Fortnite is never without its summer event, but this year's sunny celebration has a special focus: DC Comics. Hot Bat Summer is the official name of the weeks-long event, which runs for five weeks starting on July 16. It includes a new Batman Sprite, the return of the grapnel gun, new Shiny Hours, and lots of free cosmetics. 

Perhaps the highlight, however, is the foursome of new swimsuit skins for the DC Comics lineup. Mirroring Marvel Rivals' penchant for nearly naked superheroes and villains, Fortnite is introducing swimsuit versions of Catwoman, Batman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy, all of whom you can see below. 

They follow a recent trend of Epic being comfortable with putting out skins with more revealing features than it once would. It started when Kim Kardashian's skin was the first to introduce cleavage. Soon after, Homer Simpson became the first Fortnite skin to feature nipples. Just recently, the Chapter 7 Season 3 battle pass included its horniest skin ever.

Well, until today, because I think the new Poison Ivy skin probably has that one beat. This better not awaken anything in me.*

The event also includes tons of quests that will periodically dole out free items, with the highlight being a really cool glider styled like comic-book pages.

During matches, players will also see things like an unvaulted grapnel gun, a Batman Beach Buggy vehicle, and the addition of the Bat Cave being a temporary location you can visit on the island.

On July 18, battle royale will feature Shiny Hours from 2 PM ET to 4 PM ET, as well as 9 PM ET to 11 PM ET. During these blocks, all players will start rounds with a grapnel gun, while self-revive devices, Batman Sprites, and Batman Beach Buggies will spawn more frequently.

Rare Sprites will also appear more often. If you're curious, the Batman Sprite lets you deploy your cape midair, as well as find rare Sprites in chests more often.

Hot Bat Summer runs for the next five weeks, which means it'll disappear with about two weeks left in the season, as the next Fortnite season is expected to start around August 20.

*Just kidding; my wife already knows about my Harley Quinn thing.

Hasbro has announced a multiyear licensing partnership with Nintendo to create products based on The Legend of Zelda franchise. The deal kicks off in 2027, but you won't have to wait that long to see what Hasbro is cooking up.

Hasbro will reveal three six-inch-scale figures at San Diego Comic Con this month. Hasbro has not revealed any images or details about these, however.

The 2027 timing for the deal, and the tie-in with Comic-Con, is leading some to believe that Hasbro's toyline will be focused on the upcoming live-action The Legend of Zelda movie.

Some are hoping to see the first trailer for the film at Comic-Con, but Nintendo has not confirmed any plans yet for that. What Nintendo has shared, however, is that it's partnering with The Rizzler once again for a gaming event at Comic-Con.

Hasbro executive Billy Lagor said, "By combining Nintendo’s iconic storytelling with Hasbro’s leadership in action and role-play, we’re delivering toys that invite fans to play, explore and forge their own epic adventures."

Specific terms of the Hasbro-Nintendo partnership, including financial considerations, were not disclosed.

The live-action The Legend of Zelda movie is a joint production between Sony Pictures and Nintendo. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth plays Link, with Bo Bragason portraying Zelda. Wes Ball (The Maze Runner, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) is directing, and the film shot at the same locations in New Zealand where Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings franchise also filmed.

As for the game series, the next entry in the franchise is a new remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is coming to Switch 2 this year.

While Sony gets ready to kill its disc production of PlayStation games in 2028, there are still plenty of games launching on physical media before disc-ageddon happens. One of those games is Mortal Shell 2, but unless you got your preorder in before its August 20 release, you'll have to wait if you want a specific physical version of the upcoming souls-like for PS5.

Developer Cold Symmetry and publisher Playstack took to X on July 16 to share the unfortunate news. In revealing that the demand for the game's physical PlayStation 5 release "exceeded expectations," the studio confirmed that the supply just couldn't keep up.

"We sincerely apologize if you were planning on preordering the Revered Edition and it is no longer available in your territory," Cold Symmetry wrote. "Due to Mortal Shell II’s release date of August 20, and the manufacturing time required to replenish stock, there is a very low chance of additional physical copies becoming available before the game’s release."

https://twitter.com/MortalShellGame/status/2077713025247613325

"We are working with our distribution partner to review ongoing demand, and we'll update as soon as we hear their decision on next steps," the studio said. "To be clear, there is no guarantee of a stock replenishment plan after launch as this decision is not ours to make."

It's worth mentioning that this supply-and-demand issue is specific to Mortal Shell 2's $70 Revered Edition for PS5, which comes with some extra goodies alongside the game, such as a collector’s tuck-in box, a steelbook case, fine art prints, and a physical artbook. Checking places like Best Buy and GameStop bears this out, too, as this edition is either "coming soon" or outright unavailable. You can still preorder the base game for $50 if you'd prefer a physical copy, but you won't get the aforementioned accoutrements.

Mortal Shell 2 is a standalone sequel to the studio's 2020 outing, Mortal Shell. It's a somewhat novel souls-like in that you outfit your character with "shells" that change your playstyle while providing you with distinct interactions in combat. While the game launches on August 20, there's an open beta (read: demo) you can check out on Steam right now that, should you finish it, unlocks a very bloody Flayed Harbinger skin and the option to skip the prologue when the full game launches.

