Month: April 2021

Microsoft Will Pay Developers Even More Money On PC, Matching Epic Games Store

Microsoft has announced a huge change for its PC store, revealing on Thursday that it will pay developers a much larger percentage of revenue for games sold on the Microsoft Store.

Beginning August 1, developers will get to keep 88% of sales, with Microsoft taking 12% as the owner of the platform. This is a big change from the status quo, which is a 70/30 revenue share model. Microsoft said in a blog post that this arrangement has no catches.

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“A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so,” the company said.

Microsoft’s PC gaming efforts have left much to be desired over the years, and Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty acknowledged that the company still has a lot of room for improvement.

“We know that we still have a lot of work to do, but based on the response from both PC gamers and PC game developers, we think that we’re headed in the right direction for this community with the investments we’re making,” he said.

Looking ahead, Microsoft said it’s planning additional quality-of-life improvements for PC players. This includes faster download speeds and “improved install reliability,” among other things.

In changing the revenue share to 88/12, Microsoft’s PC store becomes aligned with the Epic Games Store. It was the first major PC storefront to offer this share agreement, leading some developers to choose Epic’s store over others. Epic boss Tim Sweeney reacted to Microsoft’s news today, saying on Twitter, “Wow!”

Bloomberg analyst Matthew Kanterman said on Twitter that this news sounds great but probably won’t have much of an effect in practice because the Microsoft PC Store only represents a small part of the PC sales market.

The 70/30 revenue-sharing model remains in place on other PC stores, such as Steam, while it’s also the standard across digital stores on console.

The Epic Games Store has succeeded in some respects with its new, more generous revenue-sharing model. At least part of this success is no doubt attributable to how the store gives out free games on a regular basis and pays developers to bring their games exclusively to the store.

In other PC gaming news, Microsoft has announced that Halo Infinite will support cross-play and cross-progression, while it will have support for ultrawide monitors as well. Additionally, Microsoft disclosed that Halo: The Master Chief Collection has reached 10 million players on PC.

Game Delays Got Even Worse as the Pandemic Progressed, But Studios Grew

A GDC survey of over 3000 games industry professionals revealed that game delays have gotten worse as the pandemic progressed, but many game studios have also grown in tandem.

The Game Developers Conference 2021 State of the Industry Survey notes that 44% of the developers it spoke to said they had a game delayed during the pandemic. This is up on last summer’s survey, which reported that 33% (or a third of all game developers) had delayed a game due to the impact of COVID-19.

While many of those delays will be internal, we’ve seen a large numbe rof games publicly shift their dates already this year – check out every game delay announced in 2021 so far.

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Yet at the same time, almost half of game studios have also grown considerably. 47% of studios surveyed said that they had expanded their staff over the past year, and 66% said that productivity and creativity had stayed the same or even increased.

This suggests studios are starting to adapt to working from home – 41% of those who responded to last year’s survey said that productivity had been damaged by the move to remote working conditions.

You can view the results of the full survey here, which is available as a free download. In the same survey, it was revealed that the PS5 is the most popular console to develop for, while PC remains the most popular platform for developers overall. This survey lands ahead of the Game Developers Conference 2021, which will occur between July 19-23 as an all-digital event, for the second year in a row.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.

Microsoft Puts Pressure on Steam by Increasing Revenue Share by 18% for PC Developers

Microsoft has announced that it will increase the amount of revenue share that developers receive from sales of PC games on the Microsoft Store.

Revealed as part of a new post on Xbox Wire, Microsoft said “As part of our commitment to empower every PC game creator to achieve more, starting on August 1 the developer share of Microsoft Store PC games sales net revenue will increase to 88%, from 70%.”

“A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so,” the post continued.

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Revenue share is currently a hot topic in the world of PC gaming. For closing on two decades, Steam has been top dog for PC game digital distribution, but competition with the Epic Game Store over the last few years has stoked the debate about how much money of a game’s total selling price should go to developers and how much should go to the platform selling it.

Steam and its creator, Valve, has always used a 70/30 split, but pressure is building to provide more money to developers. Microsoft is the latest to add to this pressure; this move will make the Microsoft Store split 88/12. That means Microsoft taking in less than half of what Steam does in fees, a percentage that brings it in-line with the Epic Games Store.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. 

