As Xbox continues its reset and lays off nearly 300 staff, the company announced that some of its subsidiaries have been shaken up as well. This includes Obsidian Entertainment, which will now operate under Bethesda Softworks.

On September 22, Xbox chief content officer and executive vice president Matt Booty posted on Xbox's website, outlining a new structure that sees the Bethesda business unit now include Obsidian.

"Bethesda will expand its remit to include Obsidian, which will continue its current projects, including Grounded, as well as the new Fallout project made in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios," Booty wrote on Xbox Wire.

This language doesn't appear to suggest that Bethesda gobbled up Obsidian to take ownership over the studio or anything. Instead, it sounds a little closer to the working relationship Bethesda--or rather, the studio's parent company, ZeniMax Media--has with Doom maker id Software.

Obsidian Entertainment--which developed copious RPGs from Neverwinter Nights 2 to Pillars of Eternity to Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords to The Outer Worlds--lost 25% of its staff in July after Xbox's first major reset. This resulted in the Avowed sequel being killed and the acclaimed RPG studio shifting its focus to the Fallout franchise, with a new game in development. It's unclear if this project is Fallout 5 or some spin-off of the long-running series, but alongside whatever Obsidian Entertainment is working on, there are at least three Fallout pies in the oven now.

This isn't the only reshuffling happening at Xbox. Booty also announced that Activision will develop the next Halo, Hellblade developer Ninja Theory will likely close, and the two Forza studios have hit the fusion dance to become one. There's more to come, too, with more layoffs reportedly planned before June 2027.

Big changes are afoot at Microsoft, as the company announced a massive reorganization of its Xbox gaming division. While Activision and Bethesda will expand their remit, adding several studios to their portfolio, Forza series developers Playground and Turn 10 won't be included in the consolidation. Instead, the two developers are joining forces, merging into one developer after years of tag-teaming on games like Forza Horizon and Fable.

"These two studios have been creative and franchise partners for over a decade, and today’s changes will formally move their work into one team," Xbox chief creative officer Matt Booty wrote in a letter to employees. What the letter doesn't precisely mention is if there'll be layoffs at these studios, but we do know that 268 positions at Xbox are being made redundant as part of a previously announced second wave of job cuts. Mergers typically see several roles overlap, so it won't be too surprising to see people let go from both studios as they start the process of becoming a single team.

Playground Games has a storied career, having developed the first Forza Horizon game, released in 2012. Since then, the studio has developed each entry in the franchise, which slowly overtook the main Forza Motorsport series to become one of Xbox's tentpole franchises. Forza Horizon 6 was released earlier this year to positive reviews, and next year will bring a new chapter in the Fable series. Turn 10 Studios is an even older developer, having been established in 2001 to develop racing games for Microsoft Game Studios.

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

Working solely on the Forza Motorsport series--which offered a higher degree of sim-racing realism compared to Playground's arcade-inspired Forza Horizon games--the studio developed eight games in the series. Forza Motorsport launched in 2023 and was envisioned as a new live-service era for the racing game series, but it never really took off. Following massive layoffs in July 2025, Turn 10 Studios announced that it was ending development of new content for Forza Motorsport and began working as a support studio for Playground.

Former Forza Motorsport content coordinator Fred Russell didn't mince his words following those layoffs, saying the team was "no more" and that the studio had been effectively shuttered.

When the R-rated Bloodborne movie was officially announced with YouTuber Seán McLoughlin AKA JackSepticEye signed on as a producer, many wondered what, exactly, his involvement might be. Now, we have a better idea.

Appearing on 100 Questions with Tom Simons (via GamesRadar), McLoughlin said you can think of his role as a producer as a "vibe-checker" for the movie. In essence, McLoughlin said that when he's on calls with stakeholders discussing key elements of the "vetting process" and hiring, he speaks up and helps make decisions.

"I say that my role is that I'm the one being like, 'This is a good idea, this is a bad idea, we shouldn't do this.' But also I'm the one greenlighting who gets hired, and who we work with to make sure that vetting process is good," he said. "You don't want to bring on anyone who has no idea what Bloodborne is. In simpler terms, I'm sort of the vibe-checker to be like, 'Yeah, not that.'"

He went on to say that he's not trying to shepherd the Bloodborne movie to become "the game," or a movie that tries to "one up the game" or compete with it. Instead, McLoughlin said his ambition is to "honor the universe that's there and tell as good a story as I can within it."

Before this, McLoughlin said he's not trying to make a quick buck with the Bloodborne movie, though if the movie is a success, it stands to reason that he would participate in that given his status as a producer. He has spoken about his extreme passion for the franchise, saying he believes working on the Bloodborne movie is what he was put on this Earth to do.

Bloodborne is not the only From Software game getting a film adaptation, as a live-action Elden Ring is on the way from director Alex Garland and A24.

