But while we’ll never get to see the Marvel MMO, much less play it, we have, at the very least, got a brief glimpse of what it would have looked like. Ramiro Galan is a freelance UI/UX designer who has worked on a number of AAA games, including the likes of Halo 5 and PUBG, and recently he shared images on his ArtStation page of the work he had done on the cancelled Marvel MMO as well.

The images show what would have been the game’s character creator and customization options, including being able to select your character’s gender, body type, name, powers and abilities, and cosmetic options such as your clothing, face, banner, and more. Given how early the game was in development before it got cancelled, it goes without saying that a lot of this stuff hadn’t been finalized- though the images do give us an idea of the sort of visual style and aesthetic the title was going for. Check them out in the gallery below.

It’s a shame that the Marvel MMO won’t be seeing the light of day, because it’s a premise that’s begging to be utilized. Hopefully another developer will see the potential here and decide to give it a shot in the not-too-distant future.

That project is not going to see the light of day, as it turns out. EG7 recent published an update in which it confirmed that it has cancelled its Marvel MMO, after having evaluated “the development risk profile, size of investment, and the long-term product portfolio strategy for the group.”

The project was going to see an investment of SEK 500 million (which is a little over $50 million) over the course of three years. EG7 will now use that money to further invest in existing games like The Lord of the Rings Online and DC Universe Online, as well as self-owned IPs.

“EG7 today announced it will be discontinuing the development of the Marvel project at Daybreak Games,” the company wrote. “Based on the re-evaluation of the development risk profile, size of investment, and the long-term product portfolio strategy for the group, the board has decided to change the development priorities and reallocate resources within the group to focus on alternative long-term projects. The company had planned to invest more than SEK 500 million in the Marvel project over the next three years. The company will now diversify this investment across multiple, smaller size projects within the group, including the previously announced major upgrades to The Lord of the Rings Online and DC Universe Online, and new game opportunities with our first party, original IPs.”

There are plenty of other Marvel projects in the works at a number of other studios, including Firaxis Games’ turn-based tactical RPG Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Second Dinner’s collectible card game Marvel Snap, and Insomniac Games’ action-adventure duo Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Marvel’s Wolverine.

Skydance New Media is also developing a story-driven single player action-adventure Marvel project, with its development team being led by Uncharted creator Amy Hennig. According to report, the project is either an Ant-Man game or a Fantastic Four title.

MMORPGs have, more or less, gone out of style over the last half decade or so. It’s largely because online gaming has evolved enough to where constantly online games can function alongside a single player competent, as well as because of the lack of appeal of an extra subscription fee- and because MMORPG gameplay staples have become more ingrained in other genres. That said, even if almost none launch nowadays, there’s some legacy MMOs still running (and doing very well), such as Final Fantasy 14, World of Warcraft, and DC Universe Online. The latter of which you’ll be able to take on the go later this year, when it launches for the Switch.

You can see the announcement trailer below, provided via CBR. Little is shown, but you get the general idea that the multiplayer title will be coming to the Switch this summer, as it pans across the familiar settings of the DC Universe the game recreates.

DC Universe Online originally released all the way back in 2011 on the PC and PlayStation 3 (though the latter version is now discontinued). It’s since been turned free to play and released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with multiple expansions and cosmetics, as you create your own character to battle alongside DC’s iconic superheroes and villains. DC Universe Online will launch this Summer for Nintendo Switch.

There may never be a game like Grand Theft Auto 5 ever again. The title launched almost five years ago, and yet, even today, it continues to chart on sales charts around the world. And not just the retail sales charts, either- Sony reports, for example, that Grand Theft Auto 5 was the most downloaded game off of PSN last month.

Now, admittedly, there were no major releases on PS4 last month, so it kind of makes sense- but even so, the game managed to beat out far more recent releases such as Detroit: Become Human, Far Cry 5, and God of War, which is hugely impressive.

On the free to play side of things, this may surprise you, but Fortnite did not end up on top this month. Instead, that honor goes to Daybreak’s H1Z1, which launched on PS4 last month, and managed to hit millions in downloads right away.

You can check out the full download charts for yourself below, for paid and free to play games. I wonder if GTA5 will be able to maintain its lead next month, too- there’s no major release for the PS4 in July either.

