Gears of War: E-Day is launching into Xbox Game Pass, and because of that, the majority of the game's moneymaking potential will be cannibalized by its inclusion on the service. That's according to Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, who released a report today that covers this, the game's initial sales on Steam, and the possibility of a PlayStation 5 port sometime down the road.

According to Elliott, E-Day has surpassed 120,000 copies sold on Steam at this point, generating more than $7 million in revenue. The game arrives on October 6, but people who pay more can jump in starting October 1. For more, check out the official global launch times for E-Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRFE0gCsgLg

Elliott's data showed that E-Day has already sold more than 2X what Halo: Campaign Evolved did over a similar period of time. With 120,000 sales on Steam already, E-Day is unlikely to hit 1 million copies on the platform ever, Elliott said.

Additionally, he said "most" of the revenue from the Xbox version will be "eaten up by Game Pass. The game's inclusion on Game Pass might also encourage some people to sign up, so sales alone do not tell the whole story.

In any event, Microsoft has already decided to pull some key titles out of Game Pass, presumably due to lost revenue. Microsoft's Activision division no longer puts new Call of Duty games into Game Pass at launch, for example, with this October's Modern Warfare 4 not coming to Game Pass until Fall 2027. Going forward, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said the company might opt to "window" other titles, presumably to help Microsoft make more money from direct game sales.

In 2023, Microsoft admitted that putting games into Game Pass cannibalizes full-game sales. At the same time, a game coming to Game Pass can actually help improve sales in some scenarios.

Microsoft made a big bet on Xbox Game Pass, spending billions of dollars to buy up studios with the aim of funneling content to the service to encourage people to sign up. New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said Microsoft's bet on Game Pass did not work out. "Our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome," she said.

Elliott previously said Gears of War: E-Day (along with Clockwork Revolution) are being sent out to die due to their exclusivity to Xbox. They are also coming to PC, but not PS5.

Elliott told GameSpot that Microsoft will never succeed in the console space and promising fans exclusive games to help drive console sales is not going to make a difference.

“Console as we know it is over for Xbox–and has been for a while. There’s no turning that ship. But they still need to pretend to care until they’ve transitioned to pastures where they can return to growth (if they succeed),” he said.

“A Gears console exclusive does not shift meaningful numbers of Series X units. Exclusivity as a hardware-driver is over for them, because the install base it would drive simply isn’t responsive enough to justify the cost of building hardware at a 5x component premium. And those games are on Steam anyway,” he added.

Elliott went on to say that Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution are “sacrificial lambs for hearts-and-minds, not economics.”

Also in the report, Elliott addressed the rumor that Microsoft canceled a PS5 port of E-Day. He said Microsoft should not have done this, as bringing the game to PS5 would have "added some much-needed extra revenue."

While E-Day might not be coming to PS5 at launch, Elliott said he foresees a port coming to market "at some point."

There was obvious evidence of a PS5 edition of E-Day. However, Microsoft denied that it canceled a PS5 version at the last minute, but did not deny its existence.

Another strange wrinkle to the story is that Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has said E-Day is not a timed-exclusive for Xbox. However, Greenberg said in 2021 that Starfield was not a timed-exclusive on Xbox, but then it did come to PS5, so it's hard to believe some of the things that Microsoft says about its release plans.

Halloween season is almost upon us, and if you're looking to dress up as the Resident Evil movie's in-over-his-head courier, Bryan (played by Austin Abrams), then here's a checklist of everything you need to pull off the Raccoon City look. Fortunately, Bryan's look is surprisingly easy to pull off, as director Zach Cregger and costume designer Caroline Fahrer settled on an outfit that's grounded in the real world, will keep you warm on a chilly night, and can probably handle a few bites from any citizens who have come down with a bad case of the T-Virus.

As detailed by Resident Evil News, dressing up as Bryan requires sourcing a few brand-name items and scuffing them up. The actor's main clothing consists of RVCA fatigue pants, a deep yellow plaid shirt and grey hoodie from New Yorker, and Nike Jordan Spizke low sneakers that'll need some customization. For the medical bag, if your local hospital doesn't want to sell you one, the official popcorn bag should do the trick.

https://twitter.com/RENews_X/status/2104728868162826249

The devil is in the details, so to really sell the idea that you've been through hell and back, you'll need to do some distressing on the outfit. For example, the thumbs on the gloves were cut off and replaced with stitches, and to scuff up the pants, you can use sandpaper to wear them down.

Fake blood will seal the deal, and you can easily make a bucket of the stuff with corn syrup and food coloring to nail the viscosity--a word of caution: it can be very sticky once applied. Dribble the concoction on your costume, get some friends to chuck massive water balloons at you as you sprint down a deserted street, and you'll be ready to win a few Halloween contests.

After two weeks at the box office, Resident Evil has scared up some impressive numbers. The film kicked off its run by breaking the record for the biggest opening weekend in the franchise, and so far, it has made more than  $100 million at the North American box office, beating the record that had previously been set by 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife ($60 million). Currently, it's the fourth highest-grossing live-action Resident Evil movie so far, and it's getting closer to usurping 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ($312 million) as the highest-grossing film in the series.

Strangely, the movie has only had a "moderate" effect on Resident Evil game sales, as the movie reenergized the existing fanbase and pumped up engagement for the franchise in September.

The creator of a mod project that sought to bring Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 5 to Switch is closing up shop, apparently at the request of rights owner Take-Two. This action comes in the same month that Rockstar published a new "Mod Guidelines" notice informing people they need to "respect our games" and are not allowed to modify its games to operate on consoles or devices that are not officially supported by Rockstar. GTA 5 was never released on Switch.

Paralympics Productions announced (via GamesRadar) that it will shut down on October 3. The developer thanked people for their support and apologized for not being able to deliver GTA 5 for Switch.

He also said he's "thankful for Take-Two's mercy," which makes it sound like this situation could have been worse for the modder.

"This is the definitive end," the developer wrote. "Peace out, girl scouts."

https://twitter.com/M0jso/status/2104610351358820703?

The developer went on to say that they had received a cease-and-desist notice. He said he plans to comply with this because "I'm not an idiot." No legal action has taken place as of yet, he added.

In other replies, the developer responded to people asking him to release his code so others could pick it up and take things from there. He said he won't do this because it would escalate the cease-and-desist into a formal lawsuit.

