Ubisoft says it needed to work on Avatar and Star Wars at the time

Specifically, Banchereau says in an interview with MP1st that The Division 2 updates were planned to end due to the studio’s obligations with other projects at the time:

Yes, the plan was after Update 12, at the end of 2020, the plan was to stop supporting the game… We started working on the Star Wars game, we have the Avatar game. Everybody’s very busy at Massive and the idea was that we just need the people on those projects.

He clarifies that this isn’t because Ubisoft thought “The Division was bad,” though after the release of the Warlords of New York DLC, the game was “probably more successful” than the publisher had anticipated.

Since Ubisoft didn’t want to pull people already assigned to other projects, it decided to team up with Ubisoft Bucharest. It took a while for the studio to learn everything about The Division 2, but he believes Year 5 content will impress fans.

Accordingly, The Division 3 is apparently not in development, though that’s not too much of a surprise considering that they have plenty of work to do with The Division Heartland and The Division Resurgence.

The post The Division 2 Support Was Meant to End Two Years After Release appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

When does the Golden Week sale begin on the PlayStation Store?

Sony is yet to make an official announcement about the Golden Week sale but the discounts are expected to go live on the Playstation Store later today, April 25. The sale traditionally covers the Golden Week event in Japan, which runs between April 29 and May 5 this year.

The Golden Week sale, as spotted by Reddit, currently includes 425 games, bundles, and DLC items, although this list could grow by the time the sale goes live. Just some of the games and franchises included in the sale are:

• Ace Attorney
• Atelier
• Bloodborne
• Danganronpa
• Dead Rising
• Devil May Cry
• Dragon Ball
• Dragon Quest
• Dynasty Warriors
• Final Fantasy
• Kingdom Hearts
• Lost Judgment
• Mega Man
• Monster Hunter
• Naruto
• NieR
• Ni No Kuni
• Nioh
• One Piece
• Persona
• Resident Evil
• Star Ocean
• Street Fighter
• Yakuza

With the Spring Sale due to end soon, Sony is expected to reveal a full list of discounts later today.

The post PlayStation Golden Week Sale Coming to PS5 and PS4 Soon appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Horizon: Burning Shores Toy Bow Easter egg

The Horizon: Burning Shores Toy Bow Easter egg seems to have first been discovered by Reddit user AlbusDumbldor, who shared images of Aloy wielding the pink and purple bow, as well as helpful screenshots of the map displaying the location.

For those that have played through The Last of Us 2, the Toy Bow will be recognized from a fun downtime sequence taking place at the aquarium. It stands out with its garish colorway in both TLOU2 and Burning Shores.

While the Toy Bow isn’t very powerful, I imagine some players will be trying to use it to take down some of Horizon’s most vicious enemies. Hopefully we’ll see some gameplay videos of that over the next week or so!

As for what’s next for Horizon, the future isn’t yet clear. The biggest question revolves around Sylens, as the actor who portrayed him, Lance Reddick, has sadly passed away. It’s clear that Horizon 3 had big plans for the character, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

The post Horizon: Burning Shores The Last of Us 2 Bow Easter Egg Discovered appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Diablo 4 “Server Slam” beta will make Ashava world boss harder to beat

As the name of the beta suggests, it will primarily stress test cross-play and cross-progression across PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. This will surely help Activision Blizzard in making sure that it has enough servers at launch when it arrives on June 6 to reduce as many login errors as possible.

This new Diablo 4 beta will feature the Prologue and the entirety of Act I, allowing players to try five classes up to Level 20: Barbarian, Druid, Necromancer, Rogue, and Sorcerer. All character progress from the prior Early Access and Open Beta weekend will not carry over to this beta, nor will any progression from this beta be carried over to the full release. The drop rate for Legendary items will be in line with how it will be in the final game.

Because characters can’t go past Level 20 in this playtest, defeating the Ashava world boss will be quite difficult. This behemoth will appear on May 13 at 9 AM PDT and every 3 hours thereafter until May 14 at 9 AM PDT. Killing her will give you the Cry of Ashava Mount Trophy, which will carry over to the main game.

