Doubtful. Activision pulled CoD from Steam to their own launcher to get 100% of the money. S-E still gets money from the Steam users, but first they get a nice sum of money to launch their games only on the EGS for half a year. For S-E, it's a win-win scenario: they get the exclusivity deal and later the money from the Steam users.

In fact, they do it not once, but twice. First the exclusivity deal with Sony, then the one with Epic and after thatm they launch it on Steam. You can bet all your money that they would acept another exclusivity deal on top of that in a heartbeat.

And well, we all know that those on Steam that complain and swear that they won't buy their games after having to wait for so long are a small minority that won't have a real effect on the sales.

With Black Friday coming up and holiday season in general, I think it's pretty safe to assume that neither Nvidia or AMD gonna have next gen GPUs are affordable prices. So here are my recommendations for those that may want to upgrade to a new PC.

Option 1: 5800X3D + 3080 12GB - This is pretty much the best all around PC. While you could get a 6900XT for about the same price that will perform a bit better in Raster, you will be missing out on RT, Reflex and DLSS not to mention the other workstation benefits if you ever wanted to go that route. 5800X3D is generally with in 10% of Zen 4/Raptor Lake in terms of gaming and realistically, you don't need much more than PCI-E Gen 4 for the rest of the generation.

Option 2: 5800X3D + 6800XT - This is the best bang per buck option. While you will be missing out on RT, Reflex and DLSS, a 6800XT costs around the same price of a 3070 while giving you double the Vram along with significantly better Raster performance. There is no reason to get the 3070 when the 6800XT costs very similar to it.

If you are not on AM4:

Option 3: 13600k + Z690 - If you are one of those types of people that want to buy a CPU and not upgrade the platform for 5-6 years and you aren't on AM4. This is a good cheap combination. 13600k is generally faster than 7700X in both gaming and various workstation. Z690 boards give you PCI-E Gen 5 for GPU and generally on sale $200 for a more premium tier board.

Option 4: Zen 4 + B650E - If the Black Friday sales in China will translate to the discounts in other regions, this may be a very good option. If you can get a 7900X for $450 or 7700X for $320, then the argument of getting AM5 for longevity comes back into play. While I am sure Raptor Lake will be getting discounts as well, it is a dead end platform. So if you are able to snag a 7900X for $450 with a good B650E motherboard for a good price, then you can upgrade to Zen 5X3D without needing a new motherboard while being around 5-7% or so slower than Raptor Lake.

Good choices.

For those on a tight budget, I'd also consider the 13500 or 13400 CPUs. The 13500 has the same cores as the 13600K, but with lower clocks and based on Alder Lake, and it runs at 65W. It's performance shlould be close to 12600K performance, which is nothing to scoff at.

The 13400 has the same core configuration as the 12600K, with lower clocks but this one uses the newer Raptor Lake cores, so the loss in performance won't be as big. It should also be a good option.

It's been more than a year for KH collection and it lasted quote a while for FF VIIR from what I remember, but yeah, the weebs will buy it whenever it hits Steam day 1, so SE will keep doing this till the end of time, because they don't really lose anything, because they know there are some well trained dogs waiting super patiently on Steam, willing to pay full price or a tiny discount.

As for me, I gave up on SE like I gave up on ubi/gearbox, so no chance of them getting me back on board. 

One thing that annoys me about Sony when they do Money hats they dont only keep the games from xbox but also try keeping the game from Pc for awhile. But SE annoys me even more for accepting them deals. PC is bigger than both nextgen consoles in japan and expected to grow even bigger, PC gaming is now huge around the world and still SE treat us like 2nd rate citizens.

Won't happen, Jensen will want at least $999 for a 5080

It will depend on how the 4080 sells. If it sells well enough, they may even keep the same $1199 price.

The Wednesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Modern Warfare 2 is the best launch in COD's history after selling $1 billion in 10 days
https://www.pcgamer.com/modern-warfare-2-is-the-best-launch-in-cods-history-after-selling-dollar1-billion-in-10-days/
In the 10 days since it released on October 28, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the best launch in the series' history after hitting $800M in its first three days and crossing $1 billion in global sell-through. The previous highest selling title, Black Ops II, took 15 days to hit such a milestone.
Activision Blizzard accompanies a delighted press release with a few statistics: players have played more than 200 million hours and over 1 billion matches across PC and consoles. The company also claims the game is the highest grossing entertainment opening of 2022 (although I see that Top Gun Maverick has grossed $1.48B).

