Games industry news — studio acquisitions, layoffs, publishing deals, and business analysis.
Pumping out new Fallout and Elder Scrolls games faster is reportedly the plan at Xbox, as the spectre of potential corporate rejigging looms
Xbox leadership is planning to accelerate release cycles for Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, according to reports, even as the company faces potentia…
Hundreds Of Books Are On Sale In Amazon’s Buy 2 Get 1 Free Sale
Amazon's Buy Two Get One Free book sale is live as an early Prime Day promotion, offering substantial discounts across hundreds of titles. Customers w…
Double Fine, Ninja Theory, And More Reportedly Trying To Spin Off From Xbox Game Studios
Microsoft's acquisition strategy is reversing course. Double Fine Productions and Ninja Theory, two of Xbox Game Studios' most prominent acquisitions,…
Obsession Director Would Be Up For A Video Game Movie
Director Curry Barker, riding high off the massive success of his horror film Obsession, expressed openness to directing a video game adaptation in a …
Blizzard Sues WoW Private Server It Alleges Raked In Millions
Blizzard Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Ascension WoW, a private server that operated World of Warcraft without authorization. The suit, filed …
Xbox Games Studios loses two top execs, days after Microsoft gaming CEO calls for company "reset"
Xbox Games Studios boss Craig Duncan and chief of staff Louise O'Connor have departed Microsoft, marking another leadership shake-up at the gaming div…
Xbox Closing At Least 2 Studios by 2026 End, Including One “Which Could Come as a Shock” – Rumor
Microsoft is preparing to shutter at least two Xbox studios before 2026 closes, according to reports circulating through the industry. The closures wi…
Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios boss steps down after less than two years, amid major changes for the platform
Craig Duncan exits Xbox Game Studios after a brief 18-month tenure as head of Microsoft's first-party game division. His departure arrives during a tu…
There's never been an easier time to boycott Microsoft, the most boring video game publisher in the business
Microsoft's gaming division faces mounting criticism for its corporate practices and creative direction, with industry observers arguing that boycotti…
"Even dry and lost places can flourish with a little care": Waterful is a gentle, beautiful puzzler about drawing rivers that makes me yearn for something overwhelming
Waterful strips away the frenzy from puzzle games, replacing it with methodical creativity. Developer Uncommon Games has crafted a nature-builder wher…
Nintendo, You Better Not Be Giving Up On Style
Nintendo's art direction stands as one of gaming's strongest competitive advantages, yet the company risks squandering that edge through increasingly …
Mobile Studio Hoping To End Tim Langdell’s Infamous ‘EDGE’ Trademark Trolling Once And For All
Tim Langdell's decades-long trademark harassment campaign targeting the word "EDGE" faces a serious legal challenge. Mobigame, the indie studio behind…
Blizzard sues to kill another World of Warcraft private server for 'large scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement of [its] intellectual property'
Blizzard Entertainment has filed a lawsuit against Project Ascension, a World of Warcraft private server, alleging "large scale, egregious, and ongoin…
How Croakwood captures the challenge of a townbuilder like Anno but avoids the stress and pressure
Croakwood, the upcoming townbuilder from Texel Raptor (developer of Parkitect), strips away the stress mechanics that define games like Anno while ret…
Microsoft CEO Complains About Poor Gaming Profits: ‘There’s More Monetization Of Xbox Games Happening On YouTube’
Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, has expressed frustration over Xbox's gaming profitability, pointing to an unexpected revenue leak. Nadella stated tha…
‘It Has Become Difficult To Articulate Why You Should Pick An Xbox,’ Admits The Guy Hired To Help Fix It
Microsoft's newly hired gaming leadership openly acknowledged Xbox's identity crisis. The executive tasked with revitalizing the brand admitted it has…
All Of The God Of War Games, Ranked From Worst To Best
Kotaku ranked the entire God of War franchise from worst to best, evaluating every major entry across PlayStation generations. The ranking reflects ho…
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation Director Calls Watching Streamers A ‘Crisis’ For RPGs That Don’t Offer Enough Choice
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Kazushige Nojima raised concerns about streaming's impact on linear RPGs, calling the phenomenon a "crisis" for gam…
Sony pulling back from PC also means it's pulling back from China
Sony's retreat from PC gaming carries ripple effects beyond the Western market. The company's decision to deprioritize PC releases directly impacts it…
Nintendo's legal battle with Palworld looks shakier than ever: It may only get '$30,000 chump change' if it wins at all
Nintendo's patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, developer of the monster-catching phenomenon Palworld, faces serious obstacles to generatin…
Nintendo reportedly look set to net so little from their Palworld lawsuit you'll wonder why they bothered
Nintendo's patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair appears headed toward a disappointing financial outcome for the gaming giant. Nearly t…
Shareholders Are Trying To Bully Elden Ring Maker FromSoftware Into Divorcing Bandai Namco
Shareholders in Bandai Namco are pushing the publisher to spin off FromSoftware, the studio behind Elden Ring and Dark Souls, into an independent enti…
One Of The Only Good Things Left About GameStop Is About To Get Worse
GameStop's Pro Membership program, one of the retailer's last remaining customer draws, faces substantial cuts that have store staff openly frustrated…
Switch 2 at Summer Game Fest got AAA games, all the ports, and Ocarina of Time
Nintendo's Switch 2 showcase at Summer Game Fest confirmed the console is building serious momentum with a diverse lineup spanning AAA multiplatform r…
Tupac’s presence in Stranger Than Heaven somehow gets even more bizarre after developer interview
Stranger Than Heaven, an indie title, features an unexpected and surreal inclusion of Tupac Shakur that becomes increasingly strange following recent …
Stop Killing Games-backed California bill targeting online game shutdowns "isn't going to be an easy thing" to enforce, says the politician behind it
California's Stop Killing Games-backed bill targeting online game server shutdowns faces serious enforcement challenges, according to the politician c…
GameStop’s Rewards Program May Be Losing Its Best Feature – Report
GameStop is reportedly scaling back its Pro Membership rewards program despite posting record profits in Q1 of its latest fiscal year. The retail gian…
Microsoft is looking to speed up development of future Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Halo games
Microsoft is accelerating development cycles for three of gaming's biggest franchises. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Halo all operate under Bethesda Gam…
RPG Maker forums are closing, nearly 15 years of knowledge and online culture are at risk of being wiped
Gotcha Gotcha Games, the current steward of RPG Maker, plans to shut down the franchise's official forums without preserving nearly 15 years of accumu…
Paramount-Warner Bros. merger creeps forward as US regulators approve
The Justice Department cleared Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, paving the way for a massive Hollywood consolidation. Skydance Media…
Consumer rights champion and tech-whizz Louis Rossman is taking Samsung to court over a failed 990 Pro SSD it says it can't replace, even though Amazon has plenty of them in stock
Louis Rossmann, the right-to-repair advocate and YouTuber, is suing Samsung over a defective 990 Pro SSD that the company refuses to replace, even tho…
Before you place all the blame on Sony, former Destiny 2 CM says Bungie was 'very close to shutting its doors' before the buyout
Bungie faced an existential crisis before Sony's 2022 acquisition, according to a former community manager. The studio operated in survival mode, runn…
Nintendo’s Palworld lawsuit looks like a massive dud: ‘Zero chance’ of winning
Nintendo's patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair faces severe legal headwinds, according to legal experts who assess the c…