Activision Blizzard confirmed that we will absolutely see a brand-new Call of Duty game sometime this year, though which studio will develop it has yet to be announced. Interestingly, the company said that this year’s Call of Duty won’t sell as well as last year’s Modern Warfare.
In today’s earnings call, Activision Blizzard spoke a bit about Modern Warfare’s success, celebrating the game’s “double-digit percentage” increase over 2018’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. While Activision Blizzard didn’t provide specific numbers about Modern Warfare’s success, the company said this year’s “premium Call of Duty” title, which is expected to arrive sometime between October 1-December 31, will not perform as well as the Modern Warfare reboot did during the same period last year.
In December 2019, Activision Blizzard announced that Modern Warfare generated $1 billion in revenue worldwide, players spent more than 500 million hours in multiplayer, and nearly 300 matches have been played. Modern Warfare was also December’s best-selling game in the US and 2019’s best-selling game in the US. Black Ops 4 took the ninth spot as the decade’s best-selling game in the US.
Modern Warfare’s first season has been extended, now concluding on February 11. Developer Infinity Ward said the extension, which is allegedly a one-time thing, was done for new activities and rewards. Before Modern Warfare Season 2 kicks off next week, a double XP event is now live across all platforms.
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Literally thousands of Funko Pops have been released at this point, and no matter how you feel about these bobble-headed collectibles, they’re certainly not going away anytime soon. The truth is, while some of these toys can come out looking a little creepy, others end up looking pretty dang cool, and this new Dragon Ball Z-inspired Funko Pop falls into the latter category. The Goku Eating Noodles Funko Pop is now available to pre-order exclusively at Amazon for $13, and it releases on February 29.
Great, now I’m craving some ramen.
Unlike most Funko Pops that stand upright, this new Goku Funko features the Saiyan sitting, bowl and chopsticks in hand, slurping up a bowl of noodles. The Pop vinyl figure is 3.75 inches tall and comes in a window box display. This is definitely going to be a popular Funko Pop with fans–it’s already the number one bestseller in Toys & Games on Amazon.
Goku isn’t the only new Funko Pop arriving on Amazon–the small line of Pokemon Funko Pops is about to nearly double. Four new Pokemon Funkos are being released this May–Mewtwo, Mr. Mime, Pichu, and Vulpix–and they’re all available to pre-order now.
As part of Take-Two’s latest earnings report, the company announced a bunch of new sales numbers and other key metrics for its biggest games, including Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2.
GTA V has now sold 120 million units worldwide, which means it sold around 20 million copies in 2019 based on previously disclosed numbers. Additionally, Take-Two announced that microtransaction spending in GTA Online grew by 54 percent during the quarter, thanks in part to new content updates like Diamond Heist and others.
As announced previously, GTA Online set new player records in December 2019 and January 2020, which is incredibly impressive given the game launched in 2013.
As for Red Dead Redemption 2, the game has now passed 29 million copies sold. Take-Two also confirmed that NBA 2K20 has sold 8 million copies, which surpasses NBA 2K19 and is ahead of Take-Two’s projections. Borderlands 3, meanwhile, has surpassed 8 million copies sold, and Take-Two expects the game to set a new franchise record for lifetime sales.
One title that disappointed was WWE 2K20, which was riddled with bugs and other issues at launch. Take-Two said it is disappointed in how the game did not meet the company’s sales or quality expectations. The studio is working with developer Visual Concepts to address these issues for future releases.
The coronavirus outbreak in China is impacting Nintendo in regards to their shipment of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch collector’s edition, along with other Nintendo products.
According to a post published on the official Japanese Nintendo website, the company announced, “Due to the impact of the new outbreak of coronavirus infection… the impact on the shipment of Nintendo Switch Collectible Animal Crossing Set is expected to be inevitable.” IGN was able to independently verify the translation.
At this time, Nintendo of Japan is saying only the reservation start date for the Animal Crossing collector’s edition has been affected, not the release date of the game itself nor downloadable software. The pre-order date for the set has been changed from February 8 to “to be determined.”
A second notice on the Nintendo website announced the outbreak is expected to create production and shipment delays for standard Nintendo Switch and Joy-Cons as well as delay shipments of the sold-out Ring Fit Adventure.
Nintendo announced the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Switch edition last week for North America and there’s been no word on whether those shipments have been impacted. Pre-orders have already gone up on most major retailers.
