It's not just the unit sold that I'm so proud of, it's just that it delighted the fans so much – David Haddad, President, WB Interactive Entertainment (Hogwarts Legacy)

Hey there!

🎉 But we have so much more:

Hogwarts Legacy is the top selling game of 2023.

Apple Vision Pro VR will support a lot of games and, finally, the save bug of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox will have a fix this week. 

Oh, and an Indiana Jones game could come this year.  

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Now let’s hit the play button::

Welcome to The Power-Up #56

Game-Up

🎮 Microsoft is considering expanding the reach of its Xbox exclusives, Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush, to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, breaking new ground in cross-platform availability.

🪲 Leaked files suggest that Insomniac Games may introduce Beetle as a DLC character in Marvel's Spider-Man 2, featuring new missions, enemies, and a boss battle. However, it's uncertain if this DLC will materialize.

🔫 A new fan mod for Portal 2, titled Portal: Revolution, introduces 40 new test chambers, featuring a prequel story set between the events of Portal and Portal 2, and new gameplay mechanics. Available for free to owners of Portal 2 on Steam, the mod developed by Second Face Software offers an estimated eight-hour gameplay experience. 

🤠 Sources reveal that ZeniMax Media's new Indiana Jones game, initially teased in January 2021, is slated for release in 2024. The game's development is handled by MachineGames, known for Wolfenstein titles. 

😈 Palworld, a game resembling Pokémon but with a dark, violent twist, featuring guns and capitalist themes, is set to launch in early access on January 19, including availability on Xbox Game Pass from day one.

🎮 Arrowhead Game Studios has announced that Helldivers 2 will launch on PlayStation 5 and PC on February 8th, featuring crossplay support between the two platforms.

Round-Up

🏆 Hogwarts Legacy has impressively sold over 22 million copies in less than a year since its release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, becoming the best-selling game of 2023 worldwide.

🥽 Apple is set to launch its $3,500 Vision Pro VR headset next month, aiming to revolutionize the VR market with a focus on integrating the technology into everyday life and work.

🥽 Apple also announced that the Vision Pro VR headset will support more than 250 Apple Arcade games, including new spatial titles like What the Golf?, Game Room, Super Fruit Ninja and non-spatial games like NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition and Sonic Dream Team, using popular game controllers. 

♨️ Steam has kicked off 2024 by setting a new record of 33.68 million concurrent players, a 12.2 percent increase from the 30 million milestone in fall 2022, with 10.6 million actively playing games.

🎮 Sony has reported a record-breaking number of monthly active users for PlayStation in December 2023, totaling 123 million account logins across PS5, PS4, and a few PS3 users, surpassing the 112 million users in December 2022

⚔️ Microsoft has identified the cause of the save bug plaguing Baldur's Gate 3 players on Xbox and plans to release a firmware update to fix it by January 16^th. 

📺 Kaitlyn Dever, known for her roles in Justified, Booksmart or Dopesick and voicing Cassie Drake in Uncharted 4, has been officially cast as Abby in the TV adaptation of The Last of Us.

😇 Immortality, the acclaimed cross-media mystery game by Half Mermaid and created by Sam Barlow, is set to release on PS5 on January 23, 2024, following its successful debut on Xbox and PC in 2022.

🕹️ The first Xbox Developer Direct of 2024 is set to air on January 18, promising a showcase of upcoming titles including MachineGames' Indiana Jones game, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, and Senua's Sacrifice II.

Biz-Up

💰 Marvel Snap developer Second Dinner has secured $100 million in funding to enhance the popular card battler and develop new titles, following the game's impressive commercial success with over $200 million in revenue and 22 million downloads since its launch in June 2022.

🤖 SAG-AFTRA has reached an agreement with Replica Studios allowing game developers to use AI-generated voice replicas in their games, ensuring that voice actors consent to the use of their digital voices and have the right to negotiate terms.

💃 ByteDance is reportedly in talks with Tencent to sell some of its gaming assets as it considers exiting the mainstream video game market.

Industry Level-Up

😔 Unity has initiated its largest ever round of layoffs, affecting approximately 25% of its workforce, or around 1,800 employees, as part of a "company reset" focused on restructuring and refocusing on core business for long-term growth. 

😔 Archiact, an independent VR studio known for titles like Doom 3: VR Edition and Marvel Dimension of Heroes, has announced an undisclosed number of layoffs across various departments, emphasizing the difficulty of the decision and efforts to assist affected employees.

😔 Twitch is reportedly preparing to lay off about 35% of its workforce, approximately 500 employees, later this week.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Stay powered-up until next time.

Bobby & Andrei