Nexon has officially announced that Arc Raiders has sold more than 12.4 million units since the $40 game launched at the end of October 2025. The sales number is not a surprise, as the research firm Alinea Analytics previously estimated sales to be around 12 million.

Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee said sales at this level, along with the fact that Arc Raiders reached 960,000 peak concurrent players, demonstrates "the potential for Arc Raiders to become another pillar in Nexon's portfolio of blockbuster franchises."

The Korean publisher, which owns the Arc Raiders IP and developer Embark, further stated that Arc Raiders passed 10 million units sold by the end of December 2025. Nexon said sales accelerated recently, presumably due in part to the game's 20% discount, pushing total figures to 12.4 million and counting. The game has sold well and still has lots of players, as the game regularly ranks at the top, or near it, on the Steam charts.

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Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has clarified his statements regarding X's AI generation of nonconsensual sexual images of minors and women, saying he merely "criticized a government official" for pressuring publicly traded companies for attempting to "block a speech app owned by their political opponent."

Right around the January 9 weekend, news broke that X users were turning to Grok, the platform's AI tool, to create images of minors and women in sexually compromising outfits and positions. The situation drew the attention of US Senators Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR), who wrote a letter to Apple and Google requesting that the companies remove the Grok and X apps from their app stores for the "mass generation of nonconsensual sexualized images of women and children." The senators have asked for a written response from both companies by January 23.

In response to the letter, which MacRumors reported and shared on X, Tim Sweeney quoted the post on January 9 and said that senators using their political power to remove these apps for the harm they have caused are "gatekeepers" who are trying to "censor all of their political opponents." He continued in a follow-up post, explaining that no major AI company is "perfect" because they all have "documented instances of [their tech] going off the rails" and that these companies "make their best efforts to combat this." These comments blew up, drawing criticism from some corners of Elon Musk's social platform and praise from others.

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It's no secret that a video game based on 2008's The Dark Knight was in development at one point, before the plug was ultimately pulled. Footage of the game--which was being developed by the now-shuttered Monolith Productions--has surfaced online over the years, and this week, a new video showed how this Batman adventure would have taken a cue from the live-action films with its dynamic soundtrack.

As part of a treasure trove of materials uncovered by retro games enthusiast and archivist Mar Talida, the footage showcases early cinematic footage, game design documents, concept art, and much more. If you have an ear for video game soundtracks, there's even video of the game's dynamic audio system and how it would change depending on the situation that players found themselves in. Batman live-action films have had iconic soundtracks, and Monolith's game used some of Hans Zimmer's Dark Knight soundtrack to demonstrate this feature.

It's worth noting that all of this content came from very early in the pre-production of the Batman game--codenamed Project Apollo--as the assets were dated to around 2009-2010 and naturally look rougher than the 2024 leak.

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Last summer, solo developer Eero "Rakuel" Laine released Hardest, a free-to-play card game roguelike that he openly admitted was created with AI-generated assets. Since then, Laine has had a change of heart about AI and decided to delete Hardest from Steam on January 30.

In a message posted to Hardest's Steam page, Laine credited his epiphany to his significant other and explained why he used AI assets in the first place.

"I made this game during the summer in couple months and thought to use AI because in university there is so much brainwashing on students and all the tools are given for free," wrote Laine. "So I could generate unlimited images for free ... But I have realized the AI is not actually free, and it has a major effect on the economy and environment."

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When single developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone officially released Stardew Valley in 2016, the farm-life sim wasn't intended to have any voiceovers. That hasn't stopped a dedicated fan from creating a Stardew Valley mod that adds vocal performances to the game.

Voice actress and software engineer Shannon Hobby released the Stardew Valley voice over mod as a proof of concept in 2024. But this week, Hobby has updated the mod with vocal performances for all of the romanceable characters in the game. Hobby's intent is give every character in the game a voice, but it's still a work in progress.

"I'm a voice actor and software engineer and I've combine these skills to make something wonderful for a game that I really care about that's super important to me and I know is important to a lot of people," said Hobby in her initial announcement video. "I think this was a perfect opportunity to combine those skill sets and make something that I'm proud of for a game that I really care about and give back to the community a little bit."

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How expensive can a game be while still feeling like you're only dropping five bucks on it? According to Peak co-creator Nick Kaman, $8 is the ideal price point for a $5 game.

