Last Week in Gaming – Catch up With all the Important News (March 9-15)

Hey, and happy Stay at Home Month! Here’s all the news and stories you need to catch up with before you start a new gaming week. Plus some things that didn’t happen.

Last week’s headline: I’m CoD Warzone and I’m about to kick other battle royales in their red zones

1. Warzone, a free Call of Duty battle royale mode, released on March 10, just like all the leaks suggested.
2. It was then off to a great start, amassing 6 million players and breaking some popularity records on YouTube and Twitch.
3. After a few days the player count reached 15 million. At Gamepressure, we suspect that there are a few reasons for that. One of them: realizing that Warzone is the Fortnite every grownup dreamed about.

Warzone is off to a great start.

Monday, March 9

1. Valve Index is back, baby. And you can still buy it. But you should hurry. It’s probably the second most popular item people are buying right now, losing only to toilet paper. Here’s where to get it.
2. Some photos of Intel Core i5-10400 have leaked, signaling an upcoming announcement. If you wish to put your hands on this hyperthreaded beauty, you’ll have to wait at least until April, leak suggests. Learn all about it here.
3. “Hey, it’s V. and I want to be your wallpaper girl.” CD Projekt RED posted the female-V Cyberpunk 2077 wallpaper. It will also be an official, reversible box art. Read more about it and take a look:

How do you like the new hair color?

Tuesday, March 10

1. Horizon Zero Dawn finally got announced for PC. It’s coming to Steam this summer, together with support for ultrawide resolutions. Some people disliked that and got really angry at the devs – and their desks.
2. Bitcoin did what stocks have been doing for quite some time now – and lost lots of value. The crypto market and the stock market thus became indistinguishable from one another. Here’s how the crypto world reacted.
3. Australia began legal fight with Facebook, and almost 530 billion Australian dollars are at stake. The reason: privacy breaches during the Cambridge Analytica affair. Now Facebook has to fight back.

Welcome to Payback from the Down Under, Mark.

Wednesday, March 11

1. E3 2020 got officially cancelled amid coronavirus concerns. It might be back as an “online-only” experience. Meanwhile, other developers started switching to online presentations as well, so there’s still hope that the new Batman and Harry Potter games will be getting announcement soon. Here’s the official statement from E3 organizers.
2. Cyberpunk 2077 got sent to rating agencies around the world. What this means is that the game is speeding towards the finish line. Next stop: gold? Here’s what the devs had to say.
3. NPCs appeared in a new Fallout 76: Wastelanders trailer. Unusually, the trailer is almost 17 minutes long. Which makes it a bit of a gameplay footage, actually. Watch it below:

Thursday, March 12

1. Naughty Dog destructive crunch culture got exposed – again. Yes, The Last of Us: Part 2 will probably be released on time, but the price “will be paid by the team.” Read more about how one of the greatest studios in the industry is also one of the most unforgettable ones.
2. Xbox Series X presentation will be streamed online, Microsoft announced. The presentation is scheduled on March 18 and titled “Xbox Series X Project xCloud = New Chapter in Gaming." We did the maths for you.
3. Meanwhile, Sony surprised nobody by saying that with PlayStation 5, they would focus on singleplayer, narrative-driven games. Spoiler: that’s it. No presentation coming. The exclusivity game is on.

Remember when Horizon Zero Dawn was an exclusive as well? Man, those were the days.

Friday, March 13

1. Death Stranding was a flop, ResetEra user revealed. That’s supposedly why Sony wouldn’t tell much about its sale numbers. Should it be darker, perhaps it would sell better?
2. Your brain can’t get fried by 5G, scientists found out. In other news: you can fry an egg on your CPU is you run a stress test and don’t put on a cooler.
3. Silent Hills might be coming back after all. It’s all speculation and negotiations right now, but according to a source in Konami, Sony’s fighting hard to make Konami win Kojima back. Here’s all the details.

Kojima’s legacy is literally in his hands, according to a rumor.

As for the weekend

1. Don’t forget – PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X may still get delayed. Here’s why.
2. You can help fighting coronavirus with the power of your CPU and GPU. No, you don’t need to sell them.
3. Blizzard CEO earns $1.35 million a year, report revealed. That’s not including his bonuses and insurance.

You guys have insurance, right?

Thank you for sticking around till the end. See you next Monday. Now, off you go to get some fresh news.