In the wake of the latest round of reshuffles and retrenchments, Microsoft has confirmed that State of Decay 3 developer, Undead Labs, has reached an agreement with a new publisher that will keep the game alive.

Undead Labs will now continue working on State of Decay 3, with Microsoft confirming that the game will still launch on Xbox Game Pass day-one when its ready. The studio confirmed the news in an announcement of its own, confirming that it is now a completely "independent, employee-owned game development studio."

"We're enormously grateful for our years as part of XBOX and for everything that relationship has made possible," says Philip Holt, Studio Head of Undead Labs. "Microsoft has been part of the State of Decay story from the very beginning, and we’re proud of everything we’ve accomplished together."

Undead Labs was just one of several studios that Microsoft has offloaded in recent months, with Double Fine and Compulsion Games similarly finding futures away from the Xbox publishing arm. Ninja Theory has been less successful; however, the studio now on the brink of closure.

This news comes in the wake of a massive restructure across Microsoft Game Studios, with several studios now moving under new stewardship. Halo will now be developed under the guidance of Activision, with Rare and its current title, Sea of Thieves, following. Obsidian, which is working on a new Fallout, will now report to Bethesda, while Playground Games and Turn 10 are being merged for the future of the Forza franchise.

Ahead of its release in November, the marketing for Grand Theft Auto 6 has begun to take over Miami's Kaseya Center. As part of the campaign, developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive are decking out the stadium in giant GTA 6 letters that will spell out "Welcome to Vice City" once they're fully installed. It's a big task, and one that requires aerial support, as one chopper has been steadily airlifting them up to their designated spot. Onlookers have been documenting the process and posting clips online of it:

https://twitter.com/SourceVI/status/2102190668479140216 https://twitter.com/DavidVergel97/status/2102385075006353442 https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/2102383683806347447 https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/2102367371222770015 https://twitter.com/videotech/status/2102383223838048471

The advertising campaign is reportedly valued at almost $1 million for Miami-Dade County (via WLRN), and the funds will go toward developing a plot of land behind the stadium for community use. The deal has been criticized by the county Sheriff’s Office, with Commissioner Bermudez proposing that the funds instead go toward funding gaps in the law division's budget.

Alongside Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, Bermudez also criticized GTA 6 for glorifying crime and the killing of police officers. While you can commit those acts in GTA 6, it looks like getting away with literal murder will be more challenging, as the game's new Wanted and Honor systems will make cops a lot smarter and more persistent when compared to previous games in the series.

Rockstar Games has also officially announced Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album. This is a 34-song collection of original music from performers like Keith Richards, Yung Lean, and Morgan Wallen, and it also includes several licensed tracks. Unlike the game, a physical edition is available to preorder, and it'll be released on November 19, the same day as GTA 6.

In more GTA 6 news, we recently got confirmation that Milton from Office Space is in the game, the limited-edition GTA 6 DualSense controllers are selling fast, and unsurprisingly, a lot of people are planning to take time off of work to play the game when it launches.

It's yet another sad day in the games industry as Xbox's continued gutting of its subsidiaries gets worse, with acclaimed action game studio Ninja Theory headed for the chopping block.

Xbox's chief content officer and executive vice president Matt Booty took to the official Xbox website on September 22 to announce that the Hellblade studio will go forward with the proposed closure.

"Unfortunately, two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through," Booty wrote. "We will now begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward."

Ninja Theory has developed several games since its founding in March 2000. You might know the studio for Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, DmC: Devil May Cry, or Bleeding Edge. The studio is now best known for the Hellblade series, with Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 launching in 2024. There's a third entry in the works planned for 2027, but that may be up in the air with considering the studio's fate.

Although Booty seems to suggest there may be "other paths forward" for Ninja Theory, it appears the plan is to shutter the Hellblade developer--maybe unless another buyer steps forward.

There was a buyer previously, as Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said in July 2026 that Ninja Theory--along with State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs--had "entered terms to join new ownership with funding."

It's worth noting, though, that the language Xbox is using here doesn't explicitly mean Ninja Theory is closing right this second. Instead, the "consultation with employees" and "continuing to explore other paths forward" are likely in reference to UK law, which requires employers to establish at least a 30-day consultancy period. In that time period, measures to avoid redundancies are to be discussed while giving affected staff time to find new jobs.

At the same time Xbox moves forward with the proposed plan to shutter Ninja Theory, the company continues its reset and further shakes up its subsidiaries. Activision will develop the next Halo, Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios have merged, and Obsidian will operate under Bethesda Game Studios. The aftermath of this latest layoff will see Microsoft cut at least 268 staff after it already laid off 1,600 employees in July.

