The next batch of games for Amazon Luna has been revealed, and this July, you can look forward to superhero workplace drama, turn-based RPG action, and some escape room fun. In total, there will be 12 downloadable games for PC to check out, and five games to stream through Luna Standard.

On the streaming side, the big draw for this month is Dispatch. One of the best games of 2025, the debut title from AdHoc Studio follows a down-on-his-luck superhero who takes up a desk job, where he's given control over superhuman resources. Similar to Telltale's classic games, Dispatch is a narrative-heavy experience where you're frequently tasked with making choices across branching dialogue paths, and then dealing with the consequences down the line. Other games being added to the Luna Standard streaming library this month include Sonic Mania Plus, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, YouTuber's Life, and Arcade Paradise.

Right now, PC gamers can grab downloads for CyClones, LoneStar, and Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, and each week in July will see more games made available. As a reminder, all of the free games that you claim through Amazon Luna are yours to keep forever, even if your subscription expires. If you aren't a member, you can sign up for Amazon Luna for as little as $15 for one month to take advantage of the subscription and its freebies.

Sign up for Amazon Prime Amazon Luna Free Games For July 2026 July 2

• CyClones (GOG)
• LoneStar (Epic Games Store)
• Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (Epic Games Store)

July 9

• Still There (GOG)
• Regular Factory: Escape Room (GOG)

July 16

• Poly Vita (Legacy games code)
• Framed Collection (GOG)
• Escape Academy (Epic Games Store)

July 23

• In Sound Mind (Amazon Games App)
• Mystic Academy: Escape Room (GOG)

July 30

• Zoria: Age of Shattering (GOG)
• Weakless (GOG)

Prime subscribers will also be able to play the following new games in July via the Luna channel:

• Dispatch
• Sonic Mania Plus
• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
• YouTuber's Life
• Arcade Paradise

The Steam Machine is slowly making its way into the wild, with some folks getting their hands on Valve's not-a-console console. One of those people is former SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, who called the device "meh" in some recent social media comments.

Yoshida took to X on July 2 to give his early impressions of the Steam Machine. In a long post, he not only called its performance "meh," but he also said that it's "hard to recommend" because of its high price tag.

https://twitter.com/yosp/status/2072582164898787363

"The system recommends to default to 1080p--am I going back to PS4 days?" Yoshida pondered. "Some games take a looooooong time to boot. What is it doing?"

He clarified that he'd only been playing it for "a few hours"--he posted his thoughts in the early morning on July 2--but ultimately concluded that the device just doesn't live up to its $1,000+ retail price.

It's not all bad for Yoshida, though. He did say that the Steam Machine's "small form factor and quietness" are good while commending the device's changeable faceplate, easy-to-use UI, and the ability to play Steam games on the living room TV. That last fact alone makes it "reason enough" to keep the Steam Machine, but these features appear to be where the positives end for now, as overall, Yoshida just isn't quite buying what Valve is selling.

The Steam Machine has begun shipping out to folks following its June 29 launch. It's very possible, though, that you may have to wait a while for yours, especially considering how confusing the preorder emails Valve started sending out were. You could always check out eBay, but be warned: You'll likely pay double the price.

Final Fantasy 7 Revelation wraps up a story years in the making when it launches in 2027, but beyond that? The Unknown Journey might continue a little longer, as one store listing for the game mentions an expansion pass.

As seen on the Epic Games Store (via IGN), Final Fantasy 7 Revelation will have plenty of downloadable content and a "Story Expansion Pass" for purchase. It's not clear yet what these items are for--or if the titles are using placeholder text--but the Story Expansion Pass item does suggest that Cloud and company could venture into new territory.

The Final Fantasy 7 lore certainly allows for this--the animated film Advent Children and the spin-off game Dirge of Cerberus took place after the original game--while game director Naoki Hamaguchi hinted at possible character-specific stories in the future. "We have had a lot of voices from fans wanting to explore the stories, or side stories, of other characters and other parts of the story as well. That is something that is interesting," Hamaguchi said to GameSpot last month at Summer Game Fest.

What lies beyond the Unknown Journey?

Square Enix had previously expanded on the Final Fantasy Remake trilogy with Intergrade, a post-launch expansion for the first game focused on Yuffie. Oddly, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth didn't receive an expansion after launch, as Square Enix opted to instead focus on developing Revelation.

