Following years of laying dormant, the Prince of Persia franchise returned in a big way with the releases of both Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and The Rogue Prince of Persia. Just over one year on from the former’s initial release, the much-loved metroidvania (which unfortunately will not be getting a sequel) has been reported to have sold 1.3 million copies.

As noted by Twitter user Timur222, the Associate Marketing Director at Ubisoft ‘Alexandre Guenounou’ recently updated their LinkedIn profile (though has since been removed) with claims that 2024’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sold over 1.3 million units within its first year.

For the uninitiated, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launched on the 18th of January to high praise from both critics and fans alike, becoming the second-highest rated entry in the series history.

Unfortunately, despite plenty of free post-launch updates and continued critical success, Ubisoft confirmed that the studio behind the game (Ubisoft Montpellier) was shifted over to work on different projects – seemingly ending future work on The Lost Crown.

Ubisoft is in a weird place right now, and so regardless of whether the game sold 1 million or 1000 copies, things likely wouldn’t have changed too much. Hopefully The Lost Crown sub-series isn’t gone forever.

KitGuru says: What did you think of The Lost Crown? Did it deserve more sales? Would you have liked to see a sequel? Let us know down below.

Following the conclusion of last year’s Summer Game Fest, event creator Geoff Keighley confirmed that the annual show would return in 2025. True to his word, this year’s SGF has now been officially dated and detailed – set to go live on the 6th of June.

Making the announcement on Twitter, Game Awards and SGF creator Geoff Keighley wrote “Mark your calendar for Friday, June 6 — @SummerGameFest returns to @youtubetheater in LA to showcase what’s next from the entire video game industry.  Streaming live everywhere. Followed by SGF Play Days from @iam8bit for media + Influencers in downtown LA.”

As mentioned, a 2025 edition of Summer Game Fest was already announced in the immediacy following the conclusion of last year’s event. Still, having a concrete date means that studios and publishers can begin to properly formulate their plans for the event, including trailers, vertical gameplay slices and more.

Since 2021, each successive Summer Game Fest has taken place one day earlier than the year prior. Given this, it will be interesting to see whether the event eventually falls back into being a May showcase – as the very first SGF was.

Regardless, while there will never be anything quite like E3 again, Summer Game Fest is a suitable replacement, and so it is nice to have a consistent (somewhat singular) annual video games expo once again.

KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to this year’s Summer Game Fest? Has it fully replaced E3 in your mind? What one game do you hope will be present at the event? Let us know down below.

In celebration of the PlayStation’s 30th anniversary, Sony released a bunch of cool throwback themes for the PS5, designed around the PlayStation’s four previous console generations. While intended to be a limited-time feature, the overwhelmingly positive response to the themes has led Sony to announce that they are making it a permanent fixture.

Making the announcement on Twitter, the official PlayStation page wrote: “Thank you for the fantastic response to the classic PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 limited-time console themes, which will be leaving tomorrow. Due to the positive response on these 4 themes, we’re doing some work behind the scenes to bring these special designs back in the months ahead.”

It is worth noting that these will be the only themes coming to PS5, with the company making sure to clarify that “while there aren’t plans to create additional themes in the future, we're excited to keep celebrating legacy PlayStation hardware with you all.”

While the anniversary themes were a welcome surprise, they were clearly intended to be time-limited – if nothing else due to the somewhat janky nature of a couple of them.

That said, they were incredibly cool to have, and so hopefully when they do return on a more permanent basis, a few extra surprises are included.

KitGuru says: What did you think of the anniversary themes? Which was your favourite? How would you like to see them enhanced when they are brought back permanently? Let us know down below.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the latest major first party release from Xbox Game Studios. Launching for the Xbox Series X|S and PC back in early December, we’ve now gotten our first details on how the game has performed commercially – with Microsoft confirming the title has surpassed 4 million total players.

As part of the company’s latest fiscal earnings report, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella offered some recent updates on the Xbox brand. Alongside Black Ops 6 continuing to break records, Nadella revealed (as collated by analyst DomsPlaying) that Machine Games’ Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has reached an audience of over 4 million players.

Of course, being a first party Xbox title, the game was made available day-and-date on Game Pass, meaning it did not necessarily sell 4 million copies.

