The ongoing crisis with RAM pricing and the associated knock-on effect it is having on numerous consumer electronics still has its worst days to come, according to GPU manufacturer Zotac.

In a message to its Korean customers, translated by X user Harukaze5719 and reported by Tom's Hardware, the company announced that it is suspending its 2% rewards program in the region in a bid to try to sustain GPU pricing for as long as it can, citing growing concerns with escalating prices as an existential threat to the industry as a whole. Citing the same concerns over current memory prices and the increasing costs of silicon, Zotac has warned its customers that stock for many current-generation GPUs might dry up for a long time, with no promise of it regulating in the near future.

Zotac is one of a few companies that predominantly manufactures graphics cards and hasn't diversified in other areas of gaming hardware. This puts it at a much bigger risk than other companies, such as Asus and Gigabyte, given the margins on their only products are very quickly being squeezed. This doesn't mean that its warning is any less concerning, especially as it comes a few weeks after Asus suggested that stock of its various 50-series Nvidia GPUs might similarly face supply constraints.

Ubisoft workers in France are summoning their collective power to protest the latest restructuring and cost-cutting decisions at the mega publisher, with five unions calling for a "massive international strike" in early February.

According to a joint statement on Bluesky and reported by Game Developer, five Ubisoft unions--STJV, Solidaires Informatique, CGT, CFE-CGC, and Printemps Ecologique--are proposing that all Ubisoft employees stop working from February 10-12 to combat a "CEO who doesn’t even dare talking to employees anymore." This work stoppage is in response to Ubisoft's return-to-office mandate, studio closures and game cancellations in the wake of its major restructuring, workforce-reduction suggestions, and general employee disrespect.

"We are not fooled: Rather than taking responsibility for layoff, they prefer to push us out by making our working conditions unbearable," the statement reads. "It's outrageous. Our colleagues carry on, hold fast, endure, out of solidarity, out of love for the industry, and out of passion. But enough is enough! It is because we love Ubisoft that this situation revolts us!"

Years ago, Microsoft and developer Ensemble Studios were working on a Halo MMO project. The game never materialized, though, and now one of its developers, Rob Fermier, has shared some further insight into the game and what it was aspiring to be.

Fermier said part of the appeal of making a Halo MMO was that the developers personally enjoyed MMOs in general. "I still play World of Warcraft to this day, from day one," Fermier told PC Gamer. "And it was a chance for us to bring something more action-oriented."

Fermier went on to say that, from his view, no one has made a true "action MMO," and this was what the Halo project was trying to do.

Emberville, the spooky fusion of Stardew Valley-like farming and Diablo-flavored combat, has an official release date window for its Steam Early Access debut. Out in Q3 2026, the action-adventure RPG will give players an early taste of its atmospheric world and combat, and to celebrate, developer Cygnuss Cross uploaded a trailer that features the voice talents of the Witcher himself, Doug Cockle, and Alex Jordan, who voiced all 11 versions of Jan Dolski in last year's The Alters.

In development since 2023, Emberville is primarily focused on customization through its farming, gathering, and crafting gameplay mechanics. Similar to other cozy farming sims--but with a touch of sinister malevolence in the air--players can gather resources and improve the procedurally generated world around them by leveling up, learning skills, and unlocking blueprints.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag took the inner conflict of the Templars to the high seas in the early 1700s during the golden age of piracy. Along with retaining the series' stealth and combat system, gameplay elements focused more on the ship-based exploration on an open-world map. It's long been rumored that it's in line for a remake, and a recently leaked statue could add fuel to that fire.

The unreleased statue features Black Flag protagonist Edward Kenway sitting on a treasure chest overflowing with gold coins, leaning back against his ship's wheel, brandishing a cutlass and a pistol. Above Kenway is a waving flag featuring the game's logo: the Assassin's Creed sigil with a skull in the center.

Numerous fans spotted the item pop up, including notorious Assassin's Creed leaker j0nathon, who quickly realized this was not a statue that had been publicly released already. Even weirder is how this statue was reportedly listed via the used clothing resale app Vinted.

The PlayStation 6 is a much-talked-about machine despite lacking an official announcement from Sony, and a report by an industry analyst suggests that we might not see this new console until after 2028, as Sony is looking to extend the PS5's lifespan.

A Japanese-language report from MST International senior analyst David Gibson (per IGN) looked into Sony's overall performance and potential future. According to Gibson, "Sony expects the PS5 lifecycle to be longer than that of previous console generations" and that there is a "high likelihood that the PS6 launch will occur after 2028."

Recent console cycles have lasted around seven years, with the PS3 launching in 2006 before the PS4's release in 2013; the latter then had the limelight until the PS5 launched near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This pattern led to assumptions and predictions that a PS6 would come to markets in 2027, but Gibson believes there are a few reasons not to expect it so soon.

