While the title wasn’t outright referred to as Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 in the press release, it is very likely the game in question owing to its description of being a “co-op action shooter based on a major film IP franchise”.

The game, referred to in the press release as Project Avo, was expected to be quite close to an official announcement owing to the fact that it was briefly spotted on the official website for US game ratings board ESRB. The listing had been quickly taken down, but not without screenshots had been grabbed that indicated that Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 would be rated Mature 17+, and that it would come to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

The ESRB listing also included content warnings for Aliens: Fireteam Elite, indicating that the co-op shooter will feature blood and gore, strong language, and violence.

The fact that Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 was in development first came to light back in July 2024 thanks to an internal document that was spotted on Reddit. The document at the time had referred to the co-op shooter’s sequel as Project Mocando, as well as the fact that it would focus on improving “the mechanics, atmosphere and excitement of the original.”

The document described the title as featuring a 2-player co-op campaign with a runtime of between 8 and 12 hours. Along with this, it is also expected to have a new game mode dubbed Annihilation Mode. It is worth noting that these features were described as being part of an early build of the game, and as such, things might have seen several changes by now.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a 3-player co-op shooter that puts players in the shoes of colonial marines on a mission set on planet LV-895. Over the course of the game’s co-op campaign, players learn the secrets of the planet’s various ruins and caves, all while fighting off xenomorphs as well as rogue synthetics that have seemingly gone hostile. Missions typically involve one or two objectives before the crew of players have to make their way to an exit.

2022 saw a major addition to Aliens: Fireteam Elite with the release of the Pathogen expansion. The expansion brought with it a host of new environments and maps, as well as a new campaign that had players trying to figure out the nature and secrets of a mysterious pathogen that seemingly also effects xenomorphs. The expansion heavily expanded on the base game’s offerings of seven playable classes and several weapons and attachments with 8 new weapons, as well as new perks and cosmetic items.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

According to the screenshot grabbed by Gematsu, it looks like Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 will be rated Mature 17+, with warnings that it will feature blood and gore, strong language, and violence. Along with this, the ESRB listing also notes that publisher Daybreak Game Company will be targeting PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S as the release platforms.

It is worth noting that the Aliens: Fireteam Elite, which was released back in 2021, was developed by Iron Studios and published by Focus Entertainment. However, it looks like both the development team and the publisher will be changing for the release of the sequel.

The last time any word of Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 came around was back in July 2024, when an internal document describing the sequel had been released on Reddit. The document indicated that the sequel was being made under the codename Project Mocando, and that it was going to “improve upon the mechanics, atmosphere, and excitement of the original.”

Among the new content being made for the game, according to the document, is a new 2-player co-op campaign that will take players between 8 and 12 hours to finish, as well as a new game mode dubbed Annihilation Mode. However, even at the time, the document was noted to have been from early in the sequel’s development, which means that these details could have already gotten outdated before they were revealed.

The original Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a 3-player co-op title that pits players into missions on a planet dubbed LV-895 where they must discover the secrets of its ruins and caves. The third-person survival shooter places quite a bit of emphasis on teamwork, co-operation, and survival, especially when hordes of hostile xenomorphs and even synthetics decide to show up.

The base game features seven unique classes, with players having quite a bit of freedom in how they choose to progress by levelling up their classes and weapons, or deciding to stick to a single class and loadout. As for weapons, Aliens: Fireteam Elite offers quite a wide range of firepower, from pistols and revolvers, to SMGs, and even rocket launchers.

Among the content released for Aliens: Fireteam Elite was 2022’s Pathogen expansion, which brought with it new environments, maps, and a campaign that has the players trying to figure out the secrets behind a mysterious pathogen that doesn’t even spare xenomorphs. In terms of gameplay, the expansion brought with it 8 new weapons, new perks, weapon attachments, and a host of cosmetic items.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. The title also eventually got a Cloud release on the Nintendo Switch. For more details, check out our review of its original launch version.

Nobody really thinks about Daybreak’s H1Z1 when the phrase “Battle Royale” is used since Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds took over that scene, but the long time favourite has hit a great new milestone of 10 Million players according to Steamspy.

Now, the fact that the game recently went Free-to-Play might have had some influence on the numbers. Further stats tell us that 2,258,261 players have launched the game within the last two weeks. Unfortunately there were just over 27,000 concurrent players yesterday.

The game launched first on Steam Early Access nearly 3 years ago under the name Just Survive, and helping pioneer the Battle Royale genre. The game finally officially launched as H1Z1 Battle Royale on February 28, and went free-to-play shortly after launch. The monetization change likely spurred some curious returning players who didn’t stick around.

Cheaters are everywhere, including video games. Now, if they’re playing their game by themselves and are cheating, no one cares. Sure, they’re not having the intended experience, but at the very least, the only one affected by their actions is them alone.

