Author: Trafficblast

Earlier this week, publisher Deep Silver announced it will offer the PC version of Metro Exodus exclusively through the Epic Games Store–a move that Valve, the company behind Steam, decried as “unfair.” Deep Silver parent company THQ Nordic GmbH tried to distance itself from the controversial decision, and now its parent company–THQ Nordic AB–has issued a response in support of the move.

Following the announcement that Metro Exodus would be skipping Steam, THQ Nordic took to Twitter to explain it had no involvement in the decision. “The decision to publish Metro Exodus as a timed Epic Store exclusive was made entirely on Koch Media’s side as Metro is their intellectual property. They are a sister company of THQ Nordic (Vienna), which is the reason why we can and will not comment on this matter,” the company wrote.

In a follow-up tweet, THQ Nordic said: “We do not want to categorically exclude the possibility of timed exclusives for any of our games in the future, but speaking in the here and now, we definitely want to have the players choose the platform of their liking and make our portfolio available to as many outlets as possible.”

Now, THQ Nordice AB, which owns THQ Nordic GmbH, released a statement of its own supporting Deep Silver’s decision. “I believe it’s in the group’s, and ultimately the consumers’, best interest that business decisions are made close to the market and this is the group’s consistent business model,” CEO Lars Wingefors said. “I firmly believe that Deep Silver and Koch Media have carefully considered the advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and risks in their decision to go solely with Epic Games Store. The decision has my full support.”

Metro Exodus was available to pre-order on Steam before Deep Silver decided to bring it exclusively to the Epic Games Store, and while it is no longer available on Valve’s storefront, any Steam pre-orders will still be honored. According to Deep Silver CEO Klemens Kundratitz, Epic’s more appealing revenue split–the storefront gives developers 88% of their revenue while Epic only takes 12%–was one of the deciding factors behind the move.

“Epic’s generous revenue terms are a game changer that will allow publishers to invest more into content creation, or pass on savings to the players,” Kundratitz said. Indeed, in the US, the PC version of Metro Exodus will retail for $50–$10 cheaper than the $60 price tag the game carried on Steam while it was still available.

Metro Exodus isn’t the only big game skipping Steam entirely. Ubisoft recently announced that The Division 2 will likewise only be available through the Epic Games Store, in addition to its own storefront.

Blizzard has announced a new map for Overwatch is now live on the PC test servers. Called Paris, the new map takes place in the French city.

Paris is a new Assault map and it contains many narrow streets and corridors. Despite taking place in the city of love, the new map looks as if it’s structured to funnel players into fierce firefights as they battle it out for capture points. Noticeable landmarks on the Paris map are the Cabaret Luna, the Pâtisserie Galand, and the Maison Marat–a palace in the center of the city.

Overwatch’s latest event, the annual Lunar New Year celebration, is still live across all systems. Modeled after Chinese culture, each celebration adds new content to Overwatch that makes reference to the country’s historical and cultural figures. This year’s event, titled the Year of the Pig, will continue until February 8.

The Year of the Pig event largely pays homage to Chinese generals and famous figures during the Han dynasty, especially with all its new skins. For example, Reaper, Hanzo, Reinhardt, Torbjor, Zenyatta, and Tracer have new Lu Bu, Huang Zhong, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and Hong Gildong skins respectively. Orisa also has a new Epic Sanye skin, and Brigitte has a new Epic General skin. Past Overwatch Lunar New Year event skins are available again too.

The Lunar New Year also brings along a patch and balance changes. There’s nothing major, although armor now works a little bit differently. Damage reduction is now only -3 instead of -5, so you will see a difference when shooting armored targets with heroes that have burst-fire attacks. Previously, automatic weapons had a noticeable advantage over burst-fire when shooting armored targets, but now the latter should perform a lot better.

Overwatch is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Although Paris is only live on PC’s test server, it will make its way onto other platforms eventually. To access the test server, go to the Battle.net client and click on the drop-down menu for Region/Account. From there, you’ll see an option to install the test server.

You may recognize Kotaro Uchikoshi from his work directing the Zero Escape games (999, Virtue’s Last Reward, and Zero Time Dilemma), and you might be familiar with Spike Chunsoft’s murder mystery series Danganronpa. But it appears they’re making a somewhat unexpected move related to their next game. They’re promoting their own virtual pop idol and influencer. What a time to be alive.

Iris Sagan, also referred to by her stage names A-set or Tesa, is said to be an important character in Uchikoshi’s and Spike Chunsoft’s upcoming game AI: The Somnium Files. It’s worth noting that her design comes from artist Yusuke Kozaki, who is best known for his character designs in Fire Emblem Awakening (including Fates and Heroes) and the No More Heroes series.

Apparently Iris a big-time streamer, internet pop star, and 18 year-old high school student all at the same time. And it seems that she has an active Twitter account alongside a video in which Uchikoshi-san himself comically introduces A-set, followed by a sort of music video that features her dancing and singing to an original song (feel free to see for yourself below).

I’d like to consider myself a bit of an authority on digital pop idols as I still believe Rise Kujikawa (Persona 4) and Hatsune Miku to be the gold standards–so, my fandom sets the bar is set pretty high. But I won’t write off Iris (or A-set) quite yet, especially if this ties into a larger narrative for AI: The Somnium Files.

AI: The Somnium Files was first revealed during a panel at Anime Expo 2018, and Iris was first introduced as a key character. Not much has been said about the game itself, but it shares similarities to the developers’ previous games; you’ll play as Kaname Date and investigate a series of murders which will involve solving puzzles and gathering evidence that hopefully lead to sound conclusions. It’s set to launch for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC sometime this year.