After Saber Interactive unveiled its upcoming title Rideshare Stimulater, former lead writer Stella Sacco came forward and said that she had been replaced by ChatGPT during development. Saber CEO Matthew Karch denied Sacco's allegation that she had been replaced by AI, but the company has now shared previously undisclosed details about Rideshare Stimulator's AI usage.

Rideshare Stimulator casts players as a driver who can pick up a seemingly infinite number of passengers and interact with them while getting them to their final destinations. According to the new disclosure on the game's Steam page, Rideshare Stimulator uses AI tools for "voice generation and some localization" and AI-generated passenger missions that can be skipped if players only want "human-written narrative content."

It also adds that the game will have radio stations with "human-made music and AI-generated music," with the latter being clearly labeled in-game. However, Saber flatly states that "the main campaign story, characters, and dialogue are written by a team of human writers."

Earlier this week, Sacco said that she was replaced as the game's lead writer by AI "midway through development."

https://bsky.app/profile/antlervel.vet/post/3mssv7pyows2l

"They took me off the project to use ChatGPT to write the rest of the text, including planned live updates," Sacco told PC Gamer in a subsequent statement. "If they changed plans in the intervening years, that's great. But again: I was there, and it was my job to write the game, and then it wasn't once Matt Karch decided using ChatGPT would be great publicity for the game."

Karch released a statement of his own with This Week in Videogames that added greater controversy to the story by claiming that Stella "violated" her agreement with the company.

"Stella who? I had to ask Claude because I have never spoken to her or seen her. We have already said we are using AI for certain parts of the game and will update the Steam page once we have finalized the feature set. Let me clarify that the entire story script, were it to win an award, would go to someone who can walk up on stage and receive it. It was always our intention to reveal this until Stella violated her confidentiality clause and revealed this before we were ready."

Karch added his belief that "our use of AI in this particular game, which will be a lower-priced title, [will be a plus] for consumers." So far, the game's potential players don't appear to share that sentiment. The discussions page on Steam has several comments calling out Saber for its AI use on this game.

Rideshare Stimulator will be released on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. This game doesn't currently have a release date.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is set to receive its first major patch next week, one that will give players more control over the game's visuals as well as make improvements to Jackals and Sgt. Johnson.

As outlined by the Halo Support X account, a patch coming sometime next week will fix a few pain points for players of Halo Studios' remake. The update should make graphics purists happy, as it will add the ability to disable the game's very noticeable film grain and chromatic aberration. The patch will also include "additional stability improvements across multiple platforms."

On the gameplay front, Jackals are receiving some changes so that they can be staggered more reliably when targeting their hands and feet, as has always been the case in Halo. Sgt Johnson is being updated so that he no longer blocks mission progress. This sounds like it will mostly affect the three new prequel missions included as part of the remake, where Johnson occasionally needs to hack open doors before Master Chief can proceed. Marines and Flood Marines will also correctly fire their Assault Rifles with the Magnified Skull turned on.

https://twitter.com/HaloSupport/status/2087947309334012346?s=20

It remains to be seen if the patch will address other issues players have spotted since release, including unresponsive enemy AI and cutscenes that lock up and fail to play properly. Halo Studios states there will be more details in the full patch notes when the update is released. It's also worth noting that any mid-mission saved progress will be lost upon downloading the new update, though unlocked missions and rally points will remain.

The launch of Halo: Campaign Evolved may not have gone as well as Halo Studios would have liked, with reports indicating the game is off to a slow start on PlayStation 5 and has sold a combined total of 1.2 million copies across all platforms so far. 

According to one analyst, Halo: Campaign Evolved's greatest competition, particularly on PC, might be Halo itself. The franchise's compilation package, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, released over a decade ago and contains almost the entirety of the Halo franchise, including online multiplayer, and can be bought for $40 at the high end or much cheaper when on sale. When compared to Halo: Campaign Evolved, which only features the first game's campaign, no multiplayer, and retails for $50, it's not hard to see why some players decided this was a fight that didn't need finishing. 

Given the remake's performance, it's unclear what is coming next for the franchise, though Halo: Campaign Evolved does seemingly tease a Halo 2 remake.

Deborah Ann Woll plays Faye in the upcoming PS5 game God of War Laufey, and she had quite a memorable first day on set. At San Diego Comic-Con recently, she shared a story about how, on her very first day, she broke a famous prop from The Last of Us due to her strength and tenacity--only she didn't know the significance at the time. And now, footage of the event has arrived.

"Unbeknownst to me, this was a very famous prop that they had used on The Last of Us," she said, going on to joke that it was "some sort of sporting equipment." It was actually a golf club prop, and you probably know what that means...

"They gave it to me and I was supposed to use it like an axe. And I broke it," Woll said.

Game director Ariel Lawrence added, "She swung it so hard, it cracked. And it echoed throughout the volume. And we were like, 'Hot damn, let's go.'"

https://twitter.com/SonySantaMonica/status/2088280064974635337

God of War: Laufey is in the works now for PS5, and it's arriving in February 2027. Starring alongside Woll is The Boys actor Jack Quaid, who plays a gelatinous cube named Phranque.

A new Kratos-led game is coming after that, and it will pick up where Laufey left off.

US Senators Josh Hawley and Dick Durbin have announced that Roblox will be the subject of a congressional investigation amid claims that the gaming platform is a threat to child safety.

"You trumpet Roblox as a safe digital playground for children as young as five," the pair wrote in an open letter. "But the public record raises serious questions about this promise of safety. Over the past decade, police have arrested numerous individuals for committing serious acts of violence and harm against children they met via Roblox, including grooming, sexual abuse, kidnapping, rape, and even murder. Roblox is being used to trade child sexual abuse material, participate in sexually explicit--and often violent--virtual 'experiences' with children, bribe and extort children into producing explicit content, and lure children into in-person meetings. It is heartbreaking."

"Roblox appears to prioritize revenue and engagement metrics over the safety and well-being of our children, and the alleged criminal activity on Roblox warrants congressional scrutiny. Let us be clear: children on your platform are hurting. Congress will not look the other way."

