Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch's former director, said he's not played the game he was the public face of since April 2021, when he left developer Blizzard after nearly 20 years to go indie. He called his relationship with Blizzard's shooter one of "clinical separation."

Kaplan revealed this to GameSpot in an interview that dove into his history with Blizzard and the creation of his new game, The Legend of California. 

When asked if he had continued to play Overwatch or kept tabs on it in the wake of it dropping the "2" from its name and its addition of 10 new heroes over the course of the year, Kaplan said he hadn't. He said he's essentially cut all ties with the game he used to direct.

"With Overwatch, I had a very almost clinical separation, knowing how the WoW thing had gone," Kaplan said. "I've literally not played the game since April 2021."

He continued: "I don't, for my own psyche, I don't read the subreddits. After I said my goodbye to competitive Overwatch and the Overwatch subreddit, I never go back and read. I don't watch YouTube [videos]. I don't search for my name in Overwatch. I don't search for Overwatch. I sort of just disconnect. I actually tell all the algorithms like, 'Yeah, I'm not really interested in Overwatch anymore. I know you think I'm the Overwatch guy, but like, that's just not for me anymore.'"

It was a lesson Kaplan learned when he left the World of Warcraft team in 2008 after working on Blizzard's MMORPG for six years. He said it was more painful to step away from WoW than it was for Overwatch.

"Oddly, leaving WoW was a training moment for me," he said. "When I left WoW to work on Titan [the game that would eventually become Overwatch], it was, I think, November or December of 2008. And WoW was who I was at that point. I worked every minute--every waking minute--on WoW. If I wasn't working on WoW, I was playing WoW. And every time I played WoW, I had this notepad next to the desk that I'd be filling out to walk in the next morning and go, 'These are all the things we need to change.'

World of Warcraft recently released its 11th expansion, Midnight.

"It was kind of shocking in a very negative emotional way to step away from WoW, because it was such a part of who I was and how I identified. It was who I was as a game developer."

As a result, when it came time to leave Overwatch and Blizzard behind, Kaplan said he was "used to that moment" of having given everything to a game, and the need to establish a "healthy separation" between him and his former work.

"I was kind of used to that moment of what it meant to give all of yourself, your heart, your soul--because it's not just a job, there's no one who can do this and have it just be a job--and then have this shocking moment where you realize it doesn't belong to you. It belongs to the team, belongs to the players, it belongs to Blizzard, but it doesn't belong to you," Kaplan said.

Kaplan said he was trying to avoid becoming Uncle Rico from the film Napoleon Dynamite, an old man reliving his glory days of playing football by watching tapes of his games.

"I don't want to be Uncle Rico," Kaplan said. "Overwatch happened. I was a part of it. There's a group there now and Overwatch is now about them. Both the players and the developers, that's their Overwatch now. They're making it, they own it, they play it. I'm onto this new thing, and that's where I'm at in my life."

Google has released its list of the "top trending costumes" ahead of Halloween, and Minecraft's Verity has made the cut.

The Frightgeist list, as it's called, is based on what's trending on Google. The list is topped by Buddy the Unicorn from director Casper Kelly's horror movie. The character Nikki from Curry Barker's viral horror hit Obsession makes the cut, too.

Verity ranks No. 7. For anyone just catching up, Verity is a horror web series from ThatMob, and it takes place inside Minecraft. The character Verity is a smiling face that becomes increasingly unhinged--you can watch the full movie below. This is not to be confused with the new Anne Hathaway movie Verity.

People searched for Verity the most in Los Angeles, California, Google said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6f3PhauXyg

The top trending Halloween costumes overall include:

1. Buddy the Unicorn
2. NeeDoh
3. Nikki (from Obsession)
4. Agamemnon (from The Odyssey)
5. Lily Love Braids (from Poppy Playtime)
6. Oliver Tree
7. Verity (from Minecraft)
8. Carl (from Dungeon Crawler Carl)
9. Disco Scooby Doo
10. Hazel Hook (from Descendants)

Google also published lists specific to kids, pets, and duos. You can see those lists below.

Kids costumes:

1. Dolly Parton
2. Ella Langley
3. Dumpling
4. Shakira
5. Oliver Tree
6. Ash Ketchum
7. Hannah Montana
8. Spider-Gwen
9. Michael Jackson (Thriller era)
10. Pomni

Pet costumes

1. Centipede
2. Dolly Parton
3. Bullseye
4. Diet Coke
5. Princess Donut
6. Lamb Chop
7. Pua
8. Baked Potato
9. Roach
10. Tow Mater

Duo costumes

1. Disco Scooby and Shaggy
2. Cyclops and Jean Grey
3. Nikki and Bear
4. JLo and Maverick
5. Hannah and Garrett
6. Cowboys and Angels
7. Ricky Bobby and Carley Bobby
8. Wall-E and Eve
9. Woody and Bullseye
10. Joe Dirt and Brandy

Microsoft has announced a new controlled called the Xbox Nano Controller, and it's smaller than the existing Xbox controller, and it costs less.

