News:: Kill la Kill studio to make an anime out of Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

There comes a time when two amazing things come together to bring us a phenomenal product. This principle applies to when a group of machines combines to become one badass giant robot.

While we're on the topic of glorious combinations, Studio Trigger (Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia), the anime studio that was founded by some of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann's key people, announced at Anime Expo '17 that they joined forces with Tsuburaya (the Ultraman franchise) to work on a new anime of Denkou Choujin Gridman, the show that was adapted into Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad in the West.

At the moment, the only thing that we know about the project is that Akira Amemiya (Inferno Cop and Ninja Slayer's Series Director) is directing the new Gridman anime, along with the anime being an original title. In other words, this means that it won't be connected to Tsuburaya's tokusatsu series. With the project's whole title being Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad Gridman, something tells me that it'll appeal to fans of the original series and the Americanized version.

Since the Amemiya and Trigger worked on a Gridman anime short in 2015, this sounds like another chance for us to watch another animation with giant warriors and robots fighting against large monsters in cyberspace.

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News:: George Takei announces 'allegiance' to Hong Kong-based gaming company Fifth Journey

George Takei, of Star Trek fame, and more recently the 2016 musical Allegiance, announced that he would be joining Hong Kong-based gaming company Fifth Journey as creative director.

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News:: That rare Rayman prototype for Super Nintendo is playable

Last year, Rayman creators Frédéric Houde and Michel Ancel shared a cool discovery: an unfinished Super Nintendo version of Rayman that was believed to be lost to time. It was a neat piece of video game history, and this week, the story continues. Omar Cornut of Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap developer Lizardcube has dumped the prototype and put it online for folks to check out.

I've dumped a prototype demo of unreleased Rayman for SNES, here it is! (NB: very early dev build, not a full game) https://t.co/F3XB9XRhTA http://pic.twitter.com/oLhOdNDyHF

— Omar (@ocornut) July 3, 2017

Michel Ancel covered the news on his Instagram, adding, "It's our very first playable [build] (few screens, poor controls, no NPC). We made other levels and we should find them one day!"

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News:: No European or Japanese license needed to operate Drive Girls this August

Drive Girls for the Vita. Cargirls in disguise. Coming August 11. http://pic.twitter.com/pWUawQ7q8b

— RPG Site (@RPGSite) July 1, 2017

Yep, just next month on August 11, 2017 North American's will be able to purchase a copy of Drive Girls without any filthy U's in words like color., announced at Anime Expo 2017. If you already imported a European copy since its release on May 26 or even a Japanese one, more power to you and I hope your shipping was cheap. Even better if the delivery truck turned into an anime girl.

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News:: GTA V modding tool OpenIV is being distributed again

Popular modding tool OpenIV, mostly know for its heavy use in Grand Theft Auto V, is once again available to download from its website after being pulled following a cease-and-desist letter from GTA's publisher, Take-Two.

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News:: Activsion offers some insight on how Destiny failed expectations

While the first Destiny may be a solid enough game, it had a lot of stumbling points in its three year history. At launch, the campaign of the original was fairly lackluster and forgettable. It was the slow release of additional content, however, that did more to hurt the reputation of the game than any glitches, disappointing content or internet cynicism could have.

When fans bested everything there was to do, it was nearly half a year before anything new came to the game. After each major expansion (Taken King, Rise of Iron), the game also got reused asset flips as "new" content, thus aggravating sympathetic fans. It becomes hard to defend something you love when the company making it doesn't seem to care.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Activsion CEO Eric Hirshberg sat down to talk about the future of the publisher, the pratfalls they've faced with yearly Call of Duty installments and how Destiny failed to meet expectations.

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News:: Prey was going to let players fly wherever they wanted

When we reviewed Prey, we praised (ha!) its open structure. Arkane created an environment where it's possible to do nearly anything and to go nearly anywhere. The Gloo Cannon is an essential tool to this end, as it allows for free-form traversal via makeshift walkways. With it, the player is able to get to any hard-to-reach spot that isn't locked away.

