Rockstar’s open-world western Red Dead Redemption 2 has now shipped 25 million copies. Parent company Take-Two Interactive announced the new shipment figure during an earnings report.
All of these figures are for copies shipped to retailers and not necessarily sold through to consumers. However, sold-in stock is generally a good indication of how many copies a title has sold through to people.
Red Dead Redemption 2 also makes money from Red Dead Online’s microtransactions. During an earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said he is excited by the “continuing momentum” of Red Dead Online, though he did not share any specific numbers for player spending. Whatever the case, Zelnick said he expects Rockstar Online–comprising Red Dead Online and GTA Online–to set a new revenue record during the current fiscal year.
For both Red Dead Online and GTA Online, Zelnick teased that players can expect “much more” content to come in the future. Both games are regularly updated with all manner of new content, including multiplayer modes, items, and more. GTA Online recently introduced the Diamond Casino update, and this helped GTA Online enjoy its biggest day and biggest week ever.
Also in the report, Take-Two announced that Grand Theft Auto V has now shipped more than 110 million copies, adding that it has been in the Top 10 sales charts in the US for five of the past six months in terms of combined physical and digital sales, according to NPD data.
The company also shared new sales updates and insights for its other popular franchises:
NBA 2K19 has now shipped nearly 12 million units; it’s already the 2K’s highest-selling sports game ever.
Civilization VI has now shipped more than 5.5 million copies; it is the fastest-selling entry in the Civilization series.
The Borderlands franchise has shipped 48 million copies; Borderlands 2 alone has shipped 22 million copies.
The post-launch DLC plan for Borderlands 3 will be announced and detailed at upcoming events such as Gamescom and PAX West.
In science, you form a hypothesis to explain an event and then test it against the available evidence to see if your logic is sound; if it’s not, the hypothesis fails and you discard it and form another one to attempt to explain what’s happening. The hypothesis being put forward by several politicians, including President Trump, is that video games – in concert with mental health issues – contribute to the recent rise in mass shooting incidents in the United States, specifically with regard to the shootings in Gilroy, California, Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas that collectively claimed 34 lives and left 66 more wounded in the span of less than a week. But even a quick look at the rest of the world disproves this hypothesis so quickly and obviously that it’s hard to believe it was even suggested with sincerity.
Gemma Chan, who starred in Crazy Rich Asians and had a role in Captain Marvel, is reportedly in discussions to play a part in another MCU movie. Variety reports that Chan is in talks to appear in Phase 4 superhero movie The Eternals, which was formally announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Chan played Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel. However, sources told Variety that Chan could have a different part in The Eteranals. That would be a big change, as it would be among the first times that an actor will play two different MCU characters.
Separately, Collider reports that Barry Keoghan (Chernobyl, Dunkirk) is also in talks for a role in The Eternals.
The Eternals is being directed by Chloe Zhao (The Rider, Songs My Brother Taught Me). It opens in November 2020. For lots more, check out the story below.
The indie developers behind the farming and creature-collecting game Ooblets recently announced an exclusivity deal with Epic to launch the title as a timed exclusive for the Epic Games Store. Developer Glumberland’s two developers–Rebecca Cordingley and Ben Wasse–received an enormous amount of “hateful, threatening” messages over the deal.
Writing on Patreon (via GI.biz), the developers spoke about the awful messages they have received after announcing their partnership with Epic.
“We really misjudged how angry so many people would be. This whole thing has just devastated us. We’ve been getting thousands if not tens of thousands of hateful, threatening messages across every possible platform nonstop. It’s especially hurtful since we’ve had such a positive, supportive relationship with our audience throughout development.”
The statement goes on: “I have been crying nonstop for the last two days and feeling like the world has collapsed around me. I couldn’t have guessed the scale of what it would feel like to be the target of an internet hate mob. I already had a lot of empathy for other targets of previous hate mobs, which is why we wanted to address that sort of thinking in our announcement, but I had no idea it was this bad.”
In a post on its own website, Epic said the news surrounding Ooblets “highlighted a disturbing trend which is growing and undermining healthy public discourse, and that’s the coordinated and deliberate creation and promotion of false information, including fake screenshots, videos, and technical analysis, accompanied by harassment of partners, promotion of hateful themes, and intimidation of those with opposing views.”
The company said it is pursuing exclusives so aggressively because it believes, in the end, it will lead to a “healthier and more competitive multi-store world for the future.”
The Epic Games Store pays developers an 88% cut of revenue, with Epic taking 12% as the store owner. This is far friendlier than the current average industry split on stores like Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation where the developer/publisher gets 70 percent and the store-owner keeps 30.