Microsoft says the controller is designed to fit nearly every pocket and budget. "Its compact design offers a great option for younger players, smaller hands, or anyone seeking something portable for play on the go," the company said.

The Nano is the smallest controller Xbox has ever released.

The Xbox Nano controller is a bit over five inches in length and weighs 3.5 ounces--it's the smallest controller Microsoft has ever made. It features all 18 gameplay buttons you'd expect, so Microsoft says it should feel familiar.

The smaller controller comes with a smaller price, too: $50 USD. Microsoft partnered with Samsung on a bundle that comes with a controller and two months of Game Pass Ultimate (for new subscribers) when they buy a new Samsung TV this holiday. For anyone planning to use this new controller for cloud streaming, Microsoft will soon put caps on how much you can play before you must pay more to keep going.

Additionally, Microsoft and Facebook company Meta are working on a new bundle featuring the Nano controller, two months of Game Pass, and a Meta Quest headset.

The Nano.

The Xbox Nano controller uses rechargeable batteries and a programmable action button for quick access to things players want, like taking a screenshot or capturing gameplay.

The Nano is much smaller than the standard Xbox controller.

You can preorder the Xbox Nano controller now. The Nano was the second new gaming controller revealed today, following Sony's announcement of a limited-edition DualSense controller for Gran Turismo.

PlayStation has revealed this month's batch of new arrivals for the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog. Most of these games will be available starting October 20.

Don’t forget, all PS Plus members can claim three freebies this month–F1 25, Hunt: Showdown 1896, and Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2–but you only have until November 2 to do so.

Kicking things off in October is Mafia: The Old Country, a prequel to the original trilogy of Mafia games. If you're looking for something that won't take you too long to play, has a great story, and solid action gameplay, it's a great option for a weekend game.

A PS Plus re-release of Horizon Forbidden West will also be available this month, and even though it's an open-world game that plays things very safe, it's still one of the best-looking games on PlayStation. Mycopunk offers an engaging looter-shooter experience where you tear through fungal enemies; Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 is a spooky treat for this month; and The Midnight Walk comes highly recommended. Mixing handcrafted art with a creepy dark fantasy design, this game from the minds behind Lost in Random will have you working to survive and outsmart the many monsters after the adorable Potboy.

The Midnight Walk

If you haven't checked out the excellent action-RPG Tales of Arise, you can strap yourself in for an enhanced edition of the lengthy game this month, and Monster Energy Supercross 25 is a pretty decent recreation of supercross motorcycle competition.

Rounding out the list are two more games for the PlayStation Classics library: Dino Crisis 2 and RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. As a reminder, you'll need a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription to access these retro games.

PlayStation Game Catalog for October

• Mafia: The Old Country | PS5
• Horizon Forbidden West | PS5, PS4
• Mycopunk | PS5
• Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2 | PS5, PS4
• The Midnight Walk | PS5
• Tales of Arise – Beyond the Dawn Edition | PS5, PS4
• Monster Energy Supercross 25: The Official Video Game | PS5
• Dino Crisis 2 | PS5, PS4 (PS Plus Premium sub required)
• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Complete Edition | PS5, PS4 (PS Plus Premium sub required)

New Game Trials for PlayStation Plus Premium members

A few more Game Trials are being added to PlayStation Plus for Premium-tier subscribers. Starting October 20, you can play Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy and Mortal Shell 2 for free (for a few hours).

Ubisoft has announced that it plans to shut down Trials developer RedLynx as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts, as well as reduce the workforce of its Skull and Bones studio, Ubisoft Singapore, by laying off 72 people. The closure of the Finland-based RedLynx is in a proposal stage, and Ubisoft says that because the studio isn't currently working on a new project, it makes more economic sense to close it down and retrench its 52 employees instead.

Under Finnish law (via Kotaku), Ubisoft is legally required to consult and negotiate with employees before it makes major changes to the studio, which is why Ubisoft hasn't officially announced yet that it will shut down RedLynx--although it's likely only a matter of time. The studio was first formed in 2000, and it's best known for its series of challenging--but highly enjoyable--Trials games, 2.5D motorcycle platforming games that require players to master their vehicle, gravity, and overcome a series of increasingly dangerous obstacle courses. Ubisoft acquired the studio in 2011, and RedLynx's Trials HD quickly became a breakout hit on the Xbox Arcade marketplace.

