007 First Light is already out, but it's still accumulating wishlists on Steam, and now that it's passed 7 million wishlists, a very good boy has been added to the game.

With 7 million wishlists, IO Interactive has added Jack the bulldog to the game via its TacSim lobby for everyone. Jack, as a statue model, made his James Bond debut in the 2012 movie Skyfall, sitting on M's desk. The statue survived when the office exploded, though its face got cracked and Union Jack flag was charred. Jack went on to appear in Spectre and No Time To Die. Now, he's alive, and he's in First Light.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zdKJszWAfwc

IO says Jack should be a "warm, loyal presence" for players between missions, and yes, you can pet the dog.

"Gruff on the outside but endlessly good-natured, Jack has quickly become something of a fixture around MI6, with Bond himself growing rather fond of him between assignments," IO said.

Jack the Bulldog.

In other news, First Light's free Extended Operations DLC is out now, introducing New Game+, a new 00 difficulty mode, and a Photo Mode. The update also adds more TacSim content, including a new mission set in Vietnam.

007 First Light is currently 30% off right now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, bringing it down to $49. A Switch 2 version is coming in March 2027.

A First Light sequel sounds like a matter of when, not if, but it remains to be confirmed.

This is all happening just after October 5, which is James Bond Day. This commemorates the anniversary of the first movie Dr. No's release on October 5, 1962. Coinciding with this, all the James Bond movies were just added to Prime Video.

C

Star Wars Zero Company released in late August to great reviews, but its launch was bittersweet, as a large chunk of developer Bit Reactor's staff was furloughed, unsure if they would be returning to work. For at least a portion of them, however, that uncertainty is over, as they're back at the studio.

Speaking to Game File, Bit Reactor CEO Greg Foertsch said the studio had "started the process of returning more of our team back to work" but stopped short of giving specific percentages or figures. Game File's sources said the headcount following this return is more than half of what is was pre-furlough, but it's unclear when or if more staff will return in the future. A lawsuit involving Foertsch and co-founder Alison Kelly is currently ongoing, as well.

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

Games in genres as niche as turn-based tactics can sometimes struggle to make a major impact, but Star Wars Zero Company is about as good as these games get. Alongside a surprisingly approachable prequel-era story, the game mixes classic XCOM-style combat with some unique Star Wars twists, like force-pulling enemies out of cover so they can be obliterated by your blasters.

In our Star Wars Zero Company review, Steve Watts called it "the next great evolution of the genre." For a different twist on Star Wars once you're finished with Zero Company, you can now grab the excellent Star Wars Galactic Racer, as well.

Paradox Interactive has announced Cities: Skylines - Expanded Edition, a Nintendo Switch 2 port of Colossal Order's hit 2015 city-builder. While it's great to see Cities: Skylines make its way to a new platform, this announcement also serves as a reminder that we have no idea when the long-awaited console ports of Cities: Skylines 2 will come out.

Cities: Skylines - Expanded Edition was developed by Tantalus Media, the team behind The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword's Switch port. It'll cost $49, include 10 expansions, expand the buildable area to 25 tiles, support keyboard and mouse, and add a map editor, plus better precision placement and environmental controls. Players can choose between a 30fps mode that focuses on visual quality or a performance mode targeting 60fps.

The Switch 2 port launches on October 28 and will be available at a 70% discount to those who already own the Switch 1 version. Holiday Getaways, Mansions & Manors, and Blueprint Beasts Radio content creator packs will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One versions of the game on the same day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2HnKgl-HV0

While the original Cities: Skylines continues to be updated and ported to new platforms, Cities: Skylines 2 and its prospective console ports have had a much rockier journey. That sequel was supposed to be released the same day on PC and console in October 2023, but the console ports were pushed back to Spring 2024 ahead of release. When the PC version of Cities: Skylines 2 launched, it was riddled with bugs and other issues, and developer Colossal Order spent months fixing them.

In Spring 2024, the console ports of Cities: Skylines 2 were delayed again, this time to October 2024. Unfortunately, the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S ports were delayed again, and the developers admitted, "We have not yet met the stability and performance targets we set for the console release." Over two years later, the port is still not out.

In November 2025, Iceflake Studios took over development of Cities: Skylines 2 from Colossal Order, teasing that it will do "continuous work on the Editor and console editions." We have not heard anything about console ports of Cities: Skylines 2 since then.

As Tanatlus Media developed Cities: Skylines - Expanded Edition for Switch 2, not Iceflake Studios, it's unlikely the releases are connected in any significant way. Still, the status of the Cities: Skylines 2 console ports remains a mystery, further complicated by this Switch 2 port announcement and the reveal of Lego Skylines for PC and console.

World of Warcraft: Forever players have made their feelings about the game's visual style crystal clear: They love it when things look old.

It's a recurring theme in the Forever beta, where players have continually pushed back against updated high-definition character models and character portraits. While Forever is in many ways a new version of Blizzard's MMORPG, it's built with the spirit and foundation of WoW Classic in mind, even as it includes updated visuals and quality-of-life updates taken straight from modern WoW. One of those new features is an option to use modern WoW's updated playable character and non-enemy NPC models.