He could, in theory, fight Take-Two in court, but the developer said he would most likely lose. "They have solid grounds and with me being cocky, it shows real intent for 'mayhem," he said. "So I can't even appeal to a jury or something like I didn't know what I was getting into."

The GTA 5 port for Switch from Paralympics Productions was due to be released "in the coming days," the developer added. "I'm not releasing anything new and I'm not coming back. It's truly over. And no, no one will take over the project."

GTA 5 never came to Switch, and GTA 6 is not expected to be released on Switch 2. However, it was previously reported that Rockstar was exploring the possibility of bringing GTA 6 to Switch 2.

The demand for PlayStation 5 Pro consoles is currently outpacing supply in Japan, due to ongoing memory shortages that have yet to be resolved. Now, Sony is offering Japanese players a unique way to earn their way into a PS5 Pro lottery system, but only if they can demonstrate that they've already been gaming at a certain level.

Sony's Japanese PlayStation blog notes that players who want to enter the PS5 Pro lottery must have 60 hours of gameplay time on their PlayStation accounts between September 2024 and September 2026. That time can be split between PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 consoles.

Some hardcore gamers can get in 60 hours of playtime in a week or even more. So, the threshold isn't too extreme. But it's likely in place to prevent scalpers from getting their hands on PS5 Pros and flipping them on the secondary market at greatly inflated prices.

If Japanese players meet the criteria laid out by Sony, they will be entered in the lottery system and subsequently notified that they have a chance to purchase a PS5 Pro directly from the gaming publisher. However, if any buyers fail to act on their opportunity, their systems will be offered to other players in a future lottery.

Sony's decision to stop supporting physical PS5 discs starting in 2028 has drawn pushback from some players, but the company appears dead set on following through with that edict. Earlier this month, Sony settled a lawsuit alleging that its PlayStation Store violated state and federal laws governing digital game prices. Sony admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, which is valued at nearly $8 million.

Looking ahead to next year, Sony has revealed that it will be skipping the 2027 CES, which will mark the end of an association with the event that dates back decades.

Marvel's Wolverine might not be a critical hit, but it's doing surprisingly well commercially. The new superhero adventure from Insomniac Games faced stiff opposition from new releases and established live-service titles at launch, but according to the analytics firm Circana and its engagement tracker, Marvel's Wolverine broke a live-service stranglehold on the PlayStation charts.

For the week ending September 19, Marvel's Wolverine ranked seventh on Circana's Top 10 Titles by weekly active users in the US chart. Sandwiched between Marvel Rivals (sixth place) and Minecraft (eighth place), that's a good start for the game, which is the only single-player title in the top 10--although Minecraft players might disagree. "The average US Marvel's Wolverine player engaged with the title for 14.2 hours during the week, according to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker," Circana's Mat Piscatella wrote. "This ranked in the top 20 across all titles on PlayStation for the week."

https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3mwliydz3wc24

While NBA 2K27, Fortnite, and Roblox remained on top, seventh place is still a relatively impressive feat for a game like Marvel's Wolverine, which is mostly a one-and-done experience. Unlike Marvel's Spider-Man and its bustling open-world slice of Manhattan, there's little reason to return to it beyond a New Game Plus mode that unlocks new skills, and this Wolverine game can easily be completed within a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nGnaG7kVIA&t=2s

It has also been the subject of criticism, leading to hotfixes in which Insomniac toned down the infamous scent trails to guide players toward collectibles. Sony hasn't commented on the game's overall sales performance yet, but it's estimated that Marvel's Wolverine has sold through 1.9 million units as of September 18.

"Wolverine has sold well, but its commercial long tail is limited by its mixed media and streamer reception," Alinea Analytics' Rhys Elliott wrote recently. Unlike Spider-Man, which reviewed insanely well and has stayed evergreen for years, this one's tail will be shorter and lumpier, but still there. Wolverine will have secondary volume bumps driven by MCU X-Men marketing beats, holiday gifting, and new PS5 owners looking for high-budget graphics showcases. The backlash was fast and hard, but that discourse will sail clean over the heads of the millions of more passive, mainstream players who make up the bulk of this audience. Those folks will buy Wolverine for the brand, get it for Christmas, and never once open Reddit to find out they were supposed to be angry."

Marvel’s Wolverine was released on September 15, and sales were seemingly strong right out of the gate, with the game reportedly exceeding the lifetime sales of Death Stranding 2 on PS5 in just a few days. GameSpot’s Marvel’s Wolverine review scored the game an 8/10, with editor-at-large Tamoor Hussain describing it as a "fun but forgettable" experience.

Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann has dropped some tantalizing news for fans of The Last of Us, confirming the studio is currently working on not one, but two new The Last of Us projects. Druckmann also gave an update on Intergalactic, saying Naughty Dog will fully reveal the sci-fi game in 2027.

The Last of Us Day is marked on September 26, the day that was the start of the zombie apocalypse in the game's lore, and Naughty Dog celebrated the 2026 event with a charity livestream, fan giveaways, and new collaborations. The studio also launched new official The Last of Us social media accounts, hinting that our time with the franchise is far from over.

https://twitter.com/thelastofus/status/2104720569661063523?s=20

In a brief post reflecting on the day, studio head Neil Druckmann dropped a few major announcements for Naughty Dog's future, chief among them that there are two new The Last of Us projects currently in the early stages of development. "Both projects will expand the canon of The Last of Us beyond Part 1 and Part 2, Druckmann said. "The world of The Last of Us means a great deal to us, and we wouldn’t return to it unless we had something meaningful to say. We believe these stories are worth telling."

It's not clear whether either of the games will be The Last of Us Part 3, and we're unlikely to find out for some time--Druckman added that both projects are in very early stages, so details are locked down tight.

Druckmann also shared a brief update on Naughty Dog's current main project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. The studio has been relatively quiet since the game was first announced in 2024--and that silence will continue for the rest of this year. Druckmann said he project needs a little more time to cook before it's ready to be fully revealed in 2027. "We know it's been a long time since we've had much to share with you," he acknowledged. "We're working incredibly hard to make something worthy of your patience."

In other The Last of Us news, work on season 3 of HBO's television adaptation continues, with more of the game's voice actors recently joining the TV cast. Season 3 might be the end of the acclaimed TV series, with showrunner Craig Mazin considering condensing his original four-season plan down to three.

Activision has made a key announcement about how Double XP tokens work in the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, and it sounds like good news.

