If you thought PC component prices were bad this year, then 2027 might be even worse for your wallet. According to a new report, three of the biggest manufacturers of PC memory--Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron--are already sold out of the crucial components, as AI companies continue to consume all of the available stock.

DigiTimes (via Tweaktown) says that all DRAM and HBM production for next year has sold out, and the big three have no plans to manufacture additional memory. What's happened here is that demand has exceeded supply, and while the companies continue to cater to corporations that are scaling up their data centers, there's a limit on how much they can produce in any given year. Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron also have to honor previous commitments, as companies typically sign deals months in advance to secure enough hardware for their respective production pipelines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FatSqS3VYY

What does that mean for the average consumer? Expect the component supply for PC, laptops, and other smart devices to shrink even more in 2027, and as a result, prices to increase further. Microsoft had already warned of this a few months back when it announced new Xbox price hikes, saying that even more price increases could be on the cards. "Unfortunately, console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x, and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027," the company said in a statement in June.

Technology has become increasingly expensive over the last few years, with consoles being hit particularly hard. Xbox Series X|S and PS5 consoles are now more expensive in 2026 than they were when they launched in 2020--console prices typically go down over time--and the Nintendo Switch 2 is also going to cost $50 more starting in September. On top of that, portable gaming PCs have also drastically increased in price, painting a worrying picture for how much the barrier to entry will be for the next generation of gaming.

A developer who worked on Grand Theft Auto 5 has said he "would not be shocked at all" if Rockstar decides to delay GTA 6 yet again.

Speaking to Indy100, Mike York said based on his previous experience working at Rockstar, he believes "they could delay it again."

GTA 6 releases on November 19, unless it gets delayed again.

York was an animator at Rockstar Games and left the company in 2017. He went on to say that Rockstar can "do whatever they want" with GTA 6, including asking people to wait longer to play it. "It doesn't matter. If they need to do what they need to do, they'll do it," he said.

A delay of six more months could be in the cards, if Rockstar's team decides it needs more time, York said. "I would not be shocked at all. I don't think it would hurt them or anything," he said.

GTA 6 is set for release on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It was originally slated to come out in Fall 2025 before being pushed to May 2026 and then again to November 2026. In each case, Rockstar said the delays came down to the team needing more time to improve the game's quality.

Rockstar will show off GTA 6 again on August 27 through Netflix. An "extended look" at the game will air on the streaming platform for a period of six hours before it gets uploaded to Rockstar's own YouTube page, so people will need a Netflix membership to watch right away.

One of the biggest talking points in gaming lately has been around Sony's decision to end support for physical game discs in 2028. It's prompted concerns about game preservation, along with people generally being upset about owning physical media. Now, publisher Capcom has shared its thoughts, with management saying the shrinking physical game market is not expected to have much of an impact because the company sells mostly digital games.

"Approximately 90% of our unit sales are digital. We do not anticipate a significant impact at this time," the company said.

Capcom is not alone in having a growing share of its game sales come from digital--a shift to digital has been a growing trend in recent years across the board.

Nintendo, for its part, just released its latest earnings briefing today, August 6, confirming digital game sales made up 61.5% of total sales during the latest quarter, up from 59.3% during the same period last year. Electronic Arts recently released its latest report as well, showing 81% of game sales were digital.

For its part, Sony said it's ending support for physical game discs on PlayStation in response to "consumer trends." The data clearly shows a growing trend toward digital games, but experts also believe the shift to all-digital is about power, control, and making more money.

The biggest game of 2026, GTA 6, is also releasing as a digital exclusive. The game will be sold at retailers in a box, but players only get a code to download the game.

As part of Nintendo's latest earnings report, the company disclosed new sales numbers for many of its best-selling games. Included in the data is the confirmation that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has passed a massive new sales milestone: 50 million copies sold.

New Horizons stood at 49.91 million units sold through March 31, 2026. With 50.29 million sold through June 30--the latest reporting period--that means the game sold another 380,000 units in the past 90 days or so.

It's the No. 2 best-selling Switch 1 game from Nintendo, only surpassed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (78.53 million units). Both New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe no doubt benefitted from being included in hardware bundles, but they are impressive sales numbers all the same.

At 50 million units sold, New Horizons is among the best-selling games of all time. In fact, it's now the No. 10 best-selling game in the history of gaming.

New Horizons was released at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and many said the game's cozy vibes and wholesome nature helped them through lockdown orders.

