It’s been a wild week in the games industry, can’t we have a calm one once in a while? We’ve had EA publicly state that Battlefield 2042′s sales were “disappointing” while distancing themselves from NFTs. There was a crazy 24-hour period where Worms developer turned indie publisher Team 17 announced a MetaWorms NFT project, then quickly scrapped it.

Perhaps one of the biggest events this week was Sony taking what I think was a defensive move with the purchase of Destiny developer, Bungie. In the announcement from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s boss Jim Ryan it was confirmed that Bungie would be part of the PlayStation family, while remaining independent and able to continue multi-platform development and self-publishing. For me, this is Sony taking a significant ex-Microsoft asset off the board, preventing Microsfot making any further moves to bolster their portfolio.

Will we see any further moves from Sony and Microsoft to buy-up other companies? Maybe not.

Will we see further developers talk up NFT plans, only to quickly abandon them? More than likely.

Now, on with Our Week in Games.

Chris

I watched Sony’s State of Play this week ahead of the March release of Gran Turismo 7, and I think I already know what my Game of the Year is going to be come December. That feeling might be driven by nostalgia for the early games in the series, and the nightmares I had of trying to pass a licence test with the Dodge Viper at the legendary corkscrew at Laguna Seca. I’ll probably be left disappointed by some aspects of the game, but the return of a proper career mode after the skimpy GT Sport affair is a massive allure. Bring it on!

Over the last couple of editions of Our Week in Games, I’ve failed to mention that I finally got around to completing Resident Evil 7. This of course means that I’ll have to tackle Village soon, but having worked my way through Ethan Winters’ first story, I think I”m up for the challenge. The Baker family has some serious issues, but it was primarily the first half of the game where I found myself on the edge of my seat, gripping my contoller in anxiety. By the last third, it felt like I was in a full-blown action game, not a survival horror. It might be hokey, but it was a wild ride, and the sooner I do get my teeth stuck into Lady Dimitrescu the better.