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Games retailer scolds Star Wars: Battlefront sales, then abruptly changes tone.

by Chris Morris via Fortune

Earnings conference calls don’t typically have a lot of drama. There might be a surprise or two in sales forecasts or maybe news of an unannounced product will slip out of an executive’s mouth, but real drama? It’s rare.

But GameStop GME 0.80% turned heads Monday, as it seemingly took issue with its partner Electronic Arts EA -2.78% , then quickly reversed course before the call ended. And analysts are still trying to figure out what it all means.

Third-quarter results for the video game retailer were lower than expected, as both software and hardware sales slowed down and new store openings were delayed. But GameStop officials specifically pointed to EA’s Star Wars Battlefront as one of the chief sources of weakness.

“We’re not going to quantify it in actual number, [but] we had high expectations that diminished somewhat as it got closer, and then it failed to hit those lowered expectations,” said Tony Bartel, chief operating officer of GameStop. The company went on to say it did not think digital downloads of the game were the reason for the lower than expected sales.

By the end of the call, though, Robert Lloyd, GameStop’s CFO, was singing the game’s praises, saying “We expectStar Wars to be one of the strongest titles for the holiday season.”

Analysts say it’s unusual to see a company make such a drastic shift in tone during a call—and aren’t sure what prompted it.

“It was really quite strange to hear GameStop management change tone over the course of less than one hour during its conference call,” says Ben Schachter of Macquarie Capital. “Management seemed to tone down the negative talk onStar Wars as the call progressed. Perhaps EA management reached out during the call with some comments of their own to GameStop, or perhaps GameStop wanted to remind EA that GameStop commentary to the market does matter and that EA and others should remember that as they talk about digital in their own commentary.”

(EA shares fell more than 7.5% after the GameStop conference call, rebounding slightly before trading ended Monday.)

GameStop officials, however, did note that Battlefront‘s underwhelming sales could be tied to the leak of its ownBlack Friday ad. (The company will offer $30 off select EA games with the purchase of Battlefront.)

And analysts Fortune spoke with say they have not adjusted their quarterly sales expectations for the game.

“It’s hard to gauge the potential of a mass market game like this in the first week or two,” says John Taylor, managing director of Arcadia Investment. Corp. “This is the number one candidate for gift purchases in December.”

Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey agreed, saying he remains “confident in EA’s ability to appropriately forecast sales performance, and believe[s] the upcoming movie and related digital content should drive sales of the game.”

GameStop has always had a curious relationship with its publishing partners, though. The company’s sale of used games has always rubbed game makers the wrong way, since they see no financial benefits from the practice. EA led the fight to monetize used game sales in 2010 with “Project Ten Dollar,” which required second-hand players to pay a $10 premium to the publisher to re-activate a game. Other publishers emulated this model, but all (including EA) have since abandoned it.

Today, many of those same publishers are promoting their own digital download services, luring people to bypass physical software—and the stores that sell it. And Monday’s call might have been GameStop’s way to begin fighting back.

“There is no question there is some friction between GameStop and publishers—particularly over publisher’s efforts to build direct to consumer businesses,” says Taylor. “Everybody is trying to do it. EA’s EA Access program probably is as visible as anybody. It wouldn’t surprise me if there weren’t some discussions going on behind the scenes and some of that spilled over [during the call].”

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by David Murphy via PC Mag

One of the Xbox One’s best new features is the ability to hook up a controller to your Windows 10-based PC and stream your Xbox One’s screen to that PC. Use that controller to play games that look just as good as if you were sitting in front of your living room TV, an especially useful feature if you have roommates who tend to hog your primary TV.

Sadly, Sony’s PlayStation 4 doesn’t have a feature like this. However, a third-party developer plans to launch a workaround on Wednesday, which will make it a reality. Remote Play PC will be a native Windows application that lets you play PS4 games from a different room than your console.

“I’ve been working on this project mostly part time for over a year when the Android version was first released in October 2014. I’ve lost count the amount of hours I’ve put in over this time but I’ve enjoyed every moment working on this project which leads me onto my main point. I’d like to work on this project full time, adding features, getting it stable and porting it to other platforms which I know a lot of you want,” writes the app’s developer, Twisted.

“The only way to support this is to charge for the app, all my previous projects have been free and I don’t want to have to but sadly its [sic] the only way to support my living costs. On the plus side this means I have more time to work on the project and provide support to its users, something which I’ve been limited on in the past.”

