In this week’s gaming news breakdown, several marquee titles are delayed, Daybreak Games is internally dividing to conquer, and Sony swaps Vue with YouTube TV.
Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII, Dying Light 2, and more delayed
The lineup of major game releases slated for Q1 and Q2 2020 has thinned after multiple highly-anticipated titles, including Cyberpunk 2077, the Final Fantasy VII remake, Dying Light 2, and Marvel’s Avengers were delayed. While WIRED and Kotaku noted that fans are becoming increasingly sympathetic to studios’ decisions to push back launch dates, the outlets also expressed concern over developer well-being as they may be subjected to additional crunch (extended periods of overtime) to meet the new launch dates. Kotaku explained, “In video game development, where progress is non-linear and the pieces might not all come together until the very end of production, the crunch tends to be hardest at the last minute. That’s why delays in the final year can be so difficult on developers’ lives.” An updated list of 2020 game releases can be found on Screen Rant.
Daybreak Games to split into three creative studios following restructure
Daybreak Games, known primarily for the EverQuest franchise, this week announced that it will be creating three internal studios following an initiative to improve flexibility and creativity. The new studios, called Dimensional Ink Games, Darkpaw Games, and Rogue Planet Games, will focus solely on the studio’s lineup of MMOs, reports Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, and GamesIndustry.biz. Each team will be free to develop new projects and hire employees as they see fit. Screen Rant was optimistic about the outcome of the restructuring: “Daybreak’s titles may not be the most played online experiences in the gaming world today, but they are solid titles that have provided hours of enjoyment for fans around the world, and the legacy of EverQuest alone makes it certain that the fate of Daybreak Games is a development worth following as the development team fractures its way into 2020.”
YouTube TV launches on PlayStation 4 in place of Vue streaming service
As Sony prepares to shutter its PlayStation Vue streaming TV service on January 30th, the company has this week introduced its replacement: YouTube TV is now available to PlayStation 4 users, reports The Verge and CNET. The introduction of YouTube TV came “begrudgingly,” according to TNW, as Sony had invested a lot of time and resources into its Vue service, ultimately abandoning it to focus on its gaming business. Despite Sony’s initial reluctance to welcome an outside service, Destructoid claimed YouTube TV may fare well on the platform, stating “I’m not sure how many vagrant Vue subscribers YouTube TV will manage to pick up (I imagine some subscribers will have already made the switch to another alternative like Sling TV), but I’m happy enough with the service as someone who can share – and split the cost with! – my family.”