Xbox bets on exclusive games and stands out in ad week

This is the edition of Combo, Folha’s games newsletter. Do you want to receive it every Monday in your email? Sign up below.

The last few days have been hectic for the gaming industry. Summer Game Fest and Xbox & Bethesda Showcase followed the month dedicated to industry news, which began with Sony’s State of Play.

The set of three events, however, showed that the second half of this year will not be marked by great games. The end of the post-pandemic video game hangover – marked by delays and a shortage of games and consoles – will not happen until 2023.

While Summer Game Fest featured few landmark titles, Microsoft showed it’s coming in strong for the year ahead, detailing many of its main bets and reinforcing the role of Xbox Game Pass.

Some highlights of the event organized by Geoff Keighley were the horror games “Aliens: Dark Descent”, which refers to “Alien Swarm”, and “Callisto Protocol”, from the creator of the series “Dead Space”. In fact, many of the games presented at Game Fest mix horror with science fiction in space bases, a possible trend for the coming months. They are added to the previous two, “Fort Solis” and “Routine”, still without a release date.

Indie games like “American Arcadia”, “Highwater” and “Flashback 2” (a sequel to the 1992 title) drew attention for their innovative styles and controls. The last two will be released later this year. The satirical “Goat Simulator 3”, whose announcement trailer plays with “Dead Island 2”, arrives in the fourth quarter of this year.

Sony was present at the end of the event with the announcement of “The Last of Us: Part 1”, a PS5 remake of the 2013 title. The game will be released in September this year. The trailer even says that a PC version is also in development, following the company’s recent trend of loosening its console exclusivity policy. “The Last of Us: Part 2” was released in June 2020 for PS4 only.

Even Netflix participated in the Summer Games Fest with an independent event held on Friday (10). Streaming, which has invested in games, has presented series based on games and games based on series. Among the games are “The Queen’s Gambit Chess”, “La Casa de Papel”, “Reigns: Three Kingdoms” and “Pompi”, released for mobile on the same day.

Microsoft’s exclusive event, which took place this Sunday (12), had more striking announcements. “Starfield”, one of the company’s main bets for the new generation, won a video detailing the gameplay. The title is developed by Bethesda exclusively for Xbox and recalls the exploration of “No Man’s Sky” with mechanics from “Fallout 4” and “Skyrim”, the developer’s main games.

Xbox also announced a new character from “Diablo IV”, a game based on “Minecraft”, the arrival of the Japanese RPG franchise “Persona” to the platform and a title in partnership with Kojima Productions, developer of Hideo Kojima (“Metal Gear Solid”, “Death Stranding”).

In celebration of the franchise’s 40th anniversary, “Flight Simulator” will receive additional content such as “Halo” spaceships, also from Microsoft. The flight simulator will also gain new classic aircraft, such as the Spirit of St. Louis.

Another Microsoft highlight was announcing that “Sliksong”, the long-awaited sequel to “Hollow Knight”, will be available at no additional cost on Game Pass on launch day – still unknown.

Like Sony, Microsoft is rehearsing the next generation steps. Three of the company’s flagship titles, “Redfall”, “Starfield” and “Forza Motorsport”, will only be released for Xbox Series S and X. After nearly two years of making hybrid releases, the companies are starting to abandon their previous consoles. With exclusive titles and new partnerships, Game Pass should also be one of the protagonists of the coming years.

play

game tip, new or old, for you to test

Steam Next Fest (Steam Comes Here)
(PC, Mac)

Until next Monday (20), the Steam Vem Aí event allows users of the platform to test several indie titles for free, watch broadcasts with the developers and make suggestions. It’s a good opportunity to get to know games that could go viral in the coming months.

update

news, launches, business and what else matters

• Activision has released the first trailer for “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”, a title that will be released on October 28 for PS 4/5, Xbox One/S/X and PC. The video features two famous characters from the franchise, Captain Price and Ghost. The game series has sold around 425 million units worldwide.
• The 2020 game “Cyberpunk 2077” will be adapted into an anime for Netflix. “Cyberpunk: Expendables” will tell a ten-episode standalone story about a criminal trying to survive in a futuristic city obsessed with technology and body modification. The series premieres in September this year.

• Saudi Arabia bought $1 billion worth of shares in Embracer Group, a Swedish conglomerate that recently acquired Square Enix studios. The amount corresponds to 8.1% of the company. In May, the same public investment fund, headed by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had bought 5% of Nintendo.
• Microsoft will bring several Xbox games to Samsung’s new smart TVs starting June 30, in a strategy to expand the market beyond video game consoles. Game Pass subscribers will be able to play over 100 titles on TVs by pairing bluetooth controllers. Titles like “Halo Infinite” and “Forza Horizon 5” will be available on the TV lineup, and you won’t need a console to play.

download

games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worth it.

June 16

• “Neon White”: BRL 89.99 (Nintendo Switch), BRL 46.79 (PC)
• “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge”: $94.99 (Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/S/X, PC)

Promotions of the week

• “Maneater” (PC) is free until this Thursday (16) on the Epic Games Store. In the title by Tripwire Interactive (“Killing Floor”), the player gives life to a shark, whose objective is to survive and evolve until it becomes the biggest predator of the seas.
• Following the announcement of “Ark II” at the Xbox event, the game “Ark: Survival Evolved” is free on Steam until next Sunday (19). The title mixes survival mechanics with science fiction, RPG and dinosaurs.

reading of the week

what came out about games in Sheet