A celebrity-filled cast grows even more.

Stranger than Heaven, the new game from Sega's RGG Studios, already has a star-studded cast with big names from both the Eastern and Western music and acting scenes. One of the latest cast additions, however, is definitely a head-turner: the likeness of beloved rapper Tupac Shakur. Tupac was a beloved musician before his murder in 1996, and his popularity has only grown since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVDWs_yaf2Y

Snoop Dogg, who also plays a major role in the game, commented on Tupac's addition during the Summer Game Fest presentation, saying "The Tupac estate, my son and myself ... we work very closely together, so it just made sense to put him in this game. His likeness, his spirit still lives on."

Tupac isn't the only departed cast member taking a role in Stranger than Heaven, as the likeness of beloved Japanese actor Bunta Sugawara (of Battles Without Honor or Humanity fame) is also appearing in-game. In addition, several famous Japanese actors and voice actors were newly announced to be appearing in the game in various roles: Takashi Ukaji, Takaya Kuroda, Kohei Tsuji, and Yasukaze Motomiya. A release date of January 15, 2027 was also confirmed.

Following a tease earlier this year, Alien Isolation 2 was officially revealed during a new trailer that debuted as part of Summer Game Fest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi2dJHeCAh0

Like the original Alien: Isolation, which released in 2014, the sequel is being developed by Creative Assembly, published by Sega, and directed by Al Hope. Just under two minutes long, the trailer provides a glimpse at a mysterious, rainy planet (presumably where the game will take place) and the voice of what seems to be Weyland-Yutani's CEO can be heard chastising someone for an expensive mistake.

"That's something the company rarely forgives," she continues. "This is your last chance, do you understand?"

"Yes," replies a second female voice who sound an awful lot like Amanda Ripley. "I understand."

An abandoned flamethrower can be seen lying on the ground, still burning, as a close-up shot of a Xenomorph slithering through the shadows sets the stage for another pulse-pounding survival-horror experience. Aside from the Xenomorph, the trailer doesn't offer a look at any other characters, but it's hard to imagine playing as anyone other than Amanda, daughter of Ellen Ripley and protagonist of the original game.

The wait for Alien Isolation 2 has certainly been a long one, with the previous game releasing all the way back in 2014. Since then, there's been something of a resurgence for the Alien brand--we've gotten multiple films as well as the excellent Alien: Earth series, for which Season 2 is currently in production.

Per the trailer, Alien: Isolation 2 will launch on PC, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S, and is currently available to wishlist on Steam, though it's listing page doesn't appear to have gone live at the time of writing.

StudioMDHR has announced that it's developing not one but two new Cuphead games during Summer Game Fest 2026. One of these will be a hand-animated game, although there are no further details, nor confirmation that it will follow in the same animation style of the original game, which was inspired by 1930s cartoons.

Given that the world-premiere trailer was accompanied by a special bulletin created by Toronto’s Stop Motion Department & Continue Agency, it may be a hint that the next game will be a stop-motion game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKPvy2vDBs

What we do know is that the second game, being developed by a smaller team within StudioMDHR, is a retro-inspired platforming spin-off titled Mighty Cuphead Adventure.

A few brief seconds of gameplay shown via a CRT TV indicate the 8-bit title will feature run-and-gun stages as well boss fights with familiar faces. While Mighty Cuphead Adventure is confirmed for console and PC, it's not just emulating 8-bit games as Studio MDHR has confirmed that it has been built with clasic Assembly language. This means that hardcore retro fans will be able to play the game on a physical cartridge on the Sega Master System.

T

We received a fresh look at the next game from Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda at Summer Game Fest. Previously teased as Project Robot, the game is now titled Gen Atlas. A new trailer focused heavily on the sense of scale that you might expect from the acclaimed game director.

Though the trailer was light on story or gameplay details, it did show snippets of elements we might be able to expect from it. What appeared to be a flying mech head used a beam to lift up a mech body and attach to it, and later a mech was seen carrying and swinging a giant pillar. We also saw some ways that smaller human-scale characters will interact with the mechs, such as a humanoid character shooting at creatures from a moving tank, or climbing up a mech that was in motion.

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

Shadow of the Colossus also notoriously dealt with scale, as you would climb giant beasts to exploit their weak spots. This game appears to express similar ideas, though with a mechanized-robot component. The shooting combat also looked notably more similar to third-person shooters than we've traditionally seen in Ueda's games.

Shadow of the Colossus was critically acclaimed when it first released on PlayStation 2, and then again when Bluepoint Games released a remake on PS4 in 2018. Ueda's last game for Sony was The Last Guardian, after which he left to found his own studio called GenDesign.

If you're planning to buy either Madden NFL 27 or EA Sports College Football 27, EA has a new subscription service that may appeal to hardcore football fans. By paying $150 for the new MVP+ membership, players get the deluxe editions of both games, access to beta releases, and a lot of extra features throughout the year.

EA has shared the complete benefits of MVP+, as reproduced below:

EA Sports College Football 27 Deluxe Edition

Membership-only Rewards:

7 Day Early Access
Beta Access (June 4-7)
Monthly Ultimate Team™ Pack (12, one delivered at the start of every month)
All Mascots unlocked in Mascot Mashup
83 OVR BND Cornerstones player (Choice of 1 of 4)
150 Dynasty Coach Points
Exclusive Dynasty Skill Tree | Rainmaker
500 Road to Glory Skill Points

Deluxe Edition Rewards:

4600 College Football Points
Exclusive Early Access Solo Challenges
81 OVR BND Cover Athlete Player Item (Choice of 1 of 3)
1 Upgradable Ultimate Team Player Item

Madden NFL 27 Deluxe Edition

Membership-only Rewards:

7 Day Early Access
Beta Access (June 11-14)
Monthly Ultimate Team Pack (12, one delivered at the start of every month)
4 Superstar Skill Points (Core, Physical, Specialty, and Mental)
Season 1 Player Item

Deluxe Edition Rewards:

4600 Madden Points
Exclusive Early Access Solo Challenges
Cover Athlete Elite Ultimate Team Player Item
500 Franchise Points
1 Superstar Legendary XP Boost
1 Ultimate Team Evo Item

Although EA plans to make the MVP+ a subscription service for next year's Madden and College Football games, players do have the option of declining to automatically renew. Doing so won't result in losing either game or any of the benefits because all of it is paid for upfront.

This deal is only available in the United States and Canada for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 users. EA Play and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can also get a 10% for their MVP+ membership.

Players Alliance--a group that is staunchly opposed to EA's pending buyout by investors including Saudi Arabia's PIF--issued a statement that condemns the MVP+ subscription for its "aggressive monetization."

