Square Enix still finds value in its western IPs, such as Just Cause, after it just recently sold off a majority of them.
In an investors briefing last month, Square Enix briefly mentioned Just Cause, which is developed by Avalanche Studios. “We especially revisited our studio and title portfolios from the perspective of stepping up our offering of online titles that we develop for the North American and the European market,” explains Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda.
He continues, “We want to focus on creating new titles that align with our strategy, including ones that leverage new IP. The Just Cause franchise will remain our IP, and we are at work developing a new title in the franchise.”
It’s unclear whether Matsuda is referring to the development of a new mainline Just Cause game for consoles and PC, or the free-to-play mobile game that was announced back in 2020.
Last month, Square Enix announced that it would be selling off its western divisions, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal, to Embracer Group. This sale handed over properties such as Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to Embracer Group.
However, Square Enix decided to keep some western IPs, namely, Life is Strange, Outriders, and Just Cause.
The last game in the Just Cause franchise was Just Cause 4, which was released back in December 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Just Cause Mobile is scheduled to launch sometime in 2022 with both single-player and four-player co-op gameplay, as well as PvP gameplay with up to thirty players.
Maybe it’s time that we see a new Just Cause mainline entry in the current generation for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S?
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.