Diablo IV and Zelda:TOTK Break Sales Records

We stand here now with a chance to learn. To rebuild from our mistakes.– Cal Kestis

As the weekend begins, we dive into EA's record-breaking success, Nintendo's sky-high profits, and exciting updates from the gaming world. Grab your controller, put your work on pause, and let me tell you what's the latest in gaming.

Round Up of the Day

⚽️ Electronic Arts (EA) reported record Q1 net bookings and significant gains across key performance metrics, driven primarily by the success of EA Sports' FIFA and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, contributing to the upsurge in total net bookings and a YOY revenue increase of 9% to $1.92 billion. (link)

🎧 PlayStation Earbuds will reportedly feature active noise cancellation and a USB transceiver for lossless audio, enhancing compatibility with PS5. (link)

📺 Microsoft is deploying a new, much-anticipated feature for a select group of Xbox Insiders that enables them to broadcast their console gameplay directly to Discord. This capability will be made available to all Xbox One and Series X/S users in the near future. (link)

Biz Reel

Nintendo's revenue and profit skyrocketed due to the success of Tears of the Kingdom and The Super Mario Bros. movie, driving up Nintendo Switch sales and leading to a 50% surge in sales to $3.2 billion, and a 52.1% net profit increase to $1.2 billion. (link)

Unity's Q2 revenues soared to $533 million, an 80% year-on-year increase largely attributed to the IronSource integration, and despite a net loss, they anticipate a further 67% to 70% revenue growth in Q3 2023 amid persistent economic uncertainties. (link)

GEM Capital has launched a $50 million investment initiative targeting early-stage game studios, with each investment ranging from $2 million to $5 million, spanning free-to-play, premium PC, console, midcore mobile games, and game-tech companies. (link)

Game Central

EA has confirmed that a PS4 and Xbox One version of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is in early development by Respawn Entertainment, despite earlier focus on new generation consoles and significant technical challenges experienced in PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S versions. (link)

Diablo IV was June’s best-selling video game in the US and the third in the best-selling video games of the year list, after Hogwarts Legacy and Zelda. (link)

Xbox is set to bring 30 titles to Gamescom 2023 (August 23-27), including a mix of first and third-party titles, and is also featuring exclusive theater presentations for games like Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and Ara: History Untold. (link)

This is it for this week! I'm gonna get my SCUF controller and go and play Warzone Season 5 and maybe some Baldur's Gate 3. Who knows?

Bobby

Did you know?

The first Diablo game, released in January 1997 for Windows, Mac OS and first generation of PlayStation, shipped over 500k units during its first days on sale and surpassed 1 million copies sold by November.

Overall, the game has sold over 2.5 million units globally. In the United States, the game was the highest-selling computer title of the first six months of 1997.