Blizzard has announced it’s working on a new survival game for PC and consoles in what looks to be a brand-new universe. Unfortunately, that’s about all we know at this point, along with a look at some concept art for the project.

“Blizzard is embarking on our next quest,” a Blizzard blog post reads. “We are going on a journey to a whole new universe, home to a brand-new survival game for PC and console. A place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored.”

The announcement largely serves as a recruitment ad for the project. Blizzard is looking to fill a number of positions for the game, including level designer, lead software engineer, senior character artist, and more.

Concept art for Blizzard’s new survival game, which is still untitled

“Every story needs a teller,” the blog post continues. “And every world needs builders. What if that could be you? For thirty years, Blizzard has been creating universes for millions of players around the globe. This requires a diverse team of developers willing to lend their voices, to listen and to be heard. That is our mission.”

This new survival game will Blizzard’s first new IP since Overwatch in 2016. The announcement of the survival game comes in the wake of Microsoft beginning the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard in a $69 billion deal. Considering Activision Blizzard is in the process of becoming part of Microsoft, it’s unclear if this new game will come to PlayStation or Nintendo Switch, or if it will be an Xbox console exclusive.

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The popular battle royale game PUBG recently changed business models and became a free-to-play game. That switch proved to be very successful, with developer Krafton announcing today that the game saw a 486% increase in new players in the week after the switch to free-to-play.

That outpaces the player growth rate from back when PUBG initially launched in 2017. Krafton also announced that the growth rate for new players was higher, at 537%, in places like the Commonwealth of Independent States, Southeast Asia, and South America.

At its peak, PUBG reached 690,000 total “active” players on Steam as part of the transition, Krafton said. Not only are more people playing PUBG now following the business model switch, but the average playtime jumped by more than 100% on PC and console compared to the week before the change. And for PlayStation specifically, PUBG saw a 400% increase in average playtime, Krafton said.

Krafton went on to say that PUBG’s various tutorials were the most-played content during the F2P transition, while the Taego and the Erangel maps have been the most-played since January 12.

To celebrate these achievements, Krafton is giving away special in-game rewards for people who play PUBG for at least one hour between 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET on January 27 and 3:59 PM PT / 6:59 PM ET on January 30. People who log in between now and February 17 will get the Orbital Vanguard skins.

Prior to the F2P switch, PUBG sold more than 75 million copies across PC and console. The game’s universe continues to grow with the mobile game New State Mobile and a spin-off called The Callisto Protocol from Dead Space and Call of Duty veteran Glen Schofield’s new studio.

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The Fortnite 19.10 January 25 patch hopes you’re hungry, because it’s bringing you hot and fresh pizza straight out of the oven. The new Pizza Party item will now appear during battle royale matches, letting you throw your squad an impromptu pizza party right on the island.

Each box can be thrown a la the Shield Keg, instantly producing eight slices of Slurpshroom Pizza. When eaten, slices will heal players up to 100 health and 50 shields. Be mindful of where you throw your party, however, because once the pizza is placed on the island, it can’t be moved. The new Pizza Party items can be found in chests and supply crates, dropped by Loot Llamas, and randomly appear on the ground as loot. Also, the Tomatohead NPC in the newly revealed Tilted Towers has Pizza Party boxes for sale, so visit him if you need a quick bite.

Pizza time.

Pizza Party joins tornadoes and the aforementioned Tilted Towers as some the biggest additions to the game since Chapter 3 began. The delicious new item also happens to be the favorite food of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who are rumored to be coming to Fortnite’s island as part of a deal with Paramount. Is this a signal of things to come? We’ll have to wait and see.

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A classic point-and-click franchise’s latest entry is now available on your mobile device, as Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice has been added to both the iOS App Store and Google Play Store for $15.

Wet Dreams Dry Twice takes place immediately after the events of 2018’s Wet Dreams Don’t Die, as Larry finds himself stranded on a deserted island, his “soulmate” Faith gone missing. Players will explore the island through classic point-and-click gameplay, solving puzzles in order to find out what happened to Faith.

The ever-enduring Larry is back on mobile devices.

Publisher Assemble Entertainment will also launch a “Save The World Edition” on Steam for $45 as part of a partnership between Assemble and the ShareTheMeal charity. Those who purchase this edition will receive the game’s official soundtrack and digital artbook, “with every purchase guaranteeing two meals for hungry children around the world” according to the official release.

Leisure Suit Larry has featured in risque point-and-click adventures since 1987, when his first ever game–Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards–released on MS-DOS and other PC formats. The original Larry game was then published by Sierra Entertainment, which is now part of Activision Blizzard.

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Indie studio Witch Beam’s Unpacking was one of 2021’s surprise hits, a zen puzzle game that packed a surprising amount of heartfelt narrative into a game about unpacking boxes. Now, the game appears to have been more or less cloned and released on iOS as Unpacking Master, which is quickly climbing the App Store charts thanks to an agressive marketing campaign.

Unpacking developer Witch Beam Games tweeted an image earlier today, showing a comparison between Unpacking and Unpacking Master. In both the examples shown, the iOS game appears to have copied room layouts and objects very closely.

While the studio has noted that other clones have popped up before, Unpacking Master has been able to get major traction. App Store tracking services show the game as the top download on iOS for January 24, sitting above even huge apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. The game is also available on Google Play, where it also looks to be a popular download.

Unpacking Master appears to be marketing agressively via TikTok ads. Witch Beam sharing a glimpse at the notifications on its own TikTok account, which is full of worried fans bringing the clone to the studio’s attention.

While in many ways the cloned game has copied all the elements of Unpacking that made the original so relaxing and addictive to play, negative reviews report the clone is riddled with ads and glitches, with many players encountering bugs that made it impossible to progress.

At the conclusion of its Twitter thread, Witch Beam says that it doesn’t have the resources to pursue legal action against the creator of the cloned game. Instead, the studio calls for storefronts like the App Store and Google Play store, where clones like these often run amok, to improve their content curation.

If you haven’t already played Unpacking, the original game is available on PC via Steam or GOG, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One. The indie puzzler is well worth a play, with GameSpot’s review scoring Unpacking a 9/10. “Unpacking may be a zen puzzle game that’s just relaxing for some, but for me it was a more profound experience that I’ll never forget,” said reviewer Steven Petite.

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