For $49.99 – or less, if you played on Game Pass – The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is a pretty impactful release. It showcases Virtuos’ remastering skill on Unreal Engine 5, which is all the more important given that it’s also working on Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (and likely many other upcoming projects). It’s a new avenue for Bethesda Game Studios, previously only known for releasing new titles rather than going back and remastering or remaking the classics. The outstanding value of Game Pass, Microsoft Shadow Drop King (or contender to the crown), you know the rest. However, it also highlights how enjoyable the original Oblivion could be. The many secrets and hidden mechanics of Cyrodiil, the incredible quests and factions (The Dark Brotherhood still holds up to this day), and, of course, the irreverent charm, which Virtuos retained, bugs and all. Though it touched up the gameplay plenty, especially with the combat and addition of a sprint button, the visual overhaul is undoubtedly the gateway into the remaster and fully appreciating how well things have aged. This brings us to the natural question. Should The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim also receive the Oblivion Remastered treatment? Wait, stop. Hear me out. I know what you’re thinking. “That Skyrim, which launched in 2011 and has since received three different re-releases?” Yes, the very same Skyrim, which also received a VR version, Switch port, and an Alexa version to poke fun at Bethesda constantly re-releasing the game. Which ironically released before the Anniversary Edition. At a glance, the world seemingly needs a Skyrim Remastered as much as another version of The Last of Us. Plus there’s the mod community, which has carried the original game so far. Between dozens of new NPC combat styles, retextured enemies, an overhaul to the UI, higher resolution textures, new armor sets, revamped combat, and total conversions which completely change the game, what could a remaster offer that modders can’t? However, that wasn’t exactly the purpose behind Oblivion Remastered. While Virtuos improved several important elements and fixed the irritating leveling system, it left the core of the game intact. In fact, it’s running primarily on the Gamebryo Engine for its physics, combat, and other gameplay aspects, while all of its assets and environments were rebuilt from the ground up on Unreal Engine 5. While combat feels better thanks to hit reactions, improved enemy animations, and sound effects, the core is still very much the same. NPCs have improved facial reactions and lip-syncing, and even if their dialogue remains unchanged, it’s a different feeling compared to 2006. Or, to be more specific, it feels as immersive now as it did nearly two decades ago because Oblivion is now in line with modern visual standards. Again, an ingenuous balancing act, even if there are arguments to be had about the overall color palette. Imagine Skyrim with that same level of fidelity and polish, which improves the overall immersion while staying true to the original experience. That first moment when you encounter a dragon but completely overhauled to meet 2025 graphical standards in more ways than just improved textures and effects. And even if mods can offer all kinds of fidelity, rendering the game nigh-on unrecognizable – that too with several options becoming available for console players – ground-up recreation of all the assets is an entirely different beast. And while there are worries about mod dependencies, especially since Oblivion Remastered launched without official support, users were able to implement their own solutions within the very first week. Ultimate Engine Tweaks, Carry Weight Modifier, No Item Degradation, the High-Quality Music mod, and much more are available to enhance the experience, albeit only for PC players. When these will make their way over to consoles remains to be seen, but the fact that they’re available so quickly for the PC version, which shadow-dropped almost out of nowhere, the wait shouldn’t be too long. So, a Skyrim Remastered would feature a nice graphical overhaul, improvements to its core systems, and fairly significant mod support on PC if it ever happened. Best of all, it would likely include all the content updates and expansions, including all the extras and Creation Club content from the Anniversary Edition. It sounds like a great way for new players to experience the classic for the first time and long-time fans to rekindle their best memories of it, much like Oblivion Remastered. And with over 60 million units sold for the original as of June 2023, it would be a massive hit for Bethesda. This doesn’t mean there aren’t any challenges or potential problems. For one, Skyrim is an inferior experience to Oblivion in many regards. As successful and influential as the former was for video games back in 2011 and many years after, it received extensive flak for its continued streamlining of gameplay. You can’t attack while jumping, dodge, execute a power attack while falling, attack while swimming, etc. The role-playing system is fairly gutted, removing much of the character fantasy that makes Oblivion enjoyable. Don’t even get us started on the quest design, the magic system, or how much fundamentally worse the combat feels. You could argue that Bethesda and whoever it ropes in to develop this potential Skyrim Remastered could easily add several of these features. However, not all of them – Custom Spell is so fundamentally different that it wouldn’t fit. And if the changes are too extensive, it would go against the very goal of remastering Skyrim in the first place – to modernize the original without significantly altering its core. Of course, the developer could go ahead and do it anyway. Even if it wouldn’t make for the same experience as the original, maybe fans wouldn’t mind if the overall experience is better. However, there were complaints about Oblivion Remastered not being exactly 1:1 with the original in several facets. Would Bethesda risk deviating even further with a Skyrim Remastered, even if the result is better? If it does and sticks with Unreal Engine 5 for the foreseeable future, you can likely expect more significant performance issues. If Virtuos is onboard again, its experience could help mitigate the same, but it’s difficult to say for sure. Another problem is the development schedule. Bethesda is working on The Elder Scrolls 6, and while it may very well launch by 2030, for all we know, Oblivion Remastered took four years to make. If Skyrim Remastered is greenlit, would it take the same amount of time or longer? Would it arrive before TES 6 or after? If it’s the latter, will fans really care about the quality of life changes? Will newcomers want to dive in when something more contemporary is available? Unless the sixth game falls way below expectations, but Bethesda has never had that problem before, right? (*cough*Starfield*cough*) It’s also likely that the rumored Fallout 3 Remastered is being prioritized, and judging from rumors, that may be a long way off. If so, why commission a Skyrim remaster when another title that’s a guaranteed smash hit is coming up? Time will tell if Skyrim Remastered is on the docket or not. Bethesda is now aware of the sales potential behind its remasters, and while Oblivion Remastered is only $50, it could very well up the price for future titles. Game Pass will still present significant value in that regard. Given the price increases for Xbox hardware, accessories and first-party games, expect the subscription service to see another price increase. Either way, with how successful Skyrim has been, you have to believe that a remaster is more a question of “when” and not “if.”