"EA's new MVP+ membership is another attempt to rip off gamers by adding a yearly subscription on top of games that already push aggressive monetization.  This is an anti-consumer practice that turns everything from basic game features to bonus perks to early access into another recurring charge for people who already paid for the game. Gamers are watching EA turn more of gaming into a recurring charge, and the proposed private equity buyout will only accelerate that trend by saddling the company with $20 billion in debt. If EA wants gamers to keep supporting its games, it needs to pull out of this deal and stop nickel-and-diming its customers."

Resident Evil Requiem is only a few months old, but Capcom is already lifting the veil on its next game--the long-rumored Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake, now titled as simply Resident Evil Veronica. Revealed at Summer Game Fest today, this new spin on the classic Resident Evil game follows months of rumors pointing to its existence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JNv2CwmoRA

Capcom has been fairly consistent with Resident Evil releases over the last couple of years, alternating between brand-new entries in the main series and remakes of the older games.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica has been conspicuously absent from the library of updated Resident Evil games, as release-wise, it was expected to arrive after 2020's Resident Evil 3 Remake. Instead, Capcom followed that game up with Resident Evil Village in 2021, the remake of Resident Evil 4 in 2023, and this year's best-selling Resident Evil Requiem.

Originally released in 2000 for the Sega Dreamcast, the survival-horror game followed Chris and Claire Redfield on a new mission, several months after the Raccoon City Incident. The game hasn't aged too well, thanks to its outdated gameplay mechanics, but its storyline, gothic themes, and memorable antagonists in the form of the Ashcroft Twins made it a cult classic.

The calendar has turned to June, which means it is now time for the season of game trailers and announcements. We saw PlayStation's State of Play earlier this week, and today Geoff Keighley takes the stage for Summer Game Fest Live 2026.

We know that Fortnite, Star Wars: Zero Company, and new racing game Clutch have all teased a presence at the show, but other than that, there have not been as many direct hints as there have been in previous years. A few games have been rumored, and there's the growing specter of Grand Theft Auto VI as the industry careens towards its November release date, but few games have been outright confirmed for Keighley's stage.

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

We will be updating this page live throughout the presentation with game announcements, trailers, and more. Let the Summer Game Fest begin!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JNv2CwmoRA&pp=0gcJCSgLAYcqIYzv Resident Evil Veronica

Summer Game Fest 2026 kicked off where 2025 ended, as Resident Evil Veronica, a remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, debuted on the show floor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReKPvy2vDBs Mighty Cuphead Adventure

Studi MDHR returns with news of a new "hand-animated" Cuphead adventure. The game is still in "early stages," but a smaller team has been working on another project, Mighty Cuphead Adventure, hearkening back to the days of the Sega Master System.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUfKBrUgiS0 Alien Isolation 2

The Xenomorph returns in Alien Isolation 2, which debuted on stage next. The big bad will now be attacking a colony world, and the player must sneak to survive.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBnYtK1stCk

Gen Atlas

Fumito Ueda, the creator of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, was recognized by Keighley on stage, before attention turned to his next project, a sci-fi shooter with kaiju battles called Gen Atlas.

https://youtu.be/dFrvyItQgFo?si=jsQlcdajyCOv2ejS Blood Message

Netease and 24 Entertainment presented the debut trailer for Blood Message, a third-person action game set in feudal times.

Stranger Than Heaven

Ryu Ga Gotoku's next narratvei adventure Stranger Than Heaven debuted a new trailer next, showing off many of the game's five separate eras--including a surprise appearance by Tupac Shakur. The game launches January 15, 2027.

Haex

The debut title from Swedish studio Dead Astronauts, Hex is a procedural first-person adventure where a research team must traverse a supernatural world with hulking monsters and strange artifacts.

Dead By Daylight

A trailer celebrating the 10th anniversary of Dead By Daylight aired next, teasing more to come on June 14.

Mortal Shell 2

After debuting at last year's SGF Live, Mortal Shell 2 returned to the stage to announce that an open beta is now live.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced

A new trailer for the return of Edward Kenway aired next, showing more swashbuckling with Kenway and company. The game launches July 9.

https://youtu.be/mdMfitybQLw?si=iEmLg_aHtb5Gt0Eb Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin

Paramount Game Studios and PlatinumGames are teaming up for TMNT: The Last Ronin, which tells the tale of Mikey after his brothers are killed by the Foot.

Fortnite

Ben Starr introduced the gameplay trailer for the next season of Fortnite, Runners, which focuses on sprites born from the nearly reconstructed Zero Point. Runners begins later today, after the Shattered in-game event./h/

Gundam: Rogue Orbit

A new Gundam game is coming in 2027 from Bandai Namco, and the debut trailer showed both cinematics and gameplay.

https://youtu.be/LdKJGfQmie4?si=nJUHPeDnoyStsp-- An Eggstremely Hard Game

X is a co-op game where players control two ducks trying to protect their egg and nest from all manner of obstacles. The games launches July 24.

Crossfire

That's No Moon, a new studio made of veterans of Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, and more, debuted its first game: Crossfire, a new take on the Smilegate franchise, with a supernatural bend.

Control Resonant

From Crossfire to Control, as a new trailer for Remedy's follow-up to the 2019 hit debuted next on the SGF stage. The game launches September 24.

Guild Wars 3

The next installment in ArenaNet's storied MMO franchise debuted next, which will offer a new world to explore, momentum-based movement, and a new combat system. The game will launch on PC and PlayStation 5.

Star Wars Galactic Racer

Next up was Star Wars Galactic Racer, with a new trailer highlighting more high-intensity podracing action. The game will launch on consoles and PC on October 6.

End Of Abyss

The isometric horror game End of Abyss from Section 9 Interactive debuted a new trailer next, which confirmed an October 1 release date.

Virtua Fighter: Crossroads

A trailer for Virtua Fighter Crossroads, the next installment in Sega's storied fighting game franchise, aired next. The trailer highlighted the story behind the game, before showing the returning Pai Chan. The new Virtua Fighter launches in 2027.

Runescape: Dragonwilds

The survival-based offshoot of Jagex's long-running MMO showed off new gameplay from its upcoming Version 1.0, which launches September 15.

Grounded 2

The next update for Obsidian's pint-sized survival game, Into The Abyss, will launch August 11 on consoles and PC.

Mafia: The Old Country

Last year's return to Mafia, The Old Country, will receive a story update in August that will feature Don Salieri from the original Mafia.

1666 Amsterdam

The first game from Panache, a studio headed by former Assassin's Creed head Patrice Desilets, was announced after 14 years in development. The prologue is available to download now on Steam and Epic Games Store, and is coming to early acces later this year.

