This week in one sentence: Sony is skipping this year’s E3, Pokémon Sword and Shield are getting an expansion pass, ADGQ raised more than $3 million for charity, Epic made more than $680 in revenue, and GameStop’s future doesn’t look bright.
Top Five Stories
1/ Sony Is Not Going To The 2020 E3: In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony confirmed that they will not attend the 2020 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) for the second year in a row. Sony commented that “We do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year.” Many analysts and pundits assumed that with the upcoming launch of the PlayStation 5, Sony would make a return to the show. E3 is already facing a crisis of identity compared to more fan-focused shows like PAX and has lost the confidence of many games journalists after exposing their personal information last year. (Game Informer / CNET / IGN / Polygon / GamesIndustry.biz)
2/ Pokémon Sword And Shield Are Getting A Paid Expansion Pass: In a live stream on January 9th, Game Freak announced a paid expansion pass and free updates are coming to Pokémon Sword And Shield. The expansion pass adds two new locations, the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra, and the return of more than 200 older Pokémon, new legendary Pokémon, new clothing options, and many other features. The free updates to the base game will allow everyone, including people without the expansion pass, to get the returning Pokémon. (Gamespot / Eurogamer / The Verge / GamesRadar+ / VentureBeat)
3/ Awesome Games Done Quick 2020 (ADGQ) Raised More Than $3 Million For Charity: ADGQ, the yearly speedrunning event, was able to raise $3,155,199.56 in donations for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. This is the tenth ADGQ and the highest amount raised so far. The show had a few highlights, including TomatoAngus bringing props to show how a Fallout 4 glitch works, a strange “crash” in BioShock, and a blindfolded co-op playthrough of Punch-Out!! (Polygon / Eurogamer / VentureBeat / Game Rant / GameCrate)
4/ Epic Games Store Has Sales Of $680 Million Since December 2018: An infographic by Epic Games showed that their digital storefront had significant sales over the past year from more than 108 million customers. Epic also confirmed that they will continue to give away free games for the next year and that many requested features, like achievements, are on the way. (GamesIndustry.biz / Washington Post / IGN / Gamasutra / The Verge)
5/ GameStop Had A 25.7% Drop In Holiday Sales: The already beleaguered GameStop experienced a 25.7% drop in 2020 holiday sales compared to 2019. This bad news comes after closing multiple locations last year and already down revenue from last year. The company’s stock fell 24.5% from the start of the year. (Gamasutra / Destructoid / Polygon / Forbes / Motley Fool)
✏️ Notables
- A Bloodborne mod adds a cut boss back into the game. The modder, Foxy Hooligans, added back a boss version of the Loran Cleric. (Kotaku / Polygon)
- The beta release date for Legends of Runeterra was announced. The League of Legends card game beta is coming on January 27th. (GamesRadar+, Polygon)
- Grand Theft Auto IV pulled from Steam. Rockstar said they cannot make more keys because of the Games For Windows Live integration. (Rock Paper Shotgun, The Verge)
- Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is deleting the save files of PC players. The expansion is deleting older saves from PC players. (Kotaku / PC Gamer)
- The $30 back-paddle attachment for DualShock 4 controllers is now available. Reviewers seem to like the extra triggers. (The Verge / Mashable)
- Nintendo released a music video for their new theme park (Super Nintendo World) and it includes a song by Charli XCX (Kotaku / The Verge)
- The Xbox Series X will not have Microsoft exclusives. First-party games will be compatible with the Xbox One. (VentureBeat / GamesIndustry.biz)
- VVVVV is now open source. Terry Cavanagh, the creator of the game, released the source code in a blog post. (Rock Paper Shotgun / Gamasutra)
- Steam will now sell soundtracks independently of games. Game soundtracks can now be purchased on their own instead of only as DLC. (PC Gamer / Engadget)
- Slay The Spire received a 2.0 patch. This patch adds a new playable character, balance changes, and a slew of other changes. (Shacknews / Eurogamer)
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