Halo Infinite Will Support Cross-Play and Cross-Progression

Microsoft has announced that Halo Infinite will support multiplayer cross-play and cross-progression across PC (on Microsoft Store and Steam), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Announced on Xbox Wire, the move is being pitched by Microsoft as a way of “building communities around games, not devices”, and will see customisation and game progress follow you across all platforms, as well as let you play with anyone on any available platform. As previously confirmed, multiplayer in Halo Infinite will be free-to-play.

Microsoft also revealed that the game will come with some popular PC features, including ultrawide and super ultrawide screen support, triple keybinds, advanced graphics options, and more.

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It’s another move from Microsoft that shows its interest in getting Xbox games onto multiple devices, with Phil Spencer recently going so far as to say console tribalism is “one of the worst things about” the video game industry.

Developer 343 is clearly taking a cross-platform version of Halo Infinite seriously, with an engineer recently explaining how the game is being optimised for multiple platforms. After a major delay, Halo Infinite has been looking much better in recent shots, and is set for a Fall 2021 release.

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Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Boost Your Graphic Design Skills With This Adobe Creative Cloud Training That You Pay What You Want For

Partner content by StackCommerce

Whether you want to work in an exciting creative field or complete your own fun design and video projects at home, Adobe Creative Cloud is the industry standard – so much so, that a whopping 90% of the whole world’s creative professionals use Adobe Photoshop. 

But did you know that you don’t need to train in an expensive and lengthy design school to learn how to use these powerful programs? Instead, you can actually learn Photoshop, video editing, After Effects, Illustrator, and more from home, in your own time with The Epic 2021 Adobe Creative Cloud Bundle of elearning courses. Even more excitingly, right now you can pay what you want for the bundle – which usually costs $1592. 

This mind-blowing value bundle includes eight epic courses with a regular value of $199 each. In the course Introduction To Adobe Photoshop CC, you’ll learn everything there is to know about the world’s best design software, while the 4.6/5 star rated Video Editing For Beginners using Adobe Premiere Pro CC course will turn you into a confident editor, even if you’re starting with zero skills. Then, you can develop your video skills further with the 4.3/5 star-rated Master Motion Graphics in Adobe After Effects, which will equip you with the skills you need to make great animations. 

To get the entire bundle, all you have to do is beat the average price paid by other users. If you pay anything at all, you’ll still get part of the bundle. If you pay the top price, you’ll earn a free entry into a giveaway sweepstakes.

All of the courses in this bundle are taught by SkillSuccess, the go-to hub for learning any skills at your own pace, and on any device. With more than 2000 curated courses and a team of experts in every field on hand to tutor you, SkillSuccess has even been featured on CNN, Entrepreneur, CNET, and more. 

Become a graphic designer today with The Epic 2021 Adobe Creative Cloud Bundle, on sale right now for a price you pick. 

Prices subject to change.

 


 

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This Cybersecurity Certification Training Just Dropped Its Price To Less Than $70 Today 

There’s never been a better – or more lucrative time – to become a cybersecurity professional. As the world moves online at rapid speed, more and more companies need trained experts to protect their data – and the average Cybersecurity Engineer salary in the US is between $120,000 to $200,000. 

You can equip yourself with valuable data protection skills today with The Complete 2021 CyberSecurity Super Bundle. Excitingly, today we’ve found it on sale for just $69.99 – that’s a jaw-dropping 99% off the regular price of $7080. 

This complete certification training bundle includes 24 different expert-led courses and a whopping 414 hours of content on everything from network, database, cloud, and project management security to specific training to pass the industry-recognized CompTIA exams and more. 

The tutoring in this elearning bundle, such as the GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) course, will set you up with a strong foundation in cybersecurity and an overview of awareness and prevention, before moving into in-depth detail on network security, database security, cloud security, and project management security, in the courses Mobile Security, Penetration Testing, Email Encryption (OpenPGP) and Eliminating Malware – and that’s just for starters. 

By the end of this training, you’ll not only be equipped with the latest techniques and knowledge in cybersecurity and data protection but you’ll also be prepped to pass the CompTIA exams – leaving you ready to either protect your own company or seek out exciting new job opportunities needing your new skills.