Several games in the Trails franchise have been released over the years, with the last one being Trials Rising in 2019. Since then, RedLynx assisted Massive Entertainment with the Google Stadia port of The Division 2 and the Switch 2 port of Star Wars Outlaws, and it also produced the 2023 mobile game Gwen's Getaway. Last year, RedLynx lost 60 staff members during a restructuring wave at Ubisoft and it was announced that it would pivot to making mobile games.

Trials Rising

Meanwhile, Ubisoft Singapore is projected to be losing as much as 20% of its workforce. Established in 2008, it assisted on development of several Assassin's Creed games and it was the lead developer on Skull and Bones, Ubisoft's naval warfare game set in the golden age of piracy. "At Ubisoft Singapore, 70 positions have been impacted to align the studio with upcoming production needs," Ubisoft said in a statement to GamesIndustry.Biz. "The studio remains an important part of Ubisoft’s global production organization. We deeply value the contributions of both teams and recognize the impact this may have on our colleagues. We are committed to supporting our teams throughout this process and conducting it with care and respect."

There have been several more big changes at Ubisoft recently, including the announcement that Rainbow Six Mobile will shut down in January 2027. As part of its Creative Houses restructuring, Creative House 2 has been confusingly rebranded to Massive Entertainment, while Massive Entertainment, the studio, will continue to exist within it. Ubisoft studios across Montréal, Paris, Sweden, and Toronto fall under this Creative House, which is focused on almost all of Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy-branded games.

Rockstar Games has reacted to the mass GTA 6 leaks, which began in 2022, with a top developer at the studio saying it "feels like somebody's wading through your dirty washing." Bloomberg published these comments from Rockstar developers on the same day that GTA 6 leaker CyberLeek posted yet another gameplay leak, saying it could be the last.

"It feels like somebody’s wading through your dirty washing,” Rockstar North's Aaron Garbut said. “It’s like they’re inside your head. You see your early work out there. Nobody’s ever supposed to see that. It’s really weirdly invasive. And so it’s quite hard to deal with on an emotional level.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpPpqZwUwl0

Rockstar and Take-Two eventually tracked down the hacker who was allegedly responsible for the leaks in 2022. This person will reportedly face court on November 9, just days before GTA 6 releases.

The hack pushed Rockstar to implement a controversial new policy requiring developers to work from the office, as opposed to remotely. Rockstar publishing boss Jennifer Kolbe said Rockstar will take another look at this policy after GTA 6 is released, but she doesn't envision major changes.

"The idea that we would have the game in that many environments is something that I think the security team would not love,” she said. “I think if we did not have a game that people wanted to steal as much, maybe it would be an easier conversation.”

The major 2022 hack that led to a series of GTA 6 leaks was followed up by a new round of leaks this year from someone going by CyberLeek. The person, or group, was pushing a memecoin, but is apparently now shutting down. One final gameplay leak was published today, October 14, and it's a big one, so be aware of that when you're scrolling through your feed.

The Bloomberg story on GTA 6 included numerous other details, including how the game originally had a bigger scope and could have launched sooner, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's response to a big delay, and the absurd amount of detail in the game.

The story also confirmed that GTA 6 did not in fact cost $1.5 billion to make and that an entire studio was spun up to create NPCs. We also learned from the story that Rockstar's GTA 6 realism experiment began with beer and sandwiches and that Rockstar won't need another eight years to release its next game.

GTA 6 releases on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, though it could be delayed again.

A big new report revealed more details about Rockstar's long-awaited GTA 6, including how the game's scope was originally much bigger and that the game could have released years sooner.

Bloomberg reported that when a small team from Rockstar traveled to Miami in 2015 to begin planning GTA 6, they envisioned the game spanning "big swaths of land across both North and South America." It was in development under the codename Project Americas at this time.

The report went on to say that Rockstar would pare down GTA 6's scope to include Miami and its surrounding areas instead of the original ambition. It's not a small world, though, as GTA 6's map is 3X bigger than the map in Rockstar's last game, 2018's Red Dead Redemption II. In addition to GTA 6's version of Miami with Vice City, the game takes players to a range of other locations in greater Leonida, which is a stand-in for Florida.

The confirmed major locations in GTA 6 so far include:

• Vice City
• Leonida Keys
• Grassrivers
• Port Gellhorn
• Ambrosia
• Mount Kalaga

Port Gellhorn in GTA 6.

The report also digs into how Rockstar originally planned to develop GTA 6 concurrently with Red Dead Redemption II, which would have helped GTA 6 come to market sooner. However, as the scope for Red Dead Redemption II grew, Rockstar's Rob Nelson came to realize he needed to assign more staff at Rockstar's network of studios to help get the Western out the door in 2018.

According to Bloomberg, this meant GTA 6 would be delayed "several years," but one silver lining was how the work that went into Red Dead Redemption II would "pay off when we get to the game [GTA 6]."

