Warframe developer Digital Extremes has announced a new game called Soulframe. Revealed as part of the developer’s TennoCon 2022 event this weekend, Soulframe is a free-to-play action “hybrid-MMORPG” that is now in early development.

A cinematic teaser trailer was shown during TennoCon, and Digital Extremes says it means to invoke themes of “romanticism and fantasy.” Check it out below.

Soulframe’s creative director is Geoff Crookes. The developer said in a statement that Soulframe will “pull inspiration from the elaborate fantasy worlds that we fell in love with growing up.”

Crookes added: “Our team is really interested in this idea of nature and humanity colliding and we’ll be exploring a lot of those themes through our own lens while playing with ideas of restoration and exploration.”

Digital Extremes said it will develop Soulframe alongside the community as part of a “transparent, collaborative, and an iterative process…”

Players can visit the newly launched Soulframe website where they can solve a puzzle and then register for email updates. Players can also lock in their in-game on the website.

It’s an exciting time for #Warframe as Rebecca Ford transitions to Creative Director while Steve Sinclair and others focus their efforts on a brand new game, #Soulframe.

We’d like to share a letter from each about the future of #Warframe and more. pic.twitter.com/0F5c5nlt8J

— WARFRAME (@PlayWarframe) July 16, 2022

It’s still very early days for Soulframe, and there is no word yet on platforms or a release date.

Warframe was released all the way back in 2013, and Digital Extremes has steadily and impressively supported the game regularly since then. The game has gone on to become a huge success, reaching about 50 million players.

Development on Warframe will continue as other members of the team switch to Soulframe. At TennoCon, Digital Extremes shared more footage of the open-world story expansion, The Duviri Paradox, and announced a new story expansion called Veilbreaker.

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A new map means a new set of Fortnite landing spots in Chapter 3 Season 3, or at least some new considerations for your old favorites. The Reality Tree did more than add a handy new way to start a match with high-grade equipment. It transformed almost a third of the map, changing which areas are worth checking out first and where you can expect other players to be–or not to be, which is often more important. Below, we’ve listed a wide range of drop sites suitable for any occasion, whether you’re after weapons or just need a quiet spot to do some fishing.

Chonker’s Speedway

Just as in Chapter 3, Season 2, Chonker’s Speedway is still one of the best landing spots in the new season–albeit with one important caveat. The racetrack and surrounding buildings are home to plenty of loot. Most of it is fairly common, with a few exceptions, but it’s easy to fill your pockets fast with practically an entire arsenal, unlike some of the more remote locations on the map. Access to fast cars makes it easier to get away from opponents or to just cover more ground quickly.

The downside is that Chonker’s Speedway seems more popular than usual in Season 3, which means you’re more likely to run into trouble early on. The nearby garages and restaurants give you plenty of areas to hide, but this is still one of the more dangerous locations to drop in. If you don’t feel like taking the risk, consider dropping just to the north of the main speedway and gradually working your way south to search for loot. You have the advantage of the high ground this way as well and can simply beat a hasty retreat toward Condo Canyon or Sanctuary if things start getting dicey.

Reality Falls

With Chapter 3, Season 3 well underway, Reality Falls seems to be losing its appeal to Fortnite players. You can, and should, still get Reality Seeds to plan ahead for future matches, but it seems like most players are dropping elsewhere now. That’s a good thing, since Reality Falls is almost an ecosystem in itself, with dozens of places to search for loot, plan ambushes, or just take it easy while the first 50 players knock each other out.

There’s the Reality Tree itself and the cave system behind it, along with an abundance of shield mushrooms that gradually bump up your shield meter when you bounce on them. Check the surrounding mushroom forest for chests while you’re there, as you can typically find two or three either near the stalks or on top of the caps.

Rave Cave

Rave Cave has nearly 60 loot caches and chests to find, so if you just want the most stacked drop location possible, this should be your first stop. The amount of loot means you’re more likely to come across other players, but between the Ballers and the cave’s own natural hiding places, you should be able to either stay safe or evacuate with ease. The flipside is that all this loot makes Rave Cave a good spot to plan ambushes for other players who have the same idea. If you manage to grab a hunting or sniper rifle, camp out–safely–on some of the ledges and see what you can manage to accomplish before someone figures out you’re there.

