Happy Friday, folks! Let’s finish out the week with another batch of video game stories, starting with the announcement that Hitman 3 will come to Nintendo Switch day and date with other platforms! In addition, NPD results revealed that Nintendo Switch was 2020’s bestselling system in the U.S., Axiom Verge is getting a surprise Randomizer Mode, and more. Here’s the video game news you might’ve missed on Jan. 15, 2021.
Hitman 3 – Cloud Version Comes to Switch Day and Date with Other Platforms
The Nintendo Switch version of Hitman 3 will launch alongside other platforms day and date, being Jan. 20. However, the Switch version, referred to as Hitman 3 – Cloud Version, will not run on the handheld hybrid natively, but instead is streamed via the cloud — as its name suggests. This is the same as with Control Ultimate Edition – Cloud Version, which came to Nintendo Switch via the cloud last year.
HITMAN 3 on Nintendo Switch arrives 20 January! The World of Assassination awaits… pic.twitter.com/IHVDEZwQbw
— IO Interactive (@IOInteractive) January 15, 2021
Axiom Verge Gets Randomizer Update Six Years After Release
Axiom Verge, a beloved Metroidvania that launched in 2015, has recently gotten a Randomizer Mode update — nearly six years after release. Well, sort of. It’s in open beta right now and is available via Epic Games Store and Steam and will come to other platforms later. The Randomizer Mode update flips the game on its head, giving you random items as you progress through the game. This gives players an incentive to jump back in before the release of Axiom Verge 2!
Axiom Verge Randomizer Beta is live now on EGS/Steam!https://t.co/tNkvf1960q
— Tom Happ (@AxiomVerge) January 14, 2021
Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game Was Limited Run Games’ “Biggest Release”
Limited Run Games recently started taking preorders on physical editions of Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game – Complete Edition, which serves as a re-release of the original 2010 game. Today, Limited Run announced that, in just three hours, the game had reached 25,000 copies sold, making it the company’s “biggest release of all time” according to its owner, Douglas Bogart.
https://twitter.com/LimitedRunDoug/status/1350137498396188674
A Way Out Has Sold 3.5 Million Copies
In an interview with IGN, Hazelight Studios’ eccentric founder, Josef Fares, revealed that their most recent game, A Way Out, has sold 3.5 million copies. This might come as a surprise since it’s a smaller game made by around 35 people, and even publisher EA didn’t think it’d do that well. According to Fares, “no one believed in [A Way Out] – not even EA thought it would sell, but they still believed in me. I didn’t care. I was like, ‘This is going to happen.’”
Black Ops Cold War and Nintendo Switch Dominate 2020’s Sales Charts in U.S.
Today, Mat Piscatella of the NPD Group released sales stats for video games in the United States, covering the month of December 2020 and the entire year overall. There’s a lot to unpack, but the main highlight is that Nintendo Switch was the bestselling system of 2020 in the U.S., followed by PlayStation 5. In reference to games, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was 2020’s bestselling game, while Cyberpunk 2077 was December 2020’s bestseller, despite the chaos with its release (and by only tracking physical sales).
Check out the full NPD thread below.
https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1350078857970270209