There have been discussions on whether the outbreak will impact orders for the Animal Crossing Switch in North America, but considering the release date hasn’t been affected yet for Japanese customers it’s very much a wait-and-see situation.
Funko Pops may be the Beanie Babies of modern nerd culture, but unlike their floppy plush ancestors, their bubble seems unpoppable–and it’s only getting bigger. The Mandalorian, the first Star Wars TV show on Disney+, rocked the world with the introduction of “The Child,” better known as Baby Yoda. Though there were some rough starts with merchandising the little bugger at first, things have since been smoothed out, and the Baby Yoda merch boom is well underway–including a pre-order for the upcoming Baby Yoda Funko Pop, which has somehow become the best selling Funko Pop vinyl of all time despite not being released yet.
This news came care of Funko Art Director Reis O’Brien who took to Twitter with a video.
“It’s bananas,” O’Brien said. We agree. He also confirmed that Funko has not been privy to any Mandalorian spoilers, despite being in charge of designing these addictive collectibles, which means the turn-around for the Baby Yoda design had to have been a tight one.
Notably, O’Brien didn’t confirm just how many Baby Yoda units had been pre-ordered, but given the popularity of Funkos in just about very niche of pop culture, we have to assume it’s a pretty huge number.
Baby Yoda will hit shelves in Funko Pop form in May alongside other Star Wars toys, like an Imperial Troop Transport.
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Death Stranding protagonist Sam Porter Bridges will soon be a Nendoroid figure. Good Smile Company revealed Death Stranding Nendoroids earlier today, and they are available to pre-order until March 18. Both figures are expected to ship in August. Essentially, you can buy your very own miniature Norman Reedus.
Sam Porter Bridges Nendoroid | $50
BB included
The $50 figure comes with BB, the Odradek Terrain Scanner, a weapon, crytobiote, two cargo containers–one for Sam to hold in his hand and another that straps to his back–and a display stand. Sam has several points of articulation that let you tweak his pose.
Sam Porter Bridges “Great Deliverer” Nendoroid | $83
Sam Porter Bridges lugging 21 pieces of cargo, about to fall down.
We all know there’s nothing Sam Porter Bridges likes doing more than delivering packages. The “Great Deliverer” figure costs $83, which is certainly on the high-end for Nendoroids. But it also comes with a treasure trove of accessories, including a comically large number (21!) of cargo containers. Here’s the full list of accessories that alter Sam’s look and allow you to create new poses:
One of Pokemon Go‘s numerous February events is set to kick off very soon. The Sinnoh celebration event starts at 8 AM local time tomorrow February 7, and it makes it easier to find Gen 4 Pokemon.
Throughout the event, Pokemon originally from the Sinnoh region–the setting of the series’ Gen 4 games, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl–will appear in the wild and in Raids more often than normal. Additionally, you’ll have a greater chance of hatching certain Sinnoh-native Pokemon from 7 km eggs you obtain during the event. Among the Pokemon you’ll be able to hatch are Budew, Combee, Bronzor, Gible, Riolu, Hippopotas, and Mantyke.
On top of that, two new Shiny Pokemon will make their debut in Pokemon Go. You’ll have your first chance to encounter Shiny versions of Riolu and Hippopotas during the Sinnoh celebration. Event-specific Field Research tasks will also be available, and completing these will net you rewards such as Sinnoh Stones, which are required to evolve certain Pokemon like Electabuzz, Magmar, Magneton, and others.
You’ll want to use this opportunity to stock up on Sinnoh Stones. This month’s featured Community Day Pokemon is Rhyhorn, and its evolved form, Rhydon, requires a Sinnoh Stone to evolve into Rhyperior. If you can evolve a Rhyperior during the Community Day, it’ll learn the event-exclusive Rock-type attack Rock Wrecker.
The Sinnoh celebration event runs until 10 PM local time on February 10. You can read more about it on the official Pokemon Go website.
There’s a lot more happening in Pokemon Go this month. In addition to a new batch of Field Research, a new Legendary Pokemon, Tornadus, is now available in Raids until February 25. That same day, Niantic will kick off the game’s Pokemon Day event, which will bring Armored Mewtwo back to Raids and introduce Clone Pokemon to the title.
The Outer Worlds for Nintendo Switch has been delayed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. The developer of the Switch port, Virtuos, is based in Singapore.
