The next Battlefield game doesn't even have an official name yet, but fans are already hands-on with an early build thanks to the new Battlefield Labs playtest program. That program has proved a headache for devs, with participants leaking footage in spite of NDAs, and starting rumors about the use of skill-based matchmaking (SBMM).

A rumor that Battlefield 6 would use SBMM, which likely originated from the playtest, has spread through the Battlefield community, with fans up in arms about its potential inclusion. Battlefield's lead producer David Sirland attempted to clarify the use of SBMM with playtesters, in a post that was later shared to Reddit.

"Just for clarity--saying SBMM is bad is not really useful. What you really want to say is 'Heavy SBMM where skill separation is a priority is bad,'" Sirland said in the post. "But that doesn't make skill as a factor in matchmaking bad wholesale, on the contrary we need a skill value to make balanced teams--no matter the ranges of skills total on a server. It wouldn't be fun if all high skill players ended up on the same team, would it?"

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has reacted to the Switch 2 announcement, saying the company wants to support the console and that Nintendo's announcement of the system doesn't make Microsoft nervous about its own next-gen plans.

Speaking to Variety, Spencer said Microsoft has already supported the original Switch through titles like Minecraft, Pentiment, and Grounded. And looking ahead, Spencer said, "I want to support Switch 2."

"Nintendo has been a great partner. We think it is a unique way for us to reach players who aren't PC players, who aren't players on Xbox. It lets us continue to grow our community of people that care about the franchises that we have, and that's really important for us to make sure we continue to invest in our games," he said.

Best Buy is running a site-wide Spring Sale until April 20, offering major discounts on everything from video games, TVs, and computers to Apple devices, cameras, audio gear, and more. We've dug through the sale to round up a list of our favorite video game deals from the sale, but you'll also want to check out Best Buy's full Spring Sale page to see even more discounts in other categories.

• Gaming Deals
• Apple Device Deals
• Laptop & Computer Deals
• TV & Projector Deals
• Smartphone Deals
• Tablet & Mobile Device Deals
• Headphone Deals
• Sound Bar & Speaker Deals
• Camera Deals

As for the gaming deals, you'll find price cuts to hardware and games at Best Buy this week. Some notable hardware deals include Arcade1Up's Pac-Man Deluxe Arcade Machine, which is available for $450 (was $500). The machine recreates the classic look of the original Pac-Man arcade cabinet with modern touches like online leaderboards and a 17-inch 1080p screen, and comes with 14 games preloaded on the cabinet. Fans of handheld gaming can grab the Lenovo Legion Go Z1 Extreme with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD for $650 (was $750), and anyone looking for a comprehensive entrypoint into VR can grab the Meta Quest 3S bundle that includes Batman: Arkham Shadow and a 3-month trial subscription of Meta Quest+ in two models. The 128GB version is $270 (was $300), and the 256GB model is $370 (was $400).

Console players can pick up numerous PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch games as big discounts, too. Fans of survival horror will want to grab the Alan Wake 2 Deluxe Edition--which gets you the base game and all DLC--while it's just $45 on PS5 and Xbox, and last year's Silent Hill 2 remake for PS5 that's down to $50 (was $70). This is also a great chance to grab some of 2024's other best games, including Metaphor: ReFantazio and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, both of which are down to $50 (normally $70 each). And if you're into retro RPGs, you'll want to snag a copy of the Final Fantasy I-VI Pixel Remaster collection on PlayStation while it's $50 (was $75).

May the 4th be with your wallet if you're a fan of Star Wars Lego sets. Ahead of the punny holiday, Lego has unveiled its new Star Wars building kits and promotions launching on May 1 for Star Wars Day. The exciting lineup of new releases includes the latest highly detailed Ultimate Collector Series model kit, Jango Fett's Firespray-Class Starship, as well as multiple additions to its series of helmets, a replica of Chopper the Astromech, and the unique Command Shuttle piloted by Kylo Ren. There's even a Brick-Built Star Wars Logo, which could serve as a nice centerpiece for your Star Wars display shelf.