Beginning with MW4, 2XP tokens will only count down when you're actually in a match. Previously, the timer would tick down when you were in a game's menus or searching for a match. That's not ideal for a lot of reasons, obviously.

https://twitter.com/CallofDuty/status/2104619925881168010

If you're anything like me, sometimes you have to get up to let your dog out. Or you want to get up to grab some food or a drink. Or, you might sit in the game's menus when nature calls. Now, you can do those things and still get the full amount of 2XP without your bonus going to waste.

Beyond this, several key developers at Infinity Ward discussed a range of hot topics about MW4 in a newly published "The Road to Launch" video. Check it out below to hear what the team had to say about time-to-kill values, spawning algorithms, and UI issues following the game's multiple rounds of beta testing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG68xO8uuq4

This is just the latest positive-sounding update for MW4, following the previous confirmation that players will be able to toggle off skins they don't want to see in Warzone--though the toggle is not supported for MW4 itself yet.

Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC. The game marks the first Call of Duty release on a Nintendo platform since 2013's Call of Duty: Ghosts. It's also the first game since Ghosts to skip PS4 and Xbox One.

World of Warcraft: Forever's beta is in full swing, and if its popularity is any indication of how the full launch might go, it's going to be big, as Blizzard has had to increase the beta's population cap multiple times.

Forever was Blizzard's big finale during its BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, a modified version of WoW Classic that keeps the old-school MMORPG's gameplay and world but brings plenty of new changes and content as well. It's something WoW Classic players have asked for years, and Blizzard is now finally ready to deliver.

The beta kicked off September 17 with an initial level cap of 20 and will run through October 21, with Forever's full launch slated for November 4. It's important to note that it's not an open beta that anyone can join. Players need to purchase the $60 Skyborne Epic Pack (which unlocks the new playable Skyborne race in Forever) to gain access.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buBZRiQXl8U&t=1s

Despite a $60 barrier to entry, everything points towards the beta being huge. From the get go, the beta ran into problems due to sheer popularity, with WoW: Forever senior game producer Tom Ellis (who has since deleted their X account) posting a technical breakdown that boiled many of the beta's initial issues down to the game's beta environment simply not being accustomed to such high demand.

It wasn't long before other developers at Blizzard began to chime in on how unprecedented the Forever's beta seemed to be. WoW executive producer Holly Longdale posted that Forever's beta was "setting records." Two days later on September 19, she said "launch will be wild…and we are here for it, come what may."

Most recently, Longdale chimed in about the beta's success once more. On September 27, she wrote Blizzard had to increase the beta's population cap once again. "The wild ride continues," she said.

https://twitter.com/TheWindstalker/status/2104270224568541611?s=20

Longdale hasn't been the only one commenting on how big the beta seems to be. Senior game designer Josh Greenfield, who frequently answers from the game's community on X, said the beta "has been crazy."

"The craziest numbers I've seen in 17 years working at Blizzard and almost 8 years on Classic," Greenfield said. "We've got something really special here." 

https://twitter.com/AggrendWoW/status/2101015233506750526?s=20

When asked how Blizzard was preparing to handle potential login queues at launch, Greenfield said the beta itself was the answer, as the team had found and fixed more problems on beta launch day than it would have in six months of internal testing. 

Still, given how some previous WoW launches have gone, it certainly wouldn't be surprising if Forever were to run into technical issues at launch, despite the game essentially doing away with traditional servers. Blizzard hasn't yet released exact beta numbers, but off of everything we've seen so far, Forever's launch is shaping up to be a doozy.

For more on WoW: Forever, be sure check out how Blizzard approached designing over 1,000 new quests, why it won't include Season of Discovery's biggest changes, and how big a deal it is that it's launching with full controller support.

Sony has attended every edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) since it debuted in 1967, but that's ending for the upcoming show in January 2027. This means there won't be any PlayStation news, at least not directly from Sony.

The company confirmed to Bloomberg that it's pulling out of the show this year following a strategic evaluation of its approach to "events and communications based on the needs and priorities of our diverse business."

The company went on to say that today it's putting more focus on "entertainment," including games, anime, films, and music. CES, on the other hand, is primarily a technology show.

What PlayStation announcements have there been at CES before?

Sony's showing at CES historically includes a keynote address, featuring executives and creative leaders from the company discussing upcoming technologies and products. Sony never made the most momentous PlayStation announcements at its CES events over the years, but it was an event that fans could expect some news, at least.

For example, in 2020, then-PlayStation boss Jim Ryan revealed the PS5 logo at CES. At the time, people were clamoring for any morsel of news about the console, and fans roasted Sony for revealing only the logo. You can re-live the moment where everyone learned that the logo would be the most predictable logo ever in the video below. The juicier details like the release date, price, and technical specifics were saved for later events dedicated to the system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E429XW4isFs

At CES 2022, Sony unveiled PlayStation VR2 and a new game for it, Horizon: Call of the Mountain. In more recent years, Sony's PlayStation-related announcements at CES pertained to the company's transmedia adaptations, including the announcement of Horizon and Helldivers movies.

Microsoft, for its part, revealed the original Xbox with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at CES 2001, but the company didn't carry the tradition forward with similarly big Xbox announcements at CES over the years. Nintendo, meanwhile, famously revealed the first version of the NES at CES in 1984--it was unveiled as a prototype known as the Advanced Video System.

CES 2027 takes place January 6-9 in Las Vegas.

Diablo 4 Season 15 is stuffed full of secrets years in the making, and despite the season having launched two weeks ago, players keep discovering new ones. 

Season 15, Hell's Legacy, is a major nostalgia trip for Diablo fans. It adds new dungeons, boss fights, and items from previous Diablo games to Diablo 4, as players team up with Deckard Cain to defeat echoes of the Prime Evils and harness some of their iconic powers.

But those references to previous games go far beyond a handful of dungeons and bosses. It also added a full Horadric Cube's worth of secrets. Some stem from older games in the franchise, while others are a continuation of ones added in Diablo 4 that players have worked towards uncovering for years. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MabZDgAHLA

After years of searching, Blizzard finally gave players the culmination of its secret cow-level hunt, as players who have gone through the laborious task of reaching the cow level and battling the cow king can now go even one step further to take on Moophisto, the Divine Bovine. In that same vein, players can also finally catch Mefishto, a secret fishing boss Blizzard went as far as to tease with a bizarre infomercial back when the game's Lord of Hatred expansion launched. Players were also quick to discover all kinds of new runewords and items from previous Diablo games, like the highly coveted Enigma that converts each class' evade into a teleport.