The Elder Scrolls VI is one of the gaming industry's most anticipated upcoming titles, and one of the key mysteries about it is where the game may be set. According to Bethesda's former Elder Scrolls loremaster Kurt Kuhlmann, the developer agreed on the setting many years ago, but he is not going to spill on the beans on what it is, and it might have changed anyway.

"From when we were talking about it way back in the Fallout 4 timeframe, there was a sort of consensus amongst a few people that were talking about it," Kuhlmann told PC Gamer.

He left Bethesda in 2023, and he doesn't know if what the team agreed on is still the chosen setting for The Elder Scrolls VI.

The first major Nintendo Direct of 2026 will be held the first week of February, according to a noted insider. Nate The Hate said on his podcast this week, "From what I have been told, the first Direct of 2026 will be held during the opening week of February."

He said the event may take place on Thursday, February 5, though he was not able to confirm this with his "best contacts." He said he will let people know if things change, but, "Right now, that seems to be the timetable that I am hearing from my contacts."

He went on to say that there is "consensus building" that a Direct will take place in the first week of February. However, Nate The Hate said he does not know what the rumored show's format may be, so he can't say for sure if it's a Direct focused on first-party games or a partner showcase. But he said he is confident that "some form of a Direct" is coming soon.

Highguard is a free-to-play FPS, so you're probably already aware that there are some currencies to collect (or buy) to get the most out of it. Luckily, nothing in this high-octane fantasy shooter is P2W (pay-to-win), with all currencies being used solely to buy cosmetics like skins for characters and guns, emotes, charms, or even banners.

If you've booted up Highguard and wondered what all of the currencies you're accruing so far actually do, you don't need to look any further. Here's every currency in Highguard and what it's used for.

Warden Credits are earned by playing matches of Highguard and completing daily and weekly challenges, the latter of which you can keep up with in the Challenges section of the Headwall tab. This currency is used to purchase cosmetics from the Trading Post (also in the Headwall tab). The cosmetics you can buy here rotate weekly and include everything from character and gun skins to charms and banners.

Apollo is looking to kick back and relax with some movies in the aptly-named Movie Night quest in Arc Raiders. For this outing into the always hectic Stella Montis map, you'll need to go to one of the most dangerous spots and find some old movie tapes, as well as round up a Portable TV. If you want to get in and out quickly, we've got you covered with where to find both.

We'd recommend bringing in an augment with two safe pockets so that you can store these items safely in case your raid goes south. You will need to extract with both of them to complete the quest, after all.

When you're ready to complete Movie Night, follow the steps below.

Capcom has released a new Monster Hunter Wilds patch that appears to fix a bug preventing the game from performing better without DLC installed.

Earlier this month, players were reporting major performance issues on Steam, with user de_Tylmarande theorizing that the game performed better on the platform when more DLC was installed. After a thorough investigation, which involved modding their game to make it think they owned all DLC, their performance greatly improved, and the user concluded that Monster Hunter Wilds' performance issues were due to the game doing a constant DLC presence check.

Now, it looks like Capcom has finally resolved the issue with Ver. 1.040.03.01, writing in the patch notes that the issue was brought to the team's attention. It notes that the patch includes "optimization improvements for Steam-specific processes and options to reduce processing load", and explains the issue related to "unclaimed content", which sounds like DLC.

Tim Bender made his name in the video game industry by founding the indie publisher Hooded Horse and has enjoyed a run of hit games--including last year's sleeper Manor Lords--since 2019. Regardless of his own success, Bender recently suggested that indie developers are better off publishing their own games and suggested that some of his rivals are "predatory and opportunistic."

"People can hate me for this if they want," Bender told PC Gamer. "But most indie publishers are not people indie developers should work with. The vast majority of indie publishers, in their whole structure, are predatory and opportunistic."

Bender's argument is that most of the indie developers "don't add a lot" to the success of a game. He went on to elaborate that other publishers are more interested in lining up a large number of games in the hope of investing in popular titles and abandoning the rest.

Arc Raiders has various large, tough-as-nails ARC to fight, but few strike fear into a person's soul like the Bombardier. Its unpredictable mortar shots can dish out massive damage quickly--and if you're caught out in the open, you'd might as prepare to head back to Speranza in a body bag. But if you've come across the Bombing Run quest and want to know where to find one of these so you can wrap it up, we've got you covered below. Here's where to find Bombardiers and how to kill them.

Bombardiers can spawn in various spots around each map (except Stella Montis). Below are the general locations you can find Bombardiers. They tend to roam, so you may need to scan the area very well to see if they've strayed a bit.