The post New Diablo 4 Beta for PS5 and PS4, Start Date and End Time Revealed appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Crash Team Rumble tips and tricks

• Boosts are stackable depending on what map you’re on
  • Gem pads boost your score, but there is huge boost potential by capturing all of the gem pad clusters on one map. 
  • Pro Tip: Be sure you and your team collects and banks as much Wumpa as possible while the boost is active, to fully benefit from the boost. 
• Fighting is only a means to an end: scoring is what counts
  • The name of the game is scoring – so defense is just as important as offense.
  • Victory is a much harder task without a blocker. The blocker’s main goal is to prevent the other team from scoring at their Wumpa bank. How can a team win if they can’t bank their Wumpa?!
  • Pro Tip: The Gasmoxian Guard is a blocker’s best friend. Blocker’s should have their Gasmoxian Guard set up camp at the other team’s Wumpa bank, making it extremely difficult for the other team to score. 
• Relic Stations can swing the match
  • If a game is close, the Relic Station can make all the difference – rolling over enemies, catapulting around a map, and more. 
  • Pro Tip: Collect as many relics as possible early to use on epic stations for game changing results later in the match when it becomes more crucial.
• Use the whole map
  • Don’t be afraid to explore and see what’s available in all of the corners of the map.
  • Pro Tip: Don’t forget to explore the map vertically. Check out the views from a higher point, you never know, you may find a new way to help your team from a bird’s eye perspective.
• Your hero’s powers matter
  • Specific powers can take roles to the next level, choose wisely. Some powers are meant to compliment a hero – ie. golden Wumpa for a scorer, Gasmoxian Guard for a blocker, etc.
  • Pro Tip: Placement of a power can make all the difference, be strategic.

Following its reveal during The Game Awards four months ago, passionate Crash Bandicoot fans have no doubt been wondering what exactly Team Rumble is all about. Well, with a beta soon to be available, they will shortly be able to find out.

Wondering if Crash Team Rumble is any good and not interested in playing the closed beta to find out? Well, you can read our early hands-on impressions here.

The post Crash Team Rumble Tips Shared by Developer Ahead of Beta Release appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Humanity confirmed for PS Plus Game Catalog

Announced with a quirky trailer, Humanity’s May 16 PlayStation release date has been confirmed. (This is the day after Marvel’s Spider-Man is scheduled to be removed.)

As noted in the trailer’s description, the trailer is intended to recreate the “wild – and brilliant – Japanese PlayStation ad campaigns of the PS1 and PS2 era.”

Humanity will be available for PS5 and PS4, with optional features available to those with a PSVR 2 or PSVR headset.

As for what else will be coming to the Game Catalog in May, that still remains a mystery. New games should be announced soon, which PlayStation LifeStyle will no doubt be quick to report on.

It’s not all good news when it comes to the PS Plus Game Catalog, however, as four more games have been confirmed to be leaving the service in May.

The post Humanity Is a PS Plus May 2023 Day One Game Catalog Release appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PS5 sales lifting up game hardware market in multiple regions

With the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S sales declining, it’s the PS5 that’s doing the heavy lifting when it comes to video game hardware sales in several markets. Just yesterday, we reported that PS5 saw a 500 percent sales boost in Europe, and today, Piscatella has revealed that PS5 lifted hardware spending during the month of March 2023 in the U.S.

PS5 is now the best-selling hardware in the U.S. both in March and in 2023 to date.

Sony previously told investors that it expected the PS5 to surpass PS4 in sales once the console’s supply situation improved. Looking at data from various markets following the end of the shortage, it’s evident that the company was spot on.

Elsewhere, Piscatella revealed that Resident Evil 4 Remake is now the third best-selling game of 2023 in the U.S. after Hogwarts Legacy and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, respectively.

