Author: Game Infliction

Activision’s Costly Call of Duty Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crossover Has Some Players Saying Black Ops 6 Should Just Go Free-to-Play at This Point

Call of Duty’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover looks set to cost up to $90’s worth of COD Points in order to obtain all the items — and the community is now saying Activision should just make Black Ops 6 free-to-play at this point.

Activision unveiled the Black Ops 6 Season 02 Reloaded content coming to the shooter on February 20, and detailed the mid-season Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover in the process.

Each of the four turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael) has their own premium bundle. Based on previous collaborations, these bundles are expected to cost 2,400 COD Points, or $19.99, each. So, if you want all four turtles you face the prospect of handing over $80’s worth of COD Points.

But that’s not all. As it did with the controversial Squid Game crossover, Activision has created a premium event pass for the Turtles crossover, which costs 1,100 COD Points / $10. This includes a number of eye-catching cosmetics, chief among them Splinter. Again, there is no other way of getting Splinter than paying the $10 for the premium track of the event pass. The free track includes two Foot Clan soldier skins, among other cosmetics.

As many have pointed out, the Turtles crossover is heavy on the cosmetics but does not feature gameplay affecting items. No-one has to buy any or all of it to compete in Black Ops 6 multiplayer. And there are many within the community saying it’s easy to ignore Call of Duty crossovers like the Turtles one and leave those willing to spend more to it.

But that hasn’t stopped some players within the community from criticizing Activision once again for the high cost of these cosmetics, and are saying this second ever Call of Duty premium event pass suggests Black Ops 6 is now being monetized as if it were a free-to-play game like Fortnite.

“Activision casually glossing over the fact that they want you to pay $80+ if you want the 4 Turtles, plus another $10+ if you want the TMNT event pass rewards,” redditor II_JangoFett_II said. “Call of Duty’s Gross greed strikes again… DESPICABLE!”

“Guess we can expect an event pass sold every season now,” Hipapitapotamus suggested. “Remember when events were good and got you cool universal camos for free.”

“The Turtles don’t use guns,” APensiveMonkey declared. “Their fingers wouldn’t even… I hate this…”

It’s worth going into more detail on how Activision monetizes Black Ops 6. Each season brings with it a new battle pass, the base version of which costs 1,100 COD Points / $9.99. There’s an extra premium version of the battle pass, called BlackCell, which costs $29.99 (you can’t buy this one with COD Points). Then there is a constant stream of cosmetics available to buy from the store. The Turtles crossover, with its premium event pass, is on top of all this.

“So they expect the playerbase to buy the game itself, buy the battle pass/black cell and now this? Na that’s too much,” PunisherR35 added. “If this is gonna be the norm moving forward, CoD needs to move to a FTP model (campaign, MP).”

In truth, Activision’s aggressive monetization of Call of Duty is nothing new. It’s just that the new premium event pass, which made its debut with Black Ops 6’s Squid Game crossover, has pushed some fans over the edge. And as has been pointed out many times before, the standardized monetization across the $70 Black Ops 6 and the free-to-play battle royale Warzone does Black Ops 6 no favors. What might be acceptable for Warzone given it’s free-to-play isn’t necessarily acceptable for Black Ops 6, given it costs $70 just to be able to play Multiplayer.

And that’s where the calls for Black Ops 6 Multiplayer to go free-to-play come from. With each new microtransaction Call of Duty Multiplayer feels more and more like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Marvel Rivals, and of course Warzone.

Activision and parent company Microsoft will of course stick to its guns, given Call of Duty’s incredible popularity. Black Ops 6 was the biggest Call of Duty launch ever, and set a new single day Game Pass subscription record. Sales on PlayStation and Steam jumped 60% compared to 2023’s Modern Warfare 3. Clearly, Call of Duty is doing the business for Activision and new owner Microsoft, which the financial officers will no doubt be delighted with given the Xbox maker paid an eye-watering $69 billion for the company.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

NetEase reward US-based developers of live service hit Marvel Rivals by sacrificing their jobs to “efficiency”

Marvel Rivals is this year’s current free-to-play PC game success story, attracting many millions of players over its opening weekend and making regular appearances in the Steam Most Played top 10 ever since. It garnered an estimated $136 million in January. So naturally, it’s time to start laying people off.

Last night, one of the project’s game directors, Thaddeus Sasser, revealed that an undisclosed number of US-based NetEase Games employees had been dismissed, including level designers Gary McGee and Jack Burrows. NetEase have now confirmed the news, calling it a move to “optimize development efficiency” and assuring players that they “are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game”. Just not so much the people working on it.

