After years of development and perhaps more hype than for any game, GTA 6 is set for release on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Predicting that it will be an enormous success commercially is perhaps one of the safest bets anyone could make.

But just how big will the launch be? And what records could GTA 6 beat if it delivers?

Lucia and Jason in GTA 6. The records

The last GTA game, 2013's GTA 5, was a huge hit right out of the gate. It brought in $800 million in revenue over its first 24 hours and $1 billion in its first three days. Even a decade later, the game remains a sales juggernaut, eclipsing 230 million copies sold and counting.

Rockstar's latest game, 2018's Red Dead Redemption II, launched with $725 million in revenue over its opening weekend. It's gone on to sell more than 87 million copies, making it one of the top five best-selling games ever.

Outside of Rockstar, Bethesda's 2015 RPG Fallout 4 had a gigantic launch, shipping 12 million copies for launch day alone, generating sales in excess of $750 million.

So to sum up, here are the records that GTA 6 is expected to surpass:

• GTA 5: $800 million in 24 hours and $1 billion in three days
• Red Dead Redemption II: $725 million over its first weekend
• Fallout 4: $750 million on launch day

GTA 6 has enormous shoes to fill to match and surpass Rockstar's previous games and Fallout 4. But if Sensor Tower's data that projects 25 million preorders by launch is correct--or even close--then it should have no problem beating GTA 5's initial sales.

One thing working in GTA 6's favor when it comes to comparisons to past games is that GTA 6 has a higher selling price. The base game goes for $80, compared to the $60 that GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption II launched at years ago.

Of course, $60 in 2013 dollars equates to about $85 today when factoring in inflation. But even inflation-adjusted figures would likely show that GTA 6 has a bigger launch, if it becomes the hit everyone expects it to. And when Take-Two inevitably shares GTA 6 sales data, you can bet the company will present the data is the absolute best possible light, whatever language and specifics it takes to get there.

The numbers so far

Officially, neither Rockstar nor parent company Take-Two have shared any numbers at all about preorders or sales projections since preorders opened in June. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said it would not be prudent to disclose preorder figures because they could be misleading. His argument was that, technically speaking, GTA 6 has not sold a single copy yet, as, in theory, every preordered copy of the game could be returned. That's silly, of course; it sounds more like Zelnick is staying true to his mantra of never declaring success before it occurs.

Whatever the case, Zelnick said GTA 6 preorders "vastly" surpassed international expectations, but he did not say what those expectations were or "whether they mean anything" anyway.

Zelnick said sharing real, raw data for GTA 6 preorders could mislead investors, so Take-Two is not going to do so.

“I’ve reminded people that we simply don’t know the demand curve because it’s just never happened before,” Zelnick said. “Given that, we think the raw numbers could potentially be misleading in a direction we wouldn’t feel good about.”

Speaking during Take-Two’s latest earnings call, Zelnick said of GTA 6’s preorder numbers, “No one’s ever seen anything like this before at Take-Two, or in the industry.” He added: “To be clear, we haven’t sold one unit yet. You can cancel a preorder.”

$2 billion by launch?

The research firm Sensor Tower has a "GTA 6 Sales Tracker" site that shows estimates for GTA 6 preorders, displaying 6.08 million through October 13, and that apparently includes any returned/refunded copies. The group estimates that this works out to $594 million in revenue so far, with a split of 74% for PlayStation 5 and 26% for Xbox Series X|S.

Sensor Tower's Karl Kontus said in an interview that reorders for GTA 6 could be in the area of 25 million when the game releases, which would amount to “unprecedented preorder performance.”

At 25 million, that would work out to about $2 billion in revenue, which would cover the game's development budget and the majority of the marketing spend, he said. Kontus went on to say that he expects the majority of GTA 6 preorders to come in the last week or so before launch, as the hype peaks. Currently, the preorder split is skewing toward the $100 edition, Sensor Tower said, but that makes sense since people who preorder early are probably more on the enthusiast side. At launch, Sensor Tower said it expects about a 50/50 split between the $80 and $100 editions for preorder numbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klc0fQmAL6k

Launch is only the beginning

GTA 6 is being marketed as a single-player experience that will be available on console exclusively. That may be true for now, but everyone expects Rockstar to release the next evolution of GTA Online for GTA 6, and eventually bring the game to PC. A recent report said the PC edition could launch sooner than expected.

The investment company Jeffries released a note recently that says Take-Two's stock is currently trading at a discount at about $200/share today, October 16, and could jump to $300/share. The company is bullish on Take-Two not just because GTA 6 is expected to be a huge hit, but also because the next version of GTA Online will represent another revenue vector, and the expected PC edition will create another selling cycle.

A scene from GTA 6.

These are not wild predictions. After all, GTA Online, to this day, continues to bring in steady revenue for Take-Two through its various microtransactions and the GTA+ subscription service. It's only reasonable to assume Rockstar would further flesh out GTA Online for GTA 6 and create even more ways for people to spend time (and money) in the world. As for the PC edition, it makes a lot of sense that it would drive people to pick up the game there if that's their preferred platform, and they could be double-dippers, further enriching Take-Two in the process.

A different console market

GTA 5 launched at the very tail end of the PS3 and Xbox 360 console lifecycles, which created a unique situation that no doubt increased the game's sales potential. Those consoles combined for an install base of more than 150 million units, so Rockstar had an enormous market to sell into. And as stated above, it sold fantastically in this environment.

Rockstar launched the game for those platforms, but then also brought it to PS4 and Xbox One, and then to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in the years that followed, with new improvements along the way. People didn't need to pay again, as free upgrades were offered in some situations, but it can be safely assumed many people double-dipped.

GTA 6 is launching in a very different world for the console market, as the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are today more expensive than ever due to tariffs, the AI-fueled demand for memory and components, the war in Iran, and various other global macroeconomic factors driving up prices. The PS5 has sold more than 95 million units, and it's estimated that Xbox Series X|S is about a third of that, so there are probably more than 120 million combined units out there.

What about the long run?

If GTA 6 does outperform GTA 5 at launch, that doesn't necessarily it will be able to catch up to GTA 5 over the long haul. GTA 5 has sold more than 230 million copies, and it benefitted from the unique setup mentioned above. The game also debuted prior to the live-service black hole that exists today, with games like Fortnite and Roblox sucking up time and money from the market.

While there has been talk of the PS6 and Project Helix family of devices from Xbox, reports have suggested those platforms could be delayed due to the complexities and headaches related to the current environment mentioned above. Whenever the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles are available, though, it's a safe bet we'll see GTA 6 ported to them at some point.

As for the massive market that is the Switch 2, GTA 6 has not been announced for Nintendo's platform. It may not be ruled out, however, as Rockstar reportedly conducted tests for this--but that's all they could be. Nintendo of America's president told fans to ask Rockstar about GTA 6 for Switch 2.

Another issue at play for GTA 6 is that console generations are much longer than before, due to the market factors described above. So while Rockstar was able to migrate GTA 5 to new platforms every couple of years, and reap the benefits, that could be a more challenging proposition going forward.

Despite these possible headwinds, I am betting that the next evolution of GTA Online is a bonafide juggernaut that will outshine the main game in the fullness of time. For one, I expect Rockstar to heavily lean into user-generated content and provide a generally bigger and deeper world for GTA Online that gives players more things to do and more reasons to stay. In turn, this could create more opportunities for Rockstar to monetize and create its own kind of metaverse. Here's to hoping Rockstar divulges the goods on GTA Online 2.0 soon.

GTA 6 is a must-have game for many people, but for those people on the fence who don't already own a console or want a new one, putting up $600 for a base PS5 or $500 for a Series S might lead to serious sticker shock.

Keep checking back with GameSpot for more on GTA 6 in the days and weeks ahead.

World of Warcraft: Forever's beta will be free for a limited time next week, giving players who want to check out the new version of Blizzard's old-school MMORPG but don't want to pay $60 for beta access a chance to see what all the hype is about. 

Blizzard announced a WoW: Forever stress test will begin October 19 at 2 PM PT/ 5 PM ET, with no WoW subscription or beta access needed to play. The goal is to put the game's servers through their paces ahead of launch.

"This is a highly valuable event, since you'll participate in our discovering of issues that would have otherwise happened on launch day," Blizzard said in a post announcing the stress test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvueCoFTkCk&t

To install the test, players will need the Battle.net launcher installed and an account. After selecting WoW: Forever from the list of games, players can select to install the stress test under the "Game Version" drop-down menu.

There is, however, a catch. The stress test will only run for a "few hours," according to Blizzard. Exactly how long the test will last is still unclear. Blizzard said the test window "may end earlier or run later as needed." During the time that the stress test is live, the game's closed beta will be offline, but will return following the conclusion of the test. All characters made during the stress test will be deleted once the test is over.

It's not much, but for those who wanted to at least dabble in WoW: Forever without having to buy the $60 Skyborne Epic Pack for a beta code, the stress test will at least let curious players dip their toes in.

Even the beta itself won't be around for much longer. It will run until October 21, after which it will shut down and characters will be deleted to make way for early name reservations for the full game on October 27. WoW: Forever launches the following week on November 4. 

All indicators so far point towards WoW: Forever's beta being a massive success. Multiple Blizzard developers have commented on how the game's popularity has already broken records, signaling launch could be huge.