• Jango Fett's Firespray-Class Starship UCS (2,970 pieces) -- $300
• Jango Fett Helmet (616 pieces) -- $70
• Brick-Built Star Wars Logo (700 pieces) -- $100
• Chopper (C1-10P) Astromech Droid (1,039 pieces) -- $100
• Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle (386 pieces) -- $70
• Kylo Ren Helmet (529 pieces) -- $70
• Rebel U-Wing Starfighter (594 pieces) -- $70
• Revenge of the Sith: Heroes & Villains - 5 Brickheadz Figures (656 pieces) -- $50
• Luke Skywalker Rebel Pilot Brickheadz Figure (138 pieces) -- $10

As usual, the Lego Store is offering free small-scale, exclusive building sets when you spend a certain amount of money during Star Wars Day. The promotion extends to all currently available Star Wars Lego sets--including the new ones--from May 1 to May 5. Though most of the new kits are also sold at major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target, the freebies are exclusive to the Lego Store. Here's a rundown of Lego's Star Wars Day free products and other offers:

• Spend $40 to get: Millennium Falcon Mini-Build (30708)
• Spend $160 to also get: Kamino Training Facility (40765)
• Buy Jango Fett's Starship to get exclusive keychain.
• Lego Insiders get double rewards points on Star Wars products.
• Lego Insiders have access to exclusive discounts

Most of the new Star Wars Lego sets launching for Star Wars Day are available to preorder now at the Lego Store and other major retailers, but you won't be able to purchase Jango Fett's UCS Starship until May 1 when Lego's promotion begins. This marquee set is the only one of the new releases that technically launches on Star Wars Day (May 4) as a Lego Store exclusive. You'll need to join Lego's free Insiders rewards program to buy it alongside the other sets on May 1. Considering how popular the UCS Star Wars kits are at launch, you'll want to do this to ensure you can not only buy one before it sells out, but also to take advantage of the Lego Store's Star Wars Day freebie promotions. Jango Fett's Starship comes with a bonus keychain as well as both of Lego gift sets.

Minecraft will soon add the ability to leash together mobs to each other or objects, opening up new possibilities for how players engage with the game's voxel-based world.

As explained in a blog on the Minecraft website, the ability to lead a single mob with a leash has existed for some time. The upcoming changes to the feature, however, will greatly expand what can be done with leashes, allowing players to tie mobs together and attach them to a wider variety of objects.

The blog gives examples of leashing horses together or using leashes to turn friendly Happy Ghasts into hot air balloons. While some leash functionality, like the ability to tie a leash to a fence, isn't new, changes to how they work are. It will be easier to add and remove leashes from knots, and players looking to remove one particular mob from a leashed group can use shears to do so. Keep in mind, players can't leash together other players or use shears to mess with someone else's leashes.

Devolver Digital has released its latest annual investor report, and included in the document is some commentary surrounding the Nintendo Switch 2.

Devolver said the original Switch is the company's most popular console platform, with more than 9 million units sold of its various games (via GoNintendo). Given that, Devolver said it sees an "opportunity" with the Switch 2. The company also called out how the recent Nintendo Direct event featured three Devolver games: Starseeker, Human Fall Flat 2, and Enter the Gungeon 2.

Some of Devolver's games that have come to Switch over the years have included Hotline Miami, Always Sometimes Monsters, The Talos Principle, Reigns: Three Kingdoms, and The Plucky Squire.

Within Steam, users can see the total amount of money they've spent on the platform. While this isn't a brand-new feature, it's been relatively well-hidden among the gaming community.

Over on Reddit, user trotski94 laid out how to see how much money players have invested into Steam, and it provides the exact dollar amount--a much more accurate number than simply just trying to tally up the items in your purchase history.

Click on "Help" and then "Steam Support." Go to "My Account," then "Data Related To Your Steam Account," and finally "External Funds Used." The list will show several different categories.

For some, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II set a surprisingly high difficulty bar right from the start of the game. However, Warhorse Studio clearly had more tricks up its sleeve, as today's Patch 1.2.4 update brings a new Hardcore mode to the table for the most dedicated of KCD2 players.

Hardcore Mode, which was revealed earlier this month, adds multiple new obstacles to Henry of Skalitz's adventure, including the removal of fast travel and a list of negative perks that must be selected before the game begins. Among the negative effects are Sweaty, which makes Henry smell worse when he goes without showering, Bashful, which removes the ability to ask villagers for directions, and Somnambulant, which turns Henry into a sleepwalker--whenever he lays down to rest, he can wake up in a completely different place.

Patch 1.4.2 also adds multiple fixes and rebalances to the non-Hardcore experience as well, including rebalanced prices on herbs, a new hairstyle for Henry, and fixed save-file issues for Xbox players specifically. The full Patch 1.4.2 notes are below.

Following its debut in March, GTA 5's new Enhanced edition is now available through PC Game Pass. Additionally, GTA 5 for Xbox Series X|S is out now on Game Pass, and not just the more expensive Ultimate version. GTA 5 for Xbox Series X|S is included with Game Pass Ultimate and Standard.