South of Sanctuary

The wilds around Sanctuary are pretty empty, save for a few random loot caches, but if you want to do some exploration, complete basic quests, or just go fishing, this is an excellent place to start. You’re near enough to the three islands east of Sanctuary to grab some high-rank loot, but far enough out from where the early action usually takes place. If the first storm circle is further away from Sanctuary, then you can pretty much bet no one else is going to bother you for a while.

East of Daily Bugle

Another good area is the crossroads between the Daily Bugle and the coast. This spot is usually fairly quiet, but it also gives you access to several nearby NPCs and the Temple, if you need to stock up. The road itself winds through a shallow valley of sorts, making it easier to avoid opponents or set up ambushes. The Daily Bugle itself, with its plentiful loot, is still a popular drop spot, so give this a try if you want to pick off a few treasure hunters.

South of Tilted Towers

South of Tilted Towers might seem an unorthodox choice, but it has several advantages. For one thing, there’s absolutely nothing there–no NPCs, no landmarks, nothing. While everyone else is running off to loot the Towers or explore Reality Falls, you can safely explore the hills and plains. Since this area is almost in the center of the map, it also means you can easily duck into more civilized areas to pad out your inventory as needed.

Wherever your Reality Sapling is

This one might go without saying, but wherever your Reality Sapling is, you should be too, regardless of whether it’s ready to harvest yet. Even if you’re holding out for epic or legendary loot, you still need to make sure the sapling has no weeds–and hasn’t fallen victim to the destructive whims of another player.

Ideally, you’ll plant your sapling somewhere out of the way, such as some of the more remote locations we suggested or maybe even somewhere even further away, like northwest of Logjam Lumberyard. Either way, once you harvest your sapling’s fruits, you’re much better equipped in most cases than you would be if you dropped somewhere like Rave Cave. If you don’t feel like waiting for the weapon fruits to sprout naturally, you can use a shield keg or slurp splash to make them grow faster.

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In the contentious console war between Nintendo and Sega’s 16-bit systems, most of the attention was focused on the elements that the two warring factions directly controlled: the hardware and first-party games, and especially the dueling mascots, Mario and Sonic. But third-party support varied wildly at the time, with entire series like Final Fantasy pledging loyalty to just one of the two major competitors. And there was hardly any single game that made a bigger impact than Street Fighter 2. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the first Street Fighter 2 home release on the Super NES–a move that would shape the console competition, and the industry, for years to come.

It’s hard to overstate how massive a hit Street Fighter 2 was when it first hit arcades. By 1991, coin-operated arcades were starting to dim, falling short of the heyday of the golden age of arcades in the 1980s. The arrival of Street Fighter 2 heralded a revitalization of the arcade industry, driving foot traffic to arcades and attracting countless imitators. It quickly created a burgeoning competitive scene, with each arcade community knowing its own top players and others placing their quarters on the edge of the box to challenge the champs. It also, not surprisingly, dominated the cash flowing into the arcade business. David Snook, editor of the arcade trade magazine Coin Slot, estimated that Street Fighter 2 accounted for around 60% of the total coin-op market in a 1993 edition of the UK magazine Mega. Street Fighter 2 was one of the biggest games ever made in a genre with few rivals.

At the time, an arcade-faithful port seemed like a pipe dream. Players had become accustomed to arcade machines far outpacing the power of home consoles. Home ports of arcade games on the Nintendo Entertainment System were often slightly compromised or even just rebuilt from scratch to fit the system specs. The Super NES had released near The World Warriors in 1991 with relatively impressive specs, but nothing on the system looked quite like Street Fighter’s screen-filling sprite artwork. The occasional console game that matched its arcade counterparts was the exception, not the rule. Fans at the time had every reason to presume that any Street Fighter 2 port would be compromised at best.

Against that backdrop, the release of Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors on Super NES in July of 1992 was nothing short of astounding. It was arcade-perfect, missing only a few visual flourishes like the arcade version’s opening cutscene. With the Super NES version, and with the advent of home arcade sticks coming shortly after to capitalize on its success, players could master their fighting skills at home with a faithful recreation of the arcade experience, and then head to the arcade to take on opponents.

