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Latest Gaming News: ‘Splinter Cell’ is back and ‘Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’ are being refunded

A stealth franchise is getting an entry that you can't see.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Key Art, with starters, legendary Pokémon and trainers
Image via The Pokémon Company

It is not all good news in the land of Nintendo, as they have been refunding copies of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, while fans have gotten angry at the Need for Speed Twitter account, and Splinter Cell is back, but probably not in the way that you want.

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Read about all this and more in today’s gaming news roundup.

After breaking franchise records, players are seeking refunds for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet break sales records
Image via Nintendo / GameFreak

We reported in yesterday’s news roundup that Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet sold 10 million copies in the first three days of its release, breaking the record for the best-selling Nintendo game in that time frame. But today we can report that people are turning around and asking Nintendo for refunds after witnessing the poor performance of the games. It would not be too surprising to find out that people are refunding the games as some could compare them to the disastrous launch state of Cyberpunk 2077 and how PlayStation refunded purchases of the game after fans caused an uproar. 

Interestingly, Nintendo, Game Freak, and The Pokémon Company have all been silent on the issue so far, and there is no word as to if a patch will be released for the games to improve their performance. But there are workarounds for the game’s poor performance, including a newly discovered one which involves moving the game’s data from your SD card to the console itself, in case you do not want to refund the game. 

The Splinter Cell franchise is getting a new entry, but it’s not a game

Splinter Cell Remake
Image via Ubisoft

Splinter Cell fans prepare to be disappointed, as we will be getting more Splinter Cell content but it’s not a game we will be getting, it is a Splinter Cell radio play. If you do want to listen to the radio play, which is called Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Firewall, it will begin to air starting Dec. 2, 2022, on BBC’s Radio 4. Sam Fisher will be played by Andonis Anthony, and Daisy Head, Sacha Dhawan, Will Poulter, and Nikesh Patel will also be providing their voice talents to the project. Of course, Ubisoft did announce that we would be getting a Splinter Cell remake soon, so maybe tune into the radio drama in the meantime.

Fans think EA stepped over the line with the Need for Speed Twitter account

In what might be the weirdest news story of the day, EA has apologized after the Twitter account for Need for Speed started to insult fans. They have since deleted the (funny) offending tweets in question, but hardcore fans have managed to retain their receipts as you can see from the exchange above. The official Twitter account tweeted,

“We admit we got a bit caught up in the hype for launch and some of our recent social media replies crossed the line. To those fans we upset, we apologize. We will do better. See you here next week.”

Of course, their new game, Need for Speed Unbound is set to release next week, so you cannot blame the account for getting a bit too excited about its launch. At the end of the day, it seems like a classic case of gamers being able to dish it out but not take it when a very public Twitter account embarrasses you. It is all fun and games until a big corporation decides to take its ball and go home. 

Grand Theft Auto VI might be released in 2024

Michael, Franklin and Trevor from Grand Theft Auto V
Image via Rockstar Games

According to Microsoft, Grand Theft Auto VI will probably be released in 2024. In our news roundup yesterday, we mentioned that the Competition and Markets Authority was investigating Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision/Blizzard. In Microsoft’s lengthy response they referenced that it is their belief that Grand Theft Auto VI might be released in 2024, which is not actually out of the realm of possibility.

They wrote that “The highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to be released in 2024.” We know that the game is being worked on by Rockstar Games and by the state of the recent leaks of the game, it did seem like they were making good headway. Although even if Microsoft knows that Rockstar will be releasing the game in 2024, there is always the chance that it might be delayed. So fans of the game should be patient, but it does seem like we are edging closer to the release of the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto franchise.