Ghost of Tsushima became the second Sony game for online play on Steam, Assassin's Creed Shadows is actively being pre-ordered, and Supercell’s Hay Day returned to China after almost four years. Here’s what happened in the gaming industry over the weekend.
Hay Day
- On Sunday, the peak online player count for Ghost of Tsushima on Steam rose to 77,154, according to data from SteamDB. This is the second-highest result among games published by Sony on the platform, surpassed only by Helldivers 2, which attracted 458,709 players at its peak.
- According to insider Tom Henderson, pre-orders for Assassin’s Creed Shadows have been successful. He couldn't determine the exact numbers, but Ubisoft is reportedly pleased with the volume of pre-orders.
- Microsoft has decided to release the new installment of Call of Duty on Game Pass concurrently with its traditional release, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the situation. The newspaper states that Microsoft hopes the release of Call of Duty will attract new subscribers to the service, ultimately leading to increased revenue. The new Call of Duty and its release on Game Pass are expected to be officially announced on June 9 during the Xbox Games Showcase presentation.
- The farm game Hay Day is once again available in China’s App Store, reports PocketGamer. The game had been absent for almost four years. In July 2020, Hay Day was removed from the App Store in China, along with several thousand other titles, due to a lack of an ISBN registration number from local regulators, which is required to publish games in the country.