One of the big changes with Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is that it won't be available exclusively on PlayStation when it launches. Square Enix is aiming for a multiplatform release, as the game will arrive on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2 on the same day as PS5. For more on the game, you can check out how minigames will be more optional, what the new FITS system brings to the table, and why Revelation's director believes that streamers are contributing to an RPG crisis.

The Best Final Fantasy Spin-Offs View Images

With Sony officially ending disc production for PS5 games in 2028, hurtling us toward an all-digital future, it's worth remembering that the PlayStation maker recently introduced a new pricing model that is all the more worrying in the wake of this news.

Back in March 2026, reports surfaced that PlayStation had unleashed dynamic pricing in various regions from Brazil to North America. This new model changed the prices you'd see on the PlayStation Store for a PS5 game depending on several factors, including your gaming habits (like when you last logged in), location, and PSN account details (like how old it is). For example, one Brazilian could get the action-adventure game Stellar Blade for $39.89 while another may snatch it up for $20.99.

According to reports from both Eurogamer and Insider Gaming, this pricing model impacted first- and third-party games. Astro Bot--developed by the PlayStation-owned Japanese studio Team Asobi--saw wildly different prices, as noted by Cheap Ass Gamer. Stellar Blade, on the other hand, was developed by the South Korean studio Shift Up and published by PlayStation.

This dynamic pricing model is quite concerning now that PlayStation is effectively killing physical games in 2028. Though they do go on sale occasionally, digital games aren't always cheaper than their physical counterparts. And because local governments require that the company collect sales taxes on digital goods, you're sometimes paying the same--if not more--for a digital game. This has resulted in class-action lawsuits in both California and the Netherlands.

All of this points to a potentially expensive--or, at the very least, dizzyingly unpredictable--all-digital future where you could pay one price, your friend may pay another price, and your sibling (or whomever) pays a totally different price. It's all up in there, and that's the worrying part.

If you have some downtime over the 4th of July weekend and are looking for a game to play, Microsoft is bringing back its Free Play Days promotion, offering up some top titles to play for the low, low price of $0.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's multiplayer and Zombies modes are free now through July 6, while Diablo IV is free through July 7. Demonschool and The Stone Madness have free two-hour trials now through July 5. None of these games require an Xbox Game Pass subscription during the free period.

Free is a nice price.

Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure is part of the Free Play Days promotion through July 5, but you'll need Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, or Essential.

This Free Play Days event comes at a tumultuous time for Xbox, as the company is expected to begin mass layoffs on July 6. Microsoft may close at least five studios as well, though it's possible other arrangements could be made that does not result in studio closures or game cancellations.

The new Resident Evil movie from Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger does not feature characters from the games--why is that?

Cregger said in a new interview that it would be "inorganic" for his movie "try to shoehorn" legacy characters from Capcom's series into his film because it's a "self-contained story."

"I have to put the story first and foremost," he said told Empire magazine, as reported by GamesRadar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_KDtokTO1c

Cregger's Resident Evil movie tells an "entirely original story" that takes place in the Resident Evil universe. Some fans have questioned this approach, saying they'd rather see one of the game's stories adapted and for the film to feature popular characters like Leon Kennedy or Jill Valentine.

That's not going to happen, though, and Cregger thinks fans of the game will be happy with what he creates.

"When you watch it, you'll be like, 'This is very Zach.' It's just [that] it takes place in the Resident Evil world. I don't think fans of the games are gonna be bummed," he told Entertainment Weekly.

The Resident Evil movie comes to theaters on September 18. It stars Austin Abrams as an "idiot" medical courier named Bryan who gets mixed up in a horrifying adventure that Cregger says is akin to The Lord of the Rings.

“Not that he’s stupid, but he’s not your typical game character, with no combat skills whatsoever and completely inept at survival. Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything. It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor," he said.

Sony plans to sell PlayStation games exclusively as digital products starting in 2028, and it's rumored that Microsoft will also adopt a digital-only approach with its next-gen Xbox Project Helix, a move that could leave Nintendo as the only console manufacturer that will still release games physically--at least for this current gaming generation.

Speaking to VGC, Circana senior director and video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella commented on how he believes that both the PS6 and Project Helix will be digital-only gaming consoles. The upside to this is that, thanks to Nintendo operating in its own bubble, it doesn't look like it'll be ditching cartridges in response to Sony and Microsoft's plans.