That said, with the game set to come to PlayStation this year, it will be interesting to see whether Microsoft will choose to share more concrete sales figures for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on PS5 in due time – assuming it sells well.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this announcement? Is 4 million lower or greater than you expected? How many copies do you think it will sell on PS5? Let us know down below.

Monster Hunter Wilds is almost here, with Capcom having recently announced the second and final open beta test set to take place before its launch next month. While we don’t yet have a date for this beta, Capcom has now announced a Spotlight Stream set to go live next week – featuring the much-anticipated Monster Hunter Wilds, Onimusha and more.

Taking to Twitter, the official Capcom USA page announced their next Nintendo Direct-styled online showcase (Capcom Spotlight) writing:

“Tune in live on Feb. 4 at 2pm PT for Capcom doubleheader! Join us for a 20-minute Capcom Spotlight followed immediately by a 15-minute Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase!”

The general Capcom Spotlight will feature new information and updates on Onimusha: Way of the Sword; Street Fighter 6; Capcom Fighting Collection 2; and MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics.

The Monster Hunter Wilds presentation meanwhile will unsurprisingly feature a brand new trailer, alongside details on the previously-announced second beta test.

Typically with Capcom Spotlights, what you see is what you get, and so don’t expect any major surprise announcements. Still, it is exciting to finally be hearing more about the second beta test for Monster Hunter Wilds – and given the fact that the game is under a month away, its arrival could be imminent.

KitGuru says: Will you tune into the Capcom Spotlight? When do you think beta 2 will go live? What do you hope to see from Onimusha? Let us know down below.

Back in August, we began to hear rumours that Microsoft was planning to bring Playground Games’ Forza Horizon 5 to PlayStation – following on from the likes of Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves. Reports later claimed that this port had been internally delayed, but not cancelled. Finally, seemingly out of nowhere, Forza Horizon 5 has officially been announced for PS5.

Taking to their blog to make the announcement, the team at Playground Games officially unveiled and dated the PS5 version of Forza Horizon 5, writing:

“The Horizon Festival Welcomes a New Community of Players. With nearly 900 cars available in the game, over 40 thematic game updates, two expansions, and so much more content, our team is excited to announce that this spring, PlayStation 5 players will be able to explore Mexico’s beautiful roads and experience the Horizon Festival for the first time as we are officially launching Forza Horizon 5 on PS5.”

Said to be coming this Spring, the PS5 release is being developed by Panic Button (in collaboration with Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios) and is promised to include “the same content as the Xbox and PC releases of the game”. Unfortunately, while previously-released car packs will be available on Sony’s console, they will still need to be purchased separately.

Beyond this, little has been shared regarding specifics, such as whether the game will utilise the PS5’s more unique features (Advanced Haptics, Adaptive Triggers etc…) and so we will likely have to wait until closer to the time of release for a more comprehensive breakdown.

KitGuru says: Are you surprised by the sudden announcement? Was this done in alignment with Microsoft’s fiscal earning reports? Will the game properly support the DualSense? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Quantic Dream are known best for their work on narrative-driven choice-based games tackling various themes and tough topics – to greater and lesser success. Interestingly, one of their more forgotten releases, 2013’s Beyond: Two Souls, is now getting a TV show adaptation headed by the original game’s star ‘Elliot Page’.

As reported by Deadline, Elliot Page’s Pageboy production company has acquired the rights to develop a TV show based on Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls.

‘Beyond’ the fact that Beyond: Two Souls is easily one of the studio’s more forgotten entries, this announcement comes as a surprise due to previous controversies surrounding the game following its release.

For the uninitiated, the game’s star Elliot Page and Quantic Dream strained their relationship when it was discovered that fully nude models of Page were created by the studio without consent – leading to the actor considering legal action against Quantic Dream.

It seems as though Elliot Page has let bygones be bygones, releasing a statement on this latest announcement, writing “Filming the game was one of the most challenging and fulfilling acting experiences of my career. The story’s rich narrative and emotional depth offer us a fantastic foundation. We want to create a unique vision of the characters and their journeys that resonates with fans and newcomers.”

Quantic Dream Founder and president David Cage offered his own take on the announcement, saying “We are absolutely thrilled to collaborate again with Elliot Page on this project. I was blown away by his acting performance in the game, and I couldn’t think of anyone else to tell this story with the same passion on another medium.”

Given the unique story-telling methods utilised in Beyond: Two Souls, it will be interesting to see how this adaptation is ultimately…adapted – and whether it will wind up being better than the game itself.

