Author: Trafficblast

During EA’s recent financial earnings call, publisher CFO Blake Jorgensen revealed that Apex Legends, Respawn Entertainment’s free-to-play battle royale game, will launch on new platforms followings its impressive growth since its launch. Released back in early 2019, Apex Legends is a spin-off of Respawn’s Titanfall series. Instead of giant mecha combat, Apex Legends is a squad-based battle royale game that focuses on squad-based tactics on a large-scale map.

Currently, Apex Legends is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Last May, it was announced that Apex Legends would make its way to Mobile (iOS and Android). However, it has yet to release on other platforms as of this time. The timing for this is especially convenient, as Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Scarlett, the successors to the PS4 and Xbox One, respectively, are expected to release in Fall 2020. In addition to Apex Legends, EA will also publish a new Battlefield game during the fiscal year of 2022, which was also revealed during the earnings call.

Since its debut, Apex Legends has become one of EA’s more popular games, reaching up to 70 million registered players. During the financial earnings call, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen stated that Apex Legends would become one of the publisher’s vital online games going forward. In addition to new content for the game, which has already seen new characters, weapons, and maps in its first year alone, Apex Legends will also launch on new platforms during the 2021 fiscal year.

Recently, Apex Legends launched new content in the form of its Season 3 update, which introduced a brand new character and map to fight on. During the call, Jorgensen praised Apex Legends’ growth since its launch. The CFO also expressed that the free-to-play model, which focuses on regular content drops, will become a key part of their strategy moving forward.

A new entry in the Battlefield series is in the works. During its latest fiscal earnings call, EA confirmed that a new Battlefield game is in development for next-gen consoles, and it’s launching sometime before March 2022.

EA hasn’t shared any concrete details about the new Battlefield game, but it did tease that the title will be “targeting new innovation that will be enabled by next-gen platforms.” The company also confirmed the title will ship sometime in fiscal year 2022, which runs from April 2021 to March 2022.

Speaking further about the game during the Q&A portion of the call, EA said “The goal of Battlefield for [fiscal year 2022] is to really take advantage of a larger install base of the new consoles. Bringing out Battlefield next year, where the new console base is fairly small, doesn’t really give justice to the potential of the title, and so that’s part of our driver in moving the title into fiscal 22.”

In the meantime, EA still has plans to support Battlefield V. The game’s 5.0 update arrives on October 31 and takes players to the Pacific Theater of World War II, which includes two new maps–Pacific Storm and Iwo Jima–along with new weapons, vehicles, and other gameplay changes. EA says it will “add new content and new ways to play” Battlefield V in fiscal year 2021.

Battlefield V launched on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in November 2018. GameSpot awarded it an 8/10 in our Battlefield V review. Critic Michael Higham wrote, “The Battlefield series has a winning formula that Battlefield V doesn’t deviate far from, at least for now. Conquest and the map roster don’t mesh well together, however, Grand Operations–and the other modes within it–steal the show and foster some of the greatest moments the franchise has offered.”

This is a spoiler-free advance review of Apple TV Plus’ For All Mankind, starring Joel Kinnaman. The first three episodes of the series will be available to stream on Apple TV Plus on Friday, November 1, with episodes rolling out weekly thereafter. For more from Apple, check out our reviews of Apple TV Plus’ See, The Morning Show, and Dickinson premieres.

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Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monae) comforts Harriet Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) after she returns to Maryland for her husband John (Zackary Momoh), only to discover he has remarried after her escape to freedom. “What’s a man to a woman touched by God?” Marie points out, a statement that’s appropriate to a woman whose faith guided her in her riskiest journeys. In Harriet, co-written and directed by Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Talk to Me), we follow the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor. Despite its standout performances, the film suffers from a formulaic delivery.

The story begins in 1849 in Bucktown, Maryland, where Araminta “Minty” (née Ross) Tubman is still enslaved while her husband John is a free man. When the son of her owner puts up ads to sell her, she escapes without John. She successfully makes it 100 miles to Philadelphia and meets William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), an abolitionist who introduces her the Underground Railroad – a network of safehouses and allies to leverage for the journey to free states. Assuming the new free name Harriet, Tubman becomes a conductor for the network, freeing over 70 enslaved people (including her friends and family.)

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Ahead of its quarterly earnings call, EA released the financial results for its latest quarter in a press release. Though there are notable highlights for several of EA’s sports games, Apex Legends also made a big splash in the quarter by reaching 70 million players.

“The strong results this quarter illustrate the power of our live services and our core franchises,” EA COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen said. “Strength in Ultimate Team, The Sims 4, and FIFA Online drove live services performance above our expectations. Looking ahead, we are doubling down on live services combined with our core franchises. We’re investing in games that people play for longer and engage with much more deeply. This focus will continue to drive growth and profitability for the company through the remainder of this year and beyond.”

Existing in the same universe as Titanfall and Titanfall 2, Respawn’s battle royale, Apex Legends, has had a busy nine months. The game hit 1 million players within the first eight hours of being released, which increased to 2.5 million after a day and 25 million in a week. Apex Legends Season 2: Battle Charge saw the battle royale game’s map undergo significant changes and the addition of limited-time events. Season 3: Meltdown upped that with a whole new map and the first of Apex Legends’ holiday-themed celebrations: Fight or Fright.

EA is primed to go into the next quarter with several new games already announced. The most significant is another game by Respawn, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on November 15. Need for Speed: Heat–which implements some welcome changes to its predecessor’s formula–is also on its way, as is a new Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 releases on Nintendo Switch this Thursday, and for those looking to get their hands on Nintendo’s latest game, the best deal may be at Walmart. As with other recent releases, Luigi’s Mansion 3 will be on sale for $49.94 at Walmart stores right at launch, according to deals site Cheap Ass Gamer. Unfortunately, these discounts don’t usually extend to Walmart.com, so to save $10 on Luigi’s Mansion 3 this Halloween, you’ll need to drive to your local Walmart store.

This is the latest in a continuing pattern of release-day deals at Walmart, with major games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, The Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses getting the same in-store treatment. While other stores like Amazon or Best Buy will frequently price match any discounts posted online, the in-store release-day deals remain a Walmart-specific tactic that’s shown no sign of stopping.

Nintendo’s spooky adventure earned an 8/10 in GameSpot’s Luigi’s Mansion 3 review. Critic Kevin Knezevic took issue with some aiming issues and cumbersome puzzles, but he praised Luigi’s satisfying new abilities and the collectible-filled hotel you never want to stop exploring.

“The strength of the Luigi’s Mansion series has always stemmed from the satisfaction of exploring its carefully constructed settings, and in that regard Luigi’s Mansion 3 certainly succeeds,” he wrote. “The game may not radically diverge from the series’ formula, but it offers up another meticulously crafted set of challenges to overcome while smoothing out some of the issues that held Dark Moon back, and the sense of accomplishment you feel when you clear a particularly head-scratching obstacle is just as potent now as the first time Luigi unwillingly strapped a vacuum to his back and stepped into a haunted mansion.”

And for those of us without a Walmart store nearby, never fear–you can still take advantage of this free, printable, and absolutely terrifying Gooigi mask from Nintendo.