Roblox

Hawley (a Republican from Missouri) and Durbin (a Democrat from Illinois) added that Roblox reported 65,381 instances of suspected child sexual exploitation to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2025, more than doubling what it reported in 2024. Headed by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, Roblox Corporation has been instructed to preserve its records and turn over certain documents by August 31.

The investigation will also require Roblox CEO David Baszucki to provide evidence as to how Roblox will better police itself.

"Roblox is built on the foundation of safety. We do not compromise on that commitment," Roblox’s chief safety officer Matt Kaufman said in a statement (via Politico). "We look forward to sharing the facts about how we protect children on the platform."

Roblox has been the subject of significant scrutiny recently. Australian lawmakers have it in their crosshairs over reports of grooming and sexual content, Florida’s Attorney General has described it as a breeding ground for predators, and the Attorney General of Texas sued The Roblox Corporation over child-exploitation accusations.

Earlier this year, Roblox Corporation agreed to pay more than $12 million to the state of Nevada as part of a move to create a safer environment for its young users, but other regions, such as the United Kingdom, have suggested drastic solutions to protect children online.

Activision has announced that the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 beta will have more than just multiplayer content. The MW4 beta will also include access to the campaign mission, Entrenched, along with the upcoming Warzone mode, Resurgence Zodiac.

Activision will show off some of this content during the Call of Duty: Next event on August 21. As announced previously, the beta begins with an early access period August 21-25 for people who preorder, before opening up to everyone to try August 28-September 1. The early-access beta will not be available on Switch 2, as preorders for the Switch 2 version don't begin until August 28.

The MW4 beta approaches.

Activision also revealed all the maps, modes, and content in the beta. You can find the full details in GameSpot's rundown of the MW4 beta.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 releases on October 23 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2, and preordering grants access to the campaign a week before launch. The game coming to Switch 2 is notable since the franchise hasn't appeared on a Nintendo platform since 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts.

MW4 is also the first entry since Ghosts in 2013 to skip PS4 and Xbox One. Infinity Ward is leading development on the game, which comes after back-to-back Black Ops releases, the latter of which, 2025's Black Ops 7, had the worst sales ranking in the US since 2008.

Also noteworthy for Modern Warfare 4 is that it will not launch directly into Xbox Game Pass, as both Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 did.

Disney has outlined just how powerful and important video games are to the company's future. In a blog post ahead of D23--where Kingdom Hearts news is expected--the company's gaming boss, Sean Shoptaw, revealed that games are now a "fundamental part of the broader entertainment landscape."

He said Disney has reaped the rewards, with nine of its gaming franchises grossing more than $1 billion at retail so far. "So, it’s about telling truly original stories that really are unique to this medium, specifically," he said.

Some of these include Kingdom Hearts and Marvel Strike Force. Shoptaw added that more than half of the nine franchises have only appeared in the past 12 years. Disney runs multiple game outfits, including Disney Pixar Games, Marvel Games, Lucasfilm Games, and 20th Century Games, just to name a few, all of which live under the broader Disney Games banner.

Disney Games has reached about $3.5 billion in consumer spend annually for the past four years, exceeding $4 billion in the past fiscal year alone. Shoptaw said this helps hammer home how gaming will be a "key part of Disney's storytelling strategy in the present and the future."

He added that Disney isn't necessarily all that interested in doing things like movie tie-ins, which were popular in the '90s and early 2000s. Instead, he said Disney wants to create original games that tell new stories, with Shoptaw citing Marvel's Wolverine as a prime example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0llQ8tuYRU

One of Disney's biggest bets in gaming in recent years has been through its partnership with Epic Games and Fortnite. Disney has invested more than $1.5 billion into Epic Games, and Shoptaw said its partnership is a "really important one."

“Our partnership with Epic is a really important one,” Shoptaw said. “What Epic has built with Fortnite has really created one of the most important social entertainment platforms in the world, and certainly for us, we see a ton of opportunity to bring our great characters, stories, and worlds into that universe and build something truly unique to Disney.”

"Our ambition is to create something truly transformational. A space that people can come play, watch, and create, and a space that we bring all of Disney together in one connected universe."

Disney has brought many of its franchises to Fortnite already, and its Simpsons collaboration was particularly successful. Looking ahead, Disney is planning even more in Fortnite, reportedly including an Arc Raiders-style game.

Disney's new CEO, Josh D'Amaro, is a big believer in games and has suggested gaming could be Disney's next big growth-driver, after the company's stock price has been flat over the past decade. Some have theorized that Disney could buy Epic and Fortnite to help grow the business, but nothing has materialized as of yet.

Disney was, at one point in history, a developer of games itself with its Disney Interactive Studios label. This unit of the entertainment giant produced a number of games over the years, including the Disney Infinity "toys-to-life" series. However, Disney shuttered Disney Interactive Studios and now focuses more on licensing. Former CEO Bob Iger spoke candidly about Disney’s struggles making and publishing games internally, admitting, “We haven’t been particularly good…”

High on Life is coming to a new platform, as the irreverent first-person shooter with talking alien guns is getting a VR port. Announced during the VR Games Showcase, this new version of High on Life will launch for Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2, and SteamVR headsets in 2027.

Originally developed by Squanch Games, the VR port of High on Life is being handled by Flat2VR Studios. The developer says that it is essentially rebuilding the game so that it can take advantage of VR tech, allowing players to interact with their talking--and opinionated--guns. The trailer below shows off some of these new features, like being able to stroke your weapons and feed them, and we bet they'll have something to say about that.

"As we're adding all of these fun, manual VR interactions, it's really important that they make sense in gameplay and that they're maintaining the fast, fluid, and powerful feeling of combat," High on Life VR game director Emily O'Neil said in the reveal trailer.

https://youtu.be/EQziBgQgrJI

First released in 2022, High on Life saw players take on an alien cartel that invaded Earth and turned the populace into recreational drugs. As an up-and-coming bounty hunter armed with Gatliens--sentient guns that could be used to solve all kinds of problems--the game was a hit thanks to its weird sense of humor, fun gameplay, and an extremely Australian knife hellbent on stabbing everything. A sequel was released earlier this year, but reviews were lukewarm, thanks in part to various technical issues that hampered its launch.