KitGuru says: Are you surprised by the announcement? What did you think of Beyond: Two Souls? What’s your favourite Quantic Dream game? Let us know down below.

When it was first announced, there were fears that the Silent Hill 2 Remake from Bloober Team would not be able to do the PS2 survival horror classic justice. Fortunately, since its launch last October, the game has not only gone to be a critical hit, but a sales success too, having now sold over 2 million copies.

Making the announcement via a press release (translated by Gematsu), publisher Konami revealed that Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 Remake has sold over 2 million copies as of the 23rd of January.

For context, the title surpassed its first major milestone with 1 million total copies sold in under two weeks – easily making it one of the fastest selling entries in the relatively niche series.

While it may have taken a few extra months for the game to sell a further million, Silent Hill 2 Remake alone now represents around 20% of the franchise’s total sales.

Given the continued ongoing success of Silent Hill 2 Remake, it will be interesting to see how Bloober Team and Konami’s relationship evolves from here on out.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the Silent Hill 2 Remake? Does it do the original justice? What do you want to see next from Bloober Team? Let us know down below.

Ever since the PlayStation 5 launched, Sony’s monthly PS Plus Essential game service has offered a mix of both PS4 and PS5 titles. With the 9th-gen console well into its mid-life-cycle right now, Sony has determined it’s finally time to move on, with all future PS Plus games being PS5 titles starting from next year.

As part of the latest blog post detailing PS Plus Essential’s line-up for February, Sony offered an “update on PS4 games for PlayStation Plus” with the Director for game services and content at SIE – Adam Michel – writing:

“As many of our players are currently playing on PS5 and have shifted toward redeeming and accessing PS5 titles from the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit, PlayStation Plus is also evolving with this trend and will focus on offering PS5 titles through the Monthly Games and Game Catalog benefit starting January 2026.”

Explaining exactly how this will work, Michel continued, “As we shift to PS5, PS4 games will no longer be a key benefit and will only be occasionally offered for PlayStation Plus Monthly Games and Game Catalog starting January 2026. We may still provide titles that can be playable on both PS4 and PS5 consoles after this date.”

While there have been plenty of months in which all three titles have featured PS5 versions (as is the case with February’s line-up), it’s nice to know that this will soon become more of a rule than the exception.

With the PS5 supporting backwards compatibility, redeeming PS4 games still offered plenty of benefits, but given the fact that the console is over a decade old it is perhaps for the best optically that Sony moves on.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this change? Should it have happened years ago? Is PS Plus Essential worth it? Let us know your thoughts down below.

In the past few years, we have seen Bungie’s Destiny 2 crossover with an increasing number of franchises – from Ghost of Tsushima to The Witcher and Mass Effect. Joining the Destiny universe from a galaxy far far away, Bungie have officially announced a new crossover with Star Wars.

Destiny 2: Heresy is the next major update coming to the game. Set to arrive on the 4th of February, the team at Bungie officially detailed the upcoming Episode via a dev livestream.

Alongside this, they also unveiled the next major crossover coming to the game with Destiny 2 x Star Wars, writing “Conquer the galaxy with new armour ornaments, accessories, emotes, and finishers inspired by Star Wars.”

As with prior crossovers, each Guardian class will feature its own armour set ornament inspired by a different character.

Perhaps the coolest cosmetic however is the new DS-2 Ghost Shell which is inspired by the iconic Death Star – superlaser included.

As with pretty much every crossover nowadays, expect the bundles to be quite costly. Still, for those who are a fan of Star Wars, this collab does make quite a bit of sense – both IPs being space Sci-Fis and all that.

KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to Episode Heresy? How do you think Destiny 2 has handled its crossovers so far? Let us know down below.

In the almost decade-long redemption arc for Hello Games and No Man’s Sky, the game has received countless transformative updates – from visual overhauls to engine optimisations, new features and so much more. One of the biggest came with Part 1 of the Worlds Update, released back in July. Less than a year later, and the concluding half to this major overhaul is now here.

Releasing the surprise update (as they have done for years now), Hello Games officially unveiled update 5.5 – ‘Worlds Part II’, transforming the universe with “with new stars, new story, and new planets.”