"My gut says Nintendo does what Nintendo wants to do, and I don't see them changing anything in their plans based on what Sony or Microsoft do on anything, really," Piscatella explained. "Nintendo is going to be Nintendo, for better and/or worse. Retail has already leaned into Nintendo support more and more over the past few years--Nintendo also holds a very strong share of physical software and hardware sales since the launch of Switch 2 in particular--so this could continue to increase, sure."

According to its FY25/26 end-of-year report, Nintendo says that digital sales of its games account for 67.2% of software purchases. Digital sales on Sony platforms have climbed dramatically over the last decade, with 78% of its sales being digital purchases. Reports now claim that both the PS6 and Project Helix will do away with disc drives entirely.

While Nintendo still has a sizable physical presence, it's worth noting that many games--especially third-party ones--are sold as Game-Key Cards. These are essentially authentication keys in cartridge form, as players will still have to install game data to their Switch 2 and keep the cartridge inserted to play their games. Fortunately, the carts are not locked to a Switch 2 account or console, and they can be resold, allowing a new user to download a game--for as long as the servers are kept online, that is.

PlayStation and Xbox game discs have functioned along the same lines for years now, as both consoles required users to download data from the discs onto their respective machines and keep the physical media for authenticating the installs. While Game-Key Cards are designed to be a cheaper publisher-friendly alternative, they're not without criticism, as some historians have expressed fears over the future of video game preservation efforts.

The Best Games Of 2026 (So Far) View Images

As a massive layoff plan looms over Xbox's various subsidiaries, new reports suggest that the iconic RPG studio Obsidian Entertainment is on the chopping block, too.

According to a July 2 The Game Business report, it appears that Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs aren't the only studios Xbox is looking to offload. Obsidian Entertainment--the studio behind games like Avowed, Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded, The Outer Worlds, and more--may get cut loose as well.

As The Game Business noted, Xbox is looking to "reallocate where it spends money." Reportedly, the company wants to invest in its big franchises--presumably the likes of Gears of War and Halo--but it needs to trim the fat to do so. And doing so means either selling or shuttering a handful of Xbox Games Studios subsidiaries.

Like many of these other studios, The Game Business clarified that these teams are "deep in negotiation" with Microsoft to avoid closure.

This story is developing...

Microsoft is removing more titles from Xbox Game Pass, and it looks like there could be a lot of removals for July. The "leaving soon" page on Xbox's website lists off 11 titles set for removal on July 15.

These include Golf With Your Friends, Stellaris, EA Sports FC 24, PowerWash Simulator, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. You can see the full list below, as relayed by PureXbox. While PowerWash Simulator is leaving, PowerWash Simulator 2 is still on Game Pass.

This is expected to be the first of two sets of removals for July, as Microsoft typically axes titles in the middle of the month and then again at the end. As a silver lining, Game Pass subscribers can save 20% on these titles before they leave.

As for new additions for July, we know that Halo: Campaign Evolved (July 28) is among the new additions, but the rest have not yet been announced. For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of the best Game Pass games.

Game Pass removals for July 15

• Golf With Your Friends -- console, PC, cloud
• Stellaris -- console, PC, cloud
• EA Sports FC 24 -- console, cloud
• My Friendly Neighborhood -- console, PC, cloud
• Super Fantasy Kingdom -- PC
• PowerWash Simulator -- console, PC, cloud
• Whiskerwood -- PC
• Techtonica -- console, PC cloud
• Dungeons of Hinterberg -- console, PC, cloud
• Back to the Dawn -- console, PC, cloud
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider -- console, PC, cloud

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan's newest movie, The Odyssey, releases on July 17, and ahead of that, an official companion game is now available on Roblox.

A survival sailing adventure game, The Odyssey: Defy the Gods, is out now on Roblox, and it's free. Players will assemble a crew, ration supplies, and "appease the gods for the right of safe passage" across the ocean.

In the game, players will scavenge mysterious worlds to find food and crew that have gone missing. Out on the ocean, players have to survive in the elements like Odysseus did during his perilous journey.

Defy the Gods is out now on Roblox.

Defy the Gods is rated "Minimal" for its maturity rating, and as part of Roblox's new safety measures, it's limited to people 18 and up. The game's content description notes that it contains occasional/mild "fear" and "violence."

