Business

• Obsidian sued in class action lawsuit over alleged "systematic pattern of wage and hour violations". The studio has denied the allegations

Rumors

• EA conducts layoffs in Hyderabad, India and the US. The latest round of layoffs reportedly impacts workers across the 'recruitment, customer support, trust and safety, and IT teams. If the rumours are correct, an unknown amount of people are affected

Business

• Meccha Chameleon has Sold over 7 Million Copies
• Roblox details how much creators will pay for brand integrations (using a "cost-per-mille" / CPM aka per thousand visit basis system)
  • The cost varies from region to region
    • US Vistors: $1.50
    • UK / Canada / Australia / New Zealand / Nordic countries: $0.75
    • Western Europe / Japan / South Korea: $0.20
    • Rest of World: $0.05
  • After 28 days, a campaign will yield a flat rate of $0.10 per thousand customers for everyone. These costs will come into effect on January 1, 2027
• Marvel Contest of Champions developer Kabam is consolidating its office in Los Angeles in a move that has resulted in an unknown number of layoffs

Business

• Crime Boss: Rockay City Hits 1M Copies Sold and Celebrates Two-Year Steam Anniversary with a Massive 2.0 Update

Business

• Epic have revealed details about their Unreal Engine 6 Plans
  • UE5 + UEFN = UE6
  • Actors and Blueprints will be deprecated, replaced with Verse and Scene Graph
  • UE6 Main is now available on Github, full release expected "late 2027-ish"
  • Will integrate AI systems to allow developers to “build content faster” while “maintaining the creative control you need”
  • Will have conversion tools for UE5 tools not coming over (Blueprints .etc)
  • Strong intent to have interoperability between games (where items such as Weapons, Vehicles, Characters and Fortnite skins .etc can be shared across games)
• OtherSide Entertainment lays off 17 staff following game cancellation (project codename Argos)
• Epic announces Lore, open source version control for games

Rumors

• Co-Founder of 3D Realms, George Broussard, claims that redundancies at Microsoft owned Zenimax have begun
  • He also replied to a tweet that suggested “Anyone not working on Fallout or Elder Scrolls is out” with “Oh is that public now? That’s exactly what I heard a few days ago.”

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox reveals its next six Game Pass titles
  • Arriving
    • Junkster
    • Call of Duty: Vanguard
    • EA Sports FC 26
    • Abyssus
    • RV There Yet?
    • Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4
    • Winds of Arcana: Ruination
  • Leaving (June 30th)
    • Mecha Break
    • Payday 2
    • Rise of the Tomb Raider
    • Tomb Raider
    • Slay the Spire
    • Ultimate Chicken Horse
    • Volcano Princess
    • Unpacking
• PlayStation Plus Removing 12 Games In July
  • Bomber Crew
  • Clash: Artifacts of Chaos
  • Cursed to Golf
  • Get Even
  • Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator
  • Infinite Minigolf
  • Onee Chanbara Origin
  • Risk of Rain 2
  • Roki
  • Source of Madness
  • Space Crew: Legendary Edition
  • Tropico 6

Business

• UK video games trade body TIGA appoints nine industry veterans to board of directors
  • Gemma Brown, co-CEO, Dovetail Games
  • Ben Gunstone, CEO, Stainless Games
  • Dan Hett, studio designer director, d3t
  • Greg Howson, director of communications, Supermassive Games
  • Marco A. Minoli, director of publishing, Slitherine
  • Stuart Muckley, CEO, Code Wizards
  • Tim Repa-Davies, EVP, general counsel and head of business affairs, Sumo Digital
  • Sitara Shefta, co-founder and CEO, Pretty Cool Games
  • John Tearle, co-founder and studio director, Flix Interactive
• The Team Behind Luna Abyss from Kwalee Labs has Been Laid Off, CEO Reveals, Weeks After Luna Abyss’ Launch. 9 people have been affected

Business

• Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan and chief of staff Louise O’Connor to depart
  • Craig Duncan served 18 months in the role. Louise O'Connor served 11 months
• Treyarch studio head Mark Gordon to depart after 22 years at the company
• Electronic Arts launches EA Advertising, which it says will add brands into games in a ‘non-disruptive’ way
  • According to EA, brand will be able to work with EA on in-game content, challenges and adverts

Rumors

• Studios in Microsoft’s Xbox Division Brace for Closures. Certain studios are in active negotiations with Xbox and may be given the chance to go independent / find a buyer. The studios named in the rumors are Compulsion Games, Double Fine and Ninja Theory
  • Other studios are expected to also be affected but it is unclear at this time what other studios are at risk and/or are negotiating for independence
  • Another source has named Arkane Lyon, who are currently creating Marvel's Blade, as another stuido that is at risk of closure

Business

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Says Xbox Must Finally Become a Sustainable Business After 25 Years of Investment
  • Satya Nadella also said "YouTube currently monetizes Xbox games better than Microsoft itself"

Rumors

• Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Reportedly Wants To Speed Up Release Of Next Halo, Fallout and Elder Scrolls Games. Sources Have Also Claimed Spinning Off The Xbox Business Entirely Isn’t Completely Off The Table

Business

• Crimson Desert has sold over 6 million copies worldwide

Free Games / Subscription

• PS+ June Additions
  • Final Fantasy XVI
  • Sonic X Shadow Generations
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance
  • Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
  • Farming Simulator 25
  • Blades of Fire
  • Black Desert
  • Gitaroo Man

Business

• UK co-development studio CodeDev Launches ‘The Performance Guys’ and Announces Hunt for Senior Optimisation Talent
• Ubisoft announces approximately 380 employees have been impacted by restructuring changes
  • Insider Gaming claims the affected studios / projects are:
    • Ubisoft Winnipeg, 65 employees laid off, and the studio closed
    • Ubisoft Belgrade, approximately 100 employees were laid off, and the studio closed
    • Ubisoft Barcelona, 51 employees laid off
    • Rainbow Six Siege, 120 employees ramped off
    • Ubisoft San Francisco, undisclosed number of employees laid off
  • Insider Gaming also claims that Ubisoft initially embargoed news to outlets about the layoffs and studio closures
• Frontier Developments reported its second-highest revenue to date, rising 16% to £104.8 million in FY26
  • Operating profit increased by 44% to £19 million, surpassing the previous record of £15.9 million set in FY19
  • The UK-based studio credited its 'strategic focus' on creative management simulation (CMS) games for this growth, with the genre now accounting for 90% of FY26 revenue

Rumors

• Xbox is planning major layoffs next month as new CEO Asha Sharma confronts a bleak picture and plans what she calls a "reset" of the business
  • In an email sent to employees on Wednesday, CEO Asha Sharma said that the business had plummeted to a 3% “accountability margin,” the metric Microsoft uses to reflect profit margin.
    • Also in that email, Asha Sharma said “Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time. Going forward, this cannot continue.”

Business

• Mina the Hollower sells 500k copies less than two weeks after launch

Business

• Monster Hunter: World has now sold over 30m units worldwide, becoming Capcom's "best-selling single title of all time"
• Nintendo of Europe agrees to pay €35m fine for Joy-Con drift defects. Nintendo denies "intentionally misleading consumers", calls settlement issued by French regulator an "amicable resolution"

Business

• 007: First Light has sold over 3 million copies
• Paramount unveils new 'unified' Paramount Games Studio. The freshly unveiled studio will house all current Paramount and Skydance game studios moving forward
• Merge Mansion dev Metacore lays off 159 employees, closes studios in Germany and Sweden
• Altus has announced that the Persona series has sold over 30 million units over its lifetime

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass games for June have been announced, including Herdling, Persona 5 Royal, Frog Sqwad and more

Business

• Gamble With Your Friends sells two million copies in a month

Other Notes

• Please stay tuned tonight for a special "Summer Games Fest" edition of the Game News Round-Up

Business

• Vampire Survivors' Poncle is expanding into Japan. New japanese studio will be led by Crim CEO Sawaki Takeyasu
• Team17 has laid off two members of its marketing and communications department
• Mina the Hollower sold 300,000 copies in three days
• Future James Bond games will come from Amazon Games, IO Interactive's involvement unclar

Free Games / Subscription

• Upcoming PS+ Games
  • RuneScape: Dragonwilds – Fall 2026
  • Gitaroo Man – June 2026
  • Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy – July 2026
  • Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams – August 2026

Business

• Nordic Game attendance rises by 6% in 2026

Business

• New Zealand games sector hits $1bn revenue two years earlier than anticipated. Growth is attributed to the government's Game Development Sector Rebate and Centre of Digital Excellence funding
• Atari acquires Crossy Road developer Hipster Whale. Australian studio purchased for an initial $29.3 million, with an earn-out that could push the total cost to $40 million

Business

• Balatro owner Playstack sold to subsidary of parent company of Fandom and Gamespot (Integrated Media Company)
  • Previous owner Turin told investors it had agreed to sell its 84.5 percent stake in the UK publisher to VantageCo, a direct subsidiary of IMC, for £112.4 million ($151 million)
• NetEase Q1 Results
  • For the three months ending March 31, 2026:
    • Net revenues: RMB30.6 billion ($4.4 billion), up 6.1% year-on-year
    • Games and related value-added services net revenues: RMB25.7 billion ($3.7 billion), up 6.9% year-on-year
    • Online games revenue: approximately RMB25.1 billion, up around 7% year-on-year

Business

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has sold 65 million units
• 007 First Light sells 1.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of release

Free Games / Subscription

• Donkey Kong 64 is coming to Nintendo Switch Online

Business

• Pokémon game sales cross 515m units

Free Games / Subscription

• June’s PlayStation Plus ‘free’ Essential monthly games: Grounded Fully Yoked Edition, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

Business

• Take-Two Financial Results
  • For the three months ending March 31, 2026:
    • Net revenue: $1.7 billion, up 6% year-on-year
    • Net bookings: $1.58 billion, flat year-on-year
    • Net loss: $59.6 million, down 98% year-on-year
  • For the financial year ending March 31, 2026:
    • Net revenue: $6.2 billion, up 19% year-on-year
    • Net bookings: $6.72 billion, up 19% year-on-year
    • Net loss: $298.2 million, down 93% year-on-year

Business

• Star Citizen tops $1 billion crowdfunding milestone
• Kenshi Sells 3 Million Units

Business

• Xbox announces hire of veteran analyst Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer
• ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’ Becomes Third Best-Selling Game Ever Released, With 85 Million Copies Sold to Date
• Subnautica 2 has sold 4 million copies in 5 days

Business

• Quantic Dream's multiplayer game Spellcasters Chronicles is being shut down and the studio reorganised, but Star Wars Eclipse is unaffected
• Ubisoft Financial Results
  • Full Year Numbers
    • Revenue: €1.4 billion (down 21.8% year-on-year)
    • Net bookings: €1.5 billion (down 17.4% year-on-year)
    • Digital net bookings: €1.33 billion (down 16.0% year-on-year)
    • Back-catalogue net bookings: €1.28 billion (down 1.1% year-on-year)
  • Three Months Ending March 31, 2026
    • Revenue: €419.5 million (down 47.3% year-on-year)
    • Net bookings: €415 million (down 54% year-on-year)
    • Back-catalogue net bookings: €243 million

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass titles for the rest of May have been revealed

Business

• Embracer announces plan to split into 2 companies, as Tomb Raider and LoTR spun off
  • Fellowship Entertainment is planned to be established in 2027 and will be an “IP-led” entertainment company built around the development, publishing, and licensing of games, with a single, centralized business plan.
    • The new company will take over stewardship of The Lord of the Rings IP, and game franchises such as Tomb Raider, Darksiders, Dead Island, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Metro, and Remnant.
  • Embracer says Fellowship will ‘more actively’ explore Deus Ex, TimeSplitters, Legacy of Kain and Saints Row partnerships (developed by external partners)
• Far Far West sells over 1 million copies in three weeks, publisher Fireshine Games rejects generative AI, but allows use of AI in other tools (such as for code completion, co-pilot in Word .etc)

Free Games / Subscription

• PlayStation Plus is going up in price for new members. £1/$1 for one month, £3/$3 for three-month option.

