This week’s news is packed with plenty of releases for this year, so strap in!
Game Movies and Movie Games
First off, the Five Nights at Freddy’s film is scheduled to release October 27th, 2023. The movie will star Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games, Bridge to Terabithia) with a video previewing just what to expect from this cinematic look at what if the pizza place was haunted or evil or whatever. Shouts out to all the eighth graders camping out there on opening night.
That’s not the only thing going bump in the night, as Dead by Daylight has just revealed that on July 5th, Nicolas Cage will be in the game. There’s no additional news regarding whether he’ll be a survivor or one of the new killers, but some players speculate that he could be both. Given Cage’s filmography as both villain and victim, the possibility is genuinely intriguing! Here’s hoping they give him the axe from Mandy, too.
Forever Fighting
Netherrealm Studios is giving you what you need with the announcement of Mortal Kombat 1. No, not Mortal Kombat (1992), and no not Mortal Kombat (2011) either, this is a uniquely different game that will also feature new “Kameo” characters which will function as assists similar to games like Skullgirls or Marvel vs. Capcom. The Kameo and main fighter rosters are confirmed to be separate so get ready for a roster size of Armageddon proportions!
Right before we posted this, Amazon Italy has leaked the first batch of DLC characters for Mortal Kombat 1. The first Kombat pack will include Ermac, Takeda, Quan Chi, and three guest characters. Omni Man, Peacemaker, and Homelander will be the first guests in this entry, so get ready to see John Cena brutally murdered by J.K. Simmons.
Guilty Gear Strive has just announced the release of Asuka R#, the last new character for Season Pass 2. The faceless antagonist of the series only known as That Man is finally playable and has plenty of fun tools for players to lab with. Asuka R# releases on May 25th along with his own stage Tir na nOg and a variety of new color palettes to celebrate 25 years of bullshit blazing!
In one last update for fighting games fans today, Killer Instinct’s legacy servers will be migrating to PlayFab. With the game now in its tenth year, this seems to be a welcome quality of life improvement.
With Riot and Blizzard, the only good news is no news.
I hope you didn’t like Overwatch 2’s PvE mode too much because it’s gone now. This new mode, perhaps their biggest excuse to make a sequel for the fairly popular hero shooter, has been scrapped entirely. This marks yet another set of issues that the game has dealt with since its launch. Game director Aaron Keller and executive producer Jared Neuss cite this change as a way to focus more on the live multiplayer aspect of the game. Once again we are denied the pathos for Winston Overwatch.
Just in case anyone thought we’d leave out the other member of the Questionable Business Practices club, don’t worry because Riot Games has a new CEO as they reach a $100 million dollar settlement for a gender discrimination case. The settlement acts as a conclusion to the class action lawsuit against the company back in 2018 which will result in 1,548 women who are or were employed by Riot to be entitled to upwards of $5,000 each. Another lawsuit in 2019 was filed against Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent, the news of this settlement coinciding with Laurent stepping down from his position. A. Dylan Jadeja, President of the company since 2017 with an overall tenure of twelve years, will be taking his place over the next few months. Laurent will continue to work with Riot in an advisory capacity, so whether this is a lateral move to look good in front of the settlement remains to be seen. Get that paper ladies, it’s very dire out here!
“As CEO, it is fair to assume that I may do some things differently than those before me, but I want to assure you that the goal for us—together—will not waver,”
– A. Dylan Jadeja, new CEO of Riot Games
