The Pokemon Company has announced that it will release a Pokemon Trading card game themed around Pokemon Go. The announcement caught everyone by surprise when it was made official the Japanese Twitter account, accompanied by a brief teaser video released. This set in particular will be named “Pokemon Go” and to feature card art taken from Pokemon Go. The set appears to be a mini expansion, as booster packs released in Japan will only contain 6 cards, and will feature Mewtwo as one of the set’s mascots. Nothing else was announced about the set, such as if it will include any mechanics inspired by Pokemon Go. 

The special set release date is June 17th 2022. As of right now, there is no plans on an international date at this current time. The cards will likely either be integrated into a full US set or released through a series of special box products, its important to note that retailer listings has confirmed that the US/International audience would their special set in June, which has not been announced yet. So there’s a possibility that they could have a simultaneous release for both US and Internationally.

For those unaware; Pokemon Go is an 2016 augmented reality (AR) game developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company for iOS and Android devices. A part of the Pokemon franchise, the game is the result of a collaboration between Niantic, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. It uses mobile devices with GPS to locate, capture, train, and battle virtual creatures, called Pokemon, which appear as if they are in the player’s real-world location. The game is free-to-play, with options to purchase certain items at certain times in the game.

The new card set continues a collaboration between Pokemon Go and the Pokemon Trading Card Game which started last year with release of Professor Willow themed card, during that time, Niantic has stated that further collaborations were possible, so it does look like we’re seeing it come into fruition now.

The Pokemon Trading card game is set to release its first English set sometime this month. The new expansion will add a new “VSTAR” mechanic to the game, which gives players the chance to use a VSTAR power once per game. The mechanic acts as a combination of sorts for the Pokemon VMAX mechanic currently used in the game, as well as the GX mechanic used in the previous “Sun and Moon” period. The next set for release is will feature Pokemon from Pokemon Legends; Arceus,a new Pokemon mechanic labelled as “Sparkling Pokemon” is also set to be introduced in the game at some point.

The post Pokemon Go is set to get its own Pokemon TCG expansion first appeared on Get2Gaming.

As reported by various news outlets like  Bloomberg and CNET ,the FTC will conduct an investigation of the deal to determine whether the purchase of the publishing giant constitutes unfair competition, according to an anonymous source.

To be clear, it is understood that the investigation will not be carried out by the justice department, who do work with the FTC to handle similar cases. Currently as I am reporting this, Microsoft has declined further comment on the matter when reached out for a statement. Respectively the FTC have also do not comment on the situation at hand either.

The purchase of Activation Blizzard means that Xbox will gain exclusive ownership of some of the biggest game franchises to date like Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero and many, many more . The deal is expected to close in Microsoft’s fiscal year of 2023, however, the deal would only be closed if it meets the closing conditions and completion of the regulatory review.

Competition laws are looking to control market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. On the basis of mergers and acquisitions, regulators can prevent deals that are considered to threaten market competition or suggest remedies such as an obligation to divest part of the new business. Reacting to Microsoft’s plans, DFC Intelligence said the following;

“Will this deal go through? Regulators will take a close look and franchises like Call of Duty may not be exclusive to Xbox platforms because of antitrust concerns.”

David Cole, owner of the DFC had said the following;

The big issue is if COD becomes a Microsoft exclusive. Right now, I don’t think [it will]. For one thing, it would be hard to get it past regulators if they want to lock the competition out.” Talking to GamesIndustry.Biz.

Microsoft still have plans to create “some” games for PlayStation following the purchase of the publishers, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox claims that “it’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform”.

The post The FTC has reportedly stepped in to review Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Xbox Game Pass has reportedly received £4,780 ($6,317.35/AU$8,823) worth of games in 2021, which is an insane amount considering when you think about this year’s subscription Microsoft services only being £49.99/$59.99/AU$80.

The cost of the new Xbox Game Pass titles was calculated by The Loadout which was based off of the value of every title that was added to the pass on console and PC during the course of 2021 on the Microsoft Store.

The loadout also reported what was the best month for Xbox Game Pass in terms of value which turned out to be March 2021, March oversaw several Bethesda Game Studio titles hit the subscription service which included The Evil Within 2 and Rage which collectively came up to around £740 alone (around $964/AU$1,347).

The month that oversaw the least amount of value was back in April 2021, with the games totaling £247.69. When you consider the price of a month’s subscription is only £7.99($9.99/AU$15.95) it still comes up to a sizable fee. To fully experience every game added to the subscription service, you’d need to pay for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (which is currently on sale at this present time). Granted it’s more expensive the standard Game Pass but it still only comes up to £101.70 for the entire year, when you put in perspective the value of the game titles that are added to the Game Pass, it’s a very reasonable trade-off. Xbox Game Pass doesn’t come without it perks, with the Ultimate Game Pass, you gain access to Xbox Cloud Gaming and exclusive in-game rewards.