Microsoft's "reset" of the Xbox business continued today with the announcement of another giant wave of changes and restructuring to help the business become more successful in the future, or at least that's the plan. The major moves included more layoffs, the planned closure of another developer, and a significant shakeup for the Halo franchise, among others.

These major changes were announced just before Microsoft's fiscal Q1 ends on September 30. Here's everything we learned:

Layoffs

To begin with, Xbox boss Matt Booty said there will be a further 268 layoffs that affect Halo Studios, other first-party developers, and the Xbox Game Studios management and central functions team.

This latest round of cuts comes after Microsoft laid off 1,600 Xbox developers in July, including the studios it divested of. With these cuts, Microsoft is now about 3/4 of the way through its planned restructuring of Xbox, so more changes are still to come.

"I am deeply grateful for what our colleagues have built, and I know how difficult today will be for those leaving and the teams around them," Booty said.

Halo goes to Activision

Another major change is that Activision is expanding its remit to now cover developers Rare and World's Edge. Additionally, Activision is making the next Halo game, and it's being made by a "new, purpose-built team." This is separate from Activision's ongoing plans for annual Call of Duty games.

Going forward, only a "small team" at Halo Studios will continue, focusing on "supporting the Halo community and games in-market," Booty said.

Xbox's "reset" continues. Bethesda expands

Another big piece of news is that Bethesda is growing its footprint and will now cover Obsidian. That team's in-development projects will continue, including Grounded and a new Fallout game in production alongside Bethesda Game Studios.

King's kingdom grows

King, the developer of the juggernaut Candy Crush, will now cover Microsoft Casual Games. This will unite two of Microsoft's "global leaders in casual game design and live operations," Booty said.

Forza United

Microsoft's Forza developers, Playground and Turn 10, are now merging to become one studio that will focus on the Forza and Fable franchises. "These two studios have been creative and franchise partners for over a decade, and today’s changes will formally move their work into one team," Booty said.

State of Decay 3

Microsoft also confirmed that Undead Labs, the developer of State of Decay 3, found a "new publisher" and the game will launch into Xbox Game Pass on day one whenever it's released. The identity of the publisher remains a mystery.

Ninja Theory could close

Booty confirmed that "two separate agreements" for UK-based developer Ninja Theory to be sold "fell through." As a result, Microsoft is now entering the UK-mandated consultation period with Ninja Theory regarding the proposed closure of the studio. At the same time, Booty said Microsoft hasn't given up on its attempts to keep Ninja Theory alive in some form, saying it continues to "explore other paths forward."

Arkane remains in consultation

Arkane Lyon, the French developer behind the Dishonored series, remains under consulation pursuant to French labor laws. This process is expected to "continue through the end of the year," but there is no word on what could happen next.

Next update in October

Finally, Booty said there will be an internal town hall event at Xbox on October 6, during which Microsoft will "reflect on our progress." He also said Microsoft has one of the "strongest game lineups" in Xbox history, but did not divulge any specifics.

All of this is happening under the leadership of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over that job from Phil Spencer earlier this year. She made drastic changes right out of the gate in a variety of ways, including cutting the price of Xbox Game Pass and removing new Call of Duty games from the service. She also discussed plans for a return to exclusivity for big games. She also outlined her plan to "reset" Xbox, including mass layoffs, game cancellations, and studio closures.

Microsoft has officially announced a major change to its Halo franchise, as Activision will develop the next game in the series with a new, purpose-built team. A small team at Halo Studios will continue to support the Halo community and existing games. The new studio will also exist separately from the group of developers that work on the annual Call of Duty series.

“For Halo, our goal is clear: make the greatest Halo game ever, worthy of its universe and legacy, while staying true to what made players love it in the first place," Activision president Rob Kostich said in a statement. "It is a bold ambition, one that this franchise deserves. We have already begun assembling a purpose-built team, unique in capability and talent, ready and excited to deliver this next chapter with the community.”

Unfortunately, it's bad news for Halo Studios, as Microsoft has confirmed that it will be impacted by a new wave of layoffs that it had previously announced. In total, 268 people will be laid off across Halo Studios, other Xbox developers, and Xbox Game Studios management. As reported earlier today, studios are also being reorganized under Microsoft's biggest acquisitions, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.

"The goal is to strengthen our franchises and games by operating fewer business units, aligning groups that already work closely together, and focusing our publishing expertise," Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty wrote in a letter sent to Xbox employees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LimYD3Ycwo

Alongside Halo Studios, World's Edge (Age of Empires series) and Rare (Sea of Thieves) will also fall under the Activision umbrella. Obsidian Entertainment and its projects--including a new Fallout game--will fall under Bethesda's remit, while Playground and Turn 10 will merge into a single studio after years of being creative partners on games like Forza and the upcoming Fable.

