Project Maverick is confirmed to be Gears E-Day

Nice. We don’t have GameStop here anymore. I just contacted two video game buy&sell stores here for selling one of my two Series X, and they both said they are not interested in buying anything Xbox. While they both were interested in my Switch 1 and Switch games (I am preparing for the Switch 2 release- I liked Gamestop for that, you didn’t get a lot but at least it was easy and reliable to trade in some of your old stuff when the new console released and thus make the launch expenses a bit more digestible).

Nexon has reportedly been selected as the preferred negotiating partner for a new game based on the 'StarCraft' IP. They also in talks for the publishing rights of 'Overwatch Mobile' in Japan and Korea.

news.mtn.co.kr/news-detail/...

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— Knoebel (@knoebel.bsky.social) 28 April 2025 at 08:26

Just a reminder, the four competing companies were NCSoft, Nexon, NetMarble and Krafton.

• NCSoft = Pitched a StarCraft RPG (likely MMORPG).
• Nexon = Pitched a "unique" take on the universe.
• Krafton = Pitched something "based on its own development capabilities"
• NetMarble = Pitched a mobile game.

Hate Gamestop. Traded in my One when I got the series X, and did the membership and it was so hard to cancel.

About 50 hours in and I want to start a second character on Oblivion now, Lol. I kind of regret doing The Arena on this first character because I was roleplaying as a bit of a good guy so now I'd have to change that to morally grey, but I want to start up a 2nd character who is pure evil, so I think I'm going to avoid the Dark Brotherhood on my primary character, it'll be something like this...

1st Character (Breton Hero)

• Fighters Guild > The Arena > Mages Guild > Main Quest > Thieves Guild > Knights of the Nine.

2nd Character (Wood Elf Villain)

• The Arena > Daedric Shrines > Dark Brotherhood > The Shivering Isles.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was the best-selling video game in the US during week ending April 19th, following its PS5 launch. ($, Circana Retail Tracking Service)

It was the first time the title reached #1 on the weekly charts (of course, the XBS and PC versions launched last December).

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 28 April 2025 at 17:10

How was it was best-selling for that week, but not even ranking top 15 in engagement for that same week on Playstation as per your last post?

— C-Hand (@c-hand.bsky.social) 28 April 2025 at 18:01

Now you see one of the biggest challenges of the modern console environment.

The big live service games are sucking the air out of the market.

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 28 April 2025 at 18:06

Damn. That's pretty dire, not for Indiana Jones but for the state of the industry, a videogame can be the best selling video game during the week but still not even crack the top 15 in engagement charts for that same week. Blackhole titles are a major problem for any new release at this point. Though I do think it makes Avowed, South of Midnight's debuts into the engagement charts look even more impressive in hindsight now.

South of Midnight is still holding well.

Circana Player Engagement Tracker - Top 15 Titles by Total Weekly Active Users (Not Concurrent) - W/E Apr 19, 2025

- RuneScape: Dragonwilds debuts in top 10 on both Steam US and CAN
- Crime Scene Cleaner ranks 11th on XBX with Game Pass launch
- Hogwarts Legacy jumps from 32nd on 13th with PS+ add

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— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 28 April 2025 at 16:31

Basically we have Call of Duty (Yearly), Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V (Soon to be replaced by Grand Theft Auto VI), Minecraft, Roblox, NBA (Yearly), Madden (Yearly), Rainbow Six Siege, WWE (Yearly), College Football (Yearly) before anyone else even gets a look in. That's 10 titles. But again, I think this makes Avowed and South of Midnight's debuts all the more impressive cause they manage to crack through those blackhole games which suggests high engagement via Game Pass.

At least Marvel Rivals is relatively new but that's probably another blackhole game now, Lol. It makes Assassin's Creed Shadows performance even more impressive though, it's still #9 and #12. Then the odd few games which are newly available on Game Pass or PS Plus (South of Midnight, Crime Scene Cleaner, RoboCop Rogue City, Hogwarts Legacy).

Then Rocket League and Forza Horizon 5 popping their heads in

I wonder if someone heard 'We are making a Wutang game' while what was said was Wuchang for gamepass.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is good guys, don't sleep on it.