The beta hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows, however. Multiple controversies have riled up the WoW community over the course of the beta, revealing WoW: Forever has a streamer problem. Illicit gold-buying scandals in the beta have pushed Blizzard to crack down on the practice harder than ever before (going so far as to add new in-game restrictions and warnings). Meanwhile, one controversial streamer is looking to create the biggest WoW guild ever seen and dominate the game's sole PvP server, much to the annoyance of regular players.

In a recent interview with GameSpot, Blizzard shared more details about WoW: Forever's future, and how it's trying to "push the envelope" on what players expect.

Before caffeinating yourself in the morning, the Fellow Espresso Series 1 machine can actually run 1993's Doom on its small, circular screen. Reddit user FullExtraction showed off the classic FPS, utilizing the brew button to run and steam button to shoot. The scroll wheel on the device turns Doomguy either left or right. 

There's also a wider-angle video of Doom working on the espresso machine, via custom firmware. The game looks pretty smooth in the snippet, showcasing a solid frame rate. Out of the box, that circular screen provides a user interface to choose what drink you're making--such as an americano, cappuccino, or even a straight shot of espresso. It will provide text directions as well as a timer for extraction, too. Or, apparently, you can blast some demons. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/comments/1x79c1q/yes_itrunsdoom_fellowes1/?solution=8902c77b28c56b408902c77b28c56b40&js_challenge=1&jsc_token=2824be10929bdc604753c70a67a1c33158037e61e2abdf23ade535fe55d21d18&jsc_orig_r=&share_id=ui9ELfiTwjxjO8TqG2sE1&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1

This espresso machine joins a long, long list of devices, games, and even potatoes that can run Doom. For instance, we saw how an Anker smart-charging station could play the game without any hardware modifications last year.  Then, there's someone that modified a freakin' pregnancy test and got the FPS working on it. Last but not least, one of the biggest video games in Fortnite can run Doom, too. 

Doom: The Dark Ages is the latest entry in the storied shooter series, arriving in May 2025. Earlier this year, the game got an expansion called Revelations. However, shortly afterward, developer id Software was hit with mass layoffs. That obviously could affect future plans for the studio, which reportedly was working on a co-op Doom experience as well as a Perfect Dark project.

A remaster of 2004's Shrek 2: The Game is on the way, according to an Xbox.com listing that seems to have been published too soon.

The page for the unannounced game--which has since been removed--says the remaster will feature better textures, enhanced UI, and 4K resolution.

Like the original PS2, Xbox, and GameCube game, the remaster lets you play solo or in co-op with up to three friends, locally or online. The playable characters include Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, among others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hICuo4Yfp5E

In addition to the updated graphics, the Shrek 2 remaster includes a new Photo Mode and Cheat Mode. The original was published by Activision, but Aspyr Media is bringing this game to market. That company was also behind the recent The Lord of the Rings re-releases.

A glorious scene from the Shrek 2 remaster.

The Xbox page for the Shrek 2 remaster does not list a release date or a price. The game is expected to come to PlayStation as well, and Switch wouldn't be a surprise either. Aspyr should release it on November 19 to go up against GTA 6 in a heavyweight battle for the ages.

This game may have leaked through Xbox, but the official Shrek account posted a compilation of Shrek video game footage with the caption, "Only real gamers played Shrek," and many think it's connected to the Shrek 2 remaster. The compilation includes the OG Shrek 2 game, along with numerous others, including Shrek Smash N' Crash Racing and Shrek Super Party, the latter of which is one of Obsession star Inde Navarrette's favorite games.

https://twitter.com/Shrek/status/2111140541396369879

It's already been a big year for Shrek in gaming, as Shrek recently came to Ubisoft's fighting game Brawlhalla and FIFA Heroes.

The original Shrek movie returned to theaters earlier this year to mark the franchise’s 25th anniversary. The long-awaited fifth movie, Shrek 5, is set for release in Summer 2027.

The Shrek movie franchise is a juggernaut, with its four main installments collectively grossing $3 billion, and that does not even count the Puss in the Boots spin-offs. In addition to Shrek 5, DreamWorks is producing a Donkey movie for 2028, with Eddie Murphy coming back to voice Donkey once again.

Beyond the movies, there are Shrek-themed attractions at Universal Studios theme parks, including the new kids-themed resort in Texas, while many fantastic Shrek memes have helped to keep Shrek popular and relevant for the past 25 years.

World of Warcraft: Forever's beta is set to end in just a few days on October 21, but that hasn't stopped Blizzard from making some major changes to the game's various racial abilities.

Unlike in the modern version of WoW, where racial abilities are so minor that they mostly feel cosmetic, racial abilities in WoW Classic (and now in Forever) are a big part of why players choose to play a particular race. Some races synergise better with certain classes or playstyles. Others even benefit more from using specific types of weapons. 

Or at least they used to. In Forever's latest beta update, developer Blizzard has overhauled many of the MMO's racial abilities to remove weapon-specific buffs and improve some abilities that were seen as lackluster by the community. 

The removal of weapon-based passives for humans, dwarves, and orcs is a significant change. Orcs used to favor axes, humans swords and maces, and dwarves guns. In WoW Classic, that meant an increased weapon skill when using those weapons, resulting in a better chance to hit and increased damage. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSndSl23bI

That changed for WoW: Forever's beta. Blizzard kept some of the weapon-specific flavor, but instead of weapon skill, pivoted to critical-strike chance. Now with this latest update, those bonuses no longer require players of a certain race to wield a specific weapon type to gain those passive benefits. Orcs simply gain a 1% increase to crit chance, humans gain a 2% increase to crit chance, and dwarves deal 2% increased critical damage and healing at all times.

It's a major departure, but feels like it will ultimately allow for more freedom when it comes to using a variety of weapons. Those weren't the only racial ability changes though. Blizzard also updated tauren's new Plainsrunning ability and dwarves' Find Treasure. 

Both of these left something to be desired. Plainsrunning, which granted a stacking movement speed buff for tauren while on foot, was useful early on while leveling but felt like it would largely become irrelevant once players earned their first mount. For dwarves, being able to locate chests using their Find Treasure passive was nice, but hardly a reason to choose them over another race like humans, which generally have stronger racial abilities overall. 

Blizzard has improved Plainsrunning to also grant a 3% mounted movement speed buff that can stack with other mount buffs, making the passive useful post-level 40. Tauren additionally received a decreased cooldown for their herb-gathering Cultivation skill and their area-of-effect stun, War Stomp. As for dwarves, Find Treasure now grants a chance to find additional items in chests, which is certainly appealing given how important gold is in this version of Blizzard's MMO.

Skyborne racial abilities, the newest playable race added in WoW: Forever, have also received some welcome improvements, with an increased Haste bonus (to 3% from 1%), and the ability to cast Skysight and Read Leyline while moving. More leylines, which Skyborne use for some of their racial abilities, have been added to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, giving Skyborne more chances to renew their buffs. 

Undead, gnomes, trolls, and night elves have seen changes, too. For undead, their Forever-exclusive Touch of the Grave passive has been adjusted to have a more consistent proc chance and cooldown. Gnomes' Eureka passive now is an eight-second buff with no charges. Changes to night elves and trolls are relatively minor. Trolls received an increase to health regeneration from their Regeneration passive. Meanwhile, the night elf movement speed passive Quickness now stacks with other movement speed buffs.

Not all the racial ability changes have been buffs. A few were nerfs, particularly for orcs. Their Blood Fury racial, which grants increased attack and spell power, has had its cooldown increased by an entire minute, and their Shatter Curse passive has made it so it now dispels Curses and Banes rather than granting full immunity. The amount of magic damage reduction from Shatter Curse was also lowered from a massive 15% to just 5%. 

All together, they represent some of the biggest racial ability changes in the game's history, and could be a big factor in deciding what race to play when WoW: Forever launches November 4. You can read the full patch notes below, which include some signficant class changes as well.

In an interview with GameSpot, Blizzard revealed how it's trying to "push the envelope" with the amount of new content in Forever as well as discussed its plans for endgame and what to expect post launch.

WoW: Forever Beta Patch Notes

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue with extra bright fog at lower shadow settings.
• Fixed an issue allowing Horde players to gain Kirin Tor reputation.
• Creatures will now properly regenerate health when out of combat.
• Fixed an issue with various Horde characters holding the Night Watchman’s Torch.
• Fixed an issue with various drink tooltips that were not displaying the correct amount of total Mana regeneration.