Rumors of Activision Blizzard being enlisted to help out on Halo began circulating earlier this year, when it was claimed that Call of Duty studio Sledgehammer Games had begun working on a Halo multiplayer prototype in June, but it was reportedly canceled in July.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has executed a gigantic trade, buying more than 1.1 million shares of his own company's stock and spending more than $26.4 million in the process. He now owns more than 40 million shares of the company, according to an SEC filing. He bought the shares at around $23/share.

Since the purchase was made public in a regulatory filing on September 21, GameStop's shares shot up, rising more than 3%.

This was just the latest massive share purchase by Cohen, as he bought 1 million shares of GameStop earlier in September, when the stock price was lower. Some of GameStop's directors also bought up shares this month.

The share-purchase disclosures filed with the SEC do not provide any details on why Cohen or the GameStop directors bought shares. There could be many reasons, but a CEO buying back shares of their own company is often taken as a signal that management is bullish on the company's outlook. Anthony Noto, the CEO of online banking company SoFi, bought back his own company's stock three times so far this year as the price fell.

When companies buy back their own shares, this can lead to an immediate boost in the overall share price, as fewer shares are available on the open market.

For his part, Cohen now owns about 9% of GameStop through his various buybacks.

GameStop and Cohen have been in the news a lot lately, as Cohen has pitched an ambitious bid to buy eBay. However, more recently, Cohen has seemingly cooled off. Bloomberg reported that Cohen was weighing his options going forward, including pulling the $56 billion bid for eBay entirely or partnering with the company instead of trying to buy it outright.

Cohen came up with the idea to buy eBay while he was on the toilet. He has also discussed an idea for re-selling digital game items, but has not explained how that could actually work in practice.

GameStop's business today is booming, though it's no thanks to video games. The company now earns the bulk of its revenue from collectibles, and that would be obvious to anyone who has set foot in one of their stores recently.

GameStop has turned its business around through its new focus on collectibles, as well as employee layoffs and store closures. However, GameStop recently announced that it is reopening some stores

Just what has NetherRealm Studios been up to since Mortal Kombat 1? All signs currently suggest that Injustice 3 is in development at the Mortal Kombat developer, and to add more fuel to the rumor-fire, a stuntworker's resume has indicated that they worked on the yet-to-be-announced game.

As spotted by MP1st, the stuntworker listed "Injustice 3" after performing motion capture sessions for two characters: Supergirl and Batwoman. Those two names make a lot of sense within the Injustice lore, as Supergirl played a big role in stopping Brainiac's invasion in Injustice 2. Batwoman is more of a mystery at this stage, as the character met a grisly fate in the pages of the Injustice comic book, which officially tied into the overall narrative of the fighting game series.

This alternate-Earth version of Batwoman--Katherine "Kate" Kane under the cowl and red wig--worked with Batman against Superman's regime, but in the fifth year of the rebellion, she sacrificed herself to manually activate a dimensional transporter that brought the DC Universe's Justice League heroes to the darker dimension. The Regime Superman apparently incinerated her with his heat vision at the last moment, seemingly killing her, but as any comic book reader will know, no one stays dead for long in that medium.

The last Injustice game was released back in 2017, and since then, NetherRealm ended the mainline Mortal Kombat universe with the superb Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019, and then gave it a soft reset with Mortal Kombat 1 in 2023. The recent entry in the fighting game universe received mostly lukewarm reviews upon release, and post-launch support ended in 2025 following the release of the game's Khaos Reigns expansion.

At the time, NetherRealm said that it needed to "shift focus" to its next game. The studio could also have new owners soon if Paramount's plan to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery goes through.

The second wave of Xbox layoffs could be imminent, as new reports claim that Microsoft is also looking to further restructure its gaming division by consolidating several of its studios. This would tie into previously announced plans by Xbox boss Asha Sharma to cut 3,200 roles from the division, which started with 1,600 mass layoffs in July.

According to The Information--which says that a Microsoft source briefed it on the company's plans--the second wave of 1,600 job cuts will start soon. Prolific leaker NateTheHate has also claimed that the Halo franchise is being moved to Activision Blizzard, and similar reorganizations will happen across the division.

If true, then 2026 will mark a year of major changes for Xbox. Since Sharma stepped in to run the division, the goal has been to make it more profitable as part of a "reset" initiative that has seen scores of jobs slashed over the last couple of months.

Xbox has also seen several of its first-party studios depart from the organization, with Double Fine Productions and Compulsion Games becoming independent studios again. State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs and Senua's Blade studio Ninja Theory have also been sold off, while Arkane Lyon is also looking to divest itself from Microsoft once it finishes a mandatory consultation period with the French Local Works Council.

Xbox is now focused on its biggest franchises, with Bethesda recently confirming that Fallout 5 and remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are in the works. At the same time, various studios like id Software and Zenimax Online have been hit hard by layoffs, as part of Microsoft's plans to shed approximately 20% of its Xbox workforce.