Epic said it remains “fully committed” to its plans for the Epic Games Store even amidst “these challenges” as it relates to controversy about exclusives.
“Many thanks to all of you that continue to promote and advocate for healthy, truthful discussion about the games business and stand up to all manners of abuse,” Epic said.
Ooblets was originally going to be published by Double Fine. However, after Microsoft acquired Double Fine, Glumberland announced that it would self-publish, before later confirming a deal with Epic to help fund the game in exchange for releasing it on the Epic Games Store.
In a blog post, Glumberland stated that signing with Epic was a “big decision” the studio didn’t take lightly. “[Epic] offered us a minimum guarantee on sales that would match what we’d be wanting to earn if we were just selling Ooblets across all the stores,” Glumberland wrote. “That takes a huge burden of uncertainty off of us because now we know that no matter what, the game won’t fail.”
The financial security, according to Glumberland, gives the studio peace of mind, allowing the small team to “focus on making the game without worrying about keeping the lights on [and] afford more help and resources to start ramping up production and doing some cooler things.”
The studio anticipated blowback about the partnership with Epic, and asked its fans to “look at the things going on and ask if there might be anything just a tad more worthwhile to be upset about” like human rights abuses and climate change.
One of the next major Epic Games Store exclusives is Borderlands 3. The game launches in September and will remain exclusive to the store until April 2020. The PS4 and Xbox One versions will release normally.
Face of the Franchise (also known as QB1) is Madden NFL 20’s new story mode. Combining elements of Longshot and Superstar, previous story modes in the series, Face of the Franchise is a 90-minute guided narrative experience that takes your character through his college career and to the NFL.
How Face of the Franchise is Similar to Previous Madden Story Modes
Some of the mechanics in Face of the Franchise will look familiar to those who have played Longshot in Madden NFL 18 and 19. Longshot served as Madden’s story mode as you followed a couple high school teammates, a quarterback and a wide receiver, as they made their way through college and to the NFL. Longshot followed the duo’s ups and downs as they both struggled to get on (and stay on) NFL rosters.
Upon release in September 2018, NBA 2K19 was heralded by critics and fans alike as an excellent professional basketball sim with a microtransaction problem. Despite the controversy surrounding the game’s microtransactions, NBA 2K19 is the biggest sports game success in 2K’s history.
During an earnings call today, 2K owner Take-Two said NBA 2K19 has now shipped 12 million copies; that makes it 2K’s most successful sports game in the company’s history.
Not only did the game ship a record-breaking number of copies, but NBA 2K19’s microtransactions are proving to be incredibly popular. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said NBA 2K19’s “recurrent consumer spending” revenue, which includes microtransactions, was up 140 percent during the quarter ended June 30.
Zelnick said NBA 2K19 is seeing “extraordinary growth in average games played and daily active users.”
NBA 2K19’s microtransactions come in the form of Virtual Currency (VC) that 2K sells in various allotments and corresponding price points from $2 USD to $100 USD. Players can spend the VC to upgrade their custom-created character and buy card packs to fill out their fantasy team.
GameSpot’s review stated that “microtransactions loom over everything” in NBA 2K19. Numerous other reviews from critics and fans alike expressed some level of dissatisfaction with the way in which NBA 2K19 employs its microtransaction system.
Despite all of the controversy surrounding NBA 2K19, the franchise is praised every year for its impressively faithful representation of the NBA experience with excellent controls and presentation and numerous modes to play.
In the earnings call, Take-Two boss Karl Slatoff said people enjoy the NBA 2K series because it is an “industry-leading” simulation game; players also enjoy the “lifestyle” elements of creating a character and progressing through the career mode, he said.
Zelnick, meanwhile, spoke about the evolution of how players connect with and experience 2K’s NBA games over the years. People are spending more time with NBA 2K games these days, and that in turn creates an opportunity for 2K to encourage players to spend more over time.
“I think six or seven years ago, basketball was a three-month experience. And now it’s a nine- or 10-month experience and we think it’s going to grow to be a full, one-year experience,” he said.
Slatoff added that the 2K League, which is an eSports organization dedicated to the NBA 2K series, has helped promote the NBA 2K video games and draw in new players. Additionally, the game’s mixture of modes and features has gone a long way to attracting and retaining players, he said.
“If they’re more engaged with the game, they’re going to spend more money ultimately,” Slatoff said. “There’s a lot of dry powder there. We’re still in the early beginnings of learning how to do this the best way.”
NBA 2K19’s recurrent consumer spending growth rate of 140% is far ahead of Take-Two’s overall growth rate for recurrent consumer spending. Total recurrent consumer spending revenue–comprising virtual currency, add-on content, and in-game purchases–jumped 31% during the latest quarter and made up 58% ($313.5 million) of Take-Two’s total GAAP net revenue for the period ($540.5 million).
