Asha Sharma was a name the gaming industry was unfamiliar with a week ago, but now, she's in charge of Xbox. This has led to questions about Sharma's background in AI and whether she uses AI on social media. In fact, even Xbox founder Seamus Blackley has concerns and advice for the new Xbox CEO. But there's one thing we do know: Sharma has a black belt in taekwando.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Sharma in late 2023 about her "ridiculously busy week" as COO of Instacart at that time. Sharma conveys a workaholic personality, but she also "has a second-degree black belt in taekwondo," starting the martial art as a kid. In addition, Sharma said at the time she began boxing "after five years of dabbling." Needless to say, it's likely she can kick a lot of our butts.

When not working or exercising, Sharma shared that she enjoyed "playing board and card games and watching sports" with her family and friends. Though "most important, I identify as a partner and as a mom," she said.

The Zombies game mode in the Call of Duty series has become a phenomenon of its own since it first shambled into the franchise in 2008, practically begging for its own standalone game. After a report claimed that a separate Call of Duty Zombies title is in the works, Activision issued a rare public denial on social media.

Dexerto reported on a purported leak by X user TheGhostOfHope, who is described as a "Call of Duty Leaker/Insider" in their bio. The leaker claimed that a potential delay for the next-generation Xbox console would throw off marketing plans for the next Call of Duty game, ostensibly a fourth Modern Warfare title. According to the leak, this led to the idea of two Call of Duty titles launching with the new Xbox, one being a standalone Zombies game.

Replying to a Dexerto X post sharing the outlet's report, the official Call of Duty account bluntly stated: "The rumor factory working overtime. This ain't it."

Asha Sharma, the new Microsoft Gaming CEO, has commented again on her vision for the Xbox brand going forward. Posting on social media, Sharma also reacted to what people have had to say about her gamer cred.

Sharma recently shared her Gamertag online, and people had a lot of things to say about that. She clarified that the account was created somewhat recently so she could "learn and understand" the world of gaming. "I don't pretend to be the best gamer and even though I'm playing, that's still not my goal," she said.

Instead, Sharma said she is focusing on making "Xbox the best place to play," with a promise of helping Xbox to "return to our roots." She added that she wants to "ship great things and become stronger for the future." She also pushed back yet again on the claim that AI is writing her posts. "Yes, I'm writing my own posts," she wrote.

Daniel Vavra, an industry veteran known for the Mafia and Kingdom Come franchises, has announced he is changing roles at his company, Warhorse Studios, and will now focus on helping to make a Kingdom Come film.

Following Czech media reports, Vavra himself confirmed that the news is true. He jokingly added that the "gaming world is finally saved from my controversies." That is likely a reference to Vavra's comments in the past about GamerGate and "historical accuracy" in video games with respect to depictions of diversity. More recently, Vavra spoke enthusiastically about generative AI, which led to further controversy.

Warhorse CEO Martin Frývaldský told CzechCrunch that Vavra "made three games that were a global success; he has been wanting to try something different for a long time."

Resident Evil Requiem's PC system requirements have been revealed ahead of the game's release on February 27. It's good news for anyone gaming on an older rig, as the survival horror's recommended specs are relatively low-end--meaning no expensive upgrades in an era of ballooning hardware prices.

In what seems to be an ongoing trend for AAA titles on PC, both Resident Evil Requiem's minimum and recommended specs should be pretty easy for most PC gamers to meet.

Looking at the graphics card, generally the most demanding part of a PC build, Requiem's minimum specs list the GeForce GTX 1660 or Radeon RX 5500 XT, both lower-end cards that launched over six years ago. The recommended specs list the GeForce RTX 2060 Super, another 2019 card, or the Radeon RX 6600. Even if your PC hasn't been upgraded in a while, buying an older graphics card to meet these specs won't require a huge investment.

The issue of AI in game development remains thorny, but Alistair McFarlane--the COO and company director of Rust developer Facepunch--doesn't see it as a detriment to in the industry. Instead, he embraces it as "another tool" that's "for the better, not the worse."

"[AI is] powerful, it's efficient, and at the end of the day, it's just another tool, one that helps people move faster and focus on the creative stuff," McFarlane told Sky News. "Sure, it's disruptive, no question about that. Every major shift in tech is. But used properly, AI doesn't replace creativity, it amplifies it. It removes busywork, speeds up iteration, and gives teams more space to experiment."

Last year, the 2025 CESA Video Game Industry Report shared the results of a survey that revealed over 50% of Japanese video game developers use AI in some way. Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has said that the company won't rush into AI, while Sony's approach to AI emphasizes it as a support tool rather than an attempt to replace human creativity.

What better way to fight off that Valentine’s Day hangover than with a bunch of new games on Steam? Fanatical’s Platinum Collection Bundle for February includes 18 games to choose from--the more you add to your bundle, the deeper your discount gets. Add all 18, and you're picking up $376 of games for just $51. This month’s selection even includes 12 games that are making their Fanatical debut.

One of the titles included is a dark fantasy RPG, Pale Coins. Blending old-school combat with an atmospheric and moody setting, in Pale Coins, you’ll crawl dungeons, gather loot, craft gear, experiment with different builds, and die. A lot. The punishing but deliberate combat--a familiar vibe for anyone who’s spent more than a few hours in Dark Souls or Elden Ring--doesn’t hold your hand, and that’s one of its strengths. If you’re a glutton for punishment, this one’s well worth checking out.

It seems like more and more live-service games are dying or being put on life support within mere months of launch. The latest casualty is Amazon Game Studios and developer Glowmade's online multiplayer dungeon-crawler/party game King of Meat.

While King of Meat launched on October 7 of last year on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 in a massive marketing blitz--including prominent showcases by well-known streamers and YouTubers like Mr. Beast--the game found itself struggling to maintain a strong playerbase. Records on SteamDB show King of Meat struggling to hold a low double-digit player count over the past month. Today, an announcement was posted on the game's official website stating that the game's servers will be shut down on April 9, with refunds for purchases being given to all players.

"Despite the creativity and innovation Glowmade brought to King of Meat, the game has unfortunately not found the audience we hoped for," says the post. "As a result, we have made the difficult decision to conclude our investment in the game, and King of Meat's servers will close on April 9, 2026. Players will be able to access and play all existing content until then, so we encourage you to enjoy your remaining time in the game with your fellow Contenders." The statement further goes on to clarify that refunds for the game will be coming from players' "platform provider" (digital storefront of purchase).

Diablo isn't a franchise known for frequent new releases, with only five games in 30 years, but that could change in the future.

In an interview with Variety, Diablo 4 executive producer and VP Gavian Whishaw teased Blizzard is looking to release more than five Diablo games in the next 30 years. While Whishaw dodged a question about whether a new entry in the series could be announced at BlizzCon 2026 in September, he did talk about Blizzard's long-term plan for the franchise.

"It's kind of complicated when you're talking about titles that have been around for 20 years and people are still dedicated to and still playing and still going to get excited about new content," Whishaw said. "I'll say at a high level, I think over 30 years of Diablo, we've done five titles. So I would hope that over the next 30 years we do a few more than that, maybe we get some out faster."