IO Interactive revealed that Hitman 3, the next chapter in the stealth assassin sim, will be exclusively available on the Epic Games Store, for the PC platform. This marks a departure from over a decade of Hitman releases on Steam, including its most recent entry, the 2018 Hitman 2. Hitman 3, like the previous two titles since the franchise's 2016 reboot, will be a collection of locale-specific missions that are loosely interconnected by a storyline. With Hitman 3 transitioning to Epic Games Store, it will be interesting to see if the game retains the seamless campaign experience of Hitman 2, which let you play forward from Hitman 2016 missions, onward to new missions from Hitman 2. IOI Announced that Hitman 3 arrives in January 2021.Update 06:40 UTC: Turns out, that the EGS exclusivity is for 12 months only. Want the game on Steam? Wait until January 2022.

Intel recently announced its 10th Gen Core KA line of Socket LGA1200 desktop processors that are co-branded by Marvel's Avengers, complete with fancy retail channel packaging that's sure to attract collectors from the Marvel fanbase. Turns out, that the box doesn't actually include the game by Square Enix, as discovered by momomo_us. A fine-print on the bottom left corner of the front face of the retail box reads "Game Not Included." All you really do get is a fancy box that's been designed by artist Tristan Eaton. Some retailers may include plushies such as the one pictured below, which obviously cost less than a copy of the game. Marvel's Avengers (the game) releases on September 4, 2020, and is up for pre-order on Steam for $59.99.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has recently launched to mixed initial reactions with many users on Steam frustrated with the current install system. When downloaded through Steam Microsoft Flight Simulator initially installs just a small launcher which then proceeds to download the 150 GB game. The problem is Steam's playtime counter starts when this launcher is opened and with install times taking upwards of 3 hours on a 500 Mbps connection the two hour refund window expires before you can get into the actual game. Players have suggested an extension to the refund time window with many expressing their frustration with negative reviews for the game causing the average to drop to just 6/10.

Valve has recently updated it's Steam Community Hub policies to prohibit the mentioning of non-Steam versions of games, this likely comes as competition increases in the largely stagnant PC gaming market from the likes of the Epic Games Store, and Xbox Game Pass for PC. This will mean that the Steam Community Hub will no longer include mentions to releases on other platforms. These new rules apply to both releases and DLC effectively stopping the promotion of other platforms on Steam.

SteamIn the game you ship via Steam, and in communications on Steam, you may only promote the Steam version and its availability via Steam, and not other distribution outlets. This applies both to full versions of your game and to content patches that change the existing version.

EA is preparing to launch its game subscription service EA Access on Steam. The EA Access service grants access to a library of over 70 EA games, this is the first time the program will be available outside of the company's Origin launcher. The game subscription service will cost 4.99 USD per month or 29.99 USD per year and includes major titles from the Battlefield, Need for Speed, Plants vs Zombies, and STAR WARS Battlefront series. Program members will also receive a 10% discount on all EA games & DLC along with a 10 hour early access period for certain new titles. This will be the fourth platform to receive the program after the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Origin client.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is the latest game from Mediatonic which launched to impressive levels of popularity this week. The game which is available on PS4 and Steam has recently overtaken Grand Theft Auto V to peak as the fourth most played game on Steam at 124,772 consecutive players before dropping back down to fifth. The casual multiplayer game has received mostly positive reviews on Steam but has faced various server issues over the last few days due to the unforeseen demand. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is now available on Steam here for 19.99 USD.

EA has recently decided to break away from the exclusivity of its games on Origin game launches and started to offer some games on Valve's Steam gaming platform. The move has turned out to be quite substantial for EA and Valve just reported some big news. Out of the top 20 best-selling games on Steam for the month of July, EA games accounted for eight of them. This rather massive share is all thanks to the new markets EA opened themselves to. Without a doubt, Steam is still the world's biggest gaming platform, so it was a smart move to expand the availability of games to it. The financial gains follow as well. EA saw a massive 74% surge in PC revenue it is a quarterly report, all thanks to expansion to Steam.

Steam has updated their purchase and pricing restriction in wake of continued abuse from users exploiting regional price-differences via VPN. You may have read about this recently following the availability of PS4-exclusive Horizon: Zero Dawn on the PC platform, with the release being priced differently by the publisher according to the purchase region of its respective users. However, one way users found to circumvent these restrictions and purchase games at a lower price was to use a VPN service and appear as if they were connecting from one of the lower-priced regions. This prompted a price-hike for Horizon: Zero Dawn in those exploited regions - sometimes by as much as 389%. Such was the case for Argentina, where the game, which was originally being sold for ARS$539,99 ($7,47) got its price hiked to ARS$2100 ($29,06). The game was being sold in US-based stores for $39.