VR fans can also look forward to a port of System Shock from Flat2VR Studios. Not much was revealed about this project, but the teaser trailer suggested that the VR version will be based on the superb 2023 remake of the cult-classic 1994 game.

Christian Allen, who was on the leadership team at Warner Bros. Games when 2011's The Lord of the Rings: War in the North came out, has commented on the recent re-release, saying he's happy the game is coming back because it didn't get a "fair shake" upon its original release. Why's that? He said he "argued vociferously" not to release it at the same time as Bethesda's iconic RPG The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

"15 years ago I argued vociferously not to release this up against Skyrim, as it wouldn't get a fair shake. I got overruled," he said (via VGC). "Nice to see it get a proper release."

War in the North is back.

War in the North was originally released on November 1, 2011--just 10 days later, Bethesda released Skyrim. In addition to launching around the same time as Skyrim, War in the North launched on the same day as Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and a week before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Allen did not work directly on War in the North in a development capacity, but he was on the studio leadership team. He said the developers at Snowblind, which has since shuttered, "deserve all the credit." He said when War in the North was originally released in 2011, it got "lost in the wash," while "every review just compared it to Skyrim (as I predicted they would)."

Allen went on to say War in the North had "hardly any marketing." He theorized that the executives either "wrote it off or thought hardcore Lord of the Rings fans would just know about it, somehow."

While not discussing War in the North's release date specifically, Allen theorized that higher-ups at publicly traded companies may be discouraged from shifting release dates because of how such changes could affect bonuses.

"Quarterly revenue motivations drive more decisions than people realize. It's a big challenge with stock-price driven organizations," he said. "Must be hard to be an exec and go 'Well, this game will do better if we hold it until March, but my bonus will take a 50% hit,'" he said.

Aspyr Media licensed War in the North from WB and re-released the game this week in the Legacy Edition. The publisher is planning to re-release more Lord of the Rings games in the future.

After spending time in the US military, Allen joined Red Storm Entertainment in 2002, where he became the creative director and design director for the Ghost Recon games. He then moved to Bungie, where he was the design lead on Halo: Reach. In 2009, he joined WB Games as design director. He later started his own company, Serellan, before joining Epic Games to become its lead Unreal Engine evangelist. He's now the design director at Project Zomboid developer The Indie Store.

2K Games has announced the formation of Small Axe Studios, a new developer that it says will be focused on building a new "blockbuster" sports franchise. While the publisher--which is owned by Take-Two Interactive--has commented which sport will be joining its other franchises, it looks like 2K might be taking on EA's annual soccer series, EA Sports FC.

Currently, Small Axe Studios includes several former EA developers, with Aaron McHardy as studio head. McHardy had previously been in charge of EA's FIFA franchise for 15 years, and other notable names include Gary Peterson as Small Axe's head of design, Tom Pan as head of operations, technical art director John Cruz, and engineering lead Mike Thompson--all EA veterans.

Small Axe Studios logo

Another clue that 2K Games will be making its own soccer game is the Small Axe logo, which resembles a soccer club badge on a shirt. While EA has dominated the soccer genre on console and PC--forging its own path forward after it split with FIFA in 2023 and transitioned to EA Sports FC. There hasn't been a new AAA FIFA game since then, but the international soccer body has kept the brand active with mobile games and a World Cup game on Netflix.

Now is also a good time to strike while the proverbial iron is hot, as following the recent FIFA World Cup, soccer got a huge visibility boost as record numbers of people tuned in to watch the tournament.

Small Axe Studios joins a roster of game studios at 2K that focus on specific sports and have proven to be very popular over the years. NBA 2K, PGA Tour 2K, and WWE 2K have all been big hits for Take-Two Interactive, drawing in revenue not just from launch sales but from various microtransactions as well. Both Take-Two Interactive and EA have been criticized for how aggressively they monetize their games, with fans accusing them of pushing pay-to-win mechanics.

Earlier this summer, Netflix-owned developer Night School released Unhinged, a horror game that was playable on televisions/screens through the streaming app. Unhinged was met with acclaim by players, and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters recently called Unhinged one of "our two most successful cloud game debuts" during an investor call. Regardless, Night School has been shuttered by Netflix's latest round of cuts.

As reported by Game File, Night School and Moonloot are the latest gaming developers to be closed down by Netflix. According to the outlet, Netflix justified the closures by noting that the streamer is narrowing its focus to games for kids, party games, story-driven titles, or "games with mainstream hooks."

"We see an opportunity to be more focused in our execution, so we are making organizational changes to the business to match those priorities," said Netflix in a statement to Game File. "Games continue to be an opportunity for us to expand the variety of entertainment we offer Netflix members."

This isn't the first time that Netflix has made gaming cuts at one of its developers after praising its work. Earlier this month, Netflix laid off 85% of the staff of Refactor Games, the developer behind a FIFA World Cup title that Netflix identified as the other most-successful cloud game debut alongside Unhinged.

In July, Netflix boasted that its gaming engagement had gone up 600% from the previous year. While Netflix has previously shared its ambition for a larger stake in the gaming world, the company was notably uninterested in purchasing Warner Bros.' gaming assets before the proposed sale fell through and Paramount emerged as the winning suitor. Another report indicated that Netflix considered buying EA, one of the largest third-party gaming publishers. EA was later sold to a group that includes Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and taken private.

Pedro Pascal plays Joel in HBO's popular The Last of Us, based on the Naughty Dog game, and he has been praised for his performance. However, he wasn't the only actor in the mix for the role.

Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey revealed more details on the Happy Sad Confused podcast about why he didn't star on the show. The Last of Us "was really good but it wasn't for me at the time," the actor said.