The game is playable on Switch 2 via backwards compatibility. Also, a Switch 2 edition of New Horizons was released in January 2026, with existing owners able to upgrade for $5.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launches on August 6, and if you're feeling battle-hungry, there's a good chance that you'll be up for a brawl when you've got the game installed. But when can you start testing out your dream-team of superheroes and supervillains against real people? Surprisingly soon, as the multiplayer servers for the game are almost open.

Developer Arc System Works has revealed the launch times for the Marvel Tokon servers across the globe. Here they are:

United States

• 8 AM PT
• 11 AM ET

United Kingdom

• 4 PM BST

Europe

• 5 PM CEST

Middle East

• 6 PM AST

Africa

• 5 PM SAST

China

• 11 PM CST

South Korea

• 12 AM KST (August 7)

Japan

• 12 AM JST (August 7)

Australia

• 1 AM AEST (August 7)

Marvel Tokon is just one of several high-profile fighting games that have launched this year, as the genre has expanded with new releases like Invincible Vs and Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game. If you're planning to play on PC, you can still preorder the game for just $54 through Fanatical, saving you 10% when compared to buying it directly.

The next big fighting game from Arc System Works looks like it could be a big hit, as not only does it accurately bring the Marvel Universe to life--while helping us forget about that terrible Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects game from 20 years ago--with its varied roster, but each character looks wildly different thanks to their slick redesigns.

All the Marvel heavyweights are here--from Spider-Man to Storm--and the game even includes a version of Deadpool who basically plays like a fighting game highlight reel.

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

Rockstar Games will provide an "extended look" at GTA 6 on August 27, and it'll air on Netflix. The video will be released on Netflix at 3 PM ET and it will later be posted on Rockstar's own YouTube channel at 9 PM ET that day.

Rockstar has worked with Netflix before, as the company brought multiple games to the Netflix Games catalog, including GTA titles. Those have been removed, but Red Dead Redemption remains available to play on Netflix.

“Grand Theft Auto reveals have become cultural moments in their own right. The anticipation and fandom around Grand Theft Auto VI is unprecedented, and we’re honored that Rockstar Games has partnered with us to debut the next part of the Grand Theft Auto story with Netflix members first,” Netflix VP Brandon Riegg said (via The Hollywood Reporter). “It’s a reflection of what we hope Netflix is becoming: a place where the most ambitious storytelling, from any medium, can find the biggest possible audience.”

Fans have been waiting a long time for a new look at GTA 6, as the last trailer was released all the way back in May 2025. Netflix has published a landing page for the GTA 6 video. The Rockstar Games website for GTA 6 has been updated, too.

While fans have to wait until August 27 for the new trailer, new artwork for GTA 6 has been released, providing a new look at main characters Lucia and Jason. In particular, we can see Jason wearing a "Leonida" shirt featuring manatee riding a surfboard. Fans have theorized that GTA 6 might add surfing as a mechanic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq76pQsI1iw

Preorders for GTA 6 began in June, priced at $80 for the base game and $100 for an Ultimate Edition that comes with a lot more content. Rockstar has said GTA 6 is a single-player experience, and it remains to be seen how GTA Online may evolve when GTA 6 arrives.

The new GTA 6 art.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It's expected to be 2026's biggest game, and one of the biggest releases in the history of entertainment.

House House's critically acclaimed co-op puzzle-solving game Big Walk has only been out for two days, but one modder is taking it upon themselves to add a new dimension to the gameplay.

Independent solo developer CircuitLord has announced that they are developing a VR mod for Big Walk. A brief demonstration of the mod was posted on social media as proof of concept.

https://twitter.com/CircuitLord/status/2084802172525367443

CircuitLord subsequently posted a follow-up video that showed off the progress of the VR mod. In this iteration, the player's character can pick up objects and interact with them. But CircuitLord notes that it needs some refinement to make "throwing a tad bit less powerful."

https://twitter.com/CircuitLord/status/2084895283117224028

Subsequently, CircuitLord confirmed that the mod will support crossplay with players using the normal version of the game. "You'll be able to see VR player hand movements and how they're holding objects and stuff as long as everyone has the mod," added CircuitLord.

For now, there's no timetable for CircuitLord to finish and release the mod. In the meantime, House House has announced that it's working on a mircophone fix to address the issue of some players sounding quieter than the developers intended.

