October madness

Loading Screen Patch Notes.

We have an exciting update to share with our loyal readers! Starting this week we will be making a small adjustment to the frequency in which we deliver our newsletter. Instead of receiving it in your inbox every single day, you can now look forward to receiving the Loading Screen on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

We hope this change provides you with a more curated and in-depth reading experience. By condensing our content into these three days, we can offer you a richer and more insightful newsletter, packed with valuable information and updates. Thank you for your continued support, and we can't wait to embark on this new schedule with you!

— Tim Rhyne, Jason Liu, Derek Neville

MAIN QUEST: Why October kicks off AAA release season

Since 2005, Activision has been releasing a new Call of Duty game around the October / November timeframe without skipping a beat. This year will be no different with Modern Warfare 3’s announced release date of November 10th.

What makes the fall season so ideal to release major titles? It mostly has to do with holiday spending. Studios like to release spendy titles mid to late fall so that their younger users can earmark their holiday ‘allowance’ on the game that best catches their intrigue.

Many other publishers also choose to release their biggest hits around this time, thus creating direct competition for revenue and playtime.

Step back: with live service gaming and revenue smoothing through battle passes and micro-transactions, there’s less of a dependence on hitting the holiday spend wave. This year especially, we have seen studios seeking to avoid direct competition with each other (e.g. BG3 was brought forward to avoid Starfield) — it’s more important now to be the freshest release at time of launch rather than joining the fray.

HUD

• Gran Turismo Sport's online services will go offline on January 31, 2024, in order to “further improve the online services” for Gran Turismo 7. In addition, this board game could be desirable for fans of the racing genre.

• The Van Gogh Museum had to implement purchase limits to slow down scalpers which The Pokemon Company publicly apologized for.

• Disney Lorcana’s first set reprint will be released Holiday 2023 in North America instead of next year. It will also include the second set of the game.

• Here’s some insight on how rain effects work in video games.

MAJOR W

• 🎮 If you have a unique N64 controller, it may be worth over $1000.

• 🐱 Baldur’s Gate 3 could be more fun if you talk to all the furry friends — except maybe the rats.

• 🔐 Fans show their love for games. A fan developed Starfield’s lockpicking mini-game into a browser game. Another made a VR mod for Portal 2 that received high praise for its motion controls.

F IN THE CHAT

• 😤 Counter-Strike 2 players are complaining about missing key features that were lost with the replacement of CS:GO.

• 💸 The Pokemon Trading Card Game Classic Collection preorder costs $400. “All I want is to own the original 151 with their original art at a price less than a PS5”.

• 📉 Mineko’s Night Market did not have a good release review weekend. It received a 67 Metacritic score and an even lower 4.5/10 user score.

CAREER CORNER

• Business analyst — Ubisoft (Montreal, Canada)

• Apex Legends Product Manager Intern — Respawn Entertainment (Multiple US)

• Growth Operations Associate — Z League (Remote US/Canada)

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