Rumors

• PlayStation boss Hermen Hulst tells staff that single-player games won’t come to PC going forward

Business

• Subnautica 2 sells 2 million in 12 hours with over 600K concurrent players
• Terraria marks 70 million sales and 15th anniversary with a promise to "continue beyond" its next big update
• May 2026 Games Industry Role Appointments Round-up
  • Ex-Aardman exec Lorna Probert joins Diva Agency
  • Two Point Studios appoints Jo Koehler as COO
  • Pete Smith and Samantha Ebelthite have joined Keywords Studios as global client partners. In this role, Smith and Ebelthite will advise partners on the different services offered by Keywords.
  • Jam City co-founder Joshua Yguado steps down as CEO
• Nexon Q1 Results
  • Revenue: ¥152.2 billion ($959.9 million, up 34% year-over-year)
  • Operating income: ¥58.2 billion ($367 million, up 40% year-over-year)
  • Net income: ¥57.2 billion ($360.7 million, 118% year-over-year)
• Square Enix FY26 Results
  • Net sales: ¥297.6 billion ($1.8 billion, down 8.3% year-on-year)
  • Digital entertainment sales: ¥172.8 billion ($1.08 billion, down 16.3％ year-on-year)
  • Operating income: ¥54.7 billion ($344.9 million, up 34.9% year-on-year)
  • Profit attributable to owners of parent: ¥29.6 billion ($186.6 million, up 21.3% year-on-year)

Business

• Subnautica 2 has reached 1 million copies sold
• Windrose passes 2 Million copies sold

Rumors

• Amazon reportedly cancels Lord of the Rings MMO. Firm's head of games says it's working on a "new game experience" within the franchise
• WWE 2K26 dev Visual Concepts is laying off staff. Unknown amount of employees affected

Free Games / Subscription

• PS Plus Premium and Extra games for May announced.
  • Star Wars Outlaws
  • Red Dead Redemption 2
  • Bramble: The Mountain King
  • The Thaumaturge | PS5
  • Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
  • Broken Sword – Shadows of the Templar: Reforged
  • Enotria: The Last Song Standard Edition
  • Time Crisis (will feature all-new gyro aiming)

Business

• Sensor Tower acquires AppMagic
• Capcom Financial Results
  • Net sales: ¥195.6 billion ($1.2 billion, up 15.2% year-on-year)
  • Net income: ¥54.5 billion ($345.4 million, up 12.7% year-on-year)

Business

• SEGA FY26 Results
  • Net sales: ¥487.5 billion ($3.09 billion, up 13.6% year-on-year)
  • Operating income: ¥47.1 billion ($299 million, down 2% year-on-year)
  • Ordinary income: ¥54.2 billion ($344 million, up 2% year-on-year)
• Metroid Dread developer MercurySteam conducts layoffs. Unknown amount of people affected
• Silent Hill f shipments and digital sales top two million

Business

• Shift Up says it will publish Stellar Blade 2 instead of Sony, wants to ‘reach a broad global audience from day one’ . Is also "actively exploring" further platform expansion for the first game.
• Sony maps out how first-party PlayStation studios are utilising AI tools during development

Business

• Sony Financial Results
  • Full Year Numbers
    • Net sales: ¥12.5 trillion ($79.7 billion, up 3.7% year-over-year)
    • Operating income: ¥1.4 trillion ($8.9 billion, up 13.4% year-over-year)
    • Game & Network Services net sales: ¥4.7 trillion ($29.9 billion, up 0.3% year-over-year)
    • Game & Network Services operating income: ¥463.3 billion ($2.9 billion, up 12%)
  • Q4
    • Net sales: ¥3.03 trillion ($19.3 billion, up 8.3% year-over-year)
    • Operating income: ¥163.5 billion ($1.04 billion, up 24% year-over-year)
    • Game & Network Services net sales: ¥1.02 trillion ($6.5 billion, down 2.8% year-over-year)
    • Game & Network Services operating income: ¥54.1 billion ($345.1 million, down 41.6% year-over-year)
• Nintendo Financial Results
  • Net sales: ¥2.3 trillion ($14.6 billion, up 98.6%)
  • Operating profit: ¥360.1 billion ($2.2 billion, up 27.5%)
  • Ordinary profit: ¥542.2 billion ($3.4 billion, up 45.6%)
  • Gross profit: ¥909 billion ($5.7 billion, up 28%)
• Gamble With Your Friends has sold 1 million copies in one week

Business

• Eve Online studio CCP Games is rebranding following its split from Crimson Desert’s Pearl Abyss. CCP Games is now "Fenris Creations"
• Capcom: Sales of All-New IP PRAGMATA Top Two Million Units in 16 Days
• 2K has laid off staff at 31st Union, the studio working on free-to-play shooter Project Ethos. Studio head has "never been more confident in the future of our game" but needed to "scale back our team to better align with where we are in development". Unknown amount of people affected.
• Unity Q1 results
  • Revenue: $508 million (up 17% year-on-year)
  • Create Solutions revenue: $157 million (up 4% year-on-year)
  • Grow Solutions revenue: $352 million (up 23% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $347 million (with a margin of 68%)
• Sony Records New $560 Million Loss On Bungie Acquisition As Marathon Struggles And Destiny 2 Nosedives
• Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 19.86 million units as of Q1 2026
  • Software sales
    • Mario Kart World - 14.7M
    • Pokemon Legends ZA - 12.8M (S1+S2)
    • DK Bananza - 4.52M
    • Pokopia - above 4M in 6 weeks
    • FireRed/LeafGreen - above 4M in 5 weeks
    • Tomodachi Life - 3.8M in 2 weeks
• PS5 shipments top 93.7 million. 1.5 million units shipped during the three months ended March 31, 2026.
• Nintendo raises prices for Nintendo products and services

Business

• Founders of Gearbox Quebec announce new studio to "create original, premium games on our own terms". Ricochet Games working on "a co-op action-adventure game designed for a global audience".
  • The studio has been founded by Sébastien Caisse and Pierre-André Déry, who previously launched and lead Gearbox Studio Québec, alongside former Borderlands Creative Director Maxime Babin and former Gearbox Director of Creative Development Yanick Piché. Caisse and Déry departed Gearbox in 2024.
• EA FY26 Results
  • For the three months ending March 31, 2026
    • Net revenue: $2.1 billion (up 12% year-on-year)
    • Net income: $461 million (up 81.5% year-on-year)
    • Net bookings: $1.86 billion (up 3.6% year-on-year)
  • For the 12 months ending March 31, 2026
    • Net revenue: $7.53 billion (up 1% year-on-year)
    • Net income: $887 million (down 20.9% year-on-year)
    • Net bookings: $8.03 billion (up 9% year-on-year)

Rumors

• MindsEye studio Build A Rocket Boy reportedly lays off 170 more employees
  • This comes after two prior layoff rounds (March and last summer)

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox details the next 13 Game Pass titles, including Forza Horizon 6, Mixtape and Subnautica 2

Business

• Remedy says Control has now sold over 6 million lifetime copies and reaffirms Control Resonant is still "on track" for a 2026 release
• Pearl Abyss sells CCP back to its CEO for less than half what it paid ($100 million), plus $20 million in crypto
• Remedy Q1 Results
  • Revenue: €13.1 million (down 1.9%)
  • Operating profit: €1 million, down 23% compared to €1.3 million for the same quarter last year
• Xbox no longer developing Copilot for consoles

Business

• GameStop makes $55.5bn takeover offer for eBay
• The Steam Controller sold out in 30 minutes
• Roblox announces AI-driven upscaler, which it claims will convert Roblox titles to photorealistic graphics
• Roblox Q1 Numbers
  • Revenue: $1.4 billion (up 39%)
  • Bookings: $1.7 billion (up 43%)
  • Net losses: $248 million compared to $216 million during the same quarter last year
• Krafton Q1 Numbers
  • Revenue: $931 million (up 56.9%)
  • Operating profit: $381.3 million (up 22.8%)
  • Mobile revenue: $477 million
  • PC revenue: $247.1 million
  • Console revenue: $9.3 million
  • Other revenue: $197.6 million
  • PUBG franchise revenue: over $679 million, up 24% year-on-year

Business

• Epic Games Store launches on iPhone in Japan
• Ustwo Games to consider hiring more contractors to reduce development costs. "We'll have a core team and any growth will come through contractors, which is something I hate about the industry," says CEO
• Digital Bros. acquires Wuchang: Fallen Feathers IP for $4.6m. The 2025 game has sold one million copies and generated around $35.1m in revenue
• GameMaker incorporates Claude Code to enable AI-assisted workflows

Free Games / Subscription

• May’s PlayStation Plus Essential ‘free’ games: FC26, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers and Nine Sols

Business

• Greedfall developer Spiders has shut down after Nacon recently filed for Insolvency
• Microsoft Q3 Financial Results
  • For the three months ended March 31, 2026:
    • Revenue: $82.9 billion (up 18%)
    • More personal computing (incl. Xbox revenue): $13.2 billion (down 1%)
    • Operating income: $38.4 billion (up 20%)
    • Net income: $31.8 billion (up 23%)

Business

• Capcom raises FY25 outlook following boost from Resident Evil: Requiem. The developer now expects net sales of ¥195.3 billion ($1.22 billion), up 2.8%, and net income of ¥54.5 billion ($342 million), up 6.9%, from the previous forecast

Business

• Assassin’s Creed Hexe has lost another director. Game Director Benoit Richer confirms his departure, weeks after Creative Director Clint Hocking's exit

Business

• Resident Evil Requiem sales exceed 7 Million (in less than two months)
  • The previous RE game to reach this milestone the quickest was Resident Evil 4 (2023), which took 12 months and 1 week to reach 7 million
• Atari has acquired retro emulation studio Implicit Conversions, which specialises in PS1 ports
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 passes 8 million in sales
• Bulletstorm dev People Can Fly acquires Cooldown Games
• Gameworks and PerfCop are part of a new wave of tools for keeping an eye on game performance throughout development

Rumors

• GOG Reddit account teasing a re-release of Freelancer

Business

• Nintendo has been sued by two players in the US, who say the company stands to unjustly profit from any tariff refunds it receives from the US government
• Vampire Survivors’ developer is working on over 15 projects, including IP collaborations. Opening new studios in Italy and Japan
• Koei Tecmo FY2026 profit forecast lifted from ¥37bn to ¥55.5bn, up 50%. Operating profit guidance rose from ¥31bn to ¥36bn due to better-than-expected Q4 game sales and investment gains
• Dead by Daylight studio Behaviour Interactive confirms redundancies. Studio says "demand for mobile and casual external development projects has declined". Unknown amount of people affected.
• Palia reaches 10 million players

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox is cutting Game Pass prices and removing launch-day Call of Duty games. Game Pass Ultimate drops from $29.99 to $22.99. Call of Duty games to be added roughly one year post-release

Business

• Dragon Ball and Digimon producer Toei announces Toei Games, focusing on new IPs first
• Sanrio establishes in-house gaming brand Sanrio Games. Hello Kitty creator plans to launch ten games over the next three years, starting with Sanrio Party Land later this year

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox has revealed the next 10 titles coming to Game Pass, including Final Fantasy 5. 10 games will be removed from Game Pass next week

Business

• Iron Galaxy Studios announces further layoffs, unknown number of staff affected. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 dev says "it's impossible to sustain our team size even after downsizing from last year"
• PRAGMATA surpasses one million units sold in two days
• Windrose has sold 1 million copies in 6 days

Business

• Microsoft's Matt Booty details cross-studio collaborations (Blizzard assisting with Fable's cienmatics, Sea of Thieves team helping with Kiln .etc)
• Roblox to pay over $12m to state of Nevada in child safety settlement. Additional protections to be implemented nationwide, including enhanced age verification for all users
• Windrose has sold 500,000 copies in 48 hours

Free Games / Subscription

• PS Plus Premium and Extra games for April include The Crew Motorfest, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, Football Manager 26, Warriors: Abyss, Squirrel with a Gun, The Casting of Frank Stone, Monster Train and Wild Arms 4

Business

• Crimson Desert Surpasses 5 Million Copies Sold Worldwide

Business

• Bloober Team expands leadership, as studio steps up to seven horror titles in active development. CEO says focus is "sustainable development, financial discipline, and long-term stability", not "reckless" growth that "solves problems through layoffs"
• UK government begins rollout of £30m Games Growth Package. £28.5 million allocated through the UK Games fund, £1.5 million awarded to the London Games Festival over the next three years

Business

• UKIE: UK games market reaches £8.7bn in 2025

Business

• Ex-MPG CEO Andy Norman joins CodeDev as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Will be working alongside other Ex-MPG CEO Rik Alexander (Chair of CodeDev) and CEO Myke Parrott

Rumors

• Epic set to release Arc Raiders-like extraction shooter with Disney characters by the end of the year

Business

• Konami's eFootball tops 1 billion downloads

Business

• Split Fiction developer Hazelight celebrates 50 million games sales. A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Split Fiction sold 13m, 30m, and 7m units, respectively
• The developer behind Peak (Landfall) has launched a publishing arm called Evil Landfall
• Fully remote, independent co-development collective (1oh1Designs) setup by group of industry creatives

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox has revealed 18 Game Pass titles for April, including Hades 2, Kiln and Vampire Crawlers

Business

• Take-Two lays off AI team

Business

• Goat Simulator developer Coffee Stain has closed its mobile-focused Malmö studio
• MechWarrior dev Piranha Games affected by redundancies. Unknown amount of employees affected
• Sony Interactive Entertainment Acquires Cinemersive Labs (UK-based machine learning and computer vision company)

Rumors

• The Last of Us multiplayer game was roughly 80% complete when it was cancelled, claims former director

Free Games / Subscription

• April’s PlayStation Plus ‘free’ Essential monthly games have been confirmed. Lords of the Fallen, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered and Sword Art Online Fractured Daydraem

Business

• Stellar Blade developer (Shift Up) acquires Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami's new studio, Unbound
• Krafton, Flyquest, Arbitrum invest $3.5M in Psychedelic Games' MOBA Golden Tides

Other Notes

• As you may be able to guess, April Fool's day is one of the hardest days to effectively do the Game News Round-Up as news stories require extra validation. Thanks for your patience!

Business

• Konami increases its starting salary in Japan by nearly 30%, increases base pay for the fifth year in a row. The company says it's "consistently investing in human capital"
• Eidos-Montréal announces 124 job cuts; studio head David Anfossi departs after 19 years at developer
• The list of people hit by recent Epic layoffs has been turned into a dedicated portal for recruiters

Business

• As Crimson Desert nears 5 million sales, Pearl Abyss CEO says it’s looking into a Switch 2 port

Rumors

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and new Star Fox game expected to release this year

Business

• Meta Quest usage reaches "all-time high" in 2025 despite studio closures and layoffs. Over 100 titles generated more than $1 million in gross revenue, while in-app purchase sales grew by over 10%

Business

• Crimson Desert sales top 3 million
• Team17 parent company Everplay Financial Results
  • Revenue: £166 million, flat year-on-year
  • Gross profit: £76.3 million, up 10% year-on-year
• Four Nacon subsidiaries file for insolvency (Spiders, Kylotonn, Cyanide, and Nacon Tech)

Business

• Behaviour Interactive acquires 7 Days to Die developer "The Fun Pimps"
• Sony closes first-party studio Dark Outlaw Games. Developer was founded by industry veteran Jason Blundell in March 2025. PlayStation is making other cuts, including mobile development. Approx 50 people affected.

