Games industry news — studio acquisitions, layoffs, publishing deals, and business analysis.

Industry

Blizzard say Battle.net isn't looking to fight Steam and Epic for supermassive storefront supremacy, despite recently nabbing The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077

Blizzard has publicly distanced Battle.net from competition with Steam and Epic Games Store despite recently securing major third-party titles, signal…

22h ago
Industry

Marathon Delays New Content And Ditches Seasons As Bungie’s Extraction Shooter Fights For Its Life

Bungie's Marathon, the studio's ambitious free-to-play extraction shooter launched in early access in 2023, has hit a wall. The developer announced de…

22h ago
Industry

Hear Me Out: What If Liam McIntyre Was Wolverine In The MCU?

# Liam McIntyre's Wolverine Performance in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Makes a Case for MCU Casting Hugh Jackman's departure from the Wolverine role left M…

22h ago
Industry

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’s Art Director Gets Blow Back For Using AI In Prototyping Test

Takaya Imamura, the art director behind The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, faced swift community backlash after revealing he used AI tools during the…

22h ago
Industry

Moss developer Polyarc share that they're shutting down just two months after releasing a VR-less port of the beloved mousey adventure games

Polyarc Games, the studio behind the beloved Moss franchise, is shutting down just two months after launching Moss: The Forgotten Relic. The developer…

Yesterday
Industry

Anthropic CEO Says ‘We Owe It To Humanity To Try’ To Prevent An AI Swarm From Taking Over The Internet

# Anthropic CEO Warns of AI Takeover Risk Without External Oversight Dario Amodei, CEO and co-founder of Anthropic, has issued a direct warning about…

Yesterday
Industry

Blizzard Explains Why It’s Revealing Diablo 5 And A New StarCraft So Early

Blizzard Entertainment announced Diablo 5 and a new StarCraft title years before launch, a strategy that marks a significant departure from the studio…

Yesterday
Industry

"Most people" at Bethesda wanted to make Elder Scrolls 6 before Starfield, claims Skyrim co-lead, but Todd Howard dragged them aboard his rocketship

Todd Howard's singular vision for a space-faring RPG overrode developer preference at Bethesda Game Studios. According to Kurt Kuhlmann, co-lead desig…

2 days ago
Industry

SCP Foundation Pushes Back On Backrooms Studio’s New V/H/S: SCP Movie: ‘A24 Does Not And Cannot Have Any Exclusive Rights’

A24's planned V/H/S: SCP film collaboration with Backrooms studio Kane Pixels has collided with the SCP Foundation, the collaborative fiction collecti…

2 days ago
Industry

EA's Saudi Arabian owners are reportedly considering forming an ubermegacorp by merging them with Savvy Games

The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund's newly completed $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts may not stop at EA alone. The Saudi wealth fund …

2 days ago
Industry

As final hearing over GTA firings begins, Rockstar reiterate they "reject the claims" made by union and will defend themselves "vigorously"

Rockstar Games faces its final legal hearing in a prolonged dispute with fired staff represented by the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (I…

2 days ago
Industry

Hideo Kojima spy action game Physint switches publishing allegiance from PlayStation to Xbox, probably increasing the chances it'll hit PC

Hideo Kojima's spy-action game Physint has switched publishers from PlayStation to Xbox, a move that reshapes the project's platform strategy and subs…

2 days ago
Industry

The Most Viral Roblox Games Are About To Break Containment

Roblox stands at an inflection point. The platform's most successful user-generated games are about to escape the walled garden and launch as independ…

2 days ago
Industry

"Why do we need more graphics?": 2010's Alan Wake was as photoreal as videogames ever needed to be, reckons original Thief designer

Randy Smith Evergreen, the legendary designer behind Thief: The Dark Project, argues that videogame graphics peaked with Alan Wake in 2010. He contend…

3 days ago
Industry

Rockstar had a mole in the union worker Discord server "for over two and a half years", GTA 6 company reveals during legal battle

Rockstar Games has disclosed during ongoing legal proceedings that it maintained an undercover operative within the union worker Discord server for mo…

3 days ago
Industry

PlayStation reportedly dumped Hideo Kojima spy action game Physint over exceeded budgets, missed deadlines, and Death Stranding sales

# PlayStation Dropped Physint After Kojima Productions Spiraled Over Budget and Delays PlayStation severed ties with Hideo Kojima's spy action game P…