These courses are taught by iCollege, one of the world’s most trusted online learning academies. Teaching students in more than 120 countries around the world, iCollege is trusted by leading Silicon Valley tech organizations and Fortune 500 companies to equip their employees with the skills to take their work to the next level. 

Take the first step to an exciting new career in cybersecurity with The Complete 2021 CyberSecurity Super Bundle, on sale right now with 99% off, for just $69.99 (regular price $7080).  


 

The Complete 2021 CyberSecurity Super Bundle – $69.99

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Prices subject to change.

Pay What You Want For This Side Hustle Bootcamp

Partner content by StackCommerce

Stop trading your time for money. Setting up passive income streams online is not only the key to great wealth (dropshippers alone can make $100k a year), but it’s the key to freedom – meaning you can earn money while you sleep, allowing you the time and flexibility to do the things which really matter to you. 

For the book Rich Habits, which studied the habits of millionaires over a period of five years, author Tom Corley found that one of the keys to becoming a seriously wealthy individual is in having multiple income streams – and with the course The Complete 2021 Internet Side Business Bundle, you’ll learn how to set up more than seven different online passive income streams today – and the business secrets to making them successful. Right now the bundle, which is usually $1990, is on sale with a special Pay What You Want deal too. 

All you have to do is beat the average price to unlock the complete bundle. If you pay anything at all, you’ll still get a few of the courses. If you pay the top price, you’ll receive a free entry in a giveaway sweepstakes.

In the 4.5/5 rated course Start a Side Hustle: Make Money on the Side or Start a Business, you’ll learn the ins and outs of launching, growing, and scaling your online business, while in courses like the 4.7/5 rated The Complete Shopify Dropshipping Master Class, you’ll go step by step through everything you need to know to specifically become a successful dropshipper. By the end of the course, having your own Shopify store that converts. 

All of these courses are created by SkillSuccess and taught by accomplished entrepreneurs and leaders in their fields. SkillSuccess is the go-to hub for learning any skill online, with more than 2000 curated courses in its academy and having been featured on CNN, Mashable, TechRadar, and many more. 

Start earning your passive income today when you pick your price for The Complete 2021 Internet Side Business Bundle, on sale now for you to pay what you want (regular price $1990). 


 

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Prices subject to change.

Falcon/Winter Soldier Writer Emphasizes Bucky’s Heterosexuality, In Case You Missed It In The Show

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a long and troubling road in terms of queer representation onscreen. After Endgame’s director-insert “queer character,” where a nameless man played by a Russo brother bemoaned missing baseball and bad dates was officially noted as the “first” for the MCU in 2019, it seemed like there was nowhere to go but up. Some fans even started hoping that a show like Falcon and The Winter Soldier could be a chance for Marvel to make good and start to pay off the long-running fan reading of Bucky Barnes as a bisexual man.

This wish wasn’t without some grounds in the text of the show, and even the promotional material, which teased things like “relationship counseling” between Sam and Bucky.

The “rumors” of Bucky’s queer sexuality have existed for MCU fans as long as he’s been part of the cinematic universe. Like most fan theories, these readings of the character are rooted in tiny scraps of canon information–in this case, the bond between Bucky and Steve Rogers being the single biggest driving factor in Steve’s three-movie arc, until it was abruptly derailed during the Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame duology. However, despite the relationship’s rather unceremonious end in the movies, some fans have held out the hope that maybe, just maybe, a bisexual Bucky Barnes was still on the table for the MCU, even if the object of his affections wasn’t to be Steve.

These fan theories reached a crescendo during a scene early on in Falcon and The Winter Soldier when Bucky described his difficulties dating in the modern era. The grounds for the argument were a pretty major stretch–but fans who had been anxiously spinning up these diverse interpretations had been trying at it for a decade now, so stretches just come with the territory. The reasoning revolved around a throwaway line about scrolling past people posting selfies with tigers on dating apps, which could have implied that Bucky was scrolling past people of all genders, because since when are selfies with tigers a strictly feminine thing? But flimsy as that may have been, writer Malcolm Spellman decided to play coy.