As with pretty much every single No Man’s Sky update, the list of changes and additions are far too many to list here, however, some of the most notable include:

• Evolved world generation algorithm bringing new mountains, valleys, plains and more
• New Purple-class solar systems
• Incredibly deep oceans
• Gas Giant planets
• Expanded story
• Dense jungles
• Revamped local hazards
• Graphics overhaul
• Relic Worlds
• Dynamic water simulation
• Spore Worlds
• Faster loading

As mentioned, this is but a small taste of the hundreds of major and minor additions/changes made with this latest update. The full and incredibly exhaustive list can be found HERE.

With every new update to No Man’s Sky, it feels as though Hello Games have finished turning the title into the ultimate form of itself. Yet, they somehow managed to continue to surprise and delight every single time.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Worlds Part II? Will you hop back into No Man’s Sky? What’s your favourite new addition? Let us know down below.

Each month, all those with a PlayStation Plus Essential subscription are able to get their hands on a few select games which can be added to your library – and remain playable as long as you have an active subscription. Sony has now announced February’s line-up, including the co-op heist FPS Payday 3 and the comedic High on Life.

Available to add to your library from the 4th of February, all those with a PlayStation Plus Essential subscription (as well as Extra/Premium members) will be privy to the following titles:

• Payday 3 | PS5
• High on Life | PS4, PS5
• Pac-Man World Re-Pac | PS4, PS5

As mentioned, Payday 3 is a co-op focused heist shooter which – while it did launch in a troubling state – has turned into a solid successor to the highly-popular Payday 2, so is worth giving a try now more so than ever.

High on Life is a comedic take on the FPS genre with a style of humour not too dissimilar to that of Rick and Morty (due to the direct involvement of the show’s (now controversial) co-creator Justin Roiland). While certainly a love-it-or-hate-it type of experience, those who do gel with the humour will find plenty to enjoy.

All three titles will be available to claim from the 4th of February, meaning you have just under a week to add January’s PS Plus Essential titles to your library before they are removed.

In case you missed it, this month’s free games include Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League; The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered.

KitGuru says: What do you think of February’s line-up? Have you tried Payday 3? Do you think it’s improved since launch? Let us know down below.

10 years ago Dying Light released, and while it may not have been the best game in the world, it quickly gained a following thanks to a fun gameplay loop and an abundance of free post launch support from the team at Techland. In celebrating the franchise’s 10th anniversary, the studio has shared a ton of interesting stats, including that the series has reached 45 million players.

Celebrating Dying Light’s 10th birthday via a press release, the team at Techland wrote: “Ten years ago, Harran and Kyle Crane were introduced to the world for the first time, and since then the Dying Light franchise has been enjoyed by more than 45 million zombie slayers.”

Alongside the lengthy post, Techland shared a bunch of player stats from over the past decade, including the fact that the aforementioned 45 million ‘slayers’ have played for a total of 1.178 billion hours – an average of 26 hours per person.

Even more impressively, over 75 billion zombies have been killed during said hours; almost 10 times the total number of humans on earth. Of course, being a parkour focused game, players have covered a ton of ground running around the open worlds, 12,139,406,645 KM to be specific.

The full breakdown of funny and interesting stats can be found HERE, and a more in-depth thank you video can be viewed HERE.

Perhaps the most interesting announcement was the confirmation that more games in the Dying Light series are planned beyond the upcoming ‘The Beast,’ with Techland stating “We'll continue the series with multiple unannounced projects and will also go beyond video games with new board games, exclusive merchandise, original webcomic series and more on the horizon.”

While both Dying Light 1 and 2 have been given away for free across various platforms, having an audience of over 45 million players from just two titles suggests that there is a great hunger for more Dying Light.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of the Dying Light series? Do you prefer the first game or the second? What do you hope to see from the franchise in future? Let us know down below.

Hazelight founder Josef Fares has amassed a reputation not only for making interesting and humorous speeches during the annual Game Awards, but also for releasing consistently excellent co-op titles including A Way Out and GOTY winner It Takes Two. Their next game, Split Fiction is set to launch in just over a month – with the team announcing that it has now gone Gold.

Taking to Twitter, Josef Fares shared the latest co-op gameplay trailer for Split Fiction, which is set to launch on the 6th of March.

Alongside this, Fares revealed that the game has hit its final major pre-launch milestone, writing “And also #splitfiction has now gone gold. So get ready on March 6.”

For the uninitiated, ‘Going Gold’ means that the Split Fiction master disc has been submitted to the game’s publisher. After this, discs can then be pressed with finalised software and digital storefronts can upload the 1.0 version of the game ready for release.

