”

When asked if a future edition of FIFA on Switch could include the mode, Lazarescu replied: “If we moved the [Switch] game over to Frostbite, then yes it could happen. But I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Frostbite is a very different beast.”

Finally, despite previous reports that FIFA on Switch would lose functionality seen in other versions when playing with just one Joy-Con, Lazarescu informed us that different button combinations and modifiers mean only skill moves are lost when playing with a friend.

“[When playing with one Joy-Con,] obviously you don’t have the [right] stick, he said. “You don’t have as many buttons, [and] you only have the two bumpers, instead of triggers and bumpers. We created a custom scheme for this, called Four Button Mode. The advantage of it, is that with just one console, you can play FIFA 1v1, without buying anything else.

“You can knock the ball ahead of you by double tapping the sprint button. [For chipped shots and finesse shots,] you can use modifiers–[but] you can’t use skill moves.

“Is this the ideal way to play the game? No,” Lazarescu declared. “It’s just a way for people to play the game.”

We played the portable version of this year’s football behemoth at E3, and you can check out our FIFA 18 on Switch impressions here. The version does include Ultimate Team, which EA revealed last month. The popular multiplayer mode will include a new feature called Stories, in which classic players will receive three rare cards for different stages in their career. Lots more is coming to FUT this year–check out all the new features here.

FIFA 18 was first revealed in June, and it launches for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on September 29. Customers who preorder the Ronaldo Edition or Icon Edition will get to play it three days early, while EA Access and Origin Access members can enjoy a 10-hour trial on Xbox One/PC starting September 21.

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After a demo went live last week, Knack 2 is here. The original Knack wasn’t critically acclaimed, but designer Mark Cerny said in 2014 that he believes there was still a lot of room to work in the Knack world.

Following a leak, the sequel was eventually revealed at Sony’s own PSX event last year. It adds co-op play for the entire campaign and comes at a budget price, and it’s out today in North America (launching in Europe and Australia tomorrow, September 6).

With the game now available, reviews have started to go live for the PS4 exclusive. Overall, most critics seem to agree Knack 2 is an improvement over the original, and you can see a review roundup below. Alternatively, for a wider view on critical opinion, you can take a look at GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

• Game: Knack 2
• Developer / Publisher: Sony Japan Studio / Sony
• Platform: PlayStation 4
• Release: Out now (NA), September 6 (Europe, Australia)
• Price: US $40 / £30 / AU $55

Polygon — 7.5/10

“Knack 2 is an entertaining platform game like those of yesteryear. It’s been created with due care and attention. Sure, it’s old fashioned, and its story is appalling. But it’s a reminder that the character-led platform combat game is still alive and well. Despite its good looks, it’s more a work of engineering than it is a work of art. But, as my kid said to me after we’d mashed our way through a co-op level, it’s kinda fun.” — Colin Campbell [Full review]

IGN — 7.2/10

“Knack 2 is lacking in a number of areas, but its strengths outweigh its weaknesses. The pacing is spot-on, the combat satisfying, and the gameplay varied. Co-op is genuinely good fun too, and most definitely the best way for younger gamers to get into the action. Knack 2 is definitely a step up from the original, then, but until the writing and characterisation improve drastically, it’s not going to be a true first-party titan.” — Cam Shea [Full review]

Destructoid — 5.5/10

“Knack 2 has the bones of a good platformer and a hint of charm but it just doesn’t execute. I’m not sure what the Knack series attempted to accomplish, but after a sequel, it stands as one of the most missable franchises Sony has ever crafted. Maybe one day Sony can combine both of these together on the PS5 as a free PS Plus item and call it the ‘Knack Pack.’ That one’s free.” — Chris Carter [Full review]

GamesRadar+ — 3/5

“Ultimately the game’s appeal boils down to one simple question: did you like the first Knack? If you did, then rejoice, because this is basically the same experience with a new plot and a few new features thrown in. Anyone who wasn’t already a fan of this franchise will find absolutely nothing to convince them to part with their money this time round.” — Nick Cowen [Full review]

VentureBeat — 80/100

“The comfort is that the story barely takes up any time. Dialogue sequences never drag on for long before you’re thrust back into running a gauntlet of traps and evil robots. The action is still so fundamentally joyful that it doesn’t really matter what the context for it is. Why can Knack absorb some materials and not others? Why is it okay for the humans to be generally awful to goblins? Who hid a treasure inside an air duct of the museum? Who cares? Jump across a moving lift in the middle of a jungle already. Don’t worry about it. That casual flow lets the essential video gameness of Knack 2 to shine. Even the hoariest tropes feel good in Knack 2. I had to push boxes around a room to open a locked door like I would have had to do in some budget mascot machine from 1997, but here it still felt just right.

“In the absence of an epic tale, a torrent of doodads to collect, or some time-devouring crafting system–all the fixtures big business gaming says you need to survive today–Knack 2 just works.” — John Agnello [Full review]

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