GameNama Weekly #23
Ali Hasan February 25, 2023
Welcome back to Gameutha.com’s GameNama Weekly, where we bring you the latest and greatest in gaming news every single week! In this week’s roundup, we have updates for the next Mortal Kombat game which is coming sooner than expected, an exciting new partnership between Nintendo and Microsoft, and some impressive sales figures for Hogwarts Legacy. Also in this week’s coverage are fresh new details for Rocksteady’s next outing; Suicide Squad. For this and much more, continue reading!
Table of Contents
Mortal Kombat 12 to Release This Year
Mortal Kombat 11 was released nearly four years ago. The game saw tremendous support with several DLC packs and native PS5/Xbox Series X|S versions. Developer NetherRealm Studious ceased development for the title in 2021 when it was announced that the studio had moved on to a new project. While there was never any doubt that this project was the next entry in the Mortal Kombat series, a recent leak from an earnings call over at Warner Brothers Discovery confirmed it.
Andrew Slabin, Warner Bros. Discovery’s executive vice president of global investor strategy confirmed in a recent earnings call that Mortal Kombat 12 is slated for 2023. He added that apart from Mortal Kombat 12 there are also several other games that will release within the 2023-2024 fiscal year. Mortal Kombat 12 is currently without a release date.
Hogwarts Legacy Sells 12 Million Copies in Two Weeks
Hogwarts Legacy opened earlier this month to near-universal praise. The Harry Potter RPG fulfilled the Wizarding World fantasy many have dreamed of for years. It’s no surprise that then that the game sold a whopping 12 million plus copies in the two weeks it’s been out equating to roughly $850 million in revenue. For comparison, God of War Ragnarök sold 11 million units in three months while Elden Ring sold 20 million units in one year.
Warner Bros. Games also shared additional statistics about the game. Over 152 million hours have been logged across all platforms. Players have spent this time growing a total of 393 magical plants, brewing 242 million potions, and defeating 1.25 billion dark wizards. Given the copious amounts of success, the publisher is now looking to turn Hogwarts Legacy into a long-term franchise which means that a sequel and/or DLC will more than likely get greenlit. For our full review of Hogwarts Legacy, click here.
Blumhouse Sets Up New Horror Games Division
Horror games have seen a massive surge in popularity over the last few years and with the likes of the Silent Hill 2 remake (and the plethora of other Silent Hill projects) releasing in a few month’s time and the recent return of Dead Space, this trend only looks to continue going forward. It is no surprise then that Blumhouse Productions, the studio behind massive horror hits like 2017’s Get Out and 2022’s M3GAN has set up its own horror game division; Blumhouse Games.
Blumhouse Games will be led by Zach Wood and will work more like a publisher than a developer. The company will work with Indie developers to create “immersive” indie horror games with production budgets of less than $10 million. No specific projects have been announced yet.
Microsoft Signs 10-Year Agreement with Nintendo
As Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues to garner strict scrutiny from competition agencies and some gaming entities (mostly Sony) Microsoft has been working hard to build up some goodwill to secure the deal. Signing a 10-year contract that stipulates that every major Activision game going forward will be released onto Nintendo consoles seems to be the first step.
Microsoft’s president and vice chairman Brad Smith announced the news last Tuesday. The contract is “binding” according to him and will see every major Activision game, including Call of Duty make its way onto the Nintendo Switch and any future hardware release. These releases will be day and date on Nintendo platforms and will have content parity across the board.
Resident Evil 4 to Receive Free VR Mode for PS VR2
The Resident Evil 4 Remake is just one month out and anticipation has been mounting as the release date gets closer. In a recent tweet by the Japanese Twitter account of the game, it was revealed that development on Resident Evil 4’s VR content has begun. While no other details were provided it was confirmed that it will be released as a free DLC for the PS VR2 system. The VR mode will not be released for the original PS VR despite there being a PS4 version of Resident Evil 4 Remake.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to be a Live Service Title
The next game from Rocksteady, the studio behind the Batman Arkham trilogy received a developer deep dive in the latest State of Play Presentation, which confirmed that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be a live service game featuring four-player co-op and a battle pass system. The game sees Amanda Waller recruit Task Force X in order to take down the Justice League as they become possessed by the villainous Brainiac. For our full coverage of the latest Suicide Squad trailer and developer deep dive, click here.
That’s all for this week! Tune in next week right here on Gameutha.com to stay updated on the latest developments in the gaming world.
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