Changes and Updates

• Added a new tutorial experience for new players.
• Improved control over Lighting ‘Bloom Intensity’ in options to be a slider that has moved to the ‘Advanced’ graphics section.
• Added ‘Auto Attack/Auto Shot’ setting. If enabled, Hunters will automatically switch between auto attack and auto shot. This is now also supported for gamepad.
• Racial abilities have been updated.
  • Tauren
    • Endurance: Now grants 2% increased critical damage and healing (was 1% hit chance).Plainsrunning: Also grants 3% increased mounted movement speed. This increase stacks with other mounted movement speed increases.Plainsrunning now requires the Tauren to move a minimum distance per second to keep the effect.
      • Developers’ notes: Stutter-stepping is no longer sufficient to maintain the effect. This minimum does make some allowance for movement speed penalties.
      Cultivation: Cooldown reduced to 15 minutes (was 60 minutes).War Stomp: Cooldown reduced to 90 seconds (was 2 minutes).
  • Dwarf
  • Mace Specialization: Replaced with Earth Fury: 2% increased critical damage and healing.
  • Find Treasure: Now also grants a chance to find additional items in most chests.
  • Skyborne
  • Wind Blessed: Haste bonus increased to 3% (was 1%).
  • Skysight: Now castable while moving.
  • Read Leyline: Now castable while moving. Minimum duration increased to 30 seconds (was 20 seconds).
  • Walk on Air: Cooldown reduced to 90 seconds (was 2 minutes).
  • Increased the number of spawn locations of Elemental Convergences and Leylines in most Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor zones.
  • Human
    • Sword Specialization: Replaced with Ruthless: 2% increased critical strike chance.
  • Orc
    • Axe Specialization: Replaced with Savage: 1% increased critical strike chance.
    • Blood Fury: Cooldown increased to 3 minutes (was 2 minutes).
    • Shatter Curse: Now dispels Curses and Banes (was granting immunity). Magic damage taken reduced by 5% (was 15%).
  • Undead
  • Touch of the Grave: Proc chance and cooldown adjusted to make benefit more consistent. Improvements made to visuals.
  • Undead will no longer have Will of the Forsaken available to them while under the effects of Scatter Shot.
  • Touch of the Dead now has a 30% chance to activate for casters and a 20% chance to activate for Paladins/Rogues/Warriors, as well as a 25 second internal cooldown.
  • Touch of the Dead no longer scales with Shadow increases on the target or the caster.
  • Touch of the Dead no longer suffers from a decreased multiplier when a lower ranked spell is used.
    • Developers’ notes: This shouldn’t have been in place because it’s a racial, not a Class spell or ability.
  • Gnome
    • Eureka!: Now an 8 second buff with no charges. Same effect on damage and ability costs. Now also benefits Power Word: Shield.
    • Eureka cannot correctly be used while in stealth or invisibility.
• Night Elf
  • Quickness: Movement speed increase now stacks with other movement speed increases.
  • Night Elves no longer display their shields while in Wisp Form.
• Troll
  • Regeneration: Health regeneration bonuses increased to 20% (was 10%).

Classes

· Wands now require you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before shooting, matching early versions of World of Warcraft.

