Sony’s Q1 Exceeded Expectations, $70 the new norm

Sony’s profits exceed expectations

Thanks to COVID-19, Sony’s profits in the first quarter was nearly twice as high as analysts expected. Most projected around 137 billion yen in profits, but Sony just reported operating profits of no less than 228 billion yen ($2.15 billion).

Sony plans to spend 100 billion yen buying back 1.64% of its shares, and is offering a conservative forecast for the rest of the year since the long-term consequences of the on-going pandemic remain unclear.

• 3.4 million new PlayStation Plus subscribers, the largest single-quarter increase in the service’s history
• The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima sold over 6.4 million copies in their first three days

Next-gen news: Expect more PlayStation 5 news this month. There won’t be any next-gen revelations in this week’s State of Play, but Bloomberg expects more announcements soon.

Which publisher started and then cancelled Red Dead Revolver?

• Ubisoft
• Capcom
• Konami
• Electronic Arts

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.

Milking the lounge lizard since 1987

Leisure Suit Larry is still going strong, and the eleventh game in the long-running series is coming this year. The first six games starred the original lounge lizard Larry Laffer, while the next five followed his nephew Larry Lovage.

Four games, including numbered sequels, have been cancelled or went unreleased – in part because creator Al Lowe called it quits, leaving the series somewhat rudderless. Other developers tried to pick up where he left off, with extremely varying degrees of success.

The golden age of Larry was definitely the late 80s and early 90s, but there is still clearly an audience who wants to help a loser in a white suit “get lucky”.

Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today’s fact.

The Microsoft Store gets a makeover in the latest Xbox Insider update

Microsoft is almost ready to roll out a faster, safer and easier Microsoft Store.

The new store is apparently twice as fast and launches from the main menu in less than two seconds. Trailers auto-play while you browse, although you can disable the feature if you don’t like getting bombarded with sound and video.

• New parental controls allow parents to block content based on age
• All four generations of Xbox games finally presented in a single storefront

Ready to shop? Xbox Insiders can try out the new store from August 5th, and it will be rolled out in waves. The official launch is later this autumn.

Take-Two wants to increase game retail price despite posting record revenues

Take-Two made money hand over fist in the first quarter. The COVID-19 lockdowns has allowed Take-Two’s revenues to grow 54%, to $831.3 million.

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick thinks the whole business is about to change: “I think if you look at every other entertainment medium, it’s a matter of time before the business is entirely digital,” he said.

• Take-Two are not expecting to delay any of their upcoming games despite teams working from home
• The company enjoyed record earnings with Net Bookings growing 136% to $996.2 million

Price hike ahoy: “There hasn’t been a price increase for frontline titles for a really long time, despite the fact that it costs a great deal more to make those titles.” Don’t be surprised if next-generation games get more expensive, somewhere in the neighbourhood of $70/£65.

Single-handedly fight off a powerful organisation in Dex

Dex is a 2D cyberpunk ARPG with a sprinkling of Metroidvania for Nintendo Switch. Help the titular hero Dex escape the clutches of a mysterious organization that’s hunting her for her hidden powers.

Customize your character to be skilled in hacking, diplomacy, stealth and combat to tailor your playstyle. Gear is just as important, and you need to find equipment that aligns with your playstyle and even the odds before the Complex catches up to you.

• Full English voice-over
• Four distinct playstyles to
• Platforming and RPG elements
• A mature storyline with cyberpunk themes
• Your choices decide the outcome of the story

Your actions have consequences, and the story branches based on your choices. Explore the dystopian open world of Harbor Prime, and forge alliances against The Complex.

If you’re looking for a science-fiction adventure with a mature story and lots of replayability, you should check out Dex for Switch, available on the Nintendo eShop from today for $19.99.

• Beyond The Brick dismantles a LEGO Mario figure and reveals exactly what’s under Mario’s hat
• Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Dry Twice trailer teases Larry Lovage’s latest sexual adventure, scheduled for release on October 15th, 2020 for PC
• William English, one of the inventors of the computer mouse, has died at the ripe age of 91. The first computer mouse was built in 1968, establishing the still dominant interaction paradigm
• Australian mobile network Telstra advertises Xbox Series X with an exclusive offer. Does this mean Microsoft is ready to talk about price?
• Big Wargroove: Double Trouble patch for PlayStation 4 out on August 4th, adding crossplay, a new co-op campaign and new editing tools

Which publisher started and then cancelled Red Dead Revolver?

Answer: Capcom!

Believe it or not, but Red Dead Redemption’s distant ancestor Red Dead Revolver actually started out as a Capcom project.

Originally headed by Gun.Smoke designer Yoshiki Okamoto and developed by Angel Studios, Red Dead Revolver was codenamed SWAT – for Spaghetti Western Action Title – and was announced in 2002. Unfortunately, the game was cancelled in 2003 thanks to technical problems and cultural differences.

Rockstar purchased Angel Studios and picked up the pieces, securing the rights to the game from Capcom. It was reworked as a more, well, western Western and thus the Red Dead series was born.

Today’s issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Christian Vaz, Ken McKown, and Jamie Davey.