All Articles: E3 2019

Square Enix’s Avengers Project will make its public debut at E3 2019

Posted on May 29, 2019 by John Scalzo

It’s been more than two years since Marvel and Square Enix first announced their ambitious Avengers Project. Unlike the rapidly expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe (eight films have opened since the announcement, including the saga’s temporary finale, Avengers: Endgame), we haven’t learned much of anything about the game as neither the comics giant nor its developers (which include Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal) have felt the need to publicly discuss it in all that time.

Today, Marvel finally broke the silence and confirmed (via Twitter) that The Avengers Project will make its public debut ahead of this year’s E3 Expo. Representatives from Square Enix will reveal the game for the first time during their Square Enix Live presentation on June 10th.

Interestingly, the tweet also referred to the game’s title as Marvel’s Avengers:

The Avengers Project (or Marvel’s Avengers, if you prefer) is believed to be in development for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. The game doesn’t currently have a launch date, but Square Enix has said they plan to release multiple games before the end of the year.

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Ubisoft has three unannounced games coming in Early 2020 but they’ve delayed Skull and Bones yet again

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Is Ubisoft hard at work on Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 7? Nobody’s entirely sure, but the publisher has confirmed that they’ve got three unannounced “AAA” games in the hopper, all set to launch sometime between January 1 and March 31 in 2020.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot spoke a bit about these games, calling them “very distinct gaming experiences,” during the company’s most recent quarterly financial report:

We are coming with three very distinct gaming experiences. We wanted to give those games the development they needed because we know they’re long-term sellers, so it’s important that they come with the best opportunity.

We won’t say anything more today. You’ll know more soon.

Sadly, the publisher also said that players hoping to sail the high seas in Skull and Bones will have to wait a bit longer. The pirate-themed multiplayer was penciled in to launch this year, but now it won’t be released until sometime after April 1, 2020. This is the second major delay for the game (it was originally scheduled to be out in 2018), but the development team provided a short update via Twitter, promising that “[their] focus remains on quality”:

Skull and Bones will not be on display during Ubisoft’s presentation at E3 2019, but presumably the three unannounced games will be.

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Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 7 is in development and it’ll be announced at E3 2019

Posted on May 15, 2019 by John Scalzo

Sam Fisher is so stealthy, that even his new game announcements happen completely under the radar!

Julian Gerighty, the Creative Director on Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, revealed yesterday that he was in France working on the next entry in the Splinter Cell franchise with the team at Ubisoft Ivory Tower. He also implied that the currently unannounced Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 7 would make an appearance at this year’s E3 Expo in June That’s a lot of “Whoops!” for one tweet:

Ubisoft Ivory Tower is best known as the developer behind The Crew and The Crew 2, so Sam Fisher might want to brush up on his driving skills before his next mission. This year’s E3 Expo is happening in just a few weeks, so hopefully Gerighty is telling the truth and we’ll learn more about it then.

UPDATE: Ubisoft told Game Informer that Gerighty was “joking” and that they don’t have any Splinter Cell announcements to make at this time: “Julian was obviously joking as Julian likes to do. It looks like our creative directors are having fun right now. We do not have any announcements to make at this time.”

It’s possible that Gerighty was making a joke, but if he was, what’s the punchline? We won’t know for sure until next month, but I would not be surprised to see Sam Fisher stalking the halls of the E3 Expo this year.

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Take-Two executives discuss big sales for GTA5 and Red Dead 2 while looking ahead to 2019 lineup

Posted on May 14, 2019 by John Scalzo

Take-Two Interactive delivered another celebratory quarterly financial report last night as the publisher’s latest releases have proven very popular with players.

Leading the charge is Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. More than 24 million copies of the game have been shipped to stores since its launch last October. Take-Two executives also revealed that they’ve shipped more than nine million copies of NBA 2K19 in a similar timeframe.