God of War Laufey was the big highlight of Sony's recent State of Play livestream, as plenty of gameplay was shown off for the first game in the series not to feature Kratos in a lead role. Naturally, the announcement of Kratos' late wife, Faye, as the protagonist didn't sit well with a small part of the internet, and since then, the game has received some oddly placed hate. Most of this has been directed at its star, Deborah Ann Woll, who provides the likeness and voice of Faye in God of War Laufey. Fortunately, the actress has adopted a very sound strategy for dealing with online hate.

"Genuinely, I thought I was going to be much more affected by it. But one, I'm like not on social media so that helps, and two, I don't know, I feel totally unbothered because I just know it's great," Woll said to TikTokker Quinnphobic at Florida SuperCon. "Like, it's okay if it's just not your cup of tea, but in no universe is it bad."

https://www.tiktok.com/@quinnphobic/video/7662451619644181774

Woll has been involved in the development of the game for several years, as developer Sony Santa Monica has been building up to its release for almost a decade. Contrary to what the rage-bait machine on YouTube says, Woll said that the game features story elements that don't have anything to do with gender or sex. "This is a story about a parent. This is a story about regret. This is about being a better person than who you were before," Woll said in a previous interview.

In addition to Faye, God of War Laufey also features The Boys star Jack Quaid as a gelatinous cube character named Phranque, who might be the breakout star of the game. God of War Laufey is coming to PS5, and since it is confirmed to have a physical release, it will likely land sometime in 2027, before Sony stops producing game discs in January 2028.

Everyone knows that Rockstar's GTA 6 is going to be an enormous hit upon launch in November this year, but just how big are we talking? A new report from research firm Newzoo makes several stratospheric predictions, led by an estimation that it could earn between $3.3 billion - $5.2 billion in global sales after just its first week. That is a big band, of course, but even on the low end, that would bigger than GTA 5, which made $1 billion after 72 hours back in 2013.

Newzoo said it's basing this on its proprietary Newzoo Game Performance Monitor. The bullish outlook is based in part on strong preorder numbers, with Newzoo estimating that GTA 6 digital spending came to $180 million in the final week of June in the US and the five largest European markets (England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain).

"To convert that into a global estimate, we can use GTA 5's lifetime console player distribution: around 69% of GTA 5's lifetime console players sit within those six markets," it said. "Applying that ratio bumps the $180 million regional figure to a global estimate of approximately $260 million for the first week."

GTA 6 arrives in November behind massive sales projections.

Newzoo said GTA 6 falls within the definition of a "Proven Sequel," and those kinds of games have stronger sales curves, historical data shows--and it's expected to be no different for GTA 6. A "Proven Sequel" kind of game is a "massively anticipated" entry in an established series, based on a "tried and tested formula," with a dedicated audience who aren't going to wait for reviews or a price drop to buy in, Newzoo said.

The firm estimated that preorder numbers for GTA 6 amount to about 5.8% of cumulative sales during launch week. So if first-week preorder numbers reached $260 million, that implies $4.5 billion in sales by launch week, Newzoo said. This works out to 51 million copies sold at an "assumed" $88 average selling point.

Even if GTA 6 were to fall into Newzoo's "Sequel with Performance Uncertainty" bucket for sales projections, the game would still have an exceptional launch with $3.3 billion in sales volume during its first week and 37 million units sold.

Arguably, the more front-loaded curve is likelier. But whichever you find more persuasive, it doesn t change
the core conclusion: GTA 6 is on pace to outperform forecasts. As a conservative check, the Sequel
with Performance Uncertainty curve books about 3.8% of revenue in week one, versus ~5.8% for the Proven
Sequel curve. If we instead assume GTA 6 front-loads far harder at ~8%, that produces $3.3 billion in
cumulative sales by week one (around 37 million units)… an exceptional result.

Newzoo also pushed back against the unconfirmed reports that GTA 6 drove more than $1 billion in preorder revenue over its first three weeks after preorders opened on June 25. "This is absurd," the company said.

Rockstar owner Take-Two has not announced any preorder sales data for GTA 6, but it's possible the company provides an update in August at its next earnings briefing.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The game is selling for $80 for its standard edition or $100 for a premium edition that also comes with numerous other digital extras, while all preorders include an auto-renewing membership to something you might not want. The game is a digital-exclusive, with no discs available, not even with the physical copies being sold at retailers.

Earlier this week, Twitch streamer and gamer Joshua Khane went viral with a post calling out Microsoft for deleting his account and OneDrive. Khane noted that Microsoft acknowledged that the account had been compromised, but it declined to help him recover "25 f***ing years of data, thousands of Euros [spent] on games" and his "son's baby pictures." Now, after a massive outcry, Xbox Support has changed course and reached out to Khane to help him regain access to his account.