With the new Minecraft update now live, players have been eagerly looking forward to the next Minecraft Live to learn what comes next for the sandbox game. We now know that the next stream will be this weekend. The Minecraft Live broadcast will begin on September 26, 2026 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM GMT / 7 PM CEST. It hasn't been communicated how long that broadcast will run for, but we have a tiny hint of an idea around what could be coming next.

The Minecraft Live broadcast date was revealed at the end of Tubbo's stream, after the Blue Creeper Battle concluded. This promotional event started on September 17, 2026 in person at the Tokyo Game Show, online through YouTube, and in-game in Bedrock Edition worlds.

The event saw the Illager High Council open rifts to the real world from the Sift--a new dimension being introduced in the upcoming Minecraft Dungeons 2. Soul-corrupted mobs poured in through those rifts to attack, and at TGS that included a huge Blue Creeper. To celebrate, 1 million Corrupted Creeper Cape codes were awarded to participating players, or to those watching via Twitch in the form of Twitch Drops.

The Minecraft Live announcement came at the end of Tubbo's stream.

After a showdown that saw players finally take down the Blue Creeper, a short cinematic played thanking players for taking part. That cinematic teased the Illagers finding a portal to the Sift. While we already know that the Sift is coming to Minecraft Dungeons 2, many are speculating that it could also be coming to the Minecraft base game, marking the first new dimension in Mojang's blocky sandbox since 2011's addition of The End.

If true, the next Minecraft update could be its biggest in 15 years. To find out, tune in to Minecraft Live this Saturday, September 26. You can watch the broadcast on the Minecraft Twitch channel, YouTube, or directly on the Minecraft Live website.

With Friday the 13th, Halloween, and other horror franchises getting video game adaptations in recent years, you might wonder when it'll be Freddy Krueger's turn, but according to Illfonic, the team behind those games, the task is harder than you might think. To do it right, one aspect of the films creates a big roadblock.

"There are plenty of IPs that people are like, 'Why aren't you doing this?' and 'Why aren't you doing that?' As much as I love Elm Street, [those movies are] about these big over-the-top kills," Illfonic's chief creative officer Jared Gerritzen told me in a Zoom call. "Same with Terrifier, where it's like these big, over-the-top kills that you would expect that you would have to do [in order] to do it right. That's the most costly thing, in some cases. You'd have to do hundreds of those to build that basis. You'd have to do all these other layers, and then it just becomes like, 'Well, shit.' Like, there are all these quagmires that we can't go into, and so for us, we're very diligent about the IPs that we choose."

With Freddy's dream world seeming like a great fit for a game, I'd long envisioned Elm Street as an obvious candidate for an asymmetrical multiplayer horror game akin to Illfonic's other titles, but listening to Gerritzen speak on the pitfalls, it occurred to me that he's right.

It's hard to imagine a game creating enough elaborate set-piece kills to keep them feeling fresh for players who may play for dozens or hundreds of hours, but neither does it make sense to rinse and repeat the same standout moments like Tina's nightmare that saw her crawling on the ceiling, or the way Glen's bed swallows him whole and erupts with a geyser of blood. 

Freddy doesn't usually catch up to someone and finish them off with his iconic glove in a way that maps well onto multiplayer. He makes a meal out of them, and that's hard to translate into a game built on replayability.

Gerritzen explained that his team has worked on so many games of this sort that, by now, it gives them something like a running start.

"We've been through this so much that when we start on a game, we already know what the pitfalls are. [...] And so we start off with a pretty good skeleton, and then we add those layers of the project that we love. We turn down a lot of stuff because it's just like, 'Hey, to do this, it doesn't make sense in a video game form.'"

Beyond those gameplay pitfalls, there seems to be a broader rights issue tying up the Elm Street franchise, too. Though Gerritzen didn't comment on that aspect, it's recently been reported that competing Elm Street movies may soon be in the works--one for US audiences and one for international audiences--because the ownership of the intellectual property is currently split. That sort of rights quagmire probably scares off some creators, following what happened to Friday the 13th.

Does this mean we'll never get a Freddy game? I don't think that's what Gerritzen meant, though it may mean a team other than Illfonic is the one to make it, or it could be that Illfonic finds a way to make it work in the future. 

For now, the team is focused on supporting Halloween, which launched on September 8 and has surpassed a million copies sold, alongside its cabinet of other asymmetrical multiplayer games, Predator: Hunting Grounds, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

For more on the team behind Halloween, here's what Illfonic said about why comparisons to Dead by Daylight are inherently flawed.

30 Best Horror Games To Play In The Dark In 2026 View Images

Halloween is the latest in a long line of asymmetrical multiplayer horror games to release over the past decade, and like all the others, it's faced lots of comparisons to Dead by Daylight (DBD), the decade-long leader in the genre. It's an "easy" comparison to draw, Illfonic chief creative officer Jared Gerritzen said, but ultimately it's inherently flawed.