DriftingSpirit Member Oct 25, 2017 18,502 PlayStation is obviously now the dominant player, pretty much the dominant, they always were number one, but they are so dominant now in the console space if you're counting Nintendo separately, which I don't think you should, now that Xbox's strategy has shifted. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I don't think there's a game, let me check, I don't think there's a game on the schedule that Xbox has coming this year that isn't launching at the same time on PlayStation... It's completely, it's a different world. Outer Worlds PlayStation 5, Doom PlayStation 5, Tony Hawk Pro's Skater PlayStation 5, Call of Duty PlayStation 5, Gears of War Reloaded, which is a bit more of an unusual. We wouldn't expect to see that come to PlayStation, we just had Forza come to PlayStation 5, these are all Microsoft published games. I think Avowed and South of Midnight weren't on PS5 but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the end. Click to expand... Click to shrink... That's the end of Xbox exclusives, those games. I mean, they're on PC as well so in many respects they were already not Xbox exclusives, and that's Xbox's strategy that they shifted away from. Certain publishers and developers have spoken to me, like, baffled by this because from their point of view they want the competition in the console space. They're going "why should we even bother making an Xbox game if this is the strategy", that's a balance that Microsoft's going to have to strike." Click to expand... Click to shrink... View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgCII8nnKHg&t=1150s   Mezoly Jimbo Replacement Member Oct 25, 2017 5,232 At this point, only reason to make an xbox port is to hope for a Gamepass deal I would think.   AzorAhai Member Oct 29, 2017 8,335 Yeah, I understand their point of view. Fewer exclusives will deepen the install base gap. Coupled with the Game Pass strategy (which doesn't suit all devs), I don't know anyone who is still buying games on Xbox.  Windrunner Sly Member Oct 25, 2017 7,743 Mezoly said: At this point, only reason to make an xbox port is to hope for a Gamepass deal I would think. Click to expand... Click to shrink... That or being a mainstream name.   Dekim Member Oct 28, 2017 5,107 My guess is if Satya had his way, Xbox would kills its hardware completely and become full 3rd party. Phil probably convinced him that keeping Xbox hardware around is wise for some reason or another that escapes me.   Coolduderedux Member Oct 25, 2017 2,843 It's really fun to see all the people who were so ingrained in console warring struggle to see what's going on. Sure, Xbox isn't making it any more clear, but if the writing on the wall is right, these developers and publishers won't be making Xbox versions, they'll be making PC versions that scale and a separate PS5 / Switch 2 version. The xbox will just be a wrapped PC.   Selective Member May 5, 2025 69 Doesn't seem that complicated to me. You make more money selling games everywhere, rather than withholding your stuff from others. Probably plays a role into the rumored plans to have the next Xbox console be more than a little bit of a PC. Coolduderedux said: It's really fun to see all the people who were so ingrained in console warring struggle to see what's going on. Sure, Xbox isn't making it any more clear, but if the writing on the wall is right, these developers and publishers won't be making Xbox versions, they'll be making PC versions that scale and a separate PS5 / Switch 2 version. The xbox will just be a wrapped PC. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yep! Couldn't have said it better myself.  Tbm24 Member Oct 25, 2017 22,769 Feel like we were just coming off publishers and devs realizing releasing on all platforms was the answer. So I'm finding their question confusing.   Scottoest Member Feb 4, 2020 12,632 It's a great question. One I wished people had asked more persistently of Phil Spencer a couple of months ago when he was doing the rounds pretending this was the plan all along. Coolduderedux said: It's really fun to see all the people who were so ingrained in console warring struggle to see what's going on. Sure, Xbox isn't making it any more clear, but if the writing on the wall is right, these developers and publishers won't be making Xbox versions, they'll be making PC versions that scale and a separate PS5 / Switch 2 version. The xbox will just be a wrapped PC. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I mean, this isn't an article about console warriors not knowing what is going on - it's an article about DEVELOPERS AND PUBLISHERS saying they don't understand what is going on, which means at minimum for those people that Microsoft haven't deigned to tell them yet.  fiendcode Member Oct 26, 2017 26,226 Dekim said: My guess is if Satya had his way, Xbox would kills its hardware completely and become full 3rd party. Phil probably convinced him that keeping Xbox hardware around is wise for some reason or another that escapes me. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The plan is merging Windows and Xbox next gen but it does feel like we're on a console offramp here.   SoftTaur Member Oct 25, 2017 607 I'm a PC (and Nintendo) gamer but it's kind of crazy that as someone who likes several series Microsoft makes and who doesn't care for Sony's first party stuff at all, the PS5 seems like a better purchase to me than an Xbox. Sure it has BC and Gamepass, but almost everything comes to PS5 and PS5 will get some Japanese stuff the Xbox doesn't get so it wins for me.   Hippopuncher12 Member Oct 25, 2017 17,602 Cincinnati Yeah if I was a dev I would probably want a GP deal or just skip the platform. Obviously exceptions for certain games exist like GTA etc.   Bessy67 Member Oct 29, 2017 13,036 The only way Xbox's strategy makes sense is if they move to a family of devices that are essentially just PCs, and everyone already makes PC versions.   Dal Uncle Works at Nintendo Member Aug 18, 2024 2,142 Going from those ABK threads back in 2022 to this What a turn  asd202 Enlightened Member Oct 27, 2017 11,083 Coolduderedux said: It's really fun to see all the people who were so ingrained in console warring struggle to see what's going on. Sure, Xbox isn't making it any more clear, but if the writing on the wall is right, these developers and publishers won't be making Xbox versions, they'll be making PC versions that scale and a separate PS5 / Switch 2 version. The xbox will just be a wrapped PC. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah this is what I expect to happen. The recent talk of having BC and all that is to ensure emulation for older Xbox games so that you can carry over your library and play it on PC.   Joule Member Nov 19, 2017 4,938 Unless there is a gamepass check involved it's hard to see a great reason to develop your game for xbox. Due to poor hardware sales, dealing with 2 different hardware configs, and the fact that games sell poorly on the system. The OEM Xbox PC going forward is seeming the next thing for MS gaming. Which makes it a no different than any other pre-built PCs. As a developer, PS5/PC makes sense for 3rd party given the direction of Xbox. And if Switch 2 makes sense than obviously put it there too.  Bonfires Down Member Nov 2, 2017 3,284 I wish Microsoft would be more forthcoming about what their future plans are. Maybe you say that there is no reason for them to do so, but I at least would be more likely to buy an Xbox if I knew I could keep my library on whatever hardware they do next.   jroc74 Member Oct 27, 2017 33,877 Scottoest said: It's a great question. One I wished people had asked more persistently of Phil Spencer a couple of months ago when he was doing the rounds pretending this was the plan all along. I mean, this isn't an article about console warriors not knowing what is going on - it's an article about DEVELOPERS AND PUBLISHERS saying they don't understand what is going on, which means at minimum for those people that Microsoft haven't deigned to tell them yet. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Thank you.   JRedCX Member Nov 10, 2020 1,199 I think if some devs gets a deal for GP there's a solid reason to make an Xbox version but yeah... Unless MS retains or grow their subscribers on console (I doubt it tbh) and think there's less and less reason unfortunately.  Casa Member Oct 25, 2017 11,773 Just because they're getting their ass kicked in hardware numbers doesn't mean there aren't still millions and millions of people who play on Xbox. Seems like a silly thing to be concerned about. Feels like a "if you're not first you're dead" kind of sentiment which is stupid.  kambaybolongo Member Oct 25, 2017 14,836 Selective said: Doesn't seem that complicated to me. You make more money selling games everywhere, rather than withholding your stuff from others. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah can't wait to play GTA VI on my Ouya Bonfires Down said: I wish Microsoft would be more forthcoming about what their future plans are. Maybe you say that there is no reason for them to do so, but I at least would be more likely to buy an Xbox if I knew I could keep my library on whatever hardware they do next. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I doubt that there is any sort of master plan for xbox at this point. Broadly we know that MS wants to be a multi platform publisher and push subscriptions. But who knows if gamepass subs are even a priority anymore.   Renna Hazel Member Oct 27, 2017 13,163 Because a bunch of people still own and game on Xbox? Why wouldn't you make an Xbox version if millions of people are still playing on Xbox? Why would a third party publisher care if MS is also putting their games on PS5?   Selective Member May 5, 2025 69 kambaybolongo said: Yeah can't wait to play GTA VI on my Ouya Click to expand... Click to shrink... ...That makes zero sense? Ouya was an Android phone with an HDMI port. If a device can run a game and has a sizable audience, why not ship for it? That's clearly MS's strategy, which they have public stated repeatedly. As far as developer work going forward for Xbox consoles, there isn't going to be much involved in running a Win32 application under a Windows variant that runs on a box you plug into a TV.  Tbm24 Member Oct 25, 2017 22,769 Bonfires Down said: I wish Microsoft would be more forthcoming about what their future plans are. Maybe you say that there is no reason for them to do so, but I at least would be more likely to buy an Xbox if I knew I could keep my library on whatever hardware they do next. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Microsoft has on multiple occasions said another Xbox is coming. People just refuse to believe them. It's pretty funny all things considered, we'll see what happens. So long as PlayAnywhere is a thing I'm going to try and be there.   GPU Member Oct 10, 2024 915 I feel like we have been hearing variations of this story for over a decade.   The elusive man Member May 19, 2024 774 Renna Hazel said: Because a bunch of people still own and game on Xbox? Why wouldn't you make an Xbox version if millions of people are still playing on Xbox? Why would a third party publisher care if MS is also putting their games on PS5? Click to expand... Click to shrink... By removing incentive ls to buy the the console they are selling far less consoles.   Bessy67 Member Oct 29, 2017 13,036 Selective said: ...That makes zero sense? Ouya was an Android phone with an HDMI port. If a device can run a game and has a sizable audience, why not ship for it? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Cost benefit analysis. Much smaller user base and a user base conditioned to wait for games to hit the subscription service. If you're not planning a Game Pass release the math might not make sense for Xbox versions for much longer.   UraMallas Member Nov 1, 2017 24,353 United States Yes, correct. That's a huge part of the argument to abandon the platform from a consumer perspective.   TripleBee Prophet of Truth Member Oct 30, 2017 7,443 Canada I'll keep it for game pass. But Xbox has a really uphill battle if they want to convince me to purchase games on their console going forward, and certainly a next gen console. Now maybe they are fine with that. And maybe there are 20 million people who would buy and Xbox just for game pass? And that's worth it.  Selective Member May 5, 2025 69 Bessy67 said: Cost benefit analysis. Much smaller user base and a user base conditioned to wait for games to hit the subscription service. If you're not planning a Game Pass release the math might not make sense for Xbox versions for much longer. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah, but that is a temporary thing - all indications are that the next Xbox console will be compatible with Win32 applications, so there isn't any meaningful work there.  NinjaScooter Member Oct 25, 2017 60,516 Casa said: Just because they're getting their ass kicked in hardware numbers doesn't mean there aren't still millions and millions of people who play on Xbox. Seems like a silly thing to be concerned about. Feels like a "if you're not first you're dead" kind of sentiment which is stupid. Click to expand... Click to shrink... It's a valid concern from third party developers and publishers if the audience is in decline. Even if its an opportunity to expand your audience beyond Switch/PS/PC those ports don't materialize out of thin air at some point they have to justify their cost.  