But those are just some of the secrets. Players can also visit Old Tristram (complete with Diablo 1 NPCs like Griswold, Wirt and Adria) by finding all of Deckard Cain's journals, and even take on an Uber Prime Evil boss encounter there like in Diablo 2. For those who like their secrets silly, Diablo 3's Whimsyshire is now in the game after being teased as part of the cow-level quest, complete with hundreds of colorful killer teddy bears and unicorns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1QzrbZHR3g

One of the coolest secrets in the seasons is the next phase of the Lucky Coin questline that players have been scratching their heads about since Diablo 4's launch. In Season 15, the last of these lucky coins can now be found. By converting each coin into a special jewelry item, equipping them, and going to Lorath's old house, a portal opens to an all-new Echo of the Horadrim boss fight, where players take on the tormented souls of Lorath, Neyrelle, and Donan.

That might seem like a fitting end to the season's secrets, but nearly all of these secrets lead to even more puzzles for the community to solve. There still seem to be some secrets involving the cow level, as one piece of the cow-themed Bovine armor set is still missing. Players have fished up a teddy bear head that appears to be a reference to a quest from Diablo's Hellfire expansion and may be linked to Whimsyshire.

The Horadrim boss encounter rewards players with a Horadric Coin, the purpose of which is still a mystery. Players have discovered a secret sheep level as part of the cow level, one that rewards an item called Map of the Stars that looks to be a reference to a deleted quest in Diablo 1. The quest item's description even states, "Oh for hell's sake, what now!?," seeming to imply there's still plenty more mysteries to keep Diablo 4 secret hunters busy.

Diablo lore expert Loatheburger has a great breakdown of the season's remaining secrets, including one that may involve salvaging a certain number of Stone of Jordan rings in order to summon a special Diablo boss fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4gj1KkjBQ

After a disappointing Season 14, Hell's Legacy looks to have put Blizzard's ARPG back on the right footing with its crowd-pleasing theme and a giant heaping of content ripped from older Diablo games, even as players are becoming stronger than ever with a Mythic Unique trick that might not be intentional.

Though Diablo 4 won't receive new expansions as the focus shifts to the development of Diablo 5, due to release in 2029, it will continue to receive new seasons long into the future, Blizzard has said. The Amazon will be added as a standalone class DLC in the first half of next year.

The main voice actor cast for upcoming soulslike Valor Mortis has been revealed, and its star-studded lineup features the surprising addition of a name better known for fronting a black metal band.

Adam "Nergal" Darski will play the role of Captain Raphael. If his impressive growls and screams in Behemoth are anything to go by, players can expect a pretty dramatic rendition of the character.

It's not his first rodeo, surprisingly. He also voiced The Black Cat in 2022's Blacktail and was the narrator for Apocalipsis: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in 2018.

https://youtu.be/JWD4BN8KUZ8

He's joining an impressive roster of voice actors, including Baldur's Gate 3 and Expedition 33's Jennifer English as The Shrike and Onimusha: Way of the Sword and Crimson Desert's James Alexander as William Dowsett. Napoleon Bonaparte will be played by Vincent Cassel, who has starred in the Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen films as François Toulour.

Mars Lipowski, who is best known for portraying Sobieslaw "Gromsko" Kosciuszko in the Call of Duty franchise, will take on the role of Lucjan Skawinski. Will De Renzy-Martin, who played Coen in The Blood of Dawnwalker, will portray James Stewart. Finally, Yvan Chamouiseau will step into the shoes of Louis Moreau.

Valor Mortis is a first-person action soulslike from the developer of Ghostrunner. Set in an alternate 19th century Eastern Europe, Napoleon's endless war has led to a supernatural plague. You'll follow William, played by Alexander, as he fights to survive against his former comrades who are now undead monsters.

Valor Mortis is set for release on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PC on October 13, and will be priced at $40 because this fall has a jam-packed release schedule, the developer admitted recently. It was originally scheduled for launch on September 24, but due to how busy September was, it was delayed by a few weeks.

If you're a fan of The Witcher franchise, you're getting a lot of new stuff over the next few years, starting this week with the launch of The Witcher 3 Remastered.

Here's what's on tap for The Witcher over the next few years:

2026

The Witcher 3 Remastered, which includes a bevy of technical and graphical updates and improvements, releases on September 29. The long-awaited remaster, which is free for people who already own the game, includes a reimagined skill system, an expanded photo mode, improved combat, and a new transmog feature. Check out GameSpot's in-depth breakdown of what's new in the remaster to find out more. Just be aware, the graphical overhaul isn't necessarily an entirely positive one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oEdB5S2d3U 2027

After that will come a new expansion for The Witcher 3, Songs of the Past, in 2027. The expansion was originally targeting a 2026 release, but it was pushed to 2027 to make it as good and polished as possible.

Songs of the Past takes Geralt on one last ride “before passing the torch.” Players will venture to the location of Letten, home of Geralt's friendly bard companion, Dandelion. There is a new main quest called "A Bed of Thorns" where Geralt will meet up with Lilla, who appears to be a potential love interest for Geralt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwVa3RPBtvo

Also in 2027? That's when The Witcher author Andrzej Sapkowski said he plans to finish the next entry in the novel series, telling the next Geralt of Rivia story.

At the Copernicon event in Torun, Poland recently, Wiedzminlandia reported (via Redanian Intelligence) that Sapkowski said he plans to finish the book by the end of 2027, but it's unclear how soon after that it may actually release. Sapkowski's plans could change, but in any event, a new book is coming, and fans of The Witcher may be excited about that.

2028

Then in 2028, CD Projekt Red plans to release The Witcher 4. The game doesn't star Geralt, but instead focuses on Ciri and makes her the playable character. Geralt is set to appear in the game, however.

Given The Witcher 4 is coming out in 2028, it likely won't be a on a disc for console due to Sony's decision to end support for physical media. There will be some kind of physical version of the game, however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c1rokekgnY 2029 and beyond

CD Projekt Red previously outlined an ambitious plan to release a new trilogy of The Witcher games within a six-year window that begins with The Witcher 4's launch in 2028. If that schedule holds, fans can expect The Witcher 5 and The Witcher 6 to launch by the end of 2034. That's a lot of Witcher games in a relatively short amount of time. CD Projekt Red is known to delay most of its big games, so there is definitely no guarantee that the plan will hold.