At the time, game prices varied wildly, depending on everything from the size of the cartridge to the demand for the game. The standard MSRP for a console game was generally $50 USD, while some significantly larger games like Final Fantasy 3 (aka FF6) could be as high as $80. Street Fighter 2 was relatively expensive at $75–roughly $158 in 2022 dollars. But fans happily paid the price, quickly buying millions of copies as Street Fighter 2 became the top-selling game on the Super NES. That demand was fueled partly by its platform exclusivity. There was no version released for the Sega Genesis in 1992. For months, if you wanted to play one of the most popular games in the world, you had two options: buy a Super Nintendo, or go to the arcade and spend an endless number of quarters. In the console battlegrounds of the school yard and parents’ basements, this was a massive win for Nintendo.

Capcom capitalized on the massive popularity of Street Fighter by planning several more versions and updates, but at that pre-internet time, those updates had to be issued in new physical carts. Entirely new arcade cabinets and entirely new home cartridges were planned. Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition came in the summer of 1993, adding the ability to play as the four bosses–Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison–as well as mirror matches and some other balance tweaks. This version would serve as the basis for the Sega Genesis port. Meanwhile, Capcom was planning a “Turbo Edition” for Super NES that would add speed options and new special moves. At this point the two converged, with the Genesis version reportedly pushed from its summer release window to the fall so that Capcom could add the Turbo enhancements to it. Sega fans were stuck waiting once again.

Once the Sega Genesis version did arrive, in September 1993, it was as successful as you’d expect, selling millions of copies. But Nintendo fans still had a justified sense of superiority, as the Genesis version was mildly compromised with noticeable changes to elements like its color palette and sound channels. These weren’t a dealbreaker for most fighting fans–the game still operated extremely well and scratched the itch that Genesis owners had been feeling for more than a year. But it was still a difference; Nintendo fans could boast a superior port.

One other major distinction sat between the Super NES and Genesis versions: the controller. In the arcade, Street Fighter 2 used a six-button control scheme: jab (weak), strong (mid), and fierce (heavy) for the punch and kick commands. Those would also define the strength, speed, and range of your special attacks. Activating Guile’s Flash Kick with a fierce command would produce a noticeably bigger area of effect than with a jab command. The default Super NES controller had six buttons, composed of the four face buttons and the two shoulder buttons. Capcom mapped these commands onto the Super NES controller with relative ease–the four face buttons were used for jab and strong attacks, while the shoulder buttons were used as the two fierce commands. It was no arcade stick, but it made the game perfectly playable without buying any extra accessories.

The Genesis controller, by comparison, only had three buttons by default. More than any issues with the software itself, this made for an extremely awkward compromise, forcing players to hit a separate button to toggle between punches and kicks. The toggle was mapped to the Start button, which had the odd side-effect of removing the ability to pause when playing with a 3-button controller. Needless to say, this was not ideal. Foreseeing this problem, Sega released its six-button controller. This removed the awkwardness from Street Fighter, and was even closer to a traditional arcade stick since it had no shoulder buttons. It also served as the controller of choice for players of other games like Mortal Kombat and Streets of Rage. But it also represented another accessory purchase to get the full experience. And if you wanted to beat up your younger sibling–in the game, of course–you’d have to buy two.

As the years passed, the Street Fighter 2 phenomenon faded, but Capcom had one more trick up its sleeve. Another, final version of Street Fighter 2 released in 1994. Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers was to be the definitive version of the game. It included four entirely new fighters: T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Cammy, and Fei Long. The classic fighters got new moves that would ultimately become iconic character traits, like Ryu’s flaming hadouken and Ken’s flaming shoryuken. Stages and portraits were given a facelift, and it introduced a scoring system to track elements like combos and recoveries. All of the fighters had a much larger variety of color schemes, and it brought back the speed options from Turbo. It also finally included a detailed animated opening like the arcade original–though instead of two nameless men punching each other, it was Ryu firing a hadouken straight at the screen.

This time, Genesis wasn’t left behind. Capcom developed and released the two versions simultaneously, and even produced its own six-button controller for consistency across platforms. Though fans say the audio quality on Genesis was lacking compared to its SNES counterpart, the two were roughly an even match.

Sega still did very well for itself in the 16-bit generation, especially in North America (which accounted for almost half of its total lifetime sales), no doubt thanks to the Genesis’ image as the “cool” system with attitude. It gained a respectable amount of market share against Nintendo compared to their competition in the 8-bit console wars. But by 1994, when Super Street Fighter 2 released, Sega had lost significant ground thanks to a steady stream of acclaimed releases on SNES, including but not limited to Street Fighter. Sega arguably fractured its market with add-ons like the Sega CD and 32X, while Nintendo just kept putting out first-party software buoyed by third-party support. By the end of the generation, Nintendo had sold 49 million Super NES systems to Sega’s 29 million Genesis units, worldwide.

