The Mario Kart series has always been one of Nintendo’s most popular, with the arcadey racing franchise typically topping the charts for whatever system it releases on. It therefore comes as little surprise that the overwhelming success of the Switch has aided Mario Kart 8 in becoming Nintendo’s 2nd-highest selling game of all time.

Nintendo recently released their most up-to-date fiscal report for the year, revealing that as of the 31st of March 2024 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold a staggering 61.97 million copies. This not only makes it the best-selling Switch game ever, but also the 2nd highest selling Nintendo title in history – only being surpassed by the console pack-in game Wii Sports (82,900,000).

That said, if you add the sales of the original Mario Kart 8 from the Wii U era, the total number of copies sold shoots up to a little over 70 million.

Considering the fact that Wii Sports was included in most Nintendo Wii console bundles, Mario Kart 8 managing to nearly surpass it is no small feat, and shows just how big of a pull the family-friendly racing franchise has.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Mario Kart 8 winds up beating out Wii Sports by the time the Switch’s successor comes out.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Mario Kart 8 overall? What’s your favourite entry in the series? Could MK8 become Nintendo’s best-selling game of all time? Let us know down below.

One of the biggest financial flops of the year so far has been Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Developed by Rocksteady, the game was criticised for its live-service elements – costing publisher Warner Bros. over $200 million in losses so far. Interestingly, unlike most live-service flops, the idea to take Suicide Squad in this direction reportedly came from Rocksteady themselves – not WB as many presumed.

As reported by Paul Tassi via Forbes, “The live service looter shooter angle was reportedly not forced by management, but it was Rocksteady's leadership who made the decision to pursue the game instead of alternatives.”

While it is still possible that the overall industry trends inadvertently pressured Rocksteady into going this route, it is interesting to see that the final product is seemingly what Rocksteady themselves wanted to make. Clearly, this has not worked out in their favour.

What this means for the future of Rocksteady and Suicide Squad is unknown, but with how trigger happy publishers seem to be at the moment when it comes to shutting down studios, it could spell bad news for the multi-award-winning studio.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Suicide Squad? Is it truly that bad? Have Rocksteady marked their own grave with this latest title? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Thanks to the critical and commercial success of Amazon’s Fallout TV show, we have seen an influx of players both old and new flock to pretty much all of the various Fallout titles – helping to push many of them to new heights. One such game was Fallout 4, which despite releasing a less-than-polished next-gen update, managed to top the UK sales charts last month.

As reported by Christopher Dring of Gamesindustry.biz, “Fallout 4 was comfortably the UK's best-selling game in April, and was one of three Fallout games in the Top Ten.”

As mentioned, the release of the Fallout TV show coincided with a ‘next-gen’ update for PS5, Series X|S as well as PC. While the console versions are mostly fine (especially on PS5), the Xbox – and PC in particular – currently suffer from a number of issues.

Fortunately, Bethesda have promised a fix is on its way, taking to Twitter to say “On Monday, May 13 we will be updating Fallout 4 on all platforms. This update will include new options for graphics and performance settings as well as further fixes and improvements.”

While details remain light at the moment, this patch should fix the Xbox’s broken performance / graphics modes which currently only offers a 60fps mode at reduced details/resolution. On the PC front, hopefully the woefully long loading times will also be improved. We won’t have to wait long to find out.

KitGuru says: Have you been playing Fallout 4? Has the next-gen update been a net positive or negative in your experience? Should Bethesda have held off on the update until it was fully ready? Let us know down below.

We recorded it early this week, due to some scheduling issues, but we still made a podcast that will live on forever as one of the greatest ever made. If you don't…

One of the reasons Microsoft claimed to have shut down Tango Gameworks – among others – is due to the stagnating nature of the video games industry, with Xbox President Sarah Bond stating that the “industry isn’t growing”. In the wake of this, Capcom have now released their latest fiscal earnings report, announcing their 7th consecutive year of record high profits.

As reported by VGC, Capcom released their latest fiscal earnings for the year ending on the 31st of March. In this period, Capcom managed to achieve net sales of $977M (up 21.0% YoY), $366M in operating income (up 12.3% YoY), $381M in regular income (up 15.7% YoY) and last but not least $278M in net income (up 18.1% YoY).