Other Witcher projects

Beyond all of these projects from The Witcher franchise, CD Projekt Red is believed to be working on a multiplayer Witcher game. The game has undergone numerous changes over the years, and the developer has never shown it off.

Additionally, CD Projekt is working with Scopely on a new mobile game based on one of its franchises. It's not confirmed that it's The Witcher, however; another candidate could be Cyberpunk.

Xbox has announced its next collaboration, and it's a partnership with Prince St. Pizza for a specially branded Gears of War pizza and a $60 pizza-cutter.

Microsoft and Prince St. Pizza teamed up to make a Prototype Lancer pizza-cutter to promote this October's Gears of War: E-Day, and it's available for $60. To justify the steep price tag, Prince St. Pizza says it's a hefty metal cutter featuring a stainless steel blade and a handle that's meant to make you feel like you're wielding the iconic gun. The pizza-cutter also comes with the in-game pizza emblem. It does look pretty great, but it also looks like a real pain the butt to clean if you're a messy person like me.

If anyone is wondering why it's called the Prototype Lancer and not just the Lancer, that's the special solution the developers came up with to explain why the heck a Lancer would even be in a prequel like E-Day. In the Gears of War lore, the weapon was created a year after the events of Emergence Day. However, you can't have a Gears game without the Lancer, so the developers called it a Prototype Lancer.

Incredible.

As for the pizza itself, it's called the Emergence Pie, and it's themed around this October's Gears of War: E-Day, which is a prequel that tells the story of Emergence Day. The pizza includes spicy vodka red sauce and mozzarella cheese, along with proteins in the form of pepperoni and sausage. The pizza is also doused with spicy Italian chili crisp.

"Rugged, relentless, and built to hit hard, it’s the kind of pie that doesn’t go quietly," reads a line from Microsoft's blog post. It's also a pizza that doesn't go quietly for your wallet, as it costs a mighty $46 before taxes or delivery fees if you're getting it sent to your home.

The Gears of War pizza costs $46.

The Emergence Pie is available now through November 1 at Prince St. Pizza locations in the US and Canada. Prince St. Pizza is not exactly a household name, and there are only about 20 locations in the world in places like Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, and New York City. The single location in Canada can be found in Toronto.

Anyone who buys the Emergence Pie also gets a code to unlock a pizza emblem in E-Day.

Gears of War: E-Day releases on October 6 for PC and Xbox Series X|S, and it's available at launch via Xbox Game Pass. People can buy the $100 premium edition to play five days early.

Despite obvious evidence that Microsoft was planning to release E-Day on PS5, the company denied that it made a last-minute decision to cancel a PS5 version. The company did not deny the existence of a PS5 version, however. E-Day is not a timed-exclusive for Xbox, Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has said, leading some to believe it will never come to PS5. However, Greenberg said in 2021 that Starfield was not a timed exclusive on Xbox … and then it came to PS5.

Zach Cregger's highly acclaimed Resident Evil movie had another strong showing at the box office for its second weekend, propelling the film to break another franchise record. It already broke the record for biggest opening weekend for the franchise, and now the movie has made more than $100 million domestically.

That's a new record for the franchise--before this, the biggest success domestically for the franchise was 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife ($60 million). Globally, Resident Evil has now made $196.5 million against a reported $75 million production budget (not counting marketing costs).

The highest-grossing Resident Evil movie globally is Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which made $312 million worldwide. Time will tell if 2026's Resident Evil will catch up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNd1gb19A-c

Check out the list below to see how the other mainstream theatrical Resident Evil movies did at the domestic box office.

Director Paul W.S. Anderson made six Resident Evil movies that starred his wife, Milla Jovovich, and while none of them individually did very well commercially or critically, they combined to earn over $1 billion worldwide.

The worst-performing theatrical Resident Evil movie was 2021's Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which made just $17 million domestically. It was directed by Johannes Roberts and starred Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield and Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy.

After that film disappointed, rights-owner Constantin put the franchise on hiatus and planned to keep it on ice until Cregger came to the company with a pitch for Resident Evil.

His movie is doing great, so people are wondering if there will be a sequel. That remains to be seen, and while Cregger has said he has ideas for where they story could go next, he's also said he is finished with franchise movies.

The Resident Evil movie is a huge success, but the recent lift in sales of games in the series is not completely attributable to that, according to a research firm.

Resident Evil domestic box office results

1. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) - $17,000,612
2. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) - $26,830,068
3. Resident Evil (2002) - $40,119,709
4. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) - $42,345,531
5. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) - $50,648,679
6. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) - $51,201,453
7. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) - $60,128,566
8. Resident Evil 2026 (so far) - $103,476,247

HBO has announced further casting details for the upcoming third and possibly final season of The Last of Us.

Two actors from the games are set to appear in Season 3--Laura Bailey and Ian Alexander--along with prolific veteran actor John Goodman, as relayed by Deadline.

Bailey played Abby in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us: Part II, with Alexander portraying Lev. For the TV show, however, Kyriana Kratter is set to play Lev, while Kaitlyn Dever plays Abby.

Bailey will play Elizabeth, one of the Seraphite leaders, while Alexander will portray Paco, alongside Goodman as Joey. Joey and Paco are described as "Heroes of the Highway," but that's all we know. Goodman has worked with HBO before, starring on the comedy series The Righteous Gemstones.

Bailey's performance as Abby was memorable, and controversial. She received a lot of online hate, and people even sent death threats to her newborn baby.

John Goodman previously appeared on another HBO show, The Righteous Gemstones. Many actors from the games have been on the show

Bailey and Alexander are just the latest actors from the games to appear on the HBO show, following Merle Dandridge and Jeffrey Wright reprising their characters Marlene and Isaac, respectively.

Ashley Johnson, who played Ellie in the games, played Ellie's mom in Season 1. Troy Baker, who played Joel in the games, played James on the show. Jeffrey Pierce, who played Tommy in The Last of Us, appeared on the show as a new character, Perry.

Season 3 could be its last

HBO programming boss Casey Bloys has said on multiple occasions that he believes Season 3 could be the last one for The Last of Us. However, he's also acknowledged that the question might be better answered by showrunner Craig Mazin, who is plotting out the series and previously said he needed four seasons to wrap things up. Alternatively, Mazin is reportedly considering making Season 3 one long season as opposed to wrapping things up with Season 4.

A big creative shift

In a big shift for the series, franchise creator Naughty Dog is not involved creatively in Season 3, and Neil Druckmann dropped out as a writer/director. People have speculated about what this could mean, but Druckmann, for his part, said he left the show to focus on his work on Naughty Dog’s games.

