Weekly News Digest #9 ⚡⚡⚡ Esports and gaming news, analytics, reviews on WePlay! The latest news on WePlay!
Whether you are an esports enthusiast or a simple humble gamer, the past week was full of major and minor news you might be interested in. There’s a been a lot happening, and we managed to include the hottest topics in our weekly news digest.
Since this is a lengthy article, we’ve included handy interactive contents for you to enjoy. Click on the topic you feel most attached to – and have fun!
- Esports news and reshuffles
- Dota 2 is in the centre of attention
- Take-Two and Rockstar are busy receiving your money
- Sony and Microsoft break the Internet
- Rage 2 is off to a low start
- Video games and movie industry
- In other news
- WePlay! tournaments and special projects
Esports and reshuffles
It’s been a busy time for world-class teams in various disciplines. G2 Esports has won the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational 2019; Team Empire has won the Rainbow Six Siege Pro League Season 9 LAN Finals. Team Liquid was named the eighth team to secure a place at The International 2019, and Team Secret has gloriously won the MDL Disneyland Paris Major Grand Final. In terms of notable reshuffles, Team Spirit has signed the full roster of Old but Gold, while Filip “NEO” Kubski has cheated Virtus.pro with FaZe Clan.
There’re two pieces of the news above associated with professional Dota 2 tournaments, but we strongly believe that there’re some obvious issues with Dota Pro Circuit currently. We’ve also made a guide dedicated to healthy nutrition in esports, and it is as viable for the players as it is for the viewers. You might actually dig into right now, as proper nutrition well definitely help you keep vital liquids at the desired level while watching the recently announced all-female CS:GO tournament by DreamHack.
Dota 2 is in the centre of attention
The International 2019 is only three months away, and the time has come for you to learn all the necessary information regarding TI9 Battle Pass in Dota 2. Honestly, we’ve covered everything that’s important, so head on to our thorough guide. The tournament is not completely dedicated to the esports though; there’s an annual Dota 2 Short Film Contest, which we consider to be the most underrated part of TI. By the way, the tickets to see the event in person are going to cost you $450.
Valve has also recently filed a trademark for something called Dota Underlords. Judging by the description, it should be a game. We’ve gathered a few predictions of what it could be, and our very first guess that it’s official Dota Auto Chess from Valve might actually be true. The company is indeed making a standalone version of the popular mod, although the official title is yet to be revealed. It might just end up being Dota Auto Chess after all.
Take-Two and Rockstar are busy receiving your money
During the recent earnings call, Take-Two has shared some stats regarding the performance of Rockstar’s latest titles. The all-time sales of Grand Theft Auto 5 have almost reached 110 million copies across all platforms – that’s huge. Red Dead Redemption 2, on the other hand, is just at the beginning of its journey – although the game has already sold 25 million copies worldwide. Take-Two expects the online components of both games to be highly profitable for years to come.
RDR Online, for instance, has just recently released out of beta, and the devs from Rockstar have shared their plans on supporting the game further. We do hope that their plans include the rumoured PC version of the game, as it has recently been referenced once again, which makes us believe that the release on computers is inevitable. Regarding other intellectual properties of Take-Two, the company has unannounced titles for the next year.
Sony and Microsoft break the Internet
Without any warning, Sony and Microsoft have recently signed a partnership with an intention to research and develop new technologies together. While many of you sceptics out there might call the day the deal was signed May Fools, the truth is that the two companies have indeed joined forces. Funnily, you are not the only ones who have been taken by surprise by this announcement; the PlayStation team couldn’t expect this to happen either.
By the way, the next PlayStation stands out to be exceptionally great compared to the latest Sony console in the form of PS4 Pro. There’re a lot of cool rumoured features that are missing from the consoles of this generation – and that might make it to PS5. Speaking of technical aspects, Sony has recently demonstrated that the newest device is eight times faster than PS4 Pro.