Publisher Private Division, which is owned by Take-Two, announced the delay today on Twitter as part of Take-Two’s latest earnings report. The team at Virtuos is safe and healthy, but the office has been closed, so work has been halted on the project.
Private Division also confirmed that Outer Worlds for Switch will now ship on a physical cartridge and via digitally. Previously, the game was expected to be digital-only, with the physical version of the game containing a download code. Additionally, the first Outer Worlds Switch screenshots seemingly leaked just ahead of this news.
The Outer Worlds for Switch is now expected to launch during Take-Two’s fiscal year 2021. That means the title will launch during the April 1, 2020-March 31, 202 period.
We’re delaying @OuterWorlds on Nintendo Switch due to the coronavirus impacting the Virtuos team working on the port, to provide them enough time to finish development. We’ll now be releasing the physical version on cartridge. Once we have a new launch date, we’ll let you know!
Take-Two’s earnings call begins shortly, so keep checking back with more on The Outer Worlds and Take-Two’s other properties.
To follow up: The Virtuos devs are healthy! Their office has just been closed for safety, so progress has halted for the time being. We’ll absolutely share more information as soon as we have it.
If you played online PC shooters in the early ’00s, you might remember Soldat, a free, one-of-a-kind 2D shooter where soldiers jetpack around and blast each other with sniper rifles from the sky. You might think of it as Worms meets Counter-Strike. Though the game has remained somewhat active even to this day–with a couple dozen players deathmatching at this very moment–the studio Transhuman Design has announced a surprise return for Soldat in 2020.
According to the developer, the original Soldat is coming to Steam in Q1 (meaning between now and the end of March 2020), with a sequel to follow in Q2 (April – June). Based on the announcement trailer, Soldat 2 will feature an all-new 2.5D artstyle, along with the same ease of modding support that defined the original. (In the original game, you can modify the weapon traits with any basic word processor to make your own custom game modes.) It’s launching in Early Access, with original developer Michal “MM” Marcinkowski at the helm.
Given the harsh competition for multiplayer titles on Steam, it’s unclear if Soldat will be able to find a large audience once more, but there still aren’t many games like it, even almost 20 years later.
In the following guide, we go over Revenant’s three abilities and detail how you can best use them to draw out the legend’s full potential. If you’re jumping into Apex Legends for the first time in Season 4, don’t worry. You’ve certainly missed a lot (plenty changed in Wild Frontier, Battle Charge, and Meltdown), but we have articles and videos to help get you up to speed–just check out the Apex Legends News pinbox, below.
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1 Year Of Apex Legends: Highs, Lows, And Biggest Changes
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Once a human and the greatest hitman for the Mercenary Syndicate, the simulacrum known as Revenant desires nothing more than to take revenge on his former masters for turning him into a living machine without a will of his own. With a glitch in his programming preventing the Syndicate from bringing him back under their control, the higher-ups within the organization decided the best way to escape Revenant’s terrifying grasp was to throw the synthetic nightmare into the Apex Games, where his lust for murder helps the company market the machine as the latest villain to join the blood sport.
As you can probably surmise, Revenant’s backstory translates into an incredibly aggressive legend to play. Your entire strategy for playing as Revenant can be summarized in one word: attack. While playing as Revenant, you should always be on the hunt for another squad to kill and the first one to enter the fray once you’ve found a target.
This may mean you’re also one of the first in your team to be downed in a fight, so you have to be sure that you’re dealing as much damage as possible before that happens. If you prefer looting for supplies on the outskirts and slowly moving in on squads only once the circle is small enough, Revenant may not be the right legend for you. You need to be as bloodthirsty as Revenant is in order to succeed with him.
How Revenant’s Abilities Work
Passive Ability: Stalker – You crouch-walk faster and can climb higher than other Legends.
Revenant’s passive ability gives him an added advantage when sneaking up on targets. Able to climb twice as high as the other legends (two stories as opposed to just one), Revenant can clamber up to spots that can typically only be reached by Pathfinder (using Grappling Hook or Zipline) or Octane (using Launch Pad) and he does it so much more quietly than those two do. And once he’s in position, he can sneakily crouch-walk right up to unsuspecting targets and attack before they even know he’s there. While crouched, Revenant moves about as fast as the other legends do while walking–so you can actually bunny hop and strafe fast enough while crouched to dodge bullets in a firefight. Take advantage of your small hit box when you can.