"It's literally cricket versus baseball. It's so easy to see an image of cricket and say it's exactly like baseball; it's like, really, is it? No, it's not. Like, here are all these differences," Gerritzen told me in a Zoom call. Illfonic is no stranger to this space, having made Friday the 13th,  Predator: Hunting Grounds, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, and Killer Klowns from Outer Space all before Halloween. 

"We make a game bespoke for that franchise, for that group of horror fans, and for the people who love that monster."

Gerritzen said that "others" make something more like "mixtapes," which have their own merits, but the projects are too different to directly compare, as some players do.

"And it's like, how could you not want something that is built purely for Halloween? Like, if you're a horror fan, if you're a Halloween fan, how would you just be okay with it being a secondary piece? We build things for that love of that movie, and I feel like they deserve it. 

"I feel like when we choose IPs, we choose the things that we love, and that we feel could be something amazing, and it's cool that other games exist that put characters in as playable, but we don't want to make it [only] playable. We want to make it Haddonfield. We want to make it Michael [Myers]. We want to make Michael's abilities and put all these characters that were beloved into it."

Gerritzen's words hit on something I've been grappling with recently, when I tried to explain how very different DBD is from the field of bespoke, licensed, multiplayer horror games. I love DBD, but I love Halloween, and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and most of the others that have filled this space, too. Though there's only so much time in the day, and sometimes one game of this sort does have to beat out another for my free time, I keep them all in my rotation. 

"If you're a horror fan, you should consume everything, you know?" Gerritzen added, imagining a similar sentiment in horror movies to prove how silly he thinks it sounds. "'Oh, I'm just gonna watch only movies from this director.' It's like, 'Come on. No, you're not. You're gonna watch everything.'"

As for the people who wrote Halloween's obituary before it had even been released, Gerritzen reminded players of Illfonic's track record. 

"How many Illfonic-published games [have shut down]?" he asked rhetorically. The answer is none, as he confidently implied. Friday the 13th was shuttered due to a rights issue, but Illfonic didn't publish it, and it remains a unique case in this space anyway. Meanwhile, the team's other games in this genre are still running today. 

Gerritzen explained how this talking point has become a refrain for players in this space, and how the team blocks out the noise.

"As soon as we started doing Predator, people were asking about it," he recalled. "Same in Ghostbusters, same in Killer Klowns, same in [Halloween], and it's like, cool. All we have to do is prove you wrong. Predator has 30-some-odd predators right now. You know, we're talking about doing some really cool stuff with that. Klowns has all this great stuff. Like, we slow things down for sure. But it's not like Illfonic has ever shut a server down [or] closed down shop. Halloween has a lot of really long legs, and we've got a lot of stuff ready, you know, and it's exciting. So we can only prove them wrong. That's literally all we can do."

Halloween: The Game is out now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. For more from Illfonic, here's why A Nightmare on Elm Street game hasn't happened yet.

30 Best Horror Games To Play In The Dark In 2026 View Images

The new Resident Evil movie from director Zach Cregger hit theaters on September 18, and it had a scary-good first weekend at the box office. The movie got great reviews but some people didn't like the ending specifically.

Cregger said in new interviews that he respects that, but doesn't agree--and the ending was almost totally different.

This story contains major spoilers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNd1gb19A-c

The Resident Evil movie ends by revealing that Austin Abrams' character, Bryan, becomes an infected demon after getting bitten by a child, and that the movie is actually the origin story of a monster that you might find in the games. The syringe carrying the cure to the virus shatters on the ground. In the original version, Cregger said the syringe with the cure also broke, but at that moment, Bryan simply went on a killing spree.

However, test screenings resulted in negative feedback, with people saying this was deflating and meant that the story was "over." However, Cregger told Collider that he filmed a second sequence as a Plan B, and that's the one that ended up in the movie where people root for Bryan to be cured. It led to a greater emotional journey for viewers, Cregger said, though not everyone agrees.

"I shot that shot of the scientist putting the needle in his pocket just because I had a feeling. I was like, 'I feel like I'm going to need that.' Then we were able to build a new sequence at the end. I shot a contingency of him going for the stab ... just like, if I need it, I should just get it. And thank God because that's what we ended up using," he said. "Because it keeps the stakes all the way until the end. It's like, 'Save him, save him!' Whereas before it was like, 'Kill them I guess? Kill them all?'"

In a separate interview with The New Flesh Horror Movie Podcast, Cregger said he liked the idea of Bryan reaching his "final form" as a mutant monster, especially because it's not what you'd expect.

