Come one, come all. We’re taking yet another deep dive into the wonderful world of gaming. In our last round-up, Twitch streamers were taking over as Adriana Chechik offered another update regarding her TwitchCon injury while Amouranth had a visit from the cops after concerned fans called in about her abusive husband. Aside from Twitch, Splatoon 3 became the highest-grossing game of October and 2022 simultaneously after scoring big in Japan.
This time, we’re looking at God of War: Ragnarok while shining a light on soon-to-be competitors Microsoft and Netflix as both conglomerates seek to make waves in the gaming industry, hot on the heels of Apple and Google’s success. All that and more awaits, so pause those games, save those files and discard those snacks. We’re going in.
God of War: Ragnarok developers Santa Monica Studios are launching a weekly behind-the-scenes docuseries
The release date for Santa Monica Studio’s long-awaited God of War: Ragnarok is on the horizon and the developers can’t wait to spoil God of War fans with an abundance of content. Santa Monica has announced that they’ll be dropping a weekly docuseries that explores the behind-the-scenes of Ragnarok in a deeper and more meaningful way, tapping into the Norse mythology it draws upon. It goes without saying that the series is full of spoilers, so it might be best to avoid it until Nov. 9, but definitely worth keeping in mind once the initial playthrough is over. The first episode, titled Shaping the Story seems to recap God of War for those of us whose copy is gathering dust on the shelf. If you’ve yet to check out the God of War: Raganrok trailer, here’s a handy link.
Netflix has formed an alliance with former Overwatch exec Chacko Sonny to potentially seal a cloud gaming deal
Streaming giant Netflix is already dominating the home entertainment world, so why wouldn’t it branch out into gaming too? Especially as online gaming grows more popular, it makes sense for Netflix to want to sink its claws into the most profitable business in the game — literally. According to Eurogamer, Netflix is planning to establish its own cloud gaming hub, and Netflix’s vice president of gaming, Mike Verdu, saw an opportunity to add value to subscriptions, thereby attracting more subscribers. Verdu compared the venture to Google’s Stadia, which was a fun and exciting endeavor despite technical issues. Courtesy of TechCrunch, Verdu additionally confirmed that Netflix will be opening an internal game development studio in Southern California (its fifth studio overall), led by former Overwatch executive producer Chacko Sonny.
Microsoft is assembling its own mobile gaming store to rival Apple and Google
Hoping to compete with the likes of the Apple Store and Google Play, both of which host thousands of mobile games, Microsoft has announced that it’s building an Xbox mobile games store, according to TheVerge. Microsoft has kept a $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition under wraps until recently when it was revealed that the corporation would be seeking to challenge Apple and Google in the gaming market. “The transaction will improve Microsoft’s ability to create a next-generation game store that operates across a range of devices, including mobile as a result of the addition of Activision Blizzard’s content,” the company said. The full quote can be found here. Activision’s Call of Duty: Mobile and Candy Crush Saga are both universally popular mobile games that Microsoft hopes to capitalize upon and envision itself overtaking the gaming sector. Whether that comes to fruition is still yet to be seen.
That all, folks! Check back tomorrow for another daily dose of gaming news.