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: While this week has very few notable new game releases, last week saw launches of three titles from major publishers. On Friday, March 22, players saw the release of Capcom’s (CCOEY) open-world role-playing game “Dragon’s Dogma 2,” which released for PC, PlayStation 5 (SONY), and Xbox Series X/S (MSFT). Also releasing the same day was Nintendo’s (NTDOY) platformer “Princess Peach Showtime,” which launched exclusively for the Switch, while Sony’s (SONY) action game “Rise of the Ronin” also released exclusively for the PS5.

Despite all the new releases, Gamesindustry.biz’s Christopher Dring (EA) “EA Sports FC,” though “Dragon’s Dogma 2” came in second. Narrowly missing second place was “Princess Peach Showtime,” though Dring noted that the new Nintendo title had a weak launch, coming in lower than February’s remake of “Mario vs. Donkey Kong.”

CIRCANA FEBRUARY: Circana analyst Mat Piscatella (SQNXF) “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” was the #2 best-selling premium game of February, instantly becoming the 4th best-selling game of 2024 YTD. Also debuting on the chart in February was the “Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack,” placing 8th in February and at #16 for the year. Other top-selling games for the month in the U.S. were Bandai Namco’s (NCBDY) “Tekken 8,” Activision’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III,” Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,” Electronic Arts’ “Madden NFL 24,” Ubisoft’s (UBSFY) “Skull & Bones,” and Sega’s (SGAMY) “Persona 3: Reload.”

APPLE APP STORE POLICIES: Last week, Meta (META), Microsoft, Spotify (SPOT), X, and Match Group (MTCH) filed an amicus brief protesting Apple’s (AAPL) plan to charge a commission for payments made outside the App Store, arguing that Apple’s response essentially leaves in place the existing rule governing how software makers steer users to alternative options and places new restrictions on app developers, The Wall Street Journal’s Aaron Tilley and Bradley Olson (TCEHY), KKR (KKR), Disney (DIS), and Sony.

OTHER STORIES TO WATCH:

• Sony has paused production of its PlayStation VR2 headset, Bloomberg reports (read more)
• Take-Two’s (TTWO) upcoming game “Grand Theft Auto 6” could miss its planned 2025 release window and slip into 2026, Kotaku reports (read more)