"This whole movie wasn't this guy who saves the world. It was the origin story of a monster. It recontextualizes everything, and I like a movie that punches you in the face," he said. "I like a movie that does not give you what you want, but what it does give you is more impactful."

https://twitter.com/RENews_X/status/2102034866145726615

Some of the feedback Cregger said he received was that people enjoyed the movie up until the ending. If you're in that crowd, Cregger said he respects your opinion, but he made the movie he wanted to.

"That's too bad. I don't care. It does not bother me at all. If you don't like the ending, we just disagree. I respect it. But I would never in a million years change it."

Given how Resident Evil ended, it sure seems like there are more stories to told, and Cregger himself has said he does have sequel ideas in mind. That being said, Cregger has also said he is finished making franchise movies after getting lots of hate from fans of the Resident Evil games.

In addition to changing the ending, Cregger made other adjustments to the film based on screen tests, including removing a lot of jokes.

Bungie has admitted that it "lost sight" of what players loved about its games over the past few years, acknowledging that a series of broken promises and shifting promises caused the studio to lose the trust of its community. Now, the Destiny developer promises to refocus on its players, with plans to restore removed Destiny 2 content and evolve Marathon beyond its current extraction-shooter format.

In a new video accompanied by a blog post on the Bungie website, Bungie studio head Poria Torkan and Marathon head of product and general manager Josh Dean addressed the studio's recent struggles and outlined its plans for the future. Torkan acknowledges that Bungie's ambitions had stalled as the studio pursued too many different initiatives without enough focus on the things players actually want.

"We lost trust. We lost incredible colleagues. And our ambitions as a studio stalled," Torkan said. "We chased vision without enough focus on what players loved, and that's on us. We own that."

https://youtu.be/asnrQ1UoBQM

Bungie directly acknowledged the frustration surrounding Destiny 2--which received its last content update on June 9, 2026--including the removal of large amounts of content from the game in "sunsetting" processes.

"We haven't just heard your feedback. We understand the anger, the disappointment with us," Torkan said. "We're not asking for your trust, we know we have to earn it."

Bungie described Destiny as the foundation of the studio and stressed that it is "absolutely not done with Destiny." However, it wants to take its time with whatever comes next, starting with returning Destiny to what it describes as its original promise of mystery, discovery, and the community of Guardians facing seemingly impossible odds.

Before it shifts to new stories, Bungie plans to restore content that was previously removed from Destiny 2. That could include the Red War campaign, the Tangled Shore, or raids, including Leviathan and Crown of Sorrow. Bungie described the restoration as something that "never should have been ripped away to begin with."

Destiny 2's vaulted content will be returned to the game.

It's a notable shift for Destiny 2, which has spent years operating around the controversial vaulting of content. Bungie didn't provide a specific timetable for when the removed content will return, emphasizing that doing it properly will take time.

Bungie will also focus on the future of Marathon, where player numbers continue to dwindle. The studio plans to evolve Marathon beyond the genre constraints of an extraction shooter. Bungie's goal is to expand it into a "deeper survival experience." The studio says it wants to preserve the aspects of Marathon that players already enjoy while giving them more agency over how they play--including PvE and PvP.

Alongside its plans for Destiny and Marathon, Bungie says it has made internal changes intended to make the studio more focused. "Stability does not mean shrinking our ambition," Torkan said. "It means focusing on things that you want to see from us and making sure that our vision matches our reality."

With Bungie wanting to put players "above everything else" to rebuild the relationship between the studio and its communities, it also isn't expecting players to just accept their promises this time around. "We're not going to do it with words," Torkan said. "We're going to do it through the games that we make and how we show up for our players."

Bungie has made it clear that it has a lot to prove, but restoring Destiny 2 content that players--including me--have been longing for is a great start. But after years of promises, Bungie now has to show players that this time, it can deliver.

Fans recently discovered an odd-looking bathroom sign in Marvel's Wolverine, prompting people to wonder if developer Insomniac Games used generative AI.

According to Insomniac's community and marketing director James Stevenson, that's a bunch of baloney. The reason the bathroom image looks weird is because of a "UV map bug," he said. A fix is now in the works.

"There are no AI-generated assets in Marvel’s Wolverine," Stevenson said.

https://twitter.com/JamesStevenson/status/2101048325067751572

Insomniac's last game, 2023's Spider-Man 2, utilized machine-learning to help speed up development, and the company intends to keep doing this going forward. But for now, it sounds like AI-generated assets are off limits.

Marvel's Wolverine released on September 15 and became a swift success, reportedly exceeding the lifetime sales of Death Stranding 2 on PS5 right out of the gate.

While Marvel's Wolverine might not have featured any AI-created assets, that's not the case for every game. Activision's Call of Duty games use generative AI, as does Sega's upcoming Crazy Taxi: World Tour.

