What You Missed This Week in Video Games

“Game On” is The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.

NEW RELEASES: This week’s most noteworthy release is Nintendo’s (NTDOY) “Splatoon 3: Side Order,” a downloadable expansion to 2022’s “Splatoon 3.” The DLC pack releases February 22 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

SONY RESULTS: Along with its third quarter earnings report last week, Sony (SONY) said that its operating income for the period decreased significantly primarily due to a “deterioration” in the profitability of the PlayStation 5 hardware, which is mainly due to promotions. The company added, however, that “key user engagement metrics” rose significantly when it comes to PlayStation 5 users, and that PS5 unit sales for this fiscal year are anticipated to be around 21M units.

Of note, though, Sony said that it does not plan to release any new major games from its existing IP before March 31, 2025. “Regarding first-party software, we aim to continue to focus on producing high-quality works and developing live service games, but, while major projects are currently under development, we do not plan to release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year like God of War Ragnarök and Marvelʼs Spider-Man,” the company said. The Fly notes that Sony typically releases several top-selling first-party games for its PlayStation platforms every year.

SWITCH SUCCESSOR: Late last week, Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips reported, citing Brazilian games journalist Pedro Henrique Lutti Lippe, that Nintendo is eyeing releasing its next console, an unnamed successor to the Switch, in the first quarter of 2025. Phillips noted that Eurogamer has “heard similar whispers” from industry sources this past week, though the site has not been able to “concretely substantiate” such reporting.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported over the weekend that the Japanese game giant told publishers that the yet-to-be-named Switch successor would be delayed until the early months of 2025. According to Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki and Yuki Furukawa, the next Nintendo console was originally targeted for release at the end of 2024, though publishers have since been informed they should expect its release to occur in 2025. Nintendo shares fell 5.84% in Japan on Monday after such reporting, with the shares also down in New York on Tuesday.

XBOX UPDATE: In an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast last week, Microsoft Gaming (MSFT) CEO Phil Spencer confirmed rumors that four Xbox console exclusive titles would be ported to other platforms, such as the PS5 and Nintendo Switch. Though Spencer declined to name the four games in question, he noted that two of them are “community-driven” games, while the other two are smaller games that were “never really meant to be built as platform exclusives.” The Xbox boss added that 2023’s “Starfield” and the upcoming “Indiana Jones and the Great Circles” are not among the four.

After confirming that four of the company’s games would be available on new platforms in the near future, Spencer said that the move is not meant to mark any change in the company’s fundamental Xbox exclusive strategy, and that the Xbox maker is looking to “reach as many players” as it can. On that note, Microsoft’s head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty said on the podcast that the company’s subscription service Game Pass will continue to be a service only available on PC and Xbox. The Fly notes that every Xbox-published video game has arrived on Game Pass on its first day of release since 2018.

Additionally, Xbox president Sarah Bond said on the podcast that the company has some “exciting” hardware announcements to share later in the year, and that the company is building for the “next generation” of Xbox consoles.

OTHER STORIES TO WATCH:

• Nintendo’s “Mario vs. Donkey Kong” remake was the top-selling boxed game in the U.K. this week, Gamesindustry.biz reports(HAS) has brought in roughly $90M so far from a licensing deal over 2023 video game hit “Baldur’s Gate 3,” Bloomberg reports (read more)
• Microsoft said that Game Pass currently has 34M subscribers, though that number now includes subscribers to Game Pass Core, which was previously known as Xbox Live Gold before the rebrand (read more)
• Blizzard Entertainment laid off 136 staff in its Cork office, Irish Examiner reports (read more)
• Almost 700 Ubisoft (UBSFY) workers in France went on strike for a day over wages, Gamesindustry.biz reports (read more)
• Gan Limited (GAN) shareholders approved the Sega Sammy (SGAMY) deal proposal (read more)
• Embracer (THQQF) cancelled 29 games during a six-month period last year, VGC reports (read more)
• Electronic Arts’ (EA) Respawn is working on a first-person “Star Wars” game, Insider Gaming reports (read more)