Abrasion Test Member Oct 27, 2017 2,434 Renna Hazel said: Because a bunch of people still own and game on Xbox? Why wouldn't you make an Xbox version if millions of people are still playing on Xbox? Why would a third party publisher care if MS is also putting their games on PS5? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Your first point is the reason though. If Xbox is devaluing their hw and ecosystem, that number of people is going to keep dwindling. We already know game purchases are way softer on Xbox since the audience is trained to only play games on Game Pass.   Shoot Member Oct 25, 2017 5,870 People have been called console warriors for saying the same thing.   Grakchawwaa Member Mar 10, 2022 640 Renna Hazel said: Because a bunch of people still own and game on Xbox? Why wouldn't you make an Xbox version if millions of people are still playing on Xbox? Why would a third party publisher care if MS is also putting their games on PS5? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Making ports isn't free. There is some calculus to making a port and how many sales they will get. Xbox still has a healthy user base so it's probably reactionary to a certain extent.  Renna Hazel Member Oct 27, 2017 13,163 The elusive man said: By removing incentive ls to buy the the console they are selling far less consoles. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Sounds like a bigger issue for next gen. It's pretty clear why you would want to make an Xbox version of games right now. Plenty of users are playing on Xbox.   poklane Member Oct 25, 2017 31,871 the Netherlands It really wouldn't surprise me if within 3-5 years 3rd party games on Xbox start selling so badly that for an ever increasing amount of developers/publishers it's not worth making an Xbox port unless they get a Game Pass deal which covers the cost. Xbox sales are already bad, and they're gonna become even worse now that Microsoft is seemingly putting everything on PlayStation. Xbox will be a Game Pass machine, if you're not interested in Game Pass then you should get a PlayStation (or Switch), if you're not interested in console gaming PC is the obvious way to go. And if Xbox consoles are just Game Pass machine, I'd expect actual game sales on it to be abysmal.   Copilot Member Jun 27, 2023 1,299 Well, Xbox made 4x more revenue than Nintendo last quarter. Their strategy shouldn't be bad.   asd202 Enlightened Member Oct 27, 2017 11,083 Bonfires Down said: I wish Microsoft would be more forthcoming about what their future plans are. Maybe you say that there is no reason for them to do so, but I at least would be more likely to buy an Xbox if I knew I could keep my library on whatever hardware they do next. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Why would you believe them? They change strategy every year or purposefully mislead or both.   Bonfires Down Member Nov 2, 2017 3,284 Tbm24 said: Microsoft has on multiple occasions said another Xbox is coming. People just refuse to believe them. It's pretty funny all things considered, we'll see what happens. So long as PlayAnywhere is a thing I'm going to try and be there. Click to expand... Click to shrink... If it's just another traditional console without exclusives then it's going to gradually lose third party support and die out, so that's not attractive to me either.   The elusive man Member May 19, 2024 774 Renna Hazel said: Sounds like a bigger issue for next gen. It's pretty clear why you would want to make an Xbox version of games right now. Plenty of users are playing on Xbox. Click to expand... Click to shrink... They've hemorrhage users gen after gen though there is no sign that will change. the games these guys are talking about right now are being made now so yeah in a year or 2 thats why they are having these discussions now.   jroc74 Member Oct 27, 2017 33,877 Coolduderedux said: It's really fun to see all the people who were so ingrained in console warring struggle to see what's going on. Sure, Xbox isn't making it any more clear, but if the writing on the wall is right, these developers and publishers won't be making Xbox versions, they'll be making PC versions that scale and a separate PS5 / Switch 2 version. The xbox will just be a wrapped PC. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Selective said: Yeah, but that is a temporary thing - all indications are that the next Xbox console will be compatible with Win32 applications, so there isn't any meaningful work there. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Right....so make a PC version and dont worry about an Xbox version. Sounds like a possible valid argument from those devs and publishers.  Will_Law Member Feb 5, 2021 1,167 Plus it doesn't help that Xbox gamers (myself included) have been trained to just play the new stuff on Game Pass instead of buying new games. When Dredge came out last year, I basically thought "cool, I'll play that once it's on game pass" rather than buying it. The last BIG game I bought on Xbox was Elden Ring. The only Xbox stuff I buy now are older games that are getting delisted and I have FOMO about not having them in the future (Forza Horizon 4, a bunch of Sega games that got delisted).  nihilence nøthing but silence Moderator Oct 25, 2017 18,845 From 'quake area to big OH. Because money? If it's profitable why not   --R Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer Member Oct 25, 2017 15,458 Renna Hazel said: Sounds like a bigger issue for next gen. It's pretty clear why you would want to make an Xbox version of games right now. Plenty of users are playing on Xbox. Click to expand... Click to shrink... But the thing is that developers that are starting development right now on their projects, scoping and deciding what platforms they're releasing in are facing this issue right now. It's the main issue with rushing this multiplatform approach after the ABK acquisition, without having the next-gen plans finished to communicate them to developers and publishers. We've seen how plans have changed so quickly when like none of the internal documents that leaked during the FTC trial that had decade-long plans are really being followed anymore.   The_R3medy Member Jan 22, 2018 3,759 Wisconsin Tbm24 said: Feel like we were just coming off publishers and devs realizing releasing on all platforms was the answer. So I'm finding their question confusing. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Right, like the barriers for releasing on other consoles are as low as they've ever been. Obviously stuff still costs money, but you can't tell me in most cases that it doesn't work out for the devs.  Lashley <<Tag Here>> Member Oct 25, 2017 65,179 I mean, we see this playing out anyway. It's not uncommon to see a game skip Xbox   wagon Member Jan 6, 2025 366 What's next for xbox is just to use xbox as a brand cause nobody likes Microsoft as an entertainment brand and just make PC-consoles and apply xbox-software onto PCs. It'll also actually get them into markets that they've NEVER ever been able to get into throughout all their console generations cause their brand power sucked such as in Asia   BabyDontHurtMe Member Dec 9, 2018 30,540 New Jersey Probably would explain why more third-party companies are marketing their games for PlayStation or Nintendo than Xbox lately.   kambaybolongo Member Oct 25, 2017 14,836 Selective said: Yeah, but that is a temporary thing - all indications are that the next Xbox console will be compatible with Win32 applications, so there isn't any meaningful work there. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The next Xbox will also sell much worse than the Series consoles. Bad enough to lose 3rd party support. If we're talking about the next xbox just straight up running the pc version of a game, yeah of course devs wont block it from doing so nor could they. But developing a native xbox version even if it isn't much work probably won't be worth it.   Zebesian-X Member Dec 3, 2018 25,113 Yeah, this is one of the many challenges they'll have to figure out heading into next-gen. Will be fascinating to watch it all play out Copilot said: Well, Xbox made 4x more revenue than Nintendo last quarter. Their strategy shouldn't be bad. Click to expand... Click to shrink... What does that have to do with third party developers weighing the future of Xbox hardware?  

Four more video games have been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the Strong National Museum of Play announced Thursday: Williams Electronics’ Defender, Rare’s GoldenEye 007, id Software’s Quake, and Bandai’s Tamagotchi.The quartet of classic games emerged from a list of 2025 World Video Game Hall of Fame nominees that also included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, and NBA 2K.Those four titles selected “significantly influenced popular culture and the video game industry,” The Strong said in a news release. The museum’s annual nominees are judged on four metrics: icon status, longevity, geographical reach, and influence. Quake is the second id Software game to be inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame; Doom was welcome to the esteemed group in 2015.Regarding this year’s inductees, judges and curators explained why Defender, GoldenEye 007, Quake, and Tamagotchi were so influential.Defender, said Jeremy Saucier, assistant vice president for interpretation and electronic games, was “among the first games to truly separate dedicated players from more casual ones” and challenged “conventional wisdom about game mastery and the idea that players would reject more complex arcade video games.”GoldenEye 007 was hailed as “the premier example of a first-person shooter to succeed on a console” and “is still considered one of the best multiplayer experiences ever produced on a Nintendo system,” said Andrew Borman, director of digital preservation.Quake was lauded for “its influence in how online games are played, its active modding community, and its creation and shaping of esports.” Lindsey Kurano, electronic games curator, noted that portions of Quake’s code “continues to be present in modern games, decades after release.”Tamagotchi was more than just a fad, Bandai’s toy line offered “a distinct form of play that differed from popular video game electronics of the time,” said Kristy Hisert, collections manager. Combining “connection, caring, and customization, a respite from competition and fighting games,” Tamagotchi influenced future pet simulation games on consoles, websites, and smart devices.Since 2015, 49 games have been inducted into the museum’s hall of fame. Last year, The Strong welcomed Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, Ultima, and SimCity to its collection. See More:

AMD has just released its latest Adrenalin 25.5.1 driver, adding more FSR 4 games to the list while also updating FiedlityFX SDK with FSR 3.1.3. 8 More Games Receive FSR 4 Support Along With Radeon RX 9070 GRE Readiness In Adrenalin 25.5.1 Driver In its latest feature-packed driver release, AMD is making some big additions with eight new games now receiving FSR 4 support, allowing gamers to take advantage of higher-fidelity upscaling and further boosting FPS with frame-generation support on the company's latest RDNA 4 "Radeon RX 9000" GPUs. In addition to that, AMD also adds improved Fluid Motion Frames 2.1 (AFMF) support, which can offer improved frame-generated image quality, reduced ghosting, and better temporal tracking on a range of Radeon GPUs starting from the RDNA 2-based Radeon RX 6000 series and the Radeon 800M iGPU lineup. The following are the full release notes: Additional Highlights include: New game support for Doom: The Dark Ages and F1 25 Expanded HYPR-Tune support for titles like Marvel Rivals and GTA V Enhanced Vulkan 1.4 support and new Vulkan extensions Various stability improvements New Product Support AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE NOTE: Radeon Software for Linux packaged drivers for this product will be available later this month. New Game Support Doom: The Dark Ages F1 25 New Game Support for AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 4 (FSR 4) Ghost of Tsushima Frostpunk 2 Everspace 2 Fort Solis Warhammer 40,000: Darktide The Finals Influx Redux Expanded HYPR-RX Support HYPR-Tune Support Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Marvel Rivals Grand Theft Auto V Enhanced Kingdom Come Deliverance II Path of Exile 2 Expanded Vulkan Extension Support Vulkan 1.4 Support VK_EXT_shader_replicated_composites VK_KHR_maintenance8 VK_EXT_image_2d_view_of_3d Click HERE for more information about other Vulkan® extension support. Fixed Issues and Improvements Failure to detect integrated camera may be observed after driver installation using factory reset option on some Ryzen AI Max and Max+ series products. Installation progress may persistently display 0% while installing AMD Chat within the AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition user interface after upgrading to AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series graphics products. System crash may be observed due to a memory leak when using SteamVR on some AMD Radeon Graphics Products, such as the Radeon RX 9000 series. Users experiencing this issue are recommended to turn off Motion Smoothing in SteamVR settings. Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while loading Civilization VII with Anti-Lag enabled. Intermittent failure to launch may be observed when AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition user interface is launched from desktop context menu or system tray. Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing The Last of Us Part 2. Stutter may be observed while playing games with some VR headsets at 80Hz or 90Hz refresh rate on some AMD Radeon Graphics Products such as the Radeon RX 7000 series. Users experiencing this issue are recommended to change the refresh rate as a temporary workaround. Intermittent system or application crash may be observed while playing Cyberpunk 2077 Failure to launch may be observed for Battlefield 1 on Radeon RX 9000 series graphics products with Ryzen 9 9950X integrated graphics.  Users experiencing these issues are recommended to disable integrated graphics (iGPU) in system BIOS as a temporary workaround. Intermittent application crash or driver timeout may be observed while playing Monster Hunter Wilds with Radeon Anti-Lag and Instant Replay enabled. Artifacts or corruption may appear while playing BattleField on Radeon RX 7000 series graphics products. Quality and Performance selections may be reversed in the user interface for AMD Radeon Boost. Stutter may be observed while playing Call of Duty®: Warzone Season 03 Verdansk map on some AMD Graphics Products. In addition to the new driver, AMD has also updated its FidelityFX SDK package, which has now been updated with FSR 3.1.3, offering reduced ghosting and lots of changes as listed below: Exposed 4 new tunings to reduce FSR upscaler ghosting in newly disoccludded pixels or highly reactive pixels. Changed the default value of fMinDisocclusionAccumulation to -0.333 (from equivalent of 0.333 in FSR 3.1.3) to reduce disocclusion ghosting. Added ffxQueryGetProviderVersion to get version info from created ffx-api context. Exposed ffxDispatchDescFrameGenerationPrepareCameraInfo as a linked struct. It is a required input to FSR 3.1.4 and onwards for best quality. Added frame generation debug checker support. Dropped unused interpolation command lists if frame generation callback fails, to fix infinite wait at swapchain destruction. General fixes to Vulkan Frame Interpolation Swapchain. General framework fixes and updates. Frame pacing debug line added to Vulkan. Added new FFX error when create frame interpolation swapchain results in E_ACCESSDENIED in DX12 due to overlay or capture software. Enabled support for frame interpolation swapchain on Windows 10 1909 and potentially earlier versions. Fixed flipped disocclusion factor from previous and current backbuffer. Fixed HDR mode issues in Cauldron sample. Fixed MSVC C compile errors including ffx-api. Deal of the Day

Lead Technical AnimatorCD ProjektWarsaw Masovian Voivodeship pl1 hour agoApplyJob DescriptionCD PROJEKT RED is looking for a Lead Technical Animator to work on Project Orion, the follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077. You will bring your years of expertise, leadership skills, attention to detail, and passion for creating animation pipelines and systems for characters, vehicles, and weapons to our growing team.ResponsibilitiesDevelop and manage a high performing Technical Art team comprising Rigging TD’s and Technical Animators.Leverage your skillsets in both digital content creation tools and real-time engines to drive and deliver high-quality character, vehicle, and weapon workflows, pipelines, and animation solutions.Manage your direct reports and help them grow in their role and ambitions, including setting up 1:1s, performance management, hiring and promotions.Work with Directors and Production to estimate and plan work.Collaborate closely with designers, artists and other developers to understand their needs and ensure that your team is aligned to deliver on expectations.Coordinate and drive cross-discipline functional teams from feature conception to completion.Establish and maintain best practices offering guidance to support content development team artistic and technical objectives.Mentor the technical art team, building an environment of creativity, trust, and excellence aligned with the company’s values and goals.PipelinePrototype, research, integrate, and extend rigging and animation systems.Help devise, develop, and maintain pipelines for asset creation focusing on characters, weapons, and vehicles.Solve complex technical art challenges while ensuring workflows and systems are efficient and scalable.Actively participate in evaluating performance and optimization to ensure seamless cross-team gameplay experiences.Foster cross-department collaboration to ensure the content and animation work effectively contributes across game teams and systems.QualificationsMinimum 7+ years of experience in the video games industry, including at least one shipped AAA title through the entire production lifecycle.Experience leading a technical art team.Expertise in Unreal Engine 5 Rigging and Animation Systems.Animation pipeline knowledge including developing and scripting tools for Maya, MotionBuilder, or other DCC applications.Proven track record of building character, vehicle, weapon workflows and pipelines.Excellent problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills.Ability to think creatively and strategically to overcome technical challenges and drive innovation in technology.Demonstrated commitment to taking ownership, setting goals, exchanging knowledge and driving initiatives independently.Nice to Haves:(Please note that these skills are not required to apply for the position)Strong C++, C#, or Python tool development and scripting professional experience.Experience in animation performance/memory optimization.Additional InformationWorking modeWorking primarily from the Warsaw office in a full in-office or hybrid mode.Perks & Professional GrowthFlexible working hours — start your workday anytime between 8:00 and 10:00 AM.A welcome pack filled with goodies — to help you feel right at home once you join the team.Trainings, lectures and courses — internal workshops, external training for each employee, ‘Meet a star’ events, knowledge-sharing initiatives, online tutorials, and e-learning classes are all available. There’s always