3 days ago
Industry

Professor Layton Fans Are In Full Panic Mode After Studio Presentation They Worry Is Full Of ‘AI Slop’

Level-5, the Japanese studio behind the beloved Professor Layton puzzle adventure series, finds itself under intense scrutiny from longtime fans after…

3 days ago
Industry

GNOG and Goodbye Volcano High dev KO_OP share that they are laying off staff in the only, remotely good statement I've seen in a while

KO_OP, the indie studio behind GNOG and Goodbye Volcano High, has laid off 13 staff members. The cuts arrived less than two weeks after the studio lau…

3 days ago
Industry

Miami Beach Debates Taking Millions From Rockstar To Advertise GTA 6: ‘We’re Not Giving Away Pistols And Cocaine To People’

Miami Beach commissioners have greenlit negotiations for a lucrative marketing deal with Rockstar Games centered on Grand Theft Auto VI, the upcoming …

3 days ago
Industry

"We want to invite people into this big tent with this grimdark setting": Creative Assembly on how they plan to ease strategy newbies into Total War: Warhammer 40,000

Creative Assembly faces a strategic challenge with Total War: Warhammer 40,000. The studio must balance the franchise's notoriously steep learning cur…

4 days ago
Industry

Netflix’s 6-Hour Exclusivity Window For GTA 6 Reportedly Only Led To Its Third Highest Sign-Up Bump Of The Year

Netflix's bold gambit to secure exclusive early access to Grand Theft Auto 6 footage generated far less subscriber momentum than the streaming giant a…

4 days ago
Industry

Saudi Arabia Reportedly Considering Merging EA With Savvy Games Group

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund backing Savvy Games Group, is exploring a merger between Electronic Arts and it…

4 days ago
Industry

The Internet Reacts To PlayStation Breaking Up With Hideo Kojima

# PlayStation's Split With Hideo Kojima Marks a Turning Point for AAA Development Sony Interactive Entertainment and Hideo Kojima have ended their pa…

4 days ago
Industry

Xbox Swoops In To Save Kojima’s Stealth Action Game Physint After PlayStation Tried To Cancel It

# Xbox Saves Kojima Productions' Physint From PlayStation Cancellation Kojima Productions' stealth action project Physint has found new life at Xbox …

4 days ago
Industry

Person Fed Up With Xbox Named ‘FVCKAsha&Phil’ Just Leaked An Alleged Prototype Of The Canceled SNES RPG That Became Banjo-Kazooie

A prototype of Project Dream, Rare's legendary canceled SNES fantasy RPG, surfaced online this week after years of speculation among gaming historians…

4 days ago
Industry

Unionised Blizzard workers vote through contract giving them a say on genAI adoption and protection against layoffs

Unionised workers at Blizzard Entertainment have secured a landmark contract that mandates the studio negotiate with staff before deploying generative…

5 days ago
Industry

Nintendo, Please Stop Making Me Use My Phone To Play Zelda

# Nintendo's Phone Gate: Why Forcing Mobile Access for Zelda Content Misses the Mark Nintendo has taken accessibility hostage in 2026. The company no…

5 days ago
Industry

Skyrim Veteran Claims Howard Pushed Starfield Instead Of TES 6: ‘It Was Very Much, ‘Guess What, Team? We’re Making This Space Game’

Todd Howard made a deliberate choice to shift Bethesda Game Studios toward Starfield rather than move directly into The Elder Scrolls 6 development, a…

5 days ago
Industry

PowerWash Simulator devs FuturLab laid off staff and cancelled an unrevealed project earlier this year, but certainly kept quiet about it

FuturLab, the studio behind the breakout hit PowerWash Simulator, laid off seven staff members and cancelled a multi-year project without public annou…

6 days ago
Industry

"Justice at last feels within reach": Final hearing in Rockstar and fired GTA devs' legal battle will kick off with a union rally

Rockstar Games faces a final legal hearing this week over its decision to fire a group of workers last year, with the case representing a watershed mo…

6 days ago
Industry

Trump regime's Tetris ripoff yanked from White House website after Tetris Company declare they "take copyright infringement very seriously"

# White House's "Build the Wall" Tetris Clone Removed After Legal Pressure From Tetris Company The Trump administration removed a Tetris-style game c…

6 days ago
Industry

"Material uncertainty" hangs over the future of Life is Strange developers Don't Nod beyond January 2027, as negotiations over potential layoffs begin