Roblox is so big and popular that brands make games for it to promote their content, and that's what Universal Pictures did here with Defy the Gods. The movie is expected to appeal to an older audience, so reaching out to Roblox's younger base could be an effort to help convince younger people to go see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyIZ9tiiN8I

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan and based on Homer's epic tale, The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland portraying Telemachus. Anne Hathaway plays Penelope, while Robert Pattinson appears as Antinous. The movie also features Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Elliot Page, and Jon Bernthal.

It's Nolan's first film since 2023's Oppenheimer, which made $975 million globally.

It's a momentous milestone for the US this weekend, as it marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Various events are planned for the July 4 weekend, and if you're a PGA Tour 2K25 player, you can also join in on the fun--with some pure nightmare fuel.

2K Games has unveiled a new cosmetic skin for the game, designed to add some extra liberty during each tour of the greens. It's also a weaponized distraction, as you can only imagine how nerve-wracking it would be, trying to putt your way to victory while your competition stares at you while wearing this:

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR2K/status/2072393772151754906

Yikes! While the skin might make your golfer look like the Statue of Liberty if they were a guest character in Dead by Daylight, it's actually designed to resemble the neoclassical sculpture. The outfit certainly captures the wear and tear that the statue has picked up across the decades, but when that look is transformed into a golfing ensemble--complete with mask and crown--it just looks unsettling and filthy.

If that's your kind of fashion while you nail a putt, then you can drop some Virtual Currency on this fashion crime through the PGA Tour Superstore. Individual July 4 cosmetic items typically cost between 1,000 VC and 1,500 VC each, with a full outfit ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 VC. In real-world cash, that means you could pay up to $50 for a complete PGA outfit.

Anyone who has picked up a 2K game from Take-Two Interactive--including its wrestling and NBA games as well--will be familiar with how these titles are monetized. GTA 6 is also looking to extract extra value out of players, as the base edition of the game costs $80, while the Ultimate Edition on preorder is priced at $100 and includes access to several extra stores, alongside various cosmetics. Is that approach turning people off? Not in the slightest, because preorders are already looking very healthy.

What's next for the Metroid franchise? Following last year's release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, it looks like Nintendo has more plans for the franchise, and thanks to a Brazilian ratings board leak that has since been removed, it looks like we know what the title of the next game is: Metroid Ravenous.

Posted by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice and Public Security (via Necrolipe and the Famiboards gaming forum), the listing mentions a production start date of 2026 in the US for the title. Other details include "violence--weapons, blood, death--and light sexual content" for the in-development game. It has been rumored that this could be a sequel to MercurySteam's 2021 Metroid game, Metroid Dread, a 2.5D adventure that modernized the classic NES and SNES Metroid experience for Switch and received positive reviews.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYFZwzo7qlQ

Selling over 3 million units, Metroid Dread was a hit game for Nintendo, and MercurySteam announced in 2023 that it had two projects in development. The first of these, a fantasy game called Blades of Fire, hit shelves last year.

After many years in development, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond also launched last year, but its reception was frostier in comparison to Dread. The game has sold over 1 million units as of February 2026, but that milestone was only reached when you combine its performance across Switch and Switch 2. It's worth noting that Metroid has historically underperformed next to other IPs. For example, the Switch 2 Edition of Pokemon Legends: Z-A reached 3.89 million units sold, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to be a sales juggernaut years after launch.

While Nintendo has yet to officially confirm what--or if--the next Metroid game is, the company did reveal during a recent Direct livestream that its tentpole game for the holiday season will be a remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, alongside a few more surprises in 2026.

The Best Nintendo Switch And Switch 2 Exclusives Of 2025 View Images

Battlefield 6's latest update almost introduced a great change to XP boosts, only for developer Battlefield Studios to state it was an "error" and walk it back. Even more confusing--it's actually the second time the exact same mistake has been made in three weeks. 

As part of Battlefield 6's June 30 update, one that overhauled the game's gunplay and introduced a new mode, a surprising, but welcome, message greeted players who logged in: "XP Boost Update: Now Based On In-Game Time."