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Team Fortress 2 Modders Rejoice as Valve Releases Full Client and Server Game Code

Surprise! Valve’s just released a massive update to the Source SDK, adding “all” the Team Fortress 2 client and server game code.

Valve said the update lets players build entirely new games from its source code, and unlike Steam Workshop or local content mods, it gives modders access to change, extend, and even rewrite Team Fortress in pretty much any way imaginable.

You won’t be able to sell anything you make with it — which means any mods or spin-off content will have to be released for free on a non-commercial basis — but creations can be published on the Steam Store, “appearing as new games in the Steam game list.”

“Players have a lot of investment in their TF2 inventories, and Steam Workshop contributors have created a lot of that content,” Valve explained via a blog post. “The majority of items in the game now are thanks to the hard work of the TF2 community.

“To respect that, we’re asking TF2 mod makers continue to respect that connection, and to not make mods that have the purpose of trying to profit off Workshop contributors’ efforts. We’re hoping that many mods will continue to allow players access their TF2 inventory, if this makes sense for the mod.”

Valve also added that it was making “a big update” to all its multiplayer back-catalog Source engine titles, too, adding 64-bit binary support, scalable HUD/UI, prediction fixes, and “a lot of other improvements” to not only TF2, but also DoD:S, HL2:DM, CS:S, and HLDM:S.

Back in December, after seven long years, The Team Fortress 2 comic released its seventh and final update. The comics have not only been a great place for fans to uncover new information about their favorite characters and stories, but they’re also a testament to Valve’s own continuing interest in one of its oldest series.

Image credit: Valve.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Annapurna Will Shed Some Light On Its 2025 Lineup In Next Week’s Digital Showcase

How much is destined for Switch 2?

Annapurna Interactive has announced that its first digital showcase of the year (the creatively titled ‘Annapurna Interactive Showcase’) will be streamed on YouTube next week, providing a peek at the company’s release schedule for 2025.

Arriving on 24th February at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm GMT / 6pm CET, the showcase will run for approximately 30 minutes and promises to give us updates on the likes of Wanderstop, Skin Deep, Wheel World, Faraway, Lushfoil, To a T, Morsels and some “surprises”.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Pokémon Go Developer Niantic Reportedly in Talks to Sell Video Game Business to Saudi-Owned Company Behind Stumble Guys

Pokémon Go developer Niantic is reportedly in talks to sell its video game division to Saudi-owned Scopely for $3.5 billion.

As first reported by Bloomberg, the sale would likely include Pokémon Go, the hit augmented-reality mobile game that sends players out into the real world to collect Pokémon.

A source talking to Bloomberg under the promise of anonymity said that while the deal was by no means complete, if approved, it could be confirmed in a matter of weeks.

Neither Niantic, Scopely, nor its owner Savvy Games Group were prepared to comment publicly on the reported acquisition.

Savvy Games Group acquired Scopely back in April 2023 in a deal worth $4.9 billion that came after the Saudi Arabia government said it wanted to buy “a leading games publisher.” Scopely publishes a range of hit mobile titles, most notably The Walking Dead: Road to Survival, Stumble Guys, Marvel Strike Force, and Monopoly Go.

Savvy Gaming Group also purchased two of the world’s biggest esports companies, ESL and FACEIT, for a total of $1.5 billion in 2022.

“Savvy Games Group is one part of our ambitious strategy aiming to make Saudi Arabia the ultimate global hub for the games and esports sector by 2030,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said at the time.

“We are harnessing the untapped potential across the esports and games sector to diversify our economy, drive innovation in the sector, and further scale the entertainment and esports competition offerings across the Kingdom.”

Vikki Blake. Reporter. Critic. Columnist. Consultant. Guardian. Spartan. Silent Hillian. Legend. High Chaos.

Refusing to get drunk in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is an oddly captivating act of rebellion

This article contains moderate spoilers for the closing events of the Wedding Crashers quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.

It’s impossible, I think, to play Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 without playing a boozer, even if you’re only boozing in cutscenes. The game’s 15th century world is greased by many splendours of hooch, from the wine used in potion-brewing through the finer vintages at banqueting tables to the viral pondwater they sell in seedier taverns. A lot of the time, the writing views alcohol as a means of teeing up some slapstick debauchery reminiscent of Paul Bettany’s character in A Knight’s Tale. It venerates the spectacle of having a large one, with custom dialogue and voice-acting for protagonist Henry when you woozily explain your antics to guards. But sometimes, perhaps despite itself, it expresses something about the culture of drinking and the unpleasantness of being militantly exhorted to drink.