Now, Steam is forcing currencies used on the purchase to match those of the country where the purchase is (apparently) being made. This means you can't pay in dollars a game that is priced in Argentinian pesos or any other currency. This move by Steam aims to keep pricing fair according to users' and countries' purchasing power, and aims to protect users with lower purchasing power from price-hikes derived from the exploitation of regional pricing. An Argentinian user, where the country's minimum wage is set at $233,55, now is protected from users with higher purchasing power being responsible for game price hikes that mean it costs them 10% of their minimum wage to get a single game from the Steam store. You can replace Argentina with any other country that saw its regional pricing being abused via VPN-hidden users who wanted to take advantage of the price difference. I can hear some Game of Thrones bells ringing in the distance.

Psyonix the creators of Rocket League who are now owned by Epic Games has recently confirmed that their vehicular soccer video game will be going free-to-play on all platforms later this summer however, this move will remove the game from Steam for new players. Existing owners of the game on Steam will continue to receive updates and support, but going forwards all new players will have to install the game from the Epic Games Store.

The summer update will also bring a new cross-platform progression system that will require an Epic Games Store account to use, this will finally let users access their items, rankings, and rocket pass progression across all platforms. Current owners of the game will receive all the DLC released for the game when it goes free-to-play along with an "Est. 20XX" title which displays the year they purchased the game.

Today owning digital copies of games is a real struggle. There are are many platforms that offer games to be purchased, and some games are platform-specific. Take a look at Fortnite for example. It is only available on the Epic Games platform and launcher, so you have to download and sign-up to that if you wish to play the game. The PC platform is currently struggling with that problem as there is no unified store where you can purchase all of your digital copies of games. That is the main reason why Good Old Games, called GOG shortly, has decided to invite Epic Games and make a universal launcher for all storefronts.

The GOG Galaxy 2.0 is a new storefront that aims to give gamers the ability to "Install and launch any PC game you own, no matter the platform." With Epic Games joining the platform, it is a matter of time before others join. Some are still resistant, however. Steam and Origin are still not okay with that idea and they are keeping it to themselves. It is interesting to see the development of this, and in the meantime, you can check out GOG Galaxy 2.0 here.

The popular battle royale PlayersUnknown's BattleGround, called PUBG shortly, has managed to sell over 70 million copies across all platforms it is supported on, like PC and consoles. The huge achievement comes after two and a half years after the game was released, marking a huge achievement for battle royale type of games. The PUBG Corporation, makers of the game, decided to celebrate the new milestone with a release of a remastered Sanhok map. The new Sanhok map is redesigned from the ground up and the developer describes it as "leaner, meaner, and more deadly than ever before!". The new map will go live with the season 8 update, which is going live on July 22nd on Steam, and July 30th on consoles and Google Stadia.

During Electronic Arts Play 2020 event, Respawn, the maker of popular battle royale Apex legends, has announced that Apex Legends is getting cross-play support. Not only that, but Respawn is now launching Apex Legends on Steam and Nintendo Switch platforms so the cross-play can be bigger than ever. Now, players that use either PC (Steam or EA Origin), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, can be brought together and play against each other. However, Respawn didn't just announce the cross-play support. Along with it, they have announced a new seasonal event called the "Lost Treasures Collection". In this event, players get a new game mode called "Armed and Dangerous Evolved". This game mode allows for new player abilities and resurrection of knocked out players. You can find more about it in the video below.

The Steam Game Festival: Summer Edition- the largest yet- is on now, featuring hundreds of free demos from games set to be released in the coming year.
From now until June 22 at 10am PDT, the Steam Game Festival showcases the newest games across every genre from developers in 65 countries. Fans have a chance to try out new projects from first-time devs and veteran developers alike, including the opportunity to be among the first to demo some of the most highly anticipated games of the coming year.

This is the third Steam Game Festival, and the largest yet. What began as a collaboration with Geoff Keighley and the Game Awards featuring a dozen titles soon branched off as a Valve-run event, with over 40 demos featured this spring- and now over 900 titles in the summer edition.

