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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

https://youtu.be/XpPpqZwUwl0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GTA 6: 268 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Austin Abrams as Bryan in the Resident Evil movie.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Battlefield 6 Ultimate Shortcut Kit:

Assault Shortcut Kit:

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

Support Shortcut Kit:

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

Engineer Shortcut Kit:

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

Recon Shortcut Kit:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2010's Red Dead Redemption.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It looks like another new Xbox feature is in development, and this time, it's designed to encourage users to go on a hot streak--of using their console, not disrupting a sports event with a quick birthday-suit-run.

Spotted by Game File's Stephen Totilo, a new number appears to be popping up on the dashboard of Xbox users who are signed up for the Xbox Insider program, suggesting that a streak counter is in development. Microsoft hasn't formally announced this feature yet, and it looks like it kicks in after using your Xbox for three days in a row per week. It's an idea that Microsoft has experimented with in the past through Game Pass and the Xbox mobile app, but never to this extent with a prominent display of how many days in a row you've dedicated to playing Xbox games.

Is there any benefit to Streaks for Xbox users? Totilo's research suggests that it could be tied to Xbox reward points, which can be redeemed for digital items and Xbox gift cards. On Microsoft's side, this could also be a subtle way to keep users engaged more consistently, since the lure of a score streak is powerful. Just look at Wordle, with its subtle emphasis on keeping your streak going, or mobile free-to-play games that offer daily login rewards to tempt you to sign in regularly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRAhlxrLnAo&pp=0gcJCT8MAYcqIYzv

That could be good, bad, or irritating depending on how it is implemented, as Xbox users could find themselves regularly pinged on their progress while they're in the middle of a game. Your tolerance mileage might vary when it comes to these notifications, so hopefully there's an opt-out option if Streaks roll out. But as Totilo noted, just because Xbox is testing this new streak function doesn't mean it'll be implemented across the Xbox ecosystem in the future. The fine print for Xbox Insiders mentions that these features may not become "permanent additions" to Xbox.

One new addition to Xbox that has been confirmed are Mythic Achievements, which are designed to be proof of your accomplishments in a given video game. Similar to PlayStation Platinum Trophies, a Mythic Achievement is earned whenever all of the original achievements for a game have been earned.

The November launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 will leave PC gamers sitting out in the cold, but the wait for the yet-to-be-announced PC port might be surprisingly short this time. According to a new report, GTA 6 will launch on PC "within the first three months" of 2027.

Speaking to GamesBeat, industry sources claim that Rockstar Games plans to launch the game just a few months after its console release. If the reports are accurate, this would mark a major departure for Rockstar Games, as previous PC ports arrived long after their original console releases. GTA 5, for example, landed on PC 18 months after its PS3 and Xbox 360 release, while the PC version of Red Dead Redemption appeared 11 months after its PS4 and Xbox One release.

Take-Two Interactive boss Strauss Zelnick previously commented that PC was becoming an important platform for the GTA 6 parent company to focus on, saying sales of the publisher's PC games had increased dramatically over the years. 

https://youtu.be/y2WDkOiC1lg

As for why GTA 6 won't be available on PC at launch, former Rockstar producer John Ricchio theorized that a console-first approach to development would give Rockstar more room to build a PC version later. Since consoles have limited hardware, it's easier for a studio to expand a game to run on more powerful hardware like a PC instead of scaling back to fit console constraints.

Rockstar hasn’t officially said anything about GTA 6 on PC yet, and the game officially lists only PS5 and Xbox Series X|S as its platforms. Xbox also recently clarified that GTA 6 will not be streamed to PC through Xbox Cloud Gaming, despite initial reports that Microsoft had secured exclusive streaming rights.

GTA 6: 268 Screenshots To Ease The Wait View Images

Take-Two has announced the details for its next earnings briefing, and as you might expect, GTA 6 fans are circling the date on their calendars.