It remains to be seen how long Remote Play PC will be live before Sony shuts it down or disables it (Sony doesn’t love tinkerers). Call us skeptical, but we can’t see Sony being too thrilled about the development—especially if the company is working on similar functionality, or wants to restrict its use to PlayStation Plus users as a way to entice gamers to sign up for the service.

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by Owen S. Good via Polygon

More people are playing Star Wars Battlefront on PlayStation 4 than on Windows PC and Xbox One combined, according to a third-party site that tracks server figures for noteworthy Electronic Arts games.

Over the past 24 hours, Star Wars Battlefront has seen a peak of 188,171 players concurrently online on PS4, says Player Stats Network, compared to 113,696 for Xbox One and 48,292 for Windows PC. The latter two figures combined are still more than 25,000 users short of the PS4 total.

The figures themselves could be attributable to any number of factors other than sales, but with publishers increasingly reluctant to disclose sales figures for anything other than obvious mega hits, it gives at least a partial picture of the relative sizes of a big-name shooter’s constituencies.

Electronic Arts senior executives have, over the past year, targeted 10 million and then 13 million units sold as makeable goals to investors. Those totals are over the lifespan of the release; Star Wars Battlefront launched on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Player Stats Network says it pulls the statistics from EA’s servers themselves. “We don’t calculate anything ourselves; these are direct numbers for every platform,” it said to NeoGAF. The site has monitored traffic figures for games in the Battlefield and Need For Speed series in the past.

Our review of Star Wars Battlefront is here; we scored it an 8.0 and called it “a game of surprising complexity and anachronistic constraints.” But more than 300,000 players all online in the same hour is its own measure of acclaim, too.

by Zulai Serrano via iDigital Times

The ongoing Xbox One vs PS4 debate spilled into the Star Wars: Battlefront beta this week after a performance analysis for revealed the PS4 version’s resolution is better than the Xbox One version.

Digital Foundry (via Eurogamer) tested Star Wars: Battlefront beta on Xbox One and PS4. Turns out the Star Wars: Battlefront beta on the Xbox One is running at 720p while the PS4 is at 900p.

“Battlefront on Xbox One is fixed at 720p, meaning that it runs at 64 per cent of the PS4’s overall pixel count,” Digital Foundry wrote. “From an image quality perspective, the compromises are just as you’d expect; we see more aliased edges, and a higher level of shimmering on fine distant detail – particularly on Tatooine’s flag-lines. Added to that, there’s a softening to the picture as a whole – a result of a more drastic upscale, combined with a similar grade of post-process anti-aliasing to PS4.”

The lower resolution might put off Xbox One users who were thinking of purchasing the game, but that seems to be the only difference between Xbox One vs PS4 and PC versions. Digital Foundry reports the content for the Xbox One is “identical” to the PS4 and comparable to PC graphics. The game textures and overall quality looks the same for both consoles. Digital Foundry also touched on the fps performance for the PS4 and Xbox One.

“As a baseline we’re looking at a 60fps playback on Xbox One overall, but it’s fair to say drops are more intrusive and protracted than PS4’s once the engine is stressed,” Digital Foundry wrote. “Fortunately, smaller maps run a lot smoother, and we get a near perfect 60fps for Sullust’s 16-player games, and the Tatooine survival mode. Barring a few dropped frames here and there, Xbox One’s level of performance isn’t a distraction on these two at all.”

It’s important to note the tests were done on Star Wars: Battlefront beta. EA still has time to work on the resolution and frame rate issues before the game’s official release. Read more about Digital Foundry’s tests on the Star Wars: Battlefront beta here. Star Wars: Battlefront is slated to hit the PS4, Xbox One and PC on Nov. 17.

A new patent application from Nintendo makes the writing on the wall for gaming consoles a little bolder.

by Daniel B. Kline via The Motley Fool

The end of the video game disc is rapidly approaching. Both Sony and Microsoft have increasingly pushed digital downloads over buying physical discs. That makes sense given that games delivered over the Internet cut out the middleman. By not having to involve a retailer in the transaction, the console makers can, in theory, sell titles at lower prices and still make more money.

by Sam Mattera via The Motley Fool

If you’re in the market for a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One console, and you prefer physical discs, you may want to shop at GameStop.

The video game specialty retailer will no longer carry console bundles that offer digital copies of games. Buyers may still get their games, but only in the form of physical discs.