Players can experience modern day warfare in Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 or the WWI and WWII battles of the past in Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V respectively. Players can also fight for humanity as Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 3 or visit new worlds as Sara or Scott Ryder in Mass Effect Andromeda. In addition, players can play as iconic Star Wars characters and with the incredible Star Wars vehicles in Star Wars Battlefront I and Star Wars Battlefront II.

Last Friday, the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection was the second new EA game to launch on Steam to great success, reaching the top game globally on Steam best-selling charts during its launch weekend. Last weekend, EA games also had five games appear in the top 10 of the Steam best-selling charts with their first wave of titles released on Steam last Thursday, giving players the opportunity to explore the fantastical worlds of the BioWare award-winning Role-Playing Games - Dragon Age : Inquisition and Dragon Age II and experience high-speed, white-knuckle driving action in Need for Speed Heat, Need for Speed: Rivals and Need for Speed (2016). Players can also battle it out in the wacky, fun and over-the-top shooter, Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, or play from a selection of the bold and innovative games from EA's indie development partners like Unravel, Unravel II, Fe and Sea of Solitude.

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Command & Conquer, Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is now available worldwide on PC via Origin and Steam, and as part of an Origin Access Premier subscription. Developed as a labor of love between EA and some of the original Westwood Studios team members at Petroglyph, the Remastered Collection is comprised of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Command & Conquer: Red Alert and their three expansion packs - Covert Ops, Counterstrike and The Aftermath. Veteran fans and those new to the franchise can now experience one of the most beloved real-time strategy games in history with native 4K support, rebuilt multiplayer, enhanced UI, a seven hour remastered soundtrack by Frank Klepacki, modding support and much more.

Built with the community in mind from day-one, an active Community Council has been involved since early pre-production with 24/7 access to the teams at EA and Petroglyph to provide feedback during development. This feedback has helped shape features such as a revamped UI, updated controls, a Map Editor, and a modernized online multiplayer experience, featuring custom games, 1v1 quick match, Elo-based matchmaking, leaderboards, replays and much more.

Today, Electronic Arts Inc. launched the first wave of 25+ EA games on Steam, with more on the way. Starting today, players can explore BioWare 's award-winning Role-Playing Games - Dragon Age : Inquisition and Dragon Age II, experience high-speed, white-knuckle driving action in Need for Speed Heat, Need for Speed: Rivals and Need for Speed (2016) and battle it out in the wacky, fun and over-the-top shooter, Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville. A selection of the bold and innovative games from EA's indie development partners like Unravel, Unravel II, Fe and Sea of Solitude will also become available. Additionally, these games and many others will be available as part of an EA Access subscription on Steam that will launch to players later this summer.

"We want to make it easy to play the games you love, wherever you want to play. Delivering games to the Steam community is an important step in achieving this goal," said Mike Blank, SVP, Strategic Growth. "Not only are we excited to have our games on Steam, but we look forward to bringing them even more value when our subscription becomes available in the Summer."

Today, HP Inc. unveiled its latest virtual reality (VR) headset, the HP Reverb G2, in collaboration with industry leaders Valve and Microsoft. The HP Reverb G2 is the world's highest resolution VR headset among major vendorsi, delivering cutting-edge optics, inside-out tracking, spatial 3D audio, natural gestures, long-wearing comfort, and plug and play support for Windows Mixed Reality and SteamVR.

"The power of collaboration is on full display with the HP Reverb G2, and alongside Valve and Microsoft, we engineered a no-compromises VR headset that's immersive, comfortable, and compatible across Windows Mixed Reality and SteamVR," said Spike Huang, vice president and global lead of VR, HP Inc. "The time is now for VR and the HP Reverb G2 brings high-quality VR to the masses with more immersion for gamers, interactive experiences for creators, increased engagement for collaboration, and higher retention rates for education and training."

While expectations for the System Shock franchise may have cooled a little following last week's report that the much-awaited System Shock 3 had been dropped by its development team and rights sold to Chinese giant Tencent, all is not terrible in the land of Shodan. Nightdive Studios, the actual holders of the franchise development rights, have just dropped a demo for the game on both Steam and GOG - a show of faith on the developers' part regarding their work of love in rebuilding the original game from the ground up.

Alongside the demo (which weighs in at a mere 2.3 GB on GOG), Nightdive Studios has also released a 40 minute video showcasing gameplay on the rebooted game, including developer commentary. The developers also coordinated with Shacknews in order to release an in-depth interview regarding the development of the game and its original reception.