The next Take-Two quarterly earnings report will be released on Monday, November 9, with management holding a call at 1:30 PM PT / 4:30 PM ET that day to discuss the results and answer questions. Anyone can listen to the call online.

The report is being released 10 days before GTA 6 launches on November 19, so it's expected that analysts and investors will ask questions about the upcoming launch. Management, including CEO Strauss Zelnick, will likely have some kind of update or commentary to share.

However, fans should not hold out hope for any big details about the game itself, as those kinds of details historically come by way of developer Rockstar Games.

The next Take-Two earnings report is expected in February 2027, but if GTA 6 is the enormous success that everyone expects it to be, the company will likely share details about the game's commercial impact before then.

For GTA 5, Take-Two announced sales right away, confirming $800 million in revenue after the first 24 hours and $1 billion in revenue after three days.

If Sensor Tower's data is accurate, GTA 6 has already sold more than 6 million copies via pre-purchases, bringing in close to $600 million in revenue. Sensor Tower said the game could reach 25 million preorders by release, meaning the game will have made more than $2 billion before launch.

Take-Two investors are understandably excited about GTA 6's release, but the game stands to make even more money once the next evolution of GTA Online launches. To be sure, Rockstar has not yet announced any details about GTA 6's online component, and GTA 6 has been described as a single-player experience.

That being said, given the gigantic success of GTA Online in terms of popularity among fans and its moneymaking ability, it's a safe bet that Rockstar will bring online functionality to GTA 6 at some point.

Beyond any possible updates about GTA 6, the Take-Two earnings report and following call is expected to include updates on the company's numerous other franchises and studios. After all, the GTA franchise represents a very small part of Take-Two's overall business, accounting for less than 15% of total revenue. That number is for a typical quarter–when GTA 6 launches, it will significantly increase.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The God of War Laufey Collector's Edition has been revealed, but unlike the standard and digital deluxe editions that went up for preorder last month, this is purely a box of merch. Spotted on the UK PlayStation Direct store, the main attraction of this collector's edition is a light-up statue of the game's protagonist, Faye, locked in combat while Phranque the Cube watches on.

The set also includes a deck of 51 oracle cards and a small art book, all housed in collector's edition-packaging. As noted in the image, God of War Laufey is sold separately, and this edition costs £130 if you're purchasing it from across the pond. In the US, this will likely cost around the same in US Dollars given the price parity between PlayStation regions, and you'll need to shell out another $70 for a physical edition to complete it.

Sony has released several collector's editions in the past that bundled a digital download key for a game. A merchandise-only box set isn't uncommon, as just a few weeks ago, Rockstar Games revealed the $400 GTA 6 collector's edition that comes with plenty of stuff.

So what's the thinking behind one of these boxes? These boxes typically target dedicated, high-spending superfans who can afford to shell out extra for bonus physical content like this, acting as high-margin merchandise. At the same time, publishers can save some cash by not including the game, streamlining their supply chains and lowering production overhead in the process. Essentially, a bigger slice of the pie for companies, while consumers with deep pockets get limited-edition swag to display.

In other God of War news, the next game in the series will see Kratos return to the spotlight, and it'll pick up directly after the end of God of War Laufey. A live-action God of War TV series is also in development for Prime Video, and its new leading man, Dave Bautista, is already working to get shredded for the role after the original Kratos actor, Ryan Hurst, departed due to injury.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has once again discussed the new direction for Microsoft's gaming division and how it'll continue to focus heavily on its biggest franchises, while also calling on its studios to create new IP. According to Sharma, relying solely on established franchises can only take Xbox so far, and without an injection of fresh IP blood, Xbox will not survive.

"We're backing our strongest franchises. I want our great games to become great global billion-dollar franchises," Sharma said in a town hall meeting shared with Windows Central. "I would also like to see us continue to create enduring new IP. We will not survive if we only revive on the past. We have to find new ways, and courage, to have invention on new IP that reaches new sets of audiences."