In a message posted on X, a Microsoft representative apologized to Khane and stated that its team has "been working to restore access to your purchases and reached out with the next steps."

https://twitter.com/XBOXSupport/status/2077401588394529030

While Khane acknowledged the reply, other users have come forward to state that they've received the same form statement from Microsoft in the past. And unlike Khane, the company apparently didn't respond to their requests about restoring their accounts.

https://twitter.com/ThatHyperZack/status/2077533019783516214 https://twitter.com/Helpma2/status/2077463287969542652 https://twitter.com/DeadpoolCentral/status/2077441981710565689 https://twitter.com/Obaid_Ghubash/status/2077491908440740286 https://twitter.com/AsmadiGames/status/2077501079319674971

Microsoft was already suffering a public relations beating this month after another round of mass layoffs in the gaming division that affected 1,600 workers, with more to follow. The planned cuts will affect roughly 20% of Microsoft's Xbox workforce. Two of Microsoft's studios, Double Fine and Compulsion Games, are going independent as a result of the cutbacks. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are being sold to new buyers, while the fate of Arkane remains up in the air.

Senator Bernie Sanders slammed Microsoft for the layoffs in the wake of the company posting $100 billion in profit in 2025. He also called the company out for its plans to hike the price of Xbox consoles again later this summer.

Id Software was hard hit by the Xbox "reset" this month that saw scores of developers laid off--with more retrenchments on the way--and there's a big fear that the Doom developer could be reduced to a smaller role within the gaming division. Fans of the studio are also concerned with the future of idTech, id Software's proprietary engine that has powered its games through multiple gaming generations, with it possibly being binned in favor of Unreal Engine 5.

Officially, Microsoft's company line is that everything is just fine at id Software even after it lost 136 employees--around half the studio--while the developer also posted a statement online where it said that it has all the staff it needs to continue building games and working on id Tech. These statements have been cast into doubt by a new report, where one of the affected id Software employees has spoken out.

"They've just gotten rid of all the people who could ever fix or change [id Tech], so it's most likely going to end up in the trash can. That's where I just come back to: It completely feels like success is detached from your ability to keep a job, and I think that's basically provable," the anonymous former staffer said to The Game Developer. They added that five members of the VFX team were among the layoffs, leading to an "immense" loss of institutional knowledge.

So what's going on here? It's not hard to imagine that Microsoft is looking to do some damage control after sacking 1,600 people this month, and has roped in id Software to help strengthen that message. With another 1,600 layoffs on the horizon, the remaining developers likely don't want to rock the boat in case they're put at risk of losing their jobs. The anonymous source can cut loose with their statements, and the real proof will be seen when--and if--id Software announces a new game. 

If id Tech is on the chopping block, then that will be a major blow for gaming. The engine is known for being hyper-focused on creating fast-paced first-person shooter experiences, allowing it to be optimized for a specific purpose, render high-level graphics, and run games at a blisteringly fast framerate on a variety of platforms.

While Unreal Engine 5 is no slouch, the industry's continuing reliance on it also carries certain risks. CD Projekt Red has ditched its proprietary Red Engine for Unreal 5 to continue work on The Witcher 4, and the next Halo project is also being developed in it, but some of its technical limitations include hidden performance drains, demanding features that require the latest--and very expensive--hardware, and poor optimization.

Other concerns include games adopting a more homogenized design that some have dubbed "the Unreal look," and there's also a concern that the rapid adoption of Unreal Engine 5 could lead to the loss of in-house artistry. The other big concern is that Epic Games could be creating a monopoly. While its current licensing deals are fairly generous, there's no guarantee that the company won't change things in the future, which could leave many game studios in the lurch with no viable backup plan.

Another year, another Call of Duty, with this year's entry featuring Infinity Ward as the lead developer. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will once again be available across a wide variety of platforms, and Sony has dropped a few details about how the Microsoft-owned game will probably look best on its expensive PS5 Pro console.

In a new look at the game, Sony briefly confirmed that Modern Warfare 4 will benefit visually from the recently upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), and the game will support "increased graphics quality" from 120Hz and 60Hz, as well as an  unlocked framerate when VRR and 120Hz are enabled together. Both the PS5 Pro and the base PS5 will run the game at 4K, but Sony didn't mention if the games will be upscaled from a lower resolution, as is the case with most new releases on the consoles.

While it looks like the PS5 Pro may offer the best visual experience for this year's Call of Duty, that graphical bump isn't cheap. After Sony hiked console prices earlier this year, the PS5 Pro MSRP rose to $900, making it the most expensive home console of the current generation. While the hardware has become a lot more expensive, recent months have seen more games take advantage of the PS5 Pro and PSSR 2.0 to give their games a graphical bump. Cyberpunk 2077, Alan Wake 2, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are some of the notable examples, and Ubisoft also outlined the extra features that players could expect if they play Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced on the console.

Ahead of its launch on October 23, Activision also showed off Modern Warfare 4's ambitious new Kill Block map, which looks like someone kit-bashed together several popular Call of Duty maps to create a unique arena. With only a few months left to go before it arrives, more details on Modern Warfare 4 will be revealed at the Fanatics Fest this weekend. Infinity Ward studio head Mark Grigsby and Activision marketing executive Tyler Bahl will join a panel on the game alongside Obsession star Inde Navarrette and NBA player Kevin Durant.