In an interview with Game File, Nick Kaman explained that the team had a $5 "joke" that actually ended up informing Peak's standard pricing. "We had this joke of, like, how much is a game really?" he said. "In a player's mind, what does it mean to spend five bucks? Well, that’s five bucks. But six bucks? Well, that's still five bucks."

"Four bucks is also kind of five bucks. Three bucks is two bucks. And two bucks is basically free," Kaman continued. "So we've got these tiers: You know, twelve bucks... that's ten bucks. But thirteen bucks is fifteen bucks. And we found that eight bucks is still five bucks. It doesn't become ten bucks. Seven ninety nine, that’s five bucks, right? So, eight bucks going to five bucks is the biggest differential we could find in pricing, so we found it very optimal."

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Just a week after its last record-setting day, Steam has hit a new concurrent player peak of 42,042,778, passing the 42 million milestone for the very first time on January 11. The gaming platform has seen sustained growth in recent years, with record-setting peaks happening more and more regularly.

Although Steam has been around for over 20 years, its popularity has picked up dramatically in recent years--especially in the six years since the Covid-19 pandemic was officially declared. Steam's average concurrent users have more than doubled since pre-Covid days, and its rate of growth has also sped up.

Analysis of Steam's growth by Wccftech shows that the platform's pre-Covid growth rate was around 4.5% per year, which rocketed to a massive 31.5% in 2020 due to global lockdowns, and later leveled out to around 13% in the years since. Wccftech reports that Steam's revenue is also on an upwards trend, with December 2025 being its best December yet for revenue--no doubt driven by recent breakout games including Arc Raiders and indie hit Peak.

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Six months ago, Hytale was was canceled by Riot Games after 10 years of development. However, the game's development studio Hypixel was saved by co-founder Simon Collins-Laflamme in November 2025, and Hytale is set to hit early access today, J

According to the countdown on Hytale's official site, the game will launch on January 13, 7 AM PT/10 AM ET. For now, Hytale will only be available on PC, but Mac and Linux versions will follow.

It's important to note that Hytale will not be available on Steam. In order to get the game, players will need to download the Hytale Launcher.

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While you might be looking to reestablish your gym routine now that the festive season is over, at least you can count on your Switch 2 console having an extra layer of stability thanks to a new firmware update. Nintendo has rolled out a new system update for the Switch 2 that brings it up to version 21.2.0, and as you've probably guessed, it doesn't do much.

"General system stability improvements to enhance the user's experience," the very succinct update notes read.

Since its launch, the Switch 2 has mostly focused on small updates like this to keep the console running smoothly for users. That's not to say there haven't been any substantial updates so far, as the November firmware upgrade added better visual clarity on the home menu to indicate whether a game is owned physically or digitally. The update also added GameChat improvements, helping to fine-tune the Switch 2.

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About 15 years ago, a baby with a birthmark on her forehead was born as the third princess in Temirana, which is located at the eastern end of the country. The baby was rumored to be a 'cursed princess' and she was forced to live separately from her family in her mansion away from the castle - but then came a big turning point for her. One day, just before her 16th birthday. At the venue of the duel tournament "Helis Duelm", she saw five men emitting a strong "light" that made her dizzy. Yes, this "cursed princess" had a special fortune. When she finds herself in danger of her life, objects and places appear to glow as if to signal that she should avoid it. The princess trusts her own intuition and decides to invite her shimmering ones into her order. However, some of them have no swordsmanship experience and are not even interested in knights. With such a small order of five knights, will the princess be able to overcome the "disaster" that will arise in the future ?

A town forever blanketed in ice and snow, an inescapable time loop, and a group of travelers trapped between memory and truth. You will play as ShiMo, the amnesiac protagonist, stepping into this mysterious town known as the "Singularity." By solving a series of bizarre murder cases, you will gradually uncover the town's secrets, recover lost memories, and confront a long-buried past. But remember - in this world, kindness may lead to destruction, the truth may be crueler than lies, and the call of loneliness might just be the beginning of redemption. Are you ready to listen to the sound of 52Hz? "52 Hertz" is a futuristically apocalyptic Honkaku (authentic) mystery game. Trapped in a fog-shrouded, eerie town, you must work alongside the protagonist to solve murder cases and unmask the culprits. Through a series of puzzles, you'll seek out your own lost memories and uncover the truth about the town.