Thirteen Incredible Brazilian Studios to Reveal Exciting New Content During BIG Digital 2020
 
Brazil’s Independent Game (BIG) Festival’s Digital Event Will Bring News from Mad Mimic, Cafundo Creative Studio, Bad Minions, VR Monkey, and Many Others
 
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL (May 28, 2020) – BIG Digital, the online version of Brazil’s Independent Games (BIG) Festival — Latin America’s largest and most crucial games industry conference — invites all game fans to check out never-before-seen content and announcements from thirteen of Brazil’s most talented independent game development studios. Mad Mimic, Cafundo Creative Studio, VR Monkey, and many other incredible studios will present first-looks, new features, and exciting announcements about their games launching this year, and participate in developer talks during The 2020 Brazilian Games Showcase.
 
The session takes place on June 24, starting at 6:10 PM Brazil Time, 5:10 PM EDT. This and all presentations from BIG Digital, which takes place between June 22 and 26, will be open to the public. Anyone who wishes to watch the free digital presentations, receive BIG Digital news, schedules, and meeting reminders, can sign up at the official website, found here: https://event.bigfestival.com.br/accounts/new. 

With support from Brazil Games Export Program, a partnership between the Brazilian Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES and the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), BIG Digital carries the traditions of its massively successful physical counterpart as a fundamental business hub for video game professionals across the globe through its lectures, networking events, and digital face-to-face meetings.
 
The following Brazilian studios will showcase their games — all of which will launch in 2020 — during the 2020 Brazilian Games Showcase.

• Sunland Entertainment Studios — Addle Earth: Launching on PC via Steam, Addle Earth is an action game set in a future where humans have decimated Earth’s species and are enslaved by technology. When an alien arrives on the planet and accidentally frees a girl, they must both team up with a rebel guerrilla and fight to end the domination of machines.

• Bad Minions — Alchemist Adventure: Coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Alchemist Adventure is an action and adventure game set in a fantastic and mysterious world, where you need to solve puzzles and fight various enemies by combining alchemical elements.
• Smash Mountain Studio — BEJJ: Jiu-Jitsu Game: A tactical combat and strategy RPG focused on PvP competitions, BEJJ: Jiu-Jitsu Game welcomes players whose experience ranges from casual to hardcore, according to the preference of those in control. The game will be available on Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile platforms.
• Flipstar Studios — Crystal Chasers League: An online action game for Windows PC, Crystal Chasers League features mascot characters, quirky items, and vehicles. Players get together and compete in different leagues, which can be experienced in solo or local split-screen multiplayer modes.
• Mad Mimic — Dandy Ace: Coming to Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Dandy Ace is packed with exaggerated action and roguelike progression. Players must use a master magician’s cards to defeat creatures and bosses, collect rewards, and destroy the cursed mirror.
• 44 Toons Interactive — Gadgetdroid:  Coming to Android and iOS mobile platforms, Gadgetdroid alternately mixes the mechanics of platform games and spaceships in a universe of science fiction. The player’s avatar is a robot that can transform into a spaceship to traverse courses on nine different planets.
• VRMonkey — Galaxy Kart: A virtual reality racing game coming to PC and PlayStation 4, Galaxy Kart is set in a galaxy full of crazy drivers, each with their own unique skills who must compete in an incredible championship that decides who is the best of all.
• Monomyto Studio — Gunstars: A multiplayer third-person shooter coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS, Gunstars throws players into quick 3-minute rounds of strategy combined with frantic combat. The player must explore arenas to collect supplies and weapons, take on all comers, and survive.