Death Stranding hits 10 million sales as it celebrates its third birthday
https://www.pcgamer.com/death-stranding-hits-10-million-sales-as-it-celebrates-its-third-birthday/
Death Stranding is officially three years old! Well, on PlayStation 4 anyway. While we're behind by a few months on that milestone, Hideo Kojima has celebrated by revealing that his cargo delivery grand adventure has hit 10 million sales.
That number covers a few different releases: the original Death Stranding for PlayStation 4 and PC, the Director's Cut on PlayStation 5 and PC, and copies downloaded via PlayStation Plus and PC Game Pass. Regardless, it's still a huge milestone to hit, and for sure worth celebrating. It's no surprise that the game—which was PC Gamer's Game of the Year in 2020—has fallen into the hands of so many.

Overwatch 2 amasses 35 million players in its first month
https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-2-hits-35-million-players-in-its-first-month/
It's been just over a month since Overwatch 2 launched to the masses, and Activision-Blizzard's latest financial report has shown the game did damn well in those first four weeks.
We already knew that the hero shooter's sorta-sequel had amassed 25 million players in its first 10 days, already close to tripling the original's peak daily player count. As reported by Eurogamer, Activision-Blizzard's latest quarterly report revealed that the game managed to add another 10 million players on top of that count throughout the rest of October, "including many who were new to Overwatch." The report also said that "player investment is also off to a strong start," presumably talking about sales of the battle pass and cosmetics. Overwatch 2 appears to have managed to maintain its near-triple daily player count compared to its predecessor throughout the month, too.

10 million people grabbed Vermintide 2 while it was free
https://www.pcgamer.com/10-million-people-grabbed-vermintide-2-while-it-was-free/
With the release of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide just weeks away, and the original Vermintide turning seven in October, developer Fatshark has been celebrating with an event called 7 Years of Tide. It began with a Vermintide 2 giveaway, with the co-op fantasy Chaos hunt free to keep from November 3–7 on Steam. As Fatshark boasts in its latest news post, 10 million people claimed a copy during that period, which made the four-year-old tribute to Left 4 Dead bounce back into the top 10 of Steam's most played games by daily players.
Though the giveaway has ended, Fatshark's celebration hasn't. The first half of a free DLC called A Treacherous Adventure is now live, adding a new map called Trail of Treachery. It's a snowy mountain pass you need to escort a caravan through as they carry a warding stone to the village of Tockstadt, where the second half of A Treacherous Adventure will presumably be set. Watch out for avalanches, and hordes of skaven.
The latest update also brings extra premium cosmetics in a collection called Absent Friends. There's a hat and a skin for each hero, including one for Saltzpyre that gives him one of those miner's helmets with the candle balanced on it that seems pretty precarious to me. Meanwhile, Kerillian gets a cursed set of dark elf armor and Kruber a full set of plate.

GOG has several new deals/sales:

• The first Deal of the Day is Blade of Darkness, 40% off during 46 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/blade_of_darkness
• The second DotD is Stronghold HD, 70% off until Friday: https://www.gog.com/en/game/stronghold
• The Midweek Sale features classic adventures with up to 90% discounts during 4 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20221109_midweek_sale
• There's a Special Sale with Grand RPGs up to 85% off during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20221109_grand_rpg_sale
• There's also a Multipublisher Sale, with lots of indie titles with up to 85% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20221109_multipublisher_sale
• And, regarding the Made in Poland Sale, GOG has launched a contest with a chance of winning a bundle with three games. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/made_in_poland_sale_contest_tell_us_which_games_you_prefer_and_win_an_awesome_bundle

Steam has three deals:

• Ship Graveyard Simulator will be 50% off until Sunday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1286880/Ship_Graveyard_Simulator/
• The WePlay 2022 Expo comes and, while not every game featured is on sale, you'll be able to find up to 70% discounts until November 13: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/WePlay2022
• And Bugsnax gets a 60% discount until November 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/674140/Bugsnax/

Fanatical has two new 24 hours flash deal and a new bundle:

• The first flash deal is Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator, 33% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/potion-craft-alchemist-simulator
• The second flash deal is Mortal Shell, 66% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/mortal-shell
• And the new Mystery Birthday Bundle features up to 10 unknown games to get: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/birthday-mystery-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Final Fantasy 14 is the next VR destination
https://www.pcgamer.com/final-fantasy-14-is-the-next-vr-destination/
For all the Final Fantasy 14 players who hang out in its main cities for hours, an upcoming VR mod could help make that familiar MMO pastime a little more immersive.
A fan-made Final Fantasy 14 VR mod is coming out as an alpha release "soon," according to a tweet from modding community Flat2VR.
The VR mod supports full first- and third-person movement and motion controls. One of the mod's creators, Marulu, wrote in the Flat2VR Discord server that the first-person mode is largely experimental and that the third-person mode is how you'll probably want to actually play the game. A zoomed-in view wouldn't be ideal during battle as attacks and environmental hazards happen all around you.

