Final Fantasy XIV and Butterfinger are teaming up for a new promotion involving exclusive DLC. The MMORPG definitely had a rough launch when it was first released; players were both overwhelmed and underwhelmed by the structure of the new take on the franchise when it was first released. Thankfully, since then, various improvements and expansions have been released, effectively turning it into one of the most successful MMORPGs on the market. Now that this game is in open beta on PS5, the community is more active than ever before, which is where Butterfinger comes into play.
In yet another play by the Game Better With Butterfinger initiative, the chocolate brand is partnering with the online Final Fantasy title to deliver exclusive in-game content from May 3 to June 30. Interested in earning while you snack? This limited-time promotion requires a purchase of $5 worth of Butterfinger bars to get a special Chocopokkur mount. Buy the candy, show proof of purchase with a receipt, and upload said proof to this website right here (when it becomes live on May 3) to claim that mount for your own.
Chocopokkur sounds like a pretty odd name, right? It's a combination of chocolate and Korpokkur (witty), giving a Butterfinger twist to the popular Korpokkur Kolossus mount already available. This mount is perfect for those players who crave speed and allow dedicated fans of Final Fantasy XIV to travel by land, air, and sea while conquering foes.
But it's not just chocolate and a shiny new mount. This initiative is also doing some good by giving back thanks to a partnership with Extra Life for charity. A June 3 stream is scheduled with some big names in the Twitch community to raise funds for the Children's Miracle Network to support over 170 hospitals across North America. Butterfinger also announced that it would be donating an additional $50,000 match to Extra Life.
So eat chocolate, go fast, and do some good out there in the world.
What say you? Is that chocolatey mount enough to make you go out and grab some Butterfingers? What other games would you like to see the candy brand collaborate with next? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below!
The League of Legends community was riled up earlier this week when a fan-driven League of Legends project was shut down by Riot Games. While shutdown notices are nothing new, what caused the widespread disharmony was how a Riot representative approached communication with the project called Chronoshift. Under the name 'Riot Zed,' the representative was incredibly offputting, needlessly aggressive, and honestly? Really cheesy. When the email correspondence went public, the community reacted, and now Riot Games is responding to how the employee handled the entire situation, claiming a sense of "disappointment" over the encounter.
For those that may be unfamiliar with this fan project, Chronoshift is/was a legacy server that allowed players to go back to an older version of League that they enjoyed. The original shutdown email can be seen here, but further correspondence reveals straight-up weird old school mob verbiage, making the entire exchange about a legal notice inappropriately comical:
Neckbeard LoL developer "Zed" extorts indie mod developers of the Chronoshift project. I'm dying.
After the above Discord conversation was sent over to Riot's legal team to confirm its authenticity, the company confirmed that the takedown notice was real and echoed a previous takedown notice sent to the Chronoshift team back in 2020. That being said, the way it was handled is anything but what Riot was wanting, saying, "Regarding the exchange with Riot Zed, we're disappointed with the tenor of the conversation and we'll be addressing this internally," reads a recent statement from Riot to Eurogamer. "We often attempt good faith reach-outs prior to issuing legal documentation. In this case, however, given the Chronoshift team's response, we have proceeded through more formal channels."
Additional context from one of the members that worked on Chronoshift shows less of an angry reaction from their team, and more of a disappointed one. As spotted by the site, one person working on this project weighed in, saying, "Instead of opening a conversation about the future and interest in this kind of project, they attempted what could be seen as an attempt to take advantage of our work for free and start taking legal action against us," one developer said on Reddit. "To our best knowledge, and the assessment of the lawyers specialised in IT copyright we talked the project over with, we have not done anything illegal."
They added, "We have been working on this project for almost five years and thousands of hours," the post continued. "We never asked for even as much a donation during all of this time, paying all of the expenses out of our pockets. This project has always been about the preservation of the early seasons of the game that cannot be experienced anymore, a time capsule for something long gone that people still express a lot of interest in to this day."
While the takedown is, and shouldn't have been, a surprise, there needs to be professionalism when this type of correspondence is concerned. How 'Riot Zed' handled the entire situation reflects poorly on them, and Riot by association. Now that the company is taking to "more formal channels" for the takedown of Chronoshift, this fan project looks to finally have met its end. Which is a shame, legacy servers are a phenomenal way to keep the community engaged and longtime fans still interested in a property. While the issues with these fan-driven servers are understandable, I hope that this means that perhaps Riot will look into possibly creating an official legacy server in its own right. It would be even better if they hired on some of the talented fans that made up the Chronoshift project.