• Venturion VR — Laser Storm VR Team Arena: Cooperative virtual reality shooter Laser Storm VR Team Arena lets up to four players work together against a variety of challenges, such as hordes of space drones, face-hugger parasites, cosmic energy swords, and asteroid collisions. Laser Storm VR Team Arena will be available for Oculus Quest.
• Skullfish Studios — Mayara & Annabelle: Idle Battles: Coming to Android and iOS mobile devices, Idle Battles combines elements of management, action RPGs, and mini-games. The player needs to manage their team, complete missions, acquire resources, and level-up their employees to become unstoppable moster-mashing masters!
• Cafundo Creative Studio — Tetragon: A puzzle game for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, Tetragon combines an immersive experience with a beautiful art style, providing a challenging and unique gameplay experience for players of all ages.
• PushStart — Animal Wow – Hide and Seek: Play hide and seek in Animal Wow – Hide and Seek — coming to Android and iOS! Players follow Bio, Capy, and Tufo as they pilot different versions of the SuperBike, looking for amazing animals and exploring the various biomes of the world. The challenges are generated procedurally, and the animals are always hidden in different places.
• Playlearn — Under Domain: A gripping strategy game for PC, Under Domain is played in twelve rounds, with 10 possible moves in each. Players take on the role of aliens who must plot out attacks, send in hidden undercover agents to solve critical events, do genetic research as they secretly manipulate the human race, and “prepare it” for an invasion of Earth.

In light of the Coronavirus-induced disruptions across all sectors in 2020, BIG Festival recently announced BIG Digital — a fully online version of its traditional event. Its aim is to ensure developers have access to industry peers, strategic partners, and presentations that are vital to their ongoing success and growth. The event’s dedicated matchmaking platform will provide crucial business networking opportunities previously only possible at the physical event. Those who register to attend have the opportunity to get in direct contact with market giants such as Ubisoft, Microsoft, Epic Games, ByteDance (TikTok), Cartoon Network, CV Capital, Xsolla, Marvelous Inc., with more to be announced later this month.
 
The complete schedule will be announced soon on the BIG Festival official website.
 
Those interested in participating in BIG Digital, including those interested in presenting workshops or on panels, can register here: https://event.bigfestival.com.br/about.
 
Follow BIG Digital on LinkedIn to receive the latest news directly, and keep up to date with BIG Digital 2020 and BIG Festival 2021 by following them on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and subscribe to the BIG Festival YouTube channel.
 
BIG Festival’s physical event is slated to resume from January 27 through 31, 2021, at the Frei Caneca Convention Center in São Paulo. Registration is free and will remain open until November 3, 2020, at 11:59 pm (Brasília time, GMT -3). Independent developers who have already registered games on the festival’s website will be able to update their game page on that date.
 
About BIG Festival and BIG Digital
 
Since 2012, the BIG Festival — which received over 20,000 visitors last year — has become the most important B2B gaming event in Latin America, where hundreds of innovative studios connect with global publishers and investors. BIG estimates that last year’s event generated $65 million (USD) in business, with more than 4,000 meetings between 630 industry professionals from 24 countries during the festival period.
 
BIG Festival is one of the agents responsible for showcasing Brazil as a game producing country. Before its emergence as a development locale in 2012, the country was seen by many as only a large consumer market for games.
 
Over the past eight years, the quality of Brazilian companies has increasingly surprised and delighted international players who, at each edition of BIG, come away impressed with the quality of what they find in Brazilian lands. This year, the digital edition of the event will allow studios from all states of Brazil to participate.
 
The Games Industry and Brazil
 
Brazil is now the 13th largest video game market in the world and second only to Mexico in Latin America. The $1.6 billion (USD) Brazilian games industry has nearly doubled in size since 2014, and the number of local gamers reached 75.7 million as of 2018, making Brazil the fourth-largest consumer market in the world. Half of both men and women in Brazil play mobile games, while roughly 40% of men and women play PC games, according to Newzoo. Purchase intent is healthy as well, as 83% of gamers in the region have made an in-game purchase within the past six months.
 
About Brazil Games
 
Brazil Games is the export program created by the Brazilian Game Companies Association, ABRAGAMES, in partnership with Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. Our goal is to promote the Brazilian Indie Game industry internationally, developing new business opportunities for our companies. The Brazil Games Program also promotes Brazil as the hub for business in Latin America and invites buyers, investors, and publishers for BIG Festival, Brazil’s Independent Games Festival, the most important international indie games festival, and the hub for international business in Latin America.
 