Nelson pointed out that Rockstar, at one point in time, developed multiple games concurrently across offices, but now, Rockstar's network of teams work on one project together before moving on to the next.

Also in the report, Rockstar denied the rumor that GTA 6 cost $1.5 billion to develop, but did not provide any specifics on the actual cost. The game has reportedly generated $600 million in revenue through pre-sales and that number could rise to $2 billion before the game even releases.

GTA 6 was originally set to launch in 2025 before getting delayed to May 2026 and then again to November 2026. When Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick heard about the second delay, he said to Rockstar, "Please tell me you're kidding."

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, unless it is delayed again, which Rockstar has not ruled out.

After publishing his review of Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie, Hideo Kojima-who says his body is 70% made of movies--has posted his review of one of the most divisive mainstream films of the year. Yes, we're talking about Alejandro Iñárritu's satirical black comedy Digger, which stars Tom Cruise.

Kojima said Digger is a "film that all of us living in today's world should see."

He added: "It is a work that remains with the audience, provoking reflection and sounding alarms."

Kojima doesn't get into detailed specifics in his Digger review, and that's likely because, if you've seen the movie or know the plot, you wouldn't want to spoil the film for other people, either.

In any event, Kojima said Digger and its message will stay with you for years to come. "As you absorb this film and carry it with you, a 'tool (a digger)' for delving deeper into the future will surely begin to take shape within you," he said.

Kojima and Iñárritu' sat down with Gizmodo to discuss Digger and more--you can read the conversation here, but note that it's in Japanese.

Digger reviews are all over the place, and the film bombed at the box office, bringing in just $37 million globally thus far. The studio behind it, Warner Bros., leaned into the divisiveness, altering the movie's marketing campaign after reviews came out to encourage people to see it and decide for themselves.

As for Kojima, he’s keeping very busy with the upcoming games OD and Phsyint, both of which are in the works for Xbox. Physint will also be adapted for film and TV, while Kojima’s Death Stranding is coming to the big screen as well.

Rockstar's GTA 6 is finally coming out on November 19, but the game was originally set to release in 2025. When the development team informed head of publishing, Jennifer Kolbe, that a delay to May 2026 was necessary, she made a call to Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick to let him know. Months later, she had to make that call again, informing Zelnick that a second delay to November 2026 was required to deliver Rockstar's full ambition for GTA 6.

His response? “I think he said, ‘You’re kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding,’” Kolbe told Bloomberg. “But once we talked through why, he got it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1c75QjeqrI

Kolbe said she felt fortunate that Zelnick is "as reasonable as he is," because other executives might not budge and inform the team they need to find a way.

"We have been really, really lucky that we have not found ourselves in that place, because that happens to a lot of teams, and we’ve all played those games. It’s not great," she said.

For his part, Zelnick said said that for the most part, delaying a game is actually a "wise investment in time and financial resources" if the delay results in "the level of perfection it has the ability to reach."

GTA 6 is releasing on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but another delay is not out of the question. Development head Phil Hooker said GTA 6 is "never completely settled," nor does Rockstar have an "exact blueprint."

"Even within the last few months, we’ve changed things," he said.

That being said, no one is expecting GTA 6 to be delayed any further. Take-Two will release its next earnings report on November 10, and the company is expected to reiterate the November 19 release date during that event.

GTA 6's physical copies, which include a code in the box and not a disc, will be available to buy at retailers on November 12, though the game does not unlock until a week later.

For more, check out GameSpot's latest stories about GTA 6:

• GTA 6’s Nightclubs Have An Absurd Amount Of Detail, Right Down To The Lighting

• Rockstar Says GTA 6 Didn’t Cost $1.5 Billion To Make, But Won’t Reveal The Real Number

• Rockstar Built An Entire Studio Just To Create GTA 6 NPCs

• Rockstar’s GTA 6 Realism Experiment Started With Beer And Sandwiches

• Rockstar Says You Won’t Have To Wait Another 8 Years After GTA 6 For Its Next Game

How much detail is too much detail? In the case of Grand Theft Auto 6, developer Rockstar Games put an obscene amount of work into making the fictional city of Leonida as realistic as possible, including the nightclubs that players can frequent in the game. Those locations couldn't be pulled from thin air, and Rockstar embarked on several research trips to Miami to help inform the design of their party hubs, right down to the smallest detail.

