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Bungie’s efforts to build enthusiasm for Destiny 2’s future amid significant layoffs at the studio and fan concerns continue with yet more teases for next year’s Codename: Apollo expansion – which is now confirmed to be whisking players to a “Metroidvania-inspired destination”, as seen in new concept art, and arriving alongside “next generation” armour.

Bungie announced Codename: Apollo back in September as part of “major changes” that’ll see the studio launch two “medium” Destiny 2 expansions every year, instead of a single major release. At the time, Apollo was described as a “non-linear character-driven adventure”, with the word “Metroidvania” floated but not confirmed.

Now though, as part of its latest developer stream, Bungie has shared a little more detail on what’s to come. Codename: Apollo, as previously confirmed, arrives next summer as the first of Bungie’s twice-yearly “medium-sized” releases, which, for context, are said to be approximately the same size as Destiny 1’s Rise of Iron expansion.

Destiny 2 – Revenant: Act 1 | Developer Livestream

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Shattered Space, Bethesda’s first major expansion for Starfield, released a few days ago, but has unfortunately been met with middling PC player numbers and lukewarm reviews.
Over on SteamDB, Starfield currently has a 24-hour peak concurrent player count of 17,074, and a current player count of 9,740. In contrast, Bethesda’s much older release The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition has a 24-hour player peak of 21,494, with 13,772 of us currently making our way through the fantasy world.

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Final Fantasy 14 director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida outlined what’s coming up on Patch 7.1 in his latest Letter from the Producer Live event at Tokyo Game Show overnight, including new artwork, quests, and the Yuweyawata Field Station dungeon.
Expected mid-November, the patch, called “Crossroads”, will also include new Allied Society quests for Dawntrail, focusing on a new Pelupelu trader.
While Yoshida stopped short of providing any story clues, he suggested that these quests would be perfect for players levelling jobs to 100.

ファイナルファンタジーXIV 『第83回FFXIVプロデューサーレターLIVE』

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Microsoft is continuing on with its mission to provide us with as many different Xbox controller variants it can.
Today, the company debuted the Ghost Cipher Special Edition Xbox Wireless Controller, which features grey and bronze accents with a clear top case so you can see the controller’s inner workings (see header image above)
The Ghost Cipher Special Edition Xbox Wireless Controller will be available from next month, on 8th October, retailing at £64.99. If you are interested in purchasing one for yourself, you can pre-order the controller now.

Introducing the new Cipher Series translucent Elite Controllers – Xbox Design Lab

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New details about Assassin’s Creed Invictus have leaked online.
According to X/Twitter user j0nathan – a leaker with extraordinarily good prior form for Assassin’s Creed information – Invictus will be a Fall Guys’ inspired multiplayer game in which players will assume the avatars of different Assassin’s Creed characters and fight to get through each round.

Eurogamer Newscast: When it costs £700, who exactly is the PS5 Pro for?

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A comment on a Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 video appearing to be from Saber CEO Matthew Karch has raised eyebrows for stating that games should be about “glory kills” instead of “imposing morals on gamers”.
The comment, from an account named “MatthewKarch” purporting to be the Saber CEO, was made on a video by streamer Asmongold titled “Space Marine 2 is a reminder of what we lost”.
The video is a response to another from YouTuber Legendary Drops who described the recently released Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 as oozing “with so much masculinity that I feel like I’ve been in a desert for the last few years”. Asmongold vehemently agrees in his almost one hour response.

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Fortnite fans still in the European Union can now play Epic Games’ battle royale on iPad.

The Epic Games Store – and through it both Fortnite and Fall Guys – are now available on Apple’s tablet, following their relaunch on iPhone in the EU and on Android phones worldwide last month.

In a briefing to press attended by Eurogamer last month, Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney said he had “no regrets” over Fortnite’s lengthy absence from mobile platforms as the company has waged legal battles to change app store policies.

Four years of courtroom wrangling and an estimated $1bn in lost revenue later, Epic Games has now been able to launch its own mobile app store on Apple and Google devices – including now on iPad in mainland Europe.

Downloading the Epic Game Store requires you to load up Epic Games’ website and download the storefront from there, navigating through a number of warnings by Apple – which would really rather you did not.

Epic Games previously said it would continue to push for iPhone and iPad launches of the Epic Game Store in more countries – including the UK and Japan – over the next year.

“We’ve probably lost a billion dollars not havi…

If you’re looking for something to sink your teeth into this weekend (apologies), you could do far worse than take a look at developer Stunlock Studios’ acclaimed vampire survival adventure V Rising – which is free to play on Steam for the next few days.

V Rising launched back in May after two years of Steam early access development, presenting players (and their equally elegant friends) with a rich, more-ish game of isometric survival, where the goal is to assert your vampiric superiority across a gloomy, gothic open-world.

It’s got a bunch of neats twists on the survival formula, all playing into the whole vampire thing – including a blood-sucking mechanic that gives you specific abilities depending on the creatures you drain, and progress that involves sticking to the shadows during daylight hours (lest you sizzle to ash). Its most exciting feature, though, is that you get to building your own looming gothic castle – and who hasn’t ever wished they had one of those?

V Rising – Launch Trailer

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Microsoft has laid off a further 650 Xbox staff, though no games have been cancelled or studios have been closed this time.
The news was shared by CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer in an internal memo obtained by IGN, with changes made to “organise our business for long term success”.
The layoffs follow the 1900 people who lost their jobs at the company in January this year. It means Microsoft has now laid off 2,550 staff in the last year.

Newscast: Why are there so many games industry layoffs?

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This week on the Eurogamer Newscast, we discuss the most dramatic few days for PlayStation in recent times.

Sony’s stunning decision to kill off live-service shooter flop Concord after less than two weeks sent shockwaves around the industry, setting a new precedent for how swiftly a troubled title from a major publisher could be given the axe. After eight years of work, the game has already disappeared from sale, and will soon vanish from people’s game libraries, with refunds automatically given. It’s a remarkable move – even if Concord does somehow get a second lease of life – and another nail in the coffin for Sony’s overly-ambitious live-service plans that have already seen other projects shelved and delayed.
And yet Sony has still ended this week on something of a high – riding a wave of love for Astro Bot, the company’s platforming platform mascot and star of an excellent new game, and subtly-teasing one of the worst-kept secrets in video games right now: the imminent announcement of its souped-up PlayStation 5 Pro. Joining me this week are Eurogamer’s Ed Nightingale, Victoria Kennedy and Vikki Blake, as we dissect the week, discuss what might be ne…