It’s a process that every game in development goes through, and means that (aside from post-launch patches) Split Fiction should be complete and ready to play.

While still a relatively new studio (with only two games currently under its belt), Josef Fares and Hazelight have shown that they know how to make compelling and unique co-op games, and so hopefully Split Fiction manages to reach similar heights when it arrives in just over a month’s time.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Are you looking forward to Split Fiction? Will Hazelight Score a hattrick with their third game? Could it be a GOTY contender? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Ever since the idea was popularised by Fortnite, we’ve seen Call of Duty feature many different crossovers across its recent entries. Curiously, according to one insider, 2023’s Modern Warfare III was going to have a pretty substantial collab with Halo, including full-on maps and more.

As shared by known Call of Duty leaker The Ghost of Hope, “Sledgehammer Games had plans to do a huge collaboration with Halo with Modern Warfare III which would have added various maps from the Halo franchise.”

COD’s previous crossovers have been somewhat hit-or-miss, but the idea of Call of Duty and Halo collabing would have broken online forums back in the day.

Why this crossover ultimately didn’t happen was not shared, however given the relatively turbulent development of MWIII, its cancellation is perhaps not too surprising.

It’ll be interesting to see whether they have another stab at it for Black Ops 6.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Would you have welcomed such a crossover? What maps would you have wanted to be added? Could this collab happen sometime during Black Ops 6 instead? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Late last year, Capcom hosted a beta for their upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds – amassing more than half a million concurrent players on Steam alone. With the game just one month out from release, it seems the hype has reached an all-time high, as Monster Hunter Wilds has now become the most wishlisted upcoming game on the platform.

Going to Steam’s ‘most wishlisted’ section sees Capcom’s upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds sitting pretty in first place, overtaking the years long hype for Hollow Knight Silksong as well as Valve’s upcoming multiplayer project Deadlock. Rounding out the top 5 are Civilization VII and Elden Ring Nightreign.

Ever since the release of Monster Hunter World back in 2017, the franchise has quickly grown to become one of Capcom’s biggest, with the aforementioned World becoming the publisher's best selling game of all time at more than 20 million copies sold – and its follow-up ‘Rise’ taking second place with 16 million sales.

Given the ever-increasing hype and awareness for the Monster Hunter franchise, Capcom could have a record breaking hit on their hands when Wilds releases on the 28th of February.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Have you wishlisted Wilds? If not, why not? How many copies will the game sell in its first year? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Larian Studios had a bit of a struggle getting the highly popular Baldur’s Gate 3 to launch on Xbox due to parity requirements regarding the lower-powered Series S being unable to run the game in split-screen. As a result of the game’s overwhelming popularity, Microsoft made an exception, letting them finally launch on Xbox – albeit without split-screen functionality on Series S. Finally, over a year after its Xbox Series S debut, Baldur’s Gate 3 is getting Split-Screen support.

The stress test for Patch 8 of Baldur’s Gate 3 has now gone live, letting those who registered to try out its upcoming features early.

Alongside the likes of crossplay, 12 new subclasses and more, the long awaited Xbox Series S split-screen update is now available, with the team writing:

“Wanting to play multiplayer a little closer to home? Patch 8 will also bring split-screen to Xbox Series S consoles! If you’re joining the stress test from an Xbox, you’ll be able to try this out early. Register For The Patch 8 Stress Test.”

While Larian didn’t share any details on what compromises were made to get split-screen running on Series S, it won’t be long until players make their own side-by-side comparisons – and so hopefully we’ll learn more about the optimisations soon enough.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Will you sign up for the stress test? Which new addition are you most looking forward to? Let us know down below.

Ever since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, we’ve seen the console maker slowly but surely bring the publisher’s back-catalogue to its Game Pass subscription service. One title which has not yet made the jump is Blizzard’s World of Warcraft – though a recent email seemed to indicate its imminent addition. Unfortunately, this was apparently a mistake.

In a promotional email sent to Xbox users, Microsoft advertised the addition of World of Warcraft to Game Pass, prompting many to wonder whether this was an accidental leak or merely an error.

Unfortunately, the team confirmed it to be the latter, taking to Twitter to say “this was a mistake on our end sorry for the confusion! Blizzard's World of Warcraft was accidentally included in a game pass email even though it's not available with the service – a correction email will be sent to those who got the original email soon.”