Business

• Two more senior Xbox leaders (Lori Wright and Haiyan Zhang) exit Microsoft after serving the company for over 10+ years
• CD Projekt sales rise 9% in 2025 (to 867 million PLN / $235.2 million, driven by Cyberpunk franchise
• Crimson Desert has topped 2M sales within a day
• Savvy Games Group to acquire Moonton Games for $6 billion - TikTok maker ByteDance paid $4 billion for Moonton in 2021

Business

• Ubisoft ‘ends game development’ at Tom Clancy studio, Red Storm, resulting in 105 job losses

Business

• Crystal Dynamics reduces workforce by 20 roles - fourth round of layoffs in 12 months

Free Games / Subscription

• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness is available now on Nintendo Switch 2

Business

• Court tells Subnautica 2 publisher Krafton to reinstate fired CEO and let him handle its Early Access release. Judge ruled that Krafton terminated the game leads' contracts "without valid cause"
• Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s EGDC firm has acquired 5% of Capcom - his public investment fund already bought 5% of the company in 2022

Business

• Warner Bros. Montréal devs report layoffs; While there's been no formal confirmation of the cuts as yet, several former WB developers from across all disciplines have announced on LinkedIn that they're now looking for work. Most report they finished on Friday, 13th March. Unknown amount of people affected
• Resident Evil Requiem Sales Exceed 6 Million Units

Free Games / Subscription

• March PS Plus Game Catalog titles confirmed; Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, EA Sports Madden NFL 26, Persona 5 Royal, Blasphemous 2, Metal Eden, Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, Astroneer and Tekken Dark Resurrection

Business

• Nintendo’s share price climbs 15% in two days following the success of Pokémon Pokopia; prior to this the share price had dropped 40% in three months
• Silent Hill 2 Remake Tops 5 Million Players (includes sales + subscription services)
• Global Sales of Pokémon Pokopia for Nintendo Switch 2 Surpass 2.2 Million in First Four Days

Business

• METAL GEAR SOLID Δ: SNAKE EATER Reaches 2 Million Global Sales
• Original founders of Bossfight Entertainment re-launch studio as Bossfight - Developer was shuttered in 2024 by Netflix, which acquired the studio in 2022
• Valve sued by The Performing Right Society for allegedly using its members' musical works "without permission" - Online reaction has claimed this to be a "Patent Troll" situation and Valve does not broadcast commerical music
• Scopely hits $15 billion in lifetime revenue

Business

• EA lays off staff across Battlefield Studios, following last year's record-breaking Battlefield 6 debut - Unknown amount of employees affected
• WarioWare director Goro Abe leaves Nintendo after 25+ years - Abe has taken up a professorial role at Osaka Electro-Communication University
• Until Dawn Remake Developer Ballistic Moon Officially Dissolved

Business

• Nintendo of America sues US government over tariffs

Business

• Pitchify launches new service to connect developers and publishers
• Fortnite leaker actually worked for Epic Games, as a contractor, according to new lawsuit

Free Games / Subscription

• Nintendo Switch Online's March update to the Classics library is all about Mario - Mario Tennis (Virtual Boy), Mario Clash (Virtual Boy) and Mario Vs Donkey Kong (GBA)

Business

• Industry veteran, Fiona Cherback, launches indie-focused talent agency Rocket Game Talent - Former PlayStation and Xbox recruiter aims to provide AAA hiring expertise for small studios, startups, and indie teams
• Build a Rocket Boy confirms more layoffs amid further claims of "organized espionage and corporate sabotage"
• Good Games Group has bought the Humble and Firestoke back catalogues. Now, newly renamed as Balor Games, it wants to invest in triple-I
• Paramount makes no reference to game studios in first WB call to investors

Rumors

• PlayStation is reportedly ditching its PC release strategy, and most single-player first-party games will now be console exclusive
• Unity Technologies will close its operations in France

Free Games / Subscription

• March Xbox Game Pass titles revealed - Final Fantasy III, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, to a T, EA Sports F1 25, Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf, Construction Simulator, Cyberpunk 2077, Hollow Knight: Silksong and DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party

Business

• Resident Evil Requiem surpasses 5 million units in 5 days
• Killing Floor dev Tripwire Interactive lays off 23 employees (approx 20% of staff)

Rumors

• Trump administration debating if to pressure Tencent to divest from US gaming studios

Business

• Warner Bros. Discovery is "rebuilding its video game pipeline" after a "significant" 2025 - Warner Bros. Discovery does not provide disaggregated data for its game division, but across its full Studios segment (which includes gaming) revenue was down 14% year-on-year to $3.18 billion
• Halfbrick Studios is cutting jobs in Australia - unknown amount of people affected

Free Games / Subscription

• Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness comes to Nintendo Switch 2’s GameCube library this month
• Netflix backs out of Warner Bros deal, declines to match Paramount Skydance's raised offer - unclear at this time how this will effect Warner Bros' gaming studios

Business

• Assassin’s Creed: Hexe director, Clint Hocking, has left Ubisoft as part of franchise upheaval - Hocking previously helmed Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Far Cry 2 and Watch Dogs: Legion
• Splash Damage acquires Scum dev Gamepires from Jagex - Splash Damage CFO Ben Hopkinson appointed CEO of combined joint venture, with financial backing from Emona Capital
• Riot Games confirms layoffs within publishing division - 12 roles affected across its publishing teams

Free Games / Subscription

• March’s PlayStation Plus Essential monthly games - PGA Tour 2K25, Monster Hunter Rise, Slime Rancher 2, The Elder Scrolls Online

Business

• Amazon Game Studios ends publishing agreement with Maverick Games - Maverick Games was founded in 2022 by several of the core team behind the Forza Horizon series, including creative director Mike Brown. Development of Maverick's unannounced driving game "continues to progress as strongly as planned"
• Skate developer Full Circle impacted by layoffs - Number of employees affected unknown as EA studio "reshapes to better support Skate's long-term future"
• Nacon files for insolvency, says it’s ‘assessing all possible solutions’ to continue running - the company's majority shareholder was unable to repay its bond loan

Business

• Ex-Radical Entertainment, Hothead Games devs form new studio - "New Radical Games". Spearheaded by CEO Ian Wilkinson and COO Tim Bennison
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance director Daniel Vávra is stepping away from game development - the writer and designer will instead helm efforts to produce a Kingdom Come movie

Business

• Matthew Ball's State of Video Gaming in 2026

Business

• Nier: Automata Crosses 10 Million Copies Sold Alongside Mysterious 'To Be Continued' Tease
• Final Fantasy VII (1997) has sold over 15.5 million units worldwide
• Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund has been named Executive Chairman of Nexon

Business

• Sony is shutting down Bluepoint, developer of Demon’s Souls remake
• Ubisoft confirms layoffs at Toronto studio, but insists Splinter Cell’s remake is still coming - around 40 people affected

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox has announced the rest of February’s Game Pass titles
  • Aerial_Knight’s DropShot (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – Available now
  • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – Available now
  • Death Howl (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – February 19
  • EA Sports College Football 26 (Cloud and Xbox Series S/X) – February 19
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition (Cloud and Console) – February 19
  • TCG Card Shop Simulator (Game Preview) (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC)
  • Dice A Million (PC) – February 25
  • Towerborne (Full Game Release) (Console, Handheld, and PC)
  • Final Fantasy III (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – March 3
  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC)
• Nintendo’s Virtual Boy app is now available on Switch Online, with seven games at launch
  • 3D Tetris
  • Galactic Pinball
  • Golf
  • The Mansion of Innsmouth
  • Red Alarm
  • Teleroboxer
  • Virtual Boy Wario Land

Business

• Hasbro shutters internal video game studio Atomic Arcade - The North Carolina studio had been developing a title based on the G.I. Joe franchise. The studio is gone but Hasbro has said that the project (dubbed "Untitled Snake Eyes Project") has not been cancelled
• Mewgenics has reached 1 million copies sold

Business

• Embracer Financial Results
  • For the three months ending December 31, 2025
    • Net sales: SEK 5.1 billion ($569.2 million), down 26% year-on-year, including:
      • PC/console games: SEK 1.9 billion ($212 million), down 11%
      • Mobile games: SEK 566 million ($63.1 million), down 66%
    • Net profit: SEK 477 million ($53.1 million, compared to net profit of SEK 806 million / $89.9 million during the same period last year)
  • For the nine months ending December 31, 2025:
    • Net sales: SEK 11.9 billion ($1.3 billion), down 26% year-on-year, including:
      • PC/console games: SEK 5 billion ($557 million), down 22%
      • Mobile games: SEK 1.6 billion ($178 million), down 63%
    • Net loss: SEK 20 million ($2.2 million, compared to net loss of SEK 1.5 billion / $167.4 million during the same period last year)
• NetEase revenue grows 6.9% to $16.1bn in 2025 - Publisher's games segment rose 10.1% following higher sales of Fantasy Westward Journey Online, Where Winds Meet, and Marvel Rivals

Business

• Ubisoft Financial Results
  • For the nine months ending December 31, 2025:
    • Revenue: €976.2 million (down 1.4% year-on-year)
    • Net bookings: €1.1 billion (up 18% year-on-year)
    • Digital net bookings: €941.7 million (up 20% year-on-year)
    • Back-catalogue net bookings: €1.03 billion (up 36.2% year-on-year)
  • For the three months ending December 31, 2025:
    • Net bookings: €338 million (up 12% year-on-year)
    • Digital net bookings: €297 million (up 10.7% year-on-year)
• Sega records $200m impairment write-down for Rovio during Q3
  • For the nine months ended December 31, 2025:
    • Net sales: ¥335.2 billion ($2.1 billion, up 4% year-on-year)
    • Operating income: ¥19.8 billion ($129.2 million, down 54.6% year-on-year)
    • Ordinary income: ¥23.8 billion ($155.3 million, down 51.8% year-on-year)

Free Games / Subscription

• February PS Plus Game Catalog titles confirmed
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
  • Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown
  • Neva
  • Season: A Letter to the Future
  • Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin
  • Monster Hunter Stories
  • Venba
  • Echoes of the End: Enhanced Edition
  • Rugby 25
  • PlayStation Plus Premium
    • Disney Pixar Wall-E

Business

• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II surpasses 5 million sales within first year

Rumors

• GTFO developer 10 Chambers lays off staff following co-founder departing after a decade (to go indie)

Business

• Unity Financial Results
  • Revenue: $503 million (up 10% year-on-year)
  • Create Solutions revenue: $165 million (up 8% year-on-year)
  • Grow Solutions revenue: $338 million (up 11% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $89 million (with a margin of 18%)
• Arc Raiders has sold 14 million units and has 6 million weekly active users

Business

• Supercell revenue declines 4% to €2.65bn in 2025 - Headcount grew 30% reaching 890 employees globally, developer contributed €220 million to Finnish economy
• Square Enix revenues continue to decline over past nine months to $1.3bn
  • Net sales: ¥215.4 billion ($1.3 billion, down 13.3%)
  • Profit: ¥25.6 billion ($163.4 million, up 3.6%)
  • Digital entertainment net sales: ¥112.3 billion ($717 million, down 23.7%)
• Mattel to acquire full ownership of Mattel163 from NetEase - Acquisition of mobile studio will "significantly enhance Mattel's capabilities in self-publishing"
• Mewgenics Sells Over 150k Copies in First 6 Hours; "This Is Beating Expectations by Quite a Lot" - Made back its development budget after three hours
• Lies of P and the Overture DLC have surpassed 4 million units sold combined

Business

• Riot Games says it’s ‘downsizing’ the 2XKO development team, after a disappointing launch - Approximately 80 employees laid off
• Remedy Financial Results
  • Q4 2025
    • Revenue: €17 million (up 46.3%)
    • Operating profit: €0.7 million (compared to operating loss of €1.4 million in 2024)
  • FY 2025
    • Revenue: €59.5 million (up 17%)
    • Operating loss: €14.9 million (compared to €4.3 million in 2024)
• Control developer Remedy names former EA exec, Jean-Charles Gaudechon, as new CEO

Business

• Roblox Financial Results
  • Q4
    • Revenue: $1.4 billion, up 43% year-on-year
    • Bookings: $2.2 billion, up 63% year-on-year
    • Net losses: $318 million, compared to $221 million in the same quarter last year
  • Full-year
    • Revenue: $4.9 billion, up 36% year-on-year
    • Bookings: $6.8 billion, up 55% year-on-year
    • Net losses: $1.07 billion, compared to $940.6 million last year

Business

• Sony Q3 Results
  • For the nine months ended December 31, 2025
    • Sales: ¥9.4 trillion ($59.8 billion, up 2.3%)
    • Operating income: ¥1.3 trillion ($8.2 billion, up 21%)
  • Games & network services
    • Sales: ¥3.66 trillion ($23.2 billion, up 1.3%)
    • Operating income: ¥409.1 billion ($2.6 billion, up 27%)
• No Rest For The Wicked sells 1.5 million copies
• UK co-development house Sumo Digital announces redundancies

Business

• Sony says Ghost of Yotei sales are outperforming Tsushima

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass Upcoming Games
  • Final Fantasy II (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – Now Available
  • Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – Now Available
  • Madden NFL 26 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – February 5
  • Paw Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – February 5
  • Relooted (Cloud, S/X, and PC) – February 10
  • BlazBlue Entropy Effect X (Cloud, S/X, and PC) – February 12
  • Roadside Research (Game Preview) (Cloud, S/X, and PC) – February 12
  • Starsand Island (Cloud, Xbox SeriesS/X, and PC) – February 12
  • High on Life 2 (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – February 13
  • Kingdom Come Deliverance (Cloud, Console, and PC) – February 13
  • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – February 17
  • Avowed (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – February 17
• Nintendo Classics Update (Gameboy) - Balloon Kid and Yoshi

Business

• Take-Two Q3 Results
  • Net revenue: $1.7 billion (up 25% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $92.9 million (compared to $125.2 million loss in the year-ago quarter)
  • Total net bookings: $1.76 billion (up 28% year-on-year)

Business

• Switch is officially Nintendo’s best-selling console ever, overtaking DS - Switch has sold 155.37 million units, DS has sold 154.02 million units
• UK retailer Game is closing its remaining standalone stores after entering administration (three stores affected) - concession stores and website are unaffected
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds blasts past 1m copies sold, and Sega is expecting another million "within this fiscal year". The game currently has not met SEGA's sales expectations

Business

• Ashes of Creation's leadership team quits "in protest" as director accuses board of decisions he could "not ethically agree with or carry out" - Remaining staff claim they are now facing mass layoffs
• Cairn has reached 200k copies sold