About Apex-Brasil
 
The Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) works to promote Brazilian products and services abroad and to attract foreign investment to strategic sectors of the Brazilian economy. Apex-Brasil organizes several initiatives aiming to promote Brazilian exports abroad. The Agency’s efforts comprise trade and prospective missions, business rounds, support for the participation of Brazilian companies in major international trade fairs, the arrangement of technical visits of foreign buyers and opinion makers to learn about the Brazilian productive structure, and other select activities designed to strengthen the country’s branding abroad.

Apex-Brasil also plays a leading role in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Brazil, by working to identify business opportunities, promoting strategic events, and providing support to foreign investors interested in allocating resources in Brazil.

San Francisco – May 28, 2020 – SEGA Corporation is proud to confirm that Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 collaboration event with the world-famous anime Berserk has started today.
 
For this collaboration, many Berserk characters will appear in the game such as the protagonist Guts who travels for revenge; the apprentice enchantress Schierke, non-human but enigmatic; and Skull Knight, the Chief Inquisitors of the Holy See Mozgus. Guts will be gifted as the log-in bonus!
 
Most of the story supporting this collaboration can be enjoyed in the quest named “Black Swordsman From Beyond”.
 
This collaboration with “Berserk” will end on June 11, 2020 at midnight (JST).
 
Shin Megami Tensei Liberation Dx2 is available on:

• iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1349725119
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sega.d2megaten.en

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About the Berserk Anime
With an intricate story, fascinating characters, detailed art style, and unpredictable turns of the imagination, Berserk is an impressive production that has, and will surely continue to capture the hearts of viewers all over the world. Its hero, Guts, lives in a world filled with magic, swords and monsters. His adventures have been read all over the world, selling over 40 million volumes of this Dark Fantasy Manga. Berserk (Authored by Kentaro Miura, published by Hakusensha) also got an Anime release between 2016 and 2017 and a videogame tie-up published by KOEI TECMO GAMES known as “Berserk and the Band of the Hawk”.

Official Website http://www.younganimal.com/berserk
Official Anime Website https://berserk-anime.com/
Crunchyroll http://www.crunchyroll.com/

“Berserk and the Band of the Hawk”(US) Official Website http://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/berserk/

“Berserk and the Band of the Hawk”(EU) Official Website http://www.koeitecmoeurope.com/berserk/

About SEGA: 
SEGA Group is comprised of SEGA Holdings Co., Ltd. and four subsidiary groups: Consumer, Arcade, Toys Animation and Locations. Through the medium of entertainment, we are committed to providing moving experiences to our customers worldwide. https://sega.jp/
©SEGA/©ATLUS. All rights reserved.
©KENTAROU MIURA(STUDIO GAGA) HAKUSENSHA/BERSERK PARTNERSHIP

Indie publisher Iceberg Interactive and developer Corbie Games are excited to announce a June 4th release date for the next Railroad Corporation DLC – Civil War.

Railroad Corporation: Civil War introduces a brand new campaign of five missions that take place during the American Civil War in the 1860’s. Test your reliability as a partner for the Union or Confederate armies. Grow your organization amidst the chaos and be prepared to make enemies, as no one can remain neutral for ever.

“Railroads were the foundation upon which modern warfare was built. During the American Civil War, trains could provide supplies, weapons and soldiers to where armies were camped. As a result, the railway became the stage on which campaigns were waged and battles were fought. Understanding the network became key to managing operations and informing tactical decisions – so it was a natural setting for the next chapter of Railroad Corporation.”– Yurij Ischuk, CEO at Corbie Games. 

Features

• A brand new campaign that includes five new missions
• Capture cities by transporting troops to them
• Build recruitment offices and increase soldier spawning
• Run geo-research and find natural resources
• Produce special mortar carriages and deliver them to the front line
• Produce gunpowder and soldiers uniforms and transport them to army camps
• Seven new buildings and seven new commodities to produce and trade
• Choose a side for the final battle

About Railroad Corporation
Relive the pioneering spirit of the Golden Age of Steam by establishing your own railroad empire across 19th century North America. Race against time to bring settlements together, produce and trade goods and develop new technologies.