According to the WoW content creator Savix, who tested an early version of Forever before it was publicly announced, developer Blizzard didn't originally plan to include the ability to swap between standard or high-def character models, instead only using HD models. The testers, many of them streamers and content creators from within the WoW Classic community, stressed how important it was to include an option for the game's original character models.

https://www.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/1wtzd7p/new_quillboar_boss_model_updated_for_classic_wow/

Blizzard thankfully listened, but every other instance of updated character models have been met with similar distaste from among the MMO's community. Whether it was intentional or by mistake, a quilboar boss was found to be using its modern WoW model and was met with backlash from players. It didn't take long for Blizzard to return the enemy back to how it looked in WoW Classic. 

It's a similar story with the game's character creation portraits. For much of the beta, the Forever character-creation screen used HD portraits taken from modern WoW, to the disappointment of the community. Earlier this week that finally changed, with the game now using WoW's original character-creation portraits.

Blizzard seems to have gotten the message. Currently, the game's new playable Skyborne elf race only has HD models. That, too, sounds like it will soon change. In a comment attached to a video exploring Skyborne lore and abilities, Blizzard said to "stay tuned regarding Skyborne models," seemingly implying standard-definition versions of the Skyborne are on the way. 

https://youtu.be/GmCSew3WWQo?si=xZPYzZH9IAniImz1

Even with these options, some players want more. Forever's user interface is a fascinating combination of old and new--cleaner and more streamlined similar to modern WoW, but inspired in many ways by WoW Classic. Currently, there's not a toggle option to swap between Forever's updated UI and WoW's original interface. For those who want the UI as it was 20 years ago, a player-made ClassicUI Forever add-on reverts many of Blizzard's changes to make everything from the game's action bars, spellbook, profession tab, character portraits, bags, and more look as they did in 2004. 

I expect this push and pull to continue. WoW content creators have debated the clash between old and new found in Forever's art style, with many calling on Blizzard to pick a lane. For what seems like the majority of the Forever community, the answer is loud and clear--the older looking the better. 

WoW: Forever's beta runs through October 21, with Forever's full launch coming November 4. A recent RMT controversy in the Forever beta saw Blizzard put its foot down when it comes to illegal gold buying. Meanwhile, Blizzard is asking players in a survey for their opinions on 11 potential new classes that could be added to Forever in the future. 

Gamers hoping for GTA 6 to amp up the realism when it comes to losing their wanted level in the sunny state of Leonida are in luck, with Rockstar confirming in a recent interview that Jason and Lucia can do far more than escape a glowing red zone on the map to shake off the law. 

Speaking to IGN ahead of the Netflix Extended Look back in August, head of development and co-studio head Rob Nelson walked the outlet through a 30-minute gameplay demo in which several new mechanics and locations were detailed.  

The demo begins in Jason and Lucia’s safehouse, one of many interactive personal spaces the player can call home in GTA 6. Here you can switch characters, partake in unique interactions, or even decorate the place to suit your style. However, Rockstar has stressed “this is not their own house, they’re staying in someone else’s house.”

From here, Nelson takes Lucia on a stroll through downtown where an evolved version of Red Dead Redemption 2’s NPC interaction system is used to mess with random citizens, which can range from dangerous gangbangers to normal people jogging in the local park. 

But now these interactions possess significantly more depth and go far beyond saying hello, being rude, or holding someone at gunpoint. Rockstar describes several examples such as eavesdropping on a conversation for too long and being called out, or following an NPC as he goes about his regular routine only for it to blow up into a moment that feels earned and can be tackled in a multitude of ways.

This is where the evolved wanted level system comes into play, although Rockstar has made it clear that you will still have an opportunity to cause untold chaos and murder hundreds of cops if you’re that way inclined, but doing so will come with significantly more variables since Rockstar doesn’t want GTA 6 to make you “all-powerful” like GTA 5 often did. 

After an interaction ends with an NPC pulling a gun on Lucia and a group of people she has just interacted with, dispatch is called and a one-star wanted level star shows up on screen. If you manage to escape the area where the authorities are going to respond, you’ll be in the clear, but Nelson goes on to describe a number of ways this can be achieved. 

“As much as possible, we tried to design the game so that you have options,” Nelson said. “Things can escalate quite quickly if you want them to, or people who don’t want to escalate can try to avoid it. It's not always possible! To me, that supports the narrative. This is a story about a couple on the run. We have tried to make the systems and the design support our narrative when and wherever possible. Meaning, if you hit and run, commit a crime and run, get into trouble and move on before the cops get there, and you don’t start shooting people, don't start escalating – which you absolutely can do if you want to – but if you don’t, you’re generally going to be fine.”