Crucible, the free-to-play competitive team-based shooter from Relentless Studios, an Amazon Games development studio, is now available to download for PC. In Crucible, players work with teammates to hunt their opponents and take down hostile creatures on a lush rogue planet in pursuit of Essence, a valuable resource that amplifies hunters' powers.

At launch, players can choose from a diverse roster of 10 hunters, including Earl, an interstellar trucker, Summer, a dual-flame-thrower-wielding former welder, and Bugg, a robot botanist. Each hunter in Crucible has their own unique weapons and abilities, and as they defeat opponents and the planet's flora and fauna, they level up, gaining strength and enhancing their abilities. Crucible's fast-paced combat challenges players to constantly re-evaluate and adjust their strategies, adapting to their opponents' moves and the deadly planet itself.

Someone at Bethesda or id Software thought it was a good idea to retrofit "Doom Eternal" with the vastly unpopular Denuvo DRM as an anti-cheat component, two months following its March launch, as part of "Update 1" (a major game patch). This invited the wrath of gamers as they review-bombed the game on Steam. The game's executive producer Marty Stratton took to Reddit, to announce that Denuvo will be removed in the game's next update (without announcing a timeline), while defending it. Stratton maintains that the performance issues noticed in Update 1 are not related to the Denuvo implementation. If you've read our comprehensive review of Denuvo, where we go into the technical aspects of the DRM solution, you'll know that it can be implemented in a number of ways, some of which inflict performance penalties.Image Courtesy Modern Vintage Gamer

We've recently enabled the ability to self-refund qualifying purchases online by yourself. When you sign into your account on the Epic Games website, click the "Account" dropdown in the top right corner of the webpage, go to the "Transactions" tab and click the game title. If the game is eligible for a self-service refund, please click the "Refund" option to initiate the refund process.

All games are eligible for a refund within 14 days of purchase for any reason. However, you must not have played more than 2 hours.You will not be eligible for games from which you have been banned or for which you have otherwise violated the terms of service. In addition, you may not be eligible for refunds if Epic determines that you are abusing the refund policy.

Doom Eternal has been review-bombed over the weekend, as disgruntled players took to Steam to show their thoughts on the the game's Update 1. The issue isn't in the update itself or it changing core gameplay functions; rather, it's based on the inclusion of Denuvo's Anti-cheat mechanism for the multiplayer component of the game, which is also running in the single-player campaign - considered to be the core of any Doom game.

Players are against the inclusion of Denuvo and its monitoring subroutines due to it having a a kernel-level service that monitors gameplay. Gamers are noting performance decreases, framerate drops, crashes, and deleted Saves after the game's latest update. Others are voicing their discontent at the fact that Denuvo has been added post-purchase of the game; players that might not choose to buy the game over that detail have already bought it, and refunds are apparently not being entertained. Doom Eternal's previous 90% user review score on Steam now stand at a measly 50%, which is absolutely undeserving of the game itself. Doom may be Eternal, but its community feedback sure isn't.

Valve introduced "Play Next" as an experimental feature as part of Steam Labs earlier this year for testing. The feature previously known as "Experiment 008: Play Next" uses machine learning algorithms to provide suggestions to gamers with extensive libraries on what unplayed or very low playtime game in their library they should try next. This technology is also used in Valve's Interactive Recommender and works by identifying comparable games on Steam. The feature is now live for all users in the latest Steam client update and can be found under the Play Next shelf in library view.

Amazon Game Studio's Crucible is a free-to-play team-based action shooter that's set for release on Steam May 20th. Crucible is an interesting-looking game with MOBA and hero shooter elements where you fight enemy players and AI enemies with your team while adapting to the map. When playing the game you gather Essence the in-game currency to help level up your character. The game will come with three game modes at launch Heart of the Hives a two teams of four first to three game, Alpha Hunters a eight teams of two last team standing game, and Harvester Command a two teams of eight game. You can view the gameplay trailers and more information below.

SteamDB developer Pavel Djundik has uncovered evidence of a Steam loyalty scheme in some recent code strings. The developer detailed how the scheme may consist of a points system where users can redeem points for badge levels and possibly game discounts. This discovery comes just as the dates for the next Steam sale were leaked to be the 25th June - 9th July so this new loyalty scheme may launch alongside the sale and replace previous sale schemes.

Djundik has also discovered potential changes to the Steam review system with the introduction of user reactions. These reactions include deep thoughts, heartwarming, hilarious, hot take, poetry, and helpful. Djundik has an excellent track record for leaks regarding Steam just last week predicting the announcement of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so it will be interesting to see if this new loyalty scheme gets released.