All Articles: Star Wars: Battlefront II

February 2018’s best-selling game was Monster Hunter: World… and Nintendo Switch set the record for first-year console sales in US

The Nintendo Switch continues to break records, and the consolemaker can now add “Best First-Year Sales in the US” to its trophy case. The news comes courtesy of The NPD Group’s February 2018 report (via GamesIndustry.biz), which estimates that Nintendo sold more than five million Switch consoles in the US over the previous 12 months.

On the software side of the ledger, Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World was the top-selling game yet again. It was challenged by several new releases in February, but while EA Sports UFC 3 (#7), Kingdom Come: Deliverance (#8), Bayonetta 2 (#14), and Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet (#18) all cracked the top 20, none could dethrone Monster Hunter: World.

The NPD Group’s complete top 20 for February 2018 can be found after the break. (more…)

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is “Video Game of the Year” at 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took home another trophy last night when the “open-air” adventure was named “Video Game of the Year” at the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards. The Nintendo Switch launch title also scooped up awards for “Excellence in Design” and “Excellence in Gameplay”

PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds also picked up three awards last night (“Esports Game of the Year,” “Trending Game of the Year,” and “Excellence in Multiplayer”), and a handful of other games (Cuphead, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Nier: Automata) were two-time winners.

You can find the complete list of winners from the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards at Video Game Canon.

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EA announces revamped Progression System for Star Wars: Battlefront II will be available on March 21

Electronic Arts has announced that Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s revamped Progression System will “begin rolling out” on March 21. In a complete reversal from the pre-release Beta, the new Progression System ensures that any item impacting gameplay can only be earned through gameplay, and “will not be available for purchase.”

The developers provided more details about the update on the game’s official website:

With this update, progression is now linear. Star Cards, or any other item impacting gameplay, will only be earned through gameplay and will not be available for purchase. Instead, you’ll earn experience points for the classes, hero characters, and ships that you choose to play in multiplayer. If you earn enough experience points to gain a level for that unit, you’ll receive one Skill Point that can be used to unlock or upgrade the eligible Star Card you’d like to equip.

You’ll keep everything you’ve already earned and unlocked. You will keep all of the Star Cards, heroes, weapons, or anything else you have already earned. What you have earned will still be available to use with this update regardless of how much or little progress you have already made.

Crates no longer include Star Cards and cannot be purchased. Crates are earned by logging in daily, completing Milestones, and through timed challenges. Inside of these crates, you’ll find Credits or cosmetic items, such as emotes or victory poses, but nothing that impacts gameplay.

A secondary update to the Progression System will appear in April, allowing Star Wars: Battlefront II players to purchase cosmetic items with real money. But an earnable in-game currency, Credits, can also be used to unlock these customization items.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is now available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game for all of 2017

Call of Duty: WWII earned a spot at the top of The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games for both November and December, and now the tracking firm has confirmed that Activision’s shooter was also the best-selling game for all of 2017.

It looks like Activision had a pretty good year, especially with Destiny 2 checking in at the #3 spot, but Nintendo was the publisher with the biggest presence on the NPD’s Top 10. The consolemaker can claim three games in the Top 10 including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#5), Super Mario Odyssey (#9), and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#10).

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, The NPD Group also confirmed an uptick for the industry as a whole. Gamers spent $14.59 billion on their favorite hobby in 2017, an increase of 11% over 2016.

Sony’s PS4 was the best-selling console of the year, but the Switch and Xbox One have also benefited from brisk sales:

“Combined sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue on a record-setting pace,” [NPD Gaming Analyst Mat] Piscatella said. “Over the first 50 months in market for each console, the combined hardware installed base of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now exceeds that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18 percent, and that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by 4 percent.”

The NPD’s Top 10 best-selling games for 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)

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Call of Duty: WWII repeats as the best-selling game of December 2017

Activision’s Call of Duty: WWII has reenlisted for a second tour of duty as the best-selling game of the month. According to The NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz), the shooter was the best-selling game in December 2017, besting Star Wars: Battlefront II (#2) and Super Mario Odyssey (#3).

The holiday season dominated last month’s list, as several games that were tailor-made for gift-giving ranked high in the Top 20 including NBA 2K18 (#4), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#5), Madden NFL 18 (#6), and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#9). But perhaps most surprisingly, the Xbox One debut of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds landed at #7 after just a few weeks on sale (PC sales weren’t included in the NPD Group’s calculations).

You can find The NPD Group’s complete list for the Top 20 best-selling games from December 2017 after the break. (more…)

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Call of Duty: WWII leads a huge month for game sales as best-selling game of Nov. 2017

Fans have been asking to send the Call of Duty franchise back to the European Theater for years, and now that Activision has finally delivered, those same fans have gleefully opened their wallets. According to The NPD Group, Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game in November, as well as the best-selling game in all of 2017 (so far).

Call of Duty: WWII’s launch helped push November 2017’s total game, hardware, and accessory sales to $2.7 billion, an increase of 30% over last year. Other big performers that fuled the last four weeks of sales included Star Wars: Battlefront II (#2), Assassin’s Creed Origins (#3), Super Mario Odyssey (#6), and a big debut for Need For Speed: Payback (#8).

The complete Top 20 from last month can be found after the break. (more…)

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EA turns off all microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront II after fan backlash

The run-up to Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s launch has been filled with more fireworks than Luke’s trench run through the Dark Star in the first film. Many fans were disappointed in the beta, and many reviewers took issue with the game’s progression system, which seemed overly-dependent on purchasing in-game currency with real money.

Rather than ignore the outcry, Electronic Arts and DICE responded to these complaints with a statement about the future of the game from DICE’s General Manager, Oskar Gabrielson. According to Gabrielson, the developer and publisher have decided to turn off the online storefront for Battlefront II’s in-game currency. For now, players will only be able to unlock the game’s more advanced features (including the ability to play as Darth Vader) through gameplay.

However, EA and DICE also announced plans to restore Battlefront II’s microtransactions after they rework the game’s progression system:

[A]s we approach the worldwide launch, it’s clear that many of you feel there are still challenges in the design. We’ve heard the concerns about potentially giving players unfair advantages. And we’ve heard that this is overshadowing an otherwise great game. This was never our intention. Sorry we didn’t get this right.

We hear you loud and clear, so we’re turning off all in-game purchases. We will now spend more time listening, adjusting, balancing and tuning. This means that the option to purchase crystals in the game is now offline, and all progression will be earned through gameplay. The ability to purchase crystals in-game will become available at a later date, only after we’ve made changes to the game. We’ll share more details as we work through this.

Star Wars: Battlefront II is now available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Gabrielson’s full statement can be found on Electronic Arts’s official website.

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Star Wars: Battlefront II, The Sims 4, Karnov’s Revenge, more added to Xbox Store

It’s Friday… so it’s time once again for an Xbox Games Store update.

Electronic Arts has a two-fer for Xbox One owners today, launching both Star Wars: Battlefront II and The Sims 4. Also available to download today is Karnov’s Revenge, a fighting game that was originally released during the NeoGeo era by Data East.

You can learn more about the rest of today’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)

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