Nelson expands upon this system further after Lucia experiences another NPC interaction that puts the fuzz on her tail. Even if you haven’t killed someone, a stolen vehicle or beaten and bruised pedestrian is still going to raise both eyebrows and your wanted level. You can run away the old fashioned way, or decide to get a haircut, change your outfit, or even split up if Jason and Lucia happen to be travelling together. 

“Again, if I take off here, I should be fine. We’re really trying to encourage this hit-and-run style of gameplay.” Nelson explains. “So, the police are looking for me. We have this heat system, and they know what I look like and what I’m wearing. Here’s a pair of glasses–I'll put on this and this baseball hat. But they still know what I'm wearing, so I would need to go to a clothing store or call my personal vehicle, which has changes of outfits in the trunk.”

The idea of being able to lose the law by dashing into an interconnected network of alleys or blending in amidst NPCs in a random storefront sounds thrilling, especially dynamic systems designed to keep you on their toes are constantly interacting with one another.

Outfits can become compromised, while cops will be quick to recognise what vehicle you’re travelling in or where you were last seen. But Nelson notes that “so long as you don’t draw too much attention to yourself, you should be fine.” Easier said than done in an open world as ripe with possibility as this one. 

GTA 6 releases on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and according to reports it is already close to 6 million pre-orders more than a month before launch. 

It's the start of a new month, and like clockwork, the next batch of Xbox Game Pass titles has been announced for the subscription service. Gears of War: E-Day leads the new arrivals this month, and it'll be joined by a few more big games: Battlefield 6 and Valor Mortis.

Here's a closer look at everything you can grab in the first half of the month through Xbox Game Pass:

The headline act is the aforementioned Gears of War: E-Day, a pretty great Xbox exclusive if you're looking for something gleefully loud, dumb, and violent. Minecraft Dungeons 2 has also just launched, and while it does have a few flaws, it's a lot more ambitious than its predecessor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teClq4qYyzQ

Other notable games in this first wave include the day-one release of Echo Weaver, an adventure game where time is your greatest resource, and Forever Ago, another brand-new release focused on redemption as you set off on a single-player road trip adventure.

Arriving on October 13, Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can check out large-scale warfare with Battlefield 6, while Valor Mortis is a first-person soulslike set during the Napoleonic Wars era. If you feel like something that's less brutal, Deep Dish Dungeon is a survival exploration game with hand-crafted dungeons and metroidvania elements.

Rounding out the first wave of games on October 15, are several more day-one titles that cover a wide range of genres. You can shoot the Heeler family--with a camera, you sicko--in the day-one release of Bluey's Happy Snaps, and Chained Beasts is a co-op gladiator roguelike. You'll fight side by side with your comrade in arms and chains.

Finally, you can build a city on the back of a Space Whale and learn to coexist with it as you explore the cosmos in the day-one release of Beyond These Stars.

Several games are also leaving Game Pass on October 15, so you have only a few more days to try titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Evil West.

Xbox Game Pass October Wave 1 Games Now available

• Gears of War: E-Day (Cloud, console, and PC)
• Minecraft Dungeons 2 (Cloud, console, and PC)

October 8

• Echo Weaver (Cloud, console, and PC)
• Forever Ago (Cloud, console, and PC)
• Neon Abyss 2 (Cloud, console, and PC)

October 13

• Battlefield 6 (Cloud, console, and PC)
• Deep Dish Dungeon (Cloud, console, and PC)
• Valor Mortis (Cloud, console, and PC)

October 15

• Bluey's Happy Snaps (Cloud, console, and PC)
• Chained Beasts (Cloud, console, and PC)

October 16

• Beyond These Stars (PC)

New information has come to light about GTA 6, and specifically the partnership of its main characters, Jason and Lucia. In GTA 6, they are both partners in crime and lovers, and physical intimacy will be part of the experience, it seems.

Rockstar North's Rob Nelson said in an interview with IGN that physical intimacy is a "huge part" of a relationship, and that applies to GTA 6. Exactly how this may operate in GTA 6, however, remains a mystery. "It has to be done right," Nelson said.

"Like anything that we do, we have to iterate and try things and iterate on it until we figure out what feels right," he explained.

Lucia and Jason in GTA 6.

GTA 6's ESRB rating says the game will have nudity and strong sexual content, and IGN reported that when switching characters, it can switch to Jason's POV while he is naked and in the shower. An international rating for GTA 6 specifically mentions how the game will have "sex scenes."

The GTA series has had its fair share of sex-related controversy. One of gaming’s biggest controversies ever, the Hot Coffee surrounding GTA: San Andreas saw Rockstar owner Take-Two paying out money to settle suits related to a mod in GTA: San Andreas’ PC edition that unlocked an interactive sex minigame.

As of yet, there is no indication that any sex scenes in GTA 6 would be interactive.

Also in the interview, Nelson discussed Jason and Lucia's relationship generally, saying players will be able to "role-play" their relationship, and "it's amazing."

GTA 6's story is narratively structured around Jason and Lucia, and the two of them working together. They don't have to be a couple, though, and instead can be simply "partners in crime" who are not romantically involved.