He added that signing on to The Last of Us would have also meant committing himself to the project for potentially years on end. "In success, this is something you'll be doing for years and years and years," he said. At the time he was circling The Last of Us, McConaughey said he "wasn't really acting" and was focusing more on writing and leadership roles in filmmaking.

It would have been a reunion for McConaughey and HBO, as he previously starred on True Detective. That is an anthology series, and McConaughey appeared in the first season only, alongside Woody Harrelson.

https://youtu.be/peXOgVAUm40?si=iOBaVWIfRAm1mX3X&t=2364

Before this, The Last of Us showrunner and writer Craig Mazin said he had talked to McConaughey about playing Joel, but it was more of, "Hey, here's something we can talk about" as opposed to a definite thing was that happening.

"Look, Matthew McConaughey is an amazing actor. I’m sure it would’ve been great, but it would’ve been different and I like the one that we made," Mazin said.

The Last of Us Season 1 was released in January 2023 and it was a huge hit. Season 2 followed in 2025, and a third season is now coming in 2027. In addition to Pascal as Joel, the series stars Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Kaitlyn Dever as Abby.

As for the game series, it's rumored that Naughty Dog is working on The Last of Us: Part III, but this is not confirmed. What we do know is that Naughty Dog is making a new game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, though we have not seen it in some time.

Remakes and remasters are popular, but Benson Russell, a designer on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune at Naughty Dog, has said he's not interested in a new one for the 2007 game.

Speaking to FRVR, Russell said he's not against the idea of remakes and remasters generally, but he said Uncharted is "still in the zeitgeist" and available on modern platforms. "What's the point of remastering [or remaking] it?" he said.

Instead of a remake or a remaster, Russell said a better idea might be to do what fans have been clamoring for: make a new one. “Take the lessons of Uncharted 4 and make a new game ..." he said.

Russell went on to say a remake or remaster of the original Uncharted could feel "more like a cash grab" than something that people was thought was "necessary" to bring it up to modern standards. He would like to see Naughty Dog "take the spirit" of the franchise and make a new game.

Bloomberg previously reported that Sony considered remaking or remastering Uncharted, but decided against it because it would be "expensive and require too much added design work."

While Uncharted never got a remake or remaster, Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and The Last of Us 2 both had remastered versions. As for a new Uncharted game, a new entry in the series was reportedly planned some years ago and fans now believe Naughty Dog is teasing a new game.

The original Uncharted game is playable today on PS5 and PS4 via Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection--this also includes Uncharted 2 and 3. These include updated, remastered versions of those three games.

A lot of people embrace and enjoy remakes, while others say developers should instead spend more time and resources on entirely new games. Gaming legend Shigeru Miyamoto, for his part, defended remakes and remasters, saying they are good for a number of reasons, including to help younger generations experience games they might have missed. Additionally, money from remakes and remasters can fund future games, he said.

Wardogs, an upcoming large-scale, hardcore FPS inspired by games like Arma, is taking a unique approach with its marketing by listing 10 reasons why prospective players shouldn't buy it.

In an official video, developer Bulkhead revealed September 10 as Wardogs' Steam early access release date, but also laid the rest of its cards on the table. Point by point, it outlined all the main reasons why potential players might not want to take a chance on the shooter, ranging from its lack of content, high early-access price, visual fidelity, and even the failure of Bulkhead's previous shooter, Battalion: 1944. 

"Before the hype train gets out of control, we want to do something most AAA marketing teams would tell their dev teams to never do--give you 10 legitimate reasons why you should not buy Wardogs," Bulkhead said in the video.

Those reasons are as follows:

1. Lack of early-access content
2. Early-access pricing
3. Player count will decline
4. Monetization
5. Performance and visuals
6. Shifting early-access priorities
7. Battalion: 1944
8. VOIP
9. Controller support
10. Decisions and consequences

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugkuP4a3xk4

Some of those reasons are fairly self explanatory, like lack of content during the early-access period and its price. Wardogs will initially cost $40 in early access, a steep price for some. The price will go up over the course of development and will eventually sell for $60 at the end of early access.

"If the price sounds too high for an early-access game, please don't buy it yet," Bulkhead said.

Other reasons require a bit more explanation. Decisions and consequences refers to Wardog's more milsim-style gameplay, where death requires a long trek back to the frontlines and rebuying lost equipment. 

"If you're running in like you're playing Call of Duty or Battlefield, you will likely die to someone playing more cautiously," Bulkhead said. "If you're not willing to learn from those deaths, you're going to have a bad time."  

While Wardogs doesn't yet have any monetization like a battle pass or paid skins, there will eventually be some way for Bulkhead to make more money and continue funding the game's development. However, that will likely be years from now, as Bulkhead said it won't monetize the game during early access. Additionally, Bulkhead won't sell weapon camos or in-game currency, with players needing to earn them through play.

"It might seem strange to be talking about monetization years down the line, but we want you to be able to buy in knowing what you're buying into long term," Bulkhead said.

One of the most hard-hitting reasons is Bulkhead's track record. The team previously released Battalion: 1944, a 5v5 Call of Duty-inspired shooter that died almost immediately on release, having only ever reached between 50-200 concurrent players, Bulkhead said. The studio eventually saved enough funds from work-for-hire projects to stay afloat, offered refunds to players, and refunded Battalion: 1944's Kickstarter backers, but it understands why some players may be hesitant.

"It's these lessons and scars from Battalion that Wardogs has been built upon," Bulkhead said. "It's why we've been so cautious with our playtesting and why we've been so open with our marketing. To be really clear, we wouldn't have Wardogs without Battalion's failure, but if you still don't trust our studio because of Battalion: 1944, don't rush to buy Wardogs."

So far, Bulkhead's list of reasons don't seem to be slowing down Wardogs' sales. It's currently climbing up Steam top-seller charts.

A week has passed since Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launched for PC and PS5, and the new fighting game is off to a solid start. According to new estimates by Alinea Analytics, the game has reportedly sold 485,000 units as of August 12, with PS5 being the dominant platform.

