An excellent accompaniment to your morning coffee.

It’s Saturday morning and that can only mean one thing – yep, it’s time for another of our Weekly News Roundups, where we bring you all the news from the last week and pop into one handy article. And by some massive coincidence, here it is:

(Well, not all the news because that would just be silly and exhausting.)

Blizzard winds down development on Heroes of the Storm

In a surprise announcement today, Blizzard is moving a number of the Heroes of the Storm developers away from the game to “bring their skills to other projects.” 

So what does this mean for the future of Blizzard’s free-to-play MOBA?

For starters, the Heroes of the Storm will continue to be actively supported, new heroes will still be introduced to the game, as well as seasonal events and other content. It seems that Blizzard is “setting up the game for long-term sustainability” so while updates may not happen as often as fans are used to, it does mean that the game will continue for the foreseeable future.

Heroes of the Storm eSports events have also been cancelled for next year; Heroes Global Championship and Heroes of the Dorm will not be returning in 2019.

So while it’s looking a little bleak for Heroes of the Storm fans, the game isn’t going anywhere. But perhaps that’s part of the problem.

You can read Blizzard’s full announcement here.

Metro Exodus release date has been brought forward

Deep Silver and 4A Games have announced that Metro Exodus has gone gold (meaning the game’s development has come to an end) and that it will be released a week earlier than originally announced; Metro Exodus will now launch on February 15, rather than February 22.

To celebrate, Deep Silver has revealed the Metro Exodus title sequence, which was put together by Elastic, the Santa Monica studio responsible for some well-known title sequences including Game of Thrones and Westworld. You can check out the Metro Exodus title sequence, below:

“Our fans have been waiting patiently for Metro Exodus ever since we announced the title at E3 2017,” said Klemens Kundratitz, CEO at Deep Silver. “We had previously delayed the release date to ensure 4A Games had the time to deliver their ambitious vision for the game, but now we’re delighted to confirm that Metro Exodus has ‘gone gold’ and we are able to bring the release date forward to the 15th February 2019.”

Metro Exodus is set for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 15, 2019.

Nier: Automata will get a GOTY Edition in 2019

Square Enix has announced that Nier: Automata is getting a GOTY Edition (that’s Game of the ‘Yorha’) for PlayStation 4 and PC and is set to arrive on  February 26, 2019.

The GOTY Edition will come complete with the 3C3C1D119440927 expansion as well as six pod designs and a Machine Mask accessory. PlayStation 4 players will get a dynamic theme of the game plus 15 avatars while Steam players will be treated to a couple of new wallpapers.

Nier: Automata, along with its developers, PlatinumGames, has received much praise for the RPG’s creative gameplay so if (like me) you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy, the GOTY Edition seems like an excellent opportunity to do so.

Nier: Automata is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

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