Since Battlefield 6's launch, XP boosts have counted down in real time. Considering how long it takes to find a match or load into a game, players would often lose valuable minutes of double XP for no reason at all. Someone who needed to log off while an XP boost was still active or do something quick around the house between matches was simply out of luck. A change to make XP boost count down during an actual match has been a frequent ask by the community, and it seemed like Battlefield Studios was finally listening. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Battlefield6/comments/1ujnpt3/thats_a_neat_surprise/

The message in full read: "To improve how useful XP boosts are to you, XP boosters will now count down based on in-game time instead of real time. We will track what percentage of the length of the match you have an XP booster active, then multiply the final Match Bonus XP by the appropriate percentage for each. If your XP booster expires mid-match, don't worry. Your match bonus will still get a boost, based on the duration that your boost was active during the match. Plus, for easier tracking and activation, the Booster menu is now located in the lobby."

Players on Reddit reacted to the "neat surprise." However, much to the community's confusion, they quickly discovered nothing about how XP boosts worked in-game had actually been changed as part of the update. A Battlefield Comms social media account quickly clarified that the in-game message was in error and no changes had been made. 

https://x.com/BattlefieldComm/status/2071966104939864144

"That message has now been removed, and there are no changes to how XP boosters currently work," the Battlefield Comms account stated.

Such an easy win actually being a mistake is bad enough, but that wasn't the first time almost the exact same scenario had played out. Just a few weeks earlier on June 11, the Battlefield Comms account made a similar statement clarifying an inaccurate in-game message regarding XP boosts.

"We're aware of an incorrect in-game text description for XP boosters that was introduced with the latest update," the statement reads. "XP boosters count down in real time, as they have since launch."

https://x.com/BattlefieldComm/status/2064866700265492973

With two separate instances of XP boost change notification mistakes, it seems likely an actual, real change to how they work is on the way. After all, a detailed description of how XP boosts are being changed doesn't just magically appear in game, twice, for no reason at all. The real question is why Battlefield Studios doesn't announce such a change is still being worked on but is not quite ready just yet, instead of continually pulling the rug out from the community.

Battlefield 6 Season 3 is currently still in full swing, with its upcoming Season 4 set to bring back Wake Island for the 11th time in the franchise's history.

iam8bit, a company known for its physical gaming collectibles, has responded to Sony's announcement that it will no longer support physical PlayStation discs in 2028, saying it is "profoundly disappointed" by the news.

"Physical games are vital to games preservation, ownership, and consumer choice, values that have guided iam8bit since our first physical release in 2016," the company said.

The company added that it remains committed to these values. "Long live physical media," iam8bit said in its sign-off.

iam8bit collaborates with numerous game companies like Blizzard, Remedy, Capcom, Annapurna, and Xbox on physical games and merch. The company also releases vinyl soundtracks for games like Arc Raiders and Persona.

The company also funds and publishes games through its iam8bit Presents label.

Another company, the independent game developer Aeternum Game Studios, reacted to Sony's announcement as well, saying its commitment to physical editions of its games remains intact. "We pledge to work urgently to bring every game we create--and those already on the way--tangibly to your shelves before that fateful early 2028 deadline," the company said.

It added: "The industry may try to change its course but we will not let go of your hand. Your shelves will keep being filled with stories."

Sony continues to sell many, many millions of physical, disc-based games, but the number it sells each year continues to drop, and that trend is expected to continue for Sony and other game companies. Against this backdrop, Sony will no longer support disc-based games starting in January 2028, and the implication here is that the PS6 also won't work with disc-based games. A recent report said Microsoft's new console, Project Helix, may not support discs, either.

Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is expected to be one of 2026's biggest game releases alongside GTA 6, and the company is expected to go all-out with its marketing and promotion campaign for it. That may have already begun, but not in the way anyone might have expected.

World Cup fans have spotted a curious detail on the French men's national team bus--luggage that appears to carry the Modern Warfare 4 branding.

You can clearly see the branding in the image below. We don't know if this is an official marketing effort from Activision or something else, but in any event, it's getting people to talk about Modern Warfare 4.

It's not the only sports-related marketing beat for Modern Warfare 4, as the game will be playable at the Fanatics Fest in New York City this month.

https://twitter.com/ForwardLeaks/status/2072180124913471745

Modern Warfare 4 releases this October, about a month before GTA 6 arrives. The game takes place on the Korean peninsula as North Korea launches an invasion that "threatens to destabilize the world." You play as Private Park (portrayed by The Last of Us actor Young Mazino) while a second story focusing on Captain Price takes place simultaneously in other parts of the world.