However, Arkane originally had an idea that would've really removed any locomotive restrictions. According to an interview with PC Gamer, Prey had a flying ability that was left on the cutting room floor. System designer Seth Shain revealed "There was another power that we cut because we just couldn't make it work or make it fun, it didn't hit our quality bar. It was a power that would directly allow you to fly around the space [station]."

Shain explained that apart from not being able to naturally fit it into Prey's gameplay loop, flying would've put extra stress on the art team. He said that they disliked the Gloo Cannon "because they want every square inch of the station to be beautiful, and if the player can get somewhere high up, then they feel they need to make it look good." Flying would have only exacerbated things.

Ultimately, it feels as if Arkane compromised by settling on jet boost in zero-gravity situations and the Gloo Cannon in normal interiors. That was probably a fine concession to make. Prey begs that you explore every nook and cranny, but it also excels at making you feel like you've earned it when you get there. It seems that flying would've felt a bit too overpowered. 

Prey was originally going to let players fly through Talo 1 [PC Gamer]

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News:: Red Hood makes me hopeful for Injustice 2's long-term prospects

I've been playing with Red Hood off and on for the past few weeks since his release and he's... odd. I still can't figure him out. I can't tell if he's an amazing character, or a dud. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be played like a zoner, a rushdown monster, or something in-between.

And that makes me pretty excited for the future of Injustice 2's DLC characters.

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News:: Study: Men are working fewer hours now because of video games

A paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research proposes that video games are the reason why men ages 21-30 are working fewer hours than the previous generation. The paper also suggests that the improving technology and quality of video games since 2004 have had a hand in capturing the leisure time of young men. (You can read the latest non-final draft here.)

An article by the New York Times on the paper cites a government time use survey asks how people spend their time, which indicates an increase of young men's gaming time in the period of 2004-2007 compared to 2012-2015 from 2 percent to 3.4 percent. The analysis excludes full-time students.

According to a speech made last year by one of the authors of the paper, Erik Hurst, young men are choosing to work less and play more, if work at all. This speech was based on the preliminary findings for the paper in question and Hurst also brings up an anecdote about his young teenage son who wouldn't eat or shower if they didn't ration his gaming time.

Hurst's speech also mentions the trend of working less or even choosing to not work is more prevalent in men that have less than a bachelor's degree. Hurst even goes into the good old "basement dweller" standby, which totally doesn't apply to me because my house doesn't even have a basement.

I'm sure not everyone is agreeing with these claims, with many other factors in today's world such as the economy, employability, hiring practices, and other shifts in industries. It has also been pointed out that this isn't happening in Japan, where most people play do video games, but is happening in South Korea.

Now this all sounds like the "millennials are doing this and that" thing that happens to grab headlines lately, but the statistics do say a little bit of something about how young men spend most of their time these days (besides killing Applebee's). Video games do provide more value in hours of entertainment by the dollar compared to films and TV shows.

Attitudes about video gaming have definitely changed now, with the rapidly growing audience (just look at all those millions of Minecraft videos on YouTube) and industry landscape drastically changing so much in the last half decade alone with the rise of eSports and social game streaming.

So what do you think? Are you playing more and working less?

Why Some Men Don't Work: Video Games Have Gotten Really Good [New York Times]

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News:: Grand Theft Auto V players uncover a hidden UFO mission

The most dedicated of the Grand Theft Auto V community have spent four years working together to unravel the game's most well-protected secret: The Mount Chiliad Mystery. The whole thing is centered around a cryptic mural painted inside the cable car station at the top of the game's largest mountain.

There's a lot to parse, and this page on the GTA Wikia does it most efficiently. Essentially, there's a picture of a UFO, an alien egg, and a jetpack. No one's sure how, but the prevalent theory is that this will somehow lead to players being able to unlock a jetpack in regular gameplay. Whatever end this may lead to, the Chiliad Mystery community is one step closer to getting there.

As a part of GTA V's recent Gunrunning update, files were added (but not yet activated) that the Chiliad Mystery folks were able to manipulate to start a new supply run mission. The video's embedded above, and it features a crashed UFO and some enemy alien types. This post on the group's subreddit explains how the mission was found.