The creator of a popular Hearthstone accessibility mod has ended support for it
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-creator-of-a-popular-hearthstone-accessibility-mod-has-ended-support-for-it/
Hearthstone Access (opens in new tab) is a mod that made Blizzard's collectible card game accessible to blind, low-vision, and limited-sight players, who can use it to play Hearthstone via screen-reader software and keyboard commands. It's the work of GuideDev, a modder who has been keeping it updated since August of 2021, but has now announced he'll be ending Hearthstone Access support with version 24.6.
As Guide Dev wrote, "carrying Hearthstone Access on my back all this time has become increasingly difficult and the time has come for me to take a step back. I really, really hate to be doing this, but the last few months have been extremely busy and I've been seriously struggling to keep up with everything."
Due to Hearthstone's fortnightly update cadence, Hearthstone Access has also needed an update every two weeks to keep it working. "I simply don't have as much time as I once had to devote to it", Guide Dev wrote. "With all the recent (and upcoming) changes, it's gotten to a point where I think Hearthstone Access is just getting worse with every patch (while Hearthstone itself is getting better). This was never the intention - and I'm really not happy with it."

GAMING NEWS

Forza Horizon 5 Ray Tracing Update released, full patch notes revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/forza-horizon-5-ray-tracing-update-released-full-patch-notes-revealed/
As promised, Playground Games has just released a new update for Forza Horizon 5 that adds support for Ray Tracing, DLSS 2 and FSR 2.2. This patch is 10GB in size on PC, and will be automatically downloaded from Steam or Microsoft Store.

EA has reportedly canceled the Project CARS and Dirt franchises
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ea-has-reportedly-canceled-the-project-cars-and-dirt-franchises/
Back in 2017, Slightly Mad Studios’ CEO explained how Electronic Arts attempted to destroy Slightly Mad Studios. Back then, Ian Bell claimed that he would not be working ever again with EA. However, here we are today with EA owning Slightly Mad Studios, shutting it down, and canceling its racing game, Project CARS.
>> I hope someone can explain to me how it makes sense to spend a lot of money buying a studio that develops racing games only to cancel two of its most known franchises. But well, I guess EA is happy enough to own the F1 rights and franchise.

Here are some brand new screenshots for Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/here-are-some-brand-new-screenshots-for-wo-long-fallen-dynasty/
KOEI Tecmo has released a new set of screenshots for Team Ninja’s upcoming action-packed dark fantasy game, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty.

Need for Speed: Unbound gets official PC system requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/need-for-speed-unbound-gets-official-pc-system-requirements/
Electronic Arts and Criterion have revealed the official PC system requirements for Need for Speed: Unbound. According to the PC specs, this new racing game will be using the DX12 API and will require 50GB of free hard-disk space.

Dark Souls: Remastered’s online features have been restored
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dark-souls-remastereds-online-features-have-been-restored/
Bandai Namco and FromSoftware have announced the online features for Dark Souls: Remastered have been restored. As such, PC gamers can once again play this game online.

The news, part two:

PvP MMO Crowfall is being shut down indefinitely to save it
https://www.pcgamer.com/pvp-mmo-crowfall-is-being-shut-down-indefinitely-to-save-it/
Kickstarted MMO Crowfall is shutting down this month after launching just over a year ago. Developer Monumental shared the news with players on Monday, giving them only a couple of weeks to make the most out of the game before it goes dark on November 22. This is not unusual on its own—it's a tragically common fate for online games. But what makes this instance stand out is that the team isn't calling it quits.

Ubisoft still says the Sands of Time remake hasn't been cancelled, but preorders have been refunded
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-still-says-the-sands-of-time-remake-hasnt-been-cancelled-but-preorders-have-been-refunded/
Ubisoft has once again affirmed that the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake has not been cancelled. The company is so tired of people asking about it that it's created an entire FAQ that everyone can refer to if and when they have questions or doubts.