Since the Xbox One and PlayStation debuted nearly two years ago, Microsoft and Sony have periodically offered free games to entice console buyers. Most of these games have come in the form of digital download codes rather than discs. GameStop has sold many of these bundles, but will no longer do so going forward.

GameStop declines the Madden bundle
Last month, Microsoft partnered with Electronic Arts torelease a special Madden 16 Xbox One bundle. This bundle, which retails for $399, includes a 1TB version of the Xbox One game console, a free year of EA Access, and a digital download code for Electronic Art’s hit football game Madden 16.

Well, it does if you purchase it from a retailer like Best Buy. If you buy it from GameStop, however, it’s quite different.

It’s still $399, but the digital download code is gone, replaced by a physical disc version ofMadden 16. And it doesn’t include the free 12-month subscription to EA Access, Electronic Arts’ digital subscription service. Similar to a subscription music service like Spotify, EA Access grants Xbox One owners a collection of about a dozen digital games.

GameStop’s chief operating officer, Tony Bartel, highlighted this modified bundle during the company’s earnings call last month. GameStop’s CEO, Paul Raines, explained that GameStop would take a similar stance on any future bundles.

“If … the platform holders … continue to put in free games as promotional items, we anticipate that at GameStop you’ll see more physical bundles from third parties as opposed to digital bundles. … We choose not to participate in the digital bundles.”

Delaying the digital shift is in GameStop’s best interest
This might turn some consumers away, but GameStop insists that its customers prefer physical discs and value bundles that include them.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s clearly in GameStop’s best interests to impede the digital transformation of the industry. Consumers with capable Internet connections can now download any PlayStation 4 or Xbox One game directly to their system without ever leaving the house. Like dedicated record stores and movie rental shops, GameStop is at risk of being disrupted by a digital shift. Digital bundles introduce new console owners to the convenience of digital distribution — something GameStop’s management probably wants to avoid.

It’s also not possible to trade in or resell digital games, which poses a big challenge to GameStop’s used games business. Last quarter, used games generated about one-third of GameStop’s revenue and nearly 45% of its gross profit. Digital bundles reduce the number of available game discs in circulation, limiting GameStop’s ability to resell them.

The major publishers, including EA, claim that about one-fifth of the games they sell on consoles are now digital copies, up from virtually none just a few years ago. This statistic paints a grim future for GameStop’s business, as it suggests that digital distribution will only grow in popularity.

GameStop executives have disputed this claim, arguing that it’s misleading — that digital games included in bundles artificially inflate the real demand for digital games, skewing the numbers. Other retailers will still sell them, but with GameStop no longer participating, the relative popularity of digital could decline.

A sign of desperation?
Following GameStop’s earnings report, analysts at The Benchmark Company downgraded GameStop shares to “sell,” arguing that, within five years, almost all video games would be downloaded — effectively rendering GameStop’s business model obsolete.

GameStop’s refusal to carry digital bundles may be interpreted as a desperate move — a fleeting ploy to head off an inevitable transition.

by Paul Tassi via Forbes

As we head into the fall, the console wars are heating up.

Just kidding, they’re really not. Instead, the PS4 and Xbox One march more or less lockstep into the season sharing nearly all the biggest games. What will undoubtedly be the top three sellers of the holiday season, Black Ops 3, Fallout 4 and Metal Gear Solid 5 are out on both systems. The same goes for Mad Max, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Just Cause 3, FIFA, Star Wars: Battlefront and Rainbow Six Siege.

I’ve previously credited Xbox One has having a slight window to catch up to the PS4 with two powerful exclusives, Halo 5 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, on the horizon, but though both will sell well, in the grand scheme of things, it’s possible (probable) there is no catching PS4 at this point.

The systems have become functionally identical over time, Microsoft having to dramatically rework the Xbox One after E3 2013 to mirror its rival. So now we have two boxes that perform roughly the same with a catalog of games that are 90% of the same as one another.

And yet, I’m asked this all the time. Rather “accused” of it all the time. If I write that this year is Microsoft’s best bet to gain ground on PS4, I’m a shill for the Xbox. If I concede that in all likelihood, Sony  has already won this generation’s console war with a massive lead, I’m a sellout for PS4.

Of course the truth is neither of these, as I own both systems, plus a Wii U and gaming PC for good measure. I have no financial stake in either company, and after owning every PlayStation and Xbox and Nintendo  console before this trio, I don’t have some sort of deep seeded nostalgia bias either that will cause me to choose one brand over another every time.