When asked about the implications of the line and Bucky’s romantic life, Spellman teased the possibility in an interview with NME by giving a nonanswer. “I’m not diving down rabbit holes,” Spellman said, “but just keep watching…”

For queer fans, or fans of queer romance in pop culture, the “just keep watching” call to action is a familiar one. It’s professional short-hand for “the real answer is just going to disappoint you, but we don’t want you to give up on the show,” which is the core motivation in a practice called “queerbaiting.” Queerbaiting is exactly what it sounds like–characters in shows or movies will amass a massive queer fanbase, usually by design and carefully coded messages to imply sexualities or relationships–that the creatives never intend to actually pay off or canonize. However, rather than directly addressing or confirming that no queer subplots or romances will actually be established, creatives will continue to wink and tease (“bait”) them to their queer fanbases in hopes of their continued support and loyalty. Usually, this manifests in promotional material that is deliberately misleading or interviews where they tell fans to–you guessed it–just wait and see. Inevitably, those fans will do just that, only to reach the end of the story and see absolutely nothing.

Of course, Falcon and The Winter Soldier wound up much the same way. There was no “wait and see” moment for Bucky–if anything, his heterosexuality was emphasized even more as the show went on and he struck up a flirtatious friendship with Sam’s sister. Now, writer Kari Skogland has confirmed that Bucky being canonically bisexual was never on the table after all. In an interview with Variety, Skogland said, “what we were really more trying to display [with the dating app comment] was his complete lack of technical skills, as well as being part of any kind of community. He doesn’t fit. So that was I think more our intention there than try to point to any one particular affinity.”

But the “affection” between Sam and Bucky? That’s real–it’s just not supposed to point toward any one sexuality, Skoglan said. “So I’m not really sensitive to masculinity as any kind of barrier between that love, or how it should manifest. I’m completely fluid when it comes to any of that. So there’s no defined sexuality to any of it. So it’s, really, I think, just affection.”

Of course, there’s nothing to say that affectionate, non-sexual friendships between two men can’t exist in the MCU–but there certainly are a lot of them, and there are absolutely no queer characters onscreen in any of these movies or shows yet. Granted, that will hopefully change–Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie was “confirmed” to be queer in a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, but actual mention or reference to her sexuality has yet to make it onto the big or small screen in any way. Meanwhile, Bryan Tyree Henry’s Phastos in the much-delayed Eternals will, reportedly, be married to a man with whom he will share the MCU’s first on-screen queer kiss. But seeing that Eternals is still in the finishing stages according to director Chloe Zhao, and not due out until 2021, we really will just have to wait and see.

Jeff Goldblum To Play Elven Sorcerer In D&D Podcast

Actor Jeff Goldblum will be guest starring in an upcoming episode of the Dungeons & Dragons podcast Dark Dice. Goldblum will be role-playing as the elven sorcerer Balmur in the improvised audio drama, and is set to be one of five player-characters. The season featuring Goldblum, which is titled The Long March, is set to launch on May 12.

As of this writing, it’s unclear whether Goldblum will be making a one-off appearance, or be sticking around for a longer campaign. Dark Dice bills itself as a “horror actual-play D&D podcast that uses immersive soundscapes to create an added layer of immersion… [as adventurers] journey into the ruinous domain of the nameless god.”

Goldblum should be brilliant on the podcast, as the actor has a well-deserved reputation for performing with absolute commitment and a penchant for eccentric characters–an admirable trait that seems not far off from the man’s actual personality. His quirky, curious side is on full display on the Disney+ series, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, in which he journeys into various subcultures–Season 1 of the show debuted in 2019, and had deep dives full of strange digressions in his interviews with people deeply into video games, ice cream, and sneakers. That show was picked up for a second season in early 2020.

The next big upcoming release featuring Goldblum is Jurassic World: Dominion, which is due out June 10. Its plot is still heavily under wraps, but we know the story has been “tweaked” to reflect COVID-19 and will similarly emphasize the real world by using more practical effects than previous films in the franchise.

Security Breach Fury’s Rage Gameplay

There are four playable characters including Freddie, Monty, Roxanne, and Chica. In this gameplay clip we play through the first two levels as Freddie and Monty. You can download the game today for free if you want to check it out.

https://gamejolt.com/games/furysrage/611180