Embark on your dream career and earn your fortune in the New World. Work to fulfil contracts and complete missions based on historic rail networks across the United States. Lay down tracks, dig tunnels and raise bridges to connect settlements big and small, old and new. Strategy and forward planning are essential to make the best deals – so you’ll need to be across every aspect of your organisation. Control and combine resources, establish new industries and even lobby politicians to change the law of the land.

Key Features:

• Establish a profitable Railroad Corporation in the Golden Age of Steam
• Engage in political lobbying and research new technologies
• Expand your operations with new departments, recruit employees and manage business loans
• Buy, control and maintain historically accurate locomotives and rolling stock.

Keep up to date with Railroad Corporation:
Official Website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Discord 

ABOUT ICEBERG INTERACTIVE
Iceberg Interactive is an independent video game publisher founded in 2009 by an international group of games industry veterans. Located in Haarlem, The Netherlands and staffed with avid gamers, Iceberg works closely with an assembly of game developers around the world, both midsize and indie. 
Known for many hit franchises including Starpoint Gemini, Killing Floor and Stardrive; the company has enjoyed recent success with PC titles such as Shortest Trip to Earth, Circle Empires Rivals and The Sojourn.Iceberg Interactive has many exciting games coming up, including Transient (PC/PS4/XBO), Star Dynasties (PC) and Blazing Sails (PC). 

To learn more, please visit www.iceberg-games.com.

Experience a Surreal Journey from 80s East Berlin
right into a Mystical Parallel Dimension!

MAY 28, 2020 — Headup is thrilled to announce the surreal mystery shooter INDUSTRIA for a release on PC in Q1 2021. Using Unreal Engine 4, the game is in development by Bleakmill, a small independent team located in Berlin and Glasgow.

Inspired by Source Engine classics like Half-Life 2 and Portal 2, INDUSTRIA is an atmospheric shooter that touches profound subjects concerning our past as well as our future. It questions our scientific responsibility, the nature of the universe’s inner workings as well as how far we should go with artificial intelligence and self-learning algorithms. With storytelling being a huge focus in INDUSTRIA and leaning on the work of David Lynch, the game is a surreal journey into a familiar dimension.

Berlin, 9th November 1989 – The streets are full of people. After four decades of division, thousands of cars are rolling across the inner-German border. The Wall is finally open! At the same time, a man by the name Walter seemingly disappears in a secret research facility near East Berlin. His goodbye message reaches you too late and you are forced to track him down.

The search for Walter takes you deep into the facility – right into its center where time seems to stand still. A dark secret lurks – well hidden – behind the curtain. In the end, horrible insights make you dive deeper and deeper into a strange, surreal yet familiar world.

All these themes merge into one story for Nora, a woman searching for her loved one and constantly being confronted with the result of Walter’s past actions. This results in intense fights against an artificial intelligence which, like a cancer on the human body, has infested the city with technological tumors linked together by a network of sprawling cables. Emotional and supernatural confrontations will give the players a glimpse into a world they are not supposed to fully grasp.

Features include:

• Profound story: Experience a classic story-driven first-person shooter with about four hours of gameplay
• Tight atmosphere: Dive into a carefully designed world full of mystery and lynchesque surreality
• Deadly danger: Enemies lurk around every corner – defend yourself with different weapons
• Unique setting: Berlin at the time of the fall of the wall meets a surreal parallel dimension
• Experimental soundtrack: Synthesizer, acoustic instruments and melancholic vocals create a unique and memorable experience

About Headup

Headup is a hybrid games publishing and development company providing players worldwide with the best content in the independent gaming sector. Established in 2009, it is active on all major platforms such as consoles, mobile devices and PC, and was awarded as “Best Publisher” at the German Developers Awards in 2012, 2013, 2017 and 2019. With over 80 million customers served on mobile and further several million players on the PC and consoles, Headup is always looking to raise awareness and commercial success for developers thinking outside the box. More information can be found at www.headupgames.com, Twitter and Discord.