Business

• Paradox operating profit dropped 162% year-on-year as it writes down Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
  • For the three months ending December 31, 2025
    • Revenue: SEK 874.8 million ($98.7 million), up 23% year-on-year
    • Operating profit: -SEK245.4 million (-$27.7 million), down 162% year-on-year
  • For the 12 months ending December 31, 2025
    • Sales: SEK 2.2 billion ($248.3 million), level year-on-year
    • Operating profit: SEK 146 million ($16.5 million), an 80% decrease year-on-year
• Over 1M units of Silent Hill games were sold in the last quarter. Silent Hill series has now sold over 14M units worldwide. Metal Gear Solid franchise sales are up 0.4M QoQ, now at 65.5M total

Rumors

• UK retailer GAME is going into administration again

Free Games / Subscription

• February’s PlayStation Plus Essential monthly games have been confirmed - Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, Subnautica: Below Zero, Undisputed and Ultros

Business

• QA staff report layoffs at NetEase Games Montréal
• Ubisoft unions call for four-day strike: "It is time for management to understand that they cannot do whatever they want"
• Jack Emmert returns to Cryptic Studios as CEO - MMO developer has "reassumed responsibility" for its titles, including Star Trek Online, following divestment from Embracer
• comcept shuts down - Studio was founded by Keiji Inafune in December 2010
• Xbox FY26 Q2
  • Total Gaming Revenue (-9%)
  • Content and Services Revenue (-5%)
  • Hardware Revenue (-32%)

Rumors

• Amazon Game Studios boss Christoph Hartmann (formerly head of 2K) is leaving the company as Amazon continues its retreat from the PC and console video-game space in favor of its cloud gaming service Luna

Free Games / Subscription

• 2 unreleased Virtual Boy games are coming to Nintendo Switch as part of the NSO Expansion Pack - Zero Racer and D-Hopper will be playable for the first time

Business

• UK tribunal rules £656m Valve market rigging lawsuit can proceed
• Capcom Financial Results
  • Net sales: ¥115.3 billion ($748.8 million), up 29.8% year-on-year
  • Operating income: ¥54.3 billion ($352.6 million), up 75.1% year-on-year
  • Net income: ¥38.8 billion ($251.9 million), up 68.6% year-on-year
• Chinese mobile publisher Yodo1 rolls out data platform IPVerse - The service is designed to allow developers and property holders to figure out what the best partnerships are

Rumors

• Walmart could have leaked Nintendo Switch Online’s next GameCube games as two unannounced Gamecube titles are pictured on its website - Metroid Prime 2 and Pikmin 2
• Ubisoft Employee Claims He’s Placed on Unpaid Suspension for Criticising Return-to-Office Policy

Business

• UK Appeals court state RuneScape gold counts as property and can be stolen, in $700k bombshell case
• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment sales top 1m in three months
• Ubisoft launches voluntary redundancy process to cut 200 jobs from Paris head office

Business

• Roblox claims Bruno Mars Steal a Brainrot performance drew a record 12.8 million concurrent users, issued 5.4 million brainrot collectibles

Business

• Battlefield outsold Call of Duty for the first time ever last year in the US, as Black Ops 7 dropped to 5th place
• Ubisoft shares drop 33% following its ‘major company reset’ announcement - The company's share price has dropped 95% in total over the past eight years
• RuneScape tops $4 billion in lifetime revenue

Business

• Ubisoft details ‘major company reset’: 6 games canned, 7 delayed, and 2 studios closed. Prince of Persia Sands of Time remake cancelled. Ubisoft asking all staff to return to office full-time to "boost the collective performance for AAA". Changes will cause additional billion-euro loss in fiscal 2026 but "lay foundations for a return to midterm growth"
• Layoffs Hit Payday 3 Developer Starbreeze

Rumors

• Beyond Good & Evil 2 Survives Ubisoft’s Project Purge

Free Games / Subscription

• New Xbox Game Pass titles releasing
  • Arriving:
    • Death Stranding Director's Cut (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series S/X) – 21st January
    • RoadCraft (PC) – 21st January
    • Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 21st January
    • The Talos Principle 2 (PC and Xbox Series S/X) – 27th January
    • Anno: Mutationem (Cloud, PC, and Console) – 28th January
    • Drop Duchy (Cloud, PC, and Console) – 28th January
    • MySims: Cozy Bundle (PC) – 29th January
    • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 29th January
    • Indika (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series S/X) – 2nd February
    • Final Fantasy 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 3rd February
  • Leaving (January 31st):
    • Shady Part of Me (Cloud, PC, and Console)
    • Cataclismo (PC)
    • Starbound (Cloud, PC, and Console)
    • Lonely Mountains Snow Riders (Cloud, PC, and Console)
    • Paw Patrol World (Cloud, PC, and Console)
    • Citizen Sleeper 2 Starward Vector (Cloud, PC, and Console)
    • Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap (Cloud, PC, and Console)

Business

• Doug Bowser joins Hasbro’s board, fresh from retiring as Nintendo of America boss
• Scotland aims to boost games sector to more than $1bn by 2030 - Scottish Game Action Plan looking to build nation into a "games supercluster" with a phased approach
• Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon has sold 1 million copies

Business

• Ex-Assassin's Creed boss Marc-Alexis Côté sues Ubisoft after his surprise and "disguised dismissal" - Seeks CAD $1.3m (£698k) for a mixture of lost severance pay and "moral damages", and for Ubisoft to lift Côté's non-compete clause
• Hill Climb Racing Tops 2 billion downloads

Business

• Ace Combat 7 has sold over 7m copies, seven years after its launch
• Arknights Endfield passes 35m pre-registered players ahead of launch this month
• Saudi PIF moving $12bn of games firm shares to subsidiary Savvy - It will ultimately own the fund's stakes in companies such as Nintendo, Take-Two and Square Enix

Business

• DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT has sold over 10 million copies worldwide
• Scopely's Monopoly Go is the fastest mobile game in history to hit $6bn revenue

Free Games / Subscription

• PS Plus Extra and Premium games for January 20th
  • Resident Evil Village
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
  • Expeditions: A MudRunner Game
  • A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead
  • Darkest Dungeon 2
  • The Exit 8
  • Art of Rally
  • A Little to the Left
  • Ridge Racer (PlayStation Plus Premium)

Business

• Ubisoft confirms 29 jobs lost at Abu Dhabi mobile studio - "Difficult decision to restructure" lead to cancellation of some projects to focus on free-to-play MMO Growtopia

Business

• Meta has closed several studios, including ‘Splosion Man studio Twisted Pixel and Asgard Wrath’s Sanzaru Games
• Ubisoft hits The Division and Avatar studio, Massive Entertainment, with layoffs - Around 55 roles could be affected; studio remains focused on future on The Division
• Arc Raiders has sold 2.4m copies in 2026 so far
• Larry ‘Major Nelson’ has recently been laid off by Unity

Business

• Detroit: Become Human surpasses 15 million units sold worldwide
• ARC Raiders sales top 12.4 million

Rumors

• A poster for The Division: Definitive Edition has reportedly appeared at a Ubisoft event in Japan

Free Games / Subscription

• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance has been added to Nintendo Switch Online

Business

• Ubisoft has closed its Halifax studio and claims the decision is unrelated to recent unionization - 70 roles affected

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass games for January
  • Brews & Bastards (Consoles, PC, and cloud) - Available now
  • Little Nightmares: Enhanced Edition (Xbox Series S/X, PC, and Cloud) - Available now
  • Atomfall (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – 7th January
  • Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, Handheld, and PC) – 7th January
  • Rematch (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 7th January
  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Master Crafted Edition (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 7th January
  • Final Fantasy – (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC) – 8th January
  • Star Wars Outlaws (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 13th January
  • My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – 15th January
  • Resident Evil Village (Cloud, Console, and PC) – 20th January
  • MIO: Memories in Orbit (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 20th January

Business

• Cloudhead Games reduces 70% of workforce

Business

• Final Fantasy 9 character designer, Toshiyuki Itahana, quits Square Enix
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles shipments and digital sales top one million - Achieved in three months

Free Games / Subscription

• PS Plus monthly games for January - Need for Speed Unbound, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed and Core Keeper

Business

• GOG and CD Projekt founder Michał Kiciński acquires 100% ownership of GOG
• Eccentric Battle Royale-meets-Ace Attorney series Danganronpa romps to 10 million sales

Rumors

• The Witcher 3 is reportedly getting a surprise new expansion this year

Business

• Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series sales top six million
• Horses Sells Over 18k Copies, Pays Back Loans and Royalties Despite Removal From Steam and Epic
• Hogwarts Legacy tops 40 million units sold - Milestone does not include free copies given away via Epic Games Store
• FIFA officially announces new game with Netflix and little-known studio; California-based studio, Delphi Interactive
• After putting its entire staff on redundancy notice, Wreckreation studio Three Fields turns to Patreon for help

Rumors

• Unity reportedly introduces $250K+ "minimum contribution" for its biggest customers - This minimum commitment amount is determined based on your gross revenue from the previous 12 months

Other Notes

• That's a wrap on another year of the Game News Round-Up! I want to thank each and everyone of you for constantly tuning in, emoji reacting and supporting the effort! It's crazy to think this started almost 6 years ago and has been going strong daily since!
• From all of us that help bring the Game News Round-Up to your virtual doorstep, please have a fantastic holiday break and we'll see you next year!

Business

• Ubisoft acquires upcoming MOBA March of Giants from Amazon Game Studios, rehires former Ubisoft Montreal dev team
• Hollow Knight: Silksong sells over 7m copies in three months
• Where Winds Meet tops 15 million players in one month
• Dambuster Studios' financial statements are out (as of March 2025) The company employed 194 employees Dead Island 3 is in development The current predicted release window for the project is Q1/2 2028

Announcement Highlights

• A new Mega Man game is coming in 2027 - Mega Man Dual Override
• Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the debut title from Fuse Games, the studio founded by former Criterion leads
• Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic Revealed with First Trailer - Directed by Casey Hudson, the director of the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Mass Effect trilogy
• PlayStation 5 exclusive Saros has been delayed until April 20th 2026
• Soma is getting a "spiritual successor" from the same studio, and it's set in a grim moon hotel on the edge of reality - titled Ontos. Releases 2026
• Total War: Warhammer 40,000 Announced From Creative Assembly - Stars David Harbour
• 007 First Light trailer unveils villain played by Lenny Kravitz
• Mario + Rabbids creator's next game spoofs Bloodborne and more, in a mascot platformer parody of the games industry starring a badger - titled Bradley the Badger and stars Evan Peters
• The Game Awards’ mysterious statue was for a new Divinity game
• Coven of the Chicken Foot is the debut game from Uncharted and Last of Us director Bruce Straley’s new studio
• Capcom officially reveals that Leon Kennedy will be in Resident Evil Requiem - The game is split into two. Grace's part is survival horror and Leon's is action
• A new trailer for Exodus shows more of Wizards of the Coast’s sci-fi action RPG starring Matthew McConaughey
• Control Resonant, the sequel to Control, has been announced for next year - Story follows Dylan Faden, the brother of the first game's protagonist
• The debut game from Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi’s new studio is Gang of Dragon
• Two new Tomb Raider games, a remake (Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis) and a sequel (Tomb Raider: Catalyst), have been revealed. Remake is due 2026, Sequel is due 2027
• Hogwarts Legacy is free on the Epic Games Store for the next week
• No Law, the next game from the team behind The Ascent, is a UE5 cyberpunk FPS
• The Game Awards 2025 Debuts Upcoming Shooter From Apex Legends Creators - Highguard launches Jan 26th

Other News

• Veteran voice actor and voice of Ratchet & Clank's Captain Qwark (among many other beloved characters), Jim Ward, has died aged 66
• Tencent sells Battalion maker Bulkhead to newly-formed consortium backed by Team 17 owner
• Tencent exercising greater control in companies like Techland, Funcom and Sumo - “We 100% stay away from creative intervention. However, creative people do not always know how to do finance or production or hiring”

Free Games / Subscription

• December’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog games
  • Assassin’s Creed Mirage (PS4/5)
  • Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (PS4/5)
  • Skate Story (PS5)
  • Granblue Fantasy: Relink (PS4/5)
  • Planet Coaster 2 (PS5)
  • Cat Quest III (PS4/5)
  • Lego Horizon Adventures (PS5)
  • Paw Patrol: Grand Prix (PS4/5)
  • Paw Patrol World (PS4/5)
  • Soulcalibur III (PS2)
• Games Releasing on Nintendo Switch Online Classics - Rayman 2 (N64), Tonic Trouble (N64), Wario World (GC)

Other Notes

• Tonight is The Game Awards. As with every year, please stay tuned for a special edition Game News Round-Up, available shortly after the presentation (approx 4:30am GMT)

Business

• Saudi Arabia to host Kingdom of Gaming conference in 2026 - Organisers hope for 20,000 attendees, 500 studios and 200 investors to be in attendance next December
• Embracer shares drop 30% ahead of Coffee Stain spin-off - The company is set to go public as its own entity on December 11

Rumors

• Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced has been listed on PEGI’s website

Business

• Studio hired to make a Postal spin-off game shuts down after its project was cancelled due to allegations of generative AI use
• Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada says he’s leaving Bandai Namco this month - Harada says Tekken's 30th Anniversary is the "most fitting moment" to leave
• Lead developers from cancelled Perfect Dark reboot join 2K to launch brand new studio under Take-Two

Business

• PS5 reigns supreme over Black Friday, accounting for 62% of all console sales. Nintendo Switch 2 was 23% of all hardware sales - Data from NielsenIQ and GSD
• iam8bit sues Skybound Games for $4m, claiming breach of contract and theft of designs - iam8bit also alleges Skybound used the former's trade secrets to cut it out of a Stray deal
• Elden Ring Nightreign's The Forsaken Hollows DLC has shipped over 2 million units worldwide
• Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros, including game developers behind Mortal Kombat, Hogwarts Legacy - If approved, Netflix will own Rocksteady, TT Games, Netherrealm Studios and more

Business

• Goat Simulator creators reveal new studio Feeble Minds - The Coffee Stain co-founders are working on a "four player co-op soulslike roguelike" called Serpent’s Gaze
• Wreckreation maker Three Fields Entertainment puts whole studio on redundancy notice - "Without the enthusiasm or financial support from our publisher to continue development, we simply cannot sustain the studio in its current form"
• Sega says it will use AI in game development, but only in ‘appropriate use cases’ - SEGA is aware that AI "can face strong resistance in creative areas"