And yet, there are smaller biases. Ones I will freely admit. But these biases show just how petty the PS4 and Xbox One console war has become. These are not two dramatically different visions for the future of gaming. They are instead small tweaks and personal preferences that cause me to choose one system over another in a given situation.

So, in the interest of full disclosure for fanboys to reference at any time in the future, here are my full list of console biases.

1. I will almost always choose to buy an FPS game (or request a review copy) for Xbox One over PS4. My first experiences with FPS games were obviously on PC, but the first series I really dove into was Halo on the original Xbox, which sort of defined my formative years with the genre. As such, the Xbox One controller simply feels more natural for shooters. It’s half the reason I left a high level Destiny character behind on PS4, and completely converted to Xbox One for that game, once I realized I was going to be in it for the next ten years.

2. In contrast, most other genres I will play on PS4, as I like the diversity of switching back and forth between two systems. And maybe because it was growing up with Tomb Raider, but nearly all third person action games I play on PS4. For some like Uncharted, I have to, obviously, but I’ll also play Arkham games, Shadow of Mordor, Assassin’s Creed, etc, etc, there as well. And it just felt blasphemous to buy Metal Gear Solid 5 for Xbox One given its history with PlayStation, so I own the PS4 copy of that as well. In terms of the great graphics debate? I never once have thought that a game looks better on one console than the other, and my platform picks for wide-released series have to do with genre alone as I say. The technical differences just aren’t there, and if they are, I simply can’t notice them, try as I might.

3. Generally speaking, I don’t like the PS4 controller compared to the Xbox One’s. The thumbstick issue really is horrible, as the rubber shreds and forces you to either get a new one, or these gaudy, uncomfortable caps to put on them. And for some reason, the battery life feels a lot shorter as well, as I feel like my DualShock is always on the verge of death while the XB1 controller can truck for a lot more miles.

4. I hate the Xbox One UI. I don’t really know anyone who doesn’t hate the Xbox One UI. It was based on Windows 8 (ugh) and designed to work with Kinect gesturing (double ugh), and now that Windows 10 is here, it remains painfully outdated. I don’t even have my Kinect hooked up, so I can’t shout at my screen to display menu options that remain otherwise hidden. It’s impossible to find half of what you’re looking for in those tiles, and I cannot wait for the pending redesign that’s coming soon. As such, the terrible UI makes me use PS4 for all non-gaming related functions like watching Netflix or Amazon or Hulu. I do only watch HBO Go on Xbox One, but I think I got in that habit because it was available first on Xbox for some reason, and I just haven’t bothered to download it on PS4 yet.

5. Despite the massive sales lead of PS4, the few friends I have who do own gaming consoles mostly have Xbox Ones. I think there is some nostalgia at play there, as the vast majority of our gaming time in college and high school was on Xboxes, the original, but mainly 360. And mainly Halo 3, which we sunk literally thousands of hours into. I rarely play games online with most of my career-and-family-having friends these days, but when I do, it’s on Xbox One. But when I have people actually over to play games? Quite literally the only option 95% of the time is Wii U, as both PS4 and Xbox One have all but abandoned splitscreen. Needless to say it breaks all of our hearts that somehow with the release of Halo 5, we will have no way to play together in the same room like we used to.

6. The battle of the “exclusives” seems a lot less intense than it used to. We’re lucky if each console gets what, one big-name exclusive a year, with a smattering of smaller ones? So far, I think it’s been a pretty even split in terms of quality of exclusives, though until Halo 5 and Tomb Raider make their debut, I think PS4 has been slightly ahead. Bloodborne remains the best console exclusive between the Xbox One and PS4 in my eyes, and I think Xbox One is still searching for something to match it. I am very hopeful for Halo 5, however, split-screen issues aside, based on what I’ve played in early testing so far. Still though, every year there are so many huge multiplatform games that the exclusives feel more and more like afterthoughts, instead of the titles that used to completely define the console. Overall, I think Sony has an edge here, but both systems have lacked all that many high quality exclusives so far this generation.

7. Console exclusive content makes me hate both brands equally. Sony’s newfound snuggling session with Activision giving away early Call of Duty Beta and DLC access and loads of PS-only Destiny content is just maddening. Though Microsoft has certainly secured those kinds of deals in the past as well, Sony is just doing more of them lately because of their massive market position. First Xbox was the “home of Call of Duty” and now PlayStation is, but both claims for a multiplatform game are fundamentally stupid. You do not “own” the game, you are simply making it slightly worse for players who use your competition’s console. This has been by far the dumbest part of the console wars this generation, yet given how similar the systems are, this is what it’s regressed to.