Don't Nod, the studio behind the narrative adventure series Life is Strange, faces an existential crisis. The company has formally disclosed "material…

6 days ago
Industry

OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra Lets People Remake Existing Games, But Worse

OpenAI's new Astra model marks a turning point for game development tools, but not necessarily the one the industry wanted. The system allows users to…

6 days ago
Industry

"We believe in the power of connection": Donald Trump Tetris parody game rouses the mildly worded wrath of the Tetris Company

The Tetris Company issued a formal rebuke against the U.S. government after a Trump administration parody game called Build the Wall leveraged the ico…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

The Story Behind Silent Hill: Downpour And Its Haunting Take On Psychological Horror

# The Story Behind Silent Hill: Downpour and Its Haunting Take on Psychological Horror Tomm Hulett, producer and writer on Silent Hill: Downpour, sat…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

Former Capcom Employee Says Western Studios Spend Too Much Time On Jira

A former Capcom employee has leveled criticism at Western game studios for excessive reliance on project management tools like Jira, arguing that obse…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

Kalshi Prematurely Pays Out Millions In Wagers For Losing College Football Team

Kalshi, the prediction market platform fighting regulatory battles across the US, made a costly error that undermines its credibility in the exact jur…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

Buddy The Unicorn Kicked Out Of Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights

Universal Studios has removed Buddy the Unicorn from its Halloween Horror Nights event, marking a notable shift in the annual horror celebration's cha…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

Steam Has Generated $15 Billion In Revenue So Far In 2026, And New Games Are A Big Part Of It

Steam has already generated $15 billion in revenue through the first portion of 2026, according to market analyst Rhys Elliot from Alinea Analytics. T…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

GTA 6 Online Could Struggle To Pull Players Away From GTA Online, Says Valve Veteran

Rockstar faces a significant retention problem with Grand Theft Auto 6's launch. The studio has remained silent about GTA Online's future, focusing ex…

Sep 7, 2026
Industry

Game Director Finally Addresses His Rumored Foot Fetish–Wait, Not Kojima, The Other One

# Japanese Director Addresses Persistent Foot Imagery in His Games A prominent Japanese game director has finally broken silence on the recurring foo…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

Xbox’s New TCL Partnership Couldn’t Come At A Worse Time

Microsoft's push to position Xbox as a cloud-first gaming platform just became more fractured. The company announced a partnership with TCL to embed t…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

The ESRB wouldn't let Valve release the cinematic trailer for Left 4 Dead 2, so what did they do? They "leaked" it, obviously

Valve circumvented the ESRB's rejection of Left 4 Dead 2's cinematic trailer by deliberately "leaking" it online, sidestepping formal approval process…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

Former Old School RuneScape Developer Sentenced For Stealing In-Game Gold From Players

Andrew "Mod Jed" Lakeman, a former Old School RuneScape developer at Jagex, faces up to three years in prison after being sentenced for stealing in-ga…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney Says The Industry Is Crashing And AI Is Making It Worse

Tim Sweeney's latest warnings about the gaming industry's trajectory represent a sharp reversal from his previous tech-optimism. The Epic Games CEO st…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

Hideki Kamiya Wonders If He Should ‘Sue’ People Online For Implying He ‘Stole’ Money From Xbox During Scalebound’s Development (Which He’s Happy To Revive)

Hideki Kamiya, the veteran director behind PlatinumGames, has escalated his response to online accusations that he misappropriated development funds f…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

The 1001 Threads Of Mizan Director Avoids Answering A Simple Question At Gamescom

# The 1001 Threads Of Mizan Director Sidesteps Questions About Studio Structure At Gamescom The creative director behind The 1001 Threads of Mizan de…

Sep 6, 2026
Industry

Granblue Fantasy Relink Company Announces New Publishing Label Aimed At Releasing Smaller Games Faster

Cygames, the Japanese developer behind Granblue Fantasy Relink, has launched a new publishing label to accelerate the release cycle for smaller indie …

Sep 5, 2026
Industry

Bungie Is ‘Exploring’ Subleasing Parts Of Its Massive 210,984 Sq. Ft. Studio After Laying Off More Than 600 People In Just Three Years

Bungie faces a real estate crisis after laying off over 600 employees in three years, now exploring subleasing portions of its sprawling 210,984 squar…