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox has announced the first 12 Game Pass titles for December
  • Marvel Cosmic Invasion (Cloud, Console, Handheld, PC) – Out now
  • Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – Out now
  • Monster Train 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – December 3
  • Spray Paint Simulator (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 3
  • 33 Immortals (Game Preview) (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 4
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – December 4
  • Routine (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – December 4
  • A Game About Digging A Hole (Cloud, Handheld, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – December 9
  • Death Howl (Handheld & PC) – December 9
  • Dome Keeper (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – December 9
  • Mortal Kombat 1 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – December 10
  • Bratz: Rhythm & Style (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 11

Business

• Splinter Cell Remake has a new director, and it’s the same one who left three years ago - David Grivel was directing the remake but left Ubisoft in 2022, now he's back to finish the job
• UK publisher Outright Games confirms layoffs - The Chicken Run: Eggstraction publisher is preparing to make 27 employees redundant
• Eidos-Montreal Lets Go More Staff With More Layoffs Planned - Unknown amount of people affected

Rumors

• Saudi Arabia to own almost all of EA (93.4%) under buyout plan

Business

• Japanese game developers face ridiculously high font license fees following US acquisition of major domestic provider. Live-service games to take the biggest blow - The old LETS plan allowed developers to integrate high-quality Japanese fonts into their game builds for roughly 60,000 yen a year (around USD $380). Under the new Monotype structure (which no longer has local pricing for Japan), a plan that permits game integration is reported to cost $20,500 per year. Even more problematic for developers, the contract includes a 25,000-user cap for applications using provided fonts, which, as Game*Spark points out, is completely unrealistic for most commercial titles nowadays

Business

• Phil Spencer says Xbox's Game Pass cloud hours are up 45% YoY, making gaming "more accessible than ever" - "Console players are streaming 45% more on console and 24% more on other devices"
• Resident Evil Survival Unit surpasses 2m downloads in 10 days
• Where Winds Meet Surpasses 9 Million Players; Mobile Version Launches December 12

Rumors

• Capcom is reportedly working on a new Dead Rising sequel starring Frank West

Business

• Paradox writes down $37 million of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 dev costs
• Nintendo is acquiring Bandai Namco’s Singapore studio, will rename it Nintendo Studios Singapore
• With just 17% of Sega's recent sales coming from new titles, the company suggests "definitive editions" could be putting players off Day One purchases

Free Games / Subscription

• December is getting five (more than the usual 3) PlayStation Plus Essential monthly games - Lego Horizon Adventures, The Outlast Trials, Killing Floor 3, Neon White and Synduality: Echo of Ada. Available December 2nd

Business

• Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold 35 million copies, hitting the milestone faster than The Witcher 3 did
• Coatsink to lay off half its staff due to "challenging co-development market" - up to 60 roles affected
• Splash Damage places entire studio into consultation ahead of redundancies - All staff members affected, after UK studio stalwart was purchased by private equity in September

Free Games / Subscription

• Nintendo Classics Update for Switch: Battletoads (NES), Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (NES), Bionic Commando (GB) and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (GB)

Business

• Embracer Group divests Arc Games and Cryptic Studios, while several key rights are retained within the group

Business

• Ubisoft's Tencent deal goes through - The French publisher confirms a €1.16 billion investment in Vantage Studios for 26.32% stake
• Ubisoft announces H1 earnings
  • Overall net bookings: €772.4 million (up 20.3% year-on-year)
  • Digital net bookings: €685.8 million (up 30.2% year-on-year)
  • Back-catalogue net bookings: €741.4 million (up 50% year-on-year)
  • IFRS operating income: -€120.2 million (vs -€271.8 million YoY)
  • Non-IFRS operating income: €27.1 million (vs -€252.1 million YoY)
  • IFRS operating net income: -€161.3 million (vs -€246.5 million YoY)
  • Non-IFRS operating net income: -€37.0 million (vs -€208.1 million YoY)

Business

• Ubisoft confirms €1.16 billion Tencent investment in new subsidiary is 'imminent'
  • Ubisoft said Q2 net bookings exceeded expectations after increasing by 39 percent year-on-year to €490.9 million—beating guidance of around €450 million.
  • Ubisoft also confirmed its cost reduction initiatives remain "on track" and has resulted in the exit of 1,500 employees over the past 12 months.
• Unity signs 'multi-title development partnership' with 2K Games
  • Unity will be 'co-developing' the Nintendo Switch 2 port of PGA Tour 2K25
• Resident Evil Survival Unit tops 1 million downloads in 24 hours

Free Games / Subscription

• Games leaving PlayStation Plus soon
  • Battlefield 2042
  • Grand Theft Auto 3 The Definitive Edition
  • Arcade Paradise VR
  • Sonic Frontiers
  • Forspoken
  • Star Wars: Tales from Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition
  • Firefighting Simulator: The Squad
  • Surviving Mars
  • Star Trek Bridge Crew

Business

• Dispatch has sold two million copies
• Just Cause Dev Avalanche Closes Liverpool Studio And Lays Off Workers - 31 developers are impacted
• Dragon's Dogma 2 sells 4m copies

Free Games / Subscription

• More Xbox Game Pass Games Coming
  • Arriving:
    • Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault (Game Preview) (PC) – 19th November
    • Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo (Cloud, Console, and PC) – 19th November
    • Revenge of the Savage Planet (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 19th November
    • Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road (Handheld & PC) – 20th November
    • The Crew Motorfest (Cloud, Console, and PC) – 20th November
    • Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 25th November
    • Kill It With Fire! 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – 25th November
    • Marvel Cosmic Invasion (Cloud, Console, Handheld, and PC) – 1st December
    • Lost Records: Bloom & Rage (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 2nd December
  • Leaving (November 30th)
    • Barbie Project Friendship
    • Lords of the Fallen
    • Octopath Traveler
    • Octopath Traveler 2
    • SteamWorld Build

Business

• Bungie settles Destiny 2 copyright lawsuit with writer in undisclosed settlement. If no further objections are made within 60 days, the court will presume "all parties have firmly agreed upon a compromise"
• Farming Simulator 25 surpasses four million copies sold
• Riot sells Hytale IP and Hypixel brand back to original co-founder

Business

• Paradox Interactive parts ways with Cities: Skylines studio after over 15 years
• Improbable founder Herman Narula (who threatened to leave the UK over tax plans for wealth creators) has seen cumulative losses (almost £425 million) at his SoftBank-backed company

Free Games / Subscription

• Five classic Blizzard games have been added to Xbox Retro Classics (powered by Antstream) - The Lost Vikings, Rock & Roll Racing, Blackthorne, Lost Vikings 2: Norse by Norsewest, RPM Racing

Business

• Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics announces yet more layoffs - Around 30 people affected
• Ubisoft delays H1 FY25-26 results and temporarily halts trading of shares - Delayed results will be issued "in the coming days". Ubisoft's shares have plummeted 95.51% in five years, and are down 49.44% year-on-year
• PUBG creator Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene is planning a new multiplayer FPS. The current plan for it is 100 player vs 100 player fights

Free Games / Subscription

• November’s PS Plus Catalog games - Drop November 18th
  • GTAV, Thank Goodness You’re Here, Still Wakes the Deep, Pacific Drive, Insurgency: Sandstorm, The Talos Principle 2, Monster Jam Showdown, and MotoGP 25

Business

• Sega is raising Japanese employees’ salaries again, three years after its previous increase - Approx 10% increase
• 2K, Riot, Epic execs found marketing network Games Growth Guild - "Game developers have solved incredible technical challenges, but marketing and distribution remain the hardest problems"
• Digiphile is a new charitable discovery platform from a group of Humble Bundle veterans
• Nexon Q3 results
  • Revenue: ¥118.7 billion ($767 million, down 12% year-on-year)
  • Operating income: ¥37.5 billion ($242.3 million, down 27% year-on-year)
  • Net income: ¥38.2 billion ($247 million, up 41% year-on-year)
• Sharkmob confirms "difficult but necessary" restructuring, unknown number of jobs at risk

Business

• Unity Third Quarter Financial Results
  • Revenue: $471 million (up 5% year-on-year)
  • Create Solutions revenue: $152 million (up 3% year-on-year)
  • Grow Solutions revenue: $318 million (up 6% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $127 million (with a margin of 27%).
• Sony Game & Network Services Financial Results
  • H1 (six months ended September 30, 2025)
    • Net sales: ¥2.1 trillion ($13.6 billion, up 5.2% year-on-year)
    • Operating income: ¥268.3 billion ($1.7 billion, up 31.3% year-on-year)
  • Q2 (three months ended September 30, 2025)
    • Net sales: ¥1.11 trillion ($7.19 billion, up 3.7% year-on-year)
    • Operating income: ¥120.4 billion ($780 billion, down 13.2% year-on-year)

Rumors

• Valve expected to make an announcement today; believed to be Steam Frame / Steam Controller announcement

Business

• Ghost of Yotei sold 3.3 million copies in a month, Sony says
• On its 5th birthday, PS5 sales remain virtually neck-and-neck with PS4 - PS5 clears 84 million units; two million behind PS4 at the same stage, going into its sixth holiday season

Business

• Stalker 2 dev strikes down copycat game Misery with DMCA claim - Misery dev responds by posting a screed of pejorative slurs, prompting a follow-up apology
• Red Dead Redemption 2 is now the fourth-biggest-selling game of all time, having sold 79 million copies since it debuted in 2018
• Take-Two Interactive second quarter financial results
  • Net revenue: $1.77 billion (up 31% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $133.9 million (compared to $365.5 million loss in the year-ago quarter)
  • Total net bookings: $1.96 billion (up 33% year-on-year)
• Roblox Corp sued by State of Texas for allegedly platforming pedophiles

Rumors

• Silent Hill 2 Remake release date leaks via Microsoft Store (21st November), all but confirming the Xbox version is coming soon

Business

• Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra has received another delay ‘beyond early 2026’ - Game was previously set to release in 2025, and now no longer has a release window
• Grand Theft Auto 6 has been delayed again to the end of 2026 - new release date is November 19th, 2026
• Square Enix announces more layoffs as part of US and Europe restructuring - "nearly all areas" of Square Enix's western business affected by latest cuts, it tells staff. Wording highlights that it is focused on the publishing duties of the western teams. One person affected in Europe said that nearly 140 people were told they were “at risk” in the London office alone
• Yet another NetEase studio has closed, this time former Watch Dogs devs’ Bad Brain

Business

• Rockstar claims dismissals were due to information leaks, not union busting - Says it "took action against a small number of individuals" for "distributing and discussing confidential information"
• Krafton posts "record-high cumulative" performance in Q3 2025 - Revenue was up 21% year-on-year to 870.6 billion KRW ($604.2 million), with operating profit also up by 7.5% to 348.8 billion KRW ($241.9 million) across the same period. It took the company's year-to-date operating profit past KRW 1 trillion for the first time
• Google and Epic strike a deal that could open up Android to third-party stores - the deal would apply globally and could cut Google's fees to as low at 9%
• Fortnite's Simpsons crossover caused a spike in new players, and tempted back record numbers of returning gamers, too
• Sumo Group-owned outsourcing studio Atomhawk closes Canadian branch

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass Games for November
  • Arriving
    • Dead Static Drive (Cloud, Console, PC) – November 5
    • Sniper Elite Resistance (Cloud, Console, PC) – November 5
    • Egging On (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series S/X) – November 6
    • Whiskerwood (PC) – November 6
    • Voidtrain (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series S/X) – November 7
    • Great God Grove (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series S/X) – November 11
    • Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris (Cloud, Console, PC)
    • Pigeon Simulator (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series S/X) – November 11
    • Relic Hunters Legend (Cloud, Console, PC) – November 12
    • Winter Burrow (Cloud, Console, PC) – November 12
    • Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (Cloud, Console, PC) – November 14
  • Leaving (November 15th)
    • Blacksmith Master
    • Football Manager 24
    • Football Manager 24 Console Edition
    • Frostpunk
    • Spirittea
    • STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl

Business

• Sega Sammy's fiscal year ending March 2025
  • Net sales: ¥428.9 billion ($2.79 billion, down 8.5% year-on-year)
  • Operating income: ¥48.1 billion ($313 million, down 16.8% year-on-year)
  • Persona 5 series tops 13 million sales
• Nintendo Financial Results
  • Net sales: ¥1.1 trillion ($7.2 billion, up 110% year-on-year)
  • Operating profit: ¥145.1 billion ($950 million, up 19.5% year-on-year)
  • Ordinary profit: ¥236 billion ($1.5 billion, up 60.5% year-on-year)
  • Hardware sales (incl. Switch and Switch 2): 12.25 million units
  • Software sales (incl. Switch and Switch 2): 82.18 million units

Business

• Nintendo Switch 2’s phenomenal launch continues as it clears 10.36 million units – more than PS4 and PS5
• Another NetEase Games studio is shutting down; Fantastic Pixel Castle was founded in 2023 by a Warcraft veteran to create a fantasy MMO
• Mario Kart World sold 9.57 Million copies in 4 months. Donkey Kong Bananza has sold 3.49 million units
• Dispatch has sold 1 Million copies in 10 days

Business

• Nintendo wins lawsuit against player who kept streaming pirated Switch games and taunted ‘I can do this all day’ - Jesse Keighin told Nintendo's legal team: "You might run a corporation, I run the streets"
• Roblox Q3 results
  • Revenue: $1.35 billion, up 48% year-on-year
  • Bookings: $1.92 billion, up 70% year-on-year
  • Net losses: $257 million, compared to $240 million during the same quarter last year
  • Average Daily Active Users (DAUs): 151.5 million, up 70% year-on-year
  • Hours engaged: 39.6 billion, up 91% year-on-year
  • Average monthly unique payers (MUPs): 35.8 million, up 88% year-on-year