PAID PSN

Grand Theft Auto V
FIFA 18
God of War
The Last Of Us Remastered
Detroit: Become Human
Mortal Kombat XL
Jurassic World Evolution
Horizon Zero Dawn: Complete Edition
Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition
Gran Turismo Sport

FREE TO PLAY

H1Z1: Battle Royale
Fortnite Battle Royale
Fallout Shelter
Brawlhalla
Paladins
PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2018 LITE
Warframe
DC Universe Online Free-to-Play
3on3 FreeStyle
America’s Army: Proving Grounds

Daybreak Games may be suffering lately with lay-offs and whatnot but its free to play Battle Royale title H1Z1 isn’t doing too badly on PS4. Following the launch of the open beta on console, the developer revealed that it had been downloaded by over 1.5 million PS4 players in 24 hours.

Though the open beta is free, there have been numerous issues. From server stability to purchase problems with cosmetics, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. Even with all these issues and other bugs in-game, it’s good to see H1Z1 getting some recognition. Daybreak said that it was aware of recent issues and was actively working to resolve them.

H1Z1 has Solo and Squad options currently, the latter placing you in a team of five players. More information on Duos should be coming soon as well. Though H1Z1 hasn’t had the best launch on PC since leaving Steam Early Access, perhaps the PS4 version could instill some new life.

After arriving in January 2015, splitting into H1Z1: Just Survive and King of the Kill, microtransaction controversies and whatnot, Daybreak Games’ H1Z1 is finally making the exit from Steam Early Access. It can be yours for just $19.99 on Steam.

General manager at Daybreak Anthony Castoro issued a statement on the game’s release: “In 2016, we did something unheard of — we split a successful game into two products and introduced the world to the first standalone battle royale game. The next year, we created the first battle royale esports league and became the second esport to ever air on broadcast television.

This year, we continue to push this young genre forward with the introduction of Auto Royale. Auto Royale doesn’t rinse and repeat what is currently available on the market, it turns the genre on its head with a fresh approach — arcadey, vehicle-only battle royale unlike anything anyone has experienced before.”

On top of launching with features like a mini map, the first official Season and Tactical Deployment to let you choose the area to parachute into, H1Z1 will also have a new Auto Royale mode. As the name indicates, matches focus on driving around, scouring for weapons and waging war in vehicles.

There’s a new exclusive LMG for the mode, powerups like vehicle repair kits and turbo boosts, and two exclusive cars – the Sedan and Armored Recon Vehicle. With 30 teams of four fighting it out, there’s definitely a fair bit of chaos to handle. In the future, players can look forward to the Z1 Remastered map, which is based on a map created early in development which fans loved.

When John Smedley left Sony Online Entertainment, later renamed to Daybreak Games, it was to work on a brand new roguelike action RPG called Hero’s Song as part of his new company Pixelmage. Hero’s Song launched on Steam Early Access roughly two months ago.

Now Smedley has announced that Hero’s Song has been cancelled and Pixelmage will be shutting down. Smedley shared the news on Twitter with the Pixelmage website informing players of the studio’s closure.

“It’s with a heavy heart that I have to report that Pixelmage Games is going to be shutting down and we have ceased development on Hero’s Song. For the last year, our team has worked tirelessly to make the game we’ve dreamed about making, and with your support, and the support of our investors, we were able to get the game into Early Access.

“Unfortunately sales fell short of what we needed to continue development. We knew going in that most startups don’t make it, and as an indie game studio we hoped we would be the exception to that rule, but as it turned out we weren’t.”

Those who purchased the game will receive a full refund and can either go through the normal process on Steam or send an email to Indiegogo to receive their money back.

Note: This interview was conducted before the Xbox One version was launched.

What prompted the decision to bring DC Universe Online to Xbox One, especially considering it first released in 2011 and arrived on PS4 in November 2013?

When we transitioned to Daybreak Games last year, it opened up a lot of opportunities for us – we were able to redefine and evolve as a company. This also meant that we were able to develop games on different platforms like Xbox One. DC Universe Online has a thriving community and Xbox one users have been asking for us to bring the game over to the Xbox so that they too can be part of the DC Universe. We’re really excited that they’ll have the opportunity to work alongside (or against) Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Circe, Lex Luthor and the Joker this April when DCUO launches on the XB1.