Big Walk hit a critical milestone as the highest-rated title to debut on day one on PlayStation Plus Essential. GameSpot's sister site Metacritic notes that Big Walk has a 94 score among reviewers. GameSpot's Big Walk review echoes those high marks calls it one of the best co-op games ever created.

Players who want to dive into the game should check out GameSpot's eight tips you need to know ahead of playing Big Walk. We've also put together guides on how to get shiny and how how to solve the 4166, 1899 puzzle.

Big Walk is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and Mac.

Two years ago, NPC Studio launched its farm life fantasy RPG Fields of Mistria into early access. Today, that preview period has officially ended with the 1.0 release of Fields of Mistria. A number of improvements have been added to the game with that update, including the ability to ride around the town of Mistria on a big chicken mount.

https://twitter.com/FieldsofMistria/status/2085045585485185118

As part of the transition, previously incomplete quests like The Town Repair and The Museum can now be completed. Two new quests, Saturday Market Plaza and Repair the Bell Tower, have been added to the game, and players' Town Renown Cap has now been raised to 100, while the NPC Heart Level Cap has been raised to 10.

Since Fields of Mistria is primarily a game about romantic relationships, the 1.0 update has added 10 Heart Proposal events, wedding events, marriage, and children. For veteran players, the newly arrived Steam Achievements will be awarded retroactively. However, players do have the option of starting fresh without retroactive achievements if they choose to start a new save file.

For international players, beta localization has been added for the following seven languages:

• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)
• French
• Japanese
• Korean
• Russian
• Spanish

According to NPC Studios, players will be able access all of the features and content of the 1.0 update regardless of which language they select. However, certain text features may currently be missing or incomplete. The studio notes that further improvements to the beta localizations will be regularly added to the game. In the meantime, some missing text will "temporarily appear in English."

Fields of Mistria is one of GameSpot's picks for the best cozy games to cuddle up to in 2026 and the best Steam Deck games to play. You can find the complete patch notes below.

Fields of Mistria 1.0 Patch Notes New Features

Gameplay

• Unlocking Stillwell will allow you to access Mission Quests from his Mission Board at the Saturday Market.
• Unlocking Zorel will allow you to purchase Crystal Resonators and Song Crystals at the Saturday Market. This feature allows customization of the music that plays on your farm and in the rooms of your home.
• The exterior of your house can now be customized from a selection of styles after it’s been fully upgraded.
• Note: You will receive a letter from Landen after fully upgrading your house, which will unlock this feature in the Carpenter’s Shop.

7 new perks have been added to the game, including:

• Cooking:
• Espresso Yourself
• Ranching:
• Playtime
• Eggstra
• Close Bond II
• True Trust
• Woodcrafting:
• Hammer Timing IV
• Deliberate Debris II

• The “Engagement Ring” item will now become craftable at a Forge after reaching 10 Hearts with an NPC you’re dating.
• Note: Elsie will deliver the recipe to you the morning after reaching Heart Level 10. Use the recipe scroll to unlock it.
• “NPC Special Items” received from NPCs 10-Heart (Proposal) Events have been added.
• Note: It is possible to view all events and collect all the special items before deciding to proceed with a proposal (if desired), as 10-Heart events can be retriggered with the Engagement Ring until you choose to propose and become engaged.

• Elements of your wedding (such as flower color, cake flavor, and meal served at the reception) can be customized via wedding planning dialogue with your fiance in the days leading up to your wedding.
• The “Mystical Feather” item will now become available via a cutscene in the weeks following your marriage, allowing you to trigger an optional family planning discussion for players who wish to have a child.
• Via the Combat Perk “Friend-Shaped,” all monsters now drop Pet Skins that make your pet take on the appearance of that monster.
• The Big Chicken mount has been added to the game.
• An additional “Friday Night at the Inn” storyline has been added after finishing the Mines Storyline.
• New Requests have been added to the Request Board.

2 new Museum Sets and associated rewards have been added.

• Honey Set
• Terrarium Treasures Set

Quality of Life

• The player character can now be rotated in the customization menu.
• Players can optionally disable the break-up letters and associated follow-up lines that acknowledge the change in status from “Dating” to “Best Friends” that occurs by default after getting engaged (when dating multiple NPCs).
• Note: this setting will not disable the break-up themselves, and will become available in the gameplay settings menu via the engagement tutorial cutscene.
• Players can optionally disable the status change from “Dating” to “Best Friends” that occurs by default post-engagement (when dating multiple NPCs).
• Note: this setting will disable the break-ups entirely, and will become available in the gameplay settings menu via the engagement tutorial cutscene, but must be toggled prior to confirming an engagement in order to take effect.

