Patch Notes #63 - weekly gaming digest
Welcome to the 63rd edition of Patch Notes. Let’s get this bad boy going.
This edition will cover the week from 9 March to 15 March.
What caught my attention
Xbox has been a punching bag for years. Fair enough.
Then GDC happens, and Microsoft walks in with Project Helix - AI upscaling, an order-of-magnitude ray tracing leap, a PC/console hybrid with an actual identity. Dev kits in 2027. Nothing to play tomorrow. But… new leadership, a new hardware narrative, and a room full of developers who needed a reason to care about Xbox again.
Whether it holds is another question. Right now? It lands.
TLDR
Jeff Kaplan / Lex Fridman interview — Kaplan on WoW, Overwatch, and his Blizzard exit in April 2021. Rare candid account from someone who built two of the biggest games ever made. (GameSpot)
Project Helix (Xbox/GDC) — New leadership, new hardware story, specs that give developers a reason to pay attention again. (GamesRadar)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins GDC GOTY + 12 BAFTA nominations — A French indie on track to match Baldur’s Gate 3’s awards run. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Pokémon Pokopia — 2.2M units in 4 days, Nintendo stock +10.5% — Numbers that matter. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Slay the Spire 2 — 3M units in one week — Steam’s biggest roguelike, one week in. (GamesRadar)
Biggest releases of the week
Full roundup
Blizzard vet Rob Pardo closed GDC keynote, urging executives to cool layoffs, stating the game team is more valuable than the game itself. (PC Gamer)
Blizzard veteran Rob Pardo stated love is the most important development milestone. (Game Developer)
Ex-Blizzard exec urged the industry to stop taking developers for granted amid layoffs at EA and Ubisoft. (GamesRadar)
Sega recorded a $200 million impairment write-down for Rovio after its $776 million acquisition, citing over-reliance on local management and issues with Beacon tech. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Embark Studios head Patrick Söderlund explained Arc Raiders was built on a quarter of a typical AAA budget. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Embark Studios re-recorded AI-generated voice lines for Arc Raiders after acknowledging human actors deliver better results. (Eurogamer)
Palworld publishing lead stated the West continues to stumble and they are more determined than ever to support underfunded developers. (GamesRadar)
Pocketpair lead said apologies to professional Palworld haters, but the studio will keep doing what players want. (GamesRadar)
Valve shared data showing more games are finding success than ever, with nearly 6,000 titles making over $100,000 last year. (GamesRadar)
Newzoo projects PC revenue to overtake console by 2028 with a 6.6% CAGR versus 4.4% for console. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Rebranded GDC Festival of Gaming attracted 20,000 attendees from March 9 to 13. (Game Developer)
Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry director argued asset reuse in games is essential and studios redo too much from scratch. (PC Gamer)
Former Riot Games CEO Nicolo Laurent launched venture capital firm Leeroy Jenkins Kapital focused on European video game companies. (Sheep Esports)
Journey composer Austin Wintory played an unreleased track from his canceled dream job at the Game Developers Choice Awards. (PC Gamer)
Shinji Mikami has a new studio with staff benefits including a chocolate fountain on Valentine’s Day. (PC Gamer)
Xbox brought main character energy to GDC with Project Helix, Microsoft’s next-gen PC/console hybrid. (Polygon)
Early Project Helix specs include next-generation AI upscaling and an order-of-magnitude leap in ray tracing performance. (GamesRadar)
Project Helix dev kits are not going out until 2027, with new details emerging on Xbox’s next-gen console. (Eurogamer)
Microsoft posted photos teasing work-in-progress Xbox hardware at GDC following Project Helix confirmation. (Eurogamer)
Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign is quietly being swept under the rug amid leadership changes. (GamesRadar)
Xbox confirmed Project Moorcroft, a game demos and Game Pass initiative teased in 2022, is dead. (GameSpot)
Xbox AI lead argued AI is not a new feature, pointing to cheat detection and pathfinding systems dating back to Drivatar in Forza Motorsport 2005. (GamesRadar)
Xbox lead stated the industry has been in a golden age for indie games since 2008. (GamesRadar)
Microsoft stated Xbox Play Anywhere titles can double player spending and engagement. (Game Developer)
Bethesda will share more on Starfield next week, as Todd Howard describes his only visionary power as seeing running lanes in EA College Football 26. (GamesRadar)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year and five total accolades at the 26th Game Developers Choice Awards, and secured 12 BAFTA nominations. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead writer described receiving praise from Final Fantasy legends as surreal given the series’ influence on the game. (GamesRadar)
