Written By: Mary Joaquin
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap-Up!
Every month, we recap the news covered in our Weekly Round-Up. Here’s what you might have missed this February:
February 1 - A little over a year since Google Stadia’s launch, Google announced that it is closing its two internal game studios for the platform.
February 2 - The Mass Effect Legendary edition released new details, including the trilogy’s new 4K and HDR support, as well as upgraded textures and assets.
In other news, Activision announced that it had banned 60,000 Call of Duty Warzone accounts for using cheating software.
February 3 - Steam Game Festival hosted over 500 indie game free-to-play demos alongside developer chats and panels.
February 4 - Despite operating at a loss for the past two quarters, Square Enix had seen its operating income rise by 47 percent, according to the latest earnings report.
February 5 - On the night of the 4th, Akira Yamaoka, acclaimed Silent Hill Composer, appears to have teased a new Silent Hill game in a video interview with Alhub. Shortly after Alhub was asked to remove the clip in question.
February 6 - Street Fighter turned 30 years old, celebrating the day it first hit Japanese arcades back in 1991.
February 7 - Mech Armada released its announcement trailer. The tactical mech game is available on Steam pending a Summer release. They also have a Discord server.
February 8 - Andrew Spinks, head of Re-Logic, said he was cancelling the Stadia port of Terraria.
UPDATE: On the 22nd, a State of the Game Terraria forum post stated a reversion of the decision.
February 9 - Hackers demanded ransom from CD Projekt Red, according to a statement the company released on Twitter.
February 10 - Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Classic, 2005) released its first update on steam since 2018 but changes were reverted due to technical issues with the patch.
February 11 - Highwire Games and Victura plan to resurrect the controversial FPS, Six Days in Fallujah, which had been canceled by its publisher in 2008.
February 12 - According to a report from the industry tracking and market research firm NPD, Americans spent more on video games in January than ever before.
February 13 - Call of Duty’s new update cracked down on teamkills, enforcing an initial ricochet damage penalty and an eventual kick after repeated attempts.
February 14 - Fall Guys revealed a Valentine’s Day-special Red Panda costume. It cost 1000 kudos and had been available only until the 16th.
February 15 - Shortly after several Nintendo JoyCon-Drift lawsuits, a US law firm sued Sony for drifting joysticks on the DualSense 5, according to Game Industry Biz.
February 16 - Starbreeze Studios, developers of the Payday series, had partially recovered from the massive losses suffered in 2019.
February 17 - Nintendo released the next Nintendo Direct.
February 18 - The monochromatic puzzle-adventure game Minit received a spinoff released on Steam and Itch.io today, and publisher Devolver is donating all proceeds to charity.
February 19 - The Viking survival game Valheim sold 3 million copies in sixteen days since its release on Steam Early Access.
February 20 - During the BlizzConline 2021 Q&A, Luis Barriga, Diablo 4 game director, shared that the game will have a variety of accessibility options, including a toggle for the hit glow that some players deemed to be an “impediment”.
February 21 - Initially announced on the 20th on Steam, the team behind Half-Life 2 Lambda Wars took to r/games to share their 13-years-in-the-making real time strategy total conversion mod.
February 22 - As a class-action lawsuit against Epic Games over randomized loot boxes comes to a close, Epic is offering 1,000 V-Bucks to any players who bought a Loot Llama loot box.
February 23 -Sony announced that a new PS VR system is on its way with an unknown release date.
In other news, Riot introduced the VCT Game Changers program to create “new opportunities and exposure” for women and minority genders.
February 24 - Bioware canceled any further development of the live service shooter Anthem, announced Austin studio director Christian Dailey.
February 25 - After starting over in 2018, Nightdive Studios plan to release the System Shock remake this summer, with a new demo available today.
February 26 - Sony announced it will allow users to use the expanded SSD storage through a firmware update this summer, according to Bloomberg.
February 27 - Solo indie developer David Koleta fully released the turn-based tactical game Urtuk: The Desolation with new content, mechanics, and difficulties, among other additions.
February 28 - Destiny 2 disabled Trials of Osiris for a weekend “due to an issue”—which may be connected to a match fixing ring with China/Hong Kong roots.
YouTuber Lunarated explained the “Hakke Emblem Method”: a way to “farm free flawless cards—reaching seven wins without taking a loss,” according to PC Gamer.
TL;DR
Announcements:
Mech Armada is slated for a Summer 2021 release,
Terraria was originally not going to be on Stadia anymore but they reverted the decision,
Six Days in Fallujah will be revived,
Anthem got cancelled
Launches:
Minit got a spin-off game
Half-Life 2 Lambda Wars released on Steam
Nightdive Studios released a demo for upcoming System Shock remake,
Urtuk: The Desolation fully released
Misc:
Stadia is closing its internal game studios,
Mass Effect Legendary edition shared new details
A new Nintendo Direct went live,
A new PS VR is in the works,
Riot introduced its VCT Game Changers program,
Sony allowed the use of the expanded SSD storage for the PS5,
Teamkills on Call of Duty got penalties, among other updates,
Fall Guys had a limited-time Red Panda costume
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