Balatro’s taking over the world, and creator Localthunk is loving the view from the top.We’ve seen nothing but a string of successes from the poker roguelike (in the absolute simplest terms) since it launched back in February, going on to sell 50,000 copies in 10 days, and then a million copies in under a month, and double that by August. More recently, it beat out Stardew Valley and Minecraft on the mobile sales charts and was nominated for three different awards at the Golden Joysticks.Now we have a completely different metric by which to measure Balatro’s monumental success, as Localthunk is celebrating the fact that “Balatro has been cumulatively played for over 11,000 years across all platforms.” Balatro has been cumulatively played for over 11,000 years across all platforms 🍌October 8, 2024That is an absolutely staggering figure, and frankly Localthunk seems a little too eager to celebrate humanity losing that much collective time to a video game, even if it is their…

You never know when inspiration is going to strike, and for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom team, inspiration was found during a nine-day boot camp where, according to director Tomomi Sano, they were “working from morning until night” to get the story right.As part of Nintendo’s Ask the Developer Vol. 13 series producer Eiji Aonuma recounts the difficulty of taking creative liberties within the deeper history of Hyrule. This ultimately led to the aforementioned “boot camp” between him and the rest of the team to really figure the new Zelda game out. “It’s very difficult to balance how much to add or change,” says Aonuma. “At first, we were intentionally leaving any parts that might delve into Hyrule’s history vague, but partway through, we just couldn’t find a way forward that way… So, around last summer, we decided to hold a boot camp and work out the story there.”This lengthy excursion centered around the difficulties of touching the existing lore of the franchise and ke…

Ubisoft says Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the series’ “most ambitious entry yet” and that the last-minute decision to delay it to February 2025 was made to ensure its “execution is flawless”.During Ubisoft’s latest investor call, CFO Frederick Duguet shared some insights on the decision to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game was previously scheduled to release on November 12, and according to Duguet, it is currently “feature complete” and was close enough to being finished that Ubisoft was preparing to offer preview builds to the press.”As you might know, we were about to run previews, so very close to shipping,” said Duguet. “What we see is that there is, with additional months, the possibility to really further polish the game so that the experience is really flawless and perfect to deliver the fantastic promise of the most ambitious entry in the franchise … What we want to do is really to bring quality to the highest level possible …. We really want to make sure execution is…

Following the big Ghost of Yotei reveal during Sony’s recent PlayStation State of Play event, some have taken to criticizing the Ghost of Tsushima sequel for its female protagonist – and former Sony lead Shawn Layden is having absolutely none of it.Responding to a thread doing the rounds, Layden claps back saying that Ghost of Yotei was made to suit developer Sucker Punch’s vision for the follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima: “It’s a game. An entertainment. A story a team of creators believes in. They want to make this.” He reiterates that “it’s a game,” and if anyone isn’t a fan of it then they can simply not purchase it.1 It’s a game. An entertainment. A story a team of creators believes in. They want to make this.2 it’s a game. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. In fact, why not make the game you want yourself?September 25, 2024″If you don’t like it,” Layden writes, “don’t buy it. In fact, why not make the game you want yourself?” He makes a valid point, and one that many agree with. Ami…