NBA 2K19 was the single-largest contributor to Take-Two’s GAAP net revenue during the quarter; it performed even better than GTA Online and Red Dead Online, according to the company.
Take-Two also measures what it calls “net bookings,” which is the “net amount of products and services sold digitally or sold-in physically during the period, and includes licensing fees, merchandise, in-game advertising, strategy guides and publisher incentives.”
Net bookings from recurrent consumer spending for the three-month period ended June 30 jumped by 55% and made up 67% ($282.9 million) of Take-Two’s overall net bookings ($422.2 million. GTA Online was the biggest contributor to net bookings for the quarter, followed by the GTA V base game, and then NBA 2K19. In terms of digitally delivered net bookings, however, NBA 2K19 was No. 1
NBA 2K19 series producer Rob Jones told TrustedReviews that microtransactions are an “unfortunate reality of modern gaming.”
“Every game, at some point, in some way has currency and they’re trying to get additional revenue from each player that plays the game. You know, the question has to be when does it feel like it’s a straight money grab versus when does it feel like it’s value added, right?”
NBA 2K20 launches on September 20, and given how immensely popular microtransactions have been in NBA 2K19, you can expect them to return in some capacity in the new game. Overall, Take-Two has said it wants to put microtransaction opportunities in every game it makes.
It’s not just the NBA 2K series that is criticized for its use of microtransactions. EA’s stable of sports games, including Madden NFL, FIFA, and NHL, all feature controversial “Ultimate Team” modes that allow players to spend real money to build out fantasy teams. As with the NBA 2K series, Ultimate Team is big business for EA, which makes hundreds of millions annually from it.
Streaming services have taken over the world. Sure, plenty of people around the world still have cable or satellite subscriptions, but when it comes to viewer anticipation, people are talking about what’s headed to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, or Shudder a whole lot more than what’s coming to network television. And this week, Netflix has plenty of great content headed your way.
Returning for Season 3 on Friday is the dramatic-comedy series about women wrestlers, GLOW. While the latest season was enjoyable, it did depart from previous seasons. “The latest offering of Netflix’s comedic drama feels less fun than previous seasons,” I said in my review of GLOW Season 3. “Tonally, it’s much more serious, dealing with these character’s life-altering problems rather than the goofiness of trying to figure out what professional wrestling is or putting on an entertaining show. The show steps away from actual wrestling, even when wrestling is a daily event for these women, which is a strange choice.”
If you’re looking for something from your childhood, revived for the modern age, then you’re probably pretty excited for Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling, which is also arriving on Friday. For this Netflix special, Rocko and his friends have been trapped in space for 20 years and return to O-Town, where technology has vastly improved. From there, Rocko tries to get his favorite show, The Fatheads, back on the air. The trailer for the upcoming special is hilarious.
Below, you’ll find the full list for everything coming to Netflix this week.
New to Netflix This Week:
Sunday, August 4
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj: Volume 4 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Monday, August 5
Enter the Anime — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
No Good Nick: Part 2 — NETFLIX FAMILY
Tuesday, August 6
Screwball
Sebastian Maniscalco: Why Would You Do That
Thursday, August 8
Dollar — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Jane The Virgin: Season 5
Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer
The Naked Director — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Wu Assassins — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
Friday, August 9
Cable Girls: Season 4 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
The Family — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
GLOW: Season 3 — NETFLIX ORIGINAL
The InBESTigators — NETFLIX FAMILY
iZombie: Season 5
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling — NETFLIX FAMILY
Arc System Works blessed the fighting game community with a brief look at a brand new Guilty Gear game. During EVO 2019, which took place from August 2-4 in Las Vegas, the Japanese developer unveiled Guilty Gear 2020 with a teaser trailer, expected to launch sometime next year for unspecified platforms.
The trailer, below, shows some gorgeous visuals as the fight between series mainstays–Ky Kiske and Sol Badguy–transitions between 2.5D and 3D, and back again. It seems Arc Systems Works is experimenting with new camera systems to make battles more cinematic. Just before the trailer wraps up, we get a glimpse of what seems to be a new character: an African American male with dreadlocks and two katanas. He looks like a cross between Afro Samurai and legendary two-sword samurai Musashi Miyamoto.