Art

• Cloud shadows now appear outside on sunny days.

NPCs

• NPC Heart Level Cap has been raised to 10.
• 10 Heart (Proposal) Events have been added.
• Engagement dialogue has been added.
• Wedding Events have been added.
• Events related to having a child have been added.
• Post-Marriage dialogue and NPC routines have been added.
• New dialogue has been added to the game.

Sound

• A new winter song has been added.
• 4 existing seasonal songs will now swap to special extended versions after progressing through the game.
• 10 new songs have been added via Song Crystals

Updates

Gameplay

• You can now interact with NPCs you are dating, engaged to, or married to, to kiss them.
• Taking an NPC on a date will now increase their heart level more.
• Town Rank Quests have been added to better guide existing progression.
• Museum Wing rooms can now be entered to view your collection.
• The order of popups when donating items to the museum has been updated such that Museum Set Complete popups now appear directly after seeing their respective donated items popup.
• Previously inaccessible cooking recipes are now available in-game.

Quality of Life

• Drop rates on items received from Mines treasure chests have been improved.
• Ritual Chamber and Treasure room spawn rates have been adjusted to be more common.
• Your animals will be fed and your crops watered automatically during March’s 8-Heart Event.
• The speak interaction now takes priority when multiple interactions overlap near NPCs.
• New Graphics settings have been added to the settings menu, including brightness & saturation sliders and options to better customize the game’s performance on your machine.
• The Birthday selection screen now has a header that says "Select Your Birthday."

Art

• Ryis’ Hawthorn tree now has an intermediate growth stage.
• The Bathhouse water wheel now animates.
• Additional UI indicators have been added, including a directional arrow when placing furniture, an arrow icon over Mines ladders, and a talk icon over Caldarus’ Statue.

New furniture items have been added to the game, including:

• Monster Set
• Ornate Set
• Bonsai Set
• Dragon Set
• And more!

New cosmetics have been added to the game, including:

• Barrel Hat
• Wedding Outfits
• Beetle Mandible Horns
• Dragonfly Wings
• And more!

Bug Fixes

• Substantial improvements to performance since the last update.
• Fixed early errors on startup which prevented the game from launching on certain old PCs.
• Reduced the game's VRAM usage by over 50%, which should help with performance on older machines.
• Players can no longer walk on water by moving diagonally into corners.
• The game no longer crashes due to the Pet being in the wrong location while their job is active.
• Players can no longer earn second place in the Harvest Festival despite turning in a winning amount of Queen berries.
• Hayden’s weathervane now correctly reappears on his barn after you return it during the Find the Weathervane quest.
• Stepping stones on the beach now play stone footstep SFX.
• Certain popups (e.g. unlocking new hairstyles) have been widened to better fit on the screen.
• Repeatedly ringing the Bell no longer raises the Ranching Skill level.
• Placeable forge animations have been restored.
• Rock Stacks can no longer get stuck in an idle animation.
• Flame Spirits no longer get stuck idle after attacking.
• The game no longer encounters a rare crash when scrolling through the museum menu rapidly.
• Shooting Star Festival-related dialogue can no longer fire past midnight on Summer 27.
• Players can no longer obtain cosmetics from the Chicken Statue for animals they haven’t unlocked yet.
• It is no longer possible to equip armor and miss unlocking its associated cosmetic.
• NPCs eat specific meals where intended during certain cutscenes instead of randomized meals.
• The camera no longer zooms rapidly when tabbing back into the game window during the End of Day pan.
• NPC sub-icons on Date Photos have been restored.
• You can no longer get stuck in certain doorways.
• The Flying Tome now appears at the appropriate depth relative to its wind attack VFX.

Hotfix

• A crash on startup related to the introduction of localized languages has been fixed!

For the first time ever, a Halo game is available on PlayStation with Halo: Campaign Evolved. The game is having a "notably slow start" on Sony's console in terms of sales, however, according to gaming analyst Rhys Elliott.

He estimated that Campaign Evolved sold 351,000 copies on PS5 during July and 452,000 to date, generating nearly $28 million. By comparison, Elliott said Campaign Evolved has shifted 212,000 units on Steam and about 900,000 on Xbox across console and PC thus far.

