The Game Ping (1/31/23); Sony Denies PSVR2 Cuts; Halo Moves to Unreal; Jedi Survivor Delayed

Welcome to our first "The Game Ping", our new way of sharing news. This new format will allow us to deliver stories faster, more compact, and easier to read for our audience. So without further ado, let's get into today's games industry news.

Sony Denies PSVR2 Production Costs

Last night, Bloomberg reported that Sony had cut the production of 2 million PSVR2 headsets to 1.5 million after disappointing pre-order sales. But, in a message to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony denied these rumors, saying that the launch is currently looking good for the headset.

343 Industries Report; Halo Moving to Unreal Engine; Focus on Multiplayer

Jason Schreier gave us an update on the affairs over at 343 Industries. The studio laid off around 95 employees and will seemingly hit the reset button at the studio. This comes with a shift to Unreal Engine, as the studio will apparently leave the Slipspace Engine behind. The first Halo project that will be built on Unreal Engine is the rumored "Project Tatanka", which will be developed alongside Certain Affinity. The title was apparently being developed as a battle royal, but now will seemingly become the next main-line Halo title.

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor Delayed; EA Shuts Down Mobile Games

EA and Respawn have announced that Star Wars: Jedi Survivor has been delayed to April 28th from its previous March release date.

EA also announced today that Apex Legends Mobile, which launched last year, and Battlefield Mobile, which was still in development, will be ceasing development. EA said the decision came due to the performance of the titles and how it doesn't align with future plans.

The Crew Races off to Hawaii

Ubisoft's The Crew franchise will be moving over to Hawaii in its next title "The Crew Motorfest". Ubisoft announced the game today and it will be the first game to leave behind the mainland United States. It will be interesting to see how traversing the islands of Hawaii will be and how it will be recreated.