Speaking to Bloomberg, artist Aaron Garbut revealed that the developers embarked on ridealongs with police officers, visited trendy nightclubs, and mingled with dancers at these establishments. The result of these excursions was that the Rockstar team could draw on a wealth of knowledge to create authentic hangout spots, with these locations featuring distinct animations and scripts for each patron, a bar full of unique drinks, and the studio even crafted lighting systems that work in sync with the music being played. "Layers and layers and layers of detail," as Garbut put it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2WDkOiC1lg&t=3s

GTA 6 is hardly the first game to feature a nightclub as a destination, but these locations typically follow a fixed formula, and they serve as set dressing that seldom stands out. Hitman developer IO Interactive did raise the bar for just how good a nightclub location can be when it's designed in service of a game and a level, as seen in 007 First Light earlier this year--and Hitman 3's Berlin rave warehouse is also a pretty great example of mixing crowds, DJs, and elaborate lighting setups together.

But could GTA 6 raise the bar for this extremely specific segment of game design? So far, it looks like Rockstar has gone all in to make the game feel and look more immersive than anything else it has done before, even going so far as to create a studio focused exclusively on building non-playable characters. The proof will be in the nightclub pudding, so if you're planning on grabbing the game, it might be worth spending a few minutes in a two-drink-minimum establishment to soak up the atmosphere.

In more GTA 6 news, Rockstar is confident that you won't have to wait eight years to play its next game, and rumors of the game's budget just took a $1.5 billion hit.

GTA 6: 268 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

It's no secret that video game development is more expensive than ever before, and in a hit-driven industry, Grand Theft Auto VI is rumored to be the most expensive game ever made. Various numbers have been thrown around, with one report even claiming that $1.5 billion was spent--around the budget of Dubai's iconic Burj Khalifa skyscraper.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Rockstar shot down that claim, but it hasn't confirmed just how much investment it has taken to get the game over the finish line for its November release. With years of development behind it, multiple studios--including one Los Angeles-based division focused exclusively on NPCs--and scores of employees working on it, that final price tag is likely to be quite high, but it is expected that GTA 6 will quickly recoup its expenses and start generating some serious profits for Rockstar Games and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive.

The game has reportedly already sold 5+ million copies through preorders, generating more than half a billion dollars, and that number is expected to climb to 25 million preorders by launch day, pushing the numbers up to $2 billion. It's worth noting that preorders aren't guaranteed sales--Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick has commented on this--so these figures could always change.

Rockstar is already making bank without even selling the game, as the $400 GTA 6 collector's edition has also proven popular since it went up for preorder a few weeks ago--and it's a merchandise-only box of GTA 6 swag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klc0fQmAL6k

While Rockstar Games hasn't spoken about an online multiplayer component for GTA 6, it's rumored to be launching in 2027. Given how GTA 5's GTA Online mode reportedly brings in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue each year, GTA 6's version of this mode is also expected to be a license to print money for Rockstar and Take-Two. But can GTA 6 pull people away from GTA Online? Valve veteran Chet Faliszek recently commented that it might be a hard sell, as many GTA Online players are heavily invested in the game and might be reluctant to give up a third space they have built over years.

No matter what choice Rockstar makes, it won’t please everyone, and it'll have to find a middle ground to keep as many players happy as possible. In related GTA 6 news, you can read about how Rockstar debated how realistic it wanted the game to be, and why the studio doesn't think you'll need to wait almost a decade for its next game.

Rockstar Games reportedly established an entire studio in Los Angeles dedicated to creating NPCs for Grand Theft Auto 6 after realizing the game's ambitious world would need far more production resources than initially expected.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Rockstar development lead Rob Nelson explained that the team had struggled to meet its targets for the number of NPCs that needed to be written and animated. That makes sense when you consider how much more interactive they're reported to be, even noticing and reacting when you're carrying a weapon. The numbers were so concerning that they were a large reason for the first GTA 6 delay.

https://youtu.be/XpPpqZwUwl0

"The projections they were giving us were horrifying," Nelson said. To combat the issue, Rockstar subsequently built out a Los Angeles studio staffed with writers, producers, and directors who would exclusively focus on creating NPCs for the game. The decision was part of a wider effort to ensure the game would meet the studio's ambitious goals without sacrificing anything from its vision.

The sheer scale of that reflects Rockstar's approach to making the world of GTA 6 feel more convincing than ever. Instead of treating NPCs like background characters, the studio has worked to give the residents of Leonida more detailed behaviors and interactions.

Those lofty ambitions have contributed to GTA 6's lengthy development. It's been in production for more than eight years, with Rockstar having to navigate pandemic-related disruptions, changes in leadership, and decisions about how much realism to include.

Rockstar ultimately delayed GTA 6 twice, moving its planned release from 2025 to May 2026 before pushing it back again to November 19, 2026. Development lead Phil Hooker said that the team could have met an earlier deadline, but it would have compromised on the game it wanted to make.

However, the legwork in building a solid foundation for GTA 6 means that Rockstar says you won't have to wait another eight years for its next title.