• Druid
  • Fixed an issue where high ranks of Rejuvenation were preventing other Druids from applying Rejuvenation to the target.
  • Omen of Clarity: Fixed a bug where this could be triggered by Faerie Fire while in Cat Form, Bear Form, or Dire Bear Form. Since Faerie Fire costs no resources in those forms, it cannot trigger Omen of Clarity.
  • Faerie Fire: Now generates threat while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form (instead of just initiating combat at 0 threat).
  • Fixed an issue allowing multiple Faerie Fire debuffs to be active on a target.
  • Shred (Rank 1) is now learned at level 20 (was 22). It was possible to get Shredding Attacks before knowing Shred or Lacerate
  • Fixed an issue where Heart of the Wild, Feral Swiftness, Thick Hide, and Leader of the Pack were not applying correctly to characters when they logged in.
  • Balance
    • Multiple instances of Insect Swarm will no longer continue to reduce the target’s hit chance.
    • Moonkin Aura now only increases Spell Critical Strike chance, and is Raid wide.
  • Feral
    • Leader of the Pack now only increases Melee and Ranged Critical Strike chance, and is Raid wide.
    • The flat damage on Shred’s tooltip will now correctly scale with the % damage increase of the Savage Fury talent.
      • Developers’ notes: This was just a visual bug. The damage is unchanged.
    • Furor now allows the player to retain the Energy they had when they were last in Cat Form even if they go into Bear or Dire Bear Form.
      • Developers’ notes: Bear and Dire Bear Form still prevent Energy regeneration.
• Hunter
  • Auto Shot now requires you to stand still for 0.5 seconds before shooting, matching early versions of World of Warcraft.
    • Developers’ notes: Your character will still fire Auto Shot while casting spells like Aimed Shot or Sniper Shot.
  • Arrows should now be visible when a character has their bow drawn back.
  • Pets now correctly benefit from Expertise.
  • The Hunter’s Fire traps now correctly scale with Attack Power.
  • The Hunter may now correctly have 1 active Fire Trap and 1 active Ice Trap (was 1 Trap among all types).
  • Pets
    • Fixed an issue where pets were only ever inheriting the player’s Melee Critical Strike chance instead of whichever is higher, melee or ranged.
    • Dismember (Crocolisk)
      • Healing reduction reduced to 25% (was 50%).
      • Duration reduced to 6 seconds (was 10 seconds).
      • Cooldown increased to 15 seconds (was 6 seconds).
    • Sonic Blast (Bat)
      • Cast speed reduction reduced to 30% (was 60%).
      • Duration reduced to 20 seconds (was 30 seconds).
      • Cooldown increased to 60 seconds (was 30 seconds).
    • Mine! (Bird of Prey)
      • Duration reduced to 3 seconds (was 4 seconds).
      • Cooldown increased to 90 seconds (was 60 seconds).
  • Beast Mastery
    • Summon Hawk will now correctly cause the Hawk to spawn at the target the spell was cast on.
    • Summon Hawk will now stick your Hawk to the target that it was summoned on.
    • Fixed an issue causing the Improved Mend Pet talent to increase the Mana cost of Mend Pet instead of decrease.
  • Marksmanship
    • Trueshot Aura is now Raid wide.
    • Fixed an issue where Sniper Shot was not benefitting from a few Marksmanship talents.
  • Survival
    • Strider Kick can now be used while disarmed or while no weapon is equipped in your Main Hand.
    • Resourcefulness now correctly reduces the Mana cost of Strider Kick.
    • Resourcefulness now correctly activates when landing a critical strike, but it has been changed to only activating on melee and ranged ability critical strikes to prevent spamming.
      • Developers’ notes: Is not activated by Traps.
    • Updated the tooltip for Predator’s Edge changed to better convey that it only increases the critical strike damage of your abilities.
• Mage
  • Frost Blast: This new spell is learned at level 24. It deals damage and slows the target’s movement by 40%. It has a 1.5 second cast time, and is affected by all talents that affect Frostbolt.
    • Developers’ notes: The purpose of this spell is to provide the functionality formerly granted by Rank 1 Frostbolt despite the penalization of “down-ranking”. It does have a higher Mana cost and deals a little more damage as well.
  • Arcane
    • Fixed an issue where Presence of Mind would not be consumed by spell casts.
    • Fixed an issue where Missile Barrage could reduce the cost and duration of a second Arcane Missiles cast.
    • Missile Barrage: This talent has moved to the first row and become a 2-point talent. It now also grants a chance for Arcane Missiles hits to trigger Missile Barrage.
    • Arcane Blast: Redesigned. This spell is now a 1.5 second cast, and each time it is cast it grants the casting Mage 15% of their Intellect as additional Spell Damage. This effect also increases the cost of Arcane Blast as before and still stacks to 4 times. However, the effect now lasts 15 seconds from when it is first applied, instead of just until the next spell cast. Mana cost unchanged, but damage done and Spell Damage coefficients both reduced 40%.
    • Arcane Wrath: New 16-point gold medal talent. This new spell deals base damage similar to Fireball, with a 3.5 second cast, but also deals damage as if the Mage had additional Spell Power equal to 5% of the Mage’s maximum Mana. 6 second cooldown.
  • Fire
    • Heating Up is no longer consumed if the Mage also had Presence of Mind active for the Pyroblast cast. Heating up also always gains an additional charge each time the Mage casts Fire Blast. This does mean Fire Blast critical strikes generate 2 charges.
    • Wake of Fire: Talent reverted back to Improved Fire Blast and no longer grants a bonus when the Mage kills a target. It also now increases the range of Fireblast by 8/15 yards.
    • Critical Mass: Mages can now spend up to 5 points in this talent for 10% total critical strike increase.
    • Fire Power: Redesigned. Now only 3 talent points. Increases damage done by Fire spells by 1/2/3% per the Mage’s Fire effects on the target, up to a maximum increase of 12%. Spells that mix multiple schools of magic do not grant this bonus.
      • Developers’ notes: Specifically, the effects which can grant increased Fire damage from this talent are Ignite, Improved Scorch, Fireball, and Pyroblast, and Impact. Frostfire Bolt does not grant the damage increase but can benefit from it.
    • Frost Channeling now correctly reduces the Mage’s threat.
    • Fixed an issue where Ice Block was too transparent.
    • Fixed various issues around Clearcasting. Clearingcast now correctly does not roll for every target struck by a spell. Clearcasting no longer has a chance to activate off of Dampen Magic and Amplify Magic. Clearcasting no longer has a chance to be activated by abilities cast when not in combat.
  • Frost
    • Fixed an issue preventing Frostbite and Fingers of Frost from activating from your Ice Armor and Frost Armor spells.
    • Ice Lance damage against Frozen targets changed to a 200% increase (Was 300%).
    • Cone of Cold: Movement speed of the first 4 targets hit is decreased by an additional 10% and the slow lasts an additional 3 seconds on those targets.
      • Developers’ notes: The ability of this spell to control massive number of targets was the primary reason it was previously reduced in effectiveness and duration. It feels reasonable to let it retain this level of power when used against 4 or fewer targets.
    • Winter’s Chill: Redesigned. No longer increases critical strike chance. Instead, it causes Cone of Cold to deal 40% increase damage per stack of Winter’s Chill on the target, consumed by next Cone of Cold.
    • Slightly changed the positioning of the spell visual for Cone of Cold.
    • New spell Frost Blast. 1.5 second cast. Deals low frost damage. Slows/chills. Benefits from talents that benefit Frostbolt.
    • Winter’s Chill change to: Gives your Frostbolt, Frost Blast, and Fingers of Frost empowered Ice Lance spells a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to apply Winter’s Chill, increasing the target’s damage taken from your next Cone of Cold by 5% and it gains an additional 7% of your spell damage, stacking up to 5 times.
• Paladin
  • Seal of Fury is no longer overwritten by Power Word: Shield.
  • Blessing of Salvation and Greater Blessing of Salvation have been replaced with Salvation and Mass Salvation. These are applied in the same manner as the blessings were, but are not exclusive with blessings.
  • Paladins now also learn Revoke when Salvation is learned. Revoke removes target party or raid member’s Salvation or Mass Salvation.
    • Developers’ notes: This is to restore the functionality of giving the Paladin more finesse and control over who has Salvation active and who doesn’t.
  • Judgement of Righteousness and Judgement of Fury now have the correct spell power coefficients for instant cast spells.
  • Fixed an issue causing Seal of Righteousness to gain almost twice as much benefit from Spell Damage than intended.
  • Fixed an issue where Judgement of Righteousness had an incorrect Spell Damage coefficient.
  • Consecration’s Spell Power Coefficient per tick has been changed to 0.042 (was 0.095).
  • Righteous Fury’s Holy damage threat generation increased to 90% (was 60%).
  • Seal of Fury Rank 3 is now correctly available for training at level 26 (was incorrectly level 25).
  • Holy
    • Fixed an issue where using a focus macro to cast Light’s Vigil was causing it to not go onto the appropriate target.
    • Fixed an issue causing Infusion of Light to grant Holy Shock 50% increased damage against enemies.
  • Protection
    • Shield Specialization Mana restored to the Paladin lowered to 4% with a 3 second internal cooldown (was 6% with a 3 second internal cooldown).
    • Reckoning: This talent has been adjusted so you gain a charge of Reckoning each time it triggers. Your next melee swing (auto attack) will trigger all accumulated charges for 1 extra attack each. You may have a maximum of 4 charges.
      • This restores the Classic Era functionality of storing up to 4 charges and delays all the triggers until your next swing so that it does not cause the auto attack timer to be reset by instant attacks.
  • Retribution
    • Champion of the Light now increases your spell damage by 10/20/30% of your Intellect (was 20/40/60%).
    • Sanctified Judgement’s Mana restore effect no longer generates threat.
• Priest
  • Fixed an issue where high ranks of Renew were preventing other Priests from applying Renew to the target.
  • Fixed an issue causing Holy Fire Rank 5 periodic damage to be higher than Rank 6.
  • Power Word: Shield will now correctly tell the player they can’t replace a Power Word: Shield on a target if the Power Word: Shield they have is stronger.
  • Fixed an issue where casting Power Word: Shield would say SHIELDED twice in your scrolling combat text.
  • Devouring Plague cooldown reduced to 24 seconds (was 1 minute).
  • Shadow Word: Death cooldown increased to 18 seconds (was 12 seconds).
  • Fixed an issue where casting Mind Vision would cause the target to stand up and interrupt drinks.
  • Discipline
    • Inner Focus will now correctly only be used on a single spell, even if you spell queue another spell into Penance’s channel.
    • Added to the tooltip for Divine Aegis explicitly that it is activated by Non-Periodic critical heals.
    • Added to the tooltip for Divine Aegis what the maximum value for the shield is.
    • Power in Light now increases Smite and Penance if the target is afflicted by Holy Fire or Shadow Word Pain.
    • Silence Resolve threat reduction now applies to all spells.
    • Mental Strength moved to Row 2 from Row 4 and changed to increase your intellect by 2/4/6/8/10%.
    • Improved Power Word: Shield moved to Row 3 from Row 2.
    • Twin Disciplines now correctly benefits Shadow Word: Death, Mind Flay, Starshards and Penance.
  • Shadow
    • Fixed an issue where Shadow Word: Death was not benefitting from Shadowform’s increase to critical strike damage.
    • Fixed an issue where Devouring Contagion was causing the bounced Devouring Plague to cost Mana, perform a cast animation, and put the caster’s Devouring Plague back on full cooldown.
    • Changed Vampiric Embrace so that it can’t be resisted.
    • Vampiric Embrace cooldown reduced to 30 seconds (was 1 minute).
    • Improved Fade removed.
    • Shadow Infinity removed.
    • Improved Mind Blast moved from Row 3 to Row 2.
    • New talent (Row 4): Dark Inspiration – Your Mind Blast and fully channeled Mind Flay causes Dark Inspiration, increasing yours and your party’s Spirit by 3/6/9/12/15% for 10 seconds.
    • Improved Mind Flay changes to: Each instance of damage of Mind Flay deals 10/20% more damage than its previous instance of damage.
    • Devouring Contagion now spreads to 2 targets.
    • Fixed an issue with Shadow Weaving’s Tooltip. It now correctly states that it causes the target to take increased damage from you.
• Rogue
  • Rogue Poisons will no longer incorrectly activate against targets that are attacking them.
  • Sap no longer has a chance to activate weapon procs.
  • Fixed an issue where Rogues could swap specializations to keep their energy full.
  • Assassination
    • Cold Blood is now correctly consumed when Mutilate lands a critical strike.
• Shaman
  • Fixed an issue where Totemic Recall cost 70 silver on the trainer instead of 22 silver, as intended.
  • Grounding Totem is now correctly destroyed after redirecting a spell.
  • Windfury Weapon’s attacks now appear as White hits in the scrolling combat text.
  • Grace of Air Totem is no longer exclusive with Windfury Totem and Flametongue Totem.
    • Windfury Totem and Flametongue Totem retain their exclusivity.
  • Grace of Air Totem, Strength of Earth Totem, Windfury Totem, and Flametongue Totem are now Raid wide.
  • Chain Lightning: Mana cost reduced by approximately 35% on all four ranks.
  • Fire Nova’s Spell Power Coefficient has been changed to 0.143 (was 0.214).
  • Fire Nova’s base damage has been significantly reduced.
  • Fire Nova’s mana cost has been significantly reduced.
  • Flametongue Totem and Windfury Totem now correctly only affect players.
  • Added a little green to the visual of Chain Heal without overpowering the original effect.
  • Elemental
    • Your Clearcasting from the Elemental Focus talent will no longer have a way to be spent on the same Fire Nova that activates it.
    • Elemental Mastery: This talent has returned as the new 31-point gold medal talent. Reduces the cast time of Lightning Bolt and Lava Burst by 0.5 seconds and removes the cooldown from Chain Lightning for 15 seconds. 3-minute CD. Lava Burst is pre-requisite.
    • Lava Burst: Moved from the 7th row to the 5th row as the 21-point gold medal talent. New rank 4 added and ranks reflowed. No longer has any pre-requisite.
    • Elemental Fury: Now has Lightning Overload as pre-requisite.
    • Lightning Overload: Now has Elemental Alacrity as pre-requisite.
    • Elemental Alacrity: Moved from 3rd row to 2nd row.
    • Elemental Warding: Moved from 2nd row to 3rd row.
    • Call of Thunder: Talent removed.
    • Earthbound: Moved to 4th row as the 16-point gold medal talent.
    • Elemental Reach: Now also reduces the cooldown on Totemic Projection by 10/20 seconds.
    • Call of Flame: Now also extends duration of Flame Shock by 3/6/9 seconds.
    • Column Arrangement: Many talents moved to make room for other talents and their connections.
    • Clearcasting will no longer be consumed by Lightning Overload activations.
    • Fire Nova’s tooltip now correctly increases when placing talents into Trial By Fire (the talent formerly known as Improved Fire Nova).
  • Enhancement
    • Your Stormstrike debuff is no longer consumed if your spell does not land.
    • Fixed an issue where Stormstrike could be consumed by other players or pets that weren’t the casting Shaman.
    • Stormstrike’s cost changed to 8% of Base Mana (was 125 Mana at all points in the game).
  • Restoration
    • Added an additional Rank of Mana Tide Totem that is learned at level 38, so now you have ranks at level 25, 38, 48, 58 (was levels 25, 48, 58).
    • The Restorative Totems talent now correctly increases the effect of the entirety of Healing Stream totem (was the base value).
    • Tidal Focus and Totemic Focus have swapped locations. Tidal Focus is now in the 1st row, and Totemic Focus is now in the 2nd row.
    • Water Shield: Can now trigger from any critical spell cast by the Shaman (was only critical heals).
• Warlock
  • Fixed an issue where Summon Incubus was available to summon at no Soul Shard cost with the Reagent Economy Legacy Perk.
  • Fixed an issue allowing multiple Cure of Recklessness debuffs to be active on a target.
  • Affliction
    • Malediction replaced with Grim Reach, which increases the range of your Affliction spells by 10/20%.
    • Shadow Mastery changed to increasing your Shadow spell damage by 2/4/6/8/10% (Was 1/2/3/4/5%).
  • Demonology
    • Fixed an issue where you couldn’t cast Soul Link on your pet.
  • Destruction
    • Destructive Reach changed to Increases the range of your Destruction spells by 10/20%.
• Warrior
  • Battle Shout is now Raid wide.
  • Slam is no longer subject to spell pushback.
  • Fixed an issue where Overpower was not able to activate vs. significantly lower level enemies.
  • Arms
    • Fixed an issue where Weaponmaster’s Sword Specialization could be activated by Shield Bash and Shield Slam.
  • Fury
    • Lingering Rage no longer stops the player’s Health Regeneration after combat.
    • Fixed an issue where Improved Berserker Rage was not removing Movement Impairing Effects.