This discovery represents a couple different things. From the outside looking in, it's sort of disappointing. A standard fare supply run is a letdown when you consider how grand this reveal could've been. But, it could also be the first real step toward what this community has been seeking for four years, and that's pretty exciting. We just have to wait to see if Rockstar leans into the Chiliad Mystery as far as the players did.

The Guru Team Presents: The Alien Egg Supply Run!! [reddit]

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News:: Even Americans will be able to strip in School Girl/Zombie Hunter this year

Is it weird I'm not surprised School Girl/Zombie Hunter is coming to North America late 2017? To be honest I thought it already did, but then the announcement at the Anime Expo in LA reminded me that oh yeah these sorts of things don't always release in the west. Not always, but far more in the past when everyone had to rely on imports. And just who could go another day without throwing underage girls' clothes at zombies?

I highly doubt the game will get an English dub, but I always fantasize young voice actresses and actors walking into a recording studio to see the script for the first time and thinking "I have to say what!? What is this game!?" My fantasies are not always in tune with reality but I bet something like that happened at least once.

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News:: Pretend you're Spider-Man with this free VR experience

I think its safe to say that most of us wanted to be Spider-Man in our high school years. The whole charm of the character is overcoming extreme odds to prove yourself to the world; its an allegory for puberty and the radical changes that happen to your body. That being said, we used to get actual good Spider-Man games, so a lot of us had our fix for web slinging and wall crawling years ago.

As for the younger generation, you guys can experience Spider-Man in a new VR experience! Out now on Steam for the low price of free, Spider-Man: Homecoming VR Experience is a first-person, VR laden adventure through the eyes of Tom Holland in the upcoming film. It features all of Spidey's classic gimmicks as well as a boss battle against the Vulture...at least, I believe that is what's going on in the trailer.

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News:: I look forward to dying repeatedly on the new Battlegrounds map

With a massive, dedicated community supporting it, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds can go in any number of directions from here on out. One of the more effective ways to liven up the game? A change in scenery. More maps are in the works, and today, the team shared a glimpse of its new desert setting.

I'm at our new @PUBATTLEGROUNDS office in Madison today. The team is working on our desert map. Here's a WIP preview of this new location... http://pic.twitter.com/ReLbsvwv9A

— PLAYERUNKNOWN (@BattleRoyaleMod) July 3, 2017

This is just one portion of the map, of course, so I wouldn't read into it too much if it seems overly sparse. That said, I do hope the train is functional, and if not that, then at least the bicycle. Either one of those elements could lead to some hilarious moments for Battlegrounds players and viewers.

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News:: Code Vein, Bandai Namco's vampire Souls looking joint, is still rad

Bandai Namco loves to hype up their stuff with trailers that showcase anime cutscenes, explosions, and lots of drama, but it takes them a while to give us cold hard gameplay. Enter this demo video for Code Vein from Anime Expo, which gives us a few head-to-head confrontations with the demonic enemies.

We naturally get a look at the slower methodical action, which seems to rely heavily on an iFrame roll system. Although the game has more in common with the God Eater series (among many other MH-likes Bandai has created or published over the years), you can definitely see the Souls influence from top to bottom. Really, I'm mostly here for the vampire angle.

Code Vein will arrive in 2018 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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News:: Little Witch Academia and The Seven Deadly Sins games coming to Europe in 2018

Unwilling to be left behind after their American counterpart announced the American releases of Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time and The Seven Deadly Sins: Knights of Britannia, Bandai Namco Europe has announced the two games will be coming to Europe.

Both games will be arriving on their previously announced platforms, and will be arriving in early 2018. Both will be receiving physical retail releases as well.

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News:: Map size doesn't seem like a focus for Assassin's Creed: Origins

The glut of open-world games over the past decade have mostly come with variations on the same marketing pitch: "This world is huge." It comes in different forms, from "See that mountain? You can go there!" to proudly revealing the square footage of the in-game map. The general mindset is almost always that bigger is better because that means there is more game to play.

Assassin's Creed: Origins doesn't seem to be concerned with that. In an interview with Game Informer (embedded above), director Ashraf Ismail expresses that he isn't really sure about the size of the map. He settles on both of Origins' cities, Memphis and Alexandria, being about twice the size of Havana in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. This isn't really an exceptional claim because Havana wasn't particularly large.