Compared to previous games in the series, Grand Theft Auto 6 is aiming to add new layers of realism to the franchise. As the criminal couple Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos, players will explore a city where actions have consequences, and it's not easy to shake the long arm of the law when you cause chaos. It continues ideas that developer Rockstar Games began experimenting with in Red Dead Redemption 2, but the studio says it initially struggled to figure out how realistic it wanted GTA 6 to be while still offering a fun gameplay experience.

As detailed by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Rockstar had a foundation to build on for GTA 6, as it would once again be a satirical open-world game in which you could commit all manner of crime. But the small details proved tricky, as Rockstar Games wanted players to feel immersed in the game's world. At one point, the developers debated whether players would need to fetch a case of beer from a liquor store fridge and take it to the counter before they could buy it, or visit a supermarket to buy ingredients to make a stat-boosting sandwich. "Making each of these decisions required a lot of guesswork because so much of the game wasn’t yet finished," Schreier wrote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klc0fQmAL6k

By 2022, GTA 6 began to come into focus, even though much work remained on the ambitious game. "You go through a period where things don't work, but you see snippets," GTA 6 head of development Phil Hooker said to Bloomberg. 

From what Rockstar has shown off so far, GTA 6 appears to both look and feel realistic thanks to various gameplay systems. Characters will react to Jason and Lucia's antics, and the two protagonists are at the center of a relationship gameplay system that can let their partnership blossom romantically, or you can ignore it entirely and keep them as platonic partners in crime. Players won't feel "all-powerful" in the game either, as Rockstar boss Rob Nelson said that the world can react in a hostile manner to your actions.

GTA 6 releases on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and while a PC port hasn't been announced yet, it's rumored that it might arrive in Q1 2027.

GTA 6: 268 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

Vibe-coded games playable in web browsers have exploded in popularity recently, and amid a deluge of ports and remasters created with generative AI, Xbox is responding by creating Xbox Labs. The new branch of Xbox is described as an initiative designed to get more people playing games--especially on web browsers--but curiously, there's no mention of AI at all in the announcement.

"In recent weeks, we've seen games rapidly decompiled and rebuilt to run on hardware they were never originally designed to support," Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wrote. "Windows PC builds have been translated to run on Apple Silicon or ported to run inside a browser through WebAssembly and WebGPU, the latter now approaching 90% global browser support. Perhaps more surprisingly, we’ve seen many of the biggest games in the world have been remixed into the source code of another. These experiments challenge long-held assumptions about our industry: the tether between software and hardware, the boundary between creation and play, and how people discover and experience games."

Sharma added that Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet and a small team have been tasked with turning "turn emerging ideas" into experiences for consumers and developers. The idea of banking heavily on AI to create games is still a controversial topic in the west--whereas Asian markets have heavily pivoted toward it. Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is a big proponent of the technology, and other studios have begun incorporating it into their workflows to help combat the rising development times and costs of making a video game in the modern age.

Xbox Labs could be an effort to change public opinion on AI, given that many of the projects popping up online are vibe-coded remasters of older games like The Simpsons: Hit and Run, or mash-ups creating a chimera out of IP like Minecraft and Elden Ring. Xbox's parent company, Microsoft, also has a stake in the AI arms race, as its significant investments in the tech have seen a surge in profits. Alongside Xbox Labs, the company also announced the formation of XP, a new subdivision dedicated to expanding Xbox's presence through film, television, and live events.

Unreal Engine and Fortnite maker Epic Games is also making a huge pivot toward an AI-first game-development model, and the company has reportedly delayed an unannounced shooter featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters.

Rockstar has spent more than eight years developing Grand Theft Auto 6, but the studio hopes its next project will arrive considerably faster. Speaking to Bloomberg, Rockstar's head of development Phil Hooker explained how the company expanded its team and developed its technology for the hotly anticipated upcoming game, and how that'll make it easier to build future releases.

Hooker said the studio expects to benefit from the foundations established during the lengthy production of GTA 6. "The engine, the tools, and the team we've built during this project will allow us to do things more quickly," he explained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQRLujxTm3c&t=5s

He added that Rockstar wants to focus on expanding what it has already created rather than continually rebuilding its technology. "I feel confident that we can build on top of this and go more sideways than upwards to build more compelling content," he explained.

The approach should help Rockstar avoid another extended wait between major releases. GTA 5 launched in 2013, followed by Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018. GTA 6, meanwhile, is scheduled to arrive on November 19, 2026, following a series of delays. Its development has seen significant changes to Rockstar's structure, with the company growing from 2,441 employees around the release of RDR2, to 4,711 staff across 12 offices.

There is a precedent for Rockstar building a new game relatively quickly by reusing existing technology. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City followed GTA 3 in less than a year. Rockstar's leadership hopes the studio can take a similar approach to future projects now that so much of the GTA 6 groundwork is complete.