"I don’t want to say too much more about this because I don’t want to spoil anything. It really adds a compelling element to things, and it’s one of the reasons we wanted to approach this sort of story, because it's completely different for us," he said. "Could we bring some sort of emotional resonance to GTA for people if they wanted to engage with it? Could we also provide mechanisms for people to just opt out of it if they're not into it? If they feel like, ‘I don't want a relationship in this?’ That's what we're going to find out. It's not something that we want to foist upon players."

Lucia and Jason can get into all sorts of trouble in GTA 6.

Nelson went on to say GTA 6 will not give players "a particular gameplay benefit" if they have Jason and Lucia become lovers, however. But they will always have the benefit of "working together and having each other's back," he said.

"Whether they're romantically close or not doesn't change that. They will still work together. It's really about what you want for them, their story, and how it plays out. Whether you've nurtured the relationship or not will definitely have a bearing on how their story plays out," Nelson explained.

GTA 6 has a dedicated "relationship system" that is separate from a different gameplay system that tracks what sort of a criminal you are, Nelson said. Players can nurture the relationship between Jason and Lucia in the ways you would expect, including spending time together with things like kayaking and mini-golf. Or they can grow their relationship by robbing stores together.

"However players want to spend that time together, it will have a positive impact on the relationship," he said.

GTA 6's narrative setup has been likened to Bonnie and Clyde, the famous real-world criminal couple who met their end in a hail of gunfire. Many are wondering if both Jason and Lucia will make it out alive in GTA 6, or at the least, how their relationship may be tested. Another popular fan theory is that either Jason or Lucia is actually working with the Feds and will turn on the other at some point.

it won't be much longer until we find out, as GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Just a month after Microsoft said Forza Horizon 6 for PlayStation 5 remained on track to release in 2026, a new report says the game has in fact been delayed to 2027.

Reputable leaker billbil-kun said Forza Horizon 6 for PS5 is set for release on January 26, 2027. The report said there will be a physical disc edition at retail, and the game will also be sold digitally.

In September, Microsoft said in a blog post that the PS5 edition of the popular racing game was due for release in 2026, but plans have seemingly changed. Officially, however, Microsoft has yet to communicate any update to the game's PS5 release date.

Forza Horizon 6 was released in May this year for Xbox Series X|S and PC. The game, which is set in Japan, scored rave reviews, including an 8/10 from GameSpot, and PlayStation fans have had to wait for their turn to play.

The last game in the series, Forza Horizon 5, was a huge hit on PlayStation 5. In other Forza news, Microsoft recently announced that Forza developers Turn 10 and Playground are merging to become one unified studio to support and grow the brand going forward.

After a lengthy hiatus, Gears of War returned this week to Xbox Series X|S and PC with a new adventure set during the cataclysmic events of Emergence Day. For fans of the series, it has been a long wait, as the previous entry in the series, Gears 5, was released all the way back in 2019. Will there be another seven-year stretch between new Gears games? Gears of War: E-Day developer The Coalition doesn't think so, as the new game lays the groundwork for a quicker turnaround for new potential chapters in the IP.

Speaking to the BBC, Coalition studio head Mike Crump said that E-Day provides a "great foundation" for future games, and he claimed that "the next game will not take nearly as long" to make. "What I say to myself, what I say to the team, is we just we need to focus on the things that we can control. For us that's about shipping a great game that people are going to love and I feel like, as a team, we've done that," Crump added in response to questions about the safety of the studio and its institutional knowledge during a period of mass layoffs at Xbox. "We've got a great team here. And the leadership team in particular has worked together for upwards of 20 years. So there's definitely a continuity of knowledge and experience."

So far, The Coalition appears to have been spared the brunt of "Xbox reset" layoffs, but fears remain that the axe might swing their way now that Gears of War: E-Day has launched.

Recent changes at Xbox have seen several studios consolidated under Bethesda and Activision, and even Xbox's high-profile Halo series has not been spared. After being under the remit of Halo Studios for several years, a new team at Activision is now developing the next Halo game, rumored to be a new division within Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer Games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teClq4qYyzQ

The future of the Gears of War series likely rests with its commercial performance, but as an Xbox exclusive, there's only so much room for sales before you factor in its availability as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release and its launch during a crowded period on the gaming calendar. Crump sees things differently, believing the true measure of E-Day's success will be its ability to move the needle for Xbox and show what the gaming brand is capable of as it enters a new era, not just sales numbers.

"We measure things like, are we showcasing the platform? Are we pushing the hardware to its limits? Are we showcasing what the Xbox is capable of? Our goal basically is to be the best-looking game on the Xbox and really show the industry what's possible with our hardware," Crump said.

Stadia might be dead, but Google isn't giving up on gaming. The company has rolled out Playground, a platform built around AI that "lets you create, play, and share custom games." It's browser-based and labeled as an "experiment" to start. There's also Unity Spark support, which will offer more development options for people who catch the creator bug. 