Ismail elaborates on his uncertainty by saying: "I don't think of the size of the city is what matters. It's really the content, the experience that you have inside of it. It's how alive it is. So we filled these locations with quests, with making each city feel unique to itself." It's a fine sentiment to hold now, but it also rings slightly hollow considering that Assassin's Creed is a series that has liberally used its map size as a bullet point in the past.

The Assassin's Creed subreddit has done a commendable job parsing the interview and plucking out the more interesting points. Some things worth noting are that: The dodge function will be tweaked from what we saw at E3, the Great Pyramid of Giza will be an interior location, and Ismail wants people to be surprised by the game's modern day events. There's a lot happening in Origins and most of it seems worth discussing; it's reassuring to know that gets more of the developers' attention than creating a world of tremendous scale just for the sake of it.

Answering Assassin's Creed Origins' Lingering Questions [Game Informer via reddit]

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News:: Former Xbox boss 'surprised' by the Switch, says it has a fighting chance

Phil Harrison has been around the block. Although he's most widely known as corporate VP for Microsoft he also worked with Sony Computer Entertainment in the '90s -- now he's a self-described "game investor."

Speaking to Venturebeat he mused on the big three, mostly talking about Nintendo's comeback, noting: "Nintendo has surprised me in a good way. They’ve put some excitement back in, or at least added a dynamic to the console equation that wasn’t there previously. From my focus group of a household with younger children, Switch is definitely the console that gets used. Mainly because of the content types. Surprisingly, the TV-to-mobile use case works way more effectively than I expected. Maybe I should give Nintendo more credit. I really enjoy that."

Going on he comments that part of the reason the Wii U failed is because of the tethered under-powered tablet, and that due to Sony's efforts to build a "powerful distribution network outside of the US and the UK," they're reaping the benefits now with the PS4. There's a few great insights in the full interview, so I suggest reading it if you have the chance.

Game investor Phil Harrison sees the broader view of games beyond Sony and Microsoft [VentureBeat]

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News:: GameStop Fourth of July sale: $20 Andromeda and much more on consoles

GameStop is running a pretty kick-ass Fourth of July "Game Day Sale" with a bunch of historic low prices on recent releases such as Mass Effect: Andromeda for only $20. We've rounded up all the great picks below. Note that shipping is free with coupon code SAVER as long as your order is above $25.

One of the more noteworthy deals in the sale beyond Andromeda is GameStop-refurbished units of Xbox One Elite consoles (with the Elite Controller) for only $229.99. Considering the controller still often goes for well over $100 even when refurbished, you're getting a good deal for a hybrid-SSD-equipped console.

The sale runs until Sunday, July 16. We've organized deals below per release period so that it's easier to scan through.

Top Deals

• Mass Effect Andromeda (Xbox One, PS4) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Mass Effect Andromeda Deluxe Edition (Xbox One, PS4) — $29.99  (list price $70)
• Has-Been Heroes (PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch) — $9.99  (list price $20)
• NBA 2K17 Early Tip-Off Edition (Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• NBA 2K17 (Xbox One, PS4) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil (Xbox One, PS4) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Injustice 2 (Xbox One, PS4) — $39.99  (list price $60)

Xbox One Consoles

• Xbox One 1TB Elite Console (Refurbished) — $229.99  (list price $250)
• Xbox One Shooter Blast from the Past System Bundle (Refurbished) — $179.99  (list price $200)

March - June 2017 Releases

• RiME (PS4, Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• The Surge (PS4, Xbox One) — $49.99  (list price $60)
• Outlast Trinity (Xbox One, PS4) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Stardew Valley (PS4) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• RBI Baseball 2017(Xbox One) — $14.99  (list price $20)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands Gold (Xbox One) — $79.99  (list price $100)
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands Deluxe (Xbox One) — $49.99  (list price $70)
• Super Bomberman R (Nintendo Switch) — $39.99  (list price $50)