It’s impossible to say what may have happened if the Sega Genesis version of Street Fighter 2 hadn’t come more than a year after the Super NES version, and without significant compromises to its graphics and control scheme. But it is safe to say that this disparity contributed to Sega’s troubles. Without Street Fighter 2’s much-stronger showing on Super NES, Sega may have been a closer match for Nintendo’s sales, or even surpassed them. It may have made different decisions in the intervening years. It might even still be a console manufacturer. In the bitter rivalry between Nintendo and Sega in the mid-’90s, it may have been Capcom who threw the fiercest punch.

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Sea of Thieves Season 7 is on the way, but it won’t come into port on schedule. Developer Rare has announced that Season 7 will now arrive on August 4. This is a small delay from the previously announced July 21 release date for Season 7.

The big-ticket item in Season 7 is “Captaincy,” which, as its name suggests, allows players to become captains of a ship. Season 7 also allows players to name their ship.

Explaining the delay, Rare said in a blog post that it will spend the additional time working on polish and quality.

“As we started getting closer to the originally stated release date, it became apparent that things were coming in hotter than we liked and there was a real risk of not delivering to the quality and polish we expect, as well as putting undue pressure across the team to get it all over the line,” Rare said. “We understand this will be disappointing for those of you who are eagerly awaiting this update, and we appreciate your patience with this change.”

Season 6 began in March, so fans have been waiting for some time for the next season. Also coming to Sea of Thieves in August is the next Adventure, A Hunter’s Cry, which launches on August 18. More details on this will apparently be announced later.

“Running Sea of Thieves as an ongoing live experience is still a journey where we learn new things every day, but we will always consider what is the best course of action for the players and our development team alike,” Rare said. “We believe the decision to shift this release is absolutely the right one to deliver the best experience for you all, while ensuring we continue to operate with a healthy and sustainable approach.”

Sea of Thieves is available on Xbox Game Pass for console, cloud, and PC. The game has been a big hit for Xbox, reaching more than 25 million players.

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Preorders for God of War: Ragnarok went up just hours ago and already grifters have loaded eBay with inflated listings, doubling or even almost tripling the standard price of the collector’s editions.

For context, you can preorder three different versions of God of War: Ragnarok, all coming with different extras and goodies. The launch edition is the base price: $69.99 for PlayStation 5 and $60 for PlayStation 4. It comes with a couple skins for Kratos and Atreus. The collector’s edition costs $200. It comes with replica Mjolnir, a dice set, two Vanir twin carvings, a steelbook display case, a knowledge keepers shine, and a voucher for digital goods. Finally, the Jotnar edition costs $260. It includes many of the bonuses of the collector’s edition, but also includes an alternate dice set, a seven-inch Vinyl, a pin set, and a Draupnir Ring. It is expensive, but also pretty standard pricing for new collector’s editions.

In contrast, confirmed preorder listings on eBay are costing anywhere from $260 to $445 for the collector’s edition and $448 to $600 for the Jotnar edition. It’s an absurd elevation in price across the board. While you might still be able to grab a special edition preorder, collector’s editions go fast and several retailers are already listing Ragnarok’s special editions as out of stock.

God of War: Ragnarok is releasing for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on November 9. In other PlayStation news, Sony’s acquisition of Bungie is now official.

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Apex Legends Mobile made a splash when it launched in May, with over 15 million players pre-registering for the mobile version of Respawn Entertainment’s popular battle royale. The game brought in $5 million and was the most downloaded game in 60 countries during its first week on the market. It has remained popular among mobile shooter fans since its release, but not everyone who logged in on launch day has kept up with the game.

If this describes you, there’s good news on the horizon: Respawn has created an event exclusively for players who haven’t touched the game in a while. Keep reading for a detailed look at the Returning Champ event, and all the rewards you can snag for participating–including some you can send to you friends.

Roll Call

It is not clear exactly how long you need to have gone without playing the game, but we triggered the event after 12 days of not launching the game. Upon logging in after an extended absence, you’ll be greeted by a message from Mirage welcoming you back top the game. This will trigger a 10-day event called Returning Champ that rewards you for completing challenges and logging in daily.