Saw Genesis

A new asymmetrical multiplayer horror game set in the Saw universe was revealed by Bloober Team. Three players will try to survive Jigsaw's games and traps, while another player controls the traps and tries to eliminate them.

The Lords Of The Fallen 2

New gameplay was shown for CI Games's souls-like The Lords Of The Fallen 2, highlighting a setting with a Japanese theme.

Star Wars Zero Company

The latest trailer for BitReactor's Star Wars strategy game Zero Company debuted next, which showed off more of the turn-based action, as well as an August 27 release date. The trailer ended with a glimpse at Anakin Skywalker.

The Blood Of Dawnwalker

Bandai Namco and Rebel Wolves' vampire-themed adventure showed a new trailer next, which highlighted the game's time-hopping aspect. The game launches on September 3.

Among Us Story: On Guard

Innersloth debuted a new standalone game featuring the crewmates of its wildly popular Among Us. The trailer was followed by a look at the upcoming Among Us animated series now streaming on Paramount Plus.

007: First Light

After launching to critical acclaim last month, 007: First Light will see a new story mission featuring Lenny Kravitz's Bawman later this year.

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance

A new expansion for Monster Hunter Wilds, made.a surprise appearance next. Footage showed a Hunter flying through islands in the sky and battling multiple massive monsters. The expansions launches in 2027.

Swords of Legends

A trailer for Aurugon Shanghai's debut game, Swords of Legends, premiered next, with raw gameplay of a boss fight between the hero and a tricky enemy called Kong Kong Zi, Master of Cantrip, with the hero summoning helpers that both fight with him and protect him from fiery attacks.

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush

A new Hot Wheels game debuted next, with the trailer showing off open-world driving gameplay across a city made of toys, including the classic Hot Wheels orange ramps.

Sonic 35th

New DLC was revealed for last year's Sonic racer, with Godzilla and Evangelion coming to the game in year two. Sega also announced Sonic Pico Park, a new co-op mulitplayer game, with pixelated graphics and an emphasis on chaos.

Attack On Titan

Koei Tecmo entered the Summer Game Fest stage with Attack on Titan 3, a new game exploring the entire AoT story from start to finish.

Clutch

Next up was a trailer for Clutch, a new narrative driving game from Maverick Games, a studio made of ex-Forza devs. It's set to launch in 2027.

Chronicles Medieval

The next announcement came via a new trailer for Raw Power Games's medieval strategy game, which showed off full-scale battle gameplay with massive armies.

Sea of Remnants

A rockin' new trailer for NetEase's seafaring pirate game showed new gameplay, including exploration and a big fight between two pirate factions.

Hitman: World of Assassination

The next Elusive Target for Hitman: World Of Assassination was confirmed to be rapper Wiz Khalifa, highlighting his muay thai skills in a cagefighting setting.

Palworld

Palworld 1.0 is now confirmed on July 10, thanks to a new trailer from Pocketpair.

The Wolf Among Us 2

Eight years after its original release trailer, The Wolf Among Us 2 re-debuted on the SGF stage with more from Bigby Wolf and Snow. The game is coming in 2027, but the original Wolf Among Us is set to return with a remaster this holiday.

Stellar Blade Blood Rain

The next trailer followed a cybernetic girl fighting body horror monsters in a cyberpunk city, before being revealed as the follow-up to Shift Up's action hit.

Street Fighter 6

The fourth season of downloadable content for Street Fighter 6 was revealed next, three original characters in Yasmine, Arjun, and Bosch, as well as its next guest character: Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation

The final announcement of the show was Final Fantasy VII Revelation, the final chapter of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. We see the Highwind, new gameplay featuring Cid and Vincent Valentine, and the reveal of the game's official subtitle, Revelation.

Summer Game Fest Live will end its two-hour run with a look at a single-player, narrative-focused game, producer and host Geoff Keighley has confirmed.

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/2062988880689992078

Keighley shared the news shortly before the show was set to begin, and did not elaborate on what the game could be, but the word "announcement" suggests it should be a brand-new reveal rather than an updated look at an already-announced game.

"Thank you for the feedback," Keighley added in the post, which looks like a cheeky nod to the ... mixed reception Highguard's announcement got during last year's The Game Awards. The multiplayer game, which was released not long after its announcement, struggled to find an audience and was completely shut down a short time later.

Typically, the "one more thing" that ends presentations of this magnitude are either much-wishlisted sequels from established franchises or brand-new games from acclaimed studios. It remains to be seen exactly what Keighley has in store this year, but with his affinity for Muppets, perhaps we can finally get that dark, brooding Kermit game we've all wanted for so long.

Minecraft Dungeons II is set for release in September, according to a store page for the game on Nintendo's website that seemingly went live too early.

Nintendo's website lists a September 29 release date for the sequel, and a $30 price point. The Minecraft social media pages have not posted about Dungeons II today, instead sharing a Backrooms meme.

People are theorizing that the announcement of the release date was supposed to happen at one of this weekend's gaming events, like possibly Summer Game Fest (June 5) or the Xbox Games Showcase (June 7).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjI_Akk5z8Y

In any event, the release date for Minecraft Dungeons II is out there now.

The original Minecraft Dungeons was released in 2020. A Diablo-style dungeon-crawler, Minecraft Dungeons was a spin-off of the main series and reached more than 25 million players, no doubt thanks in part to its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass.

The sequel was announced earlier this year. It takes players to new places and adds new enemies to fight.

After months of radio silence, Valve has given the strongest indication yet that its living room PC, the Steam Machine, and next-generation VR headset, the Steam Frame, are both nearing release.

In an update on Valve's Steamworks Development forums, the company committed to a summer release window for both devices. This could mean that you might be waiting for either all the way up until September, putting them well beyond the initial early 2026 promises from when Valve initially announced both the Steam Machine and Steam Frame last year. Despite the brief update, Valve has yet to share any pricing details for either device.

The ongoing memory and storage crisis, fueled by the demands of AI data centers, struck at exactly the wrong time for Valve as it was preparing the release of its Steam Machine. With speculation already rife over what the living room PC might cost, the company has since raised the prices of its Steam Deck by nearly 50%, with the 1TB OLED model now retailing for $950.

An increased wait for the Steam Machine has not helped its prospects, especially with the understanding now that it's likely going to launch at a much higher price than Valve initially desired. The devices 8GB of VRAM has been a contentious talking point since its reveal, with the wide belief that it's not enough to support new AAA releases, especially at 4K resolutions. That has been helped somewhat by AMD's announcement of FSR 4 support for older RDNA 3 GPUs, which the Steam Deck will ship with later this year.