Creator of Chained Echoes is preparing a lawsuit against its physical publisher and plans to compensate Kickstarter backers. (GamesRadar)
Slay the Spire 2 sold 3 million units in one week with over 25 million runs, becoming Steam’s biggest roguelike. (GamesRadar)
Crimson Desert launched on PC with pre-loading starting March 17 and a launch trailer. (RPG Site)
Crimson Desert developer says the PC preview builds already had Denuvo DRM and are representative of the final consumer experience. (GamesRadar)
Crimson Desert locked down early-shipped physical copies to block spoilers before the official release. (GamesRadar)
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is now available worldwide on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox, and Steam. (RPG Site)
Diablo IV Season of Slaughter launched with Kill Streaks, a Doom: The Dark Ages collaboration, and Butcher transformation. (RPG Site)
Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred crafting system revives season 11 sanctification, allowing low-level loot to be upgraded to legendary. (PC Gamer)
Control Resonant launched with DLSS 4.5, path-traced rendering, ray reconstruction, and RTX mega geometry support. (RPG Site)
Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is now available on Xbox Series X|S and PC Steam. (RPG Site)
Shadowstone from Secret Door and Dreamhaven kicked off a surprise public playtest at the Future Games Show Spring Showcase ahead of early access. (PC Gamer)
VALORANT Act 2 adds Knockout mode, a round-based team elimination format, and new agent Miks on March 18. (Hotspawn)
Wuthering Waves Version 3.2 launches March 18 with streamlined Resonator rewards and motorbike improvements. (RPG Site)
Zenless Zone Zero Version 2.7 launches March 24 with Hollow Champion competition, Nangong Yu, Cissia, and physical collector’s editions for PS5 and Xbox Series X. (RPG Site)
Honkai: Star Rail Version 4.1 launches March 25 with limited 5-star characters Ashveil, Hyacine, and Boothill. (RPG Site)
Ghost of Yotei developers say they know players hate super boss Takezo and consider it a success. (GamesRadar)
Ghost of Yotei cut content included Zelda-like climbing mechanics and multiple worlds. (GameSpot)
Capcom’s Pragmata demo hit two million downloads across platforms. (Nintendo Life)
Marvel Rivals impacted Blizzard, with the Overwatch team citing new hero drop cadence as a key factor. (GamesRadar)
Overwatch director celebrated no longer being Steam’s lowest-rated game but admitted uncertainty on reaching a positive score. (GamesRadar)
Overwatch co-creator allegedly left Blizzard after an executive said he would be responsible for 1,000 layoffs if the game missed financial targets. (GamesRadar)
Overwatch’s Nier Automata collab launched without voice lines at a higher price than the RPG itself. (GamesRadar)
Jeff Kaplan has checked player accounts complaining about Overwatch matchmaking and noted there have to be winners and losers. (PC Gamer)
Overwatch vet Jeff Kaplan stated the human spirit is irreplaceable in the context of AI in game development. (GameSpot)
Fortnite players revolted over V-Bucks price increases; Epic raised prices to cover increased running costs. (GamesIndustry.biz)
CD Projekt Red confirmed Cyberpunk 2077 will not receive any more secret content. (Eurogamer)
Blizzard’s cancelled WoW follow-up Project Titan was a one-server, one-world MMO with GTA and Animal Crossing influences, but was too large to ship. (GamesRadar)
WoW’s Horde/Alliance split was controversial internally and only locked in 9-12 months before launch, per Jeff Kaplan. (PC Gamer)
Jeff Kaplan admitted that typical hubris led to one of WoW’s worst quests. (GamesRadar)
WoW’s questing system was inspired by a failed playtest where non-MMO players ran out of quests immediately. (PC Gamer)
Donkey Kong Bananza producer said ideas from the game may inform Nintendo’s next big project, but only if they feel fresh. (GamesRadar)
Pokémon Pokopia sold over 2.2 million units in its first four days, boosting Nintendo’s share price by 10.5%. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Pokémon Pokopia first patch addressed progress-halting bugs and eased progression. (Eurogamer)
After 48 hours with Pokémon Pokopia, one writer concluded humans were the problem with Pokémon all along. (GamesRadar)
Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler series hit another major sales milestone following the release of Octopath Traveler 0. (Nintendo Life)
Octopath Traveler team’s new Zelda-like action RPG features cat collecting, with different cats having different tastes. (GamesRadar)
Square Enix announced three North American tour dates for the Chrono Trigger Orchestral Concert with presale access. (RPG Site)
Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring Switch 2 port is shaping up to be an excellent adaptation. (RPG Site)
