Greetings, dear readers and welcome to another issue of Emmen Weekly where we bring you an offering of the news and updates that sent ripples through the games industry last week.
We’ve got a larger-than-normal selection of news today so let’s kick things off with an update on the highly anticipated sequel to Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Nintendo Lists Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for $70
The latest Nintendo Direct aired last week and showed us more details about Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (ToTK).
One of the details it may not have intended to show us was a listing for the game on the Nintendo Switch eShop, priced at $70.
As noted by Twitter user Wario64, the game was listed at $69.99 on the eShop before the price was replaced with a “coming in 2023” note. This is the first time Nintendo has priced a standard edition of a game on the Switch higher than $59.99.
When asked about this by Game Informer, Nintendo confirmed that ToTK will be released for $70.
However, it went on to elaborate that the $70 price tag will NOT be the trend for all first party games going forward. It also stated that the $70 price tag will be applied to its first party games on a case-by-case basis.
When ToTK was unveiled at the February 2023 Nintendo Direct, the price was revealed to be $70 while the size was 18.2 GB; the largest file size of any Nintendo first party game.
While Nintendo seemingly is dipping its toes cautiously into the $70 pool, other companies such as Sony, Ubisoft, and EA have been happy to jump in head first. $70 is steadily on its way to become the new norm for AAA game pricing.
That said, Pikmin 4 and Bayonetta Origins are currently priced at $60 so Nintendo at least, is living up to its case-by-case promise. Time will tell if it too will give in to the allure of the $70 game.
Genshin Impact Voice Actor Accused of Sexual Abuse
The English voice actor for the Genshin Impact Tighnari, Elliot Gindi, has been accused of sexual abuse. The list of accusations include grooming underage fans, bigotry, and emotional abuse.
As of this writing, Gindi has issued a statement admitting to the charges and confirming that the screenshots of various chat logs depicting his behavior were authentic.
The chat logs were brought to public attention by FretCore and Phiotan, who were moderators for Gindi.
FretCore shared a 21-page Google Doc containing screenshots of multiple victims coming to the mods about the abuse. Some of the details include asking for inappropriate photos, pursuing relationships with underage individuals, sending sexual content, making diminishing remarks towards individuals, and streaming repeatedly in his underwear. He also allegedly stood up to stretch during one of these streams.
Gindi’s statement on Twitter confirms many of the allegations, including one that he emotionally manipulated victims by threatening suicide if they came forward. He also confirmed that he streamed in his underwear, though he claims it had no sexual intent. He denied “knowingly” engaging with underaged individuals, along with the accusations of bigotry. He has since stepped away from Twitter.
As for HoYoverse, they issued a statement to GamesRadar+:
“We deeply regret the harm and damage that happened to our fans, gamers, community and anyone affected. Both our internal teams and external partners including our voice acting studio have been working together on an urgent solution. And we will keep you posted on the progress.”
Since the allegations came forward, several of the English VAs of Genshin Impact have spoken up about the issue, voicing support for the victims and condemning Gindi.
Some of the VAs speaking out include Aether’s VA Zach Aguilar, Hu Tao’s VA Brianna Knickerbocker, Raiden Shogun’s VA Anne Yatco, Cyno’s VA Alejandro Saab, among others.
Tighnari came to Genshin Impact as part of patch 3.0 and was a Dendro element bow-user. He was the first character to be released with Sumeru.
It is currently unclear if he will be recast.
EA Close to Securing a Deal with the English Premier League
EA Sports is reportedly very close to signing a six-year deal with the English Premier League worth £488 million.
According to Sky Sports, the clubs were briefed on the deal on Friday. The deal will apparently bring in about £80 million annually and in exchange, EA can retain rights to popular teams like Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool.
This new deal further highlights the growing value of the English Premier League. The league has been securing television deals recently and becoming more valuable to investors and sponsors.
As for EA, it recently lost the FIFA license. It lost access to the World Cup as well. It has also been renamed EA Sports FC.
So to compensate, EA has been signing deals with various leagues around the world to retain access to real-world names and venues.
The current strongest contender against EA’s football game ventures is Konami’s eFootball series with its contracts with famous teams such as Barcelona and Manchester United.