An Outsider’s Analysis: Xbox Game Pass is fantastic value for money

 I’m not going to lie to you, I have not played Xbox or paid their subscription fee since 2014 but as someone who currently pays for PlayStation and Nintendo services I have to admit, the deal you get for the Xbox Game Pass compared to PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Online is currently second to none, I have to say that there’s no deal out there at this current time that offers what the Game Pass offers in exchange for a reasonable subscription fee. Not to say that each respective companies Game Passes have their own impressive rewards and offers but with the Xbox Game Pass, not only do you have an abundance of game titles to choose from this year alone but Microsoft have also given its subscribers incredible savings that they can enjoy.

The Xbox Game Pass included magnificent game titles like Halo Infinite, Forza Horizons 5, Battlefield 2042 and Psychonauts 2, those titles alone at full price is more than one full year of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and with that being said, I can see why people would opt for the Game Pass in the first place; with that you have the option to buy these AAA titles day one.

Now, here’s the thing; if you’re affected by the fact that the Game Pass only allows you to rent titles, it can be overshadowed by the fact that any game that hits the service can be bought digitally with a 20% discount to go with it, not a bad deal for Xbox users there ay? If that’s not enough, Game Pass subscribers can also enjoy discounts on various DLCs too.

Well, my verdict is if you’re looking for a new console, I’d highly recommend giving some serious thought to an Xbox One, Xbox Series S or X if you don’t own one already. Microsoft has seriously improved its product over the last few years, righting the wrongs that has been pointed out over the years. Xbox right now is widely considered as “Sleeping Giants” but how things are going right now, they won’t be sleeping any longer. Now If you excuse me, going to have to see a certain store about certain Microsoft product I would possibly like to invest my time in.

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The post The value of the titles added to Xbox Game Pass in 2021 reportedly passed £4,780 first appeared on Get2Gaming.

The League of Legends developers are looking to explore the Chinese market more

Riot Games, known for its popular online battle arena video game League of Legends, has announced it will turn its attention more to China by adding a new headquarters in Shanghai and with extra focus on new games for a global audience.

Hundreds of roles will be created, according to the CEO of Riot Games, Nicolo Laurent.

League of Legends Dominates in China

China is a very important market for Riot Games because of the popularity of PC Gaming, with 32% of game revenue and nearly 45% of gamers in the Chinese market, according to Niko Partners.

League of Legends is also incredibly popular there, with a lot of passionate fans for the video game, as well as the developer itself.

The League of Legends World Championship, the annual professional League of Legends world championship tournament, was held in China in 2020 and will be held there again this year.

More e-sports and world competitions have become extremely popular in China, with estimations predicting e-sports will make $1 billion this year due to China’s contribution, and it’s that market Riot Games wants to tap into.

In China we have a lot of passionate players for ‘League of Legends’ and for Riot Games.”

“So as a result, we would like to double down in China and continue to invest here including not only working on e-sports, but for example, game development and other things like entertainment.” – Leo Lin, VP and head of China for Riot Games.

Not only that, but Mobile Gaming has become increasingly popular in China and now accounts for the biggest revenue overall in the country.

Riot Games launched its own mobile game last year titled League of Legends: Wild Rift in some regions, yet it has to fully launch in China. This is a change for Riot Games but the company believes it is an important area to move forward with and used a familiar title to kickstart this transition.

Riot Games is 100% owned by Chinese gaming giant Tencent, however, the developer has stated Tencent respects it works independently and has not tried to influence anything with their products.

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The post Riot Games to “Double Down” in China with New HQ and Rise in Gaming first appeared on Get2Gaming.

Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are helping Microsoft make a comeback within the Japanese market, according to Jeremy Hinton, the head of Xbox’s Asia region.

The region is now Xbox’s fastest-growing market worldwide and stock is often selling out within minutes.

Hinton told IGN Japan that the phenomenal growth in the last year is the result of high percentage sales from Japanese consumers who have previously evaded Xbox consoles in the past, as well as those that want to upgrade their Xbox 360, a generation of consoles that have previously sold well in the Japanese market. This is due to the high profile of Japanese developed exclusives that were offered with the console at the time, in comparison to the original Xbox and Xbox One console, both being largely ignored by Japanese consumers.

The same formula has been applied here, as the more affordable Xbox Series S console has done exceptionally well and is in more demand than the Xbox Series X. This is leading to more development kits being sent to independent developers in Japan. Microsoft has been working hard to target and encourage more Japanese talent to develop for the company and this can be seen with their recent games; Yakuza, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and the upcoming Scarlet Nexus game.

We’ve got more Japanese-developed content in our ecosystem now than we’ve had at any point within our history… I think we have more development kits with independent developers in Japan than we’ve ever had in our history before, and there’s a lot of talent and a growing independent scene in Japan. – Jeremy Hinton, IGN Japan.

Xbox has always had a disadvantage compared to domestic companies Sony and Nintendo, with Microsoft having a complicated history when selling products in Japan. For example, the Xbox One console was launched nearly one year later than its US release date, with loyal Japanese fans having already imported the console during the time it took to reach the Eastern market. Whereas in Japan, the PS4 was released 6 months prior and was on the market for a much cheaper price. The Xbox One console also had a lack of games that supported the Japanese language and used minimal effort in regards to the localisation of games.

Despite this, Microsoft seems back on track to working its way up in the Japanese market and will hopefully continue to build upon its momentum when it comes to Japanese development support.

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