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

The analyst said the game's price point--$50--was partly to blame. "Fifty dollars for what’s essentially a graphical touch-up of a 2001 game was always going to be a hard sell, and players clearly weren’t having it," he said.

Beyond graphical improvements, Campaign Evolved also features three new prequel missions via the Operation Meteorite story arc. Multiplayer is what Halo is perhaps best known for, but Campaign Evolved--as its name suggests--does not feature multiplayer support.

Also in his comments, Elliott said the slow start for Halo on PS5 "stings even more" when compared to the success of the Black Ops 1 and 2 ports on PlayStation. Those games reportedly combined to sell more than 11 million units, generating hundreds of millions of dollars.

Elliott went on to lament the slowing sales and diminishing profile of Halo as a franchise in general after the series peaked with Halo 3 and Halo: Reach years ago.

"One can’t help wondering what could have been if Halo had kept the trajectory it had around Halo 3 and Reach. A remake of the game that started it all landing this softly on a new platform makes me pretty sad, as a Halo fan," he wrote.

There are more Halo games in development, including one that's been described as "like Fortnite" with regards to its live-service approach. Developer Halo Studios has said future Halo games will also be on PlayStation, but those comments came before Asha Sharma became Xbox CEO and pledged to release more exclusive games for Xbox.

Minecraft is officially launching October 27 for Nintendo Switch 2, bringing with it what developer Mojang calls "Vibrant Visuals" as well as an upgrade path for original Switch owners.

While Minecraft has been playable on the Switch 2 thanks to backwards compatibility, the Switch 2 version will bring some improvements that take advantage of Nintendo's latest hardware. In a blog post, Mojang labeled the Switch 2 version's graphical improvements as a new "Vibrant Visuals" experience that will offer enhanced lighting, shadows, and more.

Not everything will support "Vibrant Visuals," according to Mojang. Playing in split-screen or using certain worlds or content from the marketplace will not feature the visual upgrades. One piece of content that will, however, is the Super Mario Mash-Up pack that is exclusive to the Nintendo versions of Minecraft, which is being updated to support the improvements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBL7nJLH8ro

Mojang confirmed there will be a digital upgrade path available for those who purchased Minecraft on the original Switch. Whether that upgrade will be free or cost a fee remains to be seen, with Mojang simply stating there will be "more details to follow." 

For those worried about losing their worlds and progress, Mojang has previously confirmed save data from the original Switch version of Minecraft will carry over to the Switch 2. 

In other Minecraft news, Mojang recently added the ability to sit. A sequel to Minecraft Dungeons is releasing in September, with the A Minecraft Movie sequel slated for 2027.

Minecraft itself looks like it's becoming an even bigger focus for parent company Microsoft amidst recent organizational changes (and mass layoffs). Mojang, as well as Candy Crush developer King, now report directly to new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, something that has been a cause for concern among fans who worry Microsoft meddling may ruin Minecraft.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has teased that an Xbox version of PlayStation's Platinum trophy system could be coming to Xbox, and potentially soon.

Replying to a social media user who asked when Xbox might get an "equivalent" to Platinum for Xbox achievements, Sharma said, "Team is working on something for later this year!"

https://twitter.com/asha_shar/status/2085043552837636502

Platinum trophies are awarded when players unlock all the other trophies. It's a badge of honor, of sorts, for some people. There is no equivalent on Xbox currently for when people unlock all achievements.

While Xbox fans wait, the newest Xbox update is rolling out now with new improvements and features for the achievement system. Users can now sort games by name, completion percentage, Gamerscore earned, and number of achievements unlocked. The update is out now for Xbox Insiders and will be available to everyone else later.

Sharma took over as Xbox CEO earlier this year and one of her first big moves was to "reset" the Xbox business to help it return to profitability and growth. This has involved mass layoffs, game cancellations, and studio divestitures.

Diablo 4 is reportedly headed to Nintendo Switch 2 this September, in what may be the first of multiple Diablo-related announcements coming as part of this year's BlizzCon.

As detailed by Dealabs reporter billbil-kun, game classification organizations in Indonesia and Taiwan both point towards a Switch 2 version of Diablo 4 existing, with Dealabs independently reporting a September 15 or 18 release date. The site also reports it will allegedly retail for $70 and receive a physical release, though it will only be a code in a box and not a physical cartridge.

