Let’s finish up this week with another batch of video game news. During Activision Blizzard’s recent investor call, it confirmed that Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV won’t launch this year. Plus, composer Akira Yamaoka teased a new project that many are speculating is Silent Hill, Xbox Series X | S was January’s bestselling system in the U.K., and more. Here’s the video game news you might’ve missed on Feb. 5, 2021.
Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV Won’t Launch in 2021
Activision Blizzard has expressed to investors not to expect to play Overwatch 2 or Diablo IV in 2021. Specifically, Activision stated: “We expect Blizzard’s net bookings to grow given the momentum in World of Warcraft and the other growth initiatives we have in the business. Our outlook does not include Diablo 4 or Overwatch 2 launching in 2021. And while Diablo Immortal is progressing well, and we anticipate its launch later this year we don’t have any material contribution from the title in our outlook presently.” However, the annual Call of Duty entry will arrive in time for the holidays as usual.
Read More: Activision Blizzard, Inc. Q4 2020 Earnings Call
Activision Blizzard Confirms More Remasters Are Coming This Year
On the same call, Activision Blizzard did state that more remasters/remakes would come this year, presumably in the same vein as Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (though the developer of both of those remasters, Vicarious Visions, is part of Blizzard now). The company’s CFO, Dennis Durkin, stated that the company has “a few other things up our sleeve in terms of remastered content that we’ll unveil in due course which should provide further opportunities for us this year.” Durkin did not specify what kinds of remasters would launch this year — only that they are indeed in the works.
Read More: Activision Blizzard is planning more remastered content for 2021
Xbox Series X | S Was the Bestselling Console in the UK in January 2021
As confirmed by head of GamesIndustry.biz Christopher Dring, Xbox Series X | S was the bestselling console in the U.K. during the month of January 2021. The specific number of units sold was not specified — though comments from industry analyst Daniel Ahmad suggest that total worldwide units shipped is somewhere in the area of 3.4 million.
In the UK last month, Xbox Series S/X was the best-selling console. That's 3 different best-selling consoles in the UK over the last 3 months (November: PS5. December: Switch)
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) February 5, 2021
Black Ops Cold War Was the Top Downloaded PS5 Game in January 2021
Sony recently published a list of the top PS Store downloads for the month of January 2021. Unsurprisingly, the top downloaded PlayStation 5 (and PlayStation 4) game in North America was Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, followed by Hitman 3 and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The lists are broken down by NA and EU, but across both regions, Cold War was among the most downloaded games throughout the month.
The full list can be seen in the link.
Read More: PlayStation Store: January 2021’s top downloads
Silent Hill Composer Teased New Game Will Be Announced This Summer
As part of an interview with Al Hub, Silent Hill series composer Akira Yamaoka teased a new project in development that he worked on. It’s a game “people have been hoping to hear about,” said Yamaoka, and the new project will be revealed “sometime around the summer.” Though, after the interview was published, Al Hub was asked to take down that clip — adding fuel to the Silent Hill rumors.