Gamepad Support

• Added a swing timer to the center reticle.
• Added bindings to enable and disable Voice Channel Transcription via the Chat Channels menu.
• Ensured your own fishing bobber is always targetable.
• Fixed using ground-targeted items. Using them a second time will now confirm the placement.
• Fixed an issue causing the gamepad action bar to be invisible upon relogging after creating and selecting a custom Edit Mode layout.
• Fixed an issue causing the cast bar to not be properly customizable with Edit Mode.
• Fixed an issue making it difficult to activate actions using the class-specific flyouts.
• Fixed an issue with quest reward selection that prevented completion of certain quests.
• Fixed an issue where quests offered by interactive objects or other non-character quest givers could not be turned in with a gamepad.
• Made the “Press and Hold Casting” setting compatible with gamepad.
• Updated the Trade confirmation dialog to be usable with a gamepad.
• Updated the Guild & Communities dialogs to be usable with a gamepad.
• Updated the Chat Channels menu to be usable with a gamepad.
• Updated the Transmog frame to be useable with a gamepad.

Items

• Mystic Mushroom now correctly increases Spirit.
• The Insight enchant now correctly increases Spirit.
• Morbent’s Bane no longer causes other nearby players to play visual effects.
• Scrolls now incur a global cooldown when used.
• Many items created by professions have had their vendor sell price reduced.
• Draught of Predatory Senses is now a Potion, on the Combat Potion cooldown, and had its duration reduced to fit within this design space.

Legacy System

• Fixed an issue where Bartering was discounting training and repairing.
• Visually moved the Master Chef and Luremaster perks 1 row to the left.
  • Developers’ notes: They were already available with only 5 points committed, so this is only a visual change.
• The Quick and the Dead should now affect more Priest spells.

Quests

• General
  • Fixed several quest items that were multi-drop and should not be.
• Ashenvale
• There are more Bloodtooth Guards available during the quest “Raene’s Cleansing”
• Dalaran
  • Members of the Horde are no longer welcome in Dalaran under any circumstances and will be attacked on sight. This does not affect access to the City of Dalaran dungeon, but the Horde questline to obtain the Dalaran Sewer Key no longer grants unrestricted access to the city in the open world.
• Darkshore
  • Fixed an issue where many of the furbolg camps would not grant credit for the quest “How Big a Threat?”
  • The quest “For Love Eternal” can now be turned in to Cerellian Whiteclaw at all times.
  • “Body and Heart”: Cenarion Moondust is no longer used up when you sprinkle it on the stone, so if you need to try again, you can come back later and use it again to re-summon Lunaclaw.
• Mulgore
  • The Novice Warriors will no longer flag players for PvP during the quest “Sparring Match”.
• Stormwind
• “The Attack!” is no longer an escort quest and is now shareable, even while the event is active. Speak to Tyrion to begin the event if it is not active.
• Teldrassil
  • Lord Melenas no longer evades at low health during the quest “Twisted Hatred”.
• Wetlands
  • Several areas have had their respawn rates increased and evened out, including Dragonmaw Orcs, Gnolls, and Incendicite Ore.
• Zephras Isle
  • Addressed an issue that could prevent players from using Halaan’s Gift to scry on the anchors of Zephras and progress the quest “The Anchors of Zephras.”

Player versus Player

• Battleground Marks of Honor now stack up to 30 (was 20).

User Interface

• Unit Frames display has been updated.
• Minimap header display has been updated.
• Spells with different rankings now behaves as a single entry in the Cooldown Manager.
• Auction House now displays a column for equippable level.
• Auction House will now properly display equipment stats from items with suffixes (example: “___ of the Monkey”).
• Added detailed Scrolling Combat Text options under Options > Gameplay > Combat > Scrolling Combat Text for Self > Text on Me/Text on Target.
• Searching for “Threat” will now pull up the Aggro Display option.
• To reduce Nameplate clutter, the distance visibility for Nameplates for enemies and NPCs above and below the player have been adjusted. Your current target’s nameplate is not affected.
• Restored level-up messages showing stat increases and talent points gained.
• In-game Tutorials have been updated.
• If party members are different character levels, the Looking For Group UI will now properly update the eligibility statuses of the dungeon list.
• Group Finder checkbox “Show All Level Ranges” will properly update the dungeon list.
• Fixed an issue where art assets were running amok on the Professions UI panel.
• Who List search now supports subzones (example: characters in Northshire Valley will show up in both queries “/who northshire” and “/who elwynn”).
• Players can no longer accept the ‘refresh world’ prompt while in combat.

I was already looking forward to upcoming tactics game Australia Did It, but now I've got another reason to do so: a hilariously expanded new name.

In a fun turn of events, designer Rami Ismail has revealed a new subtitle has officially been adopted. Back in August, he posted a suggestion about the name that had been made as part of a localization report that turned out to be incredible.

"One localisation report for Australia Did It returned with a note that the game's title won't work in their territory & suggested to instead use 'Australia Did It: End-of-the-World Railway Defence Business' and now I want that, like, globally," he wrote at the time.

He subsequently asked fans to express their support for the name, in the hopes he could use it to convince publisher Mystic Forge to actually adopt the subtitle. And with this week's announcement of a release date, the news was confirmed, and the game will officially be called Australia Did It: End-of-the-World Railway Defense Business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBFlZ8MmbFA

The original, subtitle-less name was certainly memorable. Despite a sea of games coming out at all times that seek to push everything more than five seconds old out of my brain, it was the rare game whose name actually stuck in my head since it first caught my eye last year. That said, there is something about the combination of proper hyphenation and the almost-sarcastic precision of this new subtitle that I just love.

Australia Did It: End-of-the-World Railway Defense Business (sorry, I just wanted to write it again) releases on Steam on November 10. A demo is still available, and I highly recommend it--the game has a fun blend of genres going on. To simply call it a roguelite tactics game sells it short from what I've played. Half of the game sees you defending a base in the style of tower defense, while the other has you managing units who defend your train once it finally gets on the move. What I enjoyed most, though, is a fun system that lets you combine distinct units in order to create new ones that blend their abilities together. (There's a great dash of manipulating enemy and unit positioning, too, which I'm always a sucker for.)

We'll see next month if the quality of the demo can sustain itself in the long haul, but whatever the case, at least it'll do so with a kickass name.

It's a big day for Call of Duty, as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's campaign is playable beginning today, October 16, for people who preorder the game.

The campaign is available to preload now, but doesn't unlock until 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. You can play early across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC.

Developer Infinity Ward issued a statement, asking people to please not spoil the story. "We've one one ask. Let everyone experience it for themselves. Keep the campaign spoilers under wraps," Infinity Ward said. "Time to go dark."

A scene from MW4's campaign.

MW4 is expected to wrap up the current Modern Warfare storyline that began with 2019's Modern Warfare. Activision boss Tyler Bahl told The Game Business that MW4 is the "epic conclusion of the recent series of Modern Warfare."

"It’s not that some characters and pieces can’t live on beyond this and be reinvented. But we’re excited by closing this chapter and launching a new one," he said. "Where we go with future games, we have to innovate."

To that end, Bahl also confirmed that a new sub-franchise for Call of Duty is in the works after years of Modern Warfare and Black Ops games.

MW4 officially launches on October 23, but the early access doesn't end with campaign, as the new version of DMZ unlocks on October 20 for people who preordered the game. Multiplayer won't be available until October 23.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is already one of the best role-playing games of the year, but developer Rebel Wolves is preparing a big update that should make it even better. Like all good things in life, it starts with getting to pet a dog.

Update 1.1, which is scheduled to arrive next week, brings a number of new features to the game, including the ability to pet both dogs and cats via the game's directional system, which is currently only used for combat. It will also feature a new Story difficulty setting that provides "additional combat assist," new subtitle settings across all lines of dialogue, and most crucially, an item called Draught of Mind Rebirth.

The Draught of Mind Rebirth will allow you to forget all the skills and abilities you've acquired across the Swordmastery, Witchcraft, and Vampirism trees. Not only will this give you the chance to reallocate your points in a way that best fits your playstyle--it will also give you back the time associated with those skills. That means you'll have the chance to complete extra missions if you happen to find yourself impeded with Dawnwalker's 30-day limit. However, we don't find the system to be restrictive as it currently stands.

The Blood of Dawnwalker Update 1.1

Alongside the new features, Update 1.1. will also feature some tweaks to existing systems. These include an update to the FrameGen system, improvements to the camera, better Shadowstep and Planeshift abilities, and the removal of censorship of blood in the Japanese version. It will also include combat improvements that should make it easier to correctly target your enemy of choice--currently, it's a little finicky because of the direction-based system which prioritizes you blocking incoming attacks--regardless of who's trying to strike you--over you focusing in on a particular enemy.

The Blood of Dawnwalker is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. In our review, Phil Hornshaw said, "The Blood of Dawnwalker is the kind of RPG that feels great to get lost in, that digs into your mind and stays there, and which is worth scouring and savoring."

Citi, the investment bank and financial services company, has released a note about GTA 6 and Rockstar, and included in the brief is a line about what Rockstar could release next--a new Red Dead game.

The company said in its memo that, if Rockstar is telling the truth that GTA 6 did not in fact cost $1.5 billion to make, then the studio may be able to get a new Red Dead game out sooner than anyone might have imagined.

