Ubisoft has confirmed that Clint Hocking, a Ubisoft veteran who was most recently the creative director on Assassin's Creed Codename Hexe, has left the company.

A spokesperson for Ubisoft told VGC that the company sincerely thanks Hocking for his "vision, creative contributions, and dedication over the years."

"We wish him the very best in his next chapter," Ubisoft added.

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PlayStation has revealed this month's batch of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers. All PS Plus members will be able to claim four freebies starting March 3--Slime Rancher 2, Monster Hunter Rise, PGA Tour 2K25, and The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road Collection. If you haven't claimed February's PlayStation Plus free games yet, make sure to do so before next Tuesday.

Slime Rancher 2 expands on the gooey original game as it continues the adventures of protagonist Beatrix LeBeau on her journey to Rainbow Island. A land full of ancient technologies, secrets, and jiggling slimes to capture, players will get to build, ranch, and farm while exploring this new environment.

Monster Hunter Rise is considered to be one of the best entries in the series for both veterans and newcomers, thanks to its mix of new gameplay features, original monsters, and a story inspired by ancient Japanese folklore. You can play solo or in four-player co-op parties as you hunt down dangerous beasts, crafting new gear from their remains so that you can track deadlier creatures of legend.

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Former Xbox executive Ed Fries has clarified his criticisms of Xbox Game Pass, saying he was worried that the service could become something akin to Spotify and dominate the gaming landscape. That has not happened, though, and deals with developers have tapered off of late, he said in a new interview.

"I've been an outspoken critic of Game Pass, but mostly I was worried about Game Pass growing into something like Spotify, and it doesn't seem like that's happening," he told GamesBeat.

Fries said he had concerns that Xbox Game Pass, if it became the dominant way to consume games, could negatively affect "the whole business" of games. However, it has not played out that way.

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Bungie's new extraction shooter, Marathon, is almost ready for launch but the Destiny 2 developer has one final open-beta-style server slam to host. Starting on February 26 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET and finishing on March 2 at the same time, the Marathon server slam is an opportunity for players to get their hands on the game ahead of launch. It'll also allow Bungie to test its infrastructure before the full Marathon release date lands.

While Bungie has warned that there will "likely" be login queues, server down time, disconnections, error codes, and bugs, it's also said that the team will be on standby to address any issues that crop up. It's important to note that there will only be two of Tau Ceti's zones available during the server slam--Perimeter and Dire Marsh--and players can try out five of the six available Runner shells. When the full game releases there will be more zones, factions, contracts, gear, a ranked mode, and, Bungie says, "some secrets you'll have to experience yourself."

However, if you're wondering what the benefits are of playing Marathon during the server slam--other than getting to play the game before it's officially released--Bungie has made some rewards available for players, including console-specific exclusives. There are also Twitch Drops available for those that can't get into the action this weekend, but still want some goodies.

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The leadership at Xbox was shaken up last week, as Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox president Sarah Bond have both left the company. Taking over the Xbox brand are new Xbox president Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty, and the duo has already outlined their plans for the future of Xbox--teasing new hardware announcements and a return to the "roots" of Xbox. At the same time, Sharma has addressed the shoes she'll be filling, as she thanked Spencer for leading Xbox for over a decade.

"Today Matt and I had the chance to recognize Phil Spencer," Sharma wrote in a social media post. "Over the past couple of months, we've talked nearly every day about everything from hardware and strategy to creators and culture--and plenty about our kids and dogs, too. Those conversations gave me a front row seat to what so many of you have known for decades. Phil is a remarkable leader, but even more than that, he's a deeply remarkable human being. When he took over Xbox in 2014, it was a pivotal moment. He pushed for backward compatibility because players asked for it. He helped bring Xbox One X to life. He created Game Pass."

"And through it all, he re-centered our decisions around players and creators. A lot of careers get summed up by milestones. Phil's impact shows up in stories. In the creators who felt safe taking risks, in the teams who did the best work of their lives because someone believed in them, and in players across generations who felt like Xbox was theirs. I'll always remember this day. I'm proud to be part of Team Xbox. Now our journey begins."