The post PS5 Sales Finally Surpass PS4 Sales on Time-Aligned Basis appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Horizon Forbidden West 1.21 patch notes

New accessibility features

• Enlarging Subtitles
• Auto-Pickup
• Color Blindness settings
• Auto camera
• Navigation assist in Focus Mode
• Thalassophobia mode
• Additional accessibility features

New expansion (PS5 only)

• Support for Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores expansion has been added.

While the Burning Shores expansion was expected, the new accessibility features were not. They are certainly a nice surprise and should help to make the game easier to play, expanding the potential audience of Aloy’s story.

Personally, I’m very happy to see Auto-Pickup added. Looting one item might not take long, but thousands of items during a playthrough must surely add up to a significant chunk of time. Now players don’t have to worry about spamming the triangle button after every kill or over every wild resource, which should hopefully mean fewer items left behind.

Those on PS5 who are waiting to download the Burning Shores expansion will want to make room for the sizeable installation.

Once Burning Shores has been downloaded and installed, it will soon be time to meet new companion Seyka.

The post Horizon Forbidden West Update 1.21 Adds Burning Shores DLC, Auto-Pickup, and More appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Call of Duty MW2 April 14 full patch notes

The main highlights of the patch notes are the updated (or shall we say, reverted) Battle Pass Map view and increased number of Buy Stations in Resurgence on Ashika Island. From among the numerous bugs this patch fixes, it resolves an issue with sector C20 of the Battle Pass that had the wrong gun and thereby blocked player progress. Here are the full April 14 patch notes for your perusal:

Global

• Updated Battle Pass Map view. While this was an artistic choice, we have reverted it for easier viewing on all types of screens.

Gameplay

Ashika Island | Resurgence

• Buy Stations
  • Increased the number of Buy Stations available per match to 15, up from 10

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue causing Overclock to recharge Loadout Drop Markers in Resurgence modes.
• Fixed an issue where backing out of an altered Pro-Tuned weapon wouldn’t keep its name in the Loadout
• Fixed an issue where Players could save the Cronen Squall and FJX Imperium as a Favorite Loadout and use it despite not unlocking it in the Battle Pass in Ranked Play
• Fixed an issue where an incorrect message sometimes displayed in a Battle Pass preview tile
• Fixed an issue that causes broken Field Upgrades to persist on the Map in DMZ
• Fixed an issue where Players were taking damage from the gas in the infil plane in Massive Resurgence
• Fixed an issue in the “Death From Above” Mission in DMZ that blocked progress because the Player buying a Mortar Strike was not tracking
• Fixed an issue with a number of Pro-Tuned Blueprints where attempting to custom tune certain attachments would cause Players to spawn with no weapon
• Fixed an issue where the Fender Operator “EOD Specialist” Skin could cause weapons to appear invisible while loading into a match

Recently Updated

• Fixed an issue where Players couldn’t redeem Sector C20 of the Battle Pass because it displayed the weapon name as “Nullify,” a Season 02 gun, instead of the correct weapon “The Haunting.”
• Fixed an issue where a message about a Skin being reactive would appear next to all Skins in the Skin selection menu.
• Fixed an issue preventing solo Players from matchmaking into Cooperative Missions.

The post Call of Duty MW2 April 14 Patch Notes Fixes Battle Pass Map appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Horizon Forbidden West Horus fight teaser

Despite there now being two Horizon games featuring Horus machines, Aloy has never been given the chance to take one on in combat. This might be due to the fact that the Horus is a world-ending machine that would surely destroy Aloy with next to no effort, but it’s still a battle that many fans no doubt want to see.

Well, in the Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores expansion, Aloy will somehow go up against a Horus and, presumably, live to tell the tale. Perhaps that interesting new weapon attached to her arm is responsible for her survival? Maybe that’s a powerful Horus-destroying weapon that we haven’t seen before.

Players won’t have to wait long to play the new expansion as it’s set to launch on April 19, exclusively for PS5.

If you want to play the Burning Shores DLC when it launches, make sure you’ve beaten the main story!

The post Huge Horus Fight Teased in Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores Launch Trailer appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.