"As Price’s off-book mission collides with the forces behind the invasion, the war spreads beyond anyone’s control," reads a line from the game's description.

Ahead of release, Activision will host a multiplayer beta for Modern Warfare 4, and you can get in early by preordering. Unlike the previous two games in the series, Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7, Modern Warfare 4 will not be on Game Pass at launch. That's something Activision is reminding players in ads for the game.

In a major development, Modern Warfare 4 will be available on Nintendo Switch 2. It will mark the first time since 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts that a Call of Duty game has come to a Nintendo platform.

The unlicensed Companion Cube engineered, illegally, for Valve's Steam Machine will never go on sale again, with those who preordered already being refunded. But what about the handful that made it out of the door and into the hands of journalists, influencers, and content creators? Instead of becoming collector's items, it seems they're all being destroyed.

The fate of the existing Companion Cubes wasn't covered in the lengthy statement describing the entire fiasco, which was published by manufacturer Dbrand earlier this week. But it seems that the company is requesting existing samples to be sent back to them so that they can be destroyed, mimicking the fate of many of the cubes across both Portal titles. At least that's what's happening to the sample sent to The Verge, who captured the entirety of the cube's design and elaborate packaging before it was ripped away.

The detailing, from the Portal iconography to the actual reproduced cube itself, shows exactly why Valve would've been extremely irate at a company making money on one of its IP without consent. Dbrand admitted that it made a mistake attempting to sell the Steam Machine accessory without explicit permission from Valve, but also didn't do itself any favors with the cube's advertising, which even hints at a non-existent Half-Life 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfITSn5pcrQ

The Steam Machine launches next week for those lucky enough to have secured the chance to throw lots of money Valve's way, with the base 512GB model without a Steam Controller starting at $1,050. Valve says this is much more than it originally wanted the compact computer to cost, and cannot promise that it'll come down in the future, either.

Diablo 4's worst endgame grind just became a lot less painful in Season 14, thanks to a batch of impactful changes to gems and conversion recipes.

In Diablo's latest expansion, Lord of Hatred, Blizzard introduced two new tiers of gems to its ARPG: Horadric and Flawless Horadric Gems. These gems are far more powerful than their lower-tier counterparts, but there is a catch--they can't be found as drops. Instead, they can only be crafted using the Horadric Cube's Amalgamation recipe. The recipe turns five Grand Gems into one Horadric Gem, and five Horadric Gems into one Flawless Horadric Gem. 

Season 13 saw players running one particular dungeon, Seer's Reach, for hours on end, as it was one of the best sources of acquiring gems that could then be converted into Grand Gems. Those Grand Gems could then be converted once more into Horadric, and eventually Flawless Horadric, gems. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuu7aOAw0is

If running the same dungeon over and over for hours on end just to convert gems sounds like a lot of monotonous work, that's because it was. It took hours upon hours of mindless grinding to even get a full gear set's worth of Horadric Gems, and that's without even going the extra mile to then eventually turn around and convert those into the even more powerful Flawless versions.

Thankfully, as detailed in the game's official patch notes for update 3.1.0, the now-live Season 14 has made the gem grind far more manageable. For starters, players will find significantly more gem fragments in Torment X and above, making the hunt for Grand Gems less of a pain point and requiring less time spent farming Seer's Reach.

The other big change is to gem-conversion recipes at the Jeweler. Blizzard has reduced the types of gems needed to use a conversion recipe from three to two. Those gem conversion recipes additionally don't have as much overlap as before, which should make it easier to convert unwanted gem fragments into ones that are needed for a given build.

Those changes alone should make Diablo 4's endgame less of a chore, even as Blizzard has lengthened the grind in other areas. In Season 14, Mythic items have undergone a major change to have more random affixes, making the quest to obtain a perfect item a much longer process. While some of that randomness has since been walked back with the season's launch, it still remains to be seen how what Blizzard calls "Mythic Uniques 3.0" will land with the community.

In an interview with GameSpot ahead of Season 14's release, Blizzard seemed aware its changes to Mythic items have been controversial, but sees it as a necessary step for Diablo 4's long-term health.

While it can seem like every week feels bad in the games industry, this past week felt especially awful. You're not wrong for thinking so, too, and the start of this week wasn't that great either. But what if I told you that it could get even worse? It doesn't sound possible, but trust me, it appears it definitely could.