Citi said a new Red Dead game releasing in 2027 or 2028 "may not be unreasonable," according to Yahoo Finance.

A scene from Red Dead Redemption II.

The bank might be saying this, but it would be incredibly shocking, for a number of reasons, if a new Red Dead game releases as soon as next year.

There are historically years between major Rockstar releases, and even longer gaps between entries in the same series. For example, Red Dead Redemption launched in 2010, followed by GTA 5 in 2013, then Red Dead Redemption II in 2018, and now GTA 6 in 2026.

Another notable element to consider is how Rockstar makes games today. The company tried to develop GTA 6 and Red Dead Redemption II concurrently, and if it was able to pull it off, Rockstar claimed it would have been able to release GTA 6 years earlier. However, Rockstar deemed this too ambitious, with studio head Rob Nelson opting to reassign staff from GTA 6 to Red Dead Redemption II to help get it out the door.

At one point in time, developed multiple games concurrently across offices, but now, Rockstar’s network of teams work on one project together before moving on to the next.

GTA 6 may be coming out soon, but Rockstar no doubt has committed extensive resources to post-launch support, and that's not even mentioning the next evolution of GTA Online. Although Rockstar has announced no plans for online support whatsoever for GTA 6, it's expected that GTA 6 will have some kind of extensive online experience that is supported for years to come.

At the same time, a company like Rockstar is no doubt planning for the future already, and a new Red Dead game would seem like an extremely safe bet. After all, Red Dead Redemption II has sold a breathtaking 87 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games of all time.

Faster development

While Rockstar getting a new Red Dead out in 2027 or 2028 might be extremely ambitious and wishful thinking on the part of Citi, Rockstar and parent company Take-Two have indicated that new structures are in place to help make games faster.

CEO Strauss Zelnick told The Game Business that people should not "confuse long development cycles with a lackadaisical approach to development cycles."

Some games are "so complex and so challenging to build" that they simply take a long time to make. However, Zelnick said "recent development in technology" may be able to help Take-Two's studio's "compress some development timelines without compromising quality."

Zelnick may be referring to Take-Two's embrace of AI here, but it's unclear. Rockstar's Phil Hooker, meanwhile, said the company's hiring spree and updates to its technology stack should help Rockstar make games faster in the future.

Something else to consider here is that Zelnick and Hooker might be talking more to analysts and investors with their comments about making games faster. Only time will tell if it's actually another eight years before Rockstar releases another game after GTA 6; for now, it's just talk.

Developers have dealt with copycat games for many years, but generative AI has made it easier than ever to whip up a clone, and that problem has grown in recent years. The developer behind Drunken Goddess Reflux is aware of this, and out of fear that its anime Russian roulette game could be the victim of a cash-grab imitation, it has announced that it has canceled its upcoming public demo. Instead, Alliance Arts will hold closed online play sessions for a limited number of players.

https://youtu.be/SRFDW2Pm9nk

"We sincerely apologize for the short notice to everyone who was looking forward to it," the developer wrote online. "We're concerned that the demo's content could be used to quickly imitate or replicate the game's presentation and gameplay with AI or other tools, and that such works could be released before our launch."

Alliance Arts is also concerned that it can't properly manage restrictions on posting and streaming content from the game, and it'll instead hand out demo keys and collect feedback for the game through its group Discord. The studio's fears aren't unwarranted, with the upcoming Needle in a Haystack being a prime example of Steam's copycat problem. After the game was announced in August and a clip of its purposefully tedious gameplay went viral--you genuinely are just looking for a needle in a haystack--clones quickly popped up online.

A quick search on Steam reveals several games all with a similar theme, and these have been released within weeks of each other.

Looks a little sus to me.

What happened here? AI-assisted games have been popping up more and more lately on Steam, and while you'll seldom find disclosure text indicating that agents like Claude and ChatGPT have been used in their development, the fast turnaround, near-identical gameplay, and artwork with a telltale yellow filter suggest that the tech played a heavy hand in quickly whipping up a clone.

With Claude 5.5 making it easier than ever to decompile a game into code that's playable within a browser, Alliance Arts might be justified in wanting to keep the game within a tight-knit circle of players. It's not unfeasible to imagine a bad actor using the code for the demo to generate a carbon copy and put that up for sale on Steam.

Hit multiplayer game Meccha Chameleon also has its fair share of copycats, as shortly after release, a wave of new games copied its hide-and-seek-with-bad-art formula.

The Drunken Goddess Reflux demo cancellation comes shortly before the start of Steam Next Fest this month, but with the event having become a dumping ground for demos, it could have been buried under thousands of other games vying for player attention. It's currently one of the top 100 most-wishlisted games on Steam, so there's plenty of interest.

In case you missed it when it was first revealed several months ago, Drunken Goddess Reflux combines alcohol with a demonic Tsundere anime lady and the deadly game of Russian roulette. It's a game of shots and shots, as the drunker you get, the better your odds are of not receiving a lead headache. The game officially launches on December 8 for PC.

Big Walk has been a critical hit since it launched a few months ago on PC and PS5, but one major platform where you won't find it is Xbox Series X|S. That's no accident: Developer House House said its decision not to release the game on Xbox was a show of support for the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

"It has always been our intention for Big Walk to be played by groups of friends, and we know that keeping the game off Xbox runs counter to those intentions," House House wrote in a statement. "This decision means that some people will miss out on playing Big Walk with their friends, and we understand the disappointment we’re causing. We are disappointed too. We would love for people to be able to play the game on Xbox, but not until Microsoft and/or Xbox have been removed as BDS boycott targets. We’ve made this decision with the belief that meaningful change can be made in the world, that coordinated collective action can confront even the most powerful interests, and that one day, Palestine will be free."

Microsoft became a priority target of the BDS initiative due to the contracts it had with the Israeli government and military. BDS has called for a boycott of the company, and by extension, all Xbox games, hardware, and subscriptions.

In response to the announcement by House House, The Palestinian BDS movement wrote in a statement (via People Makes Games' Chris Bratt) that it "wholeheartedly" supports the developers decision and that it encourages "gamers, game developers, games journalists, and workers" to sign the No Games for Genocide pledge and continue to boycott Xbox.

That pressure on Microsoft has had results, as last year, the company did block the Israeli government from accessing its cloud storage and AI systems, which has reportedly been used to surveil Palestinians in both the West Bank and Gaza.

While some people have asked why Big Walk is available on PCs running a Windows operating system, it is worth noting that purchasing it through a marketplace like Steam does not mean that Microsoft gets a cut of sales from the game, compared to how it would if the game was sold through its Xbox marketplace.

Ken Kutaragi, the former PlayStation executive known colloquially as the "Father of PlayStation," has reacted to the ongoing debate and discussion about physical games in the wake of Sony's announcement that it will end support for PS5 game discs in 2028.

Speaking to VGC, Kutaragi said he understands that people think they "own" games when they buy them physically. However, he said, "Nobody thinks [physical media] is necessary for a networked device like a smartphone, for example, because people feel that they will keep their content."

He went on to say that he "really" does understand why some people are upset about PlayStation's decision to end discs. After all, Sony continues to sell millions and millions of physical games annually, and in some regions, sales of new games on PS5 are more than 50% physical.

However, as many others have said and data shows, consumers are increasingly leaning toward digital, and that trend is only expected to continue.

"I don’t think it’s economically reasonable [to continue to support discs]. Maybe it’s a mentality issue," he said.

For its part, Sony said ending support for physical discs is a "natural direction" for the company as it adapts to consumer trends. One expert believes Sony killing discs is really about profitability and control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FatSqS3VYY

Kutaragi went on to say he understands that PlayStation's teams now include people who came from "outside," including people from streaming companies through Sony's buyout of streaming service Gaikai. As such, he thinks it only makes sense that these new hires might see PlayStation as "not just a game console, but also a content terminal."

"Maybe that’s how those people are thinking. But this has caused some friction with game enthusiasts," he said.

While Sony might be giving up on physical games, Nintendo doesn't plan to do that, at least not yet. Microsoft has not specified its plans for discs going forward, but most expect Xbox to kill off discs as well.

GTA 6's takeover of real-life Miami is continuing, and in a big way, ahead of the open-world crime game's release in November. For anyone unaware, GTA 6 takes place in Vice City, which is a stand-in for Miami, and the game also takes players to surrounding areas of its version of Florida, known as Leonida.

After the GTA 6 logo was airlifted onto Miami's Kaseya Earlier this month to promote the game and an upcoming Miami Heat x GTA 6 crossover, Rockstar's marketing efforts have now grown substantially. This has included a number of real-life marketing activations in the Miami area covering real cars, blimps, beach chairs, and more.

The efforts have not been without controversy. Multiple Miami-Dade County commissioners expressed serious concerns about the city taking Rockstar's money to promote a game about violence and murder, among other ... vices.

"We're depicting Miami like a murder capital," Commissioner René Garcia said, according to the Miami Herald. Commissioner Micky Steinberg added: "Philosophically, I feel we should not be moving forward."

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and her office is hoping to bring in millions from its partnership with Rockstar to promote GTA 6 in Miami. Her chief of staff, Chris Hudtwalcker, said the GTA 6 takeovers in Miami are a "love letter" to the city.

Another lawmaker, chairman Anthony Rodriguez, said commissioners should remember GTA 6 is a work of fiction. "We are all adults in this community. We recognize it's just a game," he said.