As outlined by Alinea Analytics’ head of market analysis, Rhys Elliott, the PS5 accounted for 74% of sales, and Steam 26%. That's not too surprising, as the game experienced technical issues on PC. Developer Arc System Works released a patch for Marvel Tokon earlier this week, aiming to address multiple performance issues on PC.

Those sales account for an estimated $33 million in revenue, and Elliott also noted that only 15.1% of the units sold on PS5 were physical copies, which is surprisingly low for a new PlayStation game. Further analysis showed that Marvel Tokon attracted a crowd of hardcore fighting game fans, as 52% of people had previously played Arc's Dragon Ball FighterZ, 39% had played Street Fighter 6, and 41% had played Mortal Kombat 1.

Image credit: Alinea Analytics

Marvel fans also helped drive sales, as there's a strong crossover here with people who had previously played games like Insomniac's Marvel's Spider-Man titles and NetEase's Marvel Rivals. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day doing blockbuster numbers at cinemas, it's not too hard to imagine having Spider-Man in a new fighting game would also attarct potential customers--or boost sales, like in the case of Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

Being close to 500,000 sales might not sound that impressive, but as Elliott explained, fighting games are still a niche genre. What they do have going for them are passionate fanbases, giving these games long legs over time.

To give you an idea, Street Fighter 6 has cleared 7 million lifetime sales as of June 30, 2026. The game first launched in 2023 and is easily the fighting game of the current generation, so Marvel Tokon has its work cut out for it if it wants to dethrones Capcom popular brawler.

The brand recognition of Marvel certainly helps, and the developers of Marvel Tokon have an ambitious goal to keep this 4v4 fighting game in the spotlight for the next decade.

"Marvel heroes and villains are once again beating each other up in tag-based battles, and I am loving the experience of jumping in and figuring out new strategies," Jason Fanelli wrote in GameSpot's Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review. "Rather than lean on old tropes, Arc System Works elected to put its own spin on the idea, and what they've cooked up sets a new bar for future tag fighters. Once the technical issues for PC are ironed out, there's a bright future ahead. With Marvel Tokon, Arc System Works has created the next foundational title for modern fighting games."

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls Roster – Every Character Revealed (So Far) View Images

Look, it's no surprise to anyone for me to admit that I like South of Midnight. I've written about it being a love letter to the American Deep South, noted how it was one of the best Xbox games of 2025, and talked about how much the game's story, characters, and setting have meant to me on video podcasts for both GameSpot and IGN. I want everyone to play this game, and there's never been a better time to do so on Steam.

As noticed by Respec, Xbox is no longer listed as the publisher for South of Midnight on Steam. Instead, the game is noted as being self-published by Compulsion Games, reflecting the studio's independence following another round of severe layoffs and restructuring from Xbox.

While Compulsion Games hasn't confirmed whether this is the case--who knows what type of strange and awful backroom clauses might be in place to ensure Xbox keeps getting a slice of this particular pie--this does seem to indicate that all future sales of South of Midnight on Steam will benefit Compulsion, not Compulsion and Xbox. 

So if you want to play South of Midnight, but you were concerned about continuing to line Xbox's pockets, this seems like the golden opportunity to finally give the action-adventure platformer a go.

And you should play it! The game is so good! South of Midnight's selling point is certainly its atmosphere. The sound design and orchestral score are tied into the gameplay and story to put you right into the midst of its gothic fantasy, transforming the trauma of a resilient and multifaceted culture into the backbone of one of the most affecting video games I've ever played. Its combat and platforming aren't exactly wow-worthy, leaning on tried-and-true PlayStation 2-era mechanics without pushing them forward in any meaningful way, but those shortcomings are overshadowed by memorable characters, catchy tunes, and incredible visuals.

Like I said in my South of Midnight review, "Compulsion Games hasn’t made a direct sequel to any of its games yet, but it needs to make an exception here." South of Midnight is just that great. Compulsion Games has a real winner here, and you should support the studio by buying and playing South of Midnight, and then joining me in celebrating this gaming accomplishment.

Unlike its work on the Spider-Man games, Insomniac won't be throwing players into an open-world environment with Marvel's Wolverine. It's an old-school single-player game that focuses on pushing the story from Point A to Point B, but that doesn't mean that you can't take a detour or two. This will allow players to spend some extra time with Logan, as Insomniac says that players can hunt down resources for new suits and take part in combat trials that'll test their skills.

"It is a story-driven adventure," senior project director Jess Reiner-Reed said to IGN. "Logan is pulled through uncovering these mysteries of his past. But you can go off the beaten path."

Logan is known for enjoying his hard liquor, and as you'd expect, you can grab bottles of whiskey hidden away in stages. Collecting these will help Wolverine power up, while material crates hold raw materials that can be used to acquire new suits--similar to Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Fun fact: Logan's healing factor allows him to knock back an incredible amount of alcohol and not stay drunk, due to his regenerative abilities burning through those toxins almost instantly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i247qa_YL_A&pp=0gcJCfkLAYcqIYzv

The other activity, Nightmare Doors, will take players into Logan's psyche. Described as "manifestations of the horrible things" in his head, each Nightmare Door offers its own unique trials for Logan to overcome, and again, this sounds vaguely similar to the Mysterio challenges in Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Finally, players who roll credits on Marvel's Wolverine can replay the game in New Game Plus, bringing their entire loadout and progression with them.

Insomniac says that "some fun things" happen here, and there'll be sections that are either more challenging or allow Logan to really cut loose with all of his upgrades. "It’s undeniable that Insomniac’s take on Logan is firmly planted in familiar game design, but Wolverine is clearly doing more than just fitting a typical story of the character in it," managing editor Tamoor Hussain wrote in GameSpot's Wolverine preview.

The game launches soon for PS5, on September 15. To celebrate the release, Sony has also announced a limited-edition Marvel's Wolverine PS5 bundle, console covers, and a new DualSense controller inspired by the game.