something to learn!Merch — gifts for newborn rebels and regular chances to nab some cool swag!Health & Well-beingPrivate medical healthcare — a selection of medical plans with dental care to choose from, which are also accessible for your partner and relatives.Psychological care — free mental health support and various well-being webinars.Multisport card — gain access to a wide number of sporting and fitness facilities across the city.Social Activities & Life in the OfficeDog-friendly office — dog owner? Bring your pooch with you and look after them while working! There’s always a furry friend or two to meet at the studio.Social events — we host regular gatherings at the studio where we can all unwind, play games, and just have some fun together.Healthy selections — organic fruit, snacks, muesli, organic honey, vegan milk, and speciality coffee are all at your disposal around the studio. Enjoy!Truly international working environment — a chance to meet and work with a diverse selection of people from all around the world.Head office in WarsawSustainable campus with an eco ethos — solar panels provide green energy, 2000 plants and an air-filtering system to help provide clean air, electric car charging points, flower meadows, and more green features in the works.An onsite, well-equipped gym with a climbing wall, daily Gym Assistant support and yoga and healthy spine classes.Car and bike parking spaces.A designated space for your bicycle, as well as bicycle repair equipment and showers available whenever you need them.No dress-code — we like to keep it casual.Relocation supportRelocation package – flight ticket, company apartment for your first month, relocating your pet, shipping your belongings: it’s all covered. Who said moving countries needs to be complicated?Relocation assistance — processing your legalization operations for you, assistance with finding residence, tax settlements, helping out with translations if needed, and much more — we have dedicated teams to help make sure that all you need to feel right at home is taken care of.Polish lessons for foreign employees — and for your spouse or partner, too.Paid Leave — from 20 to 26 days of holiday for every team member per year, paid sick leave, and paid maternity & paternity leave.If you have observed any irregularities in our recruitment process please click here to report them.Company DescriptionTo create revolutionary, story-driven RPGs which go straight to the hearts of gamers — this is our mission. Want to dive deeper into our company’s culture? Explore our social media and check out our YouTube channel where we share behind-the-scenes insights and stories direct from our team members! Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

In new interviews, the devs behind Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 have explained why the popular career mode from the original THPS4 isn’t going to be included in the upcoming remake. Suggested ReadingThe Week In Games: What’s Releasing Beyond Exoprimal Share SubtitlesOffEnglishview videoSuggested ReadingThe Week In Games: What’s Releasing Beyond Exoprimal Share SubtitlesOffEnglishAnnounced in March after a bunch of rumors, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 looks to be a fantastic remake of two of the best skateboarding games ever made. THPS 3+4 is set to launch in July on consoles and PC, boasting improved visuals, quality-of-life features, and new levels. But the open world and the NPC quest givers found in THPS4's original career mode won’t be included. Instead, they have been replaced by the same two-minute runs and objectives found in the first three games. This upset a lot of hardcore players. And now Iron Galaxy, the team behind the remaster package, has explained why it cut the OG career mode. Speaking to Game Informer, THPS 3+4 design director Mike Rossi said that the team looked at THPS 1+2 and thought it was a good representation of the essence of those OG games. So they looked back at 3 and 4 before developing this new remake. “We looked at 3, and that was obviously another very highly regarded title in the franchise. So then it was, ‘Let’s look at 4. It’s quite different, but what, at its essence, is it?’ Our goal here is to make the ultimate package of 3 and 4. So ultimately, we felt that taking it into feeling more towards the 3 format, as opposed to what 4 did originally, was a better representation for a cohesive package that we were making.” In a different interview with Gaming Bible, THPS 3+4 game director Kurt Tillmanns said that once they put the timer in THPS 4's levels, they knew that “this is totally going to work.”“We recreated some of those classic goals that you remember [from THPS 4]; skitching the professor’s car, freeing the prisoner — in this new format all of those things still work.”Activision / PlayStationSpeaking to Press Start, Rossi was asked if the inclusion of an option to extend the timer in THPS 3+4's career mode for up to an hour—as opposed to the hard and fast two minutes found in the old games—was a reaction to the negative feedback they received from fans who wanted the open-world career mode of THPS 4. “No,” said Rossi. “We knew going into it that it was going to be tough and that people were going to be looking at it. But we felt this was the right way to approach it, and it made it a more cohesive package. We had already been thinking, you know, we’ve got the mods, which, in our eyes, is another way of putting accessibility things in.”“And a lot of the feedback we were getting internally, plus we’d see online, was that people didn’t always love the two-minute timer. You know, they’d want just a little bit more time. ‘Oh, I was just about to figure that out, or finish this thing. If only I had one more minute.’ And so why not give them that extra minute, or whatever extra time they want? It doesn’t feel like that impacts the overall goal that we’re trying to accomplish; it doesn’t impact progression,” said Rossi. “So we just threw that in, it’s a nice coincidence, and now, hopefully, we can point to that as a solution for those people who are looking for more time in those levels.”I’m not sure these answers will calm fans who believe the open-world format of THPS4's levels was a big part of the game’s identity. But at this point we are just a few a months away from launch and the devs sound committed to the objective-based run format for THPS 4. It’s a shame for fans of the OG game, but at least the original game is still around for those who prefer it. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 launches July 11 on Xbox, Game Pass, PlayStation, Switch, and PC. .

