Aside from today’s bigger video game stories, like the announcement of Ubisoft’s new Star Wars game, there’s a lot more to discuss. Sony revealed the most-downloaded PlayStation games of 2020, Sega teased a new announcement, GameStop stock is not DOA after all, and more. Here’s the video game news you might’ve missed on January 13, 2021.
Sega Teases “Something Special” Coming This Thursday
Recently, the official Sega Europe Twitter account announced that its first livestream of 2021 will air on Thursday, Jan. 14, noting that it will feature “something special.” The tweet features a GIF of Sonic the Hedgehog running across the Sega logo, but that isn’t stopping fans from hoping the announcement will be Persona or Yakuza-related. We’ll find out on Thursday!
https://twitter.com/SEGA_Europe/status/1348956161907830787
EA’s Acquisition of Codemasters Will Go Through As Planned After Outbidding Take-Two
Following Take-Two’s initial $980 million bid for publisher Codemasters, Electronic Arts stepped in and offered $1.2 billion, seemingly securing the acquisition. Today, Take-Two stated that it has pulled its offer, meaning that, indeed, EA will own Codemasters and all of its IP, including Dirt, F1, OnRush, and World Rally Championship to name a few. The acquisition is expected to be finalized later in Q1 2021.
Read More: Take-Two officially pulls its offer for Codemasters following accepted EA bid
GameStop’s Stock Climbs After Chewy Investor Joins Board
In recent years, it has been common to see news about the steady decline of GameStop’s performance, but the company is currently enjoying a significant boost in its shares. As of today, the company’s share’s climbed 94% — due to the addition of Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen to GameStop’s board of directors. This marks the highest price since 2015. With the rise of digital game sales, GameStop has struggled to keep afloat but plans on adapting to remain relevant going forward. Cohen, along with two other former Chewy colleagues on the board, is expected to “make GameStop a more digitally focused retailer.”
Read More: GameStop Surges Most Ever in Short Squeeze After Cohen Move
Players Spent Over 31 Billion Hours Playing Steam Games in 2020
Valve just released a slew of Steam stats for 2020, with in-depth data about its users’ activity throughout the year. Most notably, players spent a combined 31.3 billion hours playing Steam games, an increase of over 50% when compared to 2019. In addition, consumers purchased 21% more games on the platform when compared to the previous year, likely due to the number of people staying home throughout the pandemic.
Read More: Steam – 2020 Year in Review
Black Ops Cold War Was NA’s Most Downloaded PlayStation Game in 2020
Today, the PlayStation.Blog revealed the most-downloaded PS Store games of 2020, covering both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 across EU and NA. The most-downloaded game of 2020 across PS4 and PS5 in North America was Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. On PS5, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was the next most downloaded game, followed by Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. Check out the full list, courtesy of industry commentator Dom, below.
Top Downloads, PlayStation Store, 2020:
PS5:
US/CAN:
1. CoD: BOCW
2. Miles Morales
3. AC: Valhalla
4. NBA 2K21
5. Demon's Souls
6. Madden 21
7. FIFA 21EUR:
1. CoD: BOCW
2. Miles Morales
3. AC: Valhalla
4. FIFA 21
5. Demon's Souls
6. Watch Dogs: Legion
7. Immortals pic.twitter.com/oBaxWjXgkP— Dom (@DomsPlaying) January 13, 2021