The Game Pass Ultimate subscription ($20/month) includes PC Game Pass, which by itself costs $12/month. Game Pass Standard, meanwhile, costs $15/month. If you want to stream GTA 5, you'll need Game Pass Ultimate.

GTA 5 Enhanced brings a number of features and improvements previously only available on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 to PC, including better graphics, faster loading times, and more vehicles. There are PC-specific features, too, including ray-traced ambient occlusion and global illumination. AMD FSR and Nvidia DLSS are supported as well on PC.

Leslie Benzies was instrumental in developing Grand Theft Auto V when he worked at Rockstar Games. He left the company amid a major dispute and a huge lawsuit, and now he's shared his thoughts on GTA VI, saying he expects the "geniuses" at Rockstar to create an amazing game.

"[There's a] great amount of geniuses there always creating something new, unique and of a scale that very few others can actually pull off," Benzies told GamingBible.

In 2016, Benzies sued Rockstar owner Take-Two, saying he was owed $150 million in royalties and further alleging that he was forced out. Take-Two, meanwhile, said Benzies' claims were "entirely without merit" and that he left the company after "significant performance and conduct issues."

An update for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has gone live, adding a new PvE mission, weapon, cosmetic DLC, and various quality-of-life improvements to the game. Players will be able to head to Avarax in a new operation, where they'll be tasked with taking down a Trygon: a nasty creature that specializes in guerrilla tactics and can quickly burrow under defensive positions to harass its prey.

Fortunately, players will be able to field-test a new weapon, the Inferno Pistol, and developer Saber Interactive says that the free update will add Prestige Ranks and Prestige Rewards, reworked weapon perks, the ability to change the colour of cloth, tabards and hoods across all classes, and custom PvP lobbies where up to 12 players can group up.

If you own the Space Marine 2 season pass, the Trygon update also adds a new Space Wolves-themed champion skin for the Vanguard, three weapon skins--Chainsword, Bolt Carbine, and Thunder Hammer--and more than 50 unique cosmetics and colors.

In November 2022, social deduction indie darling Among Us saw an evolution with Among Us VR, which brought the game's small spacemen from 2D to 3D in a new first-person experience. Among Us VR recently rebranded to Among Us 3D in anticipation of the non-VR version's imminent launch, and today Innersloth and Schell Games have confirmed the new version will drop on Steam May 6 for $10.

Among Us 3D takes the three-dimensional look of the game formerly known as Among Us VR and removes the need for VR goggles, allowing players to complete tasks and betray their fellow space beans in full 3D. The non-VR version will support cross-play with its VR counterparts on Meta Quest, Steam VR, PlayStation VR 2, and PICO, but Among Us 3D will not be compatible with the original Among Us release.

The new 3D version of Among Us transforms the chaos of the multiplayer social-deduction game to a first-person perspective, along with all of the task-themed minigames the innocent crewmates must complete to win. It will also introduce native proximity chat--which may or may not give a player's position away to an approaching impostor--as well as a new class, The Infected, which turns a killed Crewmate into another Infected impostor instead of the usual ghost.

Guild Wars, the MMORPG developed by ArenaNet and first released in 2005, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new complete edition that bundles all of the game's content into one convenient package.

It's called Guild Wars: The 20th Anniversary Masterpiece Collection, and for $40 it will bundle together all three of the game's expansion-like campaigns (Prophecies, Factions, and Nightfall) along with the game's one "true" expansion, Eye of the North. It will also include new weapon upgrades as well as long-unobtainable preorder and territory-specific weapons and pets that will be added back to the game in the form of rare drops from the game's high-level enemies.

When it comes to the newly added weapon upgrades, they will sport the "of the Profession" modifier and will also be added to the game's rare-drop loot tables. The upgrades will let players gain access to attributes they normally wouldn't be able to, enabling new builds. The upgrades will also add a cosmetic glowing streak effect to weapons in the color associated with the given profession.

Singularity 6 has announced that Palia will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on May 13. It feature full cross-platform support alongside the release of the Elderwood expansion.

Those who wishlist Palia on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S will receive exclusive (virtual) plushies when it launches on those platforms if they link their accounts. Additionally, players who refer Palia to their friends starting on May 13 can earn an Elderwood Fun Guy plushie in five sizes.

Palia is a free-to-play cozy MMO that's like a cross between Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. Players can fish, farm, and cook in this fantasy life sim. It was released in 2023 and the upcoming Elderwood expansion is its biggest update yet. The expansion is free-to-play as well.