He is currently directing Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and if it’s true that Naughty Dog is also making The Last of Us 3, he’s probably involved in that, too.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is taking a different approach to its relationship with vanilla Minecraft than its predecessor did. According to the game's developers, the sequel deliberately moves closer to the mechanics and feel of the original sandbox game, in part because the Dungeons franchise is now established enough to stand on its own two feet.

Speaking to GameSpot, Minecraft Dungeons 2 creative director Måns Olson and design director Laura de Llorens Garcia explained that the team deliberately pulled the sequel closer to vanilla Minecraft during development.

"As much as Dungeons 1 tried to interpret vanilla Minecraft--and I think we did a pretty good job of it--with some of the things that we had deviated from, we decided to take them even closer to vanilla," de Llorens Garcia said.

https://youtu.be/vBNE3bKMpu8

The sequel introduces several systems that will feel familiar to players of the original Minecraft game, including four armor slots, Enchantment Books, and jumping. "I think the fact that those systems now work that way makes it feel a lot closer to base game Minecraft," she added.

However, it wasn't simply a matter of making Dungeons 2 more similar to Minecraft. Olson explained that the team had a specific reason for taking a different approach with the sequel.

"When we made Minecraft Dungeons and we did the early testing of the game, when we asked players what they thought and what it reminded them of, there were a lot of players who said, 'This game reminds me of Minecraft PvP servers,' or, 'It reminds me of Story Mode.'"

There are now separate armor pieces, like the base game.

Olson said that this was particularly important because many younger players had relatively little experience with games outside of Minecraft. As a result, the first Dungeons needed to establish its own identity first.

"In that world, it was very important that we made Minecraft Dungeons stand out--a game that didn't feel like the base game, that felt different enough to stand on its own legs and bring something new to the table," he explained. "'Cause otherwise it could have just been a mod, you know? It needed to be something of its own."

That led the team to make some pretty significant departures from vanilla Minecraft.

"So we made a Minecraft game without mining or crafting, which sounds silly, but that's how we went about it." Olson explained.

For Dungeons 2 though, the team felt it had more freedom to move back toward vanilla Minecraft because of that identity being established for the Dungeons brand. The developers see the sequel's larger, more interconnected world as another way of bringing it closer to the main game. Although Dungeons 2 isn't being positioned as an open-world game, the the exploration has been increased compared to its predecessor.

"We did push the world to be bigger and more exploratory in this game compared to the first game and that brings us closer to vanilla," Olson said.

That philosophy extends beyond Dungeons 2 itself, as the developers have been working closely with the vanilla Minecraft team while developing The Sift--the new dimension that is introduced in Dungeons 2, before coming to Minecraft in 2027.

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie has done big numbers at the box office since it hit theaters on September 18, but has that been reflected in increased Resident Evil game sales? According to new data, a set of fresh discounts prior to the movie's release did most of the heavy lifting for a surge in Resident Evil sales, and after the film landed, there was a "modest" bump in sales.

According to Alinea analyst Rhys Elliott, Capcom discounted several Resident Evil games on September 10 and kept those savings active after Cregger's movie arrived. "Almost all the copy movement was on PlayStation," Elliott wrote. "Resident Evil 2 nearly doubled on PS5 while doing just +16% on Steam, and Resident Evil 4 jumped +77% on PS5 versus a flat 0% on Steam. RE2 and RE4 picked up another 50-65% in PS5 copies even after you strip the discount out, which makes sense: they have a mix of nostalgia, quality, and the exact Raccoon City setting the film runs around in. On Steam, the same movie effect is a much milder +11% to +14%."

As Elliott noted, the older Resident Evil games currently cost much less than Capcom charged when they first went on sale, while the latest game in the series, Resident Evil Requiem, got a 30% discount and was $49 this month before its price went back up to $70. Overall, there was higher engagement across the entire series, as the film reactivated an existing fanbase of players who already owned Resident Evil games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2sSPdSPvCU

"The movie tells an original story with a new lead, so newcomers have no obvious game to jump into," Elliott wrote. "The horror-film audience and the horror-game audience overlap heavily. Cregger is a draw in his own right after Barbarian and Weapons. An opportunity is next year's Resident Evil Veronica, which already has almost 2 million Steam wishlists. It stars Claire Redfield and, if it follows the original timeline, is set three months after Raccoon City, the event the film is built around. If the streaming release is timed to Veronica's launch, Capcom and Sony could finally build the on-ramp that most transmedia projects are missing. Still, transmedia stuff isn't having the impact it could."

In its second week at the box office, Resident Evil was dethroned by the Avengers. Ahead of the release of Avengers: Doomsday, Disney brought Avengers: Endgame back to theaters, taking first place with a North American box office haul of $26 million for the re-release. Resident Evil dropped to second place, but overall, the movie is still doing impressive numbers.

After an opening weekend that surpassed expectations, Resident Evil has now made over $196 million at the global box office. That makes it the fourth highest-grossing live-action Resident Evil movie so far, but it still has a way to go before it dethrones the current king of that list, 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and its $312 million box office gross. Cregger's film has received critical acclaim since launch--even if people were iffy on its ending--and on GameSpot’s Sister site, Metacritic, the movie has a metascore of 79 from 51 reviews.

“By backing away from the stories and characters of the video games, Cregger dodges the giant bullet of ‘that’s not my Leon Kennedy’ and instead lets us finally experience Resident Evil ourselves, through our own eyes,” Eric Frederiksen wrote in GameSpot’s Resident Evil movie review.

When Minecraft Dungeons launched in 2020, it was difficult to know exactly what to make of it, or where it stood in the franchise as a whole. One of the world's most popular games had been transformed into a Diablo-lite-style action-RPG, taking away the mining and crafting that give Minecraft its name. In its place was something far more straightforward: kill monsters, collect loot, and repeat.

The simplicity of Minecraft Dungeons was both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. Its streamlined gear system made it easy to understand, while its enchantments gradually introduced more interesting build possibilities. But its combat could feel a bit too basic.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 feels like developers Mojang and Double Eleven focused their efforts with those limitations in mind. The sequel is far more honed in on what happens between the battles, with expanded inventory systems, more customization options, more reasons to explore, and--perhaps most importantly--a world that actually feels connected to the larger Minecraft universe.

