Microsoft Itself Leaked Documents, Court Says; Xbox Boss Responds

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has passed a new milestone, as it is now Nintendo’s best-selling game of all time–if you don’t count one particular bundled game from the Wii era. According to Nintendo’s latest financial report, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold 61.97 million units in total as of March 31, 2024. The only other Nintendo game that has done better is Wii Sports at 82.90 million units sold, but considering that the game was bundled in with a Wii console, it is in a different category entirely.

In comparison, the rest of Nintendo’s top-performing games include various titles across multiple platforms. Five Switch games are on the list, the Wii is in second place with four games, and the DS is in third place with a single entry, according to Nintendo:

The 10 best-selling Nintendo games as of March 31, 2024

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — 61.97 million
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons — 45.36 million
• Mario Kart Wii — 37.38 million
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate — 34.22 million
• Wii Sports Resort — 33.14 million
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — 31.85 million
• New Super Mario Bros. DS — 30.80 million
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii — 30.32 million
• Wii Play — 28.02 million
• Super Mario Odyssey — 27.96 million

In case you’re wondering where Pokemon is on that list, the previous two generations of the game would still crack the Nintendo top 20 easily–Pokemon Sword and Shield have 26.27 million lifetime sales so far while Pokemon Scarlet and Violet currently sit at 24.92 million–and other notable entries include Wii Fit, Nintendogs, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Other interesting news from Nintendo’s breakdown of its recent 2023-2024 fiscal year is that Switch hardware declined by 12.6% year-on-year from 17.97 million to 15.70 million. Lifetime sales for the Switch are at 141.32 million consoles sold, along with 1.235 billion games sold.

As it enters the latter half of the year, the company will host a Nintendo Direct in June to reveal more upcoming Switch games, but it won’t be talking about its Switch 2 console during this event.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II releases on May 21, and some people online have criticized Xbox for not doing enough–in their eyes–to promote the game ahead of launch. Aaron Greenberg, a longtime marketing executive for Xbox, has responded to this, saying a global paid media campaign for the game just began on May 8.

This promotional campaign is live now on YouTube, HBO/Max, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Samsung, and more. Additionally, Xbox is hosting a “creator event” to help promote the game right now in Iceland.

Greenberg said Microsoft has more promotional activities in the works for Hellblade II, including ads for the game in movie theaters, with particular brands, and via Amazon’s Fire TV platform, among other places.

Many people roasted Xbox for its recent social media post about Hellblade II, which simply listed the game’s name and release date. “I can’t believe they also closed their marketing department,” the web browser Opera GX wrote in a reply to Xbox.

Hellblade II is a sequel to 2017’s well-received Hellblade, a game inspired by Norse mythology that tells a story about mental health struggles. Developer Ninja Theory is aiming to up the ante with the Hellblade sequel. Former studio head Tameem Antoniades told NME that the aim is to create an experience that “feels more believable and more refined.”

He added: “Its ambition in terms of scale is bigger. I think Hellblade 2 will make Hellblade look like an indie game.”

Hellblade II launches onto Game Pass and will also be available to buy outright for $50 USD. Microsoft acquired Ninja Theory after the original Hellblade came out, and due to this, Hellblade II has not been announced for PlayStation platforms.

When Microsoft closed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, some players assumed this meant that the next installment in the Call of Duty franchise would hit Game Pass on day one of its release. But according to a new report, that may not be the case. Per the report, Microsoft has had “internal debates” about whether to put Call of Duty’s latest releases on Game Pass. Call of Duty is one of the top-selling video game series in the world, and there is apparently concern that placing the next title on Game Pass will only hurt its revenue stream.

Per the report from The Verge, Microsoft has considered another increase of the price of Game Pass Ultimate. Since a final decision hasn’t been made, “[it] could mean we still see a future Call of Duty release appear in most versions of Game Pass.”

Microsoft placed a large bet on Game Pass to close the gap between Xbox and PlayStation 5 this generation, and that wager has fallen well short of the goal. Not only are Xbox console sales far behind PS5, but Game Pass subscriptions are also declining. Game Pass itself has been blamed for negatively impacting sales of games like Hi-Fi Rush. That goes a long way towards explaining why Microsoft and Activision might think twice before risking the same downward trend for Call of Duty.

This news comes on the heels of Microsoft’s decision to close down Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Games–all of which were affiliated with Bethesda. And there may be more layoffs among Xbox-affiliated studios that raise further questions about the viability of Microsoft’s gaming strategy.

The next Call of Duty is expected to be released this October or November

Devolver co-founder Mike Wilson has publicly distanced himself from DeepWell DTx, a game publisher and developer he co-founded in 2022 to explore medically therapeutic games, Game Developer reports. In a recent LinkedIn post, Wilson says that he had nothing to do with the game DeepWell just released, claiming other developers had also asked to have their names removed from the project.