Sep 5, 2026
Industry

Beloved Evil Dead Star Bruce Campbell Says He Has Five Years Left To Live

# Bruce Campbell Reveals Five-Year Health Timeline, Steps Back from Public Life Bruce Campbell, the legendary actor behind Ash Williams in Sam Raimi'…

Sep 5, 2026
Industry

The Witcher Remake is currently on the back burner because progress on it depends on The Witcher 4's development, CD Projekt Red confirm

CD Projekt Red placed The Witcher remake on hold, with development now dependent on progress with The Witcher 4. The studio confirmed this timeline du…

Sep 5, 2026
Industry

Double Fine Boss Says ‘We Never Actively Tried To Make A Game We Thought Was Going To Lose Money’

# Double Fine's Tim Schafer Breaks Down the Economics of Making Ambitious Games Tim Schafer, founder of Double Fine Productions, pushed back against …

Sep 5, 2026
Industry

Tim Schafer Calls Double Fine Leaving Xbox A ‘Creative Awakening’: ‘Asha’s Not Going To Shoot My Dog’

Tim Schafer, the legendary designer behind Grim Fandango and Psychonauts, views Double Fine's departure from Xbox as a liberation rather than a loss. …

Sep 5, 2026
Industry

Planet Coaster and Jurassic World devs Frontier have teamed up with Disney to make what is probably a Disneyland tycoon game

Frontier Developments, the studio behind Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo, and Jurassic World Evolution, has signed a partnership deal with Disney to develo…

Sep 4, 2026
Industry

We Now Have An Official 22-Minute-Long Pokérap With All 1025 Pokémon And It’s A Banger

The Pokémon Company delivered a sprawling 22-minute rap that catalogs all 1,025 Pokémon across nine generations, officially cementing the franchise's …

Sep 4, 2026
Industry

Naughty Dog Keeps Distancing Itself From The Last Of Us Season 3 But Says More Projects Are In The Works

Naughty Dog has pulled further back from HBO's The Last of Us adaptation, declining direct involvement in a potential Season 3 while simultaneously co…

Sep 4, 2026
Industry

"You can’t just throw new people at that problem": Bethesda devs doubt future Elder Scrolls and Fallout games will have the same "quality level", after losing seasoned staff to Xbox cuts

Microsoft's layoffs at Bethesda Games Studios have triggered serious concerns from unionized staff about the studio's ability to maintain quality on f…

Sep 3, 2026
Industry

The adult game crackdown is "ridiculous for our art form", say Hellraiser devs, but they think they'll survive thanks to that Clive Barker association

# Hellraiser Devs Defend Adult Games Against Payment Processor Crackdown The team behind the Hellraiser video game adaptation is pushing back against…

Sep 3, 2026
Industry

Resident Evil 2 Director Says Capcom Is Making Current Resident Evil Games Too Damn Scary

# Resident Evil 2 Director Criticizes Capcom's Current Approach to Horror Shinji Mikami, the legendary director behind Resident Evil 2, has openly cr…

Sep 3, 2026
Industry

"The internet we once loved is gone": SteamDB founders announce the community-run database has been acquired by Nexus Mods' owners

SteamDB, the independent community database that has tracked Steam game metadata for 13 years, has been acquired by Chosen, the company behind Nexus M…

Sep 2, 2026
Industry

No Rest For The Wicked Director Calls Video Game Critics Who Have Different Opinions ‘Untrustworthy’

Moon Studios director Thomas Brush has escalated the studio's contentious relationship with gaming media by launching a personal review aggregation si…

Sep 2, 2026
Industry

Harvey Smith Explains What Most Games Are Missing And Why He’s Still Making Them: ‘It’s An Act Of Rebellion To Try To Do Something Hopeful In Times Like This’

# Harvey Smith's Vision for Hope in Game Design: Why He's Building Black Pony Immersive Harvey Smith, the veteran designer behind the Dishonored fran…

Sep 2, 2026
Industry

Cyberpunk 2077 launched when it did because its devs wanted it "out the door" says CD Projekt Red CEO, but I wonder if he forgot about that reported mandatory crunch

CD Projekt Red's CEO has offered a new explanation for Cyberpunk 2077's catastrophic December 2020 launch, claiming the studio simply wanted the game …

Sep 2, 2026
Industry

Star Wars: Zero Company devs left without pay, report claims, with "most" staff furloughed prior to launch

Bit Reactor furloughed the majority of its workforce before launching Star Wars Zero Company last week, leaving developers unpaid and without clear em…

Sep 2, 2026
Industry

Emotional Fans Say Goodbye to Tokyo’s Life-Sized Gundam: ‘Thank You For Your Service!’