We instantly received 50 Flux as a check-in reward for triggering the event. There is a check-in reward for eight out of the 10 days the event is active (meaning you can afford to miss two days), but you must manually claim them.

Mirage greets a returning player with a Roll Call reward.

To claim Roll Call Rewards, navigate to the Returning Champ event hub and look for a yellow advertisement for the event located just below the “Season Event” banner on the right side of the main lobby screen. (Note: you will only be able to see this ad if you have already triggered the Returning Champ event–if you’ve been logging in regularly, it will not appear in your lobby.)

Once you’ve accessed the event hub, select the “Roll Call” tab at the top of the screen. This will take you to a list of daily rewards you can get for checking in each day of the event. All of these rewards must be manually claimed from the Roll Call tab in the event hub. The Returning Champ Roll Call rewards are as follows:

Day 1: 50 FluxDay 2: Double XP Boost Card (active for 2 matches)Day 3: Connected Lifeline banner pose (Rare)Day 4: 50 FluxDay 5: 500 XPDay 6: 50 FluxDay 7: Double XP Boost Card (active for 2 matches)Day 8: True Hunter Bloodhound Banner Frame (Rare) + 150 XP

By logging in, we also completed one of the event’s daily Return Mission challenges, earning an XP Boost (active for 3 matches) and 30 Power Points (we’ll get back to those in a moment). If you’ve befriended any non-absentee Apex Mobile players, you will also be given the option to send this gift to them, though you can only send the XP Boost Card–Power Points cannot be transferred between player accounts.

All Roll Call login rewards

Return Mission

Activating the Returning Champ event will also trigger a popup requiring you to choose between one of three prizes:

Web Weaver Alternator skin (Rare)Victory Lap Bangalore skin (Rare)Gilded Gibraltar skin (Rare)

Whichever prize you choose will be the reward you work for throughout the remainder of the event, but there are some other bonuses you can pick up along the way via Return Mission challenges.

Players can choose their final Return Mission reward.

Remember those Power Points from earlier? Select the “Return Mission” tab from the top of the event hub and a list of daily challenges will appear. These challenges unlock by the day, meaning you can’t see what future missions are. But there are only five days worth of Return Mission challenges, so you don’t have to complete them all the day you unlock them–just make sure you log in five days in a row during the event so all five sets of missions are available for you to complete. Without them, you will not have enough Power Points to receive the cosmetic reward you selected earlier.

The first two days of challenges are as follows:

Day 1

Play 3 matches in any mode – 40 Power Points, ID Rename Card (used to change your account name)Log in to the game – 30 Power Points, Double XP Boost Card (active for 2 matches)

Day 2

Finish in the top 3 in Battle Royale – 50 Power Points, 50 FluxPlay 1 match with friends in any mode – 60 Power Points, Double XP Boost Card (active for 2 matches)

The following three days’ worth of challenges will be similar, and completing them all will net you a total of 550 Power Points and a multitude of other rewards, like in-game currency and Warehouse items.

This is the Return Mission free reward track, featuring the Double XP Boost Card that can be sent to a friend when the event is triggered.

Remember that Double XP Boost Card we sent to a friend earlier? That was a Power Point Prize that was automatically unlocked when we completed our first Return Mission challenge by simply logging in. You’ll receive additional prizes for reaching the following Power Point milestones.

30 Power Points – 1 Double XP Boost Card (active for 3 matches)100 Power Points – 1,000 XP210 Power Points – 1 Common-tier Syndicate Pack360 Power Points – 50 Flux550 Power Points – One of the three cosmetic skins you chose from at the beginning

Unfortunately, you cannot share subsequent Power Point rewards with your friends, but you can change your mind and pick a different skin option before redeeming your Power Points for the final prize, so don’t worry if you’re having trouble deciding on which free reward skin to choose at first glance.

The Returning Champ event will run for 10 days after it is initially triggered, so there is no definitive time limit on how long this event will be available. It may be possible to trigger the Returning Champ event as long as the Distortion battle pass is active (and possibly throughout the duration of Season 2.5 as well). Just make sure you log in for eight out of the event’s 10 days to collect your daily login bonus.