“I feel compelled today to let my industry friends know that I left DeepWell late 2023, along with almost all of the games industry colleagues I brought to that company,” Wilson said on LinkedIn. “[I] have absolutely nothing to do with the game they released today on the Quest store (which they called Zengeance) and which my colleagues also asked to have their names removed from.”

DeepWell’s debut game Zengence (which was misspelled in Wilson’s post) was released last week on the Meta Quest store. The game uses breathwork as input, with players required to hum into the microphone to master the action title. “Zengence isn’t your typical meditation or fitness game,” the description reads. “This is positive mental health at full throttle.”

It’s unclear why Wilson has decided to distance himself from the company following Zengence’s release, and thus far none of the colleagues mentioned in his post have added their own perspectives. “I still have high hopes and strong beliefs for the power of games and other digital media to benefit people, but could not see a path to getting it done in that company,” Wilson concludes in his post.

Elsewhere on his LinkedIn, Wilson’s work history gives a little more detail on his departure from DeepWell. “I left the company in January 2024 to renew my focus on creating beneficial content, while DeepWell focuses on getting its proprietary IP and SDK approved by the FDA and into the hands of interested developer and publisher partners worldwide,” the entry states.

According to his LinkedIn, Wilson is still actively involved with Medicinal Media, a project he started during his time at DeepWell that aims to explore the use of digital media to support mental health.

During Warner Bros. Discovery’s latest earnings briefing, CEO David Zaslav announced that a new Lord of the Rings movie is now in development. It’s in the script phase, the executive said. WBD first announced its plans to make more Lord of the Rings movies back in 2023.

In news that may please fans of the series, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens–the architects of the Oscar-winning original trilogy–are involved in the new movie as producers. Details remain scant on the story, but Zaslav said it will tell a tale focused on Gollum within the Lord of the Rings universe.

A press release revealed that the working title for the film is Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. Andy Serkis, who famously played Gollum in Jackson’s trilogy, is coming back to play Gollum again and direct the film, according to Variety. Previously, Serkis said he would jump at the chance to come back and play Gollum again, and now that is coming true.

The new Lord of the Rings movie will “explore storylines yet to be told,” adding that Jackson, Boyens, and Walsh are involved “every step of the way.” Zaslav said Lord of the Rings is “one of the most successful and revered” franchises in film history, and he believes there continues to be a “significant opportunity” for the franchises from a theatrical perspective.

Zaslav also mentioned on the call that Lord of the Rings, as well as Harry Potter and DC, are “underused” within the company, which suggests it might be planning to leverage them further in the future. The executive has said the company will focus on its tentpole franchises and sequels going forward.

Prior to this, WBD announced a Harry Potter TV series. As for DC, James Gunn and Peter Safran are the new co-heads of DC Studios and have ambitious plans for the future of DC film and TV projects, beginning with a new Superman film in 2025.

LOTR fans don’t have to wait until 2026 for a new entry in the film series, though, as an animated LOTR movie, War of the Rohirrim, is coming this December.

The Lord of the Rings movies from Jackson, Boyens, and Walsh earned billions at the box office and won numerous Academy Awards, including Best Picture for Return of the King. Jackson came back to the fantasy universe with a trilogy of Hobbit films. They also made gigantic sums of money at the box office, though these films were not as well received by fans.

After several release date changes, A Quiet Place: Day One will finally be in theaters late next month. However, fans won’t have to wait that long for their next glimpse of the prequel film. Paramount has announced that the next trailer for Day One will premiere tomorrow, May 9. A teaser video accompanied that announcement on Instagram, which invited fans to “hear how it all began.”

Although this is the first film in the series not directed by John Krasinski, he did co-write the script with director Michael Sarnoski. This prequel also moves away from the Abbott family, who were featured in the first two movies. Instead, Lupita Nyong’o will play the new lead character, Sam, as she finds herself trapped in New York on the day the sightless aliens invade.

Stranger Things and The Fantastic Four’s Joseph Quinn co-stars as Eric, one of the first survivors that Sam meets after the rest of the human population in New York is slaughtered. Together, Sam and Eric realize that their only chance to get out of the city alive is to be as quiet as possible. But even under the best of circumstances, that’s going to be very difficult.

The only character confirmed to be returning from A Quiet Place Part II is Djimon Hounsou’s Henri, which means his survival in this particular story is assured. We can’t say the same thing for the other cast members, including Alex Wolff and Eliane Umuhire.

A Quiet Place: Day One will hit theaters on Friday, June 28.