Tactical Ability: Silence – Throw a device that deals damage and disables enemy abilities for 10 seconds.
Arguably Revenant’s most powerful ability, Silence only affects enemy teams–making it a devastating force in close-quarters. Enemies hit by Silence will take 10 damage, be stunned, and their tactical and ultimate abilities will be disabled for 10 seconds. Similar to Octane’s Stim, Silence can be used in tandem with other actions, meaning you can use the ability while healing, reloading, aiming, shooting, or throwing a grenade. Like Bangalore’s Smoke Launcher, holding down the button to use Silence will reveal its trajectory, allowing you to aim where it lands. Silence sticks to wherever you throw it (including walls) so you can place it in spots to temporarily deter enemy advancement.
Ultimate Ability: Death Totem – Drop a totem that protects those who use it from death for a set amount of time. Instead of being killed or downed, users will return to the totem.
It takes a few seconds for Revenant to fully construct his totem and players need to actually interact with it first for it to take effect. Once used, the totem will transform you into a shadow that can only take health damage–your shields won’t be affected. When you die, you’ll return to the totem’s location, but you’ll only have 1 HP. The totem’s effect has a very limited horizontal range, but it has no vertical limits. So you can go pretty far away from it if you place it in tall landmark locations like Epicenter, Train Yard, and Planet Harvester.
Tips To Play As Revenant
Revenant’s abilities are all geared towards fighting at close- to mid-range, so securing some form of assault rifle, shotgun, or submachine gun is ideally what you want to do first. Both pistols and light machine guns work too, of course, but the former requires you have very good aim and the latter can be difficult to control when trying to hit a target that’s not in your face. As incredible as the new Sentinel is, you probably want to steer clear of sniper rifles–if only because the limited range on Death Totem means that you won’t be able to really use it as a way to put significant distance between you and an enemy upon death.
You want to lead every attack with the use of Silence. With a cooldown of 25 seconds, you should have enough time between engagements for Silence to recharge. Combat strategies for certain characters are defined by their tactical (players who use Gibraltar and Wraith typically rely on their tactical abilities to get them out of a sticky situation, for example). Taking someone’s ability away can cause less experienced players to panic. Crypto alone is entirely defined by his tactical ability. Take that away and the character is basically useless.
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Apex Legends – Revenant Character Introduction Trailer
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It’s worth noting that Silence is only preventative. Revenant stops others from using their tactical and ultimate abilities. If they’re already active, then all Silence will do is stun and do small damage. You want to throw it out before Wraith’s Voices from the Void give her enough warning to disappear Into the Void. You want to throw it out before Caustic and Wattson have time to set up their defenses and a team bunkers down. Always before. After the fact will do nothing substantial for you, which is why it pays to be aggressive when using Revenant. If you see another team, then you attack before they have a chance to see you and prepare.
Death Totem charges fairly quickly (just under 90 seconds), so use it if you’re at all worried that your push is going to be met with more resistance than you can handle. Make sure you have a Med Kit equipped so you can immediately heal after you die. And you do want to die when using Death Totem. You’ve got just under 30 seconds before Death Totem’s effect wears off, and if it does while you’re still fighting, you won’t have a way to easily retreat and you’ll have to commit. Carefully planning out your attack and then executing a well-orchestrated ambush isn’t Revenant’s strong suit. Use Death Totem, throw out Silence, and just recklessly run forward. When you revive at your totem, heal and push again–essentially allowing you and your teammates to third party enemy squads on your own.
Because Revenant is at his best when he engages with reckless abandon, he pairs best with legends who can join him in a fast assault. Encourage teammates to play as Wraith, Octane, Bloodhound, Pathfinder, or Bangalore. For added protection, it’s also good to team up with Wattson or Caustic players, who can use their tactical abilities to set up defenses around your Death Totem–it may keep squads off you just long enough for you to fully heal.
How To Counter Revenant’s Weaknesses
Because Revenant grows less effective when he can’t quickly close the distance between him and an enemy, he’s at his weakest when in large open fields (it really makes you wonder how much better he’s going to be in the vastly more enclosed spaces of Kings Canyon when that map returns, doesn’t it?). Stalker and Death Totem make him a more viable attacker in areas where there’s a lot of verticality, so it’s best to try and drop in urban areas and then stick to them. Revenant struggles in the more rural spots on the outskirts of the map, where it’s easier to see him coming and dodge his Silence.