GameSpot's Marvel's Wolverine review scored the game an 8/10. Reviewer Tamoor Hussain said of the game, "At best, it’s a fun but forgettable experience that’ll entertain you for a few hours."

World Space Week kicks off on October 4, and if the idea of exploring the infinite horizon of the cosmos doesn't interest you, then maybe a world-famous Pokemon can inspire you to reach for the stars. As part of the event, the European Space Agency is teaming up with The Pokemon Company to shine a light on space exploration, and it'll feature a very special Pikachu. Back in June, French Astronaut Sophie Adenot traveled to outer space and back with a special Pikachu plush to lay the groundwork for the promotion, capturing several moments on camera.

https://youtu.be/mjkDwgStzuo

Back on terra firma, there'll be exhibitions at ESA facilities during ESA Open Days, and at museums during World Space Week. This will cover France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

While the goal is to both educate and entertain the next generation of explorers, there's a good chance that exclusive collaboration products will also be a big draw. These will include plushies, Pokemon Trading Card Game accessories, and a replica of Adenot's Pikachu decked out in astronaut gear and a bomber jacket. The ESA online shop will also offer special Pikachu-themed ESA apparel, including T-shirts, a tote bag, a notepad, and pins.

Look at all the cool Pokemon stuff you can't have unless you pay a premium for it on eBay.

And that's cool! It's also likely to attract the seedier side of the Pokemon fandom, as we've seen several times in the past, as just about everything with Pokemon branding is usually scooped up by scalpers and sold online to collectors who couldn't get their hands on those items. In one notable example, chaos broke out during a special exhibit at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam after people flocked to acquire a limited-edition Pikachu card, which ended with four workers being fired for alleged misconduct.

Not even perishable food items are safe from the Pokemon reseller hustle, as the recent Krispy Kreme collaboration saw people listing boxes of Pokemon donuts for sale. While most were empty, others contained delicious treats and an expiration date.

In related Poke-news, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways recently unveiled a Pokemon-themed airliner to celebrate 30 years of the franchise, complete with custom illustrations of popular Pokemon like Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Sprigatito.

Gaming legend Hideo Kojima was recently in the news when it was announced that Sony had dropped his new spy game Physint, with Xbox swooping in to sign it. In the aftermath of the shocking announcement, more information has come to light, including how Kojima thought Physint had major commercial appeal.

He told The Washington Post, "This is the biggest selling title I could possibly create." He went on to say, as reported by Kotaku, "I didn't think Physint would be on the list of being canceled."

Kojima's Physint stars Bill Skarsgard and Charlee Fraser.

According to veteran gaming reporter Jason Schreier, Sony abandoned Physint after Kojima Productions reportedly went over budget and missed deadlines. In response, Kojima Productions said people should be skeptical of what they read on the internet, though the Japanese studio did not refute the details of the report.

In an interview with IGN, Kojima said Physint is still in the concept phase. He is working out the game's systems, visuals, and design, and added that a "very small team" is working on it right now.

"The next cold war begins" is the tagline for Physint.

Despite this, Kojima believes a game like Physint has a lot of appeal because, "Anything espionage is going to be fun, period, no matter what game it is."

He went on to say that he got the idea for Physint in part due to the overwhelming fan demand for another Metal Gear game. He no longer works at Konami and couldn't make a new Metal Gear, but the interest from fans inspired him to make a "new action espionage game" that became Physint.

Physint stars Bill Skarsgard, Charlee Fraser, Don Lee, and Minami Hamabe. Kojima Productions is also working on the horror game OD, which is being made in partnership with Xbox.

Konami has revealed that a free demo for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse will become available on October 1. Even better, progress from this early taste of the metroidvania title will carry over to the game's full launch, which is on October 15. 

The Castlevania: Belmont's Curse demo will offer up the opening chapter, according to Konami. That likely means we see Rose and Trevor Belmont arrive in the burning city of Paris, before being split up. Then it's up to Rose to utilize her sword and magical tarot cards to take on classic franchise foes, like zombies and probably skeletons. The game will also let you turn tough bosses into powerful friends. 

This small bite of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse will take up between 3GB and 6GB of storage space, depending on your platform. The smaller size is for Switch, while the largest is for PS5. However, the game will only run at 30fps on Nintendo's hybrid console; meanwhile, it runs at 60fps on Sony's system as well as Xbox Series X|S and PC. Here's hoping a Switch 2 version is in the works, though there's nothing official on that front.

Evil Empire Studio and Motion Twin are behind this newest entry in the Castlevania series, with the former previously working on the franchise with Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania. The latest project from Evil Empire was The Rogue Prince of Persia. However, even with this pedigree, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse isn't a roguelite. 

Last month, Konami announced the voice cast for Castlevania: Belmont's Curse. Dracula will sound familiar to fans of the Netflix Castlevania series, since Graham McTavish is reprising his role as the elder vampire. 

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