Author: News Polite

Any multiplayer game that makes me push up my glasses and lean forward in my chair is right up my alley, and Roller Champions, the hyper-competitive roller derby, certainly appeals to that competitive sensibility. I split my sides as my team relentlessly tackled the enemy team in a highly toxic manner, fist pumped to zero onlookers in my living room as I heroically sunk a nail-biting shot, and devised a strategy with my team to pull off crazy stunts just for a laugh, and all of that was an absolute blast. But although I’ve only played for a short time as of now, I’m already a little concerned that the experience might already feel a little played out after the initial climb to learn the ropes has been overcome. Though it’s a solid start to what could be my next team-based competitive addiction, it also feels in danger of becoming repetitive rather quickly.

At its best, Roller Champions reminds me a lot of its pseudo-sport brethren, Rocket League, where a simple concept became endlessly entertaining as I honed my skills and pulled off trickier maneuvers. Should I try to tackle the ball carrier, or should I speed ahead and try to intercept the ball when they shoot for a point? Should I try dodging my pursuers, or should I throw the ball down the loop in hopes a teammate can recover it? Communicating with my squad and devising a strategy to dominate the competition became increasingly important as my opponents’ tactics evolved, and that’s exactly the kind of dynamic I want in this kind of fast, team-based contest.

But while it nails its core rollerblading mode, it’s also very one-note and lacking in variety. All three of the courses are near-identical oval arenas with most of the changes being entirely cosmetic that don’t impact gameplay at all. And although there’s quite a bit of strategy in finding ways to literally run circles around your opponents, I also found myself reaching a very high skill level really quickly, and that made things start to feel quite stale after only a short time playing. It’s not that skating around with a squad and smashing a ball through the goal isn’t fun, it’s just that there isn’t much to it in this 1.0 version. I wish there was a bit more meat on the bone, because I could see myself losing interest once every match feels like a carbon copy of the one prior.

The good news is that there are some seasonal modes like 2v2 and “hot potato” coming with the first season that will likely mix things up a bit. Both modes are temporary playlists, but are poised to offer some unique experience that might help stave off the tedium I began to feel after a few hours of play. If developer Ubisoft Montreal can keep that content drip coming, then that would put Roller Champions in a great spot to remain relevant long after it’s launched. But as someone who’s put thousands of hours into live-service games, I know all too well how big of an “if” that is. That said, at least there are lots of cosmetics unlockables to chase through the season pass and daily store offerings, so there are certainly quite a few reasons to keep grinding and get my avatar looking even more epic.

Another thing that could go a long way to improving Roller Champions’ longevity is the ranked playlist, which pits players against one another according to their skill. The fact that cosmetics unlock as you reach greater and greater heights in the ranked ladder is a great incentive to assemble a squad and hone my skill until I reach the top of the leaderboard.

So far I’m really enjoying Roller Champions even in this early launch state, but I’m even more excited to see what it will become once the community gets extremely competitive and the developer starts adding more content.

Sony is telling its investors to prepare for a big PC gaming windfall in the coming year. Really big.

In a business segment briefing for shareholders today, one slide showed off Sony’s net sales from PC games thus far, highlighting how titles such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and God of War had brought in $80 million in the last fiscal year (which ended on March 31, 2022).

But the gaming giant expects more to come, and is telling them to expect a whopping $300 million in net sales on PC in the coming fiscal year ending March 31, 2023.

That’s a massive jump, especially for a gaming hardware manufacturer that has only just in recent years dipped its toe into the PC space with real seriousness. What’s more, it’s not fully clear where that chunk of change is coming from. At the moment, Sony’s only announced plan for PC is Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, which still doesn’t have a release date.

What’s most likely happening here is that Sony has high expectations of Bungie, with its acquisition of the Destiny 2 maker expected to close by the end of this year. With Bungie being privately held, we don’t have a good idea of what it brings in, though analyst Michael Pachter has speculated it’s around $200 million in revenue a year across all sources (including console, merchandise, and more).

But it’s likely Sony’s PC ambitions extend beyond just Bungie. A slide later in the presentation shows that Sony expects approximately 15% to 20% of its releases in the coming year to be on PC, with that percentage increasing to closer to 30% by the end of 2025. Plus, there’s its recent moves like its introduction of the PlayStation PC brand and seeming interest from many of PlayStation’s internal studios in bringing their games to the platform. So far, that interest is working out well for PC players, with God of War running reasonably well on machines. Let’s hope Uncharted runs similarly or better. Now give us Bloodborne?

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

As other companies in the games industry speak out about abortion rights in the wake of the government’s recent decisions, Electronic Arts is telling employees it plans to stay silent.

According to a report by Kotaku, during a company meeting on May 24, multiple EA staff members questioned executives about a possible statement regarding these two issues. In response, they were told that the company wouldn’t announce a stance because “being an inclusive company means being inclusive of all those points of view.”

“These things are hard and they’re personal and we all have our own perspectives and sometimes we won’t speak, and that will be upsetting and I understand that, we really do,” Chief People Officer Mala Singh told employees during this meeting, according to the transcript obtained by Kotaku.

Despite the FIFA publisher’s refusal to make a public statement regarding the issues, EA’s corporate communications director Lacey Haines told Kotaku that the company is focusing on “making sure that people have access to the healthcare benefits we provide as a company, even if those aren’t available locally.”

EA also signed an open letter opposing Texas’ anti-trans bill in March.

In the wake of a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn historic abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, studios including Destiny 2 creator Bungie and Psychonauts creator Double Fine have publicly taken clear stances in favor of abortion rights in contrast to EA.

Like EA, however, Sony has declined to release any public statements about abortion rights. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told employeesin an internal email to “respect differences of opinion” in response to discussion surrounding Roe V. Wade. PlayStation-owned Insomniac has reportedly pushed back internally and pledged a total of $50,000 to the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, and while PlayStation is matching that total through PlayStation Cares, it is preventing internal studios like Insomniac from speaking publicly as well.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.