8. I think Sony has been a little cocky since launch, but I suppose they’ve earned the right to be. Their sales lead is just something to behold, though I can’t shake the feeling that they haven’t quite earned it. Given how similar the Xbox One and PS4 are in the end, to have Sony selling close to double the amount of systems seems excessive, and this literally all stems from a few early decisions Microsoft made with the Xbox One. The elimination of discs makes sense in the long run, but it was the wrong time to do so with the used games economy still in full swing. An always online console is alright for security, but will do more harm than good if a failed “check-in” prevents someone from playing a game they legally own because of a spotty internet connection. But Microsoft has no excuse for pushing the Kinect so hard when it soon became clear they had no actual idea what to do with it, and despite a 2.0 version, the tech itself was never ready for prime time. I honestly credit the Kinect alone and the $100 price increase it forced upon the console as the majority of the reason the Xbox One is trailing the PS4 to this day. That bundling decision is one of the worst in industry history.

So, am I biased? Can you go through the list and tally up which console had more pros or cons? I don’t know, I didn’t count. I know I use them both pretty equally. Both have their strengths, and both have their weaknesses which I am always quick to point out. But fundamentally, I can’t shake the feeling that they’re just so damn similar, and that has made for the blandest console wars in years.

We all have biases like these, but they’re minor and don’t make us “beholden” to one company or another. And for those who have staked their claim with one side or another, why? I get that most budgets will only allow the purchase of one console, but to create this artificial brand war where you become a free recruit to do PR for a corporation seems downright weird. I get that these differences are fun to debate, but it can escalate far beyond that sometimes, and it doesn’t need to.

Anyway, those are my console “biases.” And I have some about the Wii U and PC I could expand on later too probably, but this is the main conflict this generation, and will be for the rest of the decade, it seems.

by  Philip Kollar via Polygon

Interested in trying out Call of Duty: Black Ops 3‘s multiplayer but not yet certain enough to pre-order the game? As long as you own a PlayStation 4, you’re in luck! Developer Treyarch Studios has announced that the ongoing beta for Black Ops 3 is now open to all PlayStation 4 users.

The news comes via a post to Treyarch’s official Twitter feed this afternoon, which reads: “Let’s dial this up a notch. The @PlayStation 4 #BO3Beta is now open for all PS4 players. Let’s go!”

The beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 launched on PlayStation 4 earlier this week, but it was initially only available for people who had pre-ordered the game. Along with opening the beta up for a much wider audience today, Treyarch also increased the game’s current level cap and added a new multiplayer map, along with some other additions.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 will release on Nov. 6 for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The beta is expected to run through this coming Sunday, Aug. 23, on PS4. Betas on Windows PC and Xbox One are expected on Aug. 26; it’s unknown if Treyarch will open those beta experiences up to anyone on the platform the way they did here.

by Christopher Grant via Polygon

While work on Xbox 360 backward compatibility continues in advance of its November launch, that hasn’t stopped Xbox chief Phil Spencer from asking his team — a team that already delivered something most of the world thought was, if not technologically impossible, at least technologically “very challenging” with Xbox 360 support — if they could also go ahead and get original Xbox support on Xbox One.

View Phil’s answer on Twitter

Since the Xbox 360 had limited backward compatibility with the original Xbox already, getting that support onto Xbox One might be as simple as using the Xbox 360 emulator to run the original Xbox emulator. An emulator inside an emulator.

Like the Xbox 360 solution currently in development, the Xbox emulator did not support every Xbox game. “The last update for Xbox 360 backwards compatibility in North America was on November 27, 2007, raising the total number of Xbox games compatible with the Xbox 360 to 461,” Wikipedia’s thorough page on the topic states. “Approximately 51% of the original Xbox library is now compatible with the Xbox 360 (as of the November 27, 2007 update).” Microsoft is targeting more than 100 Xbox 360 games to be compatible by the November launch.

While previous PlayStation generations had backward compatibility for PlayStation 1 games, at the very least, the PlayStation 4 doesn’t have any backward compatibility support, instead relying on streaming service PlayStation Now to bring its catalog to the newest console. “The technology involved must be very challenging,” Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida told Polygon following Microsoft’s announcement at E3. He later added, “Backward compatibility is hard. I won’t say we’ll never do it, but it’s not an easy thing to do.