Dungeons felt like it deliberately separated itself from the main game, and that was partly the point. Mojang wanted to create an experience that couldn't be found in vanilla Minecraft, while still using recognizable mobs, environments, and items to make it feel familiar. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD9GtlgU8_c

Dungeons 2 takes a bold and unusual approach that not many other large franchises could pull off. Its story brings the Sift dimension, which was created for this game but is also coming to the vanilla game in 2027. The Sift is accessed via a portal--a mechanic that will feel familiar to anyone who's played Minecraft--and houses an ethereal dimension with all-new environments, friendly mobs, and enemies. The Sift's being added to the base Minecraft game makes the relationship between the two games feel far more deliberate than it did in the first installment. It also allows Dungeons 2 to feel like a bigger part of the Minecraft universe, rather than a smaller branch forging its own path.

As a result of that, Dungeons 2 made me particularly invested in its new dimension. As a Minecraft fan and veteran player, I was also intrigued about whether any of the narrative elements would be carried over to the main game. I walked around the Sift feeling like I was intruding on an unreleased Minecraft build, eager to check out the biomes, friendly mobs, enemies, and potential materials that can be found in the first new Minecraft dimension in a decade and a half. The Sift is the first Minecraft dimension outside of the Overworld that doesn't feel immediately hostile. In Dungeons 2 it's under threat, so there are hostile mobs to deal with, but the pearlescent lakes, muted blue, pink, and purple color palette, and mobs that cheekily poke their tongue out by way of greeting all lead to a very serene world, one that I'm excited to explore in vanilla Minecraft in 2027. 

By having multiple armor pieces, adding Enchantment Books, and having the ability to jump, Dungeons 2 is actually closer to the vanilla Minecraft experience than its predecessor. It feels almost unbelievable that the first Dungeons didn't include jumping, but Dungeons 2 does. This allows for a broader scope of exploration as you can hop up to hidden platforms to uncover chests, jump across gaps to reach previously inaccessible areas, and dutifully check behind waterfalls for hidden loot. It also adds the jump-attack combination, which allows for a more powerful attack that affects any enemies in range and provides another means of effectively dealing with groups of enemies.

The storyline gives you something simple to care about. Your villager friends aren't just background characters wandering around and making "hmm" noises. They want to live peacefully, yet villains lurk around every corner determined to make that impossible. Every time they attempted to interfere with the villagers' attempts to live happily ever after, I found myself increasingly annoyed at them. It's not the deepest or most emotional narrative by any means, but Dungeons 2 understands that a straightforward story and likeable characters can work in tandem remarkably well. It's a notable improvement over the first game, where the story largely existed only to give you a reason to chase down the Arch-Illager. 

That's not the only area where Dungeons 2 improves upon its predecessor. The original Dungeons had an awkward economy that felt almost meaningless. You collected emeralds constantly but were limited in ways to spend them, with many options feeling worthless. In Dungeons 2, upgrading your gear at the Blacksmith improves your existing gear's stats substantially, while rolling for new gear at the town merchant has the potential to give you more powerful items to complement your build--especially if you've used Echo Shards to upgrade the merchant so he can offer stronger gear. 

Since the Blacksmith required rescuing in the original Dungeons, I somehow managed to miss his arrival in Dungeons 2. By the time I realized he was present in the sequel, I had already salvaged a considerable amount of gear that I probably would have kept had I known I could upgrade it. I'm undecided whether that's down to my campaign tunnel vision, or whether Mojang should have introduced him better.

There is still a problem with this system, though. In placing a maximum cap of 9,999 emeralds, I regularly found myself losing them as I wasn't watching my balance when salvaging old items to exchange for more emeralds. Then, as it can often cost in excess of 1,000 emeralds to upgrade an item, I'd find myself struggling for the currency. A cap absolutely should exist, since it's so easy to get emeralds via exploration and salvage, and is part of what led to emeralds feeling worthless in the original game. But when that cap is making you regularly lose currency that you're actively trying to spend on upgrades, it shows that the economic balance isn't quite right.

Where Dungeons 2 does excel hugely over its predecessor is in its willingness to allow you to establish a coherent build. Instead of one armor piece, you now equip a separate helmet, chest plate, leggings, and boots. This gives you more opportunities to shape your character around a particular playstyle, and I spent much of my playthrough experimenting with different combinations. I tried lightning-, poison-, and soul-focused builds, and each one changed the way I approached combat. 

The soul system was probably my biggest stumbling block. The game doesn't do a particularly good job of explaining what souls are, how you acquire them, or why you might want to build around them. I eventually worked it out through experimentation, but I shouldn't have needed to poke around quite as much just to discover something that is fundamental to an entire build archetype. Once you understand the systems, experimentation is enjoyable, but Dungeons 2 occasionally assumes that you know more than the game has actually taught you. 

A new type of equipment, Talismans, add another layer of build complexity. You can equip up to three at a time, and they grant you a passive ability--some summon other characters or creatures to fight alongside you, while others grant generous buffs to your health, attack power, ammo, and more. Amassing a decent collection of them relies on completing side quests and finding hidden loot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means players who rush through the main campaign are potentially missing some of the strongest tools they need to make more interesting builds.

While the first game already had plenty of replay value through its difficulty levels, repeatable missions, hidden levels, and eventual DLC, Dungeons 2 expands upon that even further. There are side quests, dungeons, repeatable boss fights, and Soul Surge activities to complete beyond finishing the campaign. Soul Surge activities are time-limited events where stronger enemies spawn in an area, rewarding higher-tier loot that you can't get through normal gameplay. As a result, Dungeons 2 feels like an ongoing adventure rather than a campaign you complete and never return to. 

It also adds a purpose to the loot system. If you're trying to perfect a poison build, getting another piece of equipment is no longer about increasing your power; it's about improving the synergy between your individual gear pieces. The hunt for the perfect item to slot into your build is pretty moreish, and Dungeons 2 gives plenty of opportunities to do that after the story ends.