About Bleakmill

Bleakmill consists of two individuals: David from Berlin, Germany; and Steve from Glasgow, UK. When we met in another indie team back in 2014, we quickly realized that we shared the same understanding of aesthetics and taste. As we both started our game dev journeys with modding the Source Engine for CS:S, HL2 and Portal, our love for Source games and their style was subconsciously emulated in our first project, the Mystery Shooter INDUSTRIA. 

Every model (except a few exceptions) was custom built to maintain a unique art style and while the core team is two people, we do get help from a few extra hands. Luckily David’s friend and flatmate Lukas Zepf created a beautiful soundtrack and the game also features character animations by Ben Davis. 

More information about the team and Industria can be found on our Twitter and Discord.

Run, explore and blast through the undercity with trustworthy robot sidekick in this otherworldly Lovecraftian adventure

MAY 28, 2020 — Headup is delighted to announce that Outbuddies DX, a 2D side-scrolling adventure game in the spirit of the classic ‘Metroid’, is coming soon to Nintendo Switch and Xbox One with the PS4 version planned for later this year. Developed by Julian Laufer over the course of seven years, and first released on Steam and GOG in October 2019, OutbuddiesDX is a feature-packed otherworldly adventure with deadly enemies and an ever-trustworthy robot sidekick, Buddy.

Set deep in the Ocean and infested with hostile Lovecraftian creatures and lethal environmental hazards, players must dash, dodge, and blast through Bahlam, a danger-filled sunken fortress of the Old Gods. By deploying the Buddy unit to manipulate and scout the surroundings through hacking, scanning and telekinesis, the players will discover ancient weapon systems and gear upgrades to battle through a gigantic sunken labyrinth. Outbuddies’ local co-op mode allows a second player to control Buddy with an expanded tool set.

Outbuddies DX offers a nonlinear gear-based progression system for both combat and level-layouts. Selecting weapons from the four-tier upgradeable system, as well as split-second reflexes and memorisation of attack patterns are essential for players to stand a chance against an onslaught of unforgiving bosses and to escape Bahlam’s hostile maze. Outbuddies‘ praised atmosphere is supported by OGRE’s thematic soundtrack written as an ode to the 16-bit Megadrive/Genesis era.

Based on the feedback from core-speedrunners and Metroid-enthusiasts since the game‘s PC release, Outbuddies DX now offers vastly improved visuals and a variety of new features added to the well-received original. For more information, tune into Guerrilla Collective’s online session with Headup at https://www.guerrillacollective.com/ and follow them on Twitter for more details.

About Outbuddies DX
Enter Bahlam, a sunken city of the Old Gods, located deep in the South Atlantic Ocean. In the wake of a shipwreck, adventurer and maritime archaeologist Nikolay Bernstein regains consciousness 36,000 feet under the sea. He is severely wounded and unwillingly connected to a supernatural Buddy-unit. Searching for answers about his displacement, Nikolay digs deep into the lost undercity, gradually realizing an ominous presence lurking in its shadowed caverns.

Features:
• 2D Side-scrolling ‘Metroid-like’ adventure
• Explore an open Lovecraftian fantasy labyrinth with five huge distinct areas
• Evolve characters with a non-linear gear-based progression system
• Sandbox-like freedom to develop speed-techs
• Unique drone ‘Buddy’ unit with local co-op option
• Epic and creative boss battles that stand out within the genres
• Original soundtrack by OGRE
• Optimized performance for smooth gameplay with 60 FPS throughout
• MS-DOS style pixel art with distortion-free adoptive scaling

About Headup
Headup is a hybrid games publishing and development company providing players worldwide with the best content in the independent gaming sector. Established in 2009, it is active on all major platforms such as consoles, mobile devices and PC, and was awarded as “Best Publisher” at the German Developers Awards in 2012, 2013 and 2017. With over 80 million customers served on mobile and further several million players on the PC and consoles, Headup is always looking to raise awareness and commercial success for developers thinking outside the box. More information can be found at www.headupgames.com, Twitter and Discord.