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GTA 6 preorders began in late June, and, as expected, there was enormous demand for the game. Take-Two said GTA 6 had unprecedented preorder numbers, but the company is not disclosing a specific figure to avoid misleading investors. Sensor Tower, a research and analytics company for gaming, is, however, estimating where they may land.

Karl Kontus, the SVP and GM of video game insights at Sensor Tower, told GI.biz that preorders for GTA 6 could be in the area of 25 million when the game releases, which would amount to "unprecedented preorder performance."

Kontus said 25 million preorders would work out to around $2 billion in revenue. That would cover GTA 6's development cost and the majority of marketing spend, he estimated. To be sure, Rockstar has not disclosed a production or marketing budget for GTA 6, but the game was no doubt very costly to produce.

The analyst pointed out that GTA 6's proper marketing campaign has not begun yet--fans can expect it to kick off with the August 27 trailer on Netflix. Kontus said the majority of preorders for GTA 6 will come in the last week or so before launch.

Kontus went on to say that while early preorder data may skew toward the game's $100 edition, as Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick recently said, the final figures may be closer to 50/50 between the $80 and $100 editions.

The analyst also discussed how Take-Two and Rockstar were smart to pack the $100 Ultimate Edition with a lot of exclusive items to encourage people to spend more.

"Sometimes the premium SKUs are just filler content to justify a higher price, but the GTA 6 premium SKU comes with a meaningful amount of vehicles, weapons, and even a custom mod shop that you wouldn't get otherwise," Kontus said. "For a lot of people, this is the one 'must-buy' game this year, and they will want to make the most of it. I'm actually kind of surprised they didn't do a $150 SKU – feels like money left on the table (but also fewer players being angry as a result)."

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It’s expected to be 2026’s biggest game, and it could get another jolt when the next evolution of GTA Online launches.

Starting next week, it's going to be totally acceptable to eat Pokemon. That's because Krispy Kreme on August 18 will launch a limited-time Pokemon Doughnut Collection, featuring tasty-looking pastries based on five beloved pocket monsters. 

You can take a bite of a Pikachu doughnut, filled with lemon creme and topped with "electrifying drizzle" as well as a Pikachu piece. Meanwhile, there's a Charmander doughnut containing a chocolate and toasted marshmallow filling. Other options include original glazed doughnuts but customized for Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Jigglypuff, and even the Poke Ball. A special-edition dozen looks to retail for about $21 in the US. 

The collaboration doesn't stop there, either. For starters, Krispy Kreme says that anyone who wears Pokemon threads to one of its locations on August 22 will receive a free basic glazed doughnut. There will also be five different Pokemon cups to collect, with each one housing 10 glazed gold dots. 

Hilariously enough, you can actually preorder the Pokemon doughnuts right now from Krispy Kreme's website. The Pokemon cups are going for about $8, or you can bundle one of those with the dozen collection for around $29. That's not really offering any additional savings, though. 

By the way, this isn't the first Pokemon food collaboration of the year. Target has Pokemon Pop-Tarts available, which originally came out back in 2000. The original anime also strongly hinted that people ate Pokemon. Last month, a sex toy shop launched unofficial items like the Bulbypulse to help you Pokemoan. 

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Revealed during PlayStation's State of Play earlier this year, The Lost Wild is a first-person horror game that combines the awe of walking amongst dinosaurs, such as in Jurassic Park, with the terror of being hunted by a creature you can't defeat, à la Alien: Isolation. For Great Ape Games CEO Nick Gregory, it's a lot more than that; it's the culmination of an idea he's had in his mind since childhood. 

GameSpot recently caught up with Gregory via email to discuss the more than 20-year journey from boyhood dream to a Steam wishlist darling. He spoke to his team's growth as the project shifted to a full-time job, The Lost Wild's humble origins before he even knew how to really make games, and the subtleties of depicting dinosaurs as "animals, not monsters."

GameSpot: As I understand it, this game began as a Crysis mod. Can you talk about the long journey from that to where it is today?

Nick Gregory: Believe it or not, this actually goes back even further than the Crysis mod.

I was a teenager living with my mum, over two decades ago now. I was lucky enough to get a PC at that age, and it opened the door for me not only to gaming, but to tinkering too. It was not quite the proverbial garden shed, but it changed the course of my life all the same. 

I first started tinkering with a game called Operation Flashpoint, a military sandbox game that shipped with a mission editor and extensive modding tools. I began with simple things like placing units, creating waypoints and setting up event logic, then gradually moved into custom mission scripts and assets. That period exposed me to a whole lot, learning how to model, script, keyframe, and design. None of it was remotely close to shippable quality, but it was an honest, naive, and practical crash course, driven entirely by passion and curiosity. 

A few years later, I went through the same process with Crysis and CryEngine. The technology felt like a huge leap forward. Crysis shipped with its editor, and being able to load the game, fly around the world, and change things in real time felt extraordinary. It's easy to take that kind of workflow for granted nowadays, but at the time it was transformative.

I joined the Crymod forums and became fascinated by what people were making with the SDK: maps, models, skins, full conversions. I would come home and see what everyone had created, and eventually I stopped wanting simply to observe it. I wanted to be part of it. 

So I decided to find out what a dinosaur might look like in CryEngine. I wanted to know what it might feel like to walk alongside one in a natural environment, where it behaved like an animal rather than a mindless monster. That was the original vision, and it grew from there.

The first dinosaur looked surprisingly good, so I began posting work-in-progress images online. Those posts gradually attracted people who believed in the idea, and before long we'd assembled a volunteer team of around 15 developers: artists, level designers, programmers and sound designers. Several of them now hold senior positions across the games industry. One of those people was Tim, who joined us straight out of university, believed deeply in the project and is now a fellow co-founder and Creative Director. 

I was never the strongest developer. I was very much a kitbasher and generalist, but I discovered that I had an ability to establish a vision and a clear “why,” find talented people, bring them together, and articulate why an idea was worth pursuing. That has stayed with me throughout my career and still shapes how I run the studio today.

