Nintendo needs to Switch things up

Nintendo released their financial details this week, and it seems everyone is waiting for the Switch successor. Also, more details emerge about their lawsuit against Palworld. Plus Death Stranding celebrates five years with some big announcements and all the latest news of the week. Let’s go! 

Nintendo, Palworld and the next Switch

Nintendo announced their financials this week, and it’s not looking good for the current iteration of the Switch. 

Hardware sales fell 31% year-on-year to 4.72 million units during the first half of the year, while software fell 27.6%. Despite the losses, Nintedo says they have no plans to fast-track their Switch successor announcement. However, the company did confirm that their new hardware will be backwards compatible and able to run current Switch games.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s patent suit against Palworld continues, with more details emerging last week. The main part of the suit revolves around game mechanics, including "riding an object” and throwing a ball to capture and possess a character in virtual spaces. According to Palworld’s creator Pocketpair, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing for 5 million yen (approx $32,846) each plus late payment damages, and an injunction against Palworld that would block its release. At this time, Pocketpair does not plan to settle.

Death Stranding turns five

It was a big week for Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, as his most recent game celebrated its fifth anniversary. To celebrate, Kojima took to social media with a video filled with announcements.

First, Kojima unexpectedly announced Death Stranding’s release on the Xbox. He also shared that the post-apocalyptic game surpassed 19 million players worldwide. Finally, and probably the biggest news, Kojima announced that his production company acquired the intellectual property rights for Death Stranding from the original publisher 505 Games.

Kojima also mentioned that Death Stranding 2 is in the works, and most anticipate the game will release in 2025. 

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🖥️ Nvidia urges users of their graphic cards to update their driver immediately to fix eight “highly severe” vulnerabilities.

📋 PlayStation announced their list of 55 games that are enhanced for the PlayStation 5 Pro. 

🎶 The Grammy nominees for best video game soundtrack have been announced.

🦸🏽 Fans rebooted superhero MMORPG City of Heroes after it was offline for 12 years.

👋🏻 Sega is delisting over 60 classic games from Steam in December, including Crazy Taxi, Streets of Rage and Jet Set Radio. See the full list. 

🚗 Elon Musk says he is a “top 20” Diablo 4 player.

😢 Games industry layoffs surpass 13,000 for 2024 so far, with over 400 jobs cut in October.

🪩 Released less than a two weeks ago, Pokemon TCG Pocket has topped 30 million downloads worldwide.

📉 Nvidia announced plans to limit access to its game streaming service GeForce Now to 100 hours per month. 

✊ New York Times tech workers are making their own games while on strike.

📼 Steam Game Recording is now officially available, giving players the ability to record gameplay without a separate app.

💰 Employees from the company behind Marvel Rivals and Destiny: Rising were arrested over alleged money laundering.

📈 Sony has shipped 65 million PlayStation 5s, and sold 1.5 million copies of Astro Bot.

🌨️ Blizzard could soon announce Warcraft 2: Remastered.

💸 Warner Bros Discovery says its games division is "substantially underperforming," with MultiVersus and Harry Potter accounting for a $100 million loss. 

🤖 Xbox Insiders can now test Microsoft’s AI-powered Xbox chatbot. 

🎞️ The CEO of Take-Two interactive says that while the Borderlands movie was “disappointing,” it did help sell games. 

🤝🏻 Take-Two also sold its indie games label Private Division to an unknown buyer. 

🎭 After 20 years, Metal Gear Solid 3’s Eva actor’s identity is revealed. 

🖱️ Sony president says PlayStation Network account requirements for PC games are necessary so people can “safely” play their games.

🚀 Amazon’s next show based on a video game adaptation: Mass Effect.

New Releases this week: 

Check out our article on 12 New Games to Play in November.

11/12: Farming Simulator 25 (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
11/12: Tetris Forever (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
11/12: The Rise of the Golden Idol (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC and mobile)
11/14: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
11/14: Lego Horizon Adventures (PlayStation, Switch and PC)
11/14: Mindcop (PlayStation, Switch and PC)

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