As developers in the mobile gaming industry become increasingly sophisticated in user engagement, it’s critical to keep an eye on users' in-app ad experience: the impact of the ad flow, or ad journey, on the users’ perception of your app.To boost performance and create an optimal ad experience, developers should be measuring how their ad flow affects performance and then make data-driven decisions to improve it. But how?Data is obviously the answer, but not all metrics were born equal. We've gathered the metrics that are key to the overall ad experience, so that you can visualize what users experience as they move through your app, and see how the ad flow impacts your revenue and user experience. Let’s get started.Measuring the ad experienceWhen it comes to measuring the ad experience, there are quite a few metrics to cover. They fall into three main categories: clicks, ad duration, and churn. ClicksClicks are a key indicator of the ad experience - but it’s not just about the number of clicks an ad gets, but the quality of those clicks. Every type of click, positive and negative, provides key insights. Here are some things to keep an eye on:Let’s say a user wants to finish watching an ad early, so they go to the top right corner of the ad to click on the “X,” but they accidentally clicked next to the X. Those “mis” clicks are called proximity clicks. Also, pay close attention here to how quickly the user leaves the app - if a user is attempting to make any click within a second after the creative starts, it’s called an early click."It’s not just about the number of clicks an ad gets, but the quality of those clicks"Another common clicking issue is when a user doesn’t click on anything, but they get automatically directed to the store anyway. This is an auto click, or a click detected without users even touching the screen. Often, since users in this situation didn’t want to end up at the store, they’ll leave the store immediately - that’s called a hasty click, or a click directed out of the app that returned to the app within 5 seconds. In this case, it doesn’t matter where, when, or why they clicked - it’s clear that their user experience was impaired. This is exactly how to calculate the ad’s bounce rate, or the percentage of hasty clicks divided by total clicks.Once you’ve identified problematic clicks, you can sift through them to find the intentional clicks, or the quality clicks. These are measured by adding up all the problematic clicks (hasty clicks + proximity clicks + auto clicks + early clicks), and subtracting them from the total clicks. This way, instead of just knowing your click through rate (CTR), or the number of clicks per impressions, you can now calculate and understand your app’s percentage of quality, intentional clicks, or QCTR (Quality click through rate). This is measured by dividing quality clicks by total impressions. Here are some benchmarks for the average QCTR per genre.Ad durationAd duration, or the median time users spend watching ads (including the end card), is another good indicator of quality. Generally, rewarded video ads shouldn’t last longer than about 30 seconds, and interstitial ads should be much shorter than that. If an ad is too long (e.g. a few minutes), it will usually harm the UX and increase proximity clicks.As you measure ad duration, make sure to examine your ad escape rate - the number of ads that weren’t closed properly. This might be due to technical problems (e.g., crashes), but can also be intentional, as users choose to leave the ad. Like proximity clicks, the higher the ad escape rate, the clearer the indication that your ad flow has an ad experience issue."The higher the ad escape rate, the clearer the indication that your ad flow has a UX issue"ChurnAny combination of ad experience issues can cause users to leave your app, or churn. Churned users is the number of users that clicked on an ad and left your app, not returning for a certain amount of time (1, 3, 7, or 14 days).By dividing churned users by total users who watched ads (over a set amount of days), you get an ad’s churn rate. This is a critical metric that indicates that ad experience issues are causing users to leave for good, ultimately affecting your engagement and revenue. "Any combination of ad experience issues can cause users to churn"The amount of revenue generated per churned user is churn yield, and it’s key for optimizing your monetization stack. Once you know the extent to which your churn impacts revenue, you can determine whether the revenue you gained outweighs the loss of users.To prevent churn, you need to ensure that your users are getting the best quality ads. With LevelPlay’s Ad Quality tool, you can identify bad ads, and report them - reducing your bounce rate, proximity clicks, early clicks, and more.Ultimately, the better you can determine if your app’s monetization stack is optimized, the more easily you can recognize user trends, and nip problematic trends in the bud - and ad experience issues are no exception. Learn more about how you can utilize these metrics to improve your ad experience and maintain high performance here.

Microsoft employees aren’t allowed to use DeepSeek due to data security and propaganda concerns, Microsoft vice chairman and president Brad Smith said in a Senate hearing today. “At Microsoft we don’t allow our employees to use the DeepSeek app,” Smith said, referring to DeepSeek’s application service (which is available on both desktop and mobile). Smith said Microsoft hasn’t put DeepSeek in its app store over those concerns, either.  Although lots of organizations and even countries have imposed restrictions on DeepSeek, this is the first time Microsoft has gone public about such a ban. Smith said the restriction stems from the risk that data will be stored in China and that DeepSeek’s answers could be influenced by “Chinese propaganda.” DeepSeek’s privacy policy states it stores user data on Chinese servers. Such data is subject to Chinese law, which mandates cooperation with the country’s intelligence agencies. DeepSeek also heavily censors topics considered sensitive by the Chinese government. Despite Smith’s critical comments about DeepSeek, Microsoft offered up DeepSeek’s R1 model on its Azure cloud service shortly after it went viral earlier this year. Techcrunch event Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 BOOK NOW But that’s a bit different from offering DeepSeek’s chatbot app itself. Since DeepSeek is open source, anybody can download the model, store it on their own servers, and offer it to their clients without sending the data back to China.  That, however, doesn’t remove other risks like the model spreading propaganda or generating insecure code. During the Senate hearing, Smith said that Microsoft had managed to go inside DeepSeek’s AI model and “change” it to remove “harmful side effects.” Microsoft did not elaborate on exactly what it did to DeepSeek’s model, referring TechCrunch to Smith’s remarks. In its initial launch of DeepSeek on Azure, Microsoft wrote that DeepSeek underwent “rigorous red teaming and safety evaluations” before it was put on Azure. While we can’t help pointing out that DeepSeek’s app is also a direct competitor to Microsoft’s own Copilot internet search chat app, Microsoft doesn’t ban all such chat competitors from its Windows app store.  Perplexity is available in the Windows app store, for instance. Although any apps by Microsoft’s archrival Google (including the Chrome browser and Google’s chatbot Gemini) did not surface in our webstore search.

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