For more on both of Valve's upcoming hardware launches, check out everything we know about the Steam Machine and Steam Frame . Be sure to also see if you should be spending $100 on Valve's recently launched Steam Controller, which will be included with the Steam Machine when it arrives in a few months.

Paramount+ has just premiered the Among Us TV show, and 10 episodes are now available to stream for subscribers.

A page on Paramount+ appeared (via Wario64) today with no fanfare. It's unclear if the show was meant to already debut or--as is often the case ahead of big showcases--it was set live early, spoiling a surprise. Summer Game Fest Live, the Xbox Showcase, and many other events are set to take place in the coming days, with SGF Live just hours away.

The latter is the most likely source for such an announcement, as the Among Us Twitter account recently teased an SGF reveal. Of course, that could be for some other piece of news tied to the game.

Paramount+ / Paramount+ with Showtime

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The Among US TV cast includes a number of big names, including Yvette Nicole Brown, Kimiko Glenn, Liv Hewson, Ashley Johnson, Wayne Knight, Phil LaMarr, Randall Park, Dan Stevens, Debra Wilson, Elijah Wood, and Patton Oswalt.

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

The show was created by Owen Dennis--he is also the executive producer, alongside Forest Willard and Macrus Bromander. Carl Neisser from Among Us developer Innersloth is a producer as well. Titmouse, known for its work on countless films (and some games, like the Guitar Hero series), handled the animation work.

D

On Sunday, June 7, Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase will shed some light on the console's upcoming games. But well-known video game leaker Nate the Hate is already predicting that one of the big reveals of the showcase will be the long-awaited Persona 6.

During the latest episode of his podcast, Nate the Hate said, "I'm going to go big. Either go big or go home. Persona 6 worldwide reveal." Nate the Hate's guest--and fellow YouTube host--Rand al Thor 19 agreed with the prediction in part because Persona developer Atlus has been featured at every Xbox Games Showcase this generation.

The biggest indication that there may be something to these predictions are the recent leaks from Persona 6 that reportedly feature potential protagonists in the game. During the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase, Atlus announced Persona 4 Revival, a remake of the original sequel. Because that game is likely to be released first, Nate the Hate and Rand al Thor 19 suggested that Persona 4 Revival will probably get a release date while Persona 6 will simply be announced.

Prior to the reveal of Persona 4 Revival, several voice actors from Persona 4 said that they weren't asked to reprise their roles. Yuri Lowenthal--the voice of Yosuke Hanamura in the original--wrote on Bluesky that he "will not be returning as Yosuke for the Persona 4 remake ... I asked. Maybe I even begged, but they don’t want me to come back.” Lowenthal subsequently deleted his post.

Paramount Skydance has announced a new in-house game development studio, Paramount Games Studio, and we won't have to wait long at all to find out what the company is working on.

Variety reports that Paramount Games Studio will announce its first game today, June 5, during the Summer Game Fest showcase. It's a AAA game, but that's all that is known about it so far.

Paramount already had game studios after its combination with Skydance, including Skydance Interactive and Skydance New Media. These studios are now being folded into Paramount Games Studio.

Projects in the works at those studios are continuing, including Marvel 1943: Rise of Hyrdra and a new Star Wars game with Lucasfilm from Amy Hennig.

https://twitter.com/paramountgames/status/2062913847720394843

Paramount Skydance is expected to become an even bigger game-maker soon, as the company is buying Warner Bros. Discovery and its game slate, including numerous major franchises and studios. The deal has not closed yet, however.

Tony Driscoll, who is head of corporate strategy and development at Paramount, is leading Paramount Games Studio. He said video games are not an extension of Paramount's business, but a "core pillar" of it, alongside film and TV.

"We are committed to creating exceptional games for every type of player, from casual to AAA, and building enduring experiences across our beloved Paramount IP and original worlds that deepen fan engagement and drive long-term growth," he said.

Paramount Skydance's CEO, David Ellison, is a big gamer and is helping get the Call of Duty movie made.

Asha Sharma has now been the Xbox CEO for 100 days, following her surprising elevation to the role earlier this year. Under Sharma's predecessor, Phil Spencer, Xbox-exclusive games migrated to PlayStation 5 even as Xbox console users have continued to ask for more exclusives. Sharma has previously indicated a willingness to reconsider exclusivity going forward, but now she's shared her belief that Xbox needs exclusives to shore up its future.

"We're the number two publisher in the world and in order to be a great publisher, you must have your games reach large audiences to play," said Sharma while appearing on Bloomberg's recent live event. "At the same time, we're increasingly becoming a platform. In order to be a platform, you must have exclusive content and ... we're looking at that very closely. I think that we have to be very thoughtful about each title on how we want to think about it and learn from similar cases in the industry. And that's what we're doing."

While looking ahead to her next 100 days, Sharma noted that she would love to see Xbox "be the number one gaming and entertainment company." However, she acknowledged that the gaming division is struggling.

"We're long on gaming, we're long on Xbox," said Sharma. "We'll keep investing, but we've got work to do. You shared the numbers, we're not in a healthy spot and so you know the next 100 days is going to be about resetting the business ... We need to look at how we're investing, how we're prioritizing, change how we operate in order to return to growth, in order to be where the world plays."

Sharma also directly addressed the fact that console prices are rising during this generation instead of falling as they had in previous generations. To counter that, she said "it will require fundamental change in terms of how we innovate and how we think about the business models and how we go bring this to market."

"The biggest challenge and opportunity is how do you make affordable products during that time?," said Sharma when talking about the ongoing memory shortages and AI-driven expenses. "And that's what the next hundred days will be about."

She went on to say that pulling co-pilot from Xbox was her decision, and it was done because players weren't excited about that feature.

"We're going to be really thoughtful about how we ship AI," said Sharma. "My job is to think about where we invest, what we prioritize, and how we operate."

Sharma went on to credit Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for giving her the "latitude to make the best decisions for our players." She also reiterated her belief in AI's benefits as a tool for game development.

Under Sharma's watch, Xbox recently had a light rebrand to XBOX, while lowering the price of Game Pass and removing new Call of Duty titles from Xbox Game Pass at launch. Microsoft will hold its next Xbox Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday, June 7.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's fast-paced omnimovement is dialed back in Season 4's new limited-time playlist, and the community response has been very positive. The classic playlist features movement and gameplay inspired by older games in the series, which feels much like playing a remastered version of Black Ops 2.

Call of Duty Season 4 introduced Black Ops Classic, a new throwback mode that scales back the movement, removing the game's advanced omnimovement, sliding, and wall-tap mechanics. Certain loadout gear is also restricted in Black Ops Classic, such as the popular Stim Shot equipment, which allows players to quickly heal mid-fight for more aggressive play.