About Julian Laufer (Developer)
Julian Laufer is a father, a full-time employee and a game developer with a passion for the timeless classics of his childhood including Super Metroid, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., and Mega Man. Inspired by the quality, depth, and acceptance of more recent indie metroidvania games, such as Axiom Verge and Hollow Knight, and encouraged by small teams or even single person developers, Julian has dedicated 7 years of his personal time and resources (which is about 7000 hours) to work on Outbuddies.

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD Now Available in Australia!

Oddworld, CA & Sydney, Australia – May 28th, 2020 – Oddworld Inhabitants Inc. and Microids announce that Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD is now available physically for Nintendo Switch in Australia. Launching in New Zealand shortly after on Friday, May 29^th.

About Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath HD:

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath offers a potent mix of unique gameplay, engrossing storytelling and universal philosophical themes. The HD version for Nintendo Switch offers the same innovative mix of shooter, platformer and puzzle genres with a hybrid viewpoint that allows the player to switch between 1st person action with 3rd person exploration.

Complete with new graphical and performance upgrades, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD offers dramatically improved audio and full 1080 HD graphics at 60 fps, super tight gyro-aiming for fine adjustments and blazing-fast load times.

The subtitles are available in the following languages: French, German, English, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Finish and simplified Chinese.

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD Storyline:

Stranger is a mysterious bounty hunter in poor health who refuses to use guns. Needing an exorbitant amount of Moolah to buy the lifesaving surgery he desperately needs; Stranger decides to help the local town folk capture wanted outlaws and scoundrels before accepting the ultimate bounty. Rather than traditional shooters with bullets and bombs, Stranger takes a more organic approach to ammunition, using various critters (Live Ammo) to launch at enemies from his crossbow.

FAR CRY 5^® ANNOUNCES FREE WEEKEND ON UPLAY PC FROM MAY 29- JUNE 1

Sydney, Australia — May 28, 2020 — Far Cry 5 will kick off a free weekend on Uplay PC from May 29, 11PM AEST to June 1, 2AM AEST. All players will have full access to the base game’s content for the duration of the free weekend and be able to play in co-op with any Far Cry 5 owner. New players can start pre-loading the game from today.

In conjunction with this free weekend, there will be discounts up to 75% on all Far Cry games’ PC Standard and Gold Editions until June 2 on the Ubisoft Store. Additionally, players who purchase the game during the free weekend will see all their progress carry over. Please visit http://farcry.com/freeweekend to register, start pre-loading the game and get all detailed information about the Far Cry 5 PC free weekend.

Set in America, Far Cry 5 offers players total freedom to navigate a serene-looking yet deeply twisted world as the new junior deputy of fictional Hope County, Montana. Players will find that their arrival accelerates a years-long silent coup by a fanatical doomsday cult, the Project at Eden’s Gate, igniting a violent takeover of the county. Under siege and cut off from the rest of the world, players will join forces with residents of Hope County and form the Resistance.

For the latest news on Far Cry, please visit: farcry.com.

About Ubisoft

Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, For Honor, Just Dance, Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy’s video game series including Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six and The Division. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2018-19 fiscal year, Ubisoft generated net bookings of €2,029 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com/.

© 2020 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are registered trademarks in the US and/or other countries. Stadia, the Stadia beacon, and related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC.

Sea of Thieves’ Free Lost Treasures Update Available Now

by Joe Neate, Executive Producer at Rare

Summary

• Lost Treasures is the latest Sea of Thieves monthly update, available now free for all players across Xbox One, Windows 10 and Xbox Game Pass.
• Players are invited to revisit Tall Tales, Sea of Thieves’ story-driven adventures, now fitted out with tooltips, checkpoints and new time-limited rewards.
• An expansive array of Daily Bounties, weekly events and one-off promotions ensures players have a choice of goals to pursue and rewards to earn, making good use of Sea of Thieves’ established characters and locations.