Of course, Rockstar hasn't announced its next major game yet. The comments also don't confirm that the next title in the Grand Theft Auto series will arrive quickly, especially considering the scale of the studio's ambitions. Still, the systems built for GTA 6 will help Rockstar spend less time solving technical problems.

For now, Rockstar's attention understandably remains on GTA 6. The game is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment launches in history, with analysts predicting tens of millions of sales during its first few months.

Writer-director Hideo Kojima has seen Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie, and he has now shared his review. Kojima, a true cinephile known for his public movie reviews, said he "wasn't particularly interested" in seeing the movie at first, but he did, and he sounded pretty impressed by what he saw.

"Right from the opening, it hits you with music reminiscent of The Thing. From there, it’s a relentless barrage of classic horror techniques, terrifying situations, and jump scares that never lets up until the very end," he said.

Kojima went on to observe what others did as well, which is how the Resident Evil movie is more of a film that provides the "experience of playing Resident Evil" as opposed to watching an adaptation of one of its stories.

"It reminded me of how I felt when I first played the original Resident Evil on PlayStation back in 1996," he said. "I was just like [main character] Bryan in this movie. I kept getting game over after game over, shouting “F***!” over and over again. lol."

Austin Abrams as Bryan in the Resident Evil movie.

This is the kind of response that Cregger said he wanted viewers to have. It's also what got Cregger in some hot water with hardcore fans who wanted to see a straight adaptation of one of the games instead of Cregger's own original story set inside the world of Resident Evil.

Another bright spot for Kojima? While he was at the theater, he picked up some physical reading materials for the divisive new Tom Cruise movie Digger. A lot of people have had a lot of things to say about that film, and we are all waiting to hear what Kojima thought of it, whenever he sees it.

The new Resident Evil has made more than $320 million worldwide, following its big debut in China where it's made $40.7 million so far. Cregger's Resident Evil movie is now the highest-grossing entry in the series to date, surpassing the previous record-holder, which was 2016's The Final Chapter ($312 million).

For more, check out GameSpot's rundown of the highest-grossing Resident Evil movies of all time.

While Cregger has said he has ideas for another Resident Evil movie, he’s done with franchise movies and is instead making an original movie, The Flood, next.

As for Kojima, he's keeping very busy with the upcoming games OD and Phsyint, both of which are in the works for Xbox. Physint will also be adapted for film and TV, while Kojima's Death Stranding is coming to the big screen as well.

It's a big week for Battlefield 6, as the game just launched its big Season 5 update, arrived on Xbox Game Pass, and ushered in a new Game of the Year Edition. That's not all, however, as the military shooter added a big new microtransaction in the form of the Ultimate Shortcut Kit.

Similar to how these shortcut kits worked in past Battlefield games, Battlefield 6's $30 no-so-microtransaction instantly unlocks all of the game's guns for all four classes, and at 100% Mastery--this means they are fully leveled up and kitted out.

Get all the Battlefield 6 guns and upgrades for $30.

People online have raised concerns about the existence of the Ultimate Shortcut Kit, saying it's unfair to allow people to buy every gun right from the start instead of grinding to progress. Other people said they welcome the Ultimate Shortcut Kit because they do not have the time or the interest in spending countless hours levelling up their guns and just want to play everything the game has to offer.

In addition to all the guns, the Ultimate Shortcut Kit for Battlefield 6 includes the Mortal Shriek dog tag and the Field Training: Cross Trained title. Below is a rundown of everything you get in the Ultimate Shortcut Kit.

Similar Ultimate Shortcut Kits for Battlefield 3 ($40) and Battlefield 4 ($50) cost more.

Battlefield 6 was 2025's best-selling game in the US, reportedly selling more than 20 million units in about three months. Despite the game's enormous success, EA cut staff at the studio after launch.

Battlefield 6 Ultimate Shortcut Kit:

Assault Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Frontliner Training Path
• 4 Gadgets

Support Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Fire Support Training Path
• 4 Gadgets

Engineer Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Combat Engineer Training Path
• 7 Gadgets

Recon Shortcut Kit:

• 7 Weapons (100% Mastery)
• 2 Vehicles (100% Mastery)
• Spec Ops Training Path
• 4 Gadgets

The big Halo Fest event planned for December is going ahead as planned, despite mass layoffs and other major changes at developer Halo Studios.

Halo Studios director of competitive engagement, Tashi, confirmed this and said there will be news about Halo Fest this week. Additionally, Halo Studios will release materials "celebrating the community and 25 years of Halo," while fans can also look forward to "relevant game info" about in-market Halo games.