Black Ops Classic further leans into the appeal of a throwback mode by being limited to only the remastered Black Ops maps from older games. This map pool includes iconic maps, such as Firing Range, Nuketown, Hijacked, Standoff, Summit, Raid, and more. It's also a mosh pit of Call of Duty's staple game modes, with a mix of Domination, Hardpoint, Team Deathmatch, and Kill Confirmed.

All of these changes Treyarch implemented definitely make this Black Ops 7 playlist feel like old-school Call of Duty. The pace is slowed down, and tactical gameplay and map positioning are more important here.

Slums map remastered in Black Ops 7

For a limited time, players can hop into Black Ops Classic as Black Ops 2's David Mason or Mike Harper with the Peacekeeper assault rifle equipped on a map like Slums and really get lost in the nostalgia. The reception is already very positive for the mode, and some players are calling it to be a permanent game mode. 

"Played one match of Black Ops Classic, and yeah I'm gonna need this to be a permanent mode," one player said.

"Black Ops Classic is easily the best playlist that's been added to the game. Classic gameplay loop and movement feels incredible. Please keep this for the rest of the year, Treyarch," said another player.

Others love it so much, they are already asking for a classic playlist in the upcoming Call of Duty:  Modern Warfare 4 game.

"Can we please get classic mode in MW4," a player requested. "I don't like the sweaty sliding and fast movement. I prefer the classic mode that was released today."

Call of Duty will ditch omnimovement in Modern Warfare 4, but it won't be a classic movement system. Infinity Ward says the game is very much a boots-on-the-ground Call of Duty, but it will still feature refined parkour-style movement. So, players can still expect fact-paced sliding and mantling mechanics.

The full version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and PC. The game features a full campaign, multiplayer, and DMZ extraction mode.

Like previous years, Modern Warfare 4 is confirmed to have an open beta ahead of launch, and more details on that hands-on opportunity will be revealed soon. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 preorders are live now with standard and Vault editions of the game.

Alix Wilton Regan, who plays Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst, has discussed an injury she sustained while working on Legacy of Atlantis.

She told WhatCulture Gaming that she is known to go "a little bit too hard" when doing performance-capture work, and that happened with Legacy of Atlantis.

"I just forget that I'm not actually Lara Croft. I was recently throwing myself into a door voluntarily as she batters the door down, and I hurt my arm by the end of the day," she said. "Everyone was like, 'You don't have to do that.' And I'm like, 'I do! I have to feel everything.' I would drive people mad on set with that."

She added: "That was how I injured my arm. I was doing five, six, seven takes in a row. My arm was hanging limply by my side. A co-star went, 'I don't think that's right.' I was like, 'Oh, it's probably not.'"

Wilton Regan is not the first Tomb Raider actor to get injured on set. Sophie Turner, who plays Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider TV show, suffered a "minor injury" recently, with production on the series shutting down temporarily.

https://twitter.com/WCultureGaming/status/2062679328069156969

Legacy of Atlantis is a remake of the 1996 original Tomb Raider game, and the developers at Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog used generative AI to bring it to life.

Legacy of Atlantis was originally set to launch in 2026, but has now been delayed to February 2027. It's not the only Tomb Raider game coming in 2027, as a brand-new game, Tomb Raider: Catalyst, is also arriving next year.

Wilton Regan is taking over from Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft. Luddington played Lara Croft in 2013's Tomb Raider and its sequels, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

The showstopper at PlayStation's State of Play was a new entry in the God of War franchise. However, instead of introducing Kratos's newest adventure, Santa Monica Studio revealed God of War Laufey, which, as indicated by the title, shifts its focus to Faye, a hero and warrior in her own right, to tell a tale that runs parallel to the events of the 2018 God of War reboot.

Somewhat expectedly, there has been everything from excitement to anger at the new direction. But to Santa Monica Studio, Laufey has long represented an exciting way to branch out, and to tell new and different stories that enrich the God of War we know. We spoke to the game's director, Ariel Lawrence, about the announcement of the game, the response, and what the studio hopes to achieve with its latest game. 

GameSpot: God of War's identity has changed so many times and Laufey is probably the most drastic. What is God of War to you and Santa Monica Studio?

Ariel Lawrence: Having worked on the franchise for a long time [and] been through a lot of those evolutions, I think it's telling an epic story that has tons of fantasy and violence, but at the heart of it still is a really human personal story. 

A lot of people think of Kratos one way, as rage-filled, but there was a real person underneath that. And for us, seeing that evolution over time with the different consoles and thinking about what new things can we bring to that storytelling, what new things can we bring to that combat experience. And being able to show a mythological world that people maybe haven't seen and deliver on that surprise and delight kind of feel.

There's been a feeling that Laufey is taking the franchise away from what it used to be, which for many is that violence and a bit of machismo too. How do you feel about that assessment and what would you say to potentially assuage those fears?

I mean, I know a little bit more than what we've shown for the reveal, so for me, Faye definitely has violence in it and is capable of that. I think it's just more, what does a warrior look like in Faye? And it's a little different than what a warrior looks like in Kratos. They're different size and shaped people, but I think they're still both as strong and capable. For me, the level of violence for Faye is really like, 'what is going to get the job done?' And so when she's going to take somebody out it's, 'what is the way to get that done as quickly, as cleanly as possible?' There's still some more violence to come.

Kratos was a Spartan general. He's still a tactician and things like that, but I think where he has more of the ability to be a brick wall, Faye is going to take on monsters and gods that are of different sizes and shapes, so she's going to use her physicality differently. And so I think that's really just playing to the strengths of both of those. 

Faye wants to help Kratos and Atreus as quickly as she can, so to get through the world and those encounters to get [to] what she needs, she's going to try to go the best way possible. Faye, she's a little quicker on her feet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upjpP54xDIc

Faye is a giant, she was the protector of her people, she wielded the Leviathan axe before Kratos and she, essentially, tamed the beast [that Kratos was]. Why do you think there's still skepticism around Faye's ability? 

Everybody comes at their stories with their own worldview, so I'm not sure what drives a lot of people to say that, but I definitely think Faye is as qualified as you said. We know that Faye and Kratos stood toe-to-toe and were partners in their life together and they cared about each other. He saw her as a capable warrior and she saw in him also that capability for change. I'm not sure what drives other folks to make assumptions on that, but I know her to be quite capable.

Grief and revenge and cycles of violence have been a key part of Kratos' story thematically but this game feels like it could be different. What is the thematic journey that you want to take Faye on?