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Marvel Rivals Director and Entire Seattle Design Team Laid Off, NetEase Tells Fans Not to Worry About the Game

Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has confirmed cuts to its Seattle-based design team for “organizational reasons.”

Overnight, Marvel Rivals game director Thaddeus Sasser took to LinkedIn to announce that he and his team were laid off.

“This is such a weird industry,” Sasser began. “My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games…

“…and were just laid off!

“Oh well! Times are tough all over – Let’s find these incredible people new jobs, because we all need to eat, right? :D”

The video game development community reacted with a mix of shock and anger to the cuts, given Marvel Rivals’ explosive success. The free-to-play hero shooter has seen over 20 million downloads since launch in December, and huge peak concurrent player numbers on Steam.

According to Sasser’s LinkedIn profile, his team focused on game and level design work for Marvel Rivals, “offering guidance, strategy, and design direction over the last couple of years.”

NetEase issued IGN a statement confirming the layoffs, but failed to specify how many people were cut.

“We recently made the difficult decision to adjust Marvel Rivals’ development team structure for organizational reasons and to optimize development efficiency for the game,” NetEase said.

“This resulted in a reduction of a design team based in Seattle that is part of a larger global design function in support of Marvel Rivals. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of those affected and will be treating them confidentially and respectfully with recognition for their individual contributions.”

But NetEase was keen to stress that the layoffs won’t impact ongoing support for Marvel Rivals, whose primary development team is based in China.

“We want to reassure our fanbase that the core development team for Marvel Rivals, which continues to be led by Lead Producer Weicong Wu and Game Creative Director Guangyun Chen in Guangzhou, China, remains fully committed to delivering an exceptional experience,” NetEase continued.

“We are investing more, not less, into the evolution and growth of this game. We’re excited to deliver new super hero characters, maps, features, and content to ensure an engaging live service experience for our worldwide player base.”

This is the latest round of layoffs at NetEase, which has pulled back from a number of overseas investments and closed studios in the U.S. and Japan, including Visions of Mana developer Ouka Studios. In November, Worlds Untold, headed by Mass Effect alumni Mac Walters, announced a pause of operations after a split with publisher NetEase. And in January it cut Jar of Sparks, founded by Halo and Destiny 2 veteran Jerry Hook in 2022.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Aimbots and wallhacks are compulsory in Cheaters Cheetah, an FPS designed by a former cheat developer that bans you if you lose

The psychology of people who cheat in competitive games remains deeply mysterious to me, but I’ll hazard a guess it stems from a love of ruining someone’s day rather than any real sense of accomplishment. Something I am interested in, however, is the idea of play as transgression.

There is, for example, a subset of people who get very irritated at the concept of speedruns. I suspect this is because, even if we aren’t consciously engaged with a game’s story, there’s an underlying sense of what I’m going to very clumsily call ‘narrative correctness’ that’s absolutely shattered when, say, Leon Kennedy starts shuffling up stairs at superhuman speeds. Glitches, warps, and other exploits expose the shroud of storytelling conjured by every little piece of a game’s design, pulling off the mask so the underlying grey box is painfully visible. They call art a liar.

Competitive FPS Cheaters Cheetah initially seems like pure transgression against any sense of fair play or even level design, but the key here is that everyone gets cheats like aimbots, wallhacks, and spinbots. “This creates a unique dynamic,” reads the game’s Steam page, “where everyone knows everyone else’s position, leading to intense mind games and thrilling battles”. It sounds like it’s either going to be a complete disaster or incredibly interesting, probably both.

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Mario & Luigi: Brothership Version 1.0.1 Now Available, Here Are The Full Patch Notes

Download it today.

Following its release in November last year, Mario & Luigi: Brothership for the Switch has now received its first update.

This bumps the game up to Version 1.0.1 and addresses multiple bugs as well as some “other” ones. Here are the full patch notes, courtesy of Nintendo’s official support page:

Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Pokémon GO Developer Niantic Reportedly In Talks To “Sell Games Unit”

Including the sale of Pokémon GO.

A new report from Bloomberg claims Pokémon GO developer Niantic is apparently in talks to sell its video game business to the Saudi Arabia-owned company Scopely.

This deal would supposedly be announced in the “coming weeks” and the figure of the sale is expected to be around $3.5 billion. This sale would reportedly include the mobile hit Pokémon GO, but keep in mind there’s no direct confirmation from Niantic at this stage and the information comes from “several people familiar with the discussions”.

Read the full article on nintendolife.com