One way to easily spot a Bombardier from afar is to look for its Spotters, which look similar to Snitches, with blue lights beneath them that scan the area around the giant ARC. Just be careful, as these do exactly what you'd expect and will spot you pretty easily, which will alert the Bombardier. This can spell trouble if you haven't found good cover yet.

Amazon has announced another round of job cuts, with around 16,000 people impacted across the business. Whether or not any cuts are coming at Amazon Games is unknown but the division was recently rocked by layoffs and pullbacks from its MMO teams.

Amazon executive Beth Galetti announced the news in a memo to staff today, January 28. Galetti said the announcement of these layoffs today came after Amazon started a new effort focused on "removing bureaucracy" at the company, following an earlier round of thousands of cuts in October 2025.

"While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now," Galetti said.

Arc Raiders often sends you on missions to check out locations across its various maps, but it's not often you get to do some full-blown recon on one of the game's most dangerous ARC. In Combat Recon, you'll need to head to Buried City and scout multiple locations before taking out a Bombardier's helpful little Spotters. But hey, you're up for the challenge, aren't ya?

We'd recommend bringing a loadout that has a safe pocket for this quest. You'll need to pick up and bring back a Spotter Relay from one of the Spotters you kill, so you'll want to keep it safe in case things go sideways.

When you're ready to start up your recon mission, follow the steps below.

Arc Raiders sends you to Spaceport for quite a lot of quests, but few are as involved as On the Map. This long quest asks you to visit multiple locations scattered across this large, open map. It can be a little dangerous--particularly if your lobbies tend to lean aggressive--but we're here to help you through it.

We'd recommend coming into the map with a free loadout since you won't need to extract to complete the quest. This will help ensure that you don't lose anything valuable while roaming around the open areas of Spaceport.

When you're ready to take on On the Map, follow the steps below.

Ubisoft has announced a price increase for Just Dance+, the subscription service for the company's popular dancing game. In a blog post, Ubisoft said it's raising prices so the studio can "continue to support [Just Dance+] in a way that feels both meaningful and sustainable for players."

Ubisoft said there are "important truths" to consider for a music-based service like Just Dance+, and that includes licensing deals. "Every song available in the service relies on licensing agreements that evolve over time, and these conditions directly affect what we can keep, renew, or add to the catalogue," Ubisoft said. "Taking this into account, we've had to make a few adjustments to ensure the service can keep growing in the long run."

Here are the new subscription prices for Just Dance+, which are set to go into effect in April:

The League is a quest in Arc Raiders that sends you to Dam Battlegrounds and Buried City in search of a few items and photo spots. It's a straightforward quest that shouldn't take you too long to complete, but you may need to do a bit of traveling depending on where you spawn. Don't worry, though, as we'll take out any guesswork with the locations of what you need below.

We'd recommend bringing in an augment that has two safe pockets so that you don't risk losing the items you'll need to grab while you're on Dam Battlegrounds. Luckily, you're not headed to any high-traffic locations, so you may be safe from other raiders. Let's hope so, anyway.

When you're ready to complete The League, follow the steps below.

It's that time of the month again, as PS5 console owners can boot up their machine and download a fresh firmware update for their hardware. Version 26.01-12.60.00 brings the usual stability improvements to your PS5, along with a few extra enhancements to messages, friend widgets, and general usability.

If you're a social gamer, then you can take advantage of a new feature that will allow you to jump directly from the Friends Activity widget in your Welcome Hub and into the games that they're playing--which will make joining a session of Street Fighter 6 a little easier.

• You can now jump directly from the Friends Activity widget in your Welcome Hub to the games your friends are playing.
• You can now turn on read receipts to show other players when you've read their messages.
  • To turn on your read receipts, go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Privacy > View and Customise Your Privacy Settings. Under Communication and multiplayer, set Show read receipts to other players on PS5 and PlayStation App to Allow.
  • This feature will be rolled out gradually, and some users will be able to use it when the system software update is released.
• We've improved the messages and usability on some screens.
• We've improved system software performance and stability.

This is the first PS5 update of 2026, following the release of version 25.08-12.40.00 in December 2025. As usual, this update featured incremental upgrades to the console firmware, adding improvements to system stability, messages, and usability on some screens.

If you ask most Fortnite players about the current state of the game, they’d probably be thrilled--outside of technical issues. Recent updates include a detailed Simpsons season with Springfield Island, along with major crossovers featuring The Office and South Park. Despite the onslaught of content, Fortnite design director Ted Timmons says Epic is ready to “step up” its efforts on the live game.

"We’re stepping up our focus on the live game," Timmons wrote in a post on X. "We know that as we prepare for the exciting seasons ahead of us the underlying foundations of the game must still be stable."

Timmons directed players to a thread started by a Fortnite community manager, asking the community to report bugs and provide feedback. Players have highlighted a wide range of issues--from replay mode problems to game reload errors and regional server settings glitches.