I think both Faye and Kratos have had things happen in their past that they wish maybe could have gone differently. Faye was the protector of the Giants, but that didn't quite work out as well for the Giants. And so I think part of Faye's journey is processing all of those things along the way, and how can she help Kratos and Atreus? And what's the next step of her becoming and how do you come to terms with that? 

We saw a lot of that with Kratos; what is he coming into? What is holding him back from doing those things? And he's had to process his rage and his grief, his relationship with his family and who he was to who he is now. I think Faye, as a warrior, has a similar journey in front of her, maybe with slightly different beginnings. But still, I think [that's] a person we can keep telling stories about.

Kratos has been the embodiment of rage that has been for a lot of his life. I think a lot of people feel that in themselves through him, so that is a big reason why people have such a visceral reaction to him not being there. There is the potential to not be able to channel those emotions through a character that has been there for them to do that. But there are perhaps to channel other emotions through Faye. What is the emotion you think that Faye represents the most, that could be a point of relation for people who come to this franchise for the ability to express themselves?

I think for Faye it's really about understanding what is holding us back from becoming the best, most powerful version of ourselves, and coming to terms with what it is that that's holding you back? But also I don't think people should be afraid that Kratos isn't going to be there for them. We've got the remakes coming, there's plenty more stories to tell for Kratos, and I hope that everybody allows him to also continue the growth that he's had for the couple of games. He'll always have a certain part of that in him that he's dealing with, but we all grow and tell new stories as well.

Do you feel pressure of being at the front of the first major revolution? game-changing moment in the God of War franchise and do you think about how your success could pave the way for what happens to the franchise going forward?

On the inside and making these games, every time somebody has said, "Oh, you shouldn't do that because that's not how games do things," even from the very first God of War--at a time when a lot of the great action games were coming out of Japan. It [was] like, "An American studio is not going to be able to do that." And I think every time we've tried something new, somebody has internally, externally, etc, said, "Oh, I don't think that's a good idea," and that becomes a personal challenge for the team to be able to push forward and experiment; 

When they were like, "Oh, you can't go to a single camera. You can't have the son come in. You can't do any of these things," that's the challenge, that's part of the fun.

But also most of the time we're just thinking about how we tell the best story, make the best, most fun experience for players. When we have these moments where we announce something, I guess maybe it gives us [the chance to give] a little bit more reflection on that, but a lot of times we're just heads down on, "How do we make this the best experience we can? What do we need to do to tell the story better?" And each one of those evolutions really drives what are the storytelling tools, gameplay tools, et cetera, that allow us to make this experience the way that we want players to have this experience.

The tools from the reboot to Ragnarok are largely the same there, right? Do you think that a game like Laufey creates the ability to introduce new tools in a safe, different way that then you can bring back [in the future]?

I think for Laufey, especially with the Everywhen as a concept, bringing mythologies together, and kind of exploring this world beyond for the gods, it was…  not restriction, but a lot of ways of doing things that we had. We could start fresh in some places, and so I think that was a great place for the team to take on that creative risk and feel safe about exploring.

Because with Kratos, we've got 20 years of our explorations with him, and they kind of gently point us in a certain direction and we can evolve with him. But I think for Faye just going somewhere new, it was like opening a window and being able to jump into something and see where it goes.

But a lot of Laufey is really built on all of the experience from the Greek saga. You can see the evidence of Greek saga and Norse saga both coming together; it's not baby out with the bath water. But just having a different physique to work with in terms of combat, animation, and then just thinking about that allowed us some distance basically to be able to look at all the stuff that we've done and say, "Is this a tool that would help us tell Laufey's story?"

The Everywhen is the first entirely original setting for th eseries. How did you get to the point where you made something instead of using existing mythology as foundational and go from there? A lot of people think of God of War as a retelling of mythology, whereas this is creating mythology.

Well, I hope folks aren't failing Greek mythology exams by using Kratos [laughs]. 

I think it's always been like an expansion of mythology for us or a retelling [and we've said], 'this is what we know, but you didn't know this other stuff.' So for Kratos, that's always been there. For Faye and the Everywhen, we get to do that same thing where now we can get to know different mythologies coming together, but we get to know those characters. They're still going to have the same mythological background and grow from that, but now we can actually see how some of those characters would interact as full people in there.

Why is it called Everywhen? It feels like time might be a bit funny there.

I won't spoil any of the surprises of things, but I think for us [the Everywhen] gave this concept of all time and no time and a place beyond the mortal realms. So it was kind of an internal kind of idea that just kind of stuck after a while.

Do you feel like this is a kind of crucial piece to put in place to further explore different territories and give the series longevity?

Yeah. I think this concept of the place beyond has been in Cory [Barlog]'s brain for a long, long time. We've gone to mortal afterlives--hades, and we've gone to Helheim. But this idea of for the gods, where do they go? Because we've killed gods. They've disappeared. What happens to them? They're not in any of their underworlds, so where does that happen? That question has really been bouncing around for a long time. 

And I think this idea of locking ourselves into potentially maybe like one mythology [led us to], "Well, maybe actually these mythologies all touch." Everybody's got an idea about a magical place. That's so common in a lot of different kinds of mythologies that maybe they're the same place. And so once we started talking about that idea, it really kind of grew from there and the opportunity was just so exciting that I think it just really stuck.

There's the question of where do Gods go that exists within the current God of War saga, with it being Odin's obsession. But Athena in God of War III also mentions that she's transcended beyond into a new place. Is it the same place? 

I won't go into all the details, but I can tell you we've been killing gods for a really long time. So we've been thinking about this question. Since Aries died, we were like, "Okay, great. Does he go to the underworld?" We asked that question. Where did he show up after Kratos killed him?" I think this has been really bubbling around for like 20 years.

Laufey isn't technically a God, right?

For us, this [place] is a return for all magic. So it's not just gods, but magical creatures and all sorts of things. Magic is pulled to this place.

Will this game move forward the discussion around who blew the horn?

That is a very good question. I am not at liberty to discuss.

Unsurprisingly, that's what everyone else that worked on God of War games said as well.

I think that's a very exciting question for folks to dig into.

Do you feel a pressure to answer that question now way more? 

I don't think people understand how stubborn Cory Barlog can be, so we may be waiting a while.

Deborah Ann Woll is the actor behind Laufey. When did she find out that there was more to this character?

Oh, I'm pretty sure Cory told her in Ragnarok [development]. Deborah and I have talked about that and she was like, "I've had to keep this under wraps for, I don't know, what is it, 8, 10 years at this point." 

Cory always knew how important Faye was to the kind of next evolution of God for storytelling. And so when he made Faye as a character in 2018, that importance and the gravitas was there. And then when he was like, "We need to find somebody to be Faye," he was incredibly intentional about that. I don't know what the conversation was between Cory and Deborah, but that has been a twinkle in his eye for a while.