You’ll also want to log in five days in a row while completing the Return Mission challenges and collecting Power Points to ensure you can claim your free cosmetic skin. But most importantly, don’t forget to share the wealth with your friends when you trigger the event and unlock your first prize–if they haven’t been playing much lately, it could trigger the Returning Champ event for them as well, and they might send some rewards to you in return!

For more ways to snag free loot in Apex Legends Mobile, check out our guide to Season 2’s new in-game events.

Apex Legends Mobile is available for download on iOS and Android.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

Secretlab has teamed up with Ubisoft to announce a new lineup of Assassin’s Creed products for its 15th anniversary. The most exciting is the sleek Assassin’s Creed Titan Evo gaming chair, although you can also find a Magnus desk mat and cable management system featuring some traditional Assassin’s Creed iconography.

The Titan Evo 2022 was already our pick for the best gaming chair due to its premium materials, wonderful ergonomics, and reasonable price. While Secretlab has collaborated with many game studios in the past to create some truly stunning designs, the Assassin’s Creed Edition is definitely one of our favorites so far.

We had the chance to take it for a spin early and were impressed by the understated yet stylish design that looks great both on the front and back of the chair. Along with having the Assassin’s Creed insignia on the front, the back of the chair shows the evolution of the symbols with eight smaller insignias lining a crest that reads: “We are assassins. We work in the dark to serve the light.”

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For those of you who have been eagerly anticipating a food-focused video game that accurately captures the sounds of a busy kitchen, you can get your headset ready for ASMR Food Experience. Announced by publisher PlayWay, the game is aiming to combine sound and visual triggers into an experience that sends good vibes down your spine.

Or if you’re not a fan of ASMR, it’ll cause horrifying shudders throughout your body that makes you feel as if a thousand ants have begun crawling over your skin. ASMR–which stands for autonomous sensory meridian response–is described as a pleasant tingling sensation around the head, neck, and shoulders that occurs as a result of exposure to a specific stimulus.

To capture that triggering stimuli, developer Gameparic explained on its Steam page that the game contains a wide variety of sounds that are designed to generate sensations of calmness, excitement, stress relief, and more. When you’re not intensely listening as you dice up baby carrots and you focus on the dull thud that your knife makes when it it hits the chopping board, you’ll be focusing on running your restaurant in ASMR Food Experience.

This includes organizing deliveries, keeping your kitchen clean, and maintaining the condition of your establishment so that you can earn a high rating. There’s no release date yet for ASMR Food Experience, and as spotted by Rock, Paper, Shotgun, PlayWay has many in-development games currently listed on Steam that are focused on other job simulator ideas.

Gameparic also has a dozen other projects that’s it’s busy on, so it may be a while before you can crank up the volume and listen to some steak being grilled to perfection.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News

The NPD Group has released its latest monthly sales report, revealing which games and consoles sold the best during June 2022, and once again, Elden Ring was a standout.

Elden Ring was June 2022’s best-selling game, and it continues to be the highest-selling title of 2022 so far. Additionally, after just five months on the market, Elden Ring is already inside the top 10 best-selling premium games in US history for dollar sales, NPD said. Again, this is not units sold, but dollars driven. The research company did not share the full top 10 list, so it’s unclear where Elden Ring ranks.

Elden Ring has been the best-selling game in terms of dollar sales in the US every month since launch in February except for April, which is when Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga reigned supreme.

Developed by From Software, Elden Ring is projected to be 2022’s best-selling game in the US, outpacing even Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II. That would be a big result, but it’s not a perfect or entirely fair comparison, as Elden Ring launched in February and Modern Warfare 2 arrives at the end of October.

Elsewhere for software, Overwatch jumped back into the charts (ranking fifth overall) for the first time since October 2019. The Overwatch 2 beta that began on June 28 helped push the game back up the charts, NPD said.

Final Fantasy VII: Remake had a big surge in June 2022, finishing 9th, after it placed 159th in May. NPD said promotional events for the game’s 25th anniversary helped drive sales.

Looking at hardware, the PS5 drove the most spending on a dollars basis, while the Switch was the best-selling console for June 2022 by units sold. The PS5 is picking up steam, as it saw a double-digit percentage growth for dollar sales in June 2022 compared to June 2021, NPD said. However, total spending on consoles for June 2022 dropped by 8% year-over-year to $371 million.

