Author: Trafficblast

Sea of Thieves developer Rare has pledged to support the swashbuckling adventure game for a long time to come, but could one a battle royale mode be part of that? Design director Mike Chapman and studio head Craig Duncan addressed that in a new interview with Game Informer. Chapman started off by saying Rare–like pretty much all other developers on the planet–are aware of the battle royale phenomenon. And while there may be “opportunities” to do a battle royale-style mode within Sea of Thieves, Rare would want to put its own “unique Sea of Thieves” spin on it.

“We see the battle royale thing, but I think there will be opportunities to do that kind of thing differently,” he said. “It’s interesting where you can take PvP in the game, but we’d want to put a unique Sea of Thieves spin on it and do something completely surprising.”

For his part, Duncan said Rare doesn’t want to simply copy what other games have done. “It’s not about taking something that works super well in another game, and going, ‘Hey, let’s start everyone in a Sea of Thieves map from different points and have you all come together.'”

Also in the interview, Chapman acknowledged that one of the biggest pieces of feedback about Sea of Thieves is that players enjoy what’s there but they want more. He said he’s excited to deliver more content to players through the Cursed Sails and Forsaken Shores expansions coming this year. They add new ships, items, and new ways to explore the world.

Chapman said Rare’s overall guiding principle when it comes to new Sea of Thieves content is, “We want to keep doing these kinds of unexpected things that only we can do.”

For lots more on Sea of Thieves, check out GameSpot’s own interview with Chapman and other Rare developers. Among other things, they speak about the feedback they’ve received from fans, and just how far the game has come since release. Here’s the full interview.

Given the battle royale genre’s massive popularity today, it would be no surprise to see Rare attempt something in an effort to draw more players in. It’s good to hear the studio would do it with its own spin, but it remains to be seen what that looks like and if it will ever happen. Big-name games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and Battlefield V will have battle royale modes, too.

Fortnite‘s newest limited time mode, Playground, will leave the game on Thursday, July 12, developer Epic Games has announced. Writing on Reddit, the developer said it appreciates all the feedback players have provided about this mode. It’s going away so Epic can “take it back under construction” before presumably bringing it back with some changes.

The next version of Playground is expected to feature new functionality that will allow players to select teams from within Playground. If Epic can deliver this, it will give players the ability to have things like:

• 1v1s and 2v2s
• Aim assist for controllers
• Editing other player’s structures
• Traps affecting teammates/enemies correctly
• Highlighting teammates on the map
• Damaging enemies with your pickaxe

Epic said it hopes to deliver a “full creative mode” inside Fortnite someday, and Playground is the “first step” towards that.

Playground is intended to be a “low-pressure environment” that acts much like a private server. It allows players to explore the map and play around with up to three friends, free from the risk of being eliminated by other people.

Each Playground match lasts for one hour, and the storm circle won’t begin closing in on the map until 55 minutes have passed. Friendly fire is enabled, although players will respawn immediately unless eliminated by the storm. There’s also much more loot to find, and it affords opportunities to screw around with the game that you could not in a regular match. Check out GameSpot’s video above to see what you can do in Playground.

Grand Theft Auto V developer Rockstar Games’ next project, Red Dead Redemption 2, is expected to be one of the biggest and best-selling games of 2018. But it’s not going to sell as well as Rockstar’s last game, GTA V, according to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. Speaking to GI.biz, Zelnick said it would be unrealistic to think Red Dead Redemption 2–or any other game–would sell as well as GTA V. That game has shifted an astonishing 95 million units to become one of the most successful entertainment products of any kind in human history. Red Dead Redemption 2 will still do “incredibly well,” Zelnick said, even if it doesn’t match GTA V’s sales mark.

“It’s hard to expect anything to perform as well as the most profitable entertainment product of all time,” Zelnick said. “I don’t think that’s a realistic expectation. Our hope, and also belief, is that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be an extraordinary creative product and that it will do incredibly well. Beyond that I can’t say–I don’t think anyone can say. We have to release it and see what consumers think.”

Red Dead Redemption 1, which launched in 2010, was a massive success. It sold 13 million copies as of 2013, and that figure has no doubt risen higher since. Take-Two does not release sales projections, but one analyst believes Red Dead Redemption 2 will sell at least 15 million units.

In April this year, one analyst said Rockstar may never have a bigger hit than Grand Theft Auto V when it comes to sales. “Michael Jackson had a lot of hit albums but he only had one ‘Thriller,'” analyst Doug Creutz said.

Red Dead Redemption 2 launches at the end of October amid a busy release calendar for big-name games. Other huge games coming out in October and November include Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and Fallout 76, among others. Zelnick told GI.biz that while he is confident Red Dead Redemption 2 will sell well, he’s not going to claim success before it’s occured.

“We’re running scared too,” he said. “I think a healthy degree of paranoia and insecurity about releases is probably a good thing. I’m fond of saying that arrogance is the enemy of continued success. We don’t believe in our success until we deliver it. We never claim victory until it’s occurred. We have very powerful, smart, capable competitors bringing great products to market and we need to win–that means we have to work harder than the next guy.”

For lots more on Red Dead Redemption 2, check out all of GameSpot’s previous written and video coverage here.

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