Tequila Works, the developer behind Rime and Deadlight, is the latest company to join forces with Tencent.

The Madrid-based studio confirmed via press release that it was now majority-owned by the Chinese conglomerate, who will now act as its main shareholder.

"For 12 years, the teams at Tequila Works have passionately crafted high-quality titles that radiated our personal sensibilities," Tequila Works boss Raúl Rubio said. "But there's a limit to how much you can grow by yourself.

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A new and free update for Chorus will add ray tracing to the PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of the game.

"A new ray-tracing mode has been added for players on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC that adds ray-traced reflections to all materials so that the environment, NPC and ship surfaces reflect light in a more natural and realistic way", developer DS Fishlabs writes.

Meanwhile, those on PC will also see added support for NVIDIA's DLAA.

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It sounds like Elden Ring is getting a sequel, thanks to the enormous sales success of the first.

An astonishing 12m copies of Elden Ring have been sold in just over two weeks, including 1m in Japan, publisher Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware confirmed today.

And already, there's talk for what's next for Elden Ring. In a press release from the two companies, Elden Ring's sales are described as "a fantastic start for the new franchise".

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EA has confirmed it won't be holding its annual EA Play Live event in 2022, saying it'll instead reveal more about its upcoming roster of games "when the time is right".

EA Play Live, which debuted back in 2016, has traditionally been held alongside E3, combining game announcements with hands-on demos for those able to attend in person. The show had transitioned to a digital-only offering in the last two years in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but now EA has opted to cancel its 2022 event in its entirety.

In a statement shared with IGN, EA said its decision was based on the fact that "this year things aren't lining up to show you everything on one date".

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One favourite (and sometimes infuriating) feature of The Sims 3 that never made the leap to The Sims 4 was story progression - giving non-active Sims households the ability to make significant, autonomous life decisions in the background - but now, as part of a surprise addition in The Sims 4's latest patch, that previously absent element has returned in a big way.

EA first revealed it had started dabbling with story progression for The Sims 4 (a feature it's now referring to as Neighbourhood Stories) last November, explaining there was "a lot we want to do" to bring more life to the world outside of active households. Its first Neighbourhood Stories release played it cautiously, only permitting a Neighbour Sim to make a life change - such as having a baby or changing jobs - if directly influenced by the player or once a player had given explicit permission in response to a request.

For its second Neighbourhood Stories update, however, it sounds like the training wheels are fully off, with Sims now able to control their lives with full autonomy and with no direct influence from the player. Starting in today's patch, Sims households not being actively played can now experience a wide range of autonomous life events, meaning they could die in an accident, adopt or have a baby, change careers or retire, move house, get a cat or dog, and more.

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Final Fantasy publisher Square Enix has announced it is donating $500k to the UN's fund for Ukrainian refugees.

Separately, the company has also launched an employee fundraising program with matched donations to benefit several other key charities: the Red Cross, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders.

"We sincerely hope that peace will be restored, and that those affected by the crisis will regain peaceful life as quickly as possible," Square Enix said in a statement published to Twitter today.

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Elden Ring was the biggest game of February across Europe, and is the biggest new IP launch since The Division in 2016.

We already knew it was the biggest Souls launch ever, but now it's also the biggest game launch since Call of Duty: Vanguard in November 2021, as per GamesIndustry.biz.

Elden Ring was number one in most major European countries, except Germany where Pokémon Legends: Arceus topped the chart.

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The Initiative, Microsoft's new game studio set up to reboot Perfect Dark, has seen an exodus of key staff over the last 12 months.

Last weekend, it was spotted that Perfect Dark's game director Dan Neuburger had left the studio after nearly four years. (Perfect Dark itself is not expected any time soon and lacks any kind of release date.)

Now, LinkedIn investigations have unearthed more than 30 other departures since the start of 2021. This includes the game's design director, lead level designer, principal level designer and principal world builder, lead systems designer, technical director, director of narrative and narrative lead, VGC spotted.

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It's been a long wait for new information on Monster Hunter Rise's "massive" Sunbreak expansion following its reveal last September, but Capcom has now delivered in its latest Digital Event livestream, showcasing some of the expansion's new features and slapping it with a 30th June release date on Switch and PC.

Sunbreak will, we're told, pick up immediately following the resolution of the base game's Rampage storyline, with the expansion's new story arc kicking into gear when previously revealed new monster Lunagaron - plus Dame Fioyrane, a royal knight from a distant kingdom - are sighted in Rise's familiar Shrine Ruins area. Capcom reminds players that Sunbreak can be accessed after completing the 7-star hub quest Serpent Goddess of Thunder in the base game and that a selection of powerful support items are now available to players via a recent free update should they want to accelerate their progress in preparation for the expansion.

Following Sunbreak's introduction, players will depart for new climes, arriving in the bustling port town of Elgado Outpost, which serves as the expansion's colourful new hub area. As you'd expect, it features all the usual facilities hunters are likely to require as they begin the journey through Sunbreak's new Master Rank missions, and even brings a fresh roster of faces - including Admiral Galleus, leader of royale knights, quirky scientist Bahari the Researcher, Chichae the Quest Damsel, Minayle the Blacksmith, Oboro the Merchant, and more.

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Midnight Society, the new AAA game developer backed by controversial streamer DrDisrespect, aka Guy Beahm, has detailed how its early access plans involve owning "Founders Pass" NFTs.

A blog post by Midnight Society's Robert Bowling (formerly community manager of Call of Duty studio Infinity Ward) explained that the studio wanted to invite its "Day Zero community", which are already part of the studio's Discord, to become paid-up early access members.

These members will pay $50 (or the equivalent in planet-burning Ethereum cryptocurrency) for a Founders Pass NFT which grants membership benefits, plus a unique, procedurally generated "VisorCortex" helmet design. The Pass and the associated benefits can then be sold or traded to others down the line.

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