However, there's a significant problem with the enchantment system. Enchantment Books are scarce, and I spent most of the main story limited to two of them for my armor pieces. You can use each book an infinite number of times, but in terms of build synergy, it's oddly restrictive. My favorite builds came way beyond the main campaign, and I didn't get that moment of feeling true satisfaction as my poison spread from mob to mob until many hours after I finished. Given the mob density throughout the story and the powerful bosses you face, it would have been more satisfying to discover a few more Enchantment Books as part of the storyline's rewards, instead of seeking them out post-game. However, being forced to explore Dungeons 2's gorgeous environments seeking out better loot is far from a terrible experience.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the biggest problem I faced. My roughly 15-hour playthrough of the main campaign was affected by a number of bugs and glitches, with one particularly persistent issue leaving a "Teleporting" label permanently stuck to my character. It wasn't merely a cosmetic annoyance either, as the bug affected traversal, at times preventing me from jumping or safely navigating the environment. Restarting my game could temporarily resolve some of those problems, but the Teleporting label itself never disappeared, meaning I completed about half of my playthrough with the intrusion. 

For a game that places so much emphasis on exploration and movement through its expanded environments, having traversal occasionally break is a serious problem. It's particularly unfortunate because Dungeons 2's environments are beautiful, and being able to properly explore them is part of what separates this sequel from the more linear structure of the original. Hopefully these issues are addressed in a patch at launch, because they undermine what is otherwise a considerably more polished sequel. 

Dungeons 2 isn't a radical reinvention, and rightly so. The first game was already an enjoyable, approachable dungeon crawler, even if it was deliberately lightweight. Dungeons 2 adds depth and connects its world to the wider Minecraft universe while adding a meaningful economy, a build system with considerably more freedom to experiment, and more post-campaign activities. 

Even though the restrictive emerald cap, scarce Enchantment Books, and technical issues dampened my experience somewhat, the difference between the titles is clear. Where Minecraft Dungeons was a charming introduction to the dungeon-crawler genre, Dungeons 2 builds a deeper action-RPG within the same familiar, blocky framework. While it doesn't completely escape the limitations of its predecessor, Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a more ambitious sequel that finally gives its loot, builds, and world the depth that was missing, even if a few rough edges remain.

Ahead of its release on February 16, 2027, Sony has announced that God of War Laufey preorders will go live on September 29. The Standard Edition will be available in both physical and digital formats, but the Deluxe Edition will be a digital exclusive. Pricing hasn't been revealed yet, but Sony typically charges $70 for a regular version of its game and $80 for a deluxe edition. We'll update this post as soon as the official prices are live.

Here's a closer look at what you get with each one.

God of War Laufey: Standard Edition

Preorder bonuses for the Standard Edition include a spiffy new "Last Wish" armor set for Faye, an elegant collection of golden leaves for Phranque the Cube to wear, and a pack of resources to help you get some early upgrades in.

• Last Wish Armor Set
• Phranque Golden Leaves appearance (cosmetic) 
• In-game resource pack

God of War Laufey: Digital Deluxe Edition

The Digital Deluxe Edition includes all the aforementioned preorder bonuses, as well as an arsenal of "Dark Alchemy" weapon skins and a matching suit of armor for Faye to don. Additionally, you can check out the game's artwork and listen to its soundtrack.

• Dark Alchemy Armor set
• Dark Alchemy Blade
• Dark Alchemy Bow scales
• Dark Alchemy catalyst
• In-Game resource pack
• Digital mini-artbook 
• Official God of War Laufey digital soundtrack

Developer Sony Santa Monica also revealed a new weapon that Faye can wield: the Serpent Bow. An enchanted weapon, it can unleash a volley of arrows quickly, or you can hold down the aim trigger to unleash a precision bolt that also strikes from a longer range. If an enemy is hit with one of these arrows, their movement or ability to strike will be impaired, and Faye can follow up with melee attacks. You can even choose between rapid-fire, explosive detonations and multi-target arrows, making the Serpent Bow a versatile tool in battle.

God of War fans can expect even more from the franchise in the future, as a new Kratos-led game is coming after it that picks up where Laufey left off. A live-action TV series is also in development for Prime Video, and while actor Ryan Hurst is no longer playing the lead role due to an on-set injury, former WWE star Dave Bautista has stepped in to take over the part.

Anyone looking to play Gears of War: E-Day has several options for which platform they choose to get the game on, and yes, Steam is one of them. While The Coalition's new entry in the Gears universe is exclusive to PC and Xbox Series X|S, PC owners can add Gears of War: E-Day to their Steam library. How does this differ from buying the game from the Xbox PC storefront or on console? Let's break it down.

Gears of War: E-Day PC price

Unsurprisingly, the Standard and Premium Editions of the game will cost you the same through Steam as it would through the official Xbox storefronts on PC and Xbox Series X|S, and it'll also be a day-one release for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. That works out to:

• Standard Edition -- $70
• Premium Edition -- $100

Gears of War: E-Day PC release date

For more detailed info on this, you can check out our Gears of War: E-Day Global launch times guide, but in a nutshell, the Steam version will unlock at the same time as the official Xbox versions. Owners of the Premium Edition can start playing early on October 1, while the Standard Edition unlocks on October 6. You can also check out our Gears of War: E-Day PC requirements guide to see if your rig can handle the visually impressive game.

Are there any Gears of War: E-Day preorder bonuses for Steam users? Nice.

Preorder the game, and you'll unlock the Exfil Dom Character Skin and the Exfil Weapon Skin Set in-game at launch.

Is the Gears of War: E-Day Premium Edition the same as the Xbox console and PC versions?

Yep, you'll get the exact same spread of digital goodies with this edition, which includes:

• Five days early access
• Two character skins and poses
• Death's Rendezvous legendary weapon skin set
• Emergence Omen weapon skin set
• Emergence Omen banner and emblem
• Bravo Squad signature weapon pack
• 1,000 Iron premium in-game currency
• Four seasonal customization packs

Is Gears of War: E-Day Steam Deck compatible?

Microsoft says that Gears of War: E-Day is "fully optimized" for various PC gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck and Xbox Ally X devices, but we haven't yet seen it in action. The Steam Deck uses three levels to indicate compatibility with games--Verified means it should run without a hitch out of the box, Playable means that it'll require some tweaking by the user, and Unsupported means that it won't function on the Steam Deck.

It's not yet known which category Gears of War: E-Day falls into, but Xbox Game Studios titles are usually playable on the Steam Deck handheld without needing much tinkering to perform optimally.

Are any of the other Gears of War games on Steam?

If you want to build a Gears of War collection in your Steam library, you can get some of the games through the Valve storefront. The big exceptions are Gears of War 2 and 3, as these have been console exclusives since their initial release, while Gears of War 4 remains missing in action. Here's the full list of what's currently available:

• Gears of War: E-Day
• Gears of War: Reloaded
• Gears 5
• Gears Tactics