Google's pitch claims that this new platform makes game creation more democratic by ending gatekeeping to development. The company states that Playground "lowers the barriers to creation, so bringing game ideas to life can now be as easy as describing it through a few prompts--no coding experience required." The platform also feels like the company's attempt at taking a piece of the Roblox pie--something that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reportedly wants with Minecraft, too. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dxvrvfyicp0

However, the initial rollout feels pretty underwhelming. The most hilarious part of the Playground experience, so far, is realizing how misleading the cover art for games is after actually playing them. For example, we checked out Volcano Run. The key image shows a sports car racing around a road crumbling; meanwhile, the actual gameplay is a rudimentary rectangular motorcycle (we think) driving in a Tron-like environment. 

One of the Unity Spark highlights is called Horror Story, and the game starts with players following a ghost into a haunted house. How that ghost shuffles into the residence is one of the funnier animations we've witnessed in a game recently. 

The most promising experience we checked out was Steampunk Match, a match-3 puzzle game. Players need to create combos to stop a boiler from exploding. This game felt much better than others that attempted to take a swing at the action-RPG genre, such as Catacombs. 

If you are looking to make your own game for Playground, that opportunity is apparently rolling out to people "soon." However, Google says people can upgrade their Google One plan to get started immediately.

15 Best Free PC Games To Play In 2026 View Images

Rockstar boss Rob Nelson has stated that GTA 6 won't make players "all-powerful" like they were in GTA 5 and the games that came before it. For GTA 6, this means NPCs in the world will have impulses of their own, and could come after you.

Speaking to IGN, Nelson said, "The world will act upon you as well as you acting upon the world." In previous GTA games, except for the police, the player was the only one with an "invisible arsenal hidden away," and everyone in the world would run away in terror. "This world in GTA 6 is not like that," he said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vlzIPpyJR0

Nelson went on to say that GTA 6's story, which follows the partners in crime and lovers Jason and Lucia, is about "criminals on the run." However, the game's narrative is such that they are incentized to "do what they need to do while not drawing unnecessary attention."

"So if you're doing things on a mission that you are required to do--or you’re robbing places, or somebody comes and messes with you and you have to deal with them by smacking them down or whatever--that’s all fair game," he said. "It's when you go beyond what is necessary on a consistent basis or you do completely unnecessary stuff consistently that you may start to sway your criminal profile in a certain direction. Maybe you care about that as a player, maybe you don't. There is no right or wrong way to play this."

Nelson said being "overpowered" as a character compared to everyone else except the cops "can be fun but not as fun" as a world in which other people may have "impulses of their own and act upon you."

"You are still powerful and capable, but you are not the only one capable of violence or the only one with weapons or the only crazy person out there," he said. "It makes the world far more unpredictable and interesting. It's something that we started doing in Red Dead Redemption 2, where you are not the only dangerous person in the world. There are gangs that will attack you, things that will happen to you. The world will act upon you. That happens here a lot, and then when it does, you have a decision to make. How do you want to deal with it?"

In GTA 6, the cops are getting upgrades, too. A new "heat" system means the police now know what the player looks like and what they're wearing, so even if players put on a hat or glasses, the cops still know who they are until they change clothes.

GTA 6 releases on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it's reportedly already sold close to 6 million copies. A recent report said the game might be available to stream in November, but that's apparently not the case.

After leaving the Xbox Game Studios portfolio, State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs is now an independent, employee-owned studio. The developer had previously announced State of Decay 3 all the way back in 2020--partly to keep the project and the studio on Microsoft's radar--as the company embarked on an acquisition spree. Now one of several departures from Microsoft's gaming division following the bloody "Xbox reset" that has seen scores of jobs slashed throughout 2026, Undead Labs also had to cut staff as it entered a new era. But was there any behind-the-scenes drama that led to its exit from Xbox?

Speaking to The Game Business, studio boss Philip Holt said that ultimately, nothing went wrong. It was more a case of reading the room and making a proposal to Microsoft that the company accepted. "It was an accelerated period of time for Microsoft's divestiture," Holt explained. "We had a lot of interest. I also thought that because we were so close to being in revenue, the amount of capital that we needed to finish [State of Decay 3] was not an insurmountable amount that we couldn't go raise it ourselves. I knew other studios were doing management buyouts, so I submitted an offer for a management-led acquisition, and Microsoft thought that would be a good idea."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5--CgCpM7M

Holt also addressed why State of Decay 3 was originally announced so far in advance, as in the eight years that it was under the Xbox umbrella, it never released a single game--but it did drop 38 updates for the popular State of Decay 2. He explained that a small team had been working on the game since 2020--with development picking up a few years later--and that announcing the game so early helped the studio avoid being lost in the shuffle during Xbox's buying spree of publishers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.

"I didn’t think Microsoft was done being acquisitive, and I didn't think they'd continue buying small developers; I assumed they'd start buying big things. I was a little worried about getting swallowed up or divested before we had a chance to present to the world what we were working on. So, it was a bit of a marker on the table. I was saying, State of Decay 3, we're announcing it, the audience knows it’s in development, and here’s a trailer to demonstrate our vision."

