The Callisto Protocol is coming in just a few short days, and already we’re pretty pumped up about it here at DualShockers, if our news coverage wasn’t enough of an indication. And what better way is there to celebrate an upcoming AAA game in this modern age than having its contents leaked online ahead of launch? We’re not sure, but as with most major releases, that’s what happened again this time, as 13 minutes of footage has surfaced. So, if you’re trying to experience the sci-fi horror without spoilers, stay vigilant until its launch on Friday, December 2.
Not all news is good news, though as fans seem pretty upset that they won’t get all the gory details of the game unless they can climb over the paywall. We learned this past week that in order to see all the brutal animations, you’ll have to purchase the game’s season pass to unlock the “Riot Bundle.” We also now know just what system requirements the game is going to need to run well on PC, and we even got a fun little note from Character Director Glauco Longhi about how cartoon characters, including the iconic SpongeBob SquarePants, have had an influence on the game’s animation.
Big Player Numbers Abound
A lot of games put up some hefty numbers this week, and the gamer community is looking simply massive. Special recognition goes out to Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, which exceeded sales of 10 million units in its first three days since launch, setting a record not just for Pokémon games, but Nintendo games in general (although things are admittedly slowing down). It seems all the leaked footage, glitches, and performance complaints in the world can’t keep the world’s biggest entertainment IP down, even of Nintendo has reportedly agreed to refund players who were dissatisfied with the state of the games at launch.
But 10 million isn’t even the biggest number this week, as the free-to-play Warzone 2.0 has exceeded 25 million users in a five-day span, and gaming service Steam has seen a record number of 31 million users all gaming at once. Meanwhile, God of War: Ragnarok has been building up impressive sales stats of its own. With 5.1 million copies sold in its first week from launch, the juggernaut has placed itself atop the throne as PlayStation’s fastest-selling launch title.
And The Announcements Are …
December is almost upon us, and with it comes the most magical time of the year: The Game Awards. As with previous years, it seems like a lot of publishers and developers are holding their tongues on their upcoming projects to make them coincide with the annual event. There’s a rumor that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will finally have a release date announced on awards day, December 8. Arriving fashionably early, Dead Island 2 is also due for a big reveal of its gameplay, and we should also get a peek at Lost Between Worlds, the newest DLC addition to Far Cry 6, sometime this week.
Another Decade Of Call Of Duty On PlayStation?
And lastly, while Microsoft continues its ever-ongoing struggle to acquire Activision-Blizzard in the most expensive gaming deal of all time, the tech giant seems to have sent an offer to PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan to keep Call of Duty running on both consoles for the next decade, whereas Ryan had previously said the offer was only good for three years, which he had found inadequate. That would be a big step towards verifying Xbox Head Phil Spencer’s previous comments about his commitment to keeping the shooter franchise available on PlayStation in the event of XBox’s acquisition, so we’ll be keeping out eyes peeled to see how the two console companies can coincide moving forward.