We saw a moment where Kratos appears and he physically interacts with Faye so he's not a magical construct. As a concept in the narrative, how important is the idea of converging [Laufey's story] with Kratos. 

Well, I think for us it's kind of a reverse of the Ragnarok perspective. In Ragnarok, Faye was present and on Kratos' mind pretty heavily. And [we are] able to show the other side of that story, because Faye meant as much to Kratos as Kratos means to Faye. And so being able to kind of continue that understanding, the conversation.

I've been watching those videos where people have tried to match up where Kratos dies in Ragnarok with something that happens in Laufey's journey. 

I look forward to all of the fan theories about this topic.

What's up with the cube and the sword?

So Phranque has always been a character. I was with the team for two years on the reboot, working up to 2018, and then when I came back to the studio in 2021, the two characters that were whole and in the pre-production of Laufey were Faye and Phranque. Cory and I have talked about it a lot and the challenge of taking something that could be interpreted as a non-personality and inanimate object, and really just driving a human connection with that and caring about it. As a companion, Phranque offers, mechanically, some interesting ideas. That's always been Phranque. And then for Rue, we knew we wanted Faye to have a legendary weapon.The Leviathan Axe really is Kratos's now--she gave it to him. She's not taking it back. 

So for us, [we wanted] to find a weapon that could really play to Faye's strengths, that nimbleness but still being deadly, that kind of flexibility and speed. As we were doing a lot of development, the ribbons started to take form in there and we were kind of thinking about the caretaker [of the sword] in there. [We thought about], if Faye comes to this world, who is it that is holding the sword when she gets there, and Rue was born.

Is it an original sword for God of War or is it something people will know, like Excalibur or something like that.

It's an Epic sword. It has a story.

Understood. Coming back to Phranque. The good faith discussion around Phranque that some are having relates to the question of what impact does he have on the tone of the game, the way it's written and the way it emotionally plays out. The worry is around the Marvelification or the Joss Whedonification of God of War. Is there anything you can say to perhaps give people a better understanding of what Phranque is there for and what the potential impact he will have is?

Phranque has probably got six or seven lines in the reveal, so it's not a fully developed personality present [there] because we're just not having as much conversation. So I would say as we are still in development on all of these things, we're treating Phranque as we would any companion character. His earnestness, his honesty about being in the moment is kind of integral to his character, but that doesn't make him completely unserious. For us, we want to find his humanity. And as we'll discover, in the world of Everywhen things are not great right now. So for him, I think it's really about helping Faye see the world as it is. So he's not meant to be a joke in that kind of capacity.

I thought it was interesting that he was so immediately trusting of Faye.

Yeah. And I think that is a component to his personality. But there's a little bit more depth to why he is like that.

Does he need to be that way when you're depicting a world that is so brutal as what we saw? Do you need that kind of character to stop it from being a bit much? Mimir at times had that function.

Yeah. I think all the characters... Kratos is pretty serious a lot of the time, and so the levity of other people stands in contrast to that a lot. We have characters that can go across the spectrum of that, so it's not that we have to be very serious and very light. I think we have real people as much as we can, but I think the reveal is just a very small section of the Everywhen, and so as we kind of open up the world to see the next things, Phranque fits into that part.

Everyone has been fixated on Kratos and his role in Laufey's story. You've indicated he will play a part. I'm more interested in how much of a presence Atreus has. The first thing Laufey expresses is that she didn't get to say goodbye, and it's easy to forget that means to Atreus as well as Kratos. Is that an important part [to her story]?

Oh, I think definitely. Faye has left Kratos and Atreus, but Atreus [she left] is not the Atreus of Ragnarok, it's the Atreus of 2018, so much younger. And so I think her instinct is, 'my husband, my partner, this is the person I want to make sure that they're taking care of Atreus.' I don't think she sees Atreus as the young man he's become in Ragnarok. She's striving to get back to both of them, but the connection I think is really the one of her and Kratos first. They both have an impact in there, but I think she's hoping to connect with Kratos, because he's the one who's still with Atreus, taking care of him.

With Kratos and Atreus [their quest] was to get to the top of the highest point in the realm and spread her ashes. What is Laufey's goal?

Well, I think that she is trying to get back to Kratos and Atreus, and we'll see how she goes.

Get back to them?

Yeah. Or to help them.

Okay. That's interesting… The idea of her returning is not something that I thought about.

Well, what she wants and what she needs are probably two different things.

She wants to say goodbye. In terms of the gameplay, how difficult was it to shift from a heavy character into one that is more lithe?

I think that because we started with the idea, like we knew it was going to be a Faye game, we had a Faye model. We couldn't just put Kratos animations on her. It just wouldn't make sense. Her body wouldn't move that way. 

But I think being able to look back to the Greek era [where] Kratos had a little bit more of an acrobatic nature [helped]. We still have folks in the studio who've worked on those games, so I think this was, "What if we did this, but this is the person we have executing this, and how would that work and what things could we borrow, what things could we expand on?" That's the fun part of development--just seeing where it can go.

We talked to Cory about the late introduction of the Blades of Chaos and he recounted that it was almost his upending moment for the team where they were like, how do we figure this out? Was it easier to move to the new weapons because of that work done there?

Yes and no. I think that just having a Faye model rig to move with, because we do so much pre-vis work and kind of experiment, we have a ton of time for the animators and combat designers to experiment with what's going to come out, what's going to bubble up from the tools that we have, what weapon that she would match with. So I don't think it's necessarily harder to go to a new thing. It was probably harder for Kratos in that moment because the team was so set on the Leviathan Axe. That's all they were thinking about, so then to make the switch it's like, "how do we do this?" But they figured it out.

One of the things that a lot of old school God of War fans are missing is platforming. Now that Faye has the ability to hop around in a way that Kratos couldn't, is [platforming] something that you want to reintroduce or emphasize a bit more?

Laufey lends herself a lot to new and different traversal mechanics. Absolutely. So I hope to show you guys more about that soon. But I think that for us, yeah, it's not just about how she moves in combat, but how she explores the world. And the jump allows verticality in spaces and her speed and agility [lets her] get to places that maybe Kratos wouldn't have in the last games. But for us that expands the possibility for level design and for different kinds of systems and things.

God of War Laufey

There's a lot of excitement around God of War Laufey, but also a lot of skepticism. What would you say to the people out there that are in either camp?

I want to be as truthful as I can to Faye's experience and to really show her to be the warrior that Kratos fell in love with, that changed his life. I want to see who that person is and so I hope fans will come along on the journey with us. I'm so excited about the mythological possibilities of who we can meet and the magic that we can get ourselves into going forward. I understand the skepticism. I hope they will give it a chance and be excited to play.

