Microsoft was apparently the number-one video game publisher in December 2024, despite struggling to sell Xbox hardware. Its success here is attributed to Call of Duty, according to global data. To be clear, this data applies to Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox. As such, it does not paint a full or complete picture, as Microsoft also owns and operates mobile gaming titles like Candy Crush and Call of Duty: Mobile.

According to data firm Ampere (via VGC), Call of Duty HQ--which comprises Black Ops 6, Warzone, and other COD games--drew in 38 monthly users in November 2024, and 64% of consumer spending on Microsoft titles in December was through PlayStation, mostly on Call of Duty. Microsoft's position as the top publisher in 2024 also included sales of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which was released in December.

Ampere also noted that Electronic Arts generated $366 million over the same period, putting it second to Microsoft. EA Sports FC 25 was the biggest driver for EA's success, although it still underperformed according to EA's internal expectations. Chinese publishers like NetEase and Tencent pulled in impressive numbers as well. Ampere estimated that Marvel Rivals brought in 29 million monthly active users and Path of Exile 2 generated $148 million.

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The End of the Sun is a first-person, story-driven mystery adventure set in a Slavic fantasy world. As the ashter, a sage sorcerer gifted with the ability to travel in time, you come to a mysterious village where the line between myth and reality begins to fade perilously. The game is inspired by Slavic mythology and legends. The story presents the mysterious events occurring during the major Slavic festivals in all four seasons, far away from each other in time. The gameplay is a mix of exploration and adventure mystery games with unorthodox riddles to solve, but the storyline comes first here.

"Grief like a stray dog" is a short interactive play about a young postwoman in a tight-knit rural community. In the outside world, WW2 rages at its apex. Nadia is thirteen. She delivers papers, letters. And death notifications to families of those killed in action. Nadia's character is based on the author's grandmother. Inspired by tales of a childhood spent in a village near Rzhev, not far from one of the most brutal battlefields of the Eastern Front, most of the character arcs and plot points are based on war stories told by older relatives and locals; many letters are real. The main visual inspirations for the game were kid's drawings, neo-expressionism, Russian lubok art and Soviet book illustration

'The Kaiyo Mission’ is about peaceful yet dangerous space exploration in hostile underwater environments of ocean worlds. The players embark in three different mission phases that lead them to various underwater plateaus of ocean worlds, including the Saturnian moon Enceladus. They will control a submarine or a diver and take photographs of alien animals, plants and artefacts. A tutorial level is available, and a bonus mission phase with several self-contained games is opened upon successful completion of the initial three phases.

A lone detective sits in his office, one of millions of common men and women living in crumbling cities of neon, steel, and concrete. High above, the rich live in splendor, free of torrential rains or the danger of cyber thugs ripping you apart as you cross the street. The detective is not yet aware that he's about to take on a case that will change his life - and make him wonder whether some things are better left buried. Welcome to the world of DeTechtive 2112, noir cyberpunk adventure. Sneak, shoot, and investigate your way to find out the truth, while trying to survive in a brutal future where life is cheap, everything is for sale, and nothing is quite like it seems.

When Destiny 2: Heresy arrives early next month, players will find themselves back on the Dreadnaught, the Hive ship that's been left adrift since The Taken King expansion. And while players have fought inside the ship before, the Dreadnaught has undergone some changes since its last appearance.

"What's significant about the Dreadnaught's return for Heresy is that it's going to be changing, and we're going to be fighting through it in ways we've yet to experience," said Nikko Stevens--Destiny 2's Narrative Architect--during a feature on PlayStation's official site. "The Dreadnaught has reawakened for the first time in almost a decade, spurring the Vanguard and Guardians across the system to take notice. We finally get to see what has become of the Dreadnaught years after Oryx was felled and its halls were left to corrode, without a Navigator."

There are plenty of Taken enemies waiting for players on the Dreadnaught, and the goal of the mission is to push back against the corruption that has largely overtaken the ship. That's why this mission will introduce a new activity called The Nether. In this task, Players will be dispatched to disable the ship's internal weapons and prevent the Taken corruption from spreading. Both the players and their enemies can also be positively or negatively affected by boons which will shake up the balance of power between them.

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The Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, and it has forced the two opposing sides to improvise weapons during the conflict. That's why the European Union is reportedly proposing a ban on all video game console sales to Russia.

As reported by Financial Times, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas indicated that PlayStation and Xbox consoles may land on the sanctions list because Russia has used them to "operate drones."

Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony stopped selling their consoles in Russia in March 2022, roughly a month after the Russian invasion began. However, that didn't stop second-hand sellers from getting consoles to Russian buyers. The proposed sanctions would be aimed at closing off that loophole.

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