State of Decay 3 will still launch day-one through Game Pass, and Holt credited the subscription service with helping the horror franchise reach 25 million players. He also said that becoming an independent studio allowed Undead Labs to focus on serving an audience and being profitable. "We need to make a profit, we need to be sustainable, we need to pay ourselves and our partners--and it is a goal. This is not a charity. But it’s not the number-one most important objective."

Undead Labs joins Double Fine and Compulsion Games as former Xbox studios, but the future of Hellblade and DmC: Devil May Cry developer Ninja Theory is looking grim. After deals to acquire the studio fell through, it looks like the studio will soon be shut down.

With Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in the bag, details on what this merger means for the Warner Bros. game division have finally been revealed. Warner Bros. Interactive will merge with the newly formed Paramount Games Studio, and it'll oversee projects based on Skydance's rich--and newly acquired-library of IP. That lineup includes Avatar: The Last Airbender, South Park, Mortal Kombat, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek--and that's not even mentioning the treasure trove of DC Comics IP that the company now owns.

The new division will be overseen by Tony Driscoll, president of games and experiences at Skydance, and one of the executives leading corporate strategy and development at the company. Driscoll had previously described video games as a "core pillar" of entertainment, alongside film and TV.

SpongeBob Mortal Kombat crossover when?

"We’re investing in our future growth engines alongside our core ambitions in TV, film and direct-to-consumer: Games, experiences, consumer products, and publishing," Gordon wrote in a staff memo (via Variety). "These are core pillars of our strategy to build engagement and fandom in both the physical and digital worlds. We want to meet consumers where they watch, play, and engage."

It's still unclear what the future plans are for the growing Skydance gaming division, or how hard it'll be hit by looming layoffs. This branch of Skydance will now be the home to some big WBI developers like Avalanche Software (Hogwarts Legacy), NetherRealm Studios (Mortal Kombat), Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham Series and one Suicide Squad game I don't want to talk about), and TT Games (Various Lego games).

Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has also joined the board of directors, and Skydance is also producing the Call of Duty movie with Activision, which is scheduled to hit theaters in 2028.

Resident Evil Requiem is one of this year's biggest hits, and Capcom plans to build on that success with new story DLC. While it hasn't yet revealed when it'll be out or what it's about, one of the game's writers, Haris Orkin, recently teased that the DLC will shed new light on Oswell E. Spencer, one of the biggest villains in the Resident Evil series.

"I think villains honestly are really fun to write, because I usually see every villain as a hero of their own story. So the villain is like in their mind they're a hero," Orkin said in an interview with the Distance Nerding podcast. I mean, Victor Gideon thinks he's going to save the world in Requiem. We have an arc for Spencer in Requiem. "Where you understand that more. And then in the DLC you will understand that even further. I probably shouldn't say that, but yeah."

https://youtu.be/gaTmFHQdLlo

Resident Evil Requiem spoilers below

Compared to his appearances in previous Resident Evil games, Oswell E. Spencer is more sympathetic, harboring genuine regret for his role in establishing the Umbrella Corporation, his research on the Progenitor Virus, and his ambitious goal of remaking the world with his bioweapons. As revealed in Requiem--and spoilers if you haven't played it yet--Spencer adopted a baby girl called Grace in 2001, and he successfully developed the powerful antiviral Elpis so that he could eliminate all Progenitor-based viral weapons, as part of his mission to atone for his sins.

That version of Spencer is narratively at odds with the version we see in Resident Evil 5, as before his death in 2006 at the hands of Albert Wesker, he was a bit of a bastard who apparently still harbored delusions of grandeur and had started work on a new virus to help him become immortal.

Then again, Capcom has been rewriting Resident Evil lore with its remakes, and this new version of Spencer is arguably more fascinating than a stereotypical mustache-twirling villain. While we don't know if Capcom plans to eventually make Resident Evil 5--one of the more controversial entries in the series--it'll be interesting to see if Spencer succumbs to his ambitions once again before Wesker finishes him off.

Since its launch, Capcom has updated Resident Evil Requiem with some photography tools and a new "Leon Must Die" mode. Resident Evil producer Jun Takeuchi also spoke about the meaning behind the title, adding to the confusion. Following the blockbuster success of Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie, the next entry in the video game series is out soon. The remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica launches in 2027.

PC players hoping to find a way to play GTA 6 when it launches on consoles next month must be feeling pretty disappointed, as Microsoft has clarified that Grand Theft Auto 6 will not be available to stream to PC via Xbox Cloud Gaming. The news follows an earlier report claiming Xbox had secured exclusive streaming rights to Rockstar's highly anticipated game.

The clarification came from Xbox chief strategy officer Matthew Ball, who addressed The Verge's report. Ball said the excitement surrounding GTA 6 and Xbox had resulted in some inaccurate reporting.

His full statement read, "While the excitement for GTA 6 and Xbox is great to see, it has also led to some misreporting. We are looking forward to launching GTA 6 on Xbox November 19, though the game will not be streaming exclusively or to PC."