Business

• Nintendo has been denied a patent in Japan for a Pokémon-like capturing mechanic
• Fall Guys veterans launch new studio Panic Stations to make multiplayer co-op games - Planning to ship multiple games per year, recruiting now
• Heart Machine lays off more staff for the second time this month, two weeks before launch
• Don't Nod H1 revenues rise to €7m, announces partnership with Netflix - Lost Records: Bloom & Rage "remained under expectations", leading to write-down of €13.1 million
• Xbox Q1 hardware sales down 29% while third-party content experiences "better-than-expected performance"
  • For the three months ended September 30, 2025:
    • Revenue: $77.7 billion (up 18% year-on-year)
    • Net income: $27.7 billion (up 12% year-on-year)
    • More Personal Computing (incl. Xbox) revenue: $13.8 billion (up 4% year-on-year)

Rumors

• Amazon’s Lord of the Rings MMO has reportedly also been cancelled

Free Games / Subscription

• November’s PlayStation Plus Essential games confirmed - Stray, WRC 24 and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator

Business

• Games London launches new accelerator program to help UK studios develop own IP - The two month training program will help studios develop IP
• Capcom H1 2025 Results (six months ended September 30, 2025)
  • Net sales: ¥81.2 billion ($531.4 million), up 43.9% year-on-year
  • Operating profit: ¥81.1 billion ($530.7 million), up 89.8% year-on-year
  • Ordinary profit: ¥36.5 billion ($238.9 million), up 76.5% year-on-year
  • Net income: ¥27.5 billion ($179.9 million), up 80.1% year-on-year

Business

• MultiVersus directors form new studio (Airlock Games) in response to ‘complexity of AAA games’ - their first title is a 16-bit space horror game
• Remedy "not satisfied" with Q3 results - Developer records operating loss of €16.4 million, revenue down 32% to €12.2 million
• Former Lionsgate Games creative director (Amanda Kruse) joins Blumhouse Games

Business

• Netflix shutters Squid Game: Unleashed developer Boss Fight Entertainment - The streaming giant recently explained it will be adopting a 'less is more' approach to its video game business
• Escape From Duckov has reached 2 million units sold in less than 2 weeks

Rumors

• Amazon plans to cut 30,000 corporate jobs across core departments (including video-games)

Business

• Roblox's Steal A Brainrot creator sues copycat Fortnite Creative game, Stealing Brainrots - Creator wants actual damages, punitive damages, attorney fees, and a permanent injunction. Steal The Brainrot, another Steal A Brainrot clone also available on Epic's platform, is officially licensed and therefore does not form part of this lawsuit
• Pokemon TCG Pocket has eclipsed 150 million downloads
• Pokémon Legends: Z-A sold 5.8 million copies in its first week, making it the fifth best Pokémon launch

Business

• PUBG and Subnautica publisher Krafton says it’s transforming into an ‘AI-first’ company
• Ubisoft is asking staff at The Division studio Massive Entertainment to volunteer to be laid off
• Pokémon Legends: Z-A sells 5.8m units during launch week

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass Games for October
  • Arriving
    • Commandoes Origins (Cloud, console, and PC)
    • Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (Cloud, Xbox Series S/X, and PC)
    • PowerWash Simulator 2 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 23rd October
    • Bounty Star (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 23rd October
    • Super Fantasy Kingdom (PC) – 24th October
    • Halls of Torment (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 28th October
    • The Outer Worlds 2 (Cloud and Xbox Series S/X) – 29th October
    • 1000xResist (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – 4th November
    • Football Manager 26 (PC) – 4th November
    • Football Manager 26 Console (Cloud, Console) – 4th November
  • Leaving (October 31st)
    • Jusant (Cloud, Console, and PC)
    • Metal Slug Tactics (Cloud, Console, and PC)
    • Return to Monkey Island (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Business

• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Surpasses 1 Million Copies Sold. Player stats include over 74.5 million races, 31.5 million Grand Prix and over 13 million ranked matches
• Trials studio Ubisoft RedLynx is laying off up to 60 staff as it refocuses on ‘small screens’
• Gamescom Asia reports record 206,149 visitors

Rumors

• Xbox is more expensive for developers too, as Microsoft bumps up dev kit cost from $1500 to $2000 - a 30 percent increase in cost. Reason given is "macroeconomic developments"

Business

• Remedy CEO Tero Virtala steps down after nine years - Markus Mäki acts as interim CEO
• 12 Welsh game studios secure $775,000 in funding to help develop "innovative games and immersive experiences" - Creative Wales' Games Development Fund aims to support devs to "achieve self-sustaining growth"
• Escape From Duckov waddles into the extraction shooter space with over 200,000 concurrent players
• Rovio is laying off 36 staff, says Angry Birds Dream Blast has ‘not been performing as expected’

Business

• Mediatonic founder launches new group of studios under the banner Skeleton Crew - Skeleton Crew will consist of a slate of new companies, plus the existing teams at Payload, Brightrock and Mythwright
• Ball X Pit sells 300,000 units in 5 days

Business

• ‘I did not walk away’: Former Assassin’s Creed boss says he didn’t resign, he was ‘asked to step aside’ by Ubisoft

Business

• 2K appoints Ben Brinkman as 31st Union studio head - Brinkman to start role on October 20
• EA confirms Battlefield 6 is the best-selling entry in the series, with over 7m copies sold and 172m online matches played
• Silent Hill 2 remake shipments and digital sales top 2.5 million - Silent Hill series surpasses 10 million units shipped

Free Games / Subscription

• October’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue
  • Premium / Extra
    • Silent Hill 2 (PS5)
    • Until Dawn (PS5)
    • V Rising (PS5)
    • Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS4/5)
    • Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1 (PS4/5)
    • As Dusk Falls (PS4/5)
    • Wizard with a Gun (PS5)
  • Classics
    • Tekken 3 (PS1)

Business

• Sound director Dan Forden, best known as Mortal Kombat’s ‘Toasty’ guy, has retired after 37 years

Business

• Banjo-Kazooie director Gregg Mayles confirms Rare exit after 36 years
• Following the cancellation of its live service God of War, Sony’s Bluepoint is hiring for a third-person action game
• Owlcat Games unveils free educational resource hub for game industry professionals
• Assassin's Creed franchise lead Marc-Alexis Côté leaves Ubisoft following formation of Tencent subsidiary

Business

• NetEase divests Fantastic Pixel Castle as studio hunts for new publisher to avoid closure

Business

• Halo art director leaves after 17 years with cryptic message suggesting it was on bad terms - "Stay strong, take evidence when necessary and find where you belong"
• Remedy issues profit warning with FBC: Firebreak treading water - Remedy said the impairment has no effect on its cash position

Business

• Kimberley Turner and Mark South appointed Double Eleven co-CEOs
• Development ends on Hyper Light Breaker as studio Heart Machine says it’s making layoffs - The Hyper Light Drifter prequel has had mixed reviews whilst in Early Access

Free Games / Subscription

• Three Nintendo NSO SNES games are added to NSO on October 10th; Bubsy, Mario & Wario and Fatal Fury Special
• Xbox reveals October’s Game Pass games
  • Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Editions (PC) – October 9
  • The Casting of Frank Stone (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – October 14
  • Ball x Pit (Cloud, Console, and PC) – October 15
  • The Grinch: Christmas Adventures (Cloud, Console, and PC) – October 15
  • Eternal Strands (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – October 15
  • He Is Coming (Game Preview) (PC) – October 15
  • Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – October 15
  • Pax Dei (PC) – October 16
  • Keeper (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – October 17
  • Evil West (Cloud, Console, and PC) – October 21
  • Ninja Gaiden 4 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – October 21

Business

• Laid-off devs of cancelled ZeniMax MMO Project Blackbird form new studio 'with no outside investors and full creative control,' and they're calling it Sackbird
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 tops 5 million sales worldwide in 5 months

Free Games / Subscription

• Alan Wake 2 is available on PlayStation Plus

Business

• Epic sues Fortnite fans who used over 20,000 bots to get paid tens of thousands of dollars - accused of falsifying the popularity of their islands, Epic Games says
• Breakout hit Megabonk sells more than a million copies on Steam
• Nintendo is seeking $4.5 million in damages from a Reddit moderator it says widely pirated Switch games

Rumors

• PlayStation Plus is reportedly adding Silent Hill 2 Remake. If rumour is true, expected to be added October 21st

Business

• Sega’s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Sets Multiyear Licensing Deal With International Olympic Committee
• Skate already has more than 15 million players less than 3 weeks after launching in early access - Season 1 drops today at 6pm UK time
• Metal: Hellsinger studio closed as part of Funcom cuts
• Indie slot machine roguelite CloverPit tops 500,000 sales in just 8 days

Rumors

• Xbox's dedicated handheld was cancelled because AMD required 10 million units

Business

• As Xbox raises Game Pass prices, former FTC chair says it warned Activision deal would ‘harm gamers’
• Nintendo denies lobbying over genAI, but stresses it will continue fighting IP infringement "whether AI is involved or not"
• Winners of the UK Best Places To Work Awards 2025 revealed
• Epic Games launches webshop service **on PC and mobile

Free Games / Subscription

• Amazon Prime Gaming’s 14 ‘free’ games
  • DragonStrike (GOG) - Available now
  • Tormented Souls (Amazon Games App) - Available now
  • XCOM 2 (GOG) - October 9
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Reckoning of New York (Amazon Games App) - October 9
  • Empty Shell (GOG) - October 16
  • Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition (GOG) - October 16
  • True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1 (GOG) - October 16
  • Hellslave (GOG) - October 23
  • True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 2 (GOG) - October 23
  • Lost & Found Agency: Collector’s Edition (Legacy Games) - October 23
  • Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (GOG) - October 23
  • You Will Die Here Tonight (GOG) - October 30
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest (Amazon Games App) - October 30
  • Halloween Stories: Horror Movie Collector’s Edition (Amazon Games App) - October 30

Business

• Starbreeze has cancelled its Dungeons & Dragons game and is laying off 44 staff as it focuses on Payday - Project Baxter
• GLAAD launches new program to mentor early-career LGBTQ+ developers
• Lucid Games to open new office in Liverpool, UK
• After layoffs, cancellations, and controversy, ZA/UM UK staff unionise as the Workers' Alliance
• Mastered secures funding to support senior talent at UK games studios
• Read the ESA's new guidance for storefront accessibility tags

Business

• Ubisoft’s Tencent-backed subsidiary starts operation today, is named Vantage Studios
• Former TT Games boss has launched a new studio to work on a Peter Pan game
• Dune Awakening developer Funcom suffers layoffs after biggest release in studio history
• BioWare's future under EA in question, studio veteran warns, if it makes "the kind of games that this new company isn't interested in making anymore"
• EA says there will be no "immediate changes" to its workforce following leveraged buyout
• Hasbro opens new Wizards of the Coast development hub in Montreal

Rumors

• It looks like Prototype could be coming back after a Steam update added new credits - An update to the Steam version of Prototype has added new credits and references to Ubisoft Connect, which could point to a re-release of the game.

Business

• Avalanche is closing its Liverpool studio following Contraband’s cancellation

Rumors

• Sony is reportedly set to release an updated PS5 DualSense controller with a removable battery

Business

• EA confirms that it will be acquired for $55 billion by investors, including Saudi Arabia’s PIF
• Nintendo Announces New Singapore-Based Establishment
• Silent Hill F sold 1 million copies faster than the Silent Hill 2 remake, Konami says

Business

• EA reportedly in ‘advanced talks’ over $50bn buyout with investors, including Saudi’s PIF
• The campaign against predatory in-game practices takes a step forward in Brazil, as President Lula bans loot boxes targeted at under-18s
• GDC founder says the event is "rapidly becoming a dinosaur"

Rumors

• Nintendo's own Zurich Pop Con display reveals five Lego games are getting Switch 2 ports

Business

• Doug Bowser to retire, Devon Pritchard to succeed as Nintendo of America president
• Developers report lengthy payment delays on itch.io
• Splash Damage breaks away from Tencent
• Microsoft has 'ceased and disabled' Azure services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense
• Unity forms AI Council to 'accelerate AI product Innovation'

Free Games / Subscription

• PS Plus games for October
  • Alan Wake 2
  • Cocoon
  • Goat Simulator 3
  • The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
  • Tekken 3
  • Soul Calibur 3
  • Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary

Business

• Former AppLovin leaders establish casual mobile studio Cheer
• Code Coven reveals first Aurora Accelerator and Agency cohort
• Costco stops selling Xbox consoles in UK and US
• Scottish Game Developers Association opens applications for Games Accelerator programme
• Larian Studio's Tara Saunders confirmed to continue as BAFTA Games committee chair
• Embracer CEO states that while AI is a "powerful" tool, "human authorship is final"

Business

• Former ProbablyMonsters workers raise alarm about mismanagement at studio
• Sonic musician's rights lawsuit against Sega dismissed, song remains in "limbo"

Business

• Xbox has made "largest investment in Game Pass to date" this year, countering recent criticism of subscription service's value
• Roblox appoints Vlad Loktev as chief creator ecosystem officer to "strengthen relationships with the creator community"
• Game Developer Conference rebrands as GDC Festival of Gaming: "the industry is changing and so are we"
• Void Interactive ends "relationship" with Ready or Not community manager over Charlie Kirk comments
• Video Games Europe and the EGDF launch Pixels to Policy campaign
• Playstack revenue increases 52% YoY in the first half of 2025
• Midwest Games raises $2 million to support its 'publishing as a service' model

Kojima News Round-Up

• Kojima Productions and Niantic Spatial are working on an AR walking game
• New looks revealed for Death Stranding animated and live-action movies
• Kojima reveals visual for PlayStation stealth game Physint, announces 3 cast members
• ‘Bold, unique, and unmistakably Kojima’: Kojima Productions reveals new look at Xbox-published ‘OD’

Business

• Helldivers 2 ranks at No.4 on revenue charts for August 2025 following Xbox launch

Free Games / Subscription

• Two more Game Boy Advance games are coming to Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics library next week - September 25.
  • Klonoa: Empire of Dreams (Switch/Switch2)
  • Mr Driller 2 (Switch/Switch2)