All this helped to push Capcom to another record period, marking the 7th consecutive year for record high profits alongside 11 consecutive years of operating income growth.

Of course, Microsoft and Capcom’s financial situations are not an apples to apples comparison, but the timing of the publisher’s record profits is an interesting contrast to comments made by the higher ups at Xbox.

KitGuru says: Are you surprised by Capcom’s success? What can Xbox learn from them? Let us know your thoughts down below.

In recent years Netflix has been pushing into the video games industry. Starting with pretty small titles, the streaming giant has slowly but surely been bringing an increasing number of big-named games to the service via mobile. The latest title to join Netflix’s gaming library is the excellent Sonic Mania Plus – available now on both Android and iOS.

Making the announcement on Twitter, Netflix revealed that “Sonic Mania Plus is now on Netflix Games! Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles await. Download and play now on mobile.”

First released back in 2017, Sonic Mania Plus is a throwback to the Sonic games of old, existing both as a nostalgic trip for the Sega Mega Drive trilogy while also introducing its own unique levels and mechanics – making for one of the best 2D Sonic experiences possibly ever.

Sonic Mania Plus joins the line-up of almost 100 games available to Netflix subscribers across both iOS and Android – including the likes of the GTA trilogy; Death’s Door; Dead Cells; World of Goo Remastered; TMNT Shredder’s Revenge and the universally praised Hades (though the latter is only on iOS).

If nothing else, it is exciting to see Netflix funding the porting of a bunch of console titles to mobile devices. Hopefully the initiative continues.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this latest addition? Have you tried Netflix Games? What do you think of the service as a value-add to your subscription? Let us know down below.

Over the past week we have seen a massive shift in the narrative towards Microsoft and Xbox, primarily stemming from the recent closure of 4 internal Bethesda studios including Tango Gameworks of Hi-Fi Rush fame. In protest of this decision, fans have flocked to Hi-Fi Rush – making it the highest rated Xbox title on Steam.

The closure of Tango Gameworks came as a shock to all – including the studio itself – with many across the industry voicing their disbelief at this seemingly foolish decision. In response to Microsoft’s actions, fans have taken to protesting in a multitude of ways.

We previously reported on Phil Spencer having his house nuked by fans (in Fallout 76). Now, players have shifted their focus to Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush. While deemed to have been both a critical and commercial success by Microsoft, fans have now taken to Steam to prove this point further – with Hi-Fi Rush now not only being the highest rated Xbox/Bethesda game on the platform, but also one of the most played.

Over the past 24 hours, the relatively short, single player Hi-Fi Rush has surpassed Forza Motorsport’s (a live-service multiplayer AAA title) peak concurrent player count – with 900 players for Hi-Fi Rush vs 675 for Forza Motorsport.

It seems pretty clear at this point that industry wide, the reaction to Microsoft’s latest moves have been far from positive, and while you can’t put the genie back in the bottle, hopefully at the very least these types of protests can cut through to the higher levels of Microsoft’s management (as unlikely as that is).

KitGuru says: What do you think of the whole Xbox situation? Did Microsoft shoot themselves in the foot? Let us know your thoughts down below.

Microsoft has been making a lot of headlines in recent days following the announcement that they will be closing down 4 Bethesda studios including the much-loved Tango Gameworks. In amongst all this, the console manufacturer also revealed their plans to launch a standalone Xbox web app, allowing the $3 Trillion company to get 100% of the revenue from Candy Crush microtransactions.

During a recent interview with Bloomberg, Xbox President Sarah Bond revealed that Microsoft currently have a mobile web app in the works, stating:

“In July, we’re going to be launching our mobile store experience. We’re going to start actually by bringing our own first-party portfolio to that. So you’re going to see games like Candy Crush show up in that experience, games like Minecraft.”

Bond continued, “And then we’re going to extend that capability to partners so that they can also take advantage of it and have a true cross-platform gaming centric mobile experience,” – presumably with a cut going to Microsoft.

The app will first launch as a web-only experience likely due to the fact that the EU’s Digital Markets Act has yet to be fully implemented across the board – though Bond claims the reason for going the web-app route is to “allow us to have it be an experience that’s accessible across all devices, all countries, no matter what independent of the policies of, you know, closed ecosystem stores.”