This year has focused primarily on several of Xbox's biggest franchises, like Forza Horizon, Halo, and Gears of War, ahead of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 later this month. Next year will see the launch of a new Fable and InXile Entertainment's Clockwork Revolution, and Xbox has signed deals with Hideo Kojima to get his next two projects, OD and Physint, over the finish line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teClq4qYyzQ

The irony of this call for more original content is that Xbox has parted ways with several studios known for creating unique games. Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Double Fine all have a legacy of producing weird, story-rich games. While some of them may not have been massive commercial hits, they helped position Xbox as a home for unique experiences.

At the same time, AAA games are taking longer to make and costing more to produce. Blizzard's next big games, like StarCraft and Diablo 5, are several years away, and smaller releases sandwiched between them are a solid way to keep users engaged. Call of Duty is the exception, as Activision invested heavily in a multi-studio system to release a new game every year, creating an annual blockbuster franchise.

But right now, the gaming industry faces several more existential threats beyond the need for new IP to draw in audiences. Established live-service games vacuum up player time--and wallets--regularly, making it harder than ever for new games to break through, while the rampant investment in AI has driven up component costs and have thus made owning a console or gaming PC more expensive than ever before. Recently, we've also seen people use AI to recreate games from scratch and make them playable in web browsers, a feat that was unheard of just a few years ago.

Xbox could be facing an uphill battle, especially with its ambitious goal of entertaining 1 billion people every day.

Haunted Chocolatier looks like it could be the perfect, candy-bar blend of sweet and creepy once it launches--but developer ConcernedApe doesn't know when that might be. So I'd like to consider an alternate option for after-funeral desserts and try the upcoming Steam game Tearoom of Terror, whose developer, Sundew Studios, was just featured during the new Cozy After Dark Showcase.

Sundew studios writer and designer Allie Ast shows off the "cozy gothic murder mystery" Tearoom of Terror in all its Edward Gorey detail during the stream, which was presented by the Dames 4 Games nonprofit.

Like Haunted Chocolatier, which will let you melt, swirl, and sell your own fancy chocolates, Tearoom of Terror involves brewing lovely lavender teas and doling out cheesy scones to strange customers, like a seemingly homicidal heiress and an opera singer of no renown. You'll go through the soothing motions of keeping your own Victorian tea parlor running as finely as white lace… but it won't be as lovely as it looks. 

https://youtu.be/7VJ07UqoUyI?si=9ImYGyEay_hblvLB&t=2876

"You're also the primary suspect in your aunt's murder!" Ast cheerfully reveals. So Tearoom of Terror will also feature moments of deduction like the underrated The Séance of Blake Manor, except you have a stickier relationship with justice than that puzzle game's upright detective. 

"Find the true culprit, or instead of serving scones, you'll be serving time," Ast warns. Desperate times may call for desperate measures--like an excessive lump of poisoned sugar, or a little pinch of worms to keep your "immoral" clientele in line. Ast explains, "Luckily, the officer has a weak constitution." 

I'm already preparing business names for my tearoom that will no doubt fail health inspection standards--Sleepy Marshmallow? The Headless Horseradish? So I'm eager for Tearoom of Terror to launch sometime soon. Its demo is available now on Steam.

My 2012 belonged to Slender Man. I was easily terrified by creepy, early 2010s computer games like Slender: The Eight Pages, but I couldn't resist their special blend of unicorn blood and twee. Recently, I've been missing the pink bittersweetness of the Tim Burton-style horror games made in those years, like Fran Bow and Alice: Madness Returns, so the inaugural Cozy After Dark Showcase has arrived with a new trailer for Hell Is Other People at just the right time. 

The teaser from indie developer Miss Self Destruct describes Hell Is Other People--named for the famous Jean-Paul Sartre quote about being trapped in other people's perceptions of you--as "a psychological horror about social anxiety." 

