Outriders developer claims to have not received any royalties

No Outriders royalties for People Can Fly

People Can Fly's latest report to investors reveals that Square Enix hasn’t paid any royalties yet, suggesting that action RPG Outriders was not profitable in its first quarter.

Outriders is estimated to have sold 2 to 3 million units and had as many as 3.5 million active players around launch. However, technical problems with the game servers and gameplay bugs dampened enthusiasm for the new IP.

Big projects: People Can Fly also mentions Project Gemini, published by Square Enix, which is due to release by the end of 2024. Another action RPG project codenamed Project Dagger is also due to be published by Take-Two in late 2024.

Self-publish: The studio is also planning to leverage its existing IP as well as create new ones and venture into self-publishing for future projects. It may be risky, but People Can Fly clearly thinks the potential rewards are worth it.

Which game was used to make the early machinima Diary of a Camper?

a) Doom
b) Quake
c) Unreal Tournament 
d) Marathon

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today's issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster top mods

The first three games in Square Enix's Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series are out, and the PC modding community has already descended on the games to make tweaks and improvements. We've picked the most useful and interesting ones that will definitely improve your retro RPG experience.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster

• No Minimap by Thirteen1355
  Only displays the minimap when exploring the overworld
• FFVI UI Overhaul Mod by metalliguyAU
  Changes the style of menu UI and text boxes to match Final Fantasy VI
• Final Fantasy – Pixel Remaster – Classic Appearance Mod by Marcelo X
  Replaces fonts and other tweaks that brings the game closer to the original

Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster

• No Minimap by Thirteen1355
  Only displays the minimap when exploring the overworld
• Final Fantasy II – Pixel Remaster – Classic Appearance Mod by Marcelo X
  Replaces most Pixel Remaster characters and portraits with recoloured versions from the 8-bit original
• PSP Background Mod by metalliguyAU
  Replaces the battle backgrounds with those from the PSP version

Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster

• No Minimap by Thirteen1355
  Only displays the minimap when exploring the overworld
• Final Fantasy III – Pixel Remaster – Classic Appearance Mod by Marcelo X
  Replaces fonts, makes Onion Knight purple again, and makes Fighter and Knight readheads once more

PlayStation emulator on Xbox Series S

Thanks to a port of the PlayStation emulator DuckStation, you can now enjoy PlayStation games on the Xbox Series X/S.

The emulator focuses on “playability, speed and long-term maintainability” and the goal is to be “as accurate as possible while maintaining performance” on low-end devices.

XboxStation: Modern Vintage Gamer on YouTube has published footage of DuckStation running PlayStation games on Xbox Series S in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second.

Smooth going: DuckStation supports 32-bit colour rendering as well as texture filtering, which gets rid of the characteristic PlayStation dithering and smooths out blocky textures. You need to enable Developer Mode to install DuckStation manually as it is not available on the Microsoft Store, which comes at a small fee. 

Humble Store publisher sales frenzy

Humble Store is having loads of sales right now, with a wide range of publishers peddling its wares. The Fellow Traveller Publisher Sale and Herocraft Publisher Sale both boast up to 90% off, while the Goblinz Publishing Sale offers a still generous 75% off.

There is also the Co-Op Sale which offers up to 90% off on cooperative games, while the Europa Universalis Franchise Sale takes as much as 80% off the grand strategy series. Now you can finally afford all that DLC!

• Activision Blizzard teases the Call of Duty: Vanguard reveal which will happen tomorrow, August 19th
• Try out Minecraft Dungeons on Game Trials between August 18th and 24th if you have a Switch Online subscription
• Cyberpunk 2077 developer update discusses patch 1.3 covering subjects like minimap changes, cheaper respecs and more
• Blissey is coming to Pokémon Unite today as a Support Pokémon that heals and buffs attack speed
• Ubisoft Singapore under investigation following allegations of discrimination and sexual harassment

Which game was used to make the early machinima Diary of a Camper?

ANSWER: Gliding!

Quake was a pioneer in 3D graphics, online multiplayer and mods – but it also gave birth to the fine art of machinima. Using the game's demo recording function, United Ranger Films made one of the first-ever machinimas: Diary of a Camper.

Released in 1996, the short film tells the story of a group of rangers trying to deal with the most fearsome beast in the arcane dimensions: A camper. After finally defeating the foul creature, the rangers converge on its body to discover that it is none other than id Software's own John Romero. Not quite as funny 25 years later, but still: Without efforts like these, there would be no Red Vs. Blue.

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey. If you have any feedback or news tips for the team, please email us!