# Tokyo's Iconic Life-Sized Gundam Statue Closes After 9-Year Run, Emotional Fans Pay Tribute Tokyo's Odaiba district is saying goodbye to one of gam…

Sep 2, 2026
Industry

Life is Strange developer Don't Nod look primed for layoffs, as the studio announces a "transformation initiative"

Don't Nod Entertainment, the studio behind Life is Strange, faces significant restructuring as the French developer announced a "transformation initia…

Sep 1, 2026
Industry

All the RPS Supporter rewards for August 2026: fatty felines, GTA 6 pondering, and a heap of barely washed radishes

Rock Paper Shotgun has unveiled its August 2026 Supporter rewards lineup, mixing whimsical content with substantive gaming coverage for its subscripti…

Sep 1, 2026
Industry

Studio Behind The Best-Reviewed Star Wars Game In 22 Years Furloughed Up To 80 Percent Of Its Staff

Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, has conducted massive layoffs affecting up to 80 percent of its workforce following…

Sep 1, 2026
Industry

Every Valve Game Discovery So Far In The Colossal Steam Leak

The massive 13TB Steam infrastructure leak that surfaced 48 hours ago has exposed a significant cache of unreleased Valve projects, reigniting specula…

Sep 1, 2026
Industry

Sony Argues No One’s Dumb Enough To Think They Actually Own A Digital Game

Sony's legal team delivered a blunt argument in court this week: players understand they don't actually own digital games, so the company shouldn't ne…

Sep 1, 2026
Industry

Square Enix’s SaGa Saga Celebrates Saga in Tourism Initiative

Square Enix is weaponizing its SaGa franchise for tourism, launching a collaboration that ties the classic JRPG series directly to real-world destinat…

Aug 31, 2026
Industry

‘LARPtubers’ Recreating Bygone YouTubers Dredge Up Conflicting Memories For Original Creators

# YouTubers' Nostalgia Performances Spark Backlash From Original Creators A emerging trend of content creators impersonating and recreating early You…

Aug 31, 2026
Industry

Fable Dev Happy About Delay To 2027 To Avoid “Chaotic Window,” And We All Know That Means GTA 6

Playground Games pushes Fable into 2027, and the studio's candid reasoning reveals an industry truth: launching near Grand Theft Auto 6 is commercial …

Aug 31, 2026
Industry

Colossal 13TB Steam Leak Reportedly Includes Beta Builds Of Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, And Much More

A massive data breach has exposed internal Valve server files containing unreleased beta builds and development versions of major Source engine games,…

Aug 30, 2026
Industry

Star Wars Effects Artist Phil Tippett Shutters Studio

Phil Tippett's legendary visual effects studio closed its doors this week after four decades of industry-defining work. The shutdown follows a Chapter…

Aug 30, 2026
Industry

CD Projekt Red Offers To Help Gamescom Theft Victim As Industry Shows Its Support

# CD Projekt Red Steps In After Gamescom Theft, Industry Rallies Behind Developer Gamescom 2025 turned sour for at least one independent developer wh…

Aug 30, 2026
Industry

Mike Judge Is Taking Beavis And Butt-Head Back From Paramount

Mike Judge is reclaiming Beavis and Butt-Head from Paramount, marking a significant shift in the ownership of one of animation's most enduring franchi…

Aug 30, 2026
Industry

James Pond Co-Creator Calls AI-Rife Remake Disrespectful And Soulless

Chris Sorrell, the co-creator of the 1989 platformer James Pond, has leveled sharp criticism at a remake leveraging AI-generated content, calling the …

Aug 30, 2026
Industry

Gamescom Says Stolen Laptops ‘Make Us Very Sad,’ But Says Exhibitors Have To Protect Against Theft: ‘This Is Noted In The Terms And Conditions’

Gamescom organizers issued a defensive response this week after multiple exhibitors reported stolen laptops and equipment from their booths during the…

Aug 30, 2026
Industry

The Weeknd’s Music Gets A Final Fantasy Makeover By Legendary Artist Yoshitaka Amano

The Weeknd's latest collaboration pushes into unexpected territory. Legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano reimagined the Canadian pop star's …

Aug 29, 2026
Industry

Rockstar Is Using One Of Its Old Tricks To Create GTA 6 TV Shows

Rockstar Games is leveraging its existing asset library to accelerate production on television shows tied to Grand Theft Auto VI. The studio filmed a …

Aug 29, 2026
Industry

"Hopefully a meteor will strike the earth soon": Game devs talk genAI witchhunts and the importance of honing your visual literacy

Game developers are increasingly caught in a crossfire of unfounded accusations about generative AI use, even when studios actively oppose the technol…

Aug 28, 2026
Industry

Activision Just Ambushed A Notorious Call Of Duty Cheat Maker With Legal Papers At His House And Filmed The Whole Thing

Activision took enforcement against cheat developers to an extreme level this week, serving legal papers directly to a notorious Call of Duty cheat ma…

Aug 28, 2026
Industry

Discord have yet to receive a GTA 6 leak subpoena from Take-Two, says marketing director, but they will "evaluate the validity and scope" if they do

Take-Two Interactive, parent company of Rockstar Games, filed subpoenas last week targeting Microsoft and Discord to identify the individuals behind t…

Aug 27, 2026
Industry

Deus Ex director and immersive sim legend Warren Spector is retiring, despite having "three games in particular" he'd still like to make

Warren Spector, the legendary designer behind Deus Ex and a defining figure in immersive simulation design, has announced his retirement from game dev…

Aug 27, 2026
Industry

Rockstar finally break silence on "heartbreaking" GTA 6 leak, say it's "unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers"

Rockstar Games has finally addressed the massive GTA 6 leak that flooded the internet months ago, describing the situation as "heartbreaking" and expr…

Aug 26, 2026
Industry

D&D, LEGO, and mounting ennui: Our biggest games from Gamescom 2026

Gamescom 2026 opened with the usual spectacle. Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live delivered trailers and announcements across multiple platforms. Roc…

Aug 26, 2026
Industry

The Hunt For The GTA 6 Leaker Seems To Be Getting Closer To Its Target

Rockstar Games faces mounting pressure to identify the source of the massive Grand Theft Auto 6 leak that exposed gameplay footage, character details,…

Aug 26, 2026
Industry

France Celebrates $7 Billion Dragon Ball Z Theme Park Paid For By Saudi Arabia: ‘You Know My Passion For Manga’

France announced a partnership with Saudi Arabia to develop a $7 billion Dragon Ball Z theme park, marking one of the largest entertainment investment…

Aug 25, 2026
Industry

I’m An Elden Ring Sicko, But 10 Hours With The Duskbloods Has Me Worried FromSoftware’s Next Game Isn’t For Me

# Elden Ring's PvP Problem Exposes A Harder Truth About FromSoftware's Design Philosophy A veteran Elden Ring player has hit a wall that reveals a mo…

Aug 24, 2026
Industry

Latest alleged GTA 6 leak "risks tarnishing the reputation of our communities", say Stop Killing Games after hackers claim pro-consumer motivations

Hackers claiming pro-consumer motivations have leaked alleged GTA 6 footage, triggering rapid DMCA takedowns across the internet. The group behind the…

Aug 24, 2026
Industry

Rather than calling for GTA 6 boycott, fired Rockstar workers urge players to support them in their legal battle against the studio by buying union merch

Fired Rockstar Games employees locked in a legal dispute with the studio over their terminations last year have rejected calls for a GTA 6 boycott. In…

Aug 24, 2026
Industry

Streamer Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Twitch Over AI Training

A Connecticut-based streamer has filed a class action lawsuit against Twitch, claiming the platform violated creators' rights by using their content t…

Aug 24, 2026
Industry

Alleged ‘Peter Pan Stalker’ Latest Stress Test On Content Creation And Boundaries

# The Peter Pan Stalker Story Exposes the Dark Side of Fan Culture and Content Moderation A Disneyland visitor identified as Toni Kulusich faced seri…

Aug 24, 2026
Industry

The Sunday Papers

# The Sunday Papers: A Weekly Roundup of Gaming Criticism and Commentary Rock Paper Shotgun's Sunday Papers column serves as the publication's weekly…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

EA's Saudi takeover wouldn't have happened if the company's culture "had any semblance of a moral backbone", say staff fearing layoffs and ownership meddling

Electronic Arts' $55 billion acquisition by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Jared Kushner's investment group marks a seismic shift in gaming…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

"Without us, Bethesda games aren’t Bethesda games": Rallies against Microsoft layoffs at Elder Scrolls studio continue, with unionised devs' morale "on the upswing"

Microsoft's mass layoffs across its gaming division continue to draw organized resistance from unionized developers at Bethesda Game Studios. On Augus…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

Viral Chinese Cow Cartoon Becomes One Of The Most Profitable Movies Ever Made

# Viral Chinese Cow Cartoon Becomes One Of The Most Profitable Movies Ever Made The Chinese animated feature "Niu Lai" has achieved something remarka…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

GTA 6 Leaker Takes Fans To A Strip Club In Latest Gameplay Dump As Netflix Tries To Act Normal About The Whole Thing [Update]

Rockstar Games faces an escalating leak crisis as new Grand Theft Auto 6 gameplay footage continues surfacing online, this time showcasing previously …

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

A playable build of GTA 6 appears to have leaked, as Rockstar and Take-Two scramble to take down videos

A hacker group known for cryptocurrency schemes has obtained and distributed a playable build of Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar Games and Take-Two Inter…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

New Studio From Arkane Austin Devs Promises They Won’t Commit Another Redfall

Black Pony Immersive, a new studio founded by veteran developers from Arkane Austin, has publicly committed to avoiding the live service trap that der…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

PlayStation Chooses The Worst Possible Time To Blast Players With Reminders That They Don’t Own Their Digital Games

Sony's PlayStation Network division delivered a stunningly tone-deaf move this week by sending terms of service reminders to PSN users just as the gam…

Aug 23, 2026
Industry

"Buying any of our games helps support the studio": Psychonauts studio Double Fine are the latest former Xbox-owned studio to get the rights to their games back

Double Fine Productions has reclaimed the publishing rights to its entire catalog, marking another significant victory for a former Xbox-owned studio …

Aug 22, 2026
Industry

“We’re going to take things slow": South of Midnight devs now own the rights to all their games again, after quitting Xbox, and are working on a new game

Compulsion Games has completed a management buyout that returns full ownership of the studio to its founders, ending the relationship with Microsoft a…

Aug 22, 2026
Industry

SNK Reports Financial Woes As Tekken Director Kohei Ikeda Comes Aboard

SNK, the legendary fighting game house behind Metal Slug and The King of Fighters, faces mounting financial pressure even as it recruits top talent fr…

Aug 22, 2026
Industry

Mortal Shell 2's first balance patch makes its in-game economy a lot more lenient and nerfs some enemies and bosses for a smoother ride

Mortal Shell 2 launched today, and Cold Symmetry wasted no time fine-tuning the experience. The studio released its first balance patch immediately, a…

Aug 21, 2026
Industry

"Do questions like that create a self-fulfilling prophecy?”: Dishonored director Harvey Smith on the fear of asking if immersive sims are dead

Arkane Studios director Harvey Smith pushes back against the industry narrative that immersive sims are dead, arguing that constant questioning about …

Aug 21, 2026
Industry

Xbox And EA Aren’t Sharing U.S. Digital Sales Data With Circana Anymore, And That’s Worrisome

Xbox and EA have stopped sharing U.S. digital sales data with Circana, the market research firm that tracks video game revenue across platforms. This …

Aug 21, 2026
Industry

Zelda: Ocarina of Time Mod Remakes the N64 Classic in True 3D

A fan modder has transformed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time by converting its pre-rendered 2D backgrounds into full 3D environments for the orig…

Aug 21, 2026
Industry

Witcher 3 Dev Explains How Ultra Realistic NPCs Created Weird Problems: ‘Women Were Just Dropping Their Babies Left And Right’

CD Projekt Red's pursuit of ultra-realistic NPC behavior in The Witcher 3 backfired during development. The studio implemented systems where character…

Aug 20, 2026
Industry

No More PlayStation Discs Means No More Disc Butts

PlayStation's shift toward all-digital distribution marks the end of an era for disc-based gaming. Sony's phasing out of physical media across its con…

Aug 20, 2026
Industry

The Original Xbox Is Back, And This Time You Have To Build It Yourself

Mattel has opened preorders for a buildable 1:1 replica of the original Xbox, priced at $330. The construction set contains 3,509 pieces and assembles…

Aug 20, 2026
Industry

EA employees brace for the worst under Saudi ownership: 'Hard to feel good about being bought out by a regime that's very much at odds with progressive society'

Electronic Arts faces internal turmoil as Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) moves forward with acquiring the publisher. Staff members expres…