Given the game’s success on PS3 and PS4, what are your goals for its Xbox One release?

Our top priority is a fun and immersive player experience. We aren’t changing the game’s core gameplay, and we hope that players on the Xbox One will have just as much fun as our current players exploring Gotham City, Metropolis, and beyond.

"DC Universe Online has a tremendous amount of content available, much of it for free. Since we launched the original game in 2011, we’ve put out 23+ Episodes of content (missions, instances, raids, etc.) to the end game."

What can you tell us about the current content for DC Universe Online and what Xbox One players can look forward to?

DC Universe Online has a tremendous amount of content available, much of it for free. Since we launched the original game in 2011, we’ve put out 23+ Episodes of content (missions, instances, raids, etc.) to the end game. It’s the ultimate DC experience with over 220 iconic DC characters. We’ve also got a lot of level-agnostic content like Legends, where players can actually PvP or run certain pieces of content as some of the most iconic DC characters like Batman, Green Lantern, and dozens more.

Will the game run at 1080p resolution and 60 FPS on the Xbox One?

The game will run at 1080P and 30+ FPS.

How are you dealing with the Xbox One’s complicated architecture, especially with eSRAM in the mix?

We are using the Unreal 3 engine which supports this architecture.

Are you using the 7th core CPU on the Xbox One to improve performance?

We aren’t using the 7th core, instead, we are using Unreal engine 3 to optimize performance on the Xbox One.

"Shortly after launch on Xbox One, we’ll be releasing Episodes 24 which means Darkseid is coming to DCUO! I can’t wait to see players work hard to get powerful enough to take him on."

What kind of new updates can we expect to coincide with the Xbox One release?

Shortly after launch on Xbox One, we’ll be releasing Episodes 24 which means Darkseid is coming to DCUO! I can’t wait to see players work hard to get powerful enough to take him on. Also, we’re adding new Harley Quinn missions to the game that are quite fun (and ridiculous). Around this time, we’ll also have our annual Spring seasonal event going on, which features Poison Ivy and Swamp Thing. Players can expect lots of updates throughout 2016, including more new features and lots of new story content.

What kind of modifications have you done to the game to better suit the Xbox One’s controller?

We want to make sure our game, including the controls, is familiar across all platforms to give players the best experience possible. No modifications to the controller were made.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

We just revamped the website (www.dcuniverseonline.com) and added a bunch of new content to help new players get started on the Xbox One. The site looks great, you should check it out!

DC Universe Online is now available on the Xbox One and GamingBolt recently caught up with S.J. Mueller who is the Creative Director of the game, to check out how the game is shaping up on Microsoft’s console. The game is already available on the PS4 and PC, so what prompted the devs to bring the game on the Xbox One?

“When we transitioned to Daybreak Games last year, it opened up a lot of opportunities for us – we were able to redefine and evolve as a company,” Mueller said to GamingBolt.”This also meant that we were able to develop games on different platforms like Xbox One. DC Universe Online has a thriving community and Xbox one users have been asking for us to bring the game over to the Xbox so that they too can be part of the DC Universe. We’re really excited that they’ll have the opportunity to work alongside (or against) Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Circe, Lex Luthor and the Joker this April when DCUO launches on the XB1.”

Furthermore, he also confirmed that the game will be running at 1080p on the Xbox One with an unlocked 30 frames per second experience. Mueller also revealed that they did not used the Xbox One’s 7th core CPU to improve performance. However, they simply used the functionality available within Unreal Engine 3 to optimize the Xbox One build.

The game is now available for free on the Xbox One. Stay tuned for our full interview with Mueller soon.

Daybreak Games’ H1Z1 has received a monumentally large patch which the developer has named “Big Damn Patch” and it includes a number of additions to the core online game.

Along with providing a new male character model, the Dam area has been overhauled and the Battle Royale mode’s starting area has been updated. Zombie total population has also been changed to reflect human population so you won’t be overrun if there aren’t enough players on the same server. That’s not all though – there will now be workbenches scattered through the world for discovering different recipes such as new types of ammo and whatnot.

Players will also be able to dismantle guns for parts, in addition to the new weapons which have been added. This is in addition to the various bug fixes and other new features. Check out the full patch notes here.

What are your thoughts on the new patch? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned for more information.