#57 Weekly Gaming News Industry Trends Round Up

GTA copycat Paradise is an alleged crypto scam, yet continues to gain Steam wishlists. Nakamoto Games secures $10M investment for P2E expansion.Why MapleStory Universe will be one of the key stories of 2025. First in-engine footage of the new Virtua Fighter game appears online. Bizarre GTA 6 leak appears to come from inside Rockstar's own office the game could make $1 billion before it's even released. Games will continue to "default" to violence if we keep buying them, says Fallout co-creator. Resident Evil 4 now the "fastest-selling Resident Evil game in history. Black Myth: Wukong named GOTY at 2024 Steam Awards but the Xbox delay caused by Series S issues, CEO says. Activision quietly recast Black Ops 6 Zombies actors during SAG-AFTRA strike. Plus we have the 50 most anticipated new games of 2025!

Also in our weekly round-up:

• Xbox brings cloud gaming to LG Smart TVs

• Sonic movie franchise grosses over $1bn at global box office

• Kanye West says The Last of Us 2 is the best game ever made

• Every esports game releasing in 2025 Full list

• A Doom CAPTCHA swaps puzzles for first-person blasting in the iconic game, allowing players to kill demons to unlock web access

Gaming News 🕹️

• First in-engine footage of the new Virtua Fighter game appears online

• Bizarre GTA 6 leak appears to come from inside Rockstar's own office the game could make $1 billion before it's even released

• Black Myth: Wukong named GOTY at 2024 Steam Awards but the Xbox delay caused by Series S issues, CEO says

• First Call of Duty update of 2025 ushers in Squid Game crossover, increases mantle speeds, and adds a new wildcard

• Resident Evil 4 now the fastest-selling Resident Evil game in history

• Minecraft creator Markus Persson has 'basically announced Minecraft 2'

• The 50 most anticipated new games of 2025

• 9 great Game Pass games for your Xbox

• Pokémon Go Fest 2025 to be held in Paris

• The first Tokyo Xtreme Racer in 18 years lands on Steam early access this month

• WWE 2K24 now the only game in the series with online functionality as 2K23 servers go dark

• Helldivers reveals Star Fox-style game concept, as it invites ideas for next project

• Kanye West says The Last of Us 2 is 'the best game ever made'

• Palestinian pseudo-3D stealth game Dreams on a Pillow looks set to hit £150K crowdfund target early

• XDefiant's final patch includes content that would have released in future seasons if it hadn't been cancelled

• Every esports game releasing in 2025 Full list

• Marvel Rivals reveals Season 1: Eternal Night Falls and the arrival of the Fantastic Four

• SNK starts up new studio to 'evolve' its fighting game franchises

Web3 Games 🎯

• GTA copycat Paradise is an alleged crypto scam, yet continues to gain Steam wishlists

• Ubisoft quietly releases new Web3 game featuring Rayman and NFTs

• Catly developer denies it's using generative AI or blockchain technology in its cute cat game

• Sonzai launches AI-driven social Telegram game TeleMafia

• Blockchain game investment list – ZkCandy L2 raises $4 million

• Top 31 people in blockchain gaming

• Better games and economies will drive growth in 2025 says Blocklords’ David

• Why MapleStory Universe will be one of the key stories of 2025

• Forkast prediction market going live on Ronin in early 2025

• Nakamoto Games secures $10M investment for P2E expansion

• Coliseum announces $2M investment fund to support Web3 gaming

• Gunzilla Games launches GUNZ Foundation, $GUN token coming soon

• Shiba Inu launches ‘SHIB: The Metaverse’ in early access

• SonicX, a tap-to-earn game built on social video platform TikTok, will airdrop SONIC tokens via Solana

• The 7 breakout crypto games of 2024 - From Notcoin to Off the Grid and Fantasy Top, these games captured the crypto world’s attention

Trends 📈

• Xbox brings cloud gaming to LG Smart TVs

• PUBG unveils chatty co-op buddy powered by generative AI that's designed to play and talk like a human teammate

• Sonic movie franchise grosses over $1bn at global box office

• The future of storytelling with Ken Levine

• A Doom CAPTCHA swaps puzzles for first-person blasting in the iconic game, allowing players to kill demons to unlock web access

• Sumo Group CEO Carl Cavers receives OBE in New Year's Honours list

• Games will continue to "default" to violence if we keep buying them, says Fallout co-creator

• Reality check for VR: Omdia forecasts decline as Apple's entry fails to galvanize market

• Esports will solidify itself as a cultural force': Team Liquid's CEO on Esports in 2025

• PlayStation to continue focusing on live service games

Industry News 🛡️

• Two Epic Games directors step down after US Department of Justice investigate games companies under antitrust laws

• The year's Steam Replay reveals 85% of Steam users in 2024 spent time playing games released in 2023 or earlier while only 15 percent played 2024's game releases

• Activision quietly recast Black Ops 6 Zombies actors during SAG-AFTRA strike

• Has Hollywood finally cracked video game adaptations? 2025 will be a big test

• Bethesda veteran says players are "fatigued" by seemingly endless games

• Microsoft says AI will lead to job losses, invests $80 billion in the tech

• Sony announces Horizon Zero Dawn and Helldivers movies at CES 2025

Level Up Your Hardware 🎧

• AMD announces new Ryzen 9000 CPUs at CES 2025

• New rumor says Xbox's next-gen console is called 'Xbox Prime' and launch in 2026 with a new Call of Duty

• Lenovo unveils the Legion Go S, a new handheld PC running on SteamOS

• Soon you will be able to play your Xbox with a PS5-style controller as Hyperkin remakes DualSense for Xbox compatibility

• LG TVs are getting Xbox Cloud Gaming

• Intel's new Core Ultra 200HX series CPUs are ready for next-gen gaming laptops

• Nvidia's RTX 5090 leaks with 32GB of GDDR7 memory

• Asus, Samsung, and MSI announce world's first 27-inch 4K OLED 240Hz monitors

• New Switch 2 leak appears to show off improved Joy-Con design

• Atari's striking new Gamestation Go handheld features some really unusual hardware features

Esports Players & Teams News 🏆

• VALORANT's newest agent is explosive initiator Tejo

• FaZe Clan unveils 2025 rebrand on social media

• Ropz has left FaZe Clan after three years on the CS roster

• Former Annapurna staff to take over Private Division franchises

• COD League's first minor tournament bracket revealed

Guides, Tips and Tricks 🗝️

• How to start strong in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and more tips

• How to turn off easy swing in Marvel Rivals

• All Earth Sprite locations in Fortnite and the best route

• All specialist locations in Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 1 mapped

• How to beat Viper Napuatzi in Path of Exile 2

• All Ghost Recon Breakpoint achievements and how to unlock them

• All Assassin's Creed Unity achievements and how to unlock them

Follow us on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news and announcements!

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We are reloading our ammo with gaming, industry, esports, news and trends intel for the next newsletter..

See you same time next week!
gmgames.