We improvised constantly. At one point, we retrofitted Crytek's chicken AI to make one of our dinosaurs semi-functional. We were a million miles from producing a complete game, but the journey mattered far more than the destination for me. We formed lifelong friendships, learned an enormous amount, and eventually had the mod featured in a full-page article in PC Gamer, which was an incredible moment for a group of people building something from their bedrooms.

Looking back, I think of that work less as an early version of the game and more as a piece of interactive 3D concept art. It proved there was something compelling at the heart of the idea, and it established the relationships and conviction that would eventually make the game possible. The idea stayed with me for nearly two decades, until we finally had the experience, technology, and opportunity to return to it and execute on it with a lot more knowledge and know-how. 

So the journey from that mod to The Lost Wild was anything but a straight line. Looking back, it is surreal that a simple idea I had as a teenager could stay with me for so long and directly or indirectly shape so many of the decisions that followed. We still talk about how wild it is to this day. 

The Lost Wild has taken Nick Gregory 20+ years to bring to life, but it's now nearly here.

When, if ever, did The Lost Wild become your main focus/full-time job? 

For several years, The Lost Wild was something we built around full-time jobs and other responsibilities. We spent our evenings and weekends developing a vertical slice because we felt it was important to show the game itself, rather than rely on a polished presentation and promises about what it might eventually become if everything went to plan.

It was not easy. There were a lot of late nights, missed weekends, and personal savings poured into something with no guarantee that it would ever become more than an idea. It required a real sacrifice that, in hindsight, was now absolutely worth it.

The major turning point came when we signed with Annapurna. Since then, The Lost Wild has been the studio’s full-time focus. Their support allowed us to grow the team, move into full production, and take the project from that early vertical slice towards the game we are now preparing to release. 

So it was a gradual journey rather than a single overnight moment, but signing with Annapurna absolutely made this dream possible. 

What's the size of the team making the game today, and how has that differed from its earliest version?

When we first began working on the game full time, the core team consisted of just four people: myself, my co-founders Tim and David, and Dennis, a very talented freelance programmer at the time, who eventually joined us full time and is still with the studio today. 

Today, the team has grown considerably. We now have eighteen staff based in the UK and a further nine full-time, salaried team members working internationally. We also collaborate with a number of co-development partners and contractors whose contributions are equally important to the game.

Including everyone actively involved in development, the entire effort currently sits at around 30 people. It is a significant change from those earliest days, but we have tried to grow carefully and build the team around the specific needs of both the game and the studio, while also thinking about what comes next.

Why dinosaurs? What is it that made you want to make such a game?

I grew up on films like Jurassic Park, Jaws, Alien, and E.T. are just a few of them. I loved movies, and still do, so I probably had no choice but to be shaped by them. But I was always a gamer at heart, and I think that naturally made me want to take those feelings and turn them into something you could inhabit rather than simply watch.

For me, dinosaurs occupy a fascinating space between the familiar and the unknowable. Everyone recognizes them, but our understanding of how these extinct animals actually moved, behaved, and interacted can only ever be reconstructed from the evidence they left behind. Paleontology can tell us an enormous amount, yet there are still gaps in our understanding, and those gaps leave room for imagination and curiosity. 

The appeal was never simply about wanting to see a dinosaur up close. I wanted to experience them as animals. I wanted to see them moving through a natural environment, hunting, reacting, and existing without behaving like monsters.

At the same time, I wanted to capture the reverence and natural horror that might come from actually encountering one in the wild. There is something very primal about that idea. It is a mixture of fascination, awe, and fear. You are looking at something extraordinary and beautiful, but also something powerful, unpredictable, and completely indifferent to you. Of course, it is all hypothetical, but it became a scratch I needed to itch. 

In many ways, the game is my attempt to try and recreate the feelings those films gave me as a kid, but in a form where you are no longer sitting safely on the other side of the screen, but interacting with something instead. 

How scary do you want the game to be?

My hope is for The Lost Wild to be genuinely frightening, but not relentlessly so. The horror comes through observation, instinct, and restraint. It comes from feeling vulnerable, sharing an environment with powerful animals and never being entirely certain how they will respond. If every dinosaur simply attacked on sight, it would stop feeling like an animal and become a conventional monster. 

Just as importantly, the fear has to sit alongside awe, fascination and respect. We want anticipation and uncertainty to do as much work as the encounters themselves. Ideally, players never feel completely in control, but there is still space to appreciate the animals and the world they inhabit and genuinely be fascinated by them - even when one may be trying to eat you. 

What was it like designing the main character and who she is? What did you find important about creating this character?

Saskia was important to us from very early on, because the entire experience is filtered through her. She is not a soldier or a scientist or a hero; she is an ordinary person thrown into an extraordinary situation. She wakes up on the island after a car crash and gradually realizes that dinosaurs are real, that the island belongs to a mysterious company called Idehama, and that she has no idea how she got there or how she is going to get out. That ordinariness was the whole point. The question we kept coming back to was simply, “if I were there, what would I do?”, and Saskia is our way of putting the player inside that question.

The challenge was finding the balance between giving her enough personality to what we hope feels like a real, defined person while still leaving enough space for the player to inhabit her decisions. She is capable and resourceful, but she is not combat-trained. 

We also wanted her story to be something you uncover rather than something we force upon you. Saskia’s journey is shared with the player’s, and is the grounding rod in the game. 

Today, publisher Annapurna is revealing a new poster for The Lost Wild.

Do you find it odd how relatively few dinosaur games there are? We see other enemy themes like zombies, raiders, or aliens so often. Why do you think we have so few dino games?

This is such a great question because it’s so close to home for me. On the face of it, I have always wished there were more dinosaur games in general, particularly when you consider how universally loved dinosaurs are. Almost everyone has a dinosaur phase at some point, so it seems like an obvious subject for games. But I think the scarcity tells you something about how genuinely difficult they are to get right. 

There are, of course, dinosaur games, but they are also technically difficult and hard to make convincing in my opinion.  For us, that difficulty was part of the appeal. We wanted the freedom to build our own world and explore our own “what if,” rather than simply imitate what had come before. 