What's currently unclear is whether or not Diablo 4 on Switch 2 will include both of the game's two expansions, including the most recent, Lord of Hatred. The base version of Diablo 4 currently retails for $50 on other platforms, with a $70 "Age of Hatred" collection including both expansions also available. That could be an indication the Switch 2 version of developer Blizzard's ARPG will include the complete Diablo 4 package, but that remains unconfirmed for now.

When this new way to play Diablo 4 will be officially revealed remains to be seen. It's certainly possible it could be announced at Gamescom August 26-30, where Blizzard parent company Xbox will have a presence. However, it seems more likely the port will be announced as part of BlizzCon on September 12-13, with the game's alleged release date being just a few days later.

It wouldn't be the first time Diablo appeared on a Nintendo platform. Blizzard previously released both Diablo 3 and Diablo 2: Resurrected on Nintendo Switch. 

It's been a big year for Diablo 4 already, with the game's Lord of Hatred expansion being well received, even if its current season caught flak from fans for major changes to how Mythic items work. Blizzard will be revealing more details about the game's next season at BlizzCon, but has already confirmed it will add classic items from previous Diablo games as well as allow players to use the same character each season. There will likely be other Diablo-related announcements as well.

As for BlizzCon, Blizzard has certainly been hyping up this year's show. Blizzard president Johanna Faries said earlier this year that 2026 is Blizzard's "biggest year yet" and that it's cooking up "major swings" for its franchises that will be revealed at the show.

"I have total confidence that the teams are going to come very, very big, both with the heart and soul of what I think our core-most fans long for in a BlizzCon, but also bringing some very new things to the table," Faries said.

British actor Luke Dale, known for his roles in the Kingdom Come RPG series and EA's Battlefield V, has announced that he bought a tavern in the Czech Republic and plans to turn it into a medieval-inspired social gathering place with great food and drinks.

"Is this the dumbest thing I've ever done? There's a lot of competition for that title, but maybe," he said in a newly released video (via GamesRadar).

The tavern, which is called the Nobleman, is located in Vinohrady. It's aiming to be a Bohemian-inspired tavern that isn't a themed pub or a tourist destination, but instead a cozy gathering place with good beer and food. He said he aims to offer British and Czech food, along with his favorite kinds of beer (which he did not name). The plan is also to lean into the medieval vibe, with things like shields and other trinkets adorning the walls.

He also admitted that he is very new to this, and there is "so much work to done," so his plans today could change in the future. In any event, Dale said his job as an actor and streamer doesn't always feel "real" to him, so he wanted to have a physical space in the world that "felt real."

He said he is "so humbled and appreciative" of the Czech Republic, where he moved years ago, and that the aim is for the Nobleman to be a "love letter to Prague."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fPxje7SLHk

This was the first in his video series for the tavern, and he will release follow-up videos over time as the project progresses.

As for the Kingdom Come series, developer Warhorse is working on a new entry in the series as well as a The Lord of the Rings RPG.

Rockstar owner Take-Two will release its next earnings report on August 7, but instead of coming after the market closes at 4 PM ET, the report is being released before it opens that day at 9:30 AM ET. Another unusual element is that the report is coming on a Friday. What does it all mean?

We don't know for sure, but one stock analyst said this setup suggests a major announcement about GTA 6 could come before August 7.

Gabelli Funds portfolio manager Alec Boccanfuso said (via SeekingAlpha) that the unusual timing could be a setup to give investors time to digest a big announcement of some kind before the earnings report.

Is the next GTA 6 trailer coming this week?

This lines up with a report from Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson that suggested the next GTA 6 trailer could land on Thursday, August 6. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has also stated that the marketing push for GTA 6 will begin this summer, so there could be some announcement tied to that.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and expectations are sky high. Analyst Nick McKay of Freedom Capital Markets said GTA 6 could sell 30 million copies in its first three months. He said the GTA franchise overall is now "much larger" than it was when GTA 5 came out in 2013 and that the "pent-up demand [for GTA 6] should be significantly higher."

In other news, The Last of Us co-director Bruce Straley recently said he isn't sure if he's interested in GTA 6. He asked people to tell him why they're excited for the game, and he got a lot of responses.

The recently released ports of Call of Duty: Black Ops 1 and 2 for PlayStation sold more than 11 million combined copies, generating nearly half a billion dollars, according to industry analyst Rhys Elliott.

The games, which were developed by Iron Galaxy, were shadow-dropped on PS4 and PS5 on July 9, featuring campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies. The games were not remakes with improved graphics or new features, but instead "straight 1080p ports," as Elliott put it.

Technical experts found that the ports feature barely any noticeable improvements at all, and that was the whole point for many. Fans wanted the OG experience, made available on modern systems.

According to Elliott, the $40 games sold so exceptionally well due to massive pent-up demand (the games are available to PS Plus subscribers for $20 until August 6). Previously, the only way to play the games on PlayStation was to find an old PS3 and go from there since they were never made available via backwards compatibility on PS4 or PS5.

"As per our estimates, Black Ops 2 sold 8.2M copies on PlayStation (93% on PS5, 7% on PS4) for about $325M, while Black Ops 1 sold 3.0M (94% via PS5) for $110M. Combined, that’s $435M on PlayStation in under a month," Elliott said.

The Black Ops ports were hugely popular.

Microsoft and Activision are the big winners here, and so is Sony--its 30% cut works out to about $130 million "for doing basically nothing" but hosting them, Elliott said.

"Basically zero marketing or ongoing development costs are eating into that check. That single month of cataloge CoD sales on a rival platform effectively funds a massive slice of Xbox’s quarterly first-party operational overhead," Elliott explained. "And the combined $435M is already nearly as much as Forza Horizon 6 has made via base game sales all year."

Elliott described the move to release the Black Ops ports as a "low effort, low risk, high reward catalogue mining." Activision also released $30 DLC bundles for both games, featuring many multiplayer maps.

He added that the success of the Black Ops ports further demonstrates that Microsoft is not going to make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox--there is simply too much money to be made by having Call of Duty on PlayStation. Elliott went on to say that the success of the ports also demonstrates that a "proper" reboot of Black Ops "would do absolute gangbusters."

The next new Call of Duty game is this October's Modern Warfare 4. A multiplayer beta for the game goes live later this month.

Ironmouse's Sprite is now available to claim in Fortnite, but it seems there could be more on the way as the popular VTuber teased some further content for September.

On a recent stream, when asked about whether she would be releasing a Fortnite skin, Ironmouse said, "Just a Sprite today. Period." She shortly followed that up with, "That's all I'm going to say ... Also, do you guys know that I have a Subathon coming up in September and a lot of cool things are happening? I'm just saying, you know."

The Ironmouse Sprite was released as a standalone addition to the game in honor of her streaming anniversary on August 4. To get it, search the map for Sprite Chests, kill an opponent wearing it, or it could be found wandering the island randomly.

Equipping it will take up a new inventory slot, Ironmouse will appear on your back, and you'll get the ability to regenerate health over time when low. While you're regenerating health, you'll also gain a Cloak that will give you partial invisibility, as well as the low gravity effect.

While the Ironmouse Sprite is available to get now, some players were reporting issues with the item. Occasionally the Sprite would not be granted if players extracted from a match with one, or some Sprite Chests would be empty. On the issue, Ironmouse said, "If it's broken, I'm sorry, it wasn't me."

After several hotfixes, it seems the Fortnite Ironmouse Sprite issues could be fixed now, but is this the last we'll see of Mousey in the battle royale? It seems like we'll have to wait until September to find out, but I, for one, would absolutely grab an Ironmouse skin.

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Beast of Reincarnation launched this week, and while the game does have several technical issues, co-developer Game Freak says that a patch is on the way. This will target several areas of the game, including bug fixes, improvements to the pacing of the game's story, and increasing the font size to something that doesn't require the Hubble Space Telescope to read. Game Freak says that it's aiming to release the patch next week.

One of the fixes will be for the game's camera, as many players have complained about it being too close to the protagonist Emma, making battles harder than they need to be. "Story pacing improvements" are also listed; increased text size is on the way, and the game's default graphical mode will switch from Cinematic to Performance mode.

In our Beast of Reincarnation review, GameSpot's Jake Dekker commented on how the game's lack of polish holds it back from reaching its true potential. "Beast of Reincarnation is an ambitious game that often overextends itself. The lack of polish taints its versatile combat, the mundane performances and wearisome dialogue suffocate its tantalizing story, and the uninteresting areas drag down strong art direction," Dekker wrote.