January - February 2017 Releases

• Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (Nintendo 3DS) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (PS4, Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Halo Wars 2 (Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $60)
• For Honor (Xbox One, PS4) — $34.99  (list price $60)
• Naruto Shippuden UNS 4 Road to Boruto (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• Hitman Complete First Season SteelBook (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $50)
• Digimon World: Next Order (PS4) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• Resident Evil 7 (PS4, Xbox One) — $34.99  (list price $60)
• Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue (PS4) — $34.99  (list price $50)
• Tales of Berseria (PS4) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• Fate/Extella Umbral Star 'Noble Phantasm' Edition (PS4) — $49.99  (list price $60)
• Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star (PS4) — $39.99  (list price $50)
• MX vs ATV Supercross Encore 2017 Track Edition (PS4, Xbox One) — $14.99  (list price $30)

Fall 2016 Releases

• Shantae Half-Genie Hero (PS4, PS Vita, Wii U) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Dishonored 2 Limited Edition (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization (PS4) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition (Xbox One) — $49.99  (list price $70)
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $60)
• Titanfall 2 Deluxe Edition (PS4, Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Just Dance 2017 Gold Edition (PS4) — $39.99  (list price $60)
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• WWE 2K17 (PS4) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Gears of War 4 (Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $60)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience (PS4) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Mafia III (PS4, Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $60)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (PS4) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• Bioshock: The Collection (PS4, Xbox One) — $24.99  (list price $40)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Complete Edition (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $50)

More

• One Piece: Burning Blood (PS4) — $14.99  (list price $20)
• Doom (PS4, Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One, PS4) — $29.99  (list price $60)
• Mortal Kombat XL (PS4, Xbox One) — $29.99  (list price $40)
• UFC 2 (PS4, Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Robinson: The Journey (PSVR) — $19.99  (list price $40)
• Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (PS4) — $14.99  (list price $20)
• Rune Factory 4 (Nintendo 3DS) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (PS4, Xbox One) — $14.99  (list price $30)

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News:: Atari's Swordquest comic is the closeted gamer story I've been waiting for

_{[Image by 8-Bit Central]}

I picked up the first issue of Atari's Swordquest without knowing anything about it. I loved the Art of Atari book from last year, and knowing the comic came from the same publisher gave me enough confidence to go into this one blind. That was definitely the way to go. As a kid, I went into the Swordquest games the same way, which did a lot to add to their air of mystery and unpredictability. 

So I don't want to give too much away, but without spoiling it, I can tell you it does a better job at expressing the "coming out of the closet" theme than I ever would have expected. The protagonist is a 45-year-old man named Peter who grew up up playing Swordquest with his two best friends, Alvin and his twin sister Amy. As adults, they've drifted apart, but after a traumatic life-changing event, a prickly bag of old emotions brings them back together. Then they go on the hunt for the gold encrusted sword that was once an unclaimed prize in a national Swordquest tournament. 

There are a lot of things I love about the story so far. Smart and careful characterizations make for a cast that feels genuine and easy to relate to, aiding in the larger narrative's effort to create a believable space between cold reality and high fantasy. More than anything though, I'm impressed with how understated the expression of self-suppression is here.

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News:: This Cuphead inspired Zelda art has me pining for a Switch version

One of my absolute favorite parts of Walt Disney World isn't a thrill ride, but the Walt Disney museum "One Man's Dream," housed in the Animation Courtyard. Walking through the halls of history and learning where cartoons came from before Disney was established is fascinating, especially when you realize that there were so many distinct styles even at the dawn of the craft.

Cuphead, an upcoming indie shooter draws from this old school style, and reddit user Kzandor decided to come full circle and marry it with The Legend of Zelda. The result is the glorious bit of fanart you see before you.

I have to admit it bums me out that Cuphead is only planned for the PC and Xbox One platforms at this point. It would have been perfect on the Switch, especially with this theoretical Zelda DLC.

Kazandor [Twitter]

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News:: Crash Bandicoot rampages through the UK (charts)

It's 2017 and Crash Bandicoot is back in the sales charts. The mad marsupial spun straight into the number one spot of the U.K. video game charts, knocking off perennial mainstay Grand Theft Auto V. This is also the first U.K. number one the series has ever had.

