Attempts to save BioWare from “American dictation”, Sony unexpectedly urged PS5 owners to sell their consoles — the week’s highlights

A brief digest of everything that happened in the entertainment industry around the world over the past week.

• “Everything is peachy for us”: id Software co-head isn’t worried that Microsoft laid off half the studio. Marty Stratton would hardly be in such high spirits if he had been caught in the layoffs himself
• Mass Effect Legendary Edition will receive a major multiplayer update on N7 Day — thanks to fans. The developers never released an online mode, but the community will soon fix that
• Silent Hill: Townfall noticeably trailed behind the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f in launch sales, analysts say. The game arrived during an exceptionally packed release window, when Control Resonant, EA Sports FC 27, and other major titles competed for player attention
• Sony has begun urging some PS5 owners to sell their consoles, offering up to $400 for an unused device through a special trade-in program
• Former Dragon Age series executive producer Mark Darrah admitted that the BioWare team virtually ignored his advice during the development of The Veilguard
• The Elder Scrolls VI received the subtitle Sentinel — Bethesda revealed the game’s first trailer. The announcement took place nearly 15 years after the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• GTA VI garnered 7.71 million pre-orders and generated over $750 million two weeks ahead of launch, according to analysts. The majority of sales were on PlayStation 5
• Saber added new maps and vehicles to the RoadCraft simulator — the Foundations expansion has been released. The developers prepared plenty of new content
• Epic Games is preparing Unreal Engine 5.9, with a preview releasing next week: the main new feature will be expanded AI integration capable of directly editing 3D scenes
• Gamers weren’t kidding: a study confirmed the impact of the agenda on video game sales. Video games with a large number of agenda elements sell worse on average, and their revenue turns out to be nearly 8% lower. Economists arrived at this conclusion
• Valve amazed gamers: a Steam user had their deleted games restored after having removed them from their library due to mental health issues
• BioWare fans gathered enough signatures to petition the Canadian government to save the studio from “American dictation”. However, the Canadian authorities are unlikely to rescue the sunken studio
• AMD officially added support for FSR Upscaling 4.1.2 on Xbox Series X|S, giving developers new tools to improve image quality without a significant hit to performance
• New teasers for Skywind, the Morrowind remake on the Skyrim engine, showcased gloomy locations and music. The ambitious project is gradually moving toward release
• Nikita Buyanov admitted that the majority of Escape from Tarkov players currently play in PvE mode and explained the audience breakdown