Now, in multiplayer games, cheaters can wreak havoc and undermine the very foundation of the game. We’ve seen companies like Blizzard take hard stances against cheaters before, and now, Daybreak (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) too decided to take out all the cheaters currently plaguing one of its hottest properties right now. In a massive wave of bans, Daybreak took out a large number of H1Z1 cheaters over the weekend.

“Massive ban wave underway started this weekend,” Daybreak president John Smedley wrote on Twitter. “ESP users, if you’re really psychic you know you’re f’ed. Keep using it. Please.”

H1Z1 is Daybreak’s take on the massively multiplayer zombie survival action formula that DayZ pioneered. It is currently available only on PC (though it was a runaway success there), although versions for the PS4 and Xbox One have been announced and hinted at respectively.

We’ll keep you posted.

Three months ago, Sony Online Entertainment parted ways with the rest of Sony, as they were sold off to an independent investment firm. Sony Online Entertainment at that point expressed eager enthusiasm to work on bringing their games to Xbox, in addition to PlayStation and PC.

It turns out that this desire wasn’t just because of the excitement of tinkering with new technology, or a wish to see their games exposed to a wider audience- in strictly financial terms, Daybreak estimates it will see its revenues spike once its games are available on Xbox. It estimates that the revenue raise may be as much as 50%.

“If you just take the numbers that the console publishers themselves have put out, you are talking about a 50 percent revenue lift,” company president John Smedley said in an interview on U-T San Diego.

He may not be wrong- games like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (PS3, PS4) and Neverwinter (Xbox One) have shown us that MMORPGs do have an audience on consoles as well, and MMO style games is what Daybreak is known for. Whether or not the company can tap into this audience remains to be seen- as of right now, though, this remains to be seen.

Stay tuned.

Daybreak’s John Smedley recently had a very candid chat with GamesIndustry.biz, which ranged on a wide variety of subjects, including the zombie action survival MMO, H1Z1, as well as his wider ranging views on the MMO market.

On the latter subject, Smedley seems to believe that the days of World of Warcraft style engaged MMOs are over.

“I firmly believe the days of the WoW-style MMO are over,” Smedley said. “And that means we have to change with the times. Luckily, we were kind of early on that bus as opposed to late. But we’re changing what we’re making.

“And I say that because the average life expectancy in H1Z1 might be 45 minutes, and that’s what today’s gamers want. How many people do you still know that are still raiding in WoW every night, or EverQuestand EverQuest II? It’s just the time commitment necessary has changed so much,” Smedley explained. “That means we need to change with the times, and we are. So we’re getting interested in a broader array of games and gaming styles.”

Of course, this ignores the continuing success of World of Warcraft (which saw its subscribers go up in the previous reported quarter), as well as the success of multiple MMOs like it in the market, including Guild Wars 2. If the days of engaged MMOs are indeed done with, then why is it that those games, or others like them, such as Destiny, continue to thrive and prosper?

Even with all the issues that Daybreak’s online zombie survival sandbox title H1Z1 has been facing with micro-transactions and a monthly pass for a single mode (which has since been rescinded), it’s still managed to sell more than 1 million copies on Steam according to president John Smedley on Twitter. The game is currently in early access and has been out since January on PC.

To make things even better, H1Z1 has managed to stay in the top 10 best sellers list for Steam since its launch, which is no small feat considering the crowded survival genre with DayZ and Rust.

H1Z1 has had its fair share of issues however. From server problems to disagreements about the pricing and inclusion of micro-transactions from the fan base, H1Z1 has faced an uphill battle since launch. It currently has no commercial release date but more features will be added throughout the year. Stay tuned for more information.

Daybreak’s H1Z1, their MMO zombie themed survival game, is ostensibly free to play, but earlier today, news came to light that implied that the game may be trying to gradually shift to a subscription model like so many other MMOs. Essentially, the changes centered around the Battle Royale mode, where the developer tried to restrict access to it by being only the top ranked player in any given match- to compensate for this (previously, you could get tickets to qualify for Battle Royale by placing in the top 30% in any match), they also announced 30 day unlimited access to the mode for $6.99.

Players immediately objected- not only was this insidious, but it was also a far cry from the vision of the game as had been originally promised to us, and it also made no sense to start charging for subscriptions, especially given that the game is still unfinished.

For now, then, Daybreak seems to have backtracked on these plans. Said Daybreak’s John Smedley in a statement:

“We’ve listened to your feedback. It came through loud and clear. From our perspective we’ve been really super clear about our plans from even before day 1 regarding this. What’s also clear though is that you expect more from us in terms of quality level so that’s what we’re going to do. We’ll focus on bugs, awesome new stuff and adding a ton of features to BR and our main game to make you feel like you’re more than happy to pay for it. Only then will we charge for it.”

I sort of wish they had come to this realization without players first raising a ruckus about it, however.

Thanks, Gameranx.