Thoughts on how Riot Games handled the takedown of Chronoshift? Thoughts on how Chronoshift responded? Sound off in the comment section below and tell us what you think should happen next.
When the first Last of Us game came out, it was an instant hit for the PlayStation 3 generation. When it was remastered for PlayStation 4, even more people fell in love with the tale of Joel and Ellie. While the release of The Last of Us Part II was more divisive, that hasn't stopped the sequel from winning an impressive amount of awards for its storytelling and design. Because of that, it should be of no surprise that Neil Druckmann has confirmed that an outline for The Last of Us 3 has been written with himself and Halley Gross at the helm.
Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann confirmed in a recent podcast episode for Script Apart that an outline for The Last of Us 3 exists thanks to combined efforts with Gross, but he was also very clear in stating that it is very much still just an outline at this stage. "I don't know how much I want to reveal. [Co-writer Halley Gross] and I did write an outline for a story that we're not making - but I hope one day can see the light of day - that explores a little bit about what happens after this game." Being very much up in in the air, he added, "We'll see."
After the success of The Last of Us Part II, it's easy to see why the team would be interested in exploring this world even further. Making a game to the scale of The Last of Us with its vast areas to explore and incredibly detailed visuals is challenging and takes a significant amount of time. Druckmann added that he had been thinking about The Last of Us Part II for seven years before its release, adding, "You want to make sure you're jazzed by the idea you have, that it feels challenging."
He continued, saying, "We’ve now had two games that I feel speak to something universal as well as telling a very personal story for these characters. With one game, there’s no pattern of what a franchise is. With two games, now there’s starting to be a pattern – now I feel like there are some structural and thematic themes you'd have to stick to if you're making a third game."
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe Last of Us games are painstakingly nuanced, with heavy themes and even heavier narratives. The sequel was emotionally exhausting and brutal in a way that many seemed to feel was almost too much, though part of the puzzle made up a much bigger picture in the end. That level of craftsmanship can't be forced nor rushed, so the level of commitment to continue this journey needs to be set in stone before any sort of development continues further.
Also in the most recent episode of Script Apart, Druckmann delved deeper into the development issues that occurred in the second game and the state of the original draft. He also opened up more on the creative process, the team dynamic over at Naughty Dog, and a little more on the upcoming The Last of Us TV series that is coming to HBO. You can learn more about the show adaptation with our previous coverage here.
Thoughts on a potential The Last of Us 3? What would you like to see, should this series continue? Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section below!
[Source: Script Apart via IGN]
PlayStation has had its "best year ever," according to the recently revealed FY2020 consolidated financial results that went public the morning of April 28, 2021. With nearly a universal increase across the board, Team Blue had a successful 2020 and an even more successful start to 2021 with over 7.8 million PS5 consoles sold, even with supply issues.
In recent financial documents, it is revealed that PlayStation has peaked at its highest revenue to date during F2020, reporting in just over $25.04 billion in revenue. This shatters the previous industry record in place, including Sony's own high of $20.8 billion. This yearly report also boasts that Q4 was a magical time for Team Blue, reporting in an all-time high of $6.24 billion for that period, making a +32.6% jump from its previous Q4 reported data.
For FY 2020, PlayStation generated over $3.23 billion in profits alone, another new record, marking the first time in the industry where the 3 billion dollar marker was exceeded. Sony also started the new generation of games strong with 3.3 million units sold (LTD: 7.8 million), making it the best-selling console during the first fiscal year of all time. That being said, it is important to remember that both Xbox Series X and PS5 units have been incredibly understocked, selling out within seconds in no small part due to scalpers. With bots and scalper groups lined up when restocks go live, inventory is sold out almost immediately. Those scalped units are being resold, which shows strong buyer interest regardless of the scalper situation. Sony also promises that the company is working on correcting stocking woes, hopefully making the new PS5 more accessible to consumers in the coming months.
Highlights from FY 2020 can be seen in the shared graph below, detailing the revenue, operating profit, and net profit seen between April 2020 - March 2021.
With the best revenue, best operating profit, and best net profit ever for Sony, the company is sitting pretty for the year ahead. The documentation also includes various businesses Sony has under its umbrella, including PlayStation at the forefront, music, movies and TV, electronics, financial services (Sony Life insurance), and more. It also details notable investments made during FY2020, including the following:
For the full breakdown, you can see the FY2020 results, including each business branch, right here.