Given how Microsoft has added subscription based games to its service in the past, it is interesting to see that they have not yet done anything with WoW. Maybe at some point in the future, but unfortunately not right now.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Did you receive the email? Should WoW be added to Game Pass? What benefits could it include? Let us know down below.

With the Xbox Developer Direct recently taking place, Microsoft has officially kicked off its 2025 plans. While the likes of DOOM: The Dark Ages and South of Midnight saw release dates announced, many titles remain unconfirmed. According to one insider, Xbox fans can expect a ton more titles to be showcased this year – including Contraband and Clockwork Revolution.

In a report by known insider Tom Warren, Xbox looks set to have a “great year;” detailing some of the announcement and game release plans set to occur over the course of 2025.

According to Warren, alongside the previously-announced Xbox games slated for 2025, a number of high profile titles will be shown off and possibly released this year, including Gears of War E-Day which “I'd heard Microsoft was planning for” and the rumoured Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remake/Remaster, said to be “tentatively targeting a release in late spring or early summer 2025.”

Finally, Warren believes that the relatively elusive Contraband from Avalanche Studios and Clockwork Revolution from inXile Entertainment could be shown off during the inevitable Xbox Summer Showcase later this year.

Both Contraband and Clockwork Revolution have been cooking in the dev kitchen for quite some time, with the former being announced all the way back in 2021, and the latter in 2023 – and so hopefully when we do see them, a release date follows shortly.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Microsoft’s 2025 schedule so far? Which first-party game are you most looking forward to? Could Contraband / Clockwork Revolution release some time this year? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Final Fantasy is easily Square Enix’s biggest series, with the franchise selling around 200 million units over its past many decades. Despite their penchant for claiming that sales of their games “unfortunately did not meet our expectations” Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth appears to be performing objectively well, having topped PlayStation Japan’s best-seller’s list.

As published by the Japanese PlayStation Blog, Sony have now released their list of best-selling titles for 2024 across PlayStation 5, PS4 and PSVR2 – showing quite a different order to that of the US PlayStation Store:

PS5 (Japan)

1. FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
2. Dragon Quest III
3. Dragon's Dogma 2
4. Rise of the Ronin
5. Palworld

PS5 (US)

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
2. EA SPORTS College Football 25
3. HELLDIVERS 2
4. NBA 2K25
5. Grand Theft Auto V

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth being the best-selling PS5 game digitally in Japan is notable especially as Square Enix stated back in September that its recent FF titles “unfortunately did not meet our expectations.”

Of course, Final Fantasy is a global franchise, and with the game only placing 14th on the US PlayStation Store, it's possible that a majority of sales could be concentrated in a single region. That said, sales for Rebirth did jump by a massive 268% late last year following its GOTY nomination at the 2024 Game Awards.

This, alongside the recent PC release, could see Final Fantasy VII Rebirth prove to be a success in Square Enix’s eyes eventually…hopefully.

KitGuru says: Did you buy Final Fantasy VII Rebirth last year? Did you get it physically or digitally? Does Square Enix have too high of expectations for its games? Let us know your thoughts down below.

2025 has been off to a great start so far for Koei Tecmo, with the publisher recently announcing Ninja Gaiden 4, while also releasing one of the highest rated Dynasty Warriors games in quite some time. While we will have to wait to see the long-term impact of these titles, the publisher has shared an updated list of its current best-selling franchises.

As part of the company’s fiscal earnings report, publisher Koei Tecmo shared an updated list of its best-selling franchises alongside their total unit sales.

As of the end of 2024 (prior to the launch of Dynasty Warriors: Origins), the best-selling franchises were as follows:

• Dynasty Warriors (21M)
• Nobunaga's Ambition (10M)
• Samurai Warriors (8M)
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms (8M)
• Ninja Gaiden (7.5M)
• Nioh (7.5M)
• Atelier (7.5M)
• Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (5M)

It is worth noting that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty in particular lists its total users, and not copies sold – likely due to it being a day-one Game Pass addition.

Regardless, it is interesting to see the current state of Koei’s major franchises as of the end of 2024. With the likes of Dynasty Warriors and Ninja Gaiden returning after so long, it’s quite possible the list could look very different this time next year.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Koei Tecmo as a publisher? Are they underrated? Will Ninja Gaiden become their second biggest franchise by this time next year? Let us know down below.