Also debuting this week was Codemaster's Micro Machines: World Series, which took the number two position. Overwatch continues to sit comfortably at sixth place, maintaining its consistent mid-tier placing, whilst the PS4 release of Elite: Dangerous debuted at number seven. At the other end of the scale, Valkyria Revolution failed to make an impact with its entrance at number 34.

U.K. video game sales chart w/e: July 1 2017
(Chart reflects in-store sales only)

1. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy - Activision Blizzard
2. Micro Machines: World Series - Codemasters
3. Grand Theft Auto V - Take 2
4. Forza Horizon 3 - Microsoft
5. FIFA 17 - Electronic Arts
6. Overwatch - Blizzard
7. Elite: Dangerous - Sold Out Sales
8. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Nintendo
9. DiRT 4 - Codemasters
10. Rocket League - 505 Games

This week sees little in the way of high street releases, so I wouldn't be surprised if Crash was able to hold onto his revivalist glory a little longer.

U.K. video game charts [GFK Chart-Track]

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News:: No, Call of Duty is not coming to the Switch this year

Once upon a time, Call of Duty games, or what I call "Call of Duty adjacent" projects used to hit Nintendo platforms. Whether they were full spinoffs on portable systems like the DS or slightly compromised ports like Black Ops II on the Wii U, they existed, but Activision kind of stopped trying after a while.

To wit, folks are wondering that since the Switch is up to task if we're getting one this year in WWII, but the definitive answer seems to be "no." That's an exact quote from Sledgehammer Games' Michael Condrey on a Reddit AMA, actually -- "no."

It seems like that was pretty clear when the platforms were originally announced a few weeks back, but Activision as usual has been pretty mum on whether or not it's going to arrive on unannounced platforms -- they always are, as people have been reaching out annually to see if Call of Duty is Wii U bound every year since 2013 and typically get a "no comment" response.

Now we know. Maybe we'll all be doing the same song and dance next year?

Sledgehammer Games [Reddit]

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News:: Changes: How I learned to stop hating Dark Souls and love Dark Souls

The first time I saw this logo, I was elated. The second time I saw it, I never wanted to see it again.

I’ve been a day 1 Souls player from the very beginning. On October 6, 2009 I walked down to the local game store, bought Demon’s Souls, and the trajectory for my gaming tastes were determined for the next 8 years. However, it may not have been this way, if it weren’t for the massive changes that happened to Dark Souls.

When Dark Souls first released, I hated it. While I felt Demon’s Souls was fair in its difficulty and progression, Dark Souls felt like it was specifically designed to be unfair and waste people’s time (might I add that being unfair and being difficult are not the same thing). Now, looking back, having played through the game several dozen times, I imagine that I wouldn’t have much trouble with the game at 1.0 anymore. I know all its ins and outs, where all the weapons are, all the boss weaknesses, and how to get anywhere I want from the very start of the game. I’ve come to hold its world and boss design as some of the best I’ve ever played. But especially for a first playthrough, it really wasn’t enjoyable.

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News:: Pokemon Go has made $1.2 billion to date, surpasses 750 million downloads

The userbase for Pokemon Go dropped off dramatically, but the hardcore whales that are still funding it are dropping bags of money into Niantic's lap.

According to app tracker Apptopia,  it's generated $1.2 billion in revenue in the roughly one year it's been out. For reference, that's a little more money than Finding Dory ($1.029 billion) made worldwide last year in theaters. 752 million users have also downloaded the app.

So how many people are still playing? Well, a suggested "active" user count (which basically involves logging into the game at least once) is around 60 million monthly players as of June -- 20% were daily players. For comparison's sake, it had around 100 million last August right after the game reached the top of its hyped launch.

It's weird walking around and not seeing as many people playing. There was a state park near me that was full of families and solo players alike meeting new people every weekend, but week to week that fizzled out until there was no one left but the hardcore 2500+ CP gym trainers. Maybe raids can mix things up? We're still waiting on battling, trading, and legendaries in the meantime.

Pokémon Go passes $1.2 billion in revenue and 752 million downloads [Venturebeat]

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