With the purchase of Activision Blizzard King, Microsoft do have a strong selection of mobile titles under their wing. That said, it will be interesting to see whether this web-store finds a wide enough adoption following its launch in a few months.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this latest move? Would you use the app if it meant you’d get a discount on COD points? Let us know down below.

A long-awaited return to Homeworld - in space - is here. Have Blackbird Interactive made the game that stands up to the series history? Let's find out.

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/review/homeworld-3-review/

Microsoft's announcement that four Bethesda studios will be shut down has caused another wave of speculation around Game Pass. Reports claim that Microsoft is debating whether or not to keep bringing major releases, like Call of Duty, to Game Pass due to the revenue drop in sales. Just one day later, Microsoft's Sarah Bond has shut that discussion down.

Sources speaking with The Verge have indicated that the business of Game Pass has been debated many times amongst Xbox employees, with many concerned about the financial hit a game like Call of Duty would take if made available through the subscription service, a move that typically leads to a dip in long term sales.

Now, speaking with Dina Bass at Bloomberg Live (via XboxEra), Xbox executive, Sarah Bond, has poured cold water onto the idea that Call of Duty won't be coming to Game Pass, saying: “We know our core users love game pass, game pass is a gaming subscription, you get a whole portfolio of games, but importantly you get every single one of the games we build day one in Game Pass. And the quality and the breadth of those games has only been going up over time.”

Bond was then asked if that statement includes Activision's portfolio, to which she replied: “Across the whole slate, across the whole slate, you’re going to see some really amazing things. And keeping that as something that is really special for Xbox players is central to us.”

KitGuru Says: Microsoft managed to push its acquisition of Activision Blizzard through, in part due to a lot of public support from developers and gamers. Developer sentiment is likely at an all-time low after studio closures and layoffs. If Call of Duty doesn't come to Game Pass this year, they would surely lose a lot more trust from their core audience.

As our world is being taken over by smart devices the possibility of a software bug or virus causing the loss of life quickly grows. While losing control of your identity, money…

Ubisoft announced a surprising partnership earlier this year, teaming up with the indie studio behind Dead Cells to create a new rogue-like Prince of Persia game. While The Rogue Prince of Persia was initially set to launch next week, the developers have since decided to delay the game, in part due to Super Giant's recent hit, Hades 2. 

Evil Empire has announced that The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed. The game was set to launch on the 14th of May as part of the Steam Early Access program, where early buyers can play alpha and beta builds of the game and provide feedback all the way up to release. Unfortunately, the team has not yet announced a new release date, but plans to have one in place by Monday, the 13th of May.

The delay isn't expected to be a lengthy one, so we're likely looking at a delay of a couple of weeks, or potentially a month or two, rather than a push into 2025. Evil Empire will keep The Rogue Prince of Persia in Early Access for around one year, during which time they will finish up the game and get it up to version 1.0. After that, the game is expected to also land on consoles.

The delay is primarily to create some distance between The Rogue Prince of Persia and another highly popular rogue-like game, Hades 2. Hades 1, like Dead Cells, is considered one of the best games in this genre and the sequel so far has done nothing but impress fans, even in its Early Access state. The game has garnered over 100K concurrent players since its release this week and has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam, based on thousands of user reviews.

KitGuru Says: Both Hades 2 and The Rogue Prince of Persia are on my wishlist, although I tend to wait for Early Access titles to hit V1.0 before buying in nowadays. Were any of you planning on picking up The Rogue Prince of Persia next week? 

EA has long made it known that it is constantly exploring ways to further monetise its games. The company is already planning to usher in AI tools to cut out a number of human workers and build products faster. Alongside this, EA is also further looking into bringing in-game advertising to more titles. 

This isn't EA's first rodeo in this arena. In-game advertising was popularised by the mobile game market. In one of EA's first experiments with this in a major release, it placed a near full-screen advert for Amazon Prime series, The Boys, in the replay menu for fights in UFC 4. Naturally, this sparked a wave of backlash and the ad was disabled.