"We cut our nose to spite our face," said Chair Anthony Rodriguez, who sponsored the legislation authorizing the negotiations. He urged commissioners not to go overboard on concern for made-up plot lines and digital characters. "This is a fictional game. We are all adults in this community. … We recognize it's just a game."

People in Miami have reported seeing GTA-style cars on the city streets, along with a massive Vice City blimp soaring overhead. What's more, branded beach chairs and umbrellas are being dispatched to beaches in south Florida to market GTA 6. The marketing efforts for GTA 6 go beyond Miami, of course, as people have begun to spot big ads in other major American cities like Chicago and New York.

https://twitter.com/GTASixInfo/status/2110902300646781107 https://twitter.com/volvoshine/status/2110799156440957421 https://twitter.com/samchrme/status/2110483735238017204 https://twitter.com/vicestargames/status/2111019367131431317?s=46 https://twitter.com/GTAVI_Countdown/status/2110839114199175226 https://twitter.com/GTAVI_Rodion/status/2110883425771258270 https://twitter.com/GTAonlineNews/status/2110839452616507679

The Miami-Dade County mayor is apparently allowed to negotiate deals under $1 million without the approval of the local commission--this is why the $975,000 Kaseya Center project went ahead without pushback.

Levine Cava is looking to make more deals with Rockstar to promote GTA 6 at the city's airports and ship ports, along with various other places, but it remains to be seen if those will be approved.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S--for more, check out the newly released launch trailer, which features some steamy scenes.

At E3 2009, Sony announced that it was partnering with Rockstar on a PlayStation-exclusive spy game called Agent, with Rockstar founders Sam and Dan Houser overseeing development. The game never materialized, though, and now Dan Houser has shared more details as to why.

Speaking to IGN, Houser said Agent never coming out shouldn't be a total shock because he worked on "a bunch of games that never came out." He said Rockstar tried with two or three different teams to make Agent--an open-world spy game--but the teams just "could not get it right."

"And it never came out. We concluded that it was not a game we were ever going to figure out how to make. Other people can try, but I personally think it's hard," he said.

Great spy movies like the James Bond series work so well because they take viewers all over the world, but "that's not an experience in an open-world game that really works," Houser said.

"So we tried lots of things and couldn't get it quite right," Houser said, going on to say that the teams built great elements but they never came together in a full package.

Images of Agent, which was reportedly set in the '70s, have emerged over the years, showing off some of what Rockstar was planning.

In 2009, then-Take-Two president Ben Feder told GameSpot that Agent was being positioned to be the next Grand Theft Auto.

“It’s the A team working on an AAA title,” he said at the time. “I think the subject matter, the characters, the story, the environment, the background–all the elements are there. It’s such a rich environment to play in.”

Across the industry, games get canceled regularly--Blizzard has said it cancels 50% of the games it starts--but Rockstar's Agent got more traction because of the studio's profile.

Rockstar never gave Agent a release date, but it would have followed up 2008's Grand Theft Auto 4. The next game that Rockstar North led development on after GTA 4 was 2013's GTA 5, and now Rockstar North is set to release GTA 6 on November 19.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is set for release on October 23, and in a big shakeup, it will not be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

This has been known for a while, but Activision is reminding people of this in a new blog post on the eve of the game's campaign early access on October 16. In fact, Activision has been warning people that MW4 is not on Game Pass for months now, so the blog post is just the latest example of this.

Upon release, the only way to get MW4 is by purchasing it outright, starting at $70 for the base edition and scaling to $100 for the Vault edition.

Game Pass subscribers will have to wait a year for MW4. When will MW4 come to Game Pass?

Activision said MW4 will be available on Xbox Game Pass at some point at the end of next year, meaning it will be "windowed" as a standalone purchase for about one year.

Why are new Call of Duty games no longer included with Game Pass?

2024’s Black Ops 6 was the first entry in the series to launch directly into Xbox Game Pass, with Black Ops 7 following the same playbook in 2025. However, Microsoft announced earlier this year that new Call of Duty titles would no longer debut in Game Pass, an announcement it made in conjunction with a price cut for the subscription service.

Microsoft has never explicitly said why it made this major change, but it could have to do with lost sales. It was reported that Black Ops 6 coming to Game Pass in 2024 amounted to Microsoft missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. That number has been debated, and it does not tell the whole story, but no doubt there was a financial impact that Microsoft is responding to.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is undertaking a "reset" of the Xbox business, and cutting new Call of Duty games from Game Pass is part of that. She is also trying to revive Xbox console exclusives, including a nuclear option.

What other Call of Duty games are on Game Pass?

Although Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can't play MW4 until next year, the catalog currently includes a bunch of older entries in the series.

These include:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Call of Duty: WW2
• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)

Ahead of the Street Fighter movie's release this week, 2K Games has announced a new DLC pack for WWE 2K26 that lets you dress several WWE performers as Street Fighter action figures.

You can make the likes of Rey Mysterio and The Rock look like oversized toys, and each version of the WWE star will also come equipped with Street Fighter-inspired moves like the Shinku Hadoken, Psycho Crusher, Spiral Arrow, Electric Thunder, and Shoryuken. Pricing hasn't been revealed yet, but generally, these character packs cost around $15.

Available starting October 28 as a standalone purchase--and not included in any existing bundles or premium editions of the game--the WWE 2K26 X Street Fighter Elite Pack includes:

• The Rock "Final Boss" as M. Bison
• Rey Mysterio as Ryu
• Bianca Belair as Cammy
• Ultimate Warrior as Blanka
• Dominik Mysterio as Ken

Strangely, there's no Cody Rhodes Street Fighter skin, which is kind of weird since he plays Guile in the movie and has even cosplayed as him at WWE live events.  Additionally, the pack includes 15 Create-a-Superstar parts from several other Street Fighter characters: Akuma, Vega, and Chun-Li. Each Street Fighter skin is inspired by the Mattel Elite Collection WWE X Street Fighter figures, so this is merchandising taken to a new extreme. To paraphrase Danhausen, these are cursed.

Reviews have also begun appearing online for Street Fighter, and on GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, the film has a "mixed or average" metascore of 46 from 19 reviews. Critics say that the movie's story is an absolute mess, and it's barely held together by several stylish fight scenes across its two-hour runtime.

The movie isn't tracking well for its opening weekend either, as current estimates suggest that it could struggle to make a dent at the box office. At least popcorn bucket sales should be a hit.

Following player backlash, Sega and Creative Assembly have yanked Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition from sale and have replaced it with the original 2011 version. First hitting digital shelves on October 13, this version of the beloved strategy game was advertised as having had a substantial facelift, but it wasn't long before players pointed out numerous issues with the game and the telltale sign of AI-upscaling. This has led to some bizarre makeovers, like a samurai's face merging with his helmet or extra fingers on character artwork.

https://twitter.com/YoncleThinks/status/2110144099315785871 https://twitter.com/Pirat_Nation/status/2110158896107077737 https://twitter.com/RedKaiser555/status/2110269135297163537

"We're aware that Total War: Shogun 2 - Complete Edition has fallen short of both your expectations and our own standards," Sega wrote in a statement that did not address the AI criticisms at all. "We've seen your feedback, comments, and reviews. We agree that the current experience is not where it needs to be."

Fans have also taken to social media to show off legacy bugs that still haven't been addressed in this new edition, and Sega said that it's "working closely" with its "development partners" to identify and address these issues. Unsurprisingly, the game has an overwhelmingly negative rating on Steam currently, with over 81% of players urging people to give it a skip.

"Horrific graphical bug makes the vegetation in battle map terrible to look at. There's no way to disable the vegetation," one oddly specific player review reads," amongst hundreds of other negative pieces of feedback.

Players also weren't happy when Sega initially replaced the original Shogun 2 game with the remastered version, which has a price tag of $40. Upgrading from the classic to this version will cost you $10. The AI-upscaling is just the tip of the complaints-iceberg, as players have several other issues with Shogun 2. The new user interface has been criticized for its clunky design and plenty of new bugs have surfaced. This isn't the only game using generative AI that Sega is linked to, as for the upcoming Crazy Taxi: World Tour, generative AI was used to create background assets.

It's not often one of the biggest games of all time gets a do-over. It's even rarer for a game to get a third attempt. But that, in many ways, is what World of Warcraft: Forever is.

Developer Blizzard is pulling from 22 years of hindsight for what is the third major version of its landmark MMORPG, set to launch on November 4. That two-decade span includes not only the release of 11 WoW expansions, but also the re-release of the original WoW in 2019 and its subsequent "classic" expansions, as well. In the years since WoW Classic's launch, Blizzard has gone from "no changes" to "some changes," taking lessons learned from each Classic release and using them to inform their future work.

With WoW: Forever, Blizzard is finally going beyond replicating history and is instead forging a new vision for its genre-defining MMO, even if that vision is one firmly rooted in the past. GameSpot recently had the chance to talk with Clay Stone, associate production director on WoW: Forever, and Holly Longdale, executive producer and VP for WoW, about how Blizzard approached making a "new" version of original WoW, its approach to Forever's endgame, and what players can expect from Forever's future. 

Exceeding Expectations 

From the outset, Stone said Blizzard wanted to "push the envelope" and make a big first impression with Forever that went beyond players' expectations. Players certainly had a lot of them. The idea of a new version of WoW Classic that preserved the original game's world but added new content is one that's been around for a long time, and with it all kinds of community ideas of what it should and shouldn't be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvueCoFTkCk&t

That made it important for Blizzard to deliver not just what players wanted, but go even further, Stone said. Rather than just class-balance changes or the completion of some of WoW's original unfinished quests and zones, as many players likely expected, Blizzard instead went bigger. It created over 1,000 new quests, four new zones, thousands of new items, substantial class changes, multiple new gameplay systems, and even an unexpected playable race not seen in any other version of WoW, Skyborne elves.