But the most surprising reveal from yesterday’s report might be the news that Take-Two shipped more than ten million copies of Grand Theft Auto V during the quarter, bringing its lifetime total to 110 million copies after six years on the market.

While the company was happy with their retail performance in 2018, they’re also looking ahead to 2019 with gusto.

According to CEO Strauss Zelnick, 2K Games has already committed to launching NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20 this Fall:

Also this Fall, 2K will launch new installments of our highly successful annual sports franchises with the releases of NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20. As always, the development teams behind these games are hard at work to deliver our trademark array of exciting new features and innovations that keep players coming back year after year. 2K will have more to share about these titles in the coming months.

Zelnick later confirmed that Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds and Patrice Desilets’s Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime this year through their Private Division label:

Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the Outer Worlds marks the reunion of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the original creators of Fallout, who are introducing an entirely new single player sci-fi RPG experience. The Outer Worlds will be showcased behind closed doors at E3 to select media and influencers, and more details about the game will be revealed over time. Last month, Private Division hosted press events for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, where attendees got to play the game and meet its creators at Panache Digital Games, including the studio’s co-founder, Patrice Desilets, who was the original creative director of Assassin’s Creed.

More information about Take-Two Interactive’s full lineup for 2019 (including the previously-announced Borderlands 3) will be announced at this year’s E3 Expo in June.

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Here’s a new look at Final Fantasy VII Remake ahead of a larger reveal in June 2019

Posted on May 9, 2019 by John Scalzo

Final Fantasy fans have been salivating for any scrap of information about Final Fantasy VII Remake ever since Square Enix announced it all the way back at E3 2015. But the publisher has been fairly quiet about its progress after confirming later that same year that “dramatic changes” would be be coming to the game’s combat and that it was being designed as a “multi-part series.”

That all changed today during the latest State of Play broadcast from the PlayStation Blog. A short teaser trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake was the highlight of the show, and Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase even promised that we would see more of the game in June:

We hope you enjoyed the footage shown during State of Play. It was quite short, but hopefully you enjoyed seeing Cloud and Aerith brought back to life with such realistic graphics.

And oh my god! Did you notice [Sephiroth] was there too…?

This year’s E3 Expo will be held from June 11th through the 13th, so that seems like the most logical place for the publisher to unveil their next Final Fantasy VII Remake tease. Square Enix has said that the game will arrive on the PS4 “first,” and will presumably land on other platforms sometime later.

Of course, when Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released for the PS4 is still anybody’s guess.

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Bithell Games announces the “fight-choreographed chess” of John Wick Hex

Posted on May 8, 2019 by John Scalzo

John Wick will return to theaters on May 17th in the highly-anticipated John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, but Keanu Reeves’s third most-popular character is also thinking of coming back to the world of video games in the not-too-distant future as well.

Mike Bithell, the creator of Thomas Was Alone and Subsurface Circular, will bring John Wick Hex to the PC/Mac (exclusively via the Epic Games Store) and consoles. No release date was announced, but the developer describes the game as “fight-choreographed chess,” and players will need to tap into their strategic side if they hope to survive each encounter:

Created in close cooperation with the creative teams behind the films, John Wick Hex is fight-choreographed chess brought to life as a video game, capturing the series’ signature gun fu style while expanding its story universe. Players must choose every action and attack they make, while considering their immediate cost and consequences. Every move in John Wick Hex feels like a scene from the movies, and every fight contributes to your progress on the job and requires precise strategic thinking.

Perform well and progress in the main story mode (which features an original story created for the game) to unlock new weapons, suit options, and locations. Each weapon changes up the tactics you’ll use and the manner in which you’ll play. Ammo is finite and realistically simulated, so time your reloads and make the most of weapons you scavenge on the job.

Ian McShane and Lance Reddick will reprise their roles from the film series in the game, and publisher Good Shepherd Entertainment plans to show off a playable version of John Wick Hex at this year’s E3 Expo.

Employing a “unique graphic noir art design,” the first trailer for John Wick Hex has been embedded above.

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