Author: Trafficblast

In the first Kombat Kast livestream since the reveal of the upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat 11, the NetherRealm team unveiled that Kabal is returning to the roster. In addition, D’Vorah was announced to be another returning character during the Inside Xbox stream. However, it may come as a disappointment to some that NetherRealm confirmed Shaggy of Scooby Doo fame will not be a guest character, regardless of how loud you scream the memes.

Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon himself got in on the meme when he tweeted a fan art mock up of “Hack and Slash Shaggy variation” hitting Scorpion with a brutal knee. But today during the Kombat Kast, community manager Tyler Lansdown stated, “Shaggy will not be in the game, ever, sorry, dead meme!” The series has a strong history of bringing in guest characters with the likes of Leatherface and Jason, but Shaggy will not be using any percentage of his power for Mortal Kombat 11.

If you’re not caught up on what’s going on with the latest sequel in the long-running franchise, be sure to check out every character confirmed so far, our compilation of fatalities of the initial seven announced characters, or see all the wild things happening in Mortal Kombat 11’s story mode. We also caught up with Ed Boon during the reveal event to pick his brain about how fatalities are made and what microtransactions will look like for the game.

Props to everyone who tried to let their memes not be dreams. Mortal Kombat 11 is set to launch on April 23 this year for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Video game giant Electronic Arts reported earnings today for its fiscal third quarter ended December 31, and it could have gone better during the all-important holiday period. While EA did post gains in revenue and profit, the company said in its official remarks that it was a “difficult quarter” that saw the company fail to meet its commercial expectations.

CFO Blake Jorgensen said in prepared remarks that 2018 was a “tumultuous” year for the gaming industry overall. Though he did not share any specifics, he might have been referring to the way in which the absolute juggernaut Fortnite shook up the industry in the past year. Not only that, but Red Dead Redemption 2‘s release in October might have impacted sales of EA’s games.

While it might not have been the quarter EA wanted, Jorgensen said EA is “making adjustments to improve execution and we’re refocusing on R&D.” EA CEO Andrew Wilson said the company is looking to “sharpen” its execution going forward.

One title that struggled during the period was Battlefield 5. The World War II shooter sold a massive 7.3 million copies, but this was 1 million shy of what EA expected. For more on this underperformance, you can check out this story that explains the downturn.

EA just recently launched the free-to-play Titanfall battle royale game Apex Legends, and it’s off to a fantastic start with 2.5 million players and 600,000 concurrent users after just one day. Beyond that, EA will launch BioWare’s new game, Anthem, later in February, and it’s expected to sell as many as 6 million copies by the end of March. Additionally, EA is working on new Plants vs. Zombies and Need for Speed games, along with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for this year. On top of that, more Titanfall is coming, while all of the usual sports games are expected as well.

This is all to say that while EA’s latest financial quarter might not have been the rosiest, the company is still doing just fine and it has a pipeline of major titles in the works. It made $1.29 billion in revenue over the three-month period and a profit of $262 million; both figures are up year-over-year. Despite those gains, EA’s stock price is free-falling; it’s down more than 15 percent in after-hours trading currently.

Electronic Arts has offered a tease about bringing a subscription service to a new platform, and it could be EA Access for PlayStation 4. During the company’s latest earnings call, management said, “In the year ahead we plan to offer a subscription service on another major platform.”

No further specifics were divulged, but EA Access for PlayStation 4 lines up with the tease. It is one of EA’s subscription services, and PS4 certainly is a “major platform.”

EA Access launched in 2014 on Xbox One, before coming to PC in 2016 under the name Origin Access. A Sony representative said in 2014 that EA Access “does not bring the kind of value PlayStation customers have come to expect.”

“We don’t think asking our fans to pay an additional $5 a month for this EA-specific program represents good value to the PlayStation gamer,” Sony said at the time.

That’s a hard line against EA Access, but Sony also initially refused to allow cross-play before eventually allowing it for Fortnite and later Rocket League. Things can change.

Reached for comment, an EA representative told GameSpot that the company has “no further details to share at this point” regarding the tease made during the earnings call. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.

EA Access is a subscription service that, for $5/ month or $30/year, gets subscribers access to a growing library of free games, along with discounts on all EA digital content. Not only that, but members can play EA’s upcoming games ahead of time. Because no version of EA Access is on PS4, it’s the only platform where the game is unplayable perform launch. There are also perks like bonuses in new EA games like Apex Legends.

EA is also working on a new streaming subscription service of its own as part of its ridiculously ambitious-sounding Project Atlas platform. However, the comment from the earnings call about the subscription service coming to “another” platform suggests it’s an existing service not a new one.

Would you be interested in EA Access on PS4? Let us know in the comments below!

Microsoft has announced a nice new deal for Sea of Thieves that lets you invite friends to play for free for a limited time. If you own the game–or possess an active Xbox Game Pass subscription–you can gift copies of the pirate-themed game to three people, who can then play for free until February 13.

