Wayne Townsend

Video game / movie addict, that is crazy about new technology.

[Christopher Dring @Chris_Dring]

Here's the graph of the UK home consoles that were fastest to 1m from today's The Game Business Show/Newsletter. Thank you to NielsenIQ for the data. https://t.co/SyX3xEuuEI

[Spotify @Spotify]

You know what time it is! Countdown Charts are here. What summer release are you pre-saving? 😎

[EA Star Wars @EAStarWars]

Get your squad ready: New gameplay trailer for #StarWars Zero Company drops during #SummerGameFest! Tune in June 5 at 2pm PT here: https://t.co/nsqCdS5nke

[Bear McCreary 🐻🎶 @bearmccreary]

I am honored to return to the God of War saga, as the composer of God of War Laufey.

I’ve been working on this for years with a stunningly talented team of developers, musicians, performers, and singers, and look forward to sharing more of all our work with you soon!

[HIDEO_KOJIMA @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN]

With Oscar Isaac.

[Paul Tassi @PaulTassi]

Just saying, Xbox’s Asha Sharma would greenlight Destiny 3 with a Twitter poll

[All The Right Movies @ATRightMovies]

ALIEN is 47 years old this week. We tell the story behind the sci fi epic in 30 Nostormo-sized facts... https://t.co/JppRKgmjOx

[cinesthetic. @TheCinesthetic]

Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo and Emily Blunt wearing Steven Spielberg movies shirts for DISCLOSURE DAY press 📸

[MCU - The Direct @MCU_Direct]

The first trailer for X-MEN '97 Season 2 has been released:

[Wayne Townsend @JetSetWayno]

@game_collection Love Live and let die!! The humour is great and the soundtrack is epic!!

[The Game Collection @game_collection]

🚨 COMPETITION TIME! 🚨

To celebrate today's launch of 007 First Light, we're giving YOU the chance to WIN the Legacy Edition on PS5!

Includes: Copy of the game on PS5, Golden Gun, Steelbook with Magnet, and MORE!

TO ENTER:

🫵🏼 Follow us and Repost this!
✍🏼 Respond with your favourite Bond movie and tell us why?!

ENDS:

Wednesday 3rd June at 12pm! ⏳

Good luck, 007...

[All The Right Movies @ATRightMovies]

THE SHINING (1980) recreated in Lego renders. The detail is incredible. Can't find who made these so please credit if you know...

1/10 - The Colorado Lounge

[cinesthetic. @TheCinesthetic]

Steven Spielberg was only 24 when he directed the pilot for Columbo, but the visual confidence was already there.

The opening shot glides from the murderer approaching straight to the victim in one seamless move.

[All The Right Movies @ATRightMovies]

Shark photographer Euan Rannachan recreated the JAWS movie poster with a real great white shark.

[HYPEX @HYPEX]

Fortnite had *14.6M PLAYERS* this week in PlayStation (USA) alone 😳

Compared to:
• GTA 5 → 5.13M
• Minecraft → 4.97M
• Call of Duty → 4.95M
• Apex Legends → 1.72M
• Marvel Rivals → 1.58M
• Battlefield 6 → 1.51M
• Arc Raiders → 972K

[VIA @mysticryan on YouTube]

[IGN UK Finds @IGNUKDeals]

ICYMI: Crunchyroll streaming deals for Ani-May are available until May 21, 2026, in the UK

Fan, £1.49 for 3 Months (was £5.99)
Mega Fan, £1.99 for 3 Months (was £6.99)

See here: https://t.co/CJMvQjDCUE #ad

[Rhys Elliott @superhys]

Saros has sold 300K+ in its first two weeks, generating over $22M (@alineaanalytics estimates).

Almost a third of those copies came during the early-access period, which suggests that Housemarque superfans (including myself!) are propping this one up.

We have a big deep dive with a lot more Saros data on our free Substack (playtime, audience overlap etc.) Link's on my profile.

Players who consistently show up for PlayStation’s other first-party games at launch – or shortly after – make up a significant share of Saros’ early players:

- 56% of Saros‘ players previously played Ghost of Yotei (released in October 2025).

- 37% played Death Stranding 2 (released last June).

- 11% played God of War: Ghost of Sparta (a February 2026 shadow-drop).

- And 8% played Marathon (early March).

Launch-aligned, our estimates show that Saros is actually selling a little slower than Returnal, despite there being only about 8M PS5s in the wild when Returnal launched vs the 93M+ install base Saros launched into.

On first look, that seems rough. But there’s a bit more to it. When Returnal hit in April 2021, less than six months after the PS5 launch. Those early PS5 adopters (the ones who inherently buy a lot of new games at full price) were dying for something to play. Returnal was the first big first-party PlayStation release since launch, and it made amazing use of the unique DualSense haptics and spatial audio. Many core PS5 players flocked to it almost by default.

It’s a different story for Saros. It’s launched not too long after Crimson Desert, Resident Evil Requiem, Hades 2 on PS5, Pragmata, and a whole bunch of rad 2026 games. This is a more niche PlayStation Studios game. It was never going to do numbers like God of War or Ghost of Yotei.

Of course, Saros is also competing with the whole cumulative backlog of PlayStation releases that have built up across the cycle. The PS5 install base is over 11x bigger than it was at Returnal’s launch, but the share of that audience actively shopping for a new niche first-party title is structurally smaller.

It really is a shame, as Saros is a fantastic game and frankly deserves better numbers than this. But 3D bullet-hell-type games, especially those with a $70+ price tag, are a tough sell in today’s market.

Particularly without a big IP behind it, or a studio that’s recognised outside of the PlayStation hardcore. But there’s plenty to love about Saros. I’m loving it, and so are many others. It’s also already sold more copies than Marathon on PS5, so there’s that.

This slow start suggests it will struggle to break even, given the reported $76M development budget. But at the same time, exclusives sell consoles, and then inertia from previous generations does the rest, and the real PlayStation money is made on third-party launches and legacy third-party live services. Plenty of core PlayStation players have picked up Saros, which is the underlying job an exclusive is meant to do.

Sony will inevitably find new revenue and players via PlayStation Store discounts and its eventual PS Plus inclusion. But if revenue is the priority on this one for Sony, this fantastic game has sadly had a lukewarm start, as per our estimates.

The broader point Saros’ launch underlines is one I’ve been making for a while. The PlayStation hardcore is an extraordinarily valuable audience, but it’s a finite one, and Sony’s first-party release cadence is increasingly bumping up against the limits of that audience’s wallet share.

The elephant in the room is that Sony recently closed Bluepoint. Now that Housemarque has presumably closed the book on Saros, I sincerely hope PlayStation keeps them on the books.

Like Bluepoint, Housemarque are some incredibly talented folks.

More on the free Subsack.

[Lionesses @Lionesses]

The Whitney Houston challenge is back 🎶

Episode two of First and Fast is live now exclusivly on the official England app 📺

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

A24’s ‘Friday the 13th’ prequel series ‘CRYSTAL LAKE’ will release October 15 on Peacock.

Starring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees.