Late last year, Netflix struck a deal with Warner Bros. to purchase most of the company's assets for $82 billion. Now, Netflix has chosen to abandon that deal rather than match the higher offer made by Paramount. That paves the way for Paramount to become the new owner of Warner Bros. Discovery, pending stockholder and regulatory approval.

For the better part of two months, Warner Bros. refused to engage with Paramount, which briefly led the latter to file a lawsuit against the rival studio. Earlier this month, Netflix granted Warner Bros. a one-week period to reopen negotiations with Paramount. The Warner Bros. board subsequently decided that Paramount's higher offer was the better deal, and Netflix declined to keep bidding.

"We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.' iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the US," said Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter). But this transaction was always a 'nice to have' at the right price, not a 'must have' at any price."

During your time in a raid or while browsing your vault in Marathon, you'll come across dozens of different loot items. Trying to sort out what certain loot does can be a nightmare on Tau Ceti, especially when you're in the heat of the moment with enemies breathing down your neck. However, one of the loot items that is tripping more players up than anything is called "Enhanced Salvage."

Enhanced Salvage is a classifier that is applied to numerous different pieces of loot in Marathon. You can see whether an item is Enhanced Salvage while looting it or in your vault between raids. Marathon doesn't do a great job of explaining what to do with this type of loot, though, so allow us to walk you through it.

Enhanced Salvage is usually a piece of green or blue rarity loot, and the loot that it can be ranges from a wide variety of technological items. For example, we have a Fractical Circuit in our inventory in Marathon, and you can see the "Enhanced Salvage" tag at the top of the loot box in the vault.

Last year, a new incarnation of RedOctane Games was founded by veteran developers behind Guitar Hero and DJ Hero. RedOctane Games also disclosed that it's working on a new rhythm game, and that title has now been revealed as Stage Tour. The first teaser trailer for Stage Tour should bring back some fond memories for players who grew up during the Guitar Hero generation.

RedOctane has shared some additional info and noted that Stage Tour will be a digital-only release on consoles and PC. Unfortunately, an actual physical release of the game itself may not be in the cards. There will be a branded microphone, drum controllers, and a new guitar controller modeled after Gibson's Kramer. The Guitar Hero influence is clearly felt in the throwback visuals of the trailer, but players will be able to use standard game controllers or keyboards to play if they don't want to buy any of the special controllers. Players can either select their preferred instrument or step up and sing along with the backing track.

Unlike Guitar Hero, Stage Tour is being planned as a platform, rather than a series of sequels and standalone games. "Stage Tour is not built to be replaced," writes RedOctane. "It is built to evolve. The plan is regular special events that are more than just music drops. Real moments. Real themes. Real updates. We want to evolve the game alongside the fans who support it. Improve it. Expand it. Keep it alive."

Given how often I've had to pick up shop and move to another social media site, you'd think I'd be used to online spaces sunsetting or changing so completely that they're unrecognizable. But here I am, anxiously waiting to see how Discord's upcoming worldwide implementation of age-verification might affect the platform and whether or not that means having to move again. It's entirely possible that nothing changes. But even if it doesn't, the loss (or at least the splintering) of Discord would be terrible, as it's the primary means by which I and so many others in the tabletop space stay glued to one another. If anything, the situation has been a stark reminder that you shouldn't be entirely relying on Discord for your main hobby.

If you haven't been keeping up with it, Discord's decision to roll out new age-verification policies worldwide was not well-received. Discord attempted to downplay concerns, but a disclaimer on the FAQ about Discord's age-verification policies pointed to the app testing a relationship with Persona--that disclaimer was quickly and quietly deleted, though an archived version still exists. Persona's shady associations with ICE and other deportation efforts in the United States further raised people's eyebrows.

In a statement to Kotaku, Discord said that its work with Persona was part of a "limited test" that is no longer happening. But for some users, even a brief association with Persona was enough for them to start looking elsewhere. Discord's delay of its age-verification policy, detailed in a blog post on February 24, doesn't seem to have slowed down people wanting to find a Discord alternative.

After an initial disclosure from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, two prominent leakers have backed his account that Sony could be shifting away from releasing single-player titles on PC. According to Schreier, that may mean that upcoming games like Marvel's Wolverine or any future God of War sequels may not come to PC at all.

SneakersSO and NatetheHate have both offered their corroboration to comments Schreier made on the Triple Click Podcast. Schreier stressed his belief that Sony's live-service games like Helldivers 2 would continue to be on PC, largely because those titles are so dependent upon building a large player base. But he suggested that Sony may be "backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff like traditional single-player stuff on PC."

Schreier added that he doesn't think Sony reverting to console-only for single-player games would be a big deal because the titles weren't as successful on PC as they were on PS5. He also noted that Sony hasn't been launching its AAA titles day-and-date with PC, and wouldn't suffer many consequences from pulling back on its PC releases.

When He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Dragon Pearl of Destruction was revealed at Gamescom 2025, it marked the beginning of Mattel's celebration of all things Masters of the Universe for 2026. Players can control He-Man, Teela, and Man-At-Arms across side-scrolling stages rendered in bright, 16-bit-style pixel art--and for the first time, fans can take up the Sword of Protection and play as She-Ra.

Being in the shadow of He-Man has led She-Ra (who celebrated her 40th anniversary last year) to have sparse appearances outside of mobile releases like Tappers of Grayskull. Her inclusion broadens the playable roster and feels like a natural fit for a co-op brawler, and even includes her sword's ability to become other weapons and items.

Limited Run Games released new footage Thursday, showing off more pulls from deeper parts of the lore, including appearances by the elder dragon Granamyr and wicked sorceress Shokoti, suggesting the developers at Bitmap Bureau are going beyond the most obvious cartoon beats.

Resident Evil Requiem is finally here, making it a great time to brush up on all that's happened across the Resident Evil series' 30-year history. This is especially true as Resident Evil Requiem looks to combine a bunch of different story threads across both mainline and spin-off titles in the series. For those that are jumping into the franchise for the first time, or for those who need a refresher on key plot details, here’s everything you need to know before playing Resident Evil Requiem. Oh, and as you might have suspected, plenty of spoilers lie ahead, so read at your own discretion.

In the mid- 1960s, a group of scientists led by Oswell E. Spencer discovered the Progenitor virus, which they believed could be used to essentially speed up humanity’s evolution. In order to fund their research, they agreed to develop new strains of the virus for the U.S. military to be used as bioweapons, as one of the biggest hurdles in utilizing the Progenitor virus to evolve humanity was that it had a high mortality rate. Thus, the Umbrella Corporation was born, as well as a litany of new strains of Progenitor. One of these strains, of course, was the notorious T-Virus, or Tyrant virus.

In the late '90s, the Umbrella Corporation's less-than-ethical work finally falls under scrutiny. Resident Evil (1996) kicks off the saga and details an investigation into an Umbrella Corporation research station on the outskirts of Raccoon City, the Spencer Mansion. This investigation is helmed by Raccoon City’s Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or STARS, and led by Albert Wesker, who turns out to be a mole planted within the group by Umbrella. Along with Wesker, Resident Evil introduces two other key players in the RE series: protagonists Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. After exploring the mansion's various chambers, Chris and Jill discover Umbrella's dirty secrets and are forced to confront Wesker. Although Chris, Jill, and a handful of other STARS members manage to escape, the end of that game sees the T-Virus break containment and infect the city’s water supply.

To celebrate ten years of Stardew Valley, creator Eric Barone (ConcernedApe) has announced two new marriage candidates and while one of them makes perfect sense ... Well, we're a bit confused about the other.

As revealed during ConcernedApe's stream, Stardew Valley's 1.7 update will allow players to romance both Sandy and Clint. And to be clear, I get Sandy. Sandy is great! Clint, on the other hand, is a choice.

As the local blacksmith, Clint is perhaps one of the NPCs you interact with the most in Stardew Valley. As such, some Stardew fans have been eager to learn more about him and perhaps even save him from his chronically single status, which they now can do. If they want to. For some reason.

A new PC game calls on players to work together to hide a body after accidentally committing murder. The game is called We Are So Cooked, and it's not to be confused with the upcoming cooking game We Are So Cooked.

We Are So Cooked (the hide-the-body game) has 1-4 players trying to get rid of the evidence in a co-op physics-based stealth experience. The goal is to get the body to the exit, but it's not easy.

The game's description mentions that dragging a body alone is slow and not ideal for sneakiness, as dragging a corpse like this leaves a blood trail. When players work together, they can each grab a limb to move faster and more efficiently. But the challenge is that players must coordinate, otherwise the corpse might fall. The physics element of the game comes from how the stiff can get snagged on doorframes or bash into vases, which is no good when you're trying to hide a dead body.

Playground Productions and Mega Cat Studios have announced that the new Backyard Baseball game they've been teasing will launch in July.

A trailer for the game debuted during IGN Fan Fest on Thursday. It's mostly animated, with many characters from the original gathering for a new game of baseball. At the end of the trailer, we get to see Pablo Sanchez in 3D, revealing the general art direction of the new game.

Simply titled Backyard Baseball, its Steam page features screenshots of gameplay that look faithful to its predecessors. The Steam description also reveals that it will feature four gameplay modes, 11 remastered stadiums, 24 teams, and 30 characters to choose from. It also confirms Backyard Baseball will feature no microtransactions.

Stardew Valley is celebrating its 10-year anniversary today, February 26, 2025. Below, we examine how it has remained the leader in a genre it helped to revive.

A decade ago this month, indie developer Eric Barone, better known as ConcernedApe, released his debut game: a farm and life sim called Stardew Valley. Heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series, Stardew Valley gives players an idyllic sandbox to grow crops, fight slimes, and interact with a couple dozen NPCs. The game was an immediate hit, selling 1 million copies after only a couple months, and it inspired a wave of cozy farming sims that have dominated the indie gaming scene since. Now, 10 years later, the undisputed best game in this massive genre is … Stardew Valley.

PUBG sparked the battle-royale craze before the throne was firmly usurped by Fortnite. Lethal Company innovated with its extraction-based gameplay, only to be improved upon by REPO and Arc Raiders. Hand of Fate gave way to Slay the Spire and Balatro. Yet after a decade of worthy title challengers, from Coral Island to Sun Haven, Stardew has retained its farming-sim superiority, topping both the critics' lists and sales charts, and shipping a bounty of no less than 50 million copies. It has spawned cookbooks, strategy guides, a board game, and two concert tours. It’s playable on everything from Linux to Teslas. Its appeal stretches beyond the bounds of regular gamers: I know plenty of people whose only game in their Steam account is Stardew. It’s a remarkable tale of resilience, but what makes Stardew so special?

The official release of Marathon is still a week away, but the open-beta Server Slam event is getting underway today. And if the early response on Steam is any indication, Bungie's new extraction shooter won't go the way of Concord.

Marathon is currently No. 3 on Steam's list of the best-selling games. Only Resident Evil Requiem and Counter-Strike 2 are ahead of it at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Requiem is out tomorrow, so its success isn't unexpected. Considering the competition, Marathon is doing very well so far, and it's two slots ahead of Arc Raiders, which is currently at No. 5.

The Server Slam event is designed to see how well Marathon's infrastructure can handle the influx of players ahead of the game's launch. The Server Slam hasn't been live for long, but it's already over 100k concurrent players, making it bigger than all but seven games at the time of this writing.

Patricia Summersett, who is best known in gaming for voicing Princess Zelda in a variety of The Legend of Zelda games, has clarified her comments from 2023 about Zelda and Link being "in a relationship."

She told IGN that she has "all sorts of personal theories" about the nature of the relationship between Zelda and Link, but she believes there is "something beautiful" about things being left ambiguous.

"If there are romantic undertones, it's left in an unrequited state. There's obviously a deep friendship and a protectorship between the two of them. It's a gorgeous relationship and it continues to evolve and be left open in so many iterations of this," she explained.

GTA 6's delay to November 2026 helps give other games space to breathe, and that includes the upcoming Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

Jonathan Smith, the head of production at developer TT Games, told IGN that his studio was looking at a Spring 2026 release window for Legacy of the Dark Knight. He now feels "really glad" about the game's May 29, 2026 release date, in part because it's far enough away from GTA 6 in November 2026.

"Look, I want to play that game [GTA 6], but we're also really glad to have some space for people to play Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. We're giving you an open city and a fantastic experience for all players. Which I thoroughly recommend," he said.

For the last couple of years, the Epic Games Store has given away free games every week through its PC storefront. With the company having launched its own mobile store, it has also started a second free games program on iOS and Android devices, kicking things off with a curated library of titles and weekly freebies. The app also features mobile versions of Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League Sideswipe.

To access these games you will need to create a free Epic account and install the free Epic Games Store mobile app and log in with your account, but once you do, you can start claiming your free games every Thursday through it. One other thing to note is that Android users can access the app via Android-based emulation devices like Retroid Pocket, as they aren't limited to just smartphone and tablets.

For now, only iOS users in the European Union can install the app, but the app is available worldwide to Android device users and they have a wider selection of games to choose from in comparison. Like its PC counterpart, you'll have one week to grab each game that's offered. Here's a closer look at what you can grab this week, and what the current mobile games library has to offer. You can also explore what the free PC games are this week on the Epic Games Store.

There's a sense of excitement in the air ahead of tomorrow's Pokemon Day livestream, with speculation that the showcase will give us our first look at Pokemon Gen 10. While nothing has been confirmed by Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, or Game Freak, the mood in the room is positive, and people are reading the Sinistea leaves, claiming that all signs point toward a big reveal on February 27. Is there some truth to this, or is it wishful thinking? Let's break it down.

Since 2010, new Pokemon generations have debuted every three years, but that pattern ended after the release of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in 2022. That wait between new mainline entries has been filled by a variety of Pokemon projects, including expansions for Scarlet and Violet, remakes of the Diamond and Pearl games, multiple mobile titles, and last year's Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which shifted the series away from turn-based battling and toward real-time action. To put it simply, everyone involved in Pokemon has been busy, but there might be a very good reason why it has taken a little longer for a new Pokemon generation to debut.

Okay, you're probably wondering if Zeno is Wesker, right? This antagonist makes his debut in Resident Evil Requiem and his resemblance to the ol' "big bad" of the series is quite uncanny. We're here you answer your questions and posit some of our own theories. Sit back, relax, and be ready for a few spoilers, too.

• Resident Evil Requiem: Is Zeno a Wannabe Wesker?

Zeno in Resident Evil Requiem has a physical appearance that greatly resembles Albert Wesker's, from the slicked back hairstyle to the cool sunglasses/shades. Although Wesker primarily wore black or dark-colored clothing, Zeno prefers a white three-piece suit underneath his black coat. In spite of this difference, he still has that head-turning drip.

Zeno's abilities are similar to Wesker's as well, given that he can move at blindingly fast speeds, to the point of being able to dodge bullets. Both also prefer using handguns to eliminate their opponents.

Nintendo's discontinuation of the $500 Nintendo Switch 2 bundle with Mario Kart World is akin to a price hike, according to expert video game industry consultant Matthew Ball.

Speaking to The Game Business following the release of his "The State of Video Gaming in 2026" report, the conversation drifted toward the DRAM crisis the video game industry currently faces and all of the price hikes that have been happening as a result. Ball argued that while the base price of Switch 2 hasn't gone up yet, the discontinuation of the Mario Kart World bundle is essentially a price increase for most people.

"Nintendo terminated the Switch 2 bundle with Mario Kart after three to four months," Ball said, "That’s really early. And I suspected it is primarily a DRAM thing. It’s $449 for the Switch 2. It’s $80 for Mario Kart. That’s $530 all in. [Nintendo] sells them for $500 as a combined unit, but if they depreciate that unit so that it’s $450, and if you want Mario Kart, you now have to spend $80."

Mobile gamers already have to put up with numerous ads when trying to play on the go, but they may have to deal with the same issue in the future with console and PC games. Video game analyst Matthew Ball has published his State of Video Gaming report, and one of his predictions is that ads will be coming to pause and loading screens for players at home, whether they like it or not.

While speaking with The Game Business, Ball noted that advertisements are already littered in mobile phone apps and streaming services like Hulu, Peacock, and Netflix. He believes that the major video game publishers will soon adopt the same strategy in part because an additional revenue stream may help keep prices down.

"The more important thing is the economic reality," said Ball. "If we say that audiences in the eight major markets [US, UK, Germany, Japan, Korea, Canada, Italy, and France], which are 60% of all PC console sales globally, are not spending more, the costs are going up. We don't want layoffs, we don't want fewer games, we don't just want the same games … We don't want price increases. The money needs to come in one way or another."

If you had said a year ago that World of Warcraft's Midnight expansion would be its most transformative since 2010's Cataclysm, few would have taken you seriously. Nevertheless, there is an argument to be made that Midnight has already brought more foundational changes to Blizzard's 22-year-old MMORPG in the last few months than in the entire six-year period between Legion and Dragonflight. And it's not even fully out yet.

It's a more subtle transformation to be sure. Whereas Cataclysm overhauled all of Azeroth in an impossible-not-to-notice planet-wide catastrophe, Midnight is instead overhauling the game's underlying fundamentals in a number of ways that may not be all that visible to those on the outside.

Many of those major changes are live right now, ahead of the expansion proper. Housing, a feature players have been daydreaming about for almost as long as WoW has existed, went live in December for those who preordered Midnight. Housing is one of the biggest additions to WoW in its history, a new pillar of the game going forward that will grow and expand over time. But that's just part of WoW's Midnight metamorphosis.