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The open-world driving game from Maverick Games that was announced in 2024 will now move ahead without Amazon. The Game Business confirmed that Amazon is not going to publish the game, while its developers say everything is fine and the game will be revealed this year.

Maverick's founder and creative director Mike Brown said please do not send him and his team condolences about the news of Amazon dropping out. "We are as good as ever and are getting ready to share the game with you later this year," he wrote.

Brown was formerly the creative director for the Forza Horizon series. He started Maverick alongside Harinder Sangha, the former Sega Hardlight and Sumo Leamington boss.

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The next chapter in the Silent Hill franchise, Silent Hill: Townfall, has been formally revealed by Konami following its initial announcement in 2022. This will make it the third Silent Hill game in three years following a 12-year gap between mainline titles.

Bloober Team’s Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f both played a major role in revitalizing the once dormant series. However, Silent Hill: Townfall has the potential to push the franchise even further by shaking up some of its conventions and control options. Judging from the early preview, the biggest change is the game’s shift from a third-person perspective to a first-person view throughout.

The survival-horror genre has greatly evolved since the original Silent Hill debuted on PlayStation in 1999. While Townfall will have some action, it appears that Konami is more focused on the horror and psychological aspects of the game rather than making an attempt to emulate Resident Evil’s action-oriented gameplay.

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Excitement for a Switch 2 update to Xenoblade Chronicles X quickly turned into disappointment for some who purchased the upgrade, with a few vocal fans online sharing that they've requested refunds from Nintendo.

Players have expressed dismay over the image quality of the upgrade, which costs $5 for anyone who already owns the Switch 1 version of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. Observers pointed out "distracting flickering" and shimmering, with distorted environmental textures that almost resemble a watercolor painting.

Digital Foundry expressed bewilderment by the state of the upgrade, with editor John Linneman saying studio Monolith Soft made "very strange decisions" and questioning what upscaling techniques the developers used that led to the upgrade's "smeary" appearance. Linneman goes on to call the new version of Xenoblade Chronicles X "probably the worst Switch 2 Edition yet."

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A new browser extension will make it much easier for you to spot games with AI-generated content in them on Steam.

As spotted by Kotaku, the "AI Warning For Steam" extension was released by seeeeew on both Firefox and Google Chrome. You can see the extension in action below on the Arc Raiders Steam page. Once you install this browser extension, it will make the AI-generated content disclosure warning a pop-up on the Steam page the moment it loads.

AI Warning For Steam

While it won't reveal that a game uses AI if the developers don't disclose it on the Steam page, it's still a useful extension. It offers a more immediate way to alert you if a game you're interested in uses AI, rather than having to dig for it on the store page. The Steam store page is even blurred behind the modal pop-up, so you don't even have to see the Steam page in question.

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The Da Vinci Code: 20th-Anniversary Edition (4K Blu-ray)

$40 | Releases May 19

Preorder at Amazon

Nothing beats a good globe-trotting mystery, and 20 years ago, the always-reliable Tom Hanks was in top form for the live-action adaptation of The Da Vinci Code. With the film celebrating its platinum anniversary this year, preorders have gone live for a new limited-edition steelbook version of The Da Vinci Code, and you can preorder it now for $40 through Amazon. Out on May 19, this anniversary edition of the movie is a three-disc set that includes hours of behind-the-scenes special features.

The Da Vinci Code: 20th-Anniversary Edition

$40 | Releases May 19

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Nacon is filing for insolvency after a failed repayment by its majority shareholder. Despite that, another Nacon Connect showcase promoting its upcoming games is still slated for March.

This insolvency filing was made public on Wednesday morning, with a message to investors explaining that majority shareholder Bigben Interactive "was unable to make the partial repayment of its bond loan to its bondholders" because of "an unexpected and late refusal by its banking pool."