Its little girl protagonist has onyx eyes and hair that goes nearly down to her fingertips, so she looks a bit overgrown, like she might have washed up on some riverbank. Otherwise, she seems normal, with a thin mattress to curl on top of every night like any other lonely child. But that's not what her mother thinks.

https://youtu.be/7VJ07UqoUyI?si=UM_03yezg2sQ1YA-&t=3530

"See what I have to deal with?" Mother says as our little girl stares politely at a party tray of frosted cupcakes. Hell Is Other People's Steam description explains that you won't collect items in your inventory, but social skills, so the girl responds to her mother's snide comment with Guilt--but it isn't impactful. She becomes paranoid, making lines of dialogue seem to jumble and melt together as the girl explains, "When I feel bad, people become so hard to read."

You'll have to manage these shifting tides of emotion by consulting your notebook for how normal people behave. Initially, I was drawn to the pretty Gothic caricature of Hell Is Other People, black cats with sharp syringe teeth and patterned arsenic wallpaper, but now I'm feeling understood by it as a true social survival game. 

When I myself was a strange girl with long hair that blew around on the swingsets, I was much like the Hell Is Other People protagonist; I was desperate for my parents to understand me, and I couldn't understand why they didn't try. My only solace in those years was Tim Burton's corpse bride and monsters like Slender Man--outcasts. It can be pleasant to give up and call yourself a freak, exist among freaks. So I'm excited for the gloomy nostalgia Hell Is Other People brings me when it's out sometime soon.

The new Street Fighter movie hits theaters in just a few days, and if you're a fan of the Capcom series, you might be tempted to celebrate with some new poster art on your wall. While the official poster for that movie is fine, Mondo's new Street Fighter 2 poster is much better, striking, and it doesn't feature a gallery of floating heads--just one, in fact, being punched off the beefy shoulders of a Shadaloo enforcer. If you're wondering what that piece of fine art looks like, GameSpot can exclusively reveal it for you below. Can you see it? Sure you can!

Designed by artist and painter Gian Galang, this Street Fighter 2 poster captures one of the most iconic moments of the fighting game franchise, highlighting the legendary rivalry between Ryu and Sagat.

The new Street Fighter poster from Mondo Preorder at Mondo

"Street Fighter 2 was the first video game I ever owned, and it reinforced the bond between art and martial arts that I loved as a kid and has defined my career as an adult," Galang said. "I did my best to create an image worthy of the Street Fighter legacy, depicting the Shoryuken between Ryu and Sagat, exploding with lightning, splitting the composition in two."

For this poster, Galang created a unique, multi-layered composition, and Mondo has reprinted it as a nine-color screenprint on high-quality House White paper. The poster will go on sale starting October 16 at 9 AM PT, and it is priced at $90.

While you'd think Ken Masters is Ryu's ultimate rival, a storied history between the globe-trotting fighter and Sagat has been explored over the years in film, manga, and comic books. In the original Street Fighter lore, their first meeting resulted in Sagat receiving his iconic chest scar from Ryu's Shoryuken, which drove the Thai fighter to join Shadaloo so he could get his rematch.

Street Fighter Alpha changed things by showing that Sagat delivered a one-sided beatdown to Ryu, and in a moment of sportsmanship, he reached out to pick the young warrior up. Unfortunately, Ryu's dark side--the Satsui no Hado--manifested at that point, resulting in him launching a Shoryuken uppercut that left Sagat scarred and beaten. The two would eventually cross paths again, with Sagat picking up the victory over Ryu after his brainwashing at the hands of M. Bison, and since then, they've developed a mutual respect for each other.

In more Street Fighter news, the developers behind the popular fighting game series recently remarked that it was on life support 10 years ago, and the Street Fighter movie is out on October 16. Helmed by Bad Trip director Kitao Sakurai, it features a stacked roster of actors, Easter eggs, and a version of Guile's theme music that goes with everything.

