Wednesday news, part two:
Marvel Rivals' bloated DPS roster won't be solved 'overnight', creative director says: 'The heroes we are currently deciding on are for a release slot next year'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/marvel-rivals-bloated-dps-roster-wont-be-solved-overnight-creative-director-says-the-heroes-we-are-currently-deciding-on-are-for-a-release-slot-next-year/
If there's one thing that Marvel Rivals unequivocally does right, it's putting together a strong hero roster. There's a cute shark, a K-pop idol, Norse gods, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers we all know and love, and many more. Despite all these great characters, Marvel Rivals has one big issue with its roster: over half of them are Duelists.
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In a recent interview with Rivals Assembled, creative director Guangyun Chen gave us some good and bad news. Let's start with the good news: When asked about plans to even out the number of Duelists, Vanguards, and Strategists, Chen reveals that "going forward, we will address it—we are aware of the issue." As primarily a tank player (partly out of necessity when my whole team insta-locks DPS), I'm relieved that my plight is being heard. Unfortunately, change won't be happening any time soon.
'Eager to move on from failure': Ex-producer Mark Darrah thinks BioWare suffered spinning plates for EA, starving itself for talent as it ate itself alive: 'We weren't getting the people'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/eager-to-move-on-from-failure-ex-producer-mark-darrah-thinks-bioware-suffered-spinning-plates-for-ea-starving-itself-for-talent-as-it-ate-itself-alive-we-werent-getting-the-people/
Mark Darrah has been on a tell-all, recently, speaking with YouTuber MrMattyPlays about the failures and foibles of BioWare in the wake of Dragon Age being likely being dead and gone. Darrah, who was an executive producer, left the studio back in 2020; though has been speaking up on his own YouTube channel recently.
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The issue, as Darrah puts it, is the fact that BioWare tried to have several irons in the fire at once: "We try to do multiple things at the same time. Even if you look at DICE, basically they're just doing one thing at a time, and sometimes that does really well, and sometimes it doesn't do so well."
Phoenix Labs website goes offline as Fae Farm announces the looming end of online play on Steam, and disappears entirely from Epic
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/phoenix-labs-website-goes-offline-as-fae-farm-announces-the-looming-end-of-online-play-on-steam-and-disappears-entirely-from-epic/
Fae Farm, the cozy co-op farming sim released in 2023 by Phoenix Labs, is going offline. A message posted to the game's Steam page says the game will remain playable offline in singleplayer mode, but "will no longer be playable online and will not receive any future updates." It also appears that developer Phoenix Labs, which laid off "the majority of the studio" in January, is now fully closed and gone for good.
Remedy is 'unsatisfied' by poor sales of FBC: Firebreak and a tiny PC playerbase, but says 'despite the rocky launch, we believe we have a solid game to build on'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/remedy-is-unsatisfied-by-poor-sales-of-fbc-firebreak-and-a-tiny-pc-playerbase-but-says-despite-the-rocky-launch-we-believe-we-have-a-solid-game-to-build-on/
Going right back to my first preview of FBC: Firebreak, my question has always been the same: who is this for? Its chaotic, systems-driven co-op action does have impressive qualities and lots of imagination to it, but I never understood where it could possibly fit in the crowded and competitive multiplayer space.
Unfortunately since then my fears for the game have been confirmed. After a rocky launch, woeful Steam concurrent numbers, and some very damning stats about player drop-off rates, FBC: Firebreak seems to be dead in the water—at least on PC.
If you felt way too killable in the first Battlefield 6 beta weekend, you might not have imagined it: BF6 devs are investigating reports of instakill 'super bullets'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/if-you-felt-way-too-killable-in-first-battlefield-6-beta-weekend-you-might-not-have-imagined-it-bf6-devs-are-investigating-reports-of-instakill-super-bullets/
In terms of numbers, it'd be hard to argue that the first Battlefield 6 beta weekend was anything other than a success. At times, the beta attracted more than half a million concurrent Steam players—enough to beat Call of Duty's peak player count record since 2022. Our Morgan Park was impressed enough to declare that 2025 is Battlefield's year to lose.
But as you'd expect for a beta test, the enthusiasm came with some caveats. Throughout the weekend, frustrated players said their enjoyment of the tank shelling and shotgunning festivities was being interrupted by the so-called "super bullet": They'd be in a firefight where they were sinking rounds into an enemy, only to die immediately when they took what seemed like one shot in return.