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Guilty Gear 2020 – Teaser Trailer | EVO 2019
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Pokemon Pokemon Go Gets Shiny Poliwag, Sword And Shield News Coming This Week – GS News Update
Evo 2019: Dragon Ball, SoulCalibur, And King Of Fighters Announcements – GS News Update
Call of Duty Modern Warfare: How Ground War Gameplay Works
Cassandra Is Now In Soulcalibur VI | Live Gameplay
Preacher Season 4 Episode 1 “Masada” Best Easter Eggs
TEKKEN 7 – Season Pass 3 Reveal Trailer
SOULCALIBUR VI – Haohmaru Guest Character And Season Pass 2 Reveal Trailer
SOULCALIBUR VI – Cassandra Character Gameplay Reveal Trailer
Return To Resident Evil 2 Remake Part 5
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No other information about the new fighting game is available. However, Arc System Works’ Team Red division is developing the project, with Daisuke Ishiwatari (Sol Badguy’s in-game voice actor) leading the charge. The last entry in the long-running fighting game franchise, Guilty Gear Xrd: Rev 2, launched in May 2017.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate has smashed a record, knocking out a new peak viewership number for concurrent viewers at this weekend’s Evo 2019 tournament. The latest Smash game closed out Evo as the main event this year for the first time, though Smash Bros. Melee has been a longtime favorite at the annual fighting game tournament.
Twitter user Rod Breslau noted the record with a screenshot, pointing out it had hit 279,000 concurrent viewers. That topples the previous record holder, Dragon Ball FighterZ, set in 2018 with more than 257,000 concurrent viewers, via Twin Galaxies. At the time that was also the all-time high, so some of this boost for Smash Bros. could show an increasing popularity for the Evo tournament.
Smash Bros. has been a regular staple in some form since 2007, when Melee was added to the lineup. Since then Melee has remained a near-constant presence at Evo, while others like Brawl and Smash 4 have come and gone. This year Ultimate was the only Smash Bros. representation on the main schedule, as Melee was given its own side-tournament.
Most recently, Smash Bros. Ultimate issued the 4.0 update, which introduced a ton of fighter changes and the new Dragon Quest Hero character. That character, along with Joker from the Persona series and the upcoming Banjo-Kazooie character from their titular series, can be obtained individually as DLC or as a bundle with the Fighter Pass.
If I had to think of a single item from my childhood that carries the highest concentration of imbued nostalgia, it’d be a Pokemon card. Doesn’t matter which one. You could hand me a beaten-up Base Set Diglett and I’d be overwhelmed with Pocket Monster memories. I can remember my first booster pack, my best holographics, and those trades I always regretted. The reason those things stick with me all comes down to one thing: the art. For over 20 years, the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) has delivered thousands of bespoke Pokemon designs that are exclusive to the format. It’s like collecting miniature works of art that you curate in ring-bound galleries, mounted in plastic pocket pages rather than on walls.
I have been fascinated with Pokemon cards ever since they debuted on my school playground in 1999. So when I heard legendary artist Mitsuhiro Arita was in town, I jumped at the chance to sit down with him and talk about his inspiration, method, and most importantly, what he thinks of “chubby” Pikachu.
Mitsuhiro Arita, long-time artist for the Pokemon Trading Card Game
With over 600 Pokemon cards in his portfolio, it’s extremely likely you’ve seen Arita’s work. It spans the entirety of the TCG, from the original holographic Charizard to the recent Tag Team cards, where powerful Pokemon team up and drop massive amounts of damage on your opponent. With the next generation of Pokemon on the horizon as part of Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield, I had to ask how he approaches the brand-new creatures.
When a new Pokemon is announced, the first artwork we see is usually by series veteran Ken Sugimori. But it turns out there isn’t much collaboration at all between Pokemon artists, as it’s mostly freelancers working on the card series. After an initial brief from Creatures, Inc, the company that produces the Pokemon Trading Card Game, they’re left to come up with their own impression of a monster. Arita did say that he would love to collaborate with Sugimori, or many of the other Pokemon artists, which is something I’d personally love to see.
So what does inspire Arita when it comes to bringing Pikachu or Mewtwo to life on a blank canvas? “It’s actually a lot better to look at real life,” Arita said. “When you see an illustration it will inevitably reflect that artist’s world view, from a creative way of thinking, so it’s perhaps not so good for stimulating your own kind of different, new, free thoughts.” Arita explained that he watches a lot of BBC nature documentaries and films for inspiration, which surely helps the Pokemon he draws feel more like living, breathing creatures. Anyone who follows Arita on Twitter will know that he has spent a lot of his recent time in Europe at museums, sketching ancient artifacts and sculptures, soaking in dozens of different cultures.
