Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

Here they are, the Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Anthem sold 5 million copies, which sounds good until you compare it to Star Wars: Battlefront
https://www.pcgamer.com/anthem-sold-5-million-copies-which-sounds-good-until-you-compare-it-to-star-wars-battlefront/
It's generally understood that Anthem was a failure for developer BioWare. It was a developmental nightmare. It reviewed poorly. It fell short of its sales target of 6 million copies by the end of March 2019. And EA ultimately decided to pull the plug on the live-service game two years after launch. But the specifics of its commercial shortcomings haven't been clear, until now.
On Twitter, eagle-eyed "video game enthusiast" Timur222 posted an image from the LinkedIn page of Alexandre Scriabine, formerly EA's senior manager of global marketing strategy. Summarising his achievements during that job, Scriabine lists the social media views and, crucially, sales figures of numerous games that he worked on.
It won't shock you to hear that Anthem is at the bottom of the list, with "2M units sold week one, 5M lifetime." In other words, its lifetime sales fell short of the target set for the game's first full month. What's especially telling is the time gap between the first figure and the second. Anthem clearly had a decent first week, especially when you consider, as Scriabine notes, it was "EA's first new franchise in a decade". But sales fell off sharply as everyone realised how underwhelming it was, taking a further two years to sell another three million, which likely explains why EA pulled the plug.
Moreover, the figures Scriabine provides for other EA games add stark perspective. Scriabine says that Battlefield 1 sold "21M units" in its first year, more than four times what Anthem managed in two, and that Jedi Fallen Order sold 10 million units (no context there, but those are presumably lifetime sales). The real big hitters, though, were EA's Star Wars: Battlefront games, which sold over 50 million units combined. Again, no context of what period that was over, but still, that's a lotta credits!
>> Sometimes I still have troubles understanding how a game that sells 2 million units in one week and 5 in total can be considered a commercial failure.

The new daily free game at the Epic Store is Art of Rally: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/art-of-rally.

The Humble Store has launched its Win... Solstice Celebration Sale, with up to 90% discounts during 13 days. There are keys for Steam, GOG, EGS and direct downloads: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/solstice-celebration-sale/.

Fanatical has several new deals:

• The Jackbox Quintpack will be 45% off during 13 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/the-jackbox-quintpack
• The BYO Play On the GO Bundle - Best of 2023 has 21 titles to choose from for your 3, 5 or 8 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-play-on-the-go-bundle
• Here's yesterday's contest, Day 11, with a chance to win a HyperX Solocast White Mic: https://gleam.io/CDW3A/chance-to-hyperx-solocast-mic
• And for the 12th and last day, Fanatical has launched a Wishlist & Win contest... but they've forgotten to add the link. Keep an eye here until they post it: https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/12-days-of-big-festive-deals-blogs

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

True Stalker, Complete Overhaul Mod for STALKER: Call of Pripyat, has been released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/true-stalker-complete-overhaul-download/
The True Stalker Team just launched a total conversion mod for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. This mod, called True Stalker, transforms the game using a better version of the Call of Pripyat engine. It also gives players a brand-new, exciting story as they follow the adventures of a regular stalker named Axe.
True Stalker takes place after the events of Call of Pripyat and has its own stories to tell, as well as a set of new characters. The mod comes with its own quests, featuring new cut scenes and character voice-overs. According to the team, some quests can also offer different paths that the player can take.
Players will be able to explore the environments and experience mysterious events. They will also come face to face with various creatures inhabiting the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In short, this will be a STALKER game.
True Stalker has 13 in-game locations, and packs new UI, Inventory System and HUD. It also comes with more than 50 new compositions. Players can also expect updated graphics and new NPC 3D models.
>> The article has some screenshots and an almost 6 minutes video of the mod.

Dino Crisis Demo Remake in Unreal Engine 4 Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dino-crisis-demo-remake-in-unreal-engine-4-released/
Dino Crisis fans, here is something for you today. xHARDHeMPuS has just released a very early WIP demo for a fan remake of Dino Crisis in Unreal Engine 4.
This fan remake recreates some of the first environments from Dino Crisis. Additionally, it allows you to solve some puzzles and packs some real-time cut-scenes.
Since this is a fan remake, you should temper your expectations. This will not blow you away, and it’s rough around the edges. So, if you aren’t a die-hard Dino Crisis fan, you can simply skip it.
Now what’s cool here is that xHARDHeMPuS has recreated numerous environments from Dino Crisis. So, watching those areas in full 3D is kind of cool. At least in my opinion.
>> You'll find an almost 20 minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

No, there aren’t any leaked PC dev builds for Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Marvel’s Venom
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/no-there-arent-any-leaked-pc-dev-builds-for-marvels-spider-man-3-and-marvels-venom/
A lot of rumors surfaced earlier today, suggesting that alongside the PC dev build for Marvel’s Wolverine there are also playable PC dev builds of Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Marvel’s Venom. However, these reports are false. No, there aren’t any leaked PC dev builds for Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 and Marvel’s Venom.