Let's look at what happened last week.

A week to forget

On June 22, news broke that Ubisoft co-founder Claude Guillemot died in a plane crash on June 19. His brother, Yves Guillemot, paid tribute to the late co-founder in a statement, saying that Claude "helped shape Ubisoft with an entrepreneurial spirit, curiosity, and unwavering optimism." This was quite unfortunate news to start the week.

In the background of this announcement has been the drama surrounding Santa Monica Studios' upcoming action-adventure game God of War: Laufey, with gamers blaming "gender" for the game's narrative decisions despite the PlayStation-owned developer building toward Laufey for almost a decade now.

You also had CD Projekt Red--the publisher, not the developer--talking about how its reputation still hasn't fully healed following the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077, an Ocarina of Time fan project shutting down for fear of "Nintendo ninjas," and the announcement of the Steam Machine's $1,000 price tag--which the internet had a lot of thoughts about.

June 23 came with some bombshell news. Alongside the confirmation that Lords of the Fallen II was delayed to avoid Grand Theft Auto 6's imminent release and an EA executive saying that the company's embrace of AI saw a "real rise of creativity," Rockstar Games announced that GTA 6 won't ship with a physical disc at all. The internet wasn't too happy about this news, and some retailers said they're refusing to carry physical copies of the game now.

Things started to get particularly bad on June 25. News began circulating that the looming Xbox layoffs were about to start, with South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games reportedly being hit first. That same day, Bungie let go of "most" of the Destiny team and "some" of the Marathon staff in a massive layoff. Justin Truman, the head of Bungie, also stepped down after less than a year on the job. And then, Microsoft announced that Xbox consoles will get a price hike in August, and hinted at another increase coming in 2027 or 2028--capping off a bad day with worse news.

Now fast-forward to the last couple of days.

The bad news snowball

On June 29, Activision began promoting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4--which drops on October 23--by reminding you that it won't launch on Xbox Game Pass during its first year. This isn't necessarily new news, as Microsoft announced in April 2026 that new Call of Duty titles won't hit the subscription service going forward. However, it's still a blow when the last two entries--Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7--both landed in the vault day-one. Now, if you want to play Modern Warfare 4 or any new Call of Duty, you either have to pay full price for the game or wait one full year if you have an active Game Pass subscription. It's odd, considering Microsoft acquired Activision--and Call of Duty--for $69 billion in 2023, but the decision could be because putting the mega-hit military shooter on Game Pass came at a loss.

On the same day, Sony tried to temper expectations for the PlayStation 6, clarifying that it won't sell hardware at a "significant" loss anymore. Basically, the company is warning that the PS6 won't be cheap at all. On the other side of the coin, reports came out that the Xbox-owned studio Undead Labs, developer of the State of Decay franchise, is at risk of closure. (It's worth noting that several other Xbox Game Studios, like Double Fine and Ninja Theory, are also at risk unless a buyer is found.)

Microsoft came with even more hits on June 30, as Hitman developer IO Interactive suffered layoffs after funding was pulled from the studio's in-development fantasy RPG. As if things couldn't get any worse that day, a report suggested that Microsoft may shutter the Blade developer Arkane Studios and cancel that project entirely. (Hideo Kojima's Xbox-exclusive OD is seemingly safe, though.) While it's smaller potatoes in the wake of the biggest fishes, developer Papergames rescinded its decision to add a new love interest to its action dating sim Love and Deepspace after fan outcry spilled over into the real world.

And just today, July 1, Sony announced plans to end all physical disc production for PlayStation games in 2028--which could mean that the PS6 will be a digital-only console. (Reports suggest Microsoft's next Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, may also be discless.) The move sent the internet into a heated frenzy, but Sony wasn't done yet, as the company also confirmed that the PlayStation Stores for both the PS3 and PS Vita will close in July 2027.

Things get worse before they get ... worse?

As you can see, the last week has been awful, and the last couple of days exacerbated that badness. But things aren't looking too great if we look ahead, either.

According to a June 30 report by The Verge, the looming Xbox layoffs will start on July 6. The full number of impacted staff is unknown right now, but rumors suggest that the aftermath could end with at least 1,500 laid-off employees. Ahead of these cuts, unionized Xbox workers are calling for protections to shield themselves from these executive decisions.

