Gaming Industry in May: Astro Bot, AC: Shadows, Silent Hill 2 Remake

Video of the Month

The DLC for Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, is just days ahead now! Check out the latest trailer, showing the Land of Shadow, a place obscured by the Erdtree and purged in an unsung battle, that will the players explore on June 21st.

Top Five May News

After whopping 12 years, there are no developers working on Cyberpunk 2077. Over 400 employees from CD Project Red are now focusing on the new Witcher game. However, Cyberpunk is nowhere near dead, as the narrative lead and the sequel’s creative director Igor Sarzynski informed, saying that CDPR has big plans for the franchise. Next game, with codename Orion, is already being worked on.

During State of Play, Team Asobi announced its new project: a new Astro Bot game that is coming out for PlayStation 5 this year in September. The fans can look forward to six galaxies spanning throughout over 80 levels, with planets including beaches, forests or volcanoes. Moreover, the game will feature 15 unique abilities designed to take a full advantage of the capabilities of the DualSense controller.

Ubisoft announced its newest addition to the Assassin’s Creed Franchise, an entry named Shadow. For the first time ever, the game will take the players to feudal Japan. It will feature dual protagonists, a Ninja Naoe and a samurai Yasuke. AC: Shadows is developed by Ubisot Quebec, the studio behind AC: Odyssey, and will be released on November 15 for current gen consoles and PC.

Just after twelve weeks, Helldivers 2 has managed to sell over 12 million copies across PS5 and PC. That makes it the fastest selling PlayStation game ever. Sony announced it during its earnings briefing, saying that the game ?has been a hit that far exceeded expectations.“ The previous fastest-selling PlayStation game was God of War Ragnarok, which sold 5 million copies during the first week.

Developers from Blooper Team finally announced the release date of Silent Hill 2 Remake. It will come out on October 8th for PlayStation 5 and PC. The remake itself will feature the same story, but technologically and visually, the game is being completely remade, including a significant character redesign or seamless gameplay with virtually no loading screens.

Statistic of the Month

Esports’ popularity has been growing for several years now and the data from Statista is suggesting that it will not slow down any time soon. The global eSports market in 2022 was valued at $1.64 billion, while in 2023 $1.98 billion. Statista predicts that by 2032, the market will grow up to $10.91 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of almost 21 percent during this period.

Chart of the Month

Last year, almost seven in ten gamers in the US bought games as their primary source of entertainment. Moreover, about half of them (46 per cent) invested in microtransactions as well. That is less than those who purchased DLCs or other additional content, as those amounted to only forty per cent.

Quote of the Month

Jeff Grubb is a well-known insider in the gaming industry. When he claims something will happen, it usually does. And he was not wrong even with the new Team Asobi game – Astro Bot – that he claimed Sony will show during its State of Play.

“Can’t bring they’re making a new Astro just so I can embarrass all of you once again,” said Grubb a few days before Astro Bot was announced, being right once again.

Number of the Month

Even though Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto V more than ten years ago, it is still being sold very well. And the new sales figures just confirm that, because as of April 2024, the game managed to sell over 200 million units.

Photo of the Month

F1 Manager 2022 is an officially licensed racing management simulator developed by Frontier Entertainment and released in August 2022. The game offers a very detailed career mode as well as a strategy editor which allows players to schedule their own pit stops, work with tyres or the pace for each stint. F1 Manager 2022 is an important game in this genre, as an official racing simulator like this hadn’t come out since 2000. It also did pretty well in reviews, as the Xbox version holds a respectable 80 score on Metacritic.

What’s Going on at Fanatic Games

During the month of May, we at Fanatic Games completed a very interesting art test which about environments and buildings. We are currently working on several projects, specifically about car creation, war vehicles, environments or very interesting scifi props. Nevertheless, we are still open to new project challenges, so if you are thinking about art outsourcing then, feel free to contact me and we can definitely grab a virtual (or real) coffee and discuss everything.