Rage 2 is off to a low start
The previous week was mostly marked with the release of Rage 2 – an unexpected sequel, even unnecessary for some. Still, we’ve rated it high enough in our review. Despite the mild reception, the game faced a drastically low level of sales compared to the original game; the featured Denuvo anti-tamper solution didn’t do any good for the title either as Rage 2 was “cured” of it the day the game came out – mainly due to the fact that Bethesda mistakenly released the game with no protection.
Still, Rage 2 is rather entertaining and compelling, and we’ve prepared a bunch of guides of all sorts. Via the respective links, you can find all the necessary information regarding the editions of the game, achievements, obtainable weapons (as well as mods for them), vehicles, and one of the existing in-game factions. If you need a helping hand – take ours.
Video games and movie industry
There’ve been very few successful attempts to bring well-established video game franchises to cinemas, but it looks like the situation is about to take a different route this time. Sony has established its very own movie production company called PlayStation Productions, where the company intends to shoot films and TV series based on its own video game franchises. For instance, Twisted Metal TV adaptation is already confirmed.
A more traditional approach is being taken by Warner Bros. as the company has not only announced the start of the production of the newest Mortal Kombat movie but has also boldly revealed the day it would premiere. The fighters will test their might in cinemas worldwide in two years, on March 5, 2021. The movie will be shot entirely in South Australia and is expected to be a reboot.
In other news
World of Warcraft has drawn a lot of attention recently; Blizzard was kind enough to announce the release day of WoW Classic – the game comes out on August 27, 2019. In fact, beta testing has already begun, and it’s hilariously showing how old the game actually is. Some of the testers were so surprised by several features of the “vanilla” build that they reported them as bugs. Blizzard even had to compile a list of “NOT a BUG” features. A natural generation gap. Luckily, there’s something to unite players of all ages – the newest World of Warcraft cinematic short.
Minecraft the Undying has reached another huge milestone in global sales right for its 10-year anniversary. During the past decade, the game has sold 176 million copies. We sincerely believe that this particular game – that changed the face of the industry forever – deserves even more. Interestingly, Microsoft continues to expand the experience as the company has just announced Minecraft: Earth – the newest entry in the series executed in augmented reality for mobile devices.
We’ve mentioned the news from the earnings call of Take-Two above; Ubisoft was another one to share its financial results, and we’ve also learned a bit about the game’s IPs. Far Cry 5 was revealed as the best-selling Ubisoft’s title of 2018, while Skull & Bones has been delayed once again. The company also has three unannounced projects to release during the current financial year, and one of them might actually turn out to be Watch Dogs 3. It is even expected to be announced this Friday.
Epic Games is going to be recognized by BAFTA and to receive a special award for its contribution to the progress of the industry. Epic’s influence mostly comes down to the development of the Unreal Engine, although the company has done even more than just that. Take for instance Fortnite – or even Epic Games Store; the recent sale in the store was joyfully welcomed by the community – although the publishers of the featured games felt deceived.
E3 2019 is going to be a bit less entertaining because some of the major companies are going to miss the show – fully or partially. EA, for instance, has decided to do without the traditional press conference focusing instead on a livestream. The company might reveal its plans for Anthem, and the game is strongly rumoured to shift to free-to-play. Interestingly, we are going to have Netflix present at E3 2019; the streaming giant will actually show its very own videogames.
WePlay! tournaments and special projects
Back at the beginning of May, we announced WePlay! Tug of War: Dire – the second part of our Dota 2 dedicated tourney. Dire begins in just a week, on May 28, and we’ve recently shared a bunch of details regarding the event. Here you can find the relevant list of participants (that have already confirmed their involvement) along with other information. The prize pool this time is $30,000, although the main prize is the direct invite to the LAN-finals WePlay! Tug of War: Mad Moon.
As a part of our communication with prominent esports players all over the world, we’ve published two interviews with StarCraft II pros – Aleksandr “Bly” Svysiuk from Windigo Gaming and Diego “Kelazhur” Schwimer from team Panda Global. Both are accessible through the respective links.
Don’t forget to follow us on social media to get the latest news and take part in the giveaways: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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