Street Fighter Movie Cast Revealed, Including An Unexpected Eric Andre Role View Images

Unlike Sony, which has decided to move toward a digital-only game marketplace starting in 2028, Nintendo is sticking to an "agnostic" approach for the Switch 2 console. In a new interview, Nintendo's VP and general manager for Latin America, Bill van Zyll, said the company will still offer both physical and digital versions of games to meet consumer demand.

"Historically, we’ve been very agnostic," van Zyll said to YouTuber Coelho no Japão. "We go off what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily. We also have a platform that was just launched. We're barely just over a year into NS2 (Nintendo Switch 2), and it's got both digital and also physical--that capability. There are no plans to ditch physical. We know how much the fans like it as well, so our position has been to be agnostic."

https://youtu.be/BaLVcqavw74?t=715

Like its predecessor, the Switch 2 lets you run games by using either foul-tasting physical cartridges or downloads from the Nintendo eShop onto the console. One big difference in this generation is the introduction of Game-Key Cards as a low-cost solution for developers, which act as authentication keys for games.

These will require you to both insert the cart and download the game to the Switch 2, but since the cartridges aren't tied to your account, you can still sell them off at a later date if you choose to. Some Switch 2 games--like first-party Nintendo games and the upcoming Stellar Blade: Complete Edition--do contain the full game on the cartridge.

While not everyone is a fan of Nintendo's Game-Key Cards, the middleground between digital and physical games is still more well-received than Sony's push for an all-digital future. The company is still cautiously pushing ahead with its plans, but as critics have argued, there are several big risks attached to this drive to transition away from physical media.

Bandai Namco has dropped a new trailer for Tekken 8, and while this one is mostly focused on everyone's favorite Kangaroo, Roger, it also included a brief tease of one of the most ridiculous characters in anime: Yujiro Hanma. The sneak peek at the Gigachad of fighting anime is quick, but it does show off the character's infamously toothy grin and morning-splits flexibility that would make Jean-Claude Van Damme jealous.

While there's no release date yet for when Hanma will be added to the game, the trailer still lists him for the winter season, and Bandai Namco says he'll get his own Tekken 8 trailer at the Tekken World Tour Finals on January 17, 2017. That suggests Hanma will be added to the game soon after, if previous Tekken 8 trailers are any indication.

https://youtu.be/fehoyeYVOtE

If you're unfamiliar with the source material, Hanma is essentially the apex predator of strength within the Baki universe. While most characters in the manga are somewhat limited by the rules of physics, Hanma is an anomaly: an undefeatable collection of muscles that can do the impossible. Why? Because he's Yujiro Hanma.

While his son, Baki, is the protagonist of the manga and anime, Hanma is arguably the breakout star thanks to the sheer absurdity of his feats. US presidents have to regularly swear their loyalty to him, he once stopped an earthquake by punching it, and even being struck by lightning doesn't bother him. Because he's Yujiro Hanma.

If there's one thing his Tekken 8 character model accurately captures, it's the ridiculous amount of muscle mass he has. Tekken 8 was built in Unreal Engine 5 and designed to showcase hyper-realistic human anatomy in real time. To pull this off, the developers doubled the digital bone structure from Tekken 7 to 8 for each character and implemented a system that automatically triggers auxiliary bones to drive realistic muscle bulging, twisting, and tightening based on character positioning and movement.

On top of that, dynamic muscle striations, bulging veins, and sweat effects are also baked into each character, while a special dual-mesh system prevents clothing clipping. All of this is a lot of fancy tech for a split-second glimpse of muscles bulging before they land a knockout blow, but it feels custom-made to show off Hanma's physics-defying physique.

Since launch, Tekken 8 has expanded its roster with several new and familiar characters, including a reborn Heihachi Mishima, Anna, and Final Fantasy 16's Clive Rosfield. It hasn't been smooth sailing recently, as several controversial balance updates, gameplay systems that stripped away defensive options, and aggressive monetization choices have led to community backlash.

Longtime Tekken development chief Katsuhiro Harada also left Bandai Namco late last year, and he has since set up a new studio at SNK.