Cyberpunk 2077 patch prevents boobs from clipping through clothes
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2077-patch-prevents-boobs-from-clipping-through-clothes/
(...)
The game's patches mostly focus on bug fixes and small additions, and this is no exception. These are the full Cyberpunk 2077 patch 1.61 notes, and arguably the most striking fix is that, apparently, players who had the female V avatar and modified their chest size were finding that their new breasts clipped through their clothes.
Rejoice or, as the case may be, do not. CDPR says it has "fixed the issue where V's breasts clipped through clothes after changing their size at a Ripperdoc."

Bungie has given Destiny 2's buggiest gun an amazing easter egg
https://www.pcgamer.com/bungie-has-given-destiny-2s-buggiest-gun-an-amazing-easter-egg/
In the long and inglorious history of bugged PC gear, I'm not sure there has ever been a weapon so notoriously prone to fuckery as Destiny 2's Telesto. The intended function of this exotic fusion rifle is to spew out multiple bolts of void energy that explode after a short delay. Working correctly, it looks like Barney the Dinosaur being hit by a pipe bomb and is a great weapon for clearing waves of trash mobs. Telesto, however, has rarely worked correctly.

Halo Infinite's 'biggest update yet' finally adds campaign co-op and the Forge
https://www.pcgamer.com/halo-infinites-biggest-update-yet-finally-adds-campaign-co-op-and-the-forge/
Halo Infinite's winter update, described by developer 343 Industries as "the largest feature update to Halo Infinite yet," is now officially live. The update brings a number of major new features to the game, including campaign network co-op play, a new battle pass, and—this is the big one—beta access to Forge, Halo's long-awaited powerful creation tool.

Guild Wars 2 now lets you visit the city it destroyed in 2013 any time you like
https://www.pcgamer.com/guild-wars-2-just-resurrected-a-city-that-was-destroyed-in-2013/
All of Guild Wars 2's nine-year-long evolving story is finally replayable as of today. When ArenaNet first started its Living World episodes, they were limited-time story quests that became inaccessible after they ended. The developers have long since changed this strategy, allowing you to return to later episodes whenever you like. The very first Living World season remained inaccessible though—until today. You can finally replay Guild Wars 2's first explosive, world-changing season finale all over again.

EVE Online blows up an entire star and everyone around it to kick off a new inter-faction war
https://www.pcgamer.com/eve-online-blows-up-an-entire-star-and-everyone-around-it-to-kick-off-a-new-inter-faction-war/
Having apparently decided that there is just not enough conflict in EVE Online already, CCP Games has kicked off a new "narrative-driven expansion" called Uprising by basically blowing up a star and pushing its four major empires toward war.

Ubisoft may finally be planning a return to Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-may-finally-be-planning-a-return-to-steam/
The last full Ubisoft game to release on Steam was Trials Rising in 2019. Since then, the publisher has released its new PC games exclusively on the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect, and hasn't said if or when it'll start putting them on Steam again. If data gathered from the Ubisoft client backend indicates what it looks like it indicates, however, Ubisoft may be knocking on Gabe's door again.
>> Well, well, well...

Terraria has yet another, definitely final update coming in 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/terraria-has-yet-another-definitely-final-update-coming-in-2023/
This is totally, definitely, 100% the final Terraria update everybody. Promise. For the sixth time, the 2D survival sandbox is receiving its last-ever update, complete with a bonus cheeky crossover.

EU expands investigation into Microsoft's acquisition of Activision-Blizzard
https://www.pcgamer.com/eu-expands-investigation-into-microsofts-acquisition-of-activision-blizzard/
The European Union Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into Microsoft's proposed takeover of Activision Blizzard. As we've been seeing in other jurisdictions, the concern is that the deal may "significantly reduce competition" in the gaming market, and give Microsoft the ability to "foreclose access to Activision Blizzard's console and PC video games" such as Call of Duty.

Modern Warfare 2's new anti-toxicity tools are 'foundational' for CoD's future
https://www.pcgamer.com/modern-warfare-2s-new-anti-toxicity-tools-are-foundational-for-cods-future/
Activision Blizzard has detailed the new anti-toxicity features introduced with Modern Warfare II, which it says will be "foundational for all future Call of Duty titles going forward". Essentially this is an overhauled in-game reporting system, combined with new tools for the publisher's moderation teams to deal with problem players.