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake updated to Version 1.0.2.0 with various improvements. (Nintendo Life)
Nier Automata’s Yoko Taro says his generation of game directors has a lot of weirdos because games were not mainstream when they started. (GamesRadar)
Nier Automata-inspired indie Homura Hime includes a system that Yoko Taro dropped from his own game. (GamesRadar)
Starfield composer Inon Zur stated people were not ready for the game and called Todd Howard a visionary. (Eurogamer)
Street Fighter game director teased a very smart movie adaptation in a new behind-the-scenes featurette. (GamesRadar)
Former Eve Online developers are building Seed, a society simulation MMO where characters keep playing after you log off. (PC Gamer)
Mina the Hollower preview notes Yacht Club’s Zelda homage carries Game Boy nostalgia and surprising depth. (Polygon)
Dave the Diver DLC In the Jungle adds Stardew Valley-style time management and relationship building, releasing in June. (PC Gamer)
Path of Exile’s new Mirage League may be the best chance players ever get at the rarest item in the game. (PC Gamer)
Dispatch lies about RNG for player benefit, auto-succeeding rolls above 76%, similar to XCOM. (GamesRadar)
Dispatch’s concept artist was picked up on ArtStation as a temporary fix but ended up defining the entire game’s art style. (PC Gamer)
Dark Messiah modders given free rein by Ubisoft are releasing a Community Edition of Arkane’s classic. (PC Gamer)
Hasbro CEO uses AI heavily in personal D&D games but keeps it out of MTG cards and official D&D books because players do not want it. (PC Gamer)
NewZoo study found Roblox and Minecraft players are less likely to engage with AAA titles due to not prioritizing realistic graphics. (GameSpot)
University of Bristol and Meaning Machine research shows over 90% of gamers find AI-powered NPCs enjoyable and rewarding. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Google’s Genie 3 world models start to break down after about a minute due to memory limits, per a GDC talk. (GamesIndustry.biz)
Anime legends Hayao Miyazaki and Hideaki Anno reunited, though Miyazaki does not appear to be working on a new film. (GamesRadar)
Minecraft Live returns March 21 with behind-the-scenes content and updates. (PC Gamer)
25 years since 3DMark2001’s Nature test first dropped jaws, marking how far 3D graphics have come. (PC Gamer)
Natsume announced Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea for PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch, and PC. (Gematsu)
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is available for preorder ahead of its PS5 and PC release on August 6. (IGN)
Marvel Maximum Collection brings six superhero titles to Switch digitally on March 27 with physical pre-orders. (Nintendo Life)
Next Pokémon TCG set Chaos Rising features Mega Floette ex in Lumiose City, due in May. (GamesRadar)
Pokemon Company partnered with Eisai to distribute a Snorlax picture book to Japan hospitals for sleep awareness. (Siliconera)
Valve clarified Steam Machine and Steam Frame Verified requirements, including mandatory Steam Deck performance benchmarks. (PC Gamer)
Intel announced Arrow Lake Plus desktop chips with more cores, higher clocks, lower cost, and an IPC-boosting BOT tool. (PC Gamer)
Nintendo’s lawsuit against the U.S. government over 2025 tariffs is automatically paused pending the outcome of another tariff case. (Nintendo Life)
UK class-action lawsuit against Sony for $2.67 billion over excessive digital download charges on the PlayStation Store is now being heard. (Polygon)
PEGI revised its age ratings system, bumping loot boxes to PEGI 16 and factoring in daily quests. (Game Developer)
Valve pushed back against a New York lawsuit over loot boxes, comparing them to Pokemon cards, Magic: The Gathering, and Labubu. (GamesRadar)
Nongshim RedForce defeated Paper Rex 3-0 to win their first VALORANT Masters in Santiago. (Sheep Esports)
NAVI defeated Aurora 3-1 to win ESL Pro League Season 23, their first Tier 1 trophy since IEM Rio 2024. (Hotspawn)
Bertrand Amar announced LoL Game Changers competitions for 2026 and 2027. (Sheep Esports)
New French organizer N.E.O., led by Bertrand Amar and Matthieu Dallon, acquired EMEA Masters and LoL Game Changers. (Sheep Esports)
G2 and Liquid traded malbsMd and NertZ. (Hotspawn)
paiN Gaming CEO Thomas Hamence stepped down on March 12 following backlash over the handling of sexual abuse allegations involving player TitaN. (Hotspawn)
Fighting game pro Ludovic Mbock was released on bond after being detained by ICE. (GameSpot)
ExpressVPN renewed its LEC partnership and signed with VCT EMEA, VCT Americas, G2 Esports, and Method. (Hotspawn)
A former Highguard developer stated that online discourse had dark corners that may have accelerated the studio’s failure timeline, though it was not the primary cause. (PC Gamer)
Highguard's technical artist returned to social media to apologise for a previous outburst that was misdirected following the studio’s shutdown. (Eurogamer)