That means, sadly for PC players, that you shouldn't expect to fire up Xbox Cloud Gaming on November 19 and find yourself wandering around Vice City without a console.

https://twitter.com/ballmatthew/status/2107667069797802443?s=20

The original report from The Verge claimed that Microsoft had secured exclusive game-streaming rights for GTA 6, citing sources familiar with the company's plans. The report followed comments from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who apparently told employees that Microsoft was preparing to do something with GTA 6 that "no other platform holder is doing."

The report suggested the arrangement could have been significant for PC players, who as of yet don't know when they'll be able to get their hands on the game.

Rockstar has yet to announce a PC version of GTA 6, which is officially confirmed for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. A streaming arrangement could have offered PC players a way to play the game at launch without waiting for the GTA 6 PC release date.

The confusion arrives at a pretty interesting time for Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft is making significant changes to the service in November, including introducing a pay-as-you-go option and changing the amount of cloud gaming time available across Game Pass tiers.

Out of nowhere, Netflix and Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games announced a new The Conjuring game, and it's out next week.

The Conjuring: Unspoken releases on October 13 through Netflix, so you don't need any dedicated hardware or controller to play it.

The game is an "interactive paranormal investigation" experience where players decide how the story progresses based on the dialogue options they choose. Players use their phone to walk through the fictional Red Lion Inn to search for clues about "things that go bump in the night," Netflix said.

You play as demonologist Francesca Noakes, and you'll use an electromagnetic field reader, an infrared camera, and spirit box to hunt for ghosts.

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

Netflix said you don't need to know anything about The Conjuring to enjoy Unspoken, but people familiar with the series will get "a lot more from the experience."

"There are a few familiar faces that pop up in the game, and knowing the backstory adds to the overall impact," Netflix said.

Unspoken will be available on Netflix on October 13. It was made in partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, whose parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, was just acquired by Paramount/Skydance.

During a town hall meeting today, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma spoke to staff to help reassure them following mass layoffs and studio closures related to the "reset" of the business.

Windows Central reports that Sharma told staff that Xbox is "making the right decisions" and that "after an all time low, we've started to return to growth," though she did not share any specifics. She added that Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons 2, and World of Warcraft: Forever had "strong" starts, though she did not share any specifics.

Sharma said, "We've started to return to growth, more than 2 to 3 times what we were, and we expect that continue." She did not share any specifics about what "2 to 3 times" actually means, though.

Sharma also told staff that Xbox's "Gen-10" platform--AKA Project Helix--will be, as rumored, a "family of devices" because "there is no one device that fits all."

She said it's important for Xbox to have a "great console first," but there will also be options for players who are "on the go." Sharma went on to say that Microsoft will manufacture some of these devices, and others Microsoft will find partners for.

"So, we will be sharing more about that as our plans develop. The operating system is starting to look really good. We're very excited about this," she said.

Sharma didn't get into specifics about its next console or portable devices, but they're in the works amidst a very challenging time given the AI-fueled demand for memory and components. The global macroeconomic environment that has driven up oil prices has also rocked markets. Not only this, but in the US, the Federal Reserve recently raised rates, impacting borrowing costs with the effects trickling through various market categories, including gaming.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praised Sharma for making such deep and extensive cuts at Xbox. This has so far included 1,600 layoffs in July, close to 300 more in September, and additional job losses to come. Microsoft also closed or divested of a number of studios, including Double Fine and Ninja Theory.

Some theorized Sharma was streamlining Xbox to make it more attractive to a prospective buyer, but she recently insisted that Xbox is not for sale. A lot of people don't believe her, though, pointing back to her comments about how "the plan's the plan until it's not the plan."

Beyond these moves, Sharma also oversaw a massive restructuring of the Xbox business that included Activision taking over the Halo series and Bethesda's remit expanding to also cover Obsidian.

Razer has officially revealed the next entry in its line of high-end gaming controllers, the Wolverine V4 for Xbox and PC. Geared toward competitive gamers--not that there's anything stopping you from using it to play Vampire Survivors--and it focuses primarily on polling performance and thumbstick sensor architecture.

One of the biggest changes is Razer choosing capacitive contactless sensors backed by a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for the thumbsticks, rather than the usual Hall Effect magnetic sensor. While Hall Effect thumbsticks are popular for their durability and for essentially eliminating stick drift, they can be prone to magnetic interference. Not a dealbreaker if you're playing at home, but in a competitive scene where victory is measured in fractions of a second, this can be an issue. In comparison, Razer is aiming to offer the same drift resistance, finer granularity, and smoother signal tracking with capacitive sensing.

Then there's the polling rate, which is absurdly high. For example, a DualSense Edge is capable of offering up to 1,000Hz (1 ms to 8 ms input latency), but the Wolverine V4 pushes that number up to 8,000Hz in both its wired and wireless configurations when used on PC, which, in theory, should put that on par with high-end esports mice and keyboards. This isn't the first Razer controller to feature an 8,000Hz polling rate, as the Wolverine V3 Pro was also equipped to reach those numbers.