EA claims that lack of licensing restrictions will allow for more creative freedom but we will see if this is just a bluff or not.
After all, it had the metaphorical keys to the kingdom when it came to football games and the greatest “innovation” it seems to have brought is more aggressive microtransations.
PlayStation Plus Collection to be Removed in May
Calling all PS5 users! The date for Sony to remove the PlayStation Plus Collection from the PS Plus Subscription is fast approaching.
The day is currently set to be May 9.
This collection has been a perk for subscribers on the PS5 since 2020. It offered the following games for free download and play.
First-Party Games:
- Bloodborne
- Days Gone
- Detroit: Become Human
- God of War
- Infamous Second Son
- Ratchet and Clank
- The Last Guardian
- The Last of Us Remastered
- Until Dawn
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Third-Party Games
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Battlefield 1
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Zombies Chronicles Edition
- Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
- Fallout 4
- Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition
- Monster Hunter: World
- Mortal Kombat X
- Resident Evil 7 biohazard
Persona 5 was once part of this list but was removed in May 2022. But now, it seems that the rest of the games are to follow suit.
So if you want to get these games for free, your time is steadily running out. Grab them before they disappear on May 9, 2023.
Nintendo Switch Becomes Third Best Selling Console of All Time
The Nintendo Switch has surpassed both the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Game Boy to become the third highest-selling game console of all time.
According to Nintendo’s third quarter earnings report, the Switch has achieved the position of third-highest, with around 122.55 million units sold. Nintendo also revealed that 994.30 million units of Switch software have been sold so far.
While the Switch now sits at position 3, position 2 is also occupied by Nintendo by way of their Nintendo DS which sold 154.02 million units. The number 1 position is occupied by the PlayStation 2 with 159 million units sold.
However, it is worth noting that despite the impressive lifetime numbers, Switch sales have declined by 21.3% from 2021.
Nintendo admits that while the shortage of semiconductors and other components affected them, it was resolved by the holiday season, adding that the release of the Switch OLED could have contributed to the increased sales.
Regardless, it is a commendable achievement for Nintendo to occupy both positions 2 and 3 on the list of highest selling game consoles of all time.
This achievement further cements Nintendo’s credibility in the game industry, which is instrumental in it being able to buck market trends and do its own thing the way it has been for several years now.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Wins Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawk of Ragnarok and its composer Stephanie Economou have won the first Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media.
The award was given at the 65th Grammy Awards and is the first of its kind in its category. Some of the other nominees include Austin Wintory and Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Bear McCreary and Call of Duty: Vanguard, Richard Jacques and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and Christopher Tin and Old World.
After winning her award, Economou thanked all the people who worked hard to bring the category of video game music into the Grammys. She thanked them for “acknowledging and validating the power of game music”.
While this is the first time there was a separate category for video game music at the Grammys, it was not the first time a game had won an award. That would be Christopher Tin’s Baba Yetu from Civilization IV, which won in the category of Best Arrangement, Instruments, and Vocals in 2011.
And in 2012, Austin Wintry nabbed a Grammy nomination for his phenomenal work on Journey in the category of Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media but lost to the music of the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
We at Emmen Gaming take this moment to congratulate Economou on her win and echo her sentiment that it truly is great that video game music finally has a place at the Grammys.
The Last of Us Part I Delayed On PC
Naughty Dog’s planned release of the Last of Us Part I on the PC has been delayed from its planned release date of March 3.
According to Naughty Dog, the delay is caused due to work being done to make the game’s PC debut as high quality as possible. It claims that work is being done to have the game meet the standards and expectations of its fans.
A live action show based on the game is currently airing on HBOMax and has been garnering a very positive response. The series stars Game of Thrones veterans Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Craig Mazin serves as the showrunner with Neil Druckmann (the director of the game) serving as executive producer.
Time will tell whether Naughty Dog’s assertions that the Last of Us Part I for the PC needs more time in the oven or whether the delay was timed to draw in the fans of the series to the games.
Regardless, this is not the first time the game has been remastered and rereleased. However, those previous rereleases were on Sony consoles and this is its first venture beyond.
The new release date is March 28, which is after the currently-airing live-action series concludes.
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