Grand Theft Auto 6's marketing push is set to begin soon, and many are wondering how much Rockstar and Take-Two actually have to do to promote the game given the unprecedented levels of hype behind it. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick discussed this in an interview, saying "no matter how big a franchise is," marketing remains important, and GTA 6 is no exception. 

"The consumers need to engage with that prior to release. And I think the motion picture business reflects that as well," Zelnick, a former movie executive, told IGN.

He cited the Mission: Impossible series as an example. It's a famous franchise, but the studio behind would still "spend a whole lot of money" marketing the sequels "even though we kind of know what we're going to get." 

"Marketing is still an important part of any entertainment release," he said. He didn't comment specifically on GTA 6, saying Rockstar itself will make its own announcements later on.

GTA 6's marketing push is set to begin this summer, so it could happen anytime now. Before this, Zelnick said promoting GTA 6 will be a “challenge” because Rockstar and Take-Two want to be “delicate” with how they push the game.

“It has to feel like, you know, this is real. We’re not selling hamburgers. We’re selling this unique art form,” he said.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. A PC edition has not been confirmed, but history suggests it will come later.

GTA 6 is expected to sell 40 million copies and drive more than $3 billion in revenue during its first year. GTA 6 has enormous shoes to fill, as predecessor GTA 5 has sold more than 230 million copies and generated tons more money from GTA Online.

Developer Rockstar has yet to announce a price point, but Zelnick recently said the game will be price at a “reasonable” level, whatever that means.

Former BioWare veteran Mark Darrah has weighed in with his thoughts on what the AAA video game business can do to make more money and become more sustainable: sell product placement.

In a video on his YouTube channel, Darrah said the fascination with live-service games and "over-reliance on microtransactions" is stopping other genres from flourishing. Development budgets keep going up and up, and without an increase to the current $70 going rate for new releases, developers could look to product placement to help make money, Darrah said.

He said the live-action Smurfs movie "paid for itself entirely through product placement," and he wonders if product placement could become a bigger deal for games.

"So, is there an opportunity for games to take a step back and think about different ways that we could make money? I think there is," Darrah said. "Product placement is a very small part of video games right now compared to movies and television. Maybe it could be a larger part of development. Maybe there are relationships there to be formed."

Product placement in video games does already exist, and a recent high-profile example was 007 First Light, which featured many famous real-world brands just like the movies do. The game's budget is unknown, but a recent report said it was the most expensive piece of entertainment ever made in Denmark.

Mario Kart 8, meanwhile, featured a Mercedes-Benz partnership, while Alan Wake had Verizon and Energizer in-game product placement. Death Stranding featured Monster Energy drinks in the game.

Beyond product placement opportunities, a Bank of America stock analyst has said GTA 6 should cost $80 to help encourage other companies to raise prices to help with the sustainability issue.

Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick said major new releases have actually come down in price over the years when you consider how inflation has affected pretty much everything else you buy these days. Games have held steady in the $60-$70 range for 10 years, and that “doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” according to Zelnick.

"Everything can't be a live-service"

Darrah went on to say that no one wants to see a video game industry dominated by live-service games. 

"Everything can't be a live-service, which is something I hope we've proven pretty definitively over the past year and a half, and if monetization is coming predominantly from live-services, we run the risk of living in a world where there are no AAA games that aren't live-services. And I don't think that's a world that any of us want to live in," he said.

Also during the video, Darrah said PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass are not doing all that much for developers in terms of money, and that developers taking deals to come to either program could encourage "degenerative design in order to try to juice the numbers."

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said it was a "miss" for Microsoft to re-commit to showing the logos of its competitors during Xbox broadcasts, going on to say the company is now looking at how to "adjust" this for future events.

"Seeing the feedback on logos. It was a miss, and I own it. We are talking about how we adjust for future Xbox shows," she wrote.

https://twitter.com/asha_shar/status/2060501522556022919?s=46

Sharma said this on the same day that Microsoft published the newest Xbox Podcast in which Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty doubled down on showing the logos of competitor consoles during the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase on June 7.

"Yes. Absolutely. We'll be very clear about what platforms a game is coming to. We want to continue the precedent; I think we have a good system going where we make it clear [what platform a game is coming to]," he said.

In February 2025, Microsoft said it would start showing PlayStation and Nintendo logos during official broadcasts as part of a transparency effort that many fans and industry observers praised. Apart from the Xbox events, it remains commonplace for gaming showcases from platform holders like PlayStation and Nintendo to only show their own logos, even if their games are multiplatform. This was seen as shifty, and many praised Microsoft for changing the tide.

Other people did not embrace the change, saying it was important for Microsoft to speak directly to its loyal consumers and show them preference. With Sharma taking over as Xbox CEO, she has promised a "return to our roots" and has said Xbox-exclusives could return.

So when Booty re-committed to the transparency push for the upcoming Xbox Games Showcase, some people were upset, prompting Sharma's response. That very response hasn't gone over entirely smoothly, though, as many are saying she is ultimately doing Xbox a disservice by trying to appease fanboys.

The Xbox Games Showcase takes place this coming Sunday, June 7, and it will be immediately followed by a presentation focused exclusively on Gears of War: E-Day.

Mojang's blocky sandbox game is currently inaccessible--a rarity for Minecraft