Business

• Infinity Festival to celebrate Innovators in the Age this October
• Tencent accuses Sony of seeking a "monopoly on genre conventions" as it responds to Light of Motiram copyright lawsuit
• BAFTA shares $375,000 in grants to "86 talented creatives" to launch their careers in the UK and U.S.
• Epic Games to allow Fortnite developers to sell in-game items
• UKIE launches Interactive Entertainment Scotland
• IGDA board of directors appoints new chair, additional executive appointments

Free Games / Subscription

• Games leaving PS Plus next month
  • Battlefield 1 (PS4)
  • Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (PS4, PS5)
  • Tour de France 2023 (PS4, PS5)
  • The Last Clockwinder (PSVR2)

Business

• Founders of Subnautica 2 studio Unknown Worlds accuse parent company Krafton of "changing story mid-litigation"
• Nine Dots Studio's action-RPG Outward tops 3 million players

Rumors

• Battlefield 6 Battle Royale Will Reportedly Release on October 28, 2025
• Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake is reportedly adding extra content and RPG mechanics, aiming for a March release - Remake not yet confirmed/revealed
• Sega’s next Yakuza game reportedly leaked on Like A Dragon website

Free Games / Subscription

• XBox Game Pass's remaining games
  • New releases
    • Roadcraft (Xbox Series X/S, Cloud) – available today on Game Pass Ultimate / Standard
    • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Console) – September 17, now on Standard
    • For the King 2 (Console) – September 17, now on Standard
    • Overthrown (Xbox Series X/S) – September 17, now on Standard
    • Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) – September 17, Game Pass Ultimate / PC
    • Frostpunk 2 (Xbox Series X/S, Cloud) – September 18, Game Pass Ultimate
    • Wobbly Life (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) – September 18, Game Pass Ultimate / Standard / PC
    • Hades (Console, PC, Cloud) – September 19, Game Pass Ultimate / Standard / PC
    • Endless Legend 2 (PC) – September 22, Game Pass Ultimate / PC
    • Sworn (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) – September 23, Game Pass Ultimate / PC
    • Peppa Pig: World Adventures (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) – September 25, Game Pass Ultimate / Standard / PC
    • Visions of Mana (Xbox Series X/S, PC, Cloud) – September 25, Game Pass Ultimate / Standard / PC
    • Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (Console, PC, Cloud) – September 30, Game Pass Ultimate / Standard / PC
    • Sopa: Tale of the Stolen Potato (Console, PC, Cloud) – October 7, Game Pass Ultimate / PC
  • Coming to Game Pass Core
    • Cities: Skyline: Remastered – October 1
    • Disney Dreamlight Valley – October 1
    • Warhammer 40,000: Darktide – October 1
  • Leaving on September 30
    • Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Console, PC, Cloud)
    • Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (Console, PC, Cloud)
    • Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge (Console, PC, Cloud)
    • Terra Invicta (PC)

Business

• Hollow Knight: Silksong is reportedly already about a third of the way to the original's total sales, with Steam leading the charge
• Tanglewood Games calls for more support to develop game hubs in the North and across the UK
• Trade body calls for stronger tax credits to support "disadvantaged" UK industry
• Valve updates Steam to make it easier for devs to assess how discounts impact sales
• Video game TV adaptations boost player numbers 140% on average, says new report
• As PlayStation physical game sales drop, it's no wonder Sony is pushing digital-only consoles - Dropped 6% of sales back in 2020
• Darrell Gallagher leaves Xbox following The Initiative’s closure

Business

• Valve no longer permits games with "mature themes" to release in early access
• Vampire Survivors’ developer created publisher to "share the luck" with other indie studios- Luca Galante says Poncle wants to "give something back to the indie community" with its publishing arm, Poncle Presents

Rumors

• Insomniac’s Wolverine is reportedly coming next year, followed by a Venom spin-off

Business

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 quietly tops 4.4 million in sales

Business

• French Lara Croft taking legal action against Aspyr for AI-generated voice use in Tomb Raider remasters
• QA firm Testronic secures "significant" new investment as it restructures worldwide operations

Free Games / Subscription

• September’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue update
  • Extra / Premium
    • WWE 2K25 (PS4/5)
    • Persona 5 Tactica (PS4/5)
    • Green Hell PS4/5)
    • Fate/Samurai Remnant (PS4/5)
    • Crow Country (PS4/5)
    • The Invincible (PS5)
    • Conscript (PS5)
  • Premium
    • Legacy of Kain: Defiance (PS2)

Business

• UK games industry trade body UKIE has partnered with Tencent, the Department for Business and Trade, and delivery partner Player One Consulting, for the second year of its Video Games Growth Programme, designed "to help ambitious studios across the UK scale both creatively and commercially."
• Ubisoft is cutting jobs within its publishing team, due to the formation of the new Tencent-backed subsidiary. 9 roles affected

Business

• Overwatch GM Walter Kong steps up as SVP head of development, live games/mobile - Despite the promotion, Kong says he will remain leading Overwatch's "overall strategy" but will be expanding that remit to encompass Hearthstone, Diablo Immortal, and Warcraft Rumble, too
• Dead Island 2 reaches 20m players

Business

• Ready or Not passes 13m copies sold across platforms - 3m on console
• Roblox kicks off Roblox Developers Conference 2025 with a "suite of innovations," including an 8.5% boost to creator revenue - the company also unveiled its new generation of "fully functional 4D objects with AI"

Business

• Valve trademarks "Steam Frame". Announcement expected soon, expectation is VR hardware (potentially the "shipping name" for the Deckard prototype)

Business

• IO Interactive CEO says MindsEye disaster means it ‘remains to be seen’ whether it’ll publish other studios’ games again - "Well, that was definitely tough, right?" Hakan Abrak says
• 2K confirms a "staff reduction" at Civilization and XCOM developer Firaxis - unclear at this time how many developers have been affected
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater shipments and digital sales top one million - milestone reached on first day of release

Free Games / Subscription

• Forsaken 64 becomes the 40th Nintendo 64 game to be added to Switch Online

Business

• Dreamhaven affected by unspecified number of layoffs
• Aonic acquires research tech firm Prime Insights for $250m+

Rumors

• PS5 Digital Edition consoles in Europe are reportedly getting a quiet storage downgrade - From 1TB to 825GB, console will cost the same price

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass titles for September include Hollow Knight: Silksong and RoadCraft
  • Arriving
    • I Am Your Beast (Cloud, PC and Xbox Series S/X) – Available today
    • Nine Sols (Xbox Series S/X) – September 3 on Game Pass Standard
    • Hollow Knight: Silksong (Cloud, PC and Console) – September 4
    • Cataclismo (PC) – September 4
    • Paw Patrol World (Cloud, PC and Console) – September 10
    • RoadCraft (Cloud and Xbox Series S/X) – September 16
  • Leaving (15th September)
    • Wargroove 2
    • We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie
    • All You Need Is Help

Business

• Saudi firm acquires co-ownership of Evo fighting game tournaments - The long-running fighting game tournaments are now co-owned by PIF-backed Qiddiya

Rumors

• Take-Two was reportedly in talks to fund and publish Perfect Dark reboot - Deal allegedly fell through due to companies involved being "unable to come to terms over long-term ownership" of IP

Business

• Rare veteran Louise O'Connor lands new role at Xbox Game Studios (Chief of Staff) after Everwild cancellation
• Daniel Drapeau, recently the game director on Fairgames at Haven Studios, has announced his new role as a creative director over at Warner Bros Montreal - The move adds further doubt to the status of Fairgames, the live-service shooter published by Sony, following the departure of studio founder Jade Raymond
• Gears of War: Reloaded surpasses 1m players - Gears of War: Ultimate Edition multiplatform remaster launched on August 26, 2025
• Nintendo rebrands transmedia division from Warpstar to Nintendo Stars - The firm said it was "strengthening" the "ancillary use" of films featuring Nintendo IP to encompass live events, merchandise, and more

Business

• Curveball Leisure launches full-service publishing division - Curveball Games aims to fund "unique" titles from indie to AA helmed by senior publishing manager Ed Gregory, formerly of PlayStation and PQube
• CD Projekt H1 profit rises 4.3% to $121m
• NetEase shuts down Rich Vogel-led T-Minus Zero Entertainment

Business

• 75.4% of Cyberpunk 2077’s Nintendo Switch 2 sales were physical
• Thunderful Group shareholders approve $5.3 million Atari acquisition

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox is bringing Cloud Gaming to lower Game Pass tiers, in addition to PC games
• PlayStation Plus’s September games include a 3D platformer and two indie hits - Psychonauts 2, Stardew Valley and Viewfinder

Business

• Atari has acquired five Ubisoft games (Child of Eden, Grow Home, Cold Fear, I Am Alive, Grow Up) and will re-release and ‘evolve’ them
• Crystal Dynamics lays off "a number of talented colleagues" - unclear how many have been affected at this time
• Square Enix shutters two ten-year-old mobile games in Japan - Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Dragon Quest of the Stars
• Part of the team behind EA's cancelled Black Panther game joins Wizards of the Coast - Led by Monolith Productions veteran Michael de Plater, the group of 15 ex-Cliffhanger Games employees will be working on a new title

Business

• PlayStation CEO doesn't want first party studios to "play it safe" but "fail early and cheaply"
• New games industry body launches in India - Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA) was founded by nine companies, including Nazara Technologies and Tara Gaming
• Developer Rec Room lays off 'about half' its staff
• Evil Empire tells devs to avoid early access unless their project is 90 percent complete

Business

• 357,000 visitors attended Gamescom 2025 - More than 34,000 trade visitors and 1,568 exhibitors participated in the event
• Devcom 2025 attendance up 6% from 2024 - Conference featured 390 speakers, a rise of 30% from the previous year

Business

• Devcom to rebrand as Gamescom Dev
• Pete Parsons leaves Bungie, Justin Truman steps in as CEO

Rumors

• The setting for the next Forza Horizon game has seemingly leaked via a car company - If true, Forza Horizon's next entry would be based in Japan

Business

• Unknown Worlds sues former leadership team for breach of employment and "fiduciary duty of care" - Founders are also accused of downloading tens of thousands of company documents before their termination
• Peak Sells 10 Million Copies

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass August line-up
  • Arriving:
    • Blacksmith Master (Game Preview) (PC) – Available Today
    • Void/Breaker (PC) – Available Today
    • Goat Simulator Remastered (Xbox Series S/X) – August 20
    • Persona 4 Golden (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 20
    • Herdling (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – August 21
    • Gears of War: Reloaded (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – August 26
    • Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – August 28

Business

• Starbreeze says PUBG collab was its 'single largest revenue contributor' in Q2
• Cloud Chamber lays off "unspecified" number of staff as Rod Fergusson is parachuted in to lead troubled BioShock 4 production

Business

• Puzzle & Dragons studio says a former executive embezzled $2.3 million of company funds - Gungho's already under-fire CEO will take a pay cut for three months
• Peak sold 1.7m copies last week

Business

• Nexon Q2 Financial Results
  • Revenue: ¥118.9 billion ($804.7 million, down 3% year-over-year)
  • Operating income: ¥37.7 billion ($255.2 million, down 17% year-over-year)
  • Net income: ¥16.8 billion ($113.7 million, down 58% year-over-year)

Business

• Nexon Q2 Results
  • Revenue: ¥118.9 billion ($804.7 million, down 3% year-over-year)
  • Operating income: ¥37.7 billion ($255.2 million, down 17% year-over-year)
  • Net income: ¥16.8 billion ($113.7 million, down 58% year-over-year)
• Embracer will deploy 'targeted cost initiatives' and AI tech to unlock more value

Free Games / Subscription

• PlayStation Plus Game Catalogue for August
  • Extra and Premium:
    • Mortal Kombat 1 | PS5
    • Marvel’s Spider-Man | PS4/5
    • Sword of the Sea | PS5
    • Earth Defense Force 6 | PS4/5
    • Unicorn Overlord | PS4/5
    • Atelier Ryza 3 Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key | PS4/5
    • Indika | PS5
    • Harold Halibut | PS5
    • Coral Island | PS5
  • Premium
    • PS1 Resident Evil 2 | PS4/5
    • PS1 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis | PS4/5
• Chibi-Robo is the next GameCube title coming to Switch 2’s Nintendo Classics library

Business

• Minecraft console dev 4J opens new Edinburgh studio as work continues on its Minecraft rival Reforj
• Undisputed developer Steel City Interactive opens second studio in Leamington Spa, UK
• Starbreeze appoints former EA exec Jonas Skantz as Payday's general manager
• Square Enix Financial Results
  • Net sales: ¥59.2 billion ($401 million), down 15.2% year-on-year
  • Profit: ¥4.8 billion ($32.5 million), down 54.8% year-on-year
  • Digital Entertainment net sales: ¥32.9 billion ($223 million), down 25% year-on-year

Business

• John Davison (senior vice president and publisher) departs from IGN Entertainment
• Remedy Financial Results
  • Q2 Revenue: €16.9 million (up 63.5%)
  • Q2 Operating loss: €0.5 million (compared to operating loss of €3.2 million for same quarter last year)
  • H1 2025 Revenue: €30.3 million (up 43.4%)
  • H1 2025 Operating profit: €0.8 million (compared to operating loss of €5.3 million for same quarter last year)

Business

• Bandai Namco Q1 Results
  • Net sales: ¥300 billion ($2 billion), up 7.1% YoY
  • Operating profit: ¥51.9 billion ($399 million), up 17.9% YoY
  • Ordinary profit: ¥54.6 billion ($369 million), up 11.4% YoY
  • The Mobile Suit Gundam IP has seen a massive 81.2% increase in sales YoY
• Date Everything sells 500,000 copies
• Sega Q1 Results
  • Net sales: ¥81 billion ($548 million, down 22.7%)
  • Operating loss: ¥519 million ($3.5 million, compared to operating income of $130 million during same period last year)
• Mortal Kombat 1 Sells Over 6.2 Million Units

Business

• Diablo series head Rod Fergusson leaves Blizzard after five years
• Bithell Games is making ‘the majority’ of its full-time staff redundant - 11 staff have been impacted