Looking at mobile games, spending dipped 10.7% year-over-year, with the decline attributed mainly to lower results on Google Play. Spending on Apple’s App Store, however, increased year-over-year, but only by 0.16%. Some of the highest-earning mobile games for June 2022 included Candy Crush Saga, Roblox, Pokemon Go, Coin Master, Evony: The King’s Return, Royal Match, Diablo Immortal, Bingo Blitz, State of Survival: Zombie War, and Clash of Clans.

In terms of accessories, the PS5 DualSense midnight black controller was June 2022’s best-selling accessory. Total spending on accessories dropped by 15% year-over-year to $176 million in June 2022.

Across games, consoles, and accessories, total video game spending in the US for June 2022 dropped by 11% year-over-year to $4.3 billion. Subscription spending rose year-over-year, but not enough to offset the declines in every other category. Similarly, for the first half of 2022, spending fell 10% to $26.3 billion, and subscription content was the only category to see growth.

June 2022 Top-Selling Video Games In The US

Elden RingLego Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaMario Strikers: Battle League*MLB The Show 22^OverwatchMario Kart 8*Nintendo Switch Sports*Kirby and the Forgotten Land*Final Fantasy VII: RemakeMinecraftCall of Duty: VanguardF2 2022Monster Hunter: RiseDemon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Hinokami ChroniclesSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate*Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes*Sonic OriginsPokemon Legends: Arceus*The Quarry*Spider-Man: Miles Morales

*Digital sales not included

^ Xbox and Switch digital sales not included

2022 Year To Date Best-Selling Games

Elden RingLego Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaPokemon Legends: Arceus*Horizon: Forbidden WestMLB The Show 22^Call of Duty: VanguardGran Turismo 7Kirby and the Forgotten Land*Mario Kart 8*Madden NFL 22Nintendo Switch Sports*MinecraftFIFA 22Spider-Man: Miles MoralesMonster Hunter: RiseAnimal Crossing: New Horizons*Super mash Bros. Ultimate*Mario Party Superstars*Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarDying Light 2: Stay Human**Digital sales not included

^Xbox and Switch digital sales not included

Trailing 12 Months Ending June 2022

Elden RingCall of Duty: VanguardMadden NFL 22Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaBattlefield 2042FIFA 22Far Cry 6Pokemon Legends: Arceus*Horizon: Forbidden West

*Digital sales not included

June 2022 Top 10 Nintendo Games

Mario Strikers: Battle League*Mario Kart 8*Nintendo Switch Sports*Kirby and the Forgotten Land*Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*Fire Emblem: Warriors: Three Hopes*Pokemon Legends: Arceus*Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaAnimal Crossing: New Horizons*Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Hinokami Chronicles

*Digital sales not included

June 2022 Top 10 PlayStation Games

Elden RingMLB The Show 22Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaSpider-Man: Miles MoralesHorizon: Forbidden WestThe Quarry*OverwatchRatchet & Clanks: Rift ApartCall of Duty: VanguardGran Turismo 7

*Digital sales not included

June 2022 Top 10 Xbox Games

Elden RingLego Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaOverwatchF1 22Call of Duty: VanguardFar Cry 6Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold WarCall of Duty: Modern WarfareCall of Duty: Black Ops IIIForza Horizon 5

*Digital sales not included

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Destiny 2’s annual celebration, Solstice, makes a return on July 19 with some major changes to its festivities. This year the focus is on less grinding, more reward for taking part in activities that will be tracked through the new Event Card that Guardians will receive next week.

Similar to how the weekly challenges tab works, Bungie says it’ll list Event Challenges, Event Seals and titles, and upgraded Event Card rewards. That last point refers to the Event Card having a monetized aspect, which can be unlocked for 1,000 Silver–around $10 for the in-game currency–which will then allow Guardians to earn exclusive rewards along the premier tier by forking over some Event Tickets.

The new emoji that can be earned from the premium Event Card

Some Solstice cosmetics will be available for purchase at the Eververse shop, in case you want to spend some Silver on select items instead. Tickets are earned even if you haven’t upgraded your card, and the Event Card can be upgraded at any time while the event is active.

In addition to that, Solstice armor is also getting fine-tuned and upgrading that gear will be done through new currencies that unlock further upgrade tiers. You can read up about how that system will work right here, and take a look at the shiny new armor that will be handed out during Solstice. Before Solstice begins, you can check back in later today to see where Xur is and which Exotics the Agent of the Nine will be offering this weekend.

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