"I think that it was important for us to do this up front, to basically not have everything feel like, 'Oh, I predicted that …' and do that now rather than not do that and wait five years down the line," Stone said. 

Waiting years to bring a new race or other major additions would be too late, Stone said. 

"If there's an opportunity for us to take some bigger swings and some bigger risks up front, I think it sets us up much better for the long-term health of the game and figuring out ways for us to be able to create new surprises for players," he said.

In fact, Blizzard originally planned even more new additions for Forever's launch. Stone said Blizzard scaled some of those plans back as the game got further into development and its announcement at BlizzCon 2026 loomed. Stone teased more new race and class combos than what are currently playable on the game's beta, as well as "more extreme" class changes as seen in WoW Classic's Season of Discovery, could be coming to Forever in the future.

The addition of Undead Paladin is one of Forever's most exciting new class/race combos.

Blizzard is "deliberately holding back just a little" on what's to come, he said. At BlizzCon, it announced a roadmap through Summer 2027 that included new raids, dungeons, and quests, as well as the launch of the game's "Hardcore" permadeath server.

"As we got closer [to BlizzCon], I think we did start to get a lot smarter and go, 'Okay, let's go ahead and draw the line here. You know, this is a lot. This is great for launch.' But it also allows us to save some really good stuff in terms of new content, new dungeons, new raids--things like that--new race/class combos, for not that far after launch," Stone said. 

Staying On Azeroth

What some of that new content will be is the subject of wild speculation among the game's passionate community. Stone was adamant the team is committed to "staying on Azeroth" and that there's "a lot of [existing] space [on the original world map] that we already know about and we have plans for." 

When asked if Forever would potentially take players to areas outside Azeroth's original two continents of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, including places seen in other WoW expansions, Stone said the world is a big place and that there are "other locations on Azeroth that are not necessarily Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor that we may want to go visit in the future."

"I think that the creative constraint of telling ourselves we're going to stay on Azeroth has created some really cool and interesting creative opportunities for us to explore some places that perhaps players have seen before, and perhaps some places that they haven't seen before," he said. 

The Skyborne are a new playable race currently exclusive to Forever.

As for what else the future may hold, Blizzard is already surveying the community on potential new classes, which raises the natural question of how Forever will be monetized going forward. The game is included as part of WoW's $15 monthly subscription, as has always been the case with WoW Classic, but for the first time Blizzard is charging $30 for a new race, the Skyborne. While previous WoW expansions have added new races and classes for a price, those expansions have also come with whole new worlds to explore and gameplay systems to master. In the case of the Skyborne, they do come with a new starting zone, but it's hardly an entire expansion's worth of new content.

Longdale said charging for access to the Skyborne was an example of Blizzard "testing things out" and finding a way to "support the team and support the business" without adding "unnecessary barriers" for players accustomed to being able to play WoW Classic with their subscription. It's not necessarily a confirmed business model for how Blizzard will handle the addition of new content in the future, she said. It's also not an indication that Blizzard is planning on "throwing a bunch of new races" into the game, though she said there's "a lot of stuff on the table" when it comes to possibilities.

"It's just something we're trying right now," Longdale said. "We'll see if players like it and if it's a reasonable model going forward."

Launch Is Just The Start

Even as players speculate about Forever's future, there are still plenty of unknowns pertaining to the game's launch. Players have only been able to reach level 30 in the game's beta, and there are still thousands of "secret" items in the game's files yet to be discovered. 

Forever's endgame raids will unlock on December 9 for those who have reached level 60 roughly a month after launch, but what those raids will entail, and the items hidden within them, is still a mystery. Unlike in original WoW, where items gained from subsequent raid tiers represented substantial leaps in player power, Stone said Blizzard is aiming to make power progression between raid tiers in Forever "as compact as possible" while still making new raids "fulfilling and desirable." 

He said one aspect about WoW Classic the Forever team loves is being able to find powerful, best-in-slot items from endgame dungeons or the world itself. Stone said there are "a lot of opportunities" for that tradition to continue in Forever, and that there are some "unannounced" ideas the team has that aim to keep content like dungeons relevant so that players will want to return to them. Combined with new additions like the Legacy system, an account-wide perk tree that rewards players for leveling up different classes, mastering new professions, and exploring the world, Stone said the intent is for it to never be too late to jump into Forever.

"We want that answer with WoW Forever to be an emphatic no, it is never too late to start this game or to rejoin if you've stepped away for a bit," Stone said.

Forever's new camping system encourages players to gather, socialize, and gain buffs.

Even as Forever represents an alternate timeline for WoW and pushes ahead with new ideas, it still finds itself repeating history. Just as original WoW was rooted in the lore of Blizzard's Warcraft RTS games, so too is Forever, only this time it was Warcraft 3: Reforged's newly released Forsaken Kingdom campaign.

The two projects actually began completely independently, Stone said, but it quickly became apparent there was an opportunity to tie the lore of the two games together. Blizzard knew it wanted to add Undead Paladins as a race and class combo in Forever, and so Forsaken Kingdom focused on telling the story of the first Forsaken Paladin while exploring the creation of an iconic location from WoW, the Undercity.

"Everything that we're doing, we're starting from a place of canon," Stone said. "Everything that's come before as far as the Warcraft RTS games, the Forsaken Kingdom RTS expansion that we just released as well, everything starts from that." 

What's clear is that November 4 will merely be the start of another potentially decades-long game development journey for Blizzard, which will soon be operating two versions of WoW that are each receiving all-new content independent of one another. Where Forever ultimately ends up is still uncertain. After all, what we now call modern WoW first started as vanilla WoW 22 years ago, and is now radically different from what players first experienced in 2004. Trying to picture what Forever will be like if it similarly lasts 20 years is a fascinating thought experiment.

"We hope that this game goes for 10, 20 years, for as long as players want to go on this journey with us, is essentially what we're saying," Stone said. "Potentially forever."

WoW: Forever launches November 4 and will be playable with a monthly WoW subscription. Its beta will be live until October 21, and is included as part of the $60 Skyborne Epic Pack or $80 WoW: Forever Collection, which additionally includes Warcraft 3: Reforged's Forsaken Kingdom campaign.

IO Interactive has announced the release date for 007 First Light's long-delayed Switch 2 version--March 18, 2027--and that's not all. People who preorder the game for Switch 2 are getting something no other platform has: a ridiculously oversized tie.

Not just any ridiculously oversized tie, however. People who preorder First Light for Switch 2 get the GoldenEye Suit, and it includes the suit and tie that Pierce Brosnan wore in the famous 1995 movie, including the oversized tie.

Brosnan wore a lot of suits in that movie, but the one being referenced here is the one with the oversized tie, which was the style at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONqZeuZtbVE

GoldenEye has a special history with Nintendo specifically, which may help explain why Switch 2 owners are getting this outfit and no one else is. After all, 1997's GoldenEye 007, which was based on the movie, is one of the most iconic N64 games of all time.

First Light has been a big hit, critically and commercially, scoring great reviews and selling more than 4 million copies, and that's before the Switch 2 version even comes out.

The Switch 2 version of First Light was supposed to launch alongside the other versions in May 2026, but was later delayed multiple times. IO said a combination of factors contributed to delays.

In addition to the forthcoming Switch 2 version of First Light, IO is working on a new fantasy game. However, after Xbox pulled funding, IO laid off staff. Many also want to see IO work on the expected sequel to First Light, but no official announcements have been made.

The marketing machine for Grand Theft Auto 6 is at full steam, and while Rockstar Games is showcasing many of the characters players will be encountering in the open-world crime game, one character with a very distinct name has been largely absent from promos.

Viewers of the GTA 6 extended look might have been snickering every time protagonists Jason and Lucia uttered the word "Boobie," but the official GTA 6 website indicates that the character of Boobie Ike is a Vice City powerhouse. Though he's implied to be a highly influential figure in the game's story, he hasn't made an appearance in any trailers.

Boobie is the owner of the Jack of Hearts club, seen in the extended look trailer. His "legitimate empire" also includes real estate investments and a recording studio, and in his words, "the drug money pay for it all." The first segment of the extended look video has Jason and Lucia making a pickup on behalf of Boobie, and simply saying his name was enough to grant them access.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTKUkil8kTQ

The lack of Boobie in any GTA 6 trailers does prompt curiosity about his larger role in the story. It has already been the subject of speculation in social media posts and YouTube videos, with some predicting that he'll turn out to be an antagonist who double-crosses Jason and Lucia. It's also possible that Boobie's presence in the story will be by name only, as he pulls strings from the background.

A more fun theory is that Boobie is a pivotal character with a prominent voice actor--perhaps Rockstar is hiding a surprise, and Boobie's voice is recognizable enough that fans would catch on too quickly (as they did with Stephen Root as Brian). Or, you know, maybe he just isn't a very important character and fans are just overthinking this, as they have with several things related to GTA 6.

While Boobie Ike isn't seen in the freshly dropped GTA 6 launch trailer, there are still a ton of details to squeeze out of that minute and a half. We've learned a lot more about GTA 6's lengthy development through recent reports, and we'll finally see the fruits of that labor when it releases on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.