During the recent Xbox Developer Direct, Microsoft and id Software offered a deep-dive look into the upcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages while also announcing its official release date. Interestingly, one system absent from the list of support consoles was Nintendo’s Switch. According to one insider the game is planned to come to Switch 2, but Nintendo is currently blocking the announcement.

Taking to Twitter, known industry insider eXtas1s claimed that the upcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages is planned to come to Switch 2, despite no official announcement yet.

According to the leaker (as translated by ResetEra user ‘Aspect’) “The game, which is in full development for the next-generation machine, is being deliberately withheld. Nintendo has not given the green light to all its partners to present their titles, especially those that would be exclusive to the Switch 2.”

Offering a bit more on this current embargo of sorts, eXtas1s claimed that “any game exclusive to the Switch 2 requires special permission from Nintendo before it can be announced. This would be a strategy to control the hype and prevent leaks until the company decides to reveal more official technical information about its new console.”

Both DOOM and DOOM Eternal released on the original Nintendo Switch via ‘miracle ports’, despite the console being woefully underpowered – especially by the time Eternal released.

Given the fact that the prior two games came to Nintendo (and that Phil Spencer has openly discussed bringing Xbox titles to the Switch 2), an official announcement is only a matter of time. It will be interesting to see whether the Switch 2 arrives before or after DOOM’s launch in May.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Were you surprised when DOOM: The Dark Ages wasn’t announced for Switch? When do you think the embargo will lift? What other Xbox games do you expect to come to Switch 2? Let us know down below.

With Nintendo having now officially announced the Switch 2, many fans have begun to wonder and speculate on what 3rd-party titles could come to the next-gen system. It seems Xbox will be on the (likely) long list of publishers, with Phil Spencer claiming to be “really looking forward to supporting them with the games that we have.”

In an interview with Phil Spencer (conducted by Danny Peña), the CEO of Microsoft Gaming was asked to share his thoughts on the recently announced Nintendo Switch 2.

While Microsoft is contractually obligated to bring the Call of Duty series to Nintendo’s systems, it seems the company plans to support the upcoming console with a variety of titles, saying:

“I was exchanged some mail with CEO of Nintendo. I gave him a big congrats I said my old eyes appreciate the larger screen. [..] You know Nintendo in their Innovation, like what they mean in this industry, like I just always applaud the moves that they make. [..] Really looking forward to supporting them with the games that we have and I just think they're such an important part of this industry.”

As mentioned, during the Xbox acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft promised to bring Call of Duty to future Nintendo Systems. Furthermore, we have seen a number of prior Xbox exclusives brought to Switch in recent years, including Ori and the Blind Forest; Hi-FI Rush and Grounded – and so this isn’t too surprising.

Still, with rumours abound of Xbox being set to bring the likes of Halo, Hellblade 2 and Gears of War to more platforms, the Switch 2 could see a huge influx of Xbox titles when it arrives some time this year.

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During last year’s Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft officially unveiled the next entry in the much-loved Gears of War series with ‘E-Day’. Since then, we’ve heard little to nothing on the project, however, the silence has now been broken with developers The Coalition announcing that studio ‘People Can Fly’ are assisting with development.

Making the announcement via a press release, Polish studio People Can Fly confirmed their involvement in the next Gears of War, writing:

“People Can Fly is thrilled to be working on Gears of War: E-Day, the next mainline game in the renowned Gears of War series, as a co-development partner with The Coalition. We are honored to return to the world of Gears of War, a franchise deeply embedded in our studio’s history.”

As mentioned by the studio, this isn’t the first time that People Can Fly have worked on the Gears IP, with them heading development on 2013’s Gears of War: Judgement – while also contributing to the earlier titles.

Speaking on this partnership, People Can Fly CEO Sebastian Wojciechowski stated “Returning to collaborate on the next chapter of this legendary saga is both a privilege and an exciting opportunity to build upon the intense, visceral action and rich storytelling that fans have come to love. We are deeply grateful for our partners’ trust and support on this journey.”

Though we’ve only gotten one cinematic trailer so far for the game, leakers claimed last year that Gears of War E-Day is targeting a 2025 release. Whether the hiring of People Can Fly means the game is more or less likely to hit its target, we will have to see. Hopefully we hear more from Gears of War E-Day soon.

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