Aug 20, 2026
Industry

The Marvel Movie That Killed Sony's Spider-Man Universe Is Coming to Disney Plus

Sony's Spider-Man Universe is effectively dead. Kraven the Hunter, the 2024 film that accelerated the shutdown, arrives on Disney Plus this week, mark…

Aug 20, 2026
Industry

Entropy, a deliciously miserable Final Fantasy-esque RPG where your party members can permanently die, is now out in early access

Entropy, the turn-based RPG from Lovely Hellplace, enters early access on PC today with a brutal permadeath system that makes every party member expen…

Aug 19, 2026
Industry

'Live-service is a red flag for us': Why one publisher is embracing an older kind of multiplayer hit: peer-to-peer, server browsers, and organic community

Tripwire Interactive is rejecting the live-service model in favor of a simpler, community-driven approach to multiplayer games. The studio views peer-…

Aug 19, 2026
Industry

Even though turn-based and real time RPGs 'have their loud, vocal advocates,' Fallout developer Tim Cain thinks they both have a place in the genre

Tim Cain, the legendary designer behind Fallout and Arcanum of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, has weighed in on the ongoing debate between turn-based …

Aug 18, 2026
Industry

Insomniac Staff Blame Social Media Feedback Loops For Overnight Wolverine Hate

Insomniac Games' marketing director pushed back against the wave of criticism that flooded social media following the reveal of Wolverine, the studio'…

Aug 17, 2026
Industry

Twitch Is Now Using Channels To Train Generative AI, And The Company Knows It’s Unpopular

Twitch has begun using channel content to train Amazon's generative AI systems by default, requiring streamers and viewers to actively opt out. The po…

Aug 17, 2026
Industry

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy’s Developer Walked an Unexpected Path to Success

Asobo Studio's journey to critical acclaim reads like an industry outlier story. The French developer built its reputation through licensed game work …

Aug 17, 2026
Industry

The next big videogame TV adaptation is a Kingdom Hearts anime

Disney confirmed a Kingdom Hearts anime adaptation in development, expanding the franchise's presence beyond gaming into animation. Square Enix and Di…

Aug 16, 2026
Industry

"For a few weeks, women were just dropping their babies": The Witcher 3 lead on designing NPCs that react appropriately

CD Projekt Red's quest designer Philipp Weber has revealed the unexpected challenges the studio faced when programming NPCs in The Witcher 3 to behave…

Aug 16, 2026
Industry

Saber CEO Apologizes To Lead Writer Replaced With ChatGPT After Weeklong Crashout

# Saber CEO Apologizes After Replacing Lead Writer With ChatGPT Matt Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, apologized privately to the lead writer of Ride…

Aug 16, 2026
Industry

Rare Two-Player Version Of First Arcade Game Up For Auction From Shiny Entertainment Founder

David Perry, the founder of defunct developer Shiny Entertainment, is auctioning off a rare two-player arcade cabinet of Computer Space, one of gaming…

Aug 16, 2026
Industry

Here’s The Argument For Why A Disc-Free PlayStation Could Actually Drive Game Prices Down

# A Disc-Free PlayStation Could Reshape Game Pricing, But Evidence Remains Thin Jacob Navok, a noted industry analyst, argues that removing physical …

Aug 16, 2026
Industry

Former Square Enix Exec Believes Disc-Free PlayStation Will Drive Game Prices Down

Jacob Navok, former executive at Square Enix, claims that Sony's transition to a disc-free PlayStation 5 will force publishers into perpetual price co…

Aug 15, 2026
Industry

Rideshare Stimulator Outlines AI Usage After Contentious Exchange With Ex-Writer

Saber Interactive faces transparency scrutiny after former lead writer Stella Sacco accused the studio of replacing her with ChatGPT during developmen…

Aug 15, 2026
Industry

Disney Has 9 Gaming Franchises That Have Generated $1 Billion+ At Retail, Including Kingdom Hearts

Disney has nine gaming franchises that each generated over $1 billion in retail sales, the company revealed ahead of D23. Sean Shoptaw, Disney's gamin…

Aug 15, 2026
Industry

Have your say on the RPS Supporter program with this short, yet deeply opinion-absorbent survey

Rock Paper Shotgun, the long-running PC gaming publication, is soliciting reader feedback on its Supporter membership program through a new survey. Th…

Aug 14, 2026

Get Daily GameWireDaily

The best stories, delivered to your inbox each morning.