I think for me it's just, is it fun? Is it an adventure that I haven't been on before? And I think the biggest thing is just, for us, is how can we hold onto the surprise? I think it's just so hard to be surprised today. Everybody always knows exactly how it's going to play out. So I'm hopeful that this is a place where we can still have some mystery.

For better or for worse, the Laufey reveal was a surprise to everyone, and it's probably why people are reacting the way that they're reacting, right?

I'm so thankful that we have the fans that we have. I'm so thankful that we have people who care. And whether or not they care, they're upset, or they think we should do something that's different, I would rather they care. So we're arms open, ready to show them Faye's journey and have them fall in love with her like we have. That's the exciting part for us.

Do you take any power from the people who perhaps aren't on board yet? Does it fuel you?

I don't know if it fuels us. I think that it's more of that challenge where people make assumptions about what we can do or what we can't do and as a team, as a studio. Or what we should do. As a team, Santa Monica has always taken to doing what we want to do and showing people we can do it. So I hope they come along because I would love them to [experience] the fun and the adventure that we have in store for them. 

I understand everybody's reservations and hesitations and I know that it comes from a good place. They have been on that journey with Kratos as long as I have, right? And it means something to them and I hope that this is more of a "yes and" for expanding. We're not leaving anybody behind. We've got plenty more Kratos coming. This is really just a place for adventure to go beyond what we had.

20-year-old Kane Parsons has one of the biggest movies of 2026 in Backrooms, and everyone wants to know what he will make next. In addition to spinning Backrooms into a TV series, Parsons is eyeing a movie based on Valve's Portal game.

The New York Times reports that Parsons said adapting the puzzle-platformer would be his dream. The report did not include any direct quotes from Parsons about this, so that's all we know, but the author of the piece, Kyle Buchanan, shared quotes online that didn't make it into the NYT story. He said Parsons told him that Parsons was looking into directing a Portal movie "with a lot of caution and a lot of curiosity."

In 2013, Valve announced plans to investigate the possibility of making Portal and Half-Life movies. Star Wars and Star Trek director JJ Abrams later came aboard to make the Portal movie. Warner Bros. was making the movie and hired a writer. In 2021, Abrams said he thought the Portal movie could get made.

As things tend to happen in Hollywood, however, the Portal movie never materialized, and neither did the Half-Life film.

Valve is known to take its time and be selective with its projects, and that very nature is what Parsons said he likes about Valve. Parsons recently said he respects Valve's integrity for making things because it wants to, and not just to make money..

Anyone who has seen Backrooms may have noticed that the film’s creaking door sound was borrowed from Portal. Parsons has also said Valve’s Portal series has been his single biggest influence creatively.

https://www.tiktok.com/@letterboxd/video/7643924909541838094

Parsons said he is so obsessed with Portal that he travels to the game's fictional setting in his dreams. Many people have pointed out that Backrooms' set design gives off a lot of Portal vibes.

Despite his enthusiasm for Valve and Portal, Parsons is also cautious about adaptations.

“Needing to step into someone else’s view of life tends to damage the initial point for me,” he said in a recent interview. “So the only ones that I would look at are ones that have shaped my own experience of life so much that I feel like I have something to do with that conversation in the first place.”

He was asked specifically if he would jump at the chance to make a Star Wars or Star Trek movie, or an adaptation of any “big” franchises, and he said that doesn’t interest him generally.

Parsons wants to make original IP, but he said there are “one or two” exceptions. These would be franchises from the early 2000s that resonate strongly and personally with Parsons. He declined to name them outright, but his new comments suggest Portal could be among them. He also teased that he may already have something in the works, offering, “Stuff may already be moving a little bit.”

Parsons is also connected to gaming through his family. His father, Michael Parsons, worked at Telltale Games and now works at Skydance.

Netflix has announced an officially licensed FIFA Men's World Cup 2026 game, and it'll be playable for all subscribers from their TV, computer, or phone, featuring in-game updates based on how the real-world tournament unfolds.

FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition, as it's called, releases on June 11. Described as a "streamlined" soccer/football game, the game uses your phone as the controller, with players swiping their finger to pass and shoot the ball.

The game features all 48 teams in the World Cup this year, along with 16 real-life stadiums and 1,248 real players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQYIl6XK8Bk

A Netflix spokesperson told Variety that the game will be updated daily with new challenges and features based on how the tournament plays out IRL.

The game is free and has no microtransactions, just like all of Netflix's other games. Netflix will promote the game with a takeover ad for all Netflix members. The company also said the game will be updated in 2027 for the Women's World Cup.

A limited test version of FIFA World Cup: Launch Edition is launching today in Brazil, but everyone will get to jump in on June 11, which is when the first World Cup game takes place.

EA Sports traditionally capitalized on the World Cup with special versions of the game, in-game events, and more. However, EA and FIFA broke up, and now the newest game in the series, EA Sports FC 26, has pivoted to a "The World's Game" promotion that doesn't feature FIFA or the official World Cup license.

Some of the other games available on Netflix currently include Red Dead Redemption, Into the Breach, Farming Simulator 2023, Sonic Mania Plus, Oxenfree, and RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch, just to name a few.

Despite some initial stumbles, Netflix remains interested and invested in the gaming space for the long term, seeing it as a major growth-driver.

After all of the drama that played out in court, Subnautica 2 has gotten off to a hot start. There's still work to be done on this early-access release, but Unknown Worlds has now shared some of its plans to improve the game and previewed its next big update.

In a new video, Subnautica 2 design lead Anthony Gallegos teased the upcoming content drop, which will introduce the Collector Leviathan's home as a new region. That update will feature a new chassis "that brings back one of the most requested player experiences," as well as fresh creatures and resources. Gallegos also teased it by saying, "I really think it's going to be the scariest the game has been yet, and I can't wait for you to try it."

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

Following the most-recent hotfixes, Unknown Worlds is planning some smaller updates, including proximity voice chat "as soon as possible." Additional Biomod options are being added earlier in the game and players will be able to unlock more passive slots as well.

Gallegos noted that players should be able to notice Blight encounters more easily, thanks to some adjustments to the aggression of the parasites. The dev team is also looking to allow players to replay the voice logs from their PDAs.

According to Gallegos, Subnautica 2 has sold 4 million copies across Xbox Series X|S and PC since its launch, not counting the players from Game Pass. The game isn't currently available on PlayStation 5, and it's unknown when or if Subnautica 2 will be going cross-platform. The early-access period for Subnautica 2 is expected to last three years.