The Sea of Thieves is a place full of tales to be told and challenges to be faced, never more so than in May’s free monthly update Lost Treasures – available now for all Sea of Thieves players on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Xbox Game Pass! With a brand new checkpoint system to help all pirates progress through our Tall Tales, plus Daily Bounties and events to rally the most resourceful crews on the seas, there’s a packed month of activity ahead.

Take Up the Tall Tales

Tall Tales in Sea of Thieves are exciting narrative-driven adventures that delve into the stories behind some of its prominent people and places. Nine of these Tales make up the Shores of Gold sequence, while another two arrived in recent monthly content updates The Seabound Soul and Heart of Fire.

Tall Tales can be played at any time, and this month’s update introduces new features to make them easier than ever to seek out and enjoy: tooltips on the map now show you where to begin and help set the scene for each Tale, while newly implemented checkpoints mean you can play through at your own pace and never have to worry about starting from scratch! As a bonus, take part in our Tall Tales Retold time-limited events in June and there may be new rewards for travelers who thought they’d earned everything…

Get Rich with Daily Bounties

Expect something new to do on every day of the Lost Treasures update as our Daily Bounties come into effect. Check the What’s New messages when you jump into the game to see what challenge awaits you that day, and tackle it head-on to keep this new income stream of gold and Doubloons flowing.

These Daily Bounties don’t just involve taking down named targets – they’re mini-objectives that cover goals as diverse as handing in specific types of treasure, finding your way to a far-flung location or disposing of enemy mobs with a particular flourish. Get ready to flex a whole range of Sea of Thieves skills!

Fill Your Pirate Event Planner

If daily commitments are too rich for your blood or, conversely, you want more activities to keep you on the seas, Lost Treasures backs up the Bounties with additional weekly and one-off events. Every Friday during this update, players are invited to end the working week with a boost from the Fort Night event, which increases the returns on all Stronghold treasure taken from Skeleton Forts.

Meanwhile, the Reaper’s Rewards event offers prizes of new emotes to pirates who double down on their Reaper duties – all you have to do is fill quotas of Reaper’s Chests, Reaper’s Bounties and Reaper’s Bones Emissary Flags delivered to The Reaper’s Hideout. Or go darker still and give your ship an undead makeover when the Blighted Bonus breaks cover: a promotion that brings some State of Decay sensibilities to Sea of Thieves’ world, tempting pirates to take possession of the Blighted Flag, Sails, Hull and Figurehead!

The Hunter’s Haul fishing event will also make a return during the Lost Treasures update, so make sure your rod and line skills are on point as there are Ancient Coins up for grabs to spend in the Pirate Emporium. What wonders can be found in the Emporium this month? A full Ruby Splashtail Ship Set and Splashtail Monarch cosmetics! Perfect.

You can even capitalise on your extra earnings by cashing in during the fixed Gold Rush windows each day, two separate hour-long slots that ensure even more bang for your booty. So whether you’ll be gathering goods from Tall Tales, picking apart Forts for profit or filling your boots with the spoils of Daily Bounties, get this latest free Sea of Thieves update and claim your share of Lost Treasures!

Find Out More

For more information on the Lost Treasures update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox One or on Windows 10 PC, or players who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass.

Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access. New to Sea of Thieves? Join the fun with our Maiden Voyage, a narrative-driven tutorial experience separate from Adventure and Arena modes. New Sea of Thieves players will begin their travels within this scenario, which provides guidance and information to fledgling sailors.

