In today’s gaming news The Game Awards has brought with it more announcements that we can sink our teeth into and the FTC is officially suing Microsoft over the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Read all about it in today’s gaming news roundup.
All of the announcements at The Game Awards
There were plenty of announcements at The Game Awards. We found out that the release date for Street Fighter 6 is June 2, 2023, and that one of the best PlayStation games of 2021, Returnal, is coming to PC. As for the rest, well here is a concise list for you.
- Judas has been announced. Judas is an upcoming game by Ghost Story Games which is helmed by Ken Levine, the director of BioShock.
- Hades 2, the sequel to Supergiant Games’ Hades, is in development.
- Among Us is getting a new “Hide N Seek” mode which is out today.
- A new Castlevania DLC is coming to Dead Cells in 2023.
- A Hellboy game titled Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Web of Wyrd has been announced, in the same style as Mignola’s artwork.
- A new Bayonetta game called Bayonetta Origins Cereza and the Lost Demon is coming to the Nintendo Switch on March 17, 2023.
- A new clip for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League paid tribute to Kevin Conroy while announcing a release date of May 26, 2023.
- Hideo Kojima walked on stage and shared a trailer for the next Kojima Productions game, Death Stranding 2.
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor showed off some gameplay while announcing a release date of March 17, 2023.
- A Forspoken demo is available now on the PlayStation Store.
- The Last of Us Part I is coming to PC on March 3, 2023.
- A release date for Baldur’s Gate 3 has been announced, and it will be released in August 2023.
- Diablo IV now has a release date of June 6, 2023.
- DLC for Horizon Forbidden West called Burning Shores has been announced for April 19, 2023, seemingly on PlayStation 5 only.
- Vampire Survivors has arrived on mobile devices prior to the launch of its new DLC.
- A new Transformers game was announced called Transformers Reactivate.
- Keegan Michael-Key presented a new Toad-filled clip for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
- Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden will be released in 2023.
- Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 will be released in 2023.
- Meet Your Maker will be released on May 4, 2023.
- Armored Core VI will be released sometime in 2023, from the developers of Elden Ring, From Software.
- Crash Team Rumble, a Crash Bandicoot multiplayer game has been announced for 2023.
Those were not the only announcements as many other new games were announced during The Game Awards as well as new trailers for games that were already announced. You can still go back and watch the full broadcast to watch all of the announcements for yourself, here.
The winners of The Game Awards
Of course, what is even more important than the announcements shown at The Game Awards were the awards themselves. So let’s take a look at which games won in the following categories.
- Elden Ring – Game of the Year
- Elden Ring – Best Game Direction
- God of War Ragnarök – Best Narrative
- Elden Ring – Best Art Direction
- God of War Ragnarök – Best Score and Music
- God of War Ragnarök – Best Audio Design
- Christopher Judge for Kratos in God of War Ragnarök – Best Performance
- As Dusk Falls – Games for Impact
- Final Fantasy XIV – Best Ongoing Game
- Stray – Best Indie Game
- Marvel Snap – Best Mobile Game
- Final Fantasy XIV – Best Community Support
- God of War Ragnarök – Innovation in Accessibility
- Moss Book II – Best VR/AR Game
- Bayonetta 3 – Best Action Game
- God of War Ragnarök – Best Action/Adventure Game
- Elden Ring – Best Role Playing Game
- MultiVersus – Best Fighting Game
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Best Family Game
- Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Best Sim/Strategy Game
- Gran Turismo 7 – Best Sports/Racing Game
- Splatoon 3 – Best Multiplayer Game
- Ludwig – Content Creator of the Year
- Stray – Best Debut Indie Game
- Arcane: League of Legends – Best Adaptation
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Most Anticipated Game
- Valorant – Best Esports Game
- Yay – Best Esports Athlete
- Loud – Best Esports Team
- Bzka – Best Esports Coach
- 2022 League of Legends World Championship – Best Esports Event
God of War Ragnarök seems to have won the most awards at the event taking home six awards including Christopher Judge’s award for Best Performance. Elden Ring managed to take home the Game of the Year Award, surprising nobody. Congratulations to all the winners, and there were plenty of great games nominated for awards this year, so go play them all!
The FTC has announced that they are suing Microsoft
In more serious news, the Federal Trade Commission is officially suing Microsoft over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Of course, this has been the subject of a few of our prior roundups, but we have finally gotten confirmation that they will be attempting to block the acquisition. Their reasoning is pretty simple: once Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard it will restrict new titles to being Xbox exclusives, blocking out the competition.
The FTC’s statement draws on the example of what Microsoft has done since its acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, and that even though Microsoft says they won’t make titles from Activision Blizzard Xbox exclusive, upcoming Bethesda titles like Redfall and Starfield are. ZeniMax is also in control of Doom, Wolfenstein, and The Elder Scrolls. This is concerning because, in addition to Call of Duty, the main franchise brought up by Sony when they argue against the acquisition, Activision Blizzard also owns World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, StarCraft and Candy Crush Saga. If all of these titles were to become Xbox exclusive, their competitors would surely suffer financial consequences.
Of course, Microsoft will be shelling out $69 billion for the deal, so it does seem unlikely that they won’t try to keep some Activision Blizzard games for their own platform even if they commit to a 10-year deal with both Microsoft and Sony to have Call of Duty on their platforms as well. We will undoubtedly be updating you as to what happens between the FTC and Microsoft, and what the outcome will mean for the gaming industry, and more importantly, for you the players.
Come back tomorrow for our next gaming news roundup.