The final major update for Baldur's Gate 3, titled Patch 8, has finally arrived, and it delivers a plethora of content for fans to dive into. One of the most anticipated additions with Patch 8 is cross-play, which has been available for a select group of players since early 2025. However, now it's available for all players across every platform, meaning you can finally jump in and play Baldur's Gate 3 with any player, regardless of their system.

Below, you can see exactly how cross-play works in Baldur's Gate 3 and how you can use it to join up with your friends on different platforms.

Cross-play is a simple feature to use in Baldur's Gate 3, but it does require a little bit of setup to get it working correctly.

Over a year after its August 2023 launch date, Baldur's Gate 3 is still being updated, and its latest (and last major) patch is one of its biggest--and arguably best--updates yet. Patch 8 is live now on all platforms, and introduces several long-awaited features to the game, including cross-platform play, photo mode, and a total of 12 new subclasses to give players more room to tinker with their Tav's build.

The excitement around photo mode is pretty self-explanatory--with a game as visually stunning as Baldur's Gate 3, it seemed almost criminal to launch the game with no photo mode. But the days of awkwardly trying to snap a good shot mid-cutscene are over. Now, players can take a photo at any time, even during combat. Larian even celebrated the patch's release with an animated (and fully voiced) short featuring all of the game's companion characters, along with an animated version of Larian founder and CEO Swen Vincke.

To activate photo mode, press F9 (PC) or press L3 + R3 at the same time (console). This will pause the game and bring up the photo mode menu, where players can change which characters are visible, choose from a number of facial expressions and body poses, add filters and frames, and more.

Captain America: Brave New World is flying onto Blu-ray next month, and preorders just opened for multiple editions at Amazon and Walmart. Collectors will want to check out Brave New World's Limited Edition Steelbook version of the 4K Blu-ray release. In addition to Brave New World's handful of standalone physical editions, the Captain America film franchise is getting a new collection featuring all four MCU movies. Captain America 4-Movie Collection is available to preorder on Blu-ray for $50, giving fans a budget-friendly way to own all of the movies on disc.

The Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray editions of Captain America: Brave New World include digital copies of the new film, but it's worth noting that the film also launched on digital platforms on April 15. You can rent/buy it for $25/$35 on Prime Video and other streaming services.

Right at the beginning of The Last of Us Season 2, Episode 1, Kaitlyn Dever's character, Abby, gives a haunting monologue about tracking down and killing Joel (Pedro Pascal). She not only wants to kill Joel--to get vengeance for Joel killing her father--but she says she wants to kill Joel "slowly."

Dever told The Hollywood Reporter that this is a "chilling" moment in the episode. "She's a chilly ice queen!" she said.

"She just needs something to make it all better," Dever said. "And in that moment, the only thing she can think about is revenge. She's heartbroken, she's sad, she's lost and she's trying to pick up the pieces."

Season 2 of HBO's The Last of Us finally premiered this past Sunday with a series best of 8.2 million viewers, and introduced a host of new characters to the show. Showrunner Craig Mazin said the sophomore season would be bigger in every sense, but still wanted to recapture some of the sequel's more intimate and quiet moments. The first kiss between Ellie and Dina during the New Year's Eve dance was one of them.

During the post-episode featurette, The Last of Us creator and co-director Neil Druckmann explained how he saw Dina and how Ellie is trying to navigate this awkwardness of a potential romance.

"Dina became this interesting person that Ellie becomes infatuated with, and we see that throughout this episode that it's not only her friend, and someone she respects and admires, it's someone that she likes," he said. "She doesn't quite know how to deal with it because she's Ellie, and she's awkward, and she's a teenager."

Given the recent difficulties at Ubisoft, it was hard not to see Assassin's Creed Shadows as a make or break game for the publisher. There's still some uncertainty about Ubisoft's plan to spin-off Assassin's Creed and other top franchises into a dedicated subsidy with Tencent, but the good news is that Shadows is reportedly one of the best-selling games of the year so far.

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said via his Bluesky account that Assassin's Creed Shadows "has been the best-selling video game in the US for each of its first 3 weeks in market." Piscatella went on to add that among games released in 2025, it is No. 2 to-date behind only Monster Hunter Wilds. Prior to that, the No. 2 seller had been Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Shadows was also the best-selling game on PlayStation Network for March.

According to Ubisoft, Shadows reached 1 million players across all platforms in a single day. The game reached 2 million shortly thereafter, but that doesn't necessarily line up to the number of copies sold. Assassin's Creed Shadows is also available to players who subscribe to Ubisoft+. However, the title's current success on the video game sales charts suggests that players are actively buying it as well.