Rumors

• A Far Cry TV show that "doesn't shy away from the darkest, most absurd parts of humanity" is reportedly in development at FX - Ubisoft may have prematurely posted about the project on its website

Business

• Sony Vice President, Sadahiko Hayakawa: "We are moving away from a hardware centric business model to a platform business that expands the community and increases engagement."
• Sony CFO says its live service shift is ‘not entirely going smoothly’ but pledges to carry on and learn from mistakes
• Sony's PlayStation 5 has sold 80.3 million units as it closes on in on fifth anniversary
• Konami stocks hit record highs thanks to eFootball and new Momotaro Dentetsu game. The Momotaro Dentetsu series is one of the company's strongest IPs, with sales totalling 18.9 million, almost double that of its horror franchise, Silent Hill, which has sold 11.7m copies since it launched in March 1999
• Take Two Financial Numbers (for the three months ending June 30, 2025)
  • Net revenue: $1.5 billion (up 12% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $12 million (compared to $262 million loss in the year-ago quarter)
  • Total net bookings: $1.42 billion (up 16% year-on-year)
• Sony has released its financial results for Q1 2025 (for the three months ended June 30th, 2025)
  • Overall:
    • Sales income: ¥2.62 trillion ($17.8 billion), up 2% YoY
    • Operating income (after tariff impact): ¥340 billion ($2.3 billion), up 36% YoY (before tariff impact)
  • Games & Network Services
    • Sales income: ¥937 billion ($6.4 billion), up 8%
    • Operating income: ¥148 billion ($1 billion), up 127% YoY
• Unity Financial Results
  • Revenue: $441 million (down 2% year-on-year)
  • Create Solutions revenue: $154 million (up 2% year-on-year)
  • Grow Solutions revenue: $287 million (down 4% year-on-year)
  • Net loss: $107 million (with a margin of 24%)

Business

• RedOctane Games is a new studio dedicated to "advancing the rhythm game genre" - Founded by seasoned developers from the rhythm gaming world, who have worked on Guitar Hero and DJ Hero, alongside new talent, RedOctane Games is "focused solely on advancing the rhythm game genre" while "combining the past with the future."
• Vintage Story developers claim itch.io has withheld payments for three months

Rumors

• Microsoft Has Reportedly Sold Less Than 30 Million Consoles This Generation (Xbox Series S and X)

Free Games / Subscription

• August’s PlayStation Plus Essential titles are now available; Lies of P, Day Z and My Hero One's Justice 2
• Xbox Game Pass titles for August
  • Arriving:
    • Rain World (Cloud, Console, and PC) – available now
    • Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (Xbox Series S/X) – August 6
    • Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders (Xbox Series S/X) – August 6
    • MechWarrior 5: Clans (Xbox Series S/X) – August 6
    • Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap (Xbox Series S/X) – August 6
    • Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Cloud, Console and PC) – August 7
    • Aliens: Fireteam Elite (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 12
    • 9 Kings (PC) – August 14
  • Leaving August 15th:
    • Anthem (Console and PC)
    • Farming Simulator 2 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
    • Persona 3 Reload (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Business

• Call of Duty workers at Raven secure first union contract with Microsoft - Three years after Activision Blizzard first officially recognized the union, the Game Workers Alliance

Business

• BioShock 4’s leadership replaced as 2K insists it’s ‘committed to delivering a great game’ - director and studio head affected after the game reportedly failed an internal development review

Rumors

• Bioshock 1 remake shelved

Business

• Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 5.82 million units in Q1 and 8.67 million games in total. Mario Kart World sold nearly as many copies as the console - 5.63 million units
• Xbox content and services revenue up 13% year-on-year
  • For the three months ended June 30, 2025:
    • Revenue: $76.4 billion (up 18% year-on-year)
    • Net income: $27.2 billion (up 24% year-on-year)
    • More Personal Computing (incl. Xbox) revenue: $13.5 billion (up 9% year-on-year)
• Capcom Q1 Results
  • For the three months ended June 30, 2025:
    • Net sales: ¥45.5 billion ($303 million), up 53.7% year-on-year
    • Operating profit: ¥24.6 billion ($164 million), up 90.8% year-on-year
    • Ordinary profit: ¥22.9 billion ($153 million), up 69.7% year-on-year
    • Net income: ¥17.2 billion ($115 million), up 72.8% year-on-year
• Roblox Q1 Results
  • Three months ended June 2025 (Q1 2025):
    • Revenue: $1.08 billion (up 21% year-on-year)
    • Bookings: $1.44 billion (up 51% year-on-year)
    • Net losses: $278.4 million
  • Highlights:
    • Average Daily Active Users (“DAUs”) were 111.8 million, up 41% year-over-year.
    • Hours engaged were 27.4 billion, up 58% year-over-year
    • Average monthly unique payers were 23.4 million, up 42% year-over-year, and average bookings per monthly unique payer was $20.48
    • Average bookings per DAU (“ABPDAU”) was $12.86, up 7% year-over-year

Business

• Ready or Not tops 2m console sales in 2 weeks
• UK game tech company JECO secures $1.3 million in pre-seed investment - Simon Barratt, JECO describes itself as an "industry first" B2B tech toolkit which allows developers "to increase performance whilst reducing production costs, timelines, and carbon consumption by adopting an automated suite of optimization tools for all software, on any device."

Free Games / Subscription

• PlayStation Plus Essential monthly games for August 5th - Lies of P, Day Z and My Hero One's Justice 2

Business

• Atari has agreed to acquire Thunderful for around €4.5 million - Atari will own around 82% of Thunderful shares, subject to shareholder approval next month
• Warner Bros. is hiring (for what appears to be) another live service game
• Guerrilla's Horizon franchise has sold over 38m copies worldwide
• IGN launches Gaming Trends platform, shedding light on how mobile, Roblox, and more are reshaping the industry - The initial 2025 Gaming Trends report focuses on six key areas, including mobile gaming, user-generated content, and the trend for nostalgia
• Krafton reports record revenue, buoyed by PUBG and Inzoi
  • Revenues rose to ₩1.54 trillion ($1.1 billion), an increase of 11.5% on the same period in 2024.
  • Profits were up 9.5% to ₩703 billion ($505 million).
  • Mobile accounted for the lion's share of revenue at ₩960 billion ($690 million), with PC revenues at ₩543 billion ($390 million), and console revenues at just ₩33 billion ($23 million)

Free Games / Subscription

• Mario Paint has been added to Switch Online’s SNES library, supports Switch 2 mouse controls - Switch owners can also play by plugging in a USB Mouse

Business

• The publisher and developer of mobile hit Puzzle & Dragons (GungHo) says it’s considering a shareholder request for an extraordinary general meeting to oust company president and CEO Kazuki Morishita - Angry shareholders previously called out GungHo for increasing its president's pay whilst profits plummet
• Sony sues Tencent for "slavish clone" of its "valuable" Horizon franchise - Sony claims Tencent asked to license the IP and when refused, pressed ahead with a "knock-off" version of its own
• Free-to-play FIFA-licensed mobile game (FIFA Rivals) tops 1m downloads since its launch last month - 5m matches, 16m goals

Business

• The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered has welcomed nine million players since its release
• Krafton acquires Last Epoch studio, Eleventh Hour Games
• Former DreadXP and Critical Reflex alum Ted Hentschke has teamed up with Jakub Bałuszek-Sobolewski to form Black Lantern Collective, a new publisher dedicated to horror games

Business

• Elden Ring Nightreign has sold 5 million units, Shadow of the Erdtree 10 million
• Hasbro's recent Magic the Gathering Final Fantasy crossover card set made $200m sales in one day
• Sony has acquired 2.5% of Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco in a ‘strategic partnership’
• Nintendo Switch 2 set a US launch month record at 1.6 million units - 82% of Nintendo Switch 2 buyer during June also acquired Mario Kart World

Business

• Scottish Silent Hill developer NoCode has changed its name to Screen Burn: ‘We have coders now’
• Fortnite's return to iOS in the UK "uncertain", as Epic accuses UK regulator of deprioritising store competition
• Sandsoft shutters two internal studios, impacting 65 jobs in Riyadh and Barcelona
• Rematch reaches five million players one month after launch

Business

• Supermassive has delayed Directive 8020 amid a round of layoffs - around 36 employees affected
• Ubisoft to restructure as "Creative Houses" as Q1 25-26 financials come in "lower-than-expected"
  • For the first quarter of 2025-26 financial year ending June 30, 2025
    • Revenue: €310.8 million ($365m, down 3.9% year-on-year)
    • Net bookings: €281.6 million ($331m, down 2.9%)
    • Digital net bookings: €250.2 million ($294m, down 2.7%)
    • Back-catalogue net bookings: €260.4 million ($306m, up 4.4%)
• Side, a support studio that has lent services to games like the Silent Hill 2 remake, Kingdom Come Deliverance II, and Baldur's Gate 3, has laid off 'less than 10' staff

Business

• Still Wakes the Deep studio The Chinese Room regains independence, ‘working on 2 original IPs’ - Layoffs were confirmed as part of its split from Sumo Digital

Business

• Ready or Not hits 1m console sales in under four days

Free Games / Subscription

• Civilization 6 Premium Edition is currently free to claim on the Epic Games Store

Business

• Former German development studio Artex brought back to life as a publisher after 25 years - shift from developing games to supporting "young studios and start-ups"
• Co-dev specialists Virtuos announces layoffs affecting 7% of workforce - Around 270 employees in Asia and Europe are affected
• PlayStation Antitrust Settlement Rejected Over Lack of Clarity

Rumors

• Marvel's Blade budget is 94m euros according to France's Committee of Finance

Business

• Ubisoft names Yves Guillemot’s son Charlie Guillemot as co-CEO of new Tencent-backed subsidiary
• Steam introduces vague new rules banning 'certain kinds of adult content' to appease credit card and payment processor companies - Online feedback has been extremely negative with people pointing out banks should not be able to dictate what games a person should be allowed / not allowed to purchase and play
• Metaphor: ReFantazio has sold 2m units worldwide, Atlus officially reveals
• Sega, Netflix and others will let Roblox creators monetize their major franchises

Free Games / Subscription

• Xbox Game Pass titles for July
  • Arriving:
    • High On Life (Cloud, Console, and PC)
    • RoboCop: Rogue City (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – July 17
    • My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 17
    • Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console, and PC) – July 18
    • Abiotic Factor (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – July 22
    • Wheel World (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – July 23
    • Wuchang: Fallen Feathers (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – July 24
    • Grounded 2 (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series S/X) – July 29
    • Farming Simulator 25 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – August 1
  • Leaving:
    • Gigantic (Cloud, Console, and PC)
    • Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess (Cloud, Console, and PC)
    • Turnip Boy Robs a Bank (Cloud, Console, and PC)

Business

• Epic Games confirms legal action against Fortnite cheat seller and DDoS cyber attacker:

Business

• Way of the Samurai studio Acquire Corp and Red Dunes Games announce collaboration on multiple new IPs
• Xbox graphics department lead puts up hiring post on LinkedIn, uses AI graphics in post

Rumors

• A Nintendo Direct is scheduled for later this month, after Donkey Kong Bananza releases

Business

• Lords of the Fallen surpasses 5.5m players

Rumors

• Forza Horizon 5 Sold 2 Million Units in One Month on PS5
• An untitled Donkey Kong film has been recently registered at the U.S Copyright Office by Universal Pictures and Nintendo

Business

• SAG-AFTRA approves 2025 Video Game Agreement, officially concluding its strike
• Krafton addresses leadership changes at Unknown Worlds, former executives file lawsuit against publisher - Firm claims "absence of core leadership resulted in repeated confusion in direction" resulting in delay of Subnautica 2

Free Games / Subscription

• PlayStation Plus games for July
  • Extra and Premium
  • Cyberpunk 2077
  • Abiotic Factor
  • Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden
  • Bluey: The Videogame
  • Planet Zoo
  • Risk of Rain 2
  • Tropico 6
  • Premium
  • Twisted Metal 3
  • Twisted Metal 4

Business

• UK Video Games Council confirms inaugural members - The new organization will "play a vital role in representing the views of the sector" to UK government
  • The following members will join joint chairs Jason Kingsley CBE, CEO of Rebellion Games, and Nick Button-Brown, chair of Outright Games, on the inaugural council:
    • Jason Kingsley CBE, CEO and Creative Director, Rebellion (Co-Chair)
    • Nick Button-Brown, Chair, Outright Games (Co-Chair)
    • Emily Bailey, Green-BIT
    • Saad Choudri, Miniclip
    • Charu Desodt, Interior:Night
    • Kirsty Rigden, Futurlab
    • Dave Gould, T2
    • Chris Van Der Kuyl, 4J Studios
    • Donna Orlowski, Chucklefish
    • Nick Poole OBE, CEO, Ukie
    • Tara Saunders, Larian
    • Maria Sayans, ustwo Games
    • Tim Varney, Microsoft
    • Dr Richard Wilson OBE, CEO, TIGA

Free Games / Subscription

• XCOM dev’s highly rated Marvel’s Midnight Suns is ‘free’ to claim for a limited time for Prime Gaming users

Business

• Epic Games settles antitrust lawsuit with Samsung - "We are grateful that Samsung will address Epic’s concerns," said Epic CEO

Business

• Romero Games disputes claims it has "completely closed" - The studio says it is "doing everything in our power" to remain open
• Square Enix has invested in a Danish indie studio BetaDwarf to fund its ‘dream game’ Vault Breakers - Publisher says it is 'always looking' for exciting indie titles to support

Business

• Double Eleven sister studio Cast Iron Games has opened its doors in Wakefield - focusing on co-development and porting
• Stockholm-based Toca Boca lays off unknown number of employees

Rumors

• Around 300 Build A Rocket Boy employees reportedly receive "at-risk of redundancy" emails following layoffs announcement

Business

• John Romero’s next FPS has lost funding in the wake of the Microsoft cuts - A Romero Games employee has claimed the “whole studio” is being let go, with many advertising on LinkedIn that they’ve lost their jobs
• ZeniMax Online Studios head Matt Firor to depart after 18 years
• G/O Media sells Kotaku to digital publishing company Keleops - G/O Media winding down operations following Keleops acquisition of Kotaku