"There's a huge amount of Halo fans who are looking forward to the event to attend or watch from home, and we're looking forward to providing a platform for the community to celebrate 25 years of Halo and each other," Tashi said of Halo Fest.

Halo Fest takes place December 11-13 in Seattle--the event is totally sold out. "No matter why you love Halo, whether it’s the story and characters, the music, the art and universe, or just playing with friends--Halo Fest will have something for you," Microsoft said of the event.

The voices of Master Chief and Cortana, Steve Downes and Jen Taylor, will appear at Halo Fest, while there will also be a range of community events celebrating the series. Some had expected Halo Studios to announce the next big Halo game at Halo Fest, but it's not unreasonable to think that plans may have changed.

Halo Fest is happening against a major shift for the Halo franchise following the gutting of Halo Studios and the transition of the series from Halo Studios to Activision. Halo Studios now employs a significantly smaller team that will support already-released Halo games like Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Halo Infinite, but future games in the series--including the rumored reboot--will be made at Activision.

Halo Studios was rumored to be working on Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, as well as a new live-service Halo game. That was before the big changes, however, and it's been reported that Activision is working on a Halo reboot.

Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser has recalled the controversial ending to 2010's Red Dead Redemption in which the main character, John Marston, is killed.

He said in an interview that the game's lead designer, Christian Cantamessa was on board with the idea to kill off Marston, but Houser wondered about the production realities of, "How does an open-world game work if you've killed the protagonist?"

"So I said, ‘I think maybe we have to kill him.’ And he goes, ‘That's a great idea. Got to do it.’ I said, ‘I don't know if… let me just think about this,’ because we're just dealing with audio and dialogue," Houser told IGN "The nature of an open-world game is you finish a story, then you go back into the world and wrap up all the side content if you want to. We'd have to play as someone else for that. We could play as Jack, but what does that mean? So I had to think through for a while what it would mean production-wise.”

2010's Red Dead Redemption.

How Rockstar handled it was by setting RDR's epilogue years later, in the year 1914, with players taking control of Marston's son, Jack. He said this setup presented challenges, too, in terms of the technical realities of playing as Jack as opposed to John. There were story and mission concerns, too, including how multi-stage missions might play out if players, as John, completed one part and then came back to finish later as Jack.

"How would that work? We had to think through all of that stuff and concluded we could probably make it work, but we were still scared," he said.

The RDR epilogue has Jack hunting down and killing the men who killed his father, and Houser said players "really loved" that feeling of vengeance. Ultimately, Houser observed that there was "broad consensus" that it was the right call in the end to kill off John, even if it was an "unusual and out-there decision." Houser was, however, surprised by "how angry some people were about that decision."

"There were people who were livid with you. And part of you goes, ‘That's fantastic,’ because it means you've really engaged in the story and the characters," he said. "Now, I think it was the right decision because you want those big, strong reactions, but I think people were really confused by it. As a writer, it was like he had to die for the story to have any weight."

Also in the interview, Houser said he wanted to achieve something like this in the GTA franchise, but it never happened due to technical reasons.

He and the Rockstar team did, however, pull it off again with Red Dead Redemption II, which is a prequel to the earlier game. RDR2 famously killed off its own main playable character, Arthur Morgan, though he died from tuberculosis or at the hand of Micah. RDR 2 had an epilogue as well, featuring John and Jack Marston.

Houser left Rockstar in 2020 and now works at Absurd Ventures, which is crafting an open-world comedy game. His brother, Sam Houser, remains at Rockstar and helped lead the team bringing GTA 6 to market on November 19.

It's a big day for Xbox Game Pass, as developer Battlefield Studios has launched Battlefield 6 into Game Pass, and it comes at a big moment for the game.

Battlefield 6 is now available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate ($23/month) subscribers on PC and console. It can also be streamed.

The game's arrival in Game Pass is notable because Battlefield 6 was 2025's best-selling game overall in the US, and was released a year ago this month. The game had a very strong start, but player numbers have dropped. Battlefield Studios is attempting to reignite the fanbase in a number of ways, including bringing the game to Game Pass and continuing to support the FPS with big new updates. The latest of these, the Season 5 update, is out today, October 13.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5ufBOI6Dto

Season 5 adds a new maps, including environments set in Las Vegas and Area 51, while it also brings something fans have been asking for since launch: a proper server browser. Check out the gameplay trailer above to see the Season 5 content in action.

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

Additionally, Battlefield Studios announced a Game of the Year Edition for Battlefield 6. The biggest selling point for the GOTY edition is the Ultimate Shortcut Kit, which instantly unlocks everything for all four classes, along with one season of Battlefield Pro, among other digital perks and extras.

The Ultimate Shortcut Kit, which was also available in other previous Battlefield games, is available to purchase by itself for $30.