There's that ancient axiom: Things get worse before they get better. It's hard to believe that is true when, everywhere you look in the games industry lately, things just look more and more bleak as time marches forward. Maybe the industry will improve, and things will get better. There are, after all, a ton of games to look forward to--particularly in September. But right now, the games industry is looking more like a wasteland than ever before.

Following Sony's announcement that it will not support PlayStation discs starting in 2028 and conjecture that the PS6 won't have a disc drive, it's now been reported that Microsoft's next-gen Xbox, Project Helix, won't have a disc drive either.

Jez Corden of Windows Central reported today that Project Helix will not have a disc drive. The report did not include any further details, but this would not be a surprising development given the increasing percentage of games sold digitally compared to physical, along with existing precedent.

The Verge, meanwhile, reported that Microsoft has not decided yet about if Project Helix will have a disc drive. The report also said Microsoft is working on a disc-to-digital feature that would allow users to transition their physical games to digital ones. This feature, which Xbox employees are now reportedly testing, will allow users to convert Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S discs to digital copies; there will apparently be no support for Xbox 360 and original Xbox discs.

"Getting a digital copy of a game works simply by inserting a compatible disc and installing and playing the game. This will require a Microsoft account on an Xbox console and will grant a digital entitlement for physical games," the report said. "This digital entitlement is tied to the specific disc, and it will move from account to account if you swap the physical game with a friend or log in to a different Xbox profile and try to play a disc-based game."

Not all existing discs will be supported, though, the report said. Supported discs for the disc-to-digital program will continue to work as discs even after being digitized, the report said. However, the entitlements are tied to specific consoles and the entitlements will end if people give away their discs. . 

Project Helix may not have a disc drive.

Microsoft already offers a digital-only version of the Xbox Series X, while all Xbox Series S consoles do not have disc drives. Microsoft has been plotting a future for consoles with no disc drives for more than a decade, as the company considered doing away with the disc drive for the Xbox One.

While many millions of games continue to be sold physically on discs, the share of digital games compared to disc-based games sold continues to grow in favor of digital. Sony had its highest-ever quarterly digital game sales period just before it announced it was abandoning discs. Companies like EA, Capcom, Nintendo, and others have reported increased shares of digital game sales, too.

Sony said it was ending support for discs because the majority of its users buy games digitally, and that's likely true for Xbox as well. Sony publishes this data in its quarterly reports, but Microsoft is much more secretive and doesn't share much in the way of concrete data for how its Xbox division is performing.

Not much is known about Project Helix, apart from Microsoft touting it as a system that will "push the boundaries of rendering and simulation."

At Summer Game Fest recently, Xbox's Matthew Ball said Microsoft remained committed to releasing Project Helix, despite ongoing concerns about component and memory pricing due to the AI craze.

This month's batch of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers has been revealed. All PS Plus members will be able to claim a trio of freebies starting July 7--Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, For the King 2, and CrossCode. If you haven't claimed June's PlayStation Plus free games yet, make sure to do so before next Tuesday.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 isn't exactly a high point for the franchise, but at the very least, the 2023 game was a comfortably familiar experience. Set directly after the events of the previous Modern Warfare game, the threequel follows Captain Price and Task Force 141 as they take on ultranationalist war criminal Vladimir Makarov across the globe. Throw in the usual multiplayer and Zombies modes, and you've got a passable Call of Duty adventure to dig into.

For the King 2 sees players battle against a tyrannical queen, either on their own or in co-op. Set in the land of Fahrul, the game is inspired by classic tabletop adventures and offers a digestible roguelite campaign, as well as the Dark Carnival that tests your group by seeing how many floors of a dungeon they can clear before they're overwhelmed by all the danger inside of it.

Finally, CrossCode is a gem of an action-RPG. This fan-favorite game features a retro-inspired design, combining 16-bit-style graphics with smooth gameplay and a fusion of gameplay ideas. You get old-school action, meaty RPG buildcrafting, and fast-paced battles to enjoy. CrossCode developer Radical Fish also recently released its next game, Alabaster Dawn, in Steam Early Access, and it's worth checking out for even more nostalgic RPG goodness.  

PlayStation Plus July 2026 Games

Available July 7 through August 3

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Cross-Gen Bundle (PS5, PS4)
• For the King 2 (PS5, PS4)
• CrossCode (PS5, PS4)

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