Sony and the Pokemon Company took the spotlight this week for gaming news, unveiling plenty of upcoming PS5 and Nintendo Switch games coming in the near future. Game Rant has compiled some of the biggest gaming news stories from this past week together into a concise post for fans and enthusiasts to stay up to date on the most important events in the industry per week. Highlighting the most relevant stories, this list is not inherently and totally objective, and will not contain every news story this week. Rather, this is intended for gaming fans who want a quick rundown on the largest/most impactful stories that occurred in the last week in games.
For this week’s roundup ofgaming news, Sony has multiple announcements and updates for several anticipated games likeReturnalandSolar Ash, as well as some surprises from Square Enix onFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. Nintendo and the Pokemon Company also had a few surprises for this week, announcing what’s next for the pocket monsters in the coming year. TheAnthem 2.0revamp was officially cancelled by EA this week, ending the long-winded and troubled development of BioWare’s looter-shooter. Microsoft and Bethesda may be planning a joint-event following the acquisition. All that and more in this week’s roundup of gaming industry news.
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PlayStation’s First State of Play For 2021 Brings Plenty of Surprises
As its first big presentation in 2021, Sony held its first big State of Play event for the PS5 this week. Filled with a few updates on existing games likeSolar Ashand the upcomingReturnal, here were some of the highlights of game announcements made during 2021’s first State of Play:
Being this early in the year, there weren’t many huge highlights like theGod of War Ragnaroksequel orHorizon Forbidden West, butPlayStation is already off to a great startearly in 2021.
Remakes, and ‘Pre-Makes,’ of the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Sinnoh Region
Nintendo and the Pokemon Company had a smaller but similarly exciting selection of surprises to announce this week as well. Alongside many rumors and leaks, Nintendo finally confirmed that the Sinnoh region DS remakes were real; in the form ofPokemon Brilliant DiamondandPokemon Shining Pearl. Coming later this year,Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare notably being developed by support studio ILCA alongside Game Freak.
The reason behind that? Game Freak is developing another more expansive adaptation of the Sinnoh region,in the form ofPokemon Legends: Arceus. This is a fully open world,Breath of the Wild-esque interpretation of Pokemon, taking place in the region many years prior to modern Pokemon games. Players explore vast landscapes in a “pre-make” toDiamondandPearl, building out the Pokedex several years before.
EA and BioWare Officially Announce the Cancellation of Anthem
This week, EA and BioWare formallyannounced the official cancellation ofAnthem’s revivalafter deliberation withAnthem’s developers. Citing a desire to move team members over to the upcomingDragon Age 4and newMass Effectprojects, the current iteration ofAnthem’s services will remain online and receive limited life support. No suspension of services was announced at this time, but there was also no announcement on whether theAnthemredesign will ever be revisited by BioWare later on.
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Rumor: Microsoft May Be Planning a Bethesda-Focused Xbox Event
Microsoft and Bethesda may be planning an upcoming game event soon. According to discussion via the GamesBeat Decides podcast, journalist and insider Jeff Grubb mentioned thatthe Xbox team may be planning a Bethesda-specific eventin March. Grubb further details the event as an opportunity for Microsoft and Bethesda to discuss the acquisition, and how Bethesda/ZeniMax games will fit under the Xbox first-party umbrella.
This news was followed up most recently byrumors/leaks of a Xbox-themed gaming event supposedly plannedfor March 23. This is strictly a rumor for now, and has not been corroborated, but it could potentially correlate with Grubb’s comments on a Xbox-Bethesda event coming next month.
Sony Expands Initiative To Port Previously Exclusive PS4 Games to PC
In addition to the State of Play news, PlayStation is also extending its initiative to bring first-party exclusives to PC.Beginning withDays Gonecoming to PC this spring, Sony CEO Jim Ryan mentioned the desire to pursue additional PC ports of PlayStation-exclusive games. Ryan had specifically cited the success of Guerilla Games’Horizon Zero Dawnbeing ported to PC, noting there was “no adverse reaction” from the PlayStation or PC community. However, the CEO stopped short of announcing any additional PC ports at this time.
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PS5 Internal Storage Expansion Support Coming This Summer
One small tidbit of PlayStation news also confirmed thatinternal storage expansion support will be coming to PS5 this summer. According to a report by Bloomberg, a firmware update by Sony will allow support for additional internal SSD expansion this summer, utilizing the extra M.2 SSD slot inside the console. The firmware update is also being prepared to address issues with cooling, unlocking a higher fan speed level to address overheating concerns.
Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 1.2 Delayed Due to CD Projekt Red Cyber Attack
CD Projekt Red’s upcomingPatch 1.2 update forCyberpunk 2077is once again delayed, though this time due to the cyber attack the company suffered earlier this month. Announced on theCyberpunk 2077Twitter account, the company will be delaying the update until the latter half of March. The company also noted that the scope of this upcoming patch also necessitated additional development time.