Just don't expect to reach those levels on Xbox Series X|S, as hardware limitations cap the refresh rate at 250Hz, meaning the 8,000Hz benefit is strictly for PC competitive gaming.

The controller also offers four removable magnetic back buttons and two top claw-grip bumpers, with a modular magnetic design that lets players quickly swap components out, stripping the controller of unused buttons and extra weight. First-person shooter players can also use a back-mounted physical toggle switch with software-tunable actuation points, allowing them to fine-tune the hair-trigger click threshold.

That makes for a solid controller on paper, even if you don't need all of its features. The wireless model has an MSRP of $200, making it a little bit more expensive than the Xbox Elite Series 2 wireless controller and on par with the DualSense Edge (which can also be used on PC). If you'd prefer a wired option, the Wolverine V4 wired version will set you back $100.

Another controller worth keeping an eye on is the recently revealed Genki Manta. Genki launched a Kickstarter campaign for it, raising over $1.1 million for a peripheral that combines high customizability with an OLED display. The company aims to launch it next year, with an MSRP of $279.

Veteran video game actor Nolan North has addressed his future in the Call of Duty series, saying he hopes to reprise his character Dr. Edward Richtofen from Black Ops' popular Zombies mode.

If this does happen, it probably won't be soon. That's because, North said he believes 2027's Call of Duty game might be developed by Sledgehammer. Given that, a new Black Ops game might not come until 2028 at the soonest, but this is just conjecture.

Speaking at Gamergy in Puerto Rico (via DomTheBomb), North said he hopes Richtofen's story continues in a future Black Ops game, whenever that might be.

"I always like when they leave things open for the next one. I know that Infinity Ward and I think Sledgehammer has the next two before there is another Black Ops. I just don't want it to be the end of Richtofen, and I don't think it is," he said.

North clarified that he does not know for sure that Richotfen's story will continue, so he hoped people wouldn't think he had some inside knowledge apart from his own hope and belief. Whatever the case, North said Richotofen is one of his favorite characters to voice, and he hopes to reprise him someday.

North first appeared as Richtofen in 2008's World at War, and has reprised the role many times over in subsequent games from developer Treyarch. He's a fan-favorite character in the fan-favorite Zombies mode, with the story taking numerous twists and turns over the years.

"It's been such a pleasure getting to work with my friends for so long, just like Uncharted was," he said.

On the subject of Uncharted, North said he hopes to come back to play Nathan Drake once more. As it happens, rumors are swirling that Naughty Dog is working on Uncharted 5 and that Drake might have a role in it.

Regarding North's statement that Sledgehammer is working on the 2027 Call of Duty game, that's not confirmed, but doesn't seem outrageous given this has been reported since 2024. The studio's last game where it served as lead developer was 2023's Modern Warfare 3, so it might be time for Sledgehammer to take the lead again in 2027. Intriguingly, it's also been reported that Activision's new ownership of the Halo franchise could include Sledgehammer, or at least a division inside the developer, working on a Halo game.

This year's Call of Duty game is Modern Warfare 4, and Infinity Ward is leading development. The game releases on October 23 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC.

Being a haunted doll must be difficult. You're missing an eyeball, and your lipstick makes you look more like a cannibal than a cherub. People make faces of disgust at you in the antique mall, and you want to tell them you're actually the unblemished soul of a 19th century nun named Eunice, but they speed away before you can. But if you were a haunted doll, you'd at least have solo developer Steelkrill Studio on your side, as its upcoming survival horror game Where Dolls Hang features real-life creepy dolls looking proudly injured. 

The dolls of Mexico's Isla de las Muñecas, the Island of the Dolls, have been through a lot over the past 80 years. Folklore suggests the bald dolls cobwebbed and nailed to the island's trees contain the spirit of a drowned little girl, who caretaker Don Julian Santana may or may not have made up. In any case, he spent much of his life fishing plastic Barbies and babies out of the water near his home to honor her spirit. So Where Dolls Hang, which was featured in the Horror Game Awards' recent showcase this past summer, is a tribute, too--it honors the fact that our real world is often freakier than fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwPGsK7yWA4

"Some of the doll models you'll find were created using real photographs," developer Steelkrill explains on Twitter. "The photographs can also be found around in the game." An accompanying clip of first-person gameplay footage demonstrates with an image of a doll head coated completely in dirt and little pimples from raindrops. The Where Dolls Hang player then drops the photo and stares ahead; the same pimply doll head is sticking from a pike right in front of them. 

"It creates an unusual connection between the game's horrors and reality: something disturbing hanging in a room or sitting in the darkness may not have been designed entirely from imagination," a press release says. "Somewhere in the world, there may be a real photograph behind it." Intriguingly, that makes Where Dolls Hang a rare game that is based on a true story, since life is unknowable without art to make sense of it. 

Where Dolls Hang is scheduled for a 2026 release date, and it's available to wishlist now on Steam.