Out now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, Beast of Reincarnation was developed by longtime Pokemon studio Game Freak and Fictions. If you're on Xbox or PC,  and you have a Game Pass Ultimate/PC Game Pass subscription, you can download and play the game right now as it was added to the service this week. To help you out on your journey, you can check out GameSpot's Beast of Reincarnation guides, including helpful tips, the best skills to focus on, and how to change the difficulty.

Journalism in 2026 is done almost entirely digitally, and information can be at practically anyone's fingertips in just a few seconds and a few taps on a phone screen. It wasn't always that way, however, and in Barkbyte Interactive's Static Hour, you venture to the 1980s to see how the limited technology of the era was used to report the news--and how it can be used to solve a spooky mystery.

Static Hour puts you in the shoes of an editor working the night shift at a news broadcaster. As the only one in the office, it's up to you to decide what's fit to broadcast, and it just so happens that a massive outbreak of violence has the public terrified.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CqD3Mnx1n0

To figure out what's going on, you'll make use of old-school journalistic tools like a rolodex, as well as the government's emergency alerts and police-scanner chatter. What information you choose to broadcast will affect how the public acts, and you could potentially plunge the town into further chaos.

"With Static Hour I wanted to create a retro psychological thriller about isolation and misinformation, where you're given staggering responsibility and must trust yourself in determining what is accurate, Barkbyte founder and creative director Claire Sarmiento said in the official announcement. "I loved the idea of spooky things happening in a small town just out of sight, where the horrors are driven by audio and left to your imagination."

You'll be responsible for verifying stories' truthfulness, as well, and Barkbyte says the entire experience will exist in the newsroom itself. You'll be sending field reporters out to check on stories, or you can choose to ignore them entirely and let everyone panic.

Static Hour doesn't have a release date yet, but will be available for PC on Steam.

Big Walk is here, and it's already earning a reputation for being a delightfully offbeat third space for friends to inhabit. It's a massive game, and as players have discovered, it does have a slight microphone problem currently--one that developer House House is working on fixing.

"We understand that some people are having a problem where their friends' voices are too quiet in the game. Sorry about this," House House wrote in a blog update. "While Big Walk is built around players getting quieter when they are farther away, we can see that for some setups, players' voices are much quieter than intended even when very close by. We're working to put out a fix as soon as we can."

There's no shortage of puzzles in Big Walk, and communication is the key to success. The game uses a feature where the volume of your voice is dependent on your proximity to your friends. The closer you are, the more easily you're heard, while staying at a distance will result in your voice being harder to hear--just like real life. Fortunately, there are other tools for communication in Big Walk, ranging from gadgets to visual markers so that you can coordinate your group efforts toward solving a puzzle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWfg9iLq55c

Out now for PC, PS5, and Switch 2, Big Walk is already earning rave reviews. On GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, it has a metascore of 94 from 14 reviews, making it the highest-reviewed game of 2026 currently. If you have a PlayStation Plus subscription, it's one of August's free games through the service.

"Big Walk takes fundamental and timeless video game concepts–obstacles and incentives for clearing them–and, through an intensely focused co-op experience, shapes them into something singularly rewarding, supremely mysterious, and totally unforgettable," Mark Delaney wrote in GameSpot's Big Walk review.

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It's been nearly seven years since developer House House released its breakthrough title, Untitled Goose Game. The company's follow-up, a co-op puzzle-solving game called Big Walk, is out now, and it's already achieved an unexpected critical milestone on PlayStation Plus Essential.

As reported by GameSpot's sister site Metacritic, Big Walk has landed with a 94 score among reviewers. That makes it the most critically acclaimed game to ever be released on PS Plus Essential on day one. Last year's indie adventure-puzzle hit Blue Prince achieved nearly the same score, with a 92 on Metacritc, but it was released on PS Extra, not Essential..

GameSpot's Big Walk review calls it a game of the year contender and hails it as one of the best co-op games ever created. "Big Walk takes fundamental and timeless video game concepts–obstacles and incentives for clearing them–and, through an intensely focused co-op experience, shapes them into something singularly rewarding, supremely mysterious, and totally unforgettable," notes the review.

For anyone who is just getting started with the game, GameSpot has put together eight tips you need to know ahead of playing Big Walk. Players who have already dived into Big Walk should check out our guides on how to get shiny and how how to solve the 4166, 1899 puzzle.

Big Walk is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and Mac.