Where other people might see challenges, we saw it as a chance to do something on our own terms.

If I recall rightly, the folks at the Summer Game Fest demo said the dinosaurs in The Lost Wild are “animals, not monsters.” I found this to be a really interesting nuance. What do you feel is the important distinction, given the game does feature the dinos sniffing you out and hunting you down?

The distinction is really about motivation rather than danger. A monster exists to menace the player. It notices you the instant you enter the room, it fixates on you, and everything it does is built around threatening the person holding the controller. An animal does not care that you are the protagonist. You are simply another thing moving through its world.

The fact that it might hunt you does not make it a monster; it makes it a predator behaving as a predator might. We were very deliberate about not reducing those encounters to conventional combat puzzles with obvious weak points

You watch where an animal is looking before you move. You learn how it responds to sound, how it occupies a space, and when its attention may have shifted elsewhere. You are not equipped to kill the dinosaurs, but you can find non-lethal tools that help you create distractions, deter an approach or buy enough time to escape. Survival comes from evading, hiding, and using the environment rather than overpowering them. 

And crucially, that framing is what leaves room for awe. If every dinosaur charged you on sight, you would only ever feel hunted. Because they behave like animals, there are moments where you can watch one and feel genuine wonder before the fear sets back in. They are not villains; they are creatures behaving as they should, and that produces a more complicated emotional response, one that blends fear with fascination and respect, I think. The danger is a consequence of what they are, not the entire reason they exist.

I've likened the game to Alien: Isolation. Do you feel that was an inspiration? Any other inspirations you'd call out, especially those that may not be so obvious?

It is a very fair comparison, and in our case it runs deeper than a surface resemblance. Our game director, Gary Napper, worked on Alien: Isolation, so there is first-hand experience within the team of how powerful vulnerability, restraint and anticipation can be. Knowing when to show a creature, when to hold back and when to let the player’s imagination do the work are all things we think about very carefully.

That said, we are not trying to replace the xenomorph with a dinosaur. Our animals have their own behaviors, and their presence has to leave room for exploration, fascination, and awe as well as fear. 

Beyond games, a lot of our influence comes from the natural world. The original Jurassic Park is a clear example for reverence and scale, but Jaws matters to me just as much because so much of its terror lives in what you do not see, and in the anticipation of the threat rather than the threat itself.

The less obvious inspiration is wildlife filmmaking and real predator behavior. The patience, observation, and respect for an animal as an animal are things we think about constantly, because grounded behavior is what makes the whole experience convincing. We’ve watched all the dinosaur documentaries and YouTube videos, and are deep down dinosaur nerds at heart. 

Alien: Isolation is a useful reference for the feeling of being hunted. Nature is the reference for how we want the hunter to feel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-frigam660

The Lost Wild seemed to capture a lot of wishlists on Steam after its reveal. What effect does that have on the team this far out from launch? Is it purely an emotional boost or does it have other benefits, too?

It is absolutely an emotional boost, and I do not want to downplay that because it matters enormously. For a project that began with a small group of us working during evenings and weekends, seeing that level of interest is deeply validating. It tells us that the thing we believed in for so long resonates with people we have never met, and that is a wonderful feeling to have.

But it is far more than a morale lift. Wishlists are a real signal, both to us and to our publisher. They are one of the clearest indications we have that the premise and presentation are connecting with an audience.

Every wishlist is effectively someone saying, “You have my attention.” Our job is to earn the rest.

Does the team have any policy or opinions on generative AI?

Our position is straightforward. No generative AI content has been used in The Lost Wild. The art, writing, performances, audio, and other creative work in the game are the work of our team and development partners. We want the game to reflect the craft and authorship of the people making it.

The Lost Wild is due out in 2027 on PlayStation 5 and PC.

One of the best systems for getting your hands on rare Pokemon is set to close down in a few months, as Pokemon Bank will stop working next year. According to Serebii, the shutdown date has been penciled in for February 27, 2027.

This will effectively end the 3DS era of Pokemon, although the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Following the closure of the 3DS eShop in March 2023, 3DS owners were no longer able to download the app. Nintendo had already launched a replacement program for Switch, iOS, and Android a few years earlier, which served as a beefier upgrade when compared to Pokemon Bank.

The 3DS program still had value, as you could bring plenty of rare Pokemon from older DS--using a separate Pokemon app--Pokemon games to 3DS, and then move those Pokemon to Switch games in the series. There were a few limitations in place, but if you were looking to quickly complete a National Pokedex in recent Pokemon games, then having a 3DS and a menagerie of Pokemon in Pokemon Bank was the way to go. Games like Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are especially good, thanks to how easy it is to encounter Legendary-class Pokemon in the endgame.

Beyond those two examples, this will impact on a lot of great Pokemon games from over the years. From Nintendo DS classics like Pokemon Black/White to later 3DS adventures such as Pokemon X/Y and Pokemon Sun/Moon, the Pokemon in those games will remain locked within their respective cartridges.

https://bsky.app/profile/serebii.bsky.social/post/3msxpo2gnjc2a

It's worth noting that Pokemon Bank is also free to use, whereas Pokemon Home requires a monthly or annual subscription to house all of your pocket monsters. You're also required to have a Pokemon Home subscription to link to Pokemon Bank for when you want to transfer your pocket monsters over. While you can store up to 30 of them for free in the app, that's not nearly enough space to keep your entire collection in case you've been invested in the series for multiple generations.

There are over 1,000 Pokemon to collect--with more on the way when Pokemon Winds and Waves launches next year--so that free box can become cramped very quickly. You can also keep Pokemon in boxes in the Switch games, but being able to only move a few at a time from them to Pokemon Home and then to a new game can be an arduous process.

The Switch versions of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen will also receive Pokemon Home functionality in October 2026, allowing you to bring Generation One Pokemon over to newer games. Of course, each game costs $20, and any Pokemon taken from them to Pokemon Home cannot be deposited back into FireRed and LeafGreen.

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