Essentially, Bigben Interactive does not have the funds it needs, so Nacon is filing for insolvency and assessing actions to "ensure the sustainability of the company's activity under the best possible conditions" for employees.

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When the semi-rebooted Overwatch kicked off with a new season this month, the flying feline support hero Jetpack Cat was met with love from fans and bans from players in Ranked Mode. Developer Blizzard Entertainment deployed a patch this week, making adjustments to several characters, including Jetpack Cat nerfs that result in two of her perks having less bite.

Patch notes from Blizzard show that Jetpack Cat's minor perk Claws Out--which grants her a quick melee attack that damages and slows enemies over time--now has a longer cooldown, increasing from six to eight seconds.

The bigger nerf is directed toward the major perk Territorial, which gives her Purr healing ability the trait of damaging nearby enemies--that damage has been reduced from 50% to 33%.

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Stardust (4K Blu-ray)

$32.49 | Releases April 28

Preorder at Amazon

Stardust (4K steelbook edition)

$35.65

See at Best Buy

Fairy tale movies aren't seen often in Hollywood, but when one does roll around, it's usually a charming flick full of adventure, romance, and magic. Stardust is a great example, and if you missed out on the movie when it first hit theaters in 2007, you can grab the new 4K Blu-ray version for $32.49 ahead of its release on April 28, or if you want something fancier, Best Buy still has the 2024 4K steelbook edition in stock for $35.65.

Stardust (4K Blu-ray) | $32.49, Releases April 28 Preorder at Amazon

This new edition of Stardust also includes the film and its special features on a standard Blu-ray disc, as well as a digital streaming code for the movie. The cover and protective slipcase keep things simple by reusing the Stardust theatrical poster, and for special features, this release has inherited all the bonus materials from the previous Blu-ray release. That's a fair amount of extra content, like an informative audio commentary track with director Matthew Vaughn and writer Jane Goldman, a five-part documentary detailing the making of Stardust, and several behind-the-scenes featurettes.

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The Xbox Series X|S generation has been an expensive console cycle lately, as the price of hardware and Game Pass subscriptions has increased in recent years. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has teased that news on the next generation of Xbox is "coming up" and that Microsoft also wants to protect the investment that its playerbase has in the Xbox ecosystem.

"Xbox players have thousands of dollars invested, in money and time too--it's incredibly important for me to understand that and protect that," Sharma said to Windows Central. "I am committed to 'returning to Xbox,' and that starts with console, that starts with hardware. You will hear more about that soon; we'll have some announcements coming up. You will see us collectively investing here."

Sharma added that Microsoft is aware that many of its players don't use PC or consoles to play Xbox games--Microsoft has invested heavily in cloud gaming over the years--and the company still wants to cater to them. "I need to learn more about what that can look like, what decisions were made, what we need to do going forward, and I want a little bit of time and space to do that," Sharma added.

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Video game exclusives have been a big draw for years now, but it's a strategy that Microsoft appears to have abandoned over recent years. Microsoft has released more titles from its first-party studios across multiple platforms, like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch consoles, and several upcoming games are also set to launch for these systems in the future. But could Microsoft ever return to having exclusive games? New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma isn't ruling out a return to the old console ways, depending on the situation at hand.

"Right now, I need to learn, candidly. About the 'why' of these decisions, what we were optimizing for, and what the data says about the Xbox strategy today," Sharma said to Windows Central. "That's the honest answer. I'm looking at lifetime value, not just what happened in a previous moment, or in short-term efficiencies and things like that. The plan's the plan until it's not the plan."

It's worth noting that Microsoft has experienced great success by bringing several of its games to PlayStation, as several of them dominated the sales charts in 2025. The only inconsistent thing with this strategy is the release dates, as some games launch the same day for multiple systems while others arrive months later after spending several months as timed exclusives on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Prime examples here include Fable and Forza Horizon 6, two new titles from Playground Games. Forza Horizon 6 is releasing on PS5 after the Xbox launch, while Fable will be on both platforms day-and-date.