Now, EA's Andrew Wilson has begun telling investors about the company's plans to get into the ‘Dynamic Ad Insertion' business, in which adverts will be placed in games based on metrics like ‘habits, history and interests', which sounds … just awful. Sports games will no doubt start displaying ads whenever there is a game break for things like halftime, substitutions or pit stops.

Other potential ways this could be used is via AFK timers. Many often hit pause on their controller and walk away to grab something, or do something relatively quick. Those people may soon walk back to find some kind of unwanted commercial.

Unfortunately, with the amount companies like EA already get away with in the sports game market, in-game ads will almost certainly become a key component in many future games and it will no doubt make the folks at the top of EA all a bit richer.

KitGuru Says: This sounds like a terrible idea but if there is money to be made, EA is going to be there chasing that bag. We can only hope that advertisements are mainly reserved to sports games, leaving things like single-player RPGs out of the equation. 

Xbox finds itself embroiled in yet another PR debacle this week, as Fallout 76 players enact an unconventional form of protest. Earlier this year, the gaming community was stirred by Microsoft's decision to release former exclusives on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms. Now, Microsoft's recent announcement of the closure of four Bethesda studios, notably Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, has triggered a unique response from fans.

The process of launching nuclear strikes within Fallout 76 isn't a simple endeavour, but the basic gist is, players have to gather nuclear codes, then find a security key card, and then, you need to make your way over to a heavily guarded launch silo and fight your way through to the targeting computer. After that, you can drop a nuke anywhere on the map, including directly on player camp sites. While that little breakdown of the process is quick and easy, it is more of a time investment than it initially sounds.

Phil Spencer's camp burning in Fallout 76 after it was nuked.

pic.twitter.com/iSyGHxaYqI

— PeterOvo (@PeterOvo5) May 9, 2024

Lmao someone nuked Phil Spencer’s camp in Fallout 76 pic.twitter.com/DxfcIdH8ob

— Sam (@Sam_Snydes) May 9, 2024

We don't know exactly who was responsible for setting the bombs off but video footage of players exploring Phil Spencer's destroyed camp have been uploaded by people known to be on his Xbox friends list.

The in-game retaliation appears to be in protest to the recent closures of Arkane Austin, Roundhouse, Alpha Dog and Tango Gameworks. Arkane Austin had a rough year thanks to Redfall, but the studio had previously produced excellent work in Dishonored and Prey. On the other hand, Tango Gameworks was Xbox's sole Japanese studio, an area that Microsoft has been trying to gain a foothold in for years. Just last year, Tango Gameworks released Hi-Fi Rush, one of the best games of the year. However, as the team did not have a greenlit project in the works yet, the studio was shuttered.

KitGuru Says: Ultimately, this is a harmless bit of fun. Part of the allure of Fallout 76 is the possibility for nukes to drop, although players do rarely engage in the game's PvP systems, with veterans preferring instead to spend their time helping new players near the game's starting areas. 

Rocksteady launched its live-service focused game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, back in February to negative reviews. Since then, the number of active players has plummeted and the game's first ‘season' of post-launch content has done nothing to move the needle.

Warner Bros executives had already stated it would be a ‘rough year' for its gaming business after the game's poorly received launch. Now following the game's first season, we have a clearer picture of the situation.

As part of WB's quarterly earnings report, sales of the game have been “disappointing”, adding that the game has “generated significantly lower revenues. In all, WB has taken a $200 million hit on Suicide Squad, undoing much of the good work they did in 2023 with the release of Hogwarts Legacy.

“1 total Adjusted EBITDA was $2,102 million, a 20% ex-FX decrease compared to the prior year quarter, primarily driven by the success of Hogwarts Legacy in the prior year quarter while Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League generated significantly lower revenues in the current year quarter”, the report says.

Despite the situation here showing that WB's strong IP can be leveraged well in the single player games market, as Hogwarts Legacy was a worldwide best-seller 12 months ago, WB still has its eyes on more live-service ventures in the future, with plans to create on-going ‘live' games for all its major franchises.

KitGuru Says: Suicide Squad sounded like a disaster a year ago and the game's lengthy delay did little to help it in the long run. This is a situation of a poor idea being allowed to snowball out of control. However, unless Rocksteady can get a new project greenlit with market research that suggests a decent level of success, we could see WB shut the studio down. Many other studios have been killed off after similarly poor launches.