Speaking of Europe, the Galar region of Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield is loosely based on the United Kingdom, so I asked Arita if his trip would have any influence on future cards he works on. “The knowledge of the environment and architecture of European countries is an inspiration, especially the sense of the scale of the architecture.” While Arita couldn’t go into any detail on upcoming Pokemon cards we might see alongside the release of Sword and Shield, it’s clear that his travels in Europe will have some kind of influence on his art for the Pokemon TCG.
Arita has been heavily involved in the recent Tag Team sets, with Team Up, Unbroken Bonds, and the new Unified Minds expansion, where the strongest Pokemon share a card and combine their powers. Zekrom and Pikachu, Reshiram and Charizard, or as we see in the new set, Mewtwo and Mew, are just a few of the dream teams. But the artist doesn’t get a say in which Pokemon are paired up.
“The top priority really is from the game designers at Creatures, and they think about how those Pokemon work in the actual gameplay,” Arita explained. Arita went on to add that The Pokemon Company might also have some influence on which Pokemon are chosen, depending on current popularity. This might explain the team-up of Slowpoke and Psyduck, which is now, in my opinion, the greatest Pokemon card ever created, regardless of how playable it actually is. Either way, whatever request comes Arita’s way, he says he’s happy to think about how to bring out each monster’s best side.
Left: Mewtwo-GX from Shining Legends. Right: Mewtwo & Mew-GX from Tag Team
The flagship team-up for Unified Minds is the legendary Mewtwo and Mew, who capped off the original 151 Pokemon, and I happen to know that Mewtwo is Arita’s favorite Pokemon. “There’s a story behind this card,” he said. Those with a keen eye may have already noticed, but the art for this new card is a callback to one of Arita’s previous works in the Shining Legends set, Mewtwo-GX, which he was particularly proud of. It’s a stunning piece of art showing Mewtwo held captive in a laboratory–a must-have for collectors. Arita then pointed out that some of the background details match those in the Mewtwo & Mew-GX from the latest set, so fans can deduce that Mew has come to the rescue and broken Mewtwo out of captivity. This wasn’t requested by Creatures; instead, it’s an extra level Arita has added to this card to bring it to life.
This isn’t the only example of themes and stories hidden within Arita’s art. Over 15 years ago he worked on an Umbreon card for the Aquapolis set. In this art, Umbreon is sat atop a roof across from a distinctive clocktower, and this very same clocktower features in the art for the new Umbreon & Darkrai-GX card. “You get kind of sucked into the story, and fans develop their own theories. It’s more a kind of participative way of designing these new card illustrations.”
Left: Umbreon’s clocktower. Right: the new Pokemon Melmetal
The hardest part of creating art for a Tag Team card is actually trying to fit everything in since those cards contain a lot of text. Arita talked me through an example with Lucario & Melmetal-GX, a card featuring both a very popular Pokemon and a very new one. “Everyone knows Lucario, they know what Lucario looks like. So you don’t have to show the whole of Lucario for people to get the idea. With Melmetal, even though he is so huge and really difficult to actually fit onto the card, I thought I really should show as much as possible of this new Pokemon or everyone will just be like, ‘What is this?'” Arita went on to explain how he had to work hard to make this particular combination work and ended up putting a lot of emphasis on Melmetal’s head, which, after all, is just a nut with a ball for an eye hovering inside. “I tried to make it so that even if you look at it from a distance you could see that, and it stood out to make it even more easy to understand what that was.”
Fascinated by Arita’s latest work, I couldn’t end without asking about one of his first cards– card 58 from the first set of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Pikachu. It’s now lovingly known as “chubby” or “fat” Pikachu, since the more recent versions of the electric rodent are a lot slimmer. But which does Arita prefer now?
“I prefer rounder Pikachu,” he promptly told me, before explaining how it’s difficult to attain the perfect roundness of Pikachu when drawing digitally, and it’s much easier to go back to traditional methods to achieve that “soft feeling.” Looking at Arita’s Pikachu art over the years, I couldn’t help but feel that he had managed to capture the same playful and happy side of Pikachu each time. I asked him if this was his own personal version of Pikachu. “Not really just limited to Pikachu, but in general I feel like Pokemon aren’t really dark, negative, or depressing. They’re happy, they’re joyful. So I think that feeling has just kind of come out and expressed itself in these cards.”
Just a few of Arita’s Pikachu cards
The latest expansion for the Pokemon Trading Card Game, Sun & Moon: Unified Minds, is available now, with Arita’s art featuring on booster packs and many of the new Tag Team Pokemon-GX cards. Speaking to Arita was an absolute pleasure, and I now have a new level of appreciation for the craft of designing a Pokemon card. Next time you crack open a booster pack, take a little more time to look at each card and see if you can spot the influences and hidden stories lovingly illustrated on those 2.5″ by 3.5″ works of art.