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Less than a week ago, leadership shakeup at Xbox saw Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer retire and Xbox President Sarah Bond step down. In Spencer's place, Asha Sharma--the former boss of Microsoft's CoreAI division--will now lead Microsoft Gaming. However, Sharma and the newly promoted Xbox CCO Matt Booty want to assure fans that the former's background doesn't mean that Microsoft is pushing for more AI in games.

"We've got no pressure from Microsoft, there are no directives on AI coming down," Booty told Windows Central. "Our teams are free to use any technologies that might be beneficial, whether it's helping write code or check for bugs--things more in the production pipeline. At the end of the day, as Asha said, we're committed to art made by people. Technology is only in support of that"

Booty added that Xbox's goal is for AI to be additive and supportive and compared its impact to the way Photoshop became a widely used tool.

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Rumors are swirling about a new Witcher 3 DLC that is anticipated to release this year, bridging the gap between Witcher 3 and 4. While initial reports speculated that the DLC might take players to the far eastern destination of Zerrikania, new reports claim the DLC will mostly be reusing locations and assets, staying closer to the familiar territories of Temeria and Redania.

While nothing about the potential expansion has been officially confirmed by CD Projekt Red, insider reports are now suggesting the DLC is largely intended to bridge the gap between Witcher 3 and the upcoming Witcher 4. With Witcher 3 being set around Temeria, Redania, and Skellige, and Witcher 4 taking place at least partially in the far northern kingdom of Kovir and Poviss, it makes sense for the DLC to remain somewhere in the northern states.

A post from CharlieIntel reports that the DLC will be "expanding on already existing areas and reusing assets," while Polish insider UV o grach made some similar comments on a livestream, referring to reusing assets and filling in blanks on a map.

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Game Pass has reportedly given Star Wars Outlaws' player numbers a major boost since it was added on January 13, introducing nearly 600,000 new players to the game. While Ubisoft's Star Wars game has suffered from slow sales since it launched in 2024, it has proved the most popular of January's major Game Pass additions.

According to statistics cited by Alinea Analytics, Star Wars Outlaws was checked out by around 100,000 Game Pass subscribers on the day it was added to the service. Around 595,000 total new players have accessed the game through Game Pass since it launched there, narrowly beating out Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II to be the most popular of January's new games.

While Outlaws was mostly well-received by critics, the game suffered from some technical and mechanical issues at launch, and has not sold as well as Ubisoft expected--something that the studio has blamed on a general decline in sentiment towards the Star Wars brand.

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As if Arc Raiders players didn't have enough to worry about in the game, there are apparent UFOs in the game now. A handful of Arc Raiders players have reported seeing the silhouette of a large ship in the clouds, but so far, only a Reddit user called Bewarden captured the incident in a video.

The ship appears to be massive, but there's no indication yet it's confirmation of aliens in this world. It's not nothing, but we can't say for certain what it is until developer Embark Studios lets players have a closer look.

This glimpse of the unknown occurred after the newly released Shrouded Sky update. That brought new enemies hurricanes into the game. There's also a limited-time event called the Weather Monitoring System project, which is currently running through March 31. GameSpot has already run through the steps and rewards in that event, and it didn't say anything about our new friends in the sky.

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In a new statement, Discord CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy clarifies that 90% of global users will be able to continue to use Discord as they always have. The Discord users who will need to authenticate their age are those who both access age-restricted content and whom Discord's internal system cannot verify as adults. The statement also announces that the global age verification on the platform has been delayed from March to sometime in the second half of 2026.

This is not the first time Discord has attempted to change the narrative. Discord posted a statement on X earlier in February clarifying that most Discord users will not have to verify their age.

Users have raised concerns about third-party contractors which Discord might use to verify age. A hack attacking service provider 5CA in October 2025 leaked thousands of UK IDs. Additionally, Discord's partnership with verification service Persona drew criticism, due to Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel's backing. The statement attempts to assuage some of these concerns, saying that every third-party vendor must undergo a security and privacy review before Discord will partner with them.

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