Netflix has announced a partnership with Mojang Studios to create a new animated series based on Minecraft. The news comes as part of a celebration of Minecraft’s 15th anniversary.
WildBrain, the studio behind other Netflix shows such as Sonic Prime, Ninjago: Dragons Rising, and Carmen Sandiego, is developing this CG-animated Minecraft show. Plot details are nonexistent, but a press release states the series will be "showing the world of Minecraft in a new light" and feature an original story with new characters.
This won't be the only on-screen adaptation of the best-selling video game of all time. A live-action Minecraft movie is currently in production, with Jack Black confirmed to star as Steve.
The Minecraft show, whatever it winds up being titled, has no premiere date. In the meantime, be sure to catch up on the other video game adaptations Netflix has on the way, including the first teaser for Season 4 of The Witcher (now starring Liam Hemsworth), the first trailer for Arcane Season 2, and the first look at the animated Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft starring Hayley Atwell.
The PlayStation 5 generation is already Sony's most profitable yet, the company has announced. In terms of numbers, the PS5 generation has already earned Sony $106 billion, according to a slide from its "Game & Network Services Segment" presentation from PlayStation's two new CEOs, Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst.
However, on that same slide, Sony shows that the PlayStation 4 generation earned $107 billion, which is obviously more than $106 billion. But, the reason Sony is calling the PS5 generation the most profitable one yet is because the PS4 generation is largely complete whereas the PS5 presumably still has years to go. Given it's made $106 billion in roughly four years, it seems Sony is confident it will surpass $107 billion in the coming months or years.
As for what Sony is including in its profits, it's the entire gamut of the PS5 generation. This includes the PS5 console itself, associated hardware and accessories, and software, too. It also includes services, like PlayStation Plus, according to the presentation.
One of the reasons the PS5 generation might be Sony's most profitable yet is because even though the playerbase is as big as the PS4 – both are sitting at 49 million active consoles as of last month – PS5 players are playing significantly more on their console. The PS5 generation sits at 2.4 billion total gameplay hours while the PS4 sits at 1.4 billon. More playtime likely equates to more spending, which might be one of the reasons the PS5 generation is doing financially as well as it is.
Life-to-date spending on the PS5 is also higher amongst players than the PS4, too. Across peripherals, services, content/add-ons, and content/full games, the PS4 life-to-date spend is $580 while PS5 players average $731.
For more, read about how the PS5 recently broke a sales record for Sony, and then check out Game Informer's list of the top 10 PS5 games.
What are your thoughts on the PlayStation 5 generation so far? Let us know in the comments below!
PlayStation has reiterated its approach to releasing its games on PC, stating live-service games will launch day-and-date on PC. However, its tentpole single player games will not.
This comes from one of PlayStation's dual CEOs, Hermen Hulst, during a public business presentation held earlier this morning. During it, Hulst explained the strategy for releasing PlayStation's single-player games on PC at a later date, rather than day-and-date, citing it's part of a strategy to bring more people into the PlayStation platform.
"Indeed, we are bringing our titles to the PC platform, and we have a dual approach here," Hulst said. "On the live service side, we are releasing our titles simultaneously, so day and date on PlayStation 5 and PC. But with our tentpole titles, our single player narrative-driven titles that [are] the backbone of what PlayStation studios has delivered in recent years and in our history, we take a more strategic approach and we introduce our great franchises to new audiences, and we're finding new audiences that are potentially going to be very interested in playing, for example, sequels, on the PlayStation platform.
"We have high hopes that we are actually able to bring new players into PlayStation at large, but into PlayStation platforms specifically. Actually, the same goes for the work that we do with extending our great properties onto other media, such as television series and film, for example, as you have seen with The Last of Us on HBO or Gran Turismo on film, that brings new players into our franchises as well."
While this doesn't come as a surprise – we saw the live-service multiplayer Helldivers 2 launch earlier this year simultaneously on PS5 and PC while Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut only just hit PC this month, years after its PS5 release – it's nice to officially hear PlayStation's approach moving forward.
For more, read about how the PS5 generation is already Sony's most profitable yet, and then read about how the PS5 recently broke a sales record for Sony. After that, check out Game Informer's list of the top 10 PS5 games.
Do you think PlayStation's making the right call with how it handles PC releases? Let us know in the comments below!