The offer starts on February 6. All you need to do is visit the Sea of Thieves website to grab your codes. After the promotion ends on February 13, anyone who received free play codes can purchase the game permanently at a 35% discount. Note your friends will need an Xbox Live Gold subscription to play on either Xbox One or PC.

Developer Rare has also teased “big news” for Sea of Thieves scheduled for its one-year anniversary on March 20. The company has continued to support the multiplayer adventure since launch last year with all sorts of free DLC.

Elsewhere in today’s Inside Xbox briefing, Microsoft revealed the free February Xbox Game Pass titles. Crackdown 3 is the headliner of the month, and like other first-party games it will be included on its release date, February 15, for Game Pass subscribers. Shadow of the Tomb Raider and more will also be added as the month progresses.

February is upon us, and Microsoft has announced the next round of Game Pass games that will hit the service for Xbox One over the coming month. This is the shortest of all months but the company still has plenty of games slated for its all-you-can-eat games subscription service.

Crackdown 3 is the headliner of the month, and like other first-party games it will be included on its release date, February 15, for Game Pass subscribers. As you may expect if you’ve played other Crackdowns, you’re a super-powered agent taking on a gang-filled city. This one adds the new Wrecking Zone 5v5 multiplayer mode. We recently had a look at it and came away surprised.

The rest of the month is no slouch. Hot on the heels of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, which was added on January 31, you can play Shadow of the Tomb Raider on February 7. Since Rise of the Tomb Raider is already on the service too, that makes the whole trilogy right available to play through from start to finish.

The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season is also coming on February 7, as is Pumped BMX Pro. Then on February 14, De Blob will be added to the service. Finally, on February 21, Batman: Return to Arkham brings back Arkham Asylum and Arkham City with all of their post-launch content, and enhanced for Xbox One X to boot.

These all join the growing library of Game Pass games, which includes a wide array of Xbox One games, along with a handful of Xbox 360 and original Xbox games playable through backwards compatibility. Check out the full Game Pass listing, and see below for a handy list of notable dates this month.

February Game Pass Games

• Shadow of the Tomb Raider – February 7
• The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season – February 7
• Pumped BMX Pro – February 7
• De Blob – February 14
• Crackdown 3 – February 15
• Batman: Return to Arkham – February 21

Major game publishers rarely share unit sales figures or projections publicly, but that happened today when EA announced how many copies it expects BioWare’s Anthem to sell right away.

CFO Blake Jorgensen said EA is modeling sales of 5-6 million units by the end of March. Anthem launches on February 15, so this would only represent sales for about a month and a half. Lifetime sales could end up being higher. Jorgensen said the popularity of the recent Anthem demo gives EA confidence that Anthem will perform well commercially when it launches.

Not only that, but management said it expects Anthem to make even more money from its microtransactions, which EA calls “live services.” It’s too soon to say how lucrative Anthem’s live service component might be, however, EA acknowledged.

People who played the Anthem demo discovered placeholder pages for Anthem’s microtransactions, with some players expressing concerns about the pricing. EA responded in a Reddit post by saying nothing is decided yet.

“We are iterating on our economy design and balance almost daily, so you’re seeing a snapshot of one iteration. This is why we tend to not discuss things like pricing, because it’s one of those iterative things that’s sure to change frequently right up until the day you play the game,” BioWare said.

In other news, EA announced that Battlefield 5 failed to meet the company’s sales targets. The game sold 7.3 million copies, and while that it a massive figure that most games will never achieve, it was 1 million units short of EA’s expectations.

Microsoft has announced two more Xbox One bundles that join the already-massive array of hardware bundles that the company offers. As part of the Inside Xbox broadcast today, Microsoft announced that Anthem and The Division 2 are getting Xbox One bundles.

The Anthem Xbox One S bundle comes 1 TB white system, matching white controller, and a copy of Anthem’s Legion of Dawn Edition. This includes armor packs, a weapon, and other bonuses. Also included in the package are one-month trials for EA Access, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Live Gold. The bundle arrives at retailers alongside Anthem on February 22; it’s priced at $300 USD.

As for The Division 2, it’s getting bundles for Xbox One X and Xbox One. The $500 USD Xbox One X edition comes with a 1 TB black console and a matching controller, as well as a copy of the game’s standard edition. It also comes with a one-month trial for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. The $300 USD Xbox One edition comes with a 1 TB white system and a matching white controller, as well as a copy of the game’s standard edition. It also includes one-month trials for Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold. Both go on sale March 16 alongside the game.

These new Xbox One bundles for Anthem and The Division 2 join the existing lineup of Xbox One hardware bundles featuring games like Battlefield V, NBA 2K19, Forza Horizon 4, Fallout 76, PUBG, and others.

Some of Microsoft’s other Inside Xbox announcements today included the re-branding of Microsoft Game Studios as Xbox Game Studios, a new Xbox One controller colour, and a free event for Sea of Thieves, among other things.