Krafton fires back at Unknown Worlds lawsuit, says Subnautica 2 was at risk of causing 'irreversible harm to the entire franchise' like Kerbal Space Program 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/krafton-fires-back-at-unknown-worlds-lawsuit-says-subnautica-2-was-at-risk-of-causing-irreversible-harm-to-the-entire-franchise-like-kerbal-space-program-2/
Krafton has filed a response to the lawsuit brought against it by the former heads of Subnautica studio Unknown Worlds, accusing them of almost immediately abandoning their responsibilities following Krafton's acquisition of the studio despite repeated efforts to keep them onboard. The publisher is requesting an outright dismissal of the lawsuit filed against it and all claims for relief, along with legal fees and other costs.
Assassin's Creed devs say they'll be getting around to the whole Assassins vs Templars and modern setting stuff 'at some point, in some fashion'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/assassins-creed/assassins-creed-devs-say-theyll-be-getting-around-to-the-whole-assassins-vs-templars-and-modern-setting-stuff-at-some-point-in-some-fashion/
Initially, the Assassin's Creed games were about a mythological rivalry between the Assassins and the Templars—and the ways in which that historical conflict bled into the present day. It seemed, in the series' infancy, that Ubisoft was ramping up for a full-blooded modern-world game where this conflict would reach its apex. Then it, uh, didn't do that. But hey, pirates! Pirates are cool, right?
While pirates being cool is an indisputable fact, it does feel a smidge like Ubisoft's fallen off the old wagon. Well, there's just the barest glimmer of hope in a recent Reddit AMA. Responding to one player as to the topic of Assassins vs Templars, level designer Luc Plante writes:
"The Assassins vs Templars conflict has always been a core pillar of Assassin's Creed. With Shadows, we wanted to properly set our protagonist in the setting before expanding on the Assassins vs Templars. Now that it's done on the main game, we scratched the surface with the Critical Role story drop, and you can expect more [of a] deep dive [into] this conflict in the near future."
Elden Ring Nightreign's next Everdark Sovereign is the GOAT. No, literally.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-nightreigns-next-everdark-sovereign-is-the-goat-no-literally/
Though Everdark Caligo wasn't quite as hard as players predicted—in fact, you could almost ignore her boss mechanic during the actual fight—things are about to get a whole lot spicier in Elden Ring Nightreign. FromSoftware has revealed that Libra, Creature of Night, is the newest boss to get the Everdark treatment. And to be frank, this magic-toting frenzy goat is the one to watch out for. They've saved the best till last. Well, second to last (sorry Heolstor).
The Battlefield 6 beta returns with yet another close-quarters map and two iconic modes for a four-day Weekend 2 trial, so I know what I'll be playing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/battlefield-6-beta-weekend-2-date-time-content/
Having dominated my weekend, I've already played well over ten hours of Battlefield 6 since the start of the open beta, so seeing access ripped away from me this week has been painful. What am I supposed to do instead, EA? Thankfully, there's still one more chance to play Battlefield 6 before it fully launches at the start of October, and it brings new content with it that I'll be grinding all weekend.
BF6 Open Beta Weekend 2, as it's officially called, begins on Thursday, August 14 at 1am PDT / 4am EDT / 9am BST, and continues until the same time on Sunday, August 17.
>> The lead producer has confirmed that bigger maps exist.
Monster Hunter Wilds director wants to reduce the game's strain on your CPU, but is worried about its impact on overall performance: 'We plan to proceed with caution'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-director-wants-to-reduce-the-games-strain-on-your-cpu-but-is-worried-about-its-impact-on-overall-performance-we-plan-to-proceed-with-caution/
Folk just want to kill troublesome monsters. Dragons. Dinosaurs. A horrific lava octopus. But in Monster Hunter Wilds, sating one's bloodlust, in many cases, means putting up with some severe performance issues.
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In an update from game director Yuya Tokuda, published on Tuesday, the subject unsurprisingly rears its head again. While Tokuda does not directly address the criticism that Title Update 2 didn't do enough to fix the performance issues, or that it may have introduced more, he does explain what's been done and what's going to be done, while breaking down some of the challenges of making monster-hunting feel nice and smooth.
Final Fantasy 14 wins my personal award for the Most Specific Bug Fix in a MMO 2025, and I'm astonished anyone even found it in the first place
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/final-fantasy-14-wins-my-personal-award-for-the-most-specific-bug-fix-in-a-mmo-2025-and-im-astonished-anyone-even-found-it-in-the-first-place/
Forget the game awards, forget our top 100 list, I know what you're secretly interested in: my own personal trophy for The Most Specific Bug Fix in a MMO 2025, an award I promise you actually exists. It goes to Final Fantasy 14 which, as part of its most recent update, has announced this doozy.