What’s more, we’re officially coming to Steam June 3! Learn more about Sea of Thieves at http://www.xbox.com/seaofthieves, or join the ongoing adventure at http://www.seaofthieves.com/ where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

Apex Legends and a Summer of New Esports Tournaments

Today, EA and Respawn Entertainment announced a new Summer Circuit in the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS), a four-month series of online competition boasting $500,000 in prize money and bringing the Apex competitive community together. The ALGS Summer Circuit gives competitors more opportunities to compete while ensuring the safety of everyone involved as the competition and broadcasts will be produced with EA’s cloud-based broadcast production technology.

Over the past couple of months, the ALGS has averaged more than 600 teams across its five Online Tournaments and EA will continue to invite competition from around the world when the Summer Circuit begins on June 20. The ALGS Summer Circuit will culminate with the September Playoffs which will feature “Super Regional” gameplay, pairing the best across regions in the following contests: Europe with the Middle East & Africa, North America with South America, Greater Southeast Asia with Australia & New Zealand, and Japan with Korea.

You can read the full details and schedule on the Apex Legends blog here.

EA will broadcast these games across its channels including Twitch and YouTube on Sundays throughout the Summer for fans to catch their favorite teams, including ad hoc gaming, Team SoloMid, Made in Thailand 2, SCARZ White, Team Fearow and more.

The Apex Legends Global Series has seen significant growth in tournament viewership, tripling reported Average Minute Audience (on the Apex Twitch and YouTube channels) from Online Tournament (OT) #2 to OT #3 in just 14 days. OT #6 is set to begin on Friday, May 29, and is shaping up to continue the action.

– Available now on PC/Mac –

Set more than 900 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Western Skyrim is both new and familiar in ZeniMax Online Studios’ award-winning online RPG The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor. Starting today, PC and Mac players can explore the snow-capped peaks of Western Skyrim and the cavernous depths of Blackreach. Players on Xbox One and PS4 can look forward to Greymoor’s launch on June 9, and Stadia on June 16. Alongside ESO’s launch on Stadia, ESO’s base game and Morrowind Chapter will be free to Stadia Pro members on June 16
 
As the second update in the year-long interconnected adventure, Dark Heart of Skyrim, the Greymoor Chapter brings a massive new Antiquities system that digs into Elder Scrolls lore and offers rewards for all types of players, Harrowstorm world events, performance updates, and much more. With around 30 hours of new story content to experience, The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor brings entirely new experiences to ESO, presenting veterans and those new to the game with astounding new stories and content.

Skyrim Like You’ve Never Seen Before
In Western Skyrim, new to ESO, players will travel across the unforgiving lands of the Nords, as well as delve into the deepest depths of Blackreach—expanded from what players originally explored in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim—to fight sinister monsters while unlocking the secret of the Dark Heart of Skyrim. Players will explore familiar and recognizable Western Skyrim locations including Solitude, Morthal, Labyrinthian, Dragon Bridge, and more.

An Ancient Evil Rises
A terrible army of monsters led by a Vampire Lord rises from the depths of Blackreach. Intent on devouring souls to fuel their fiendish plans, it’s up to Skyrim’s heroes—such as Lyris Titanborn, a fan-favourite from the base game—to restore the light and uncover the Dark Heart of Skyrim.

Uncover Tamriel’s Hidden History
With Greymoor comes the all-new Antiquities system that gives players the tools to uncover Tamriel’s hidden history by unlocking unique collectibles, treasure, and even powerful Mythic items, providing rewards for all types of players. As part of this extensive non-combat system, players will travel beyond Western Skyrim and across Tamriel to scry the location of ancient relics and excavate them to become a world-renowned archaeologist.

New World Events
The Greymoor Chapter also brings new world events in the form of Harrowstorms, horrifying supernatural storms that plague the people of Western Skyrim. Players must work together to quell the Harrowstorms terrorizing the land and put a stop to the vampire menace threatening Tamriel.

Existing players can purchase The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor digital upgrade for AU$59.95 (US$39.99) while new players can purchase the complete The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor, a package that includes the base ESO game, as well as the Morrowind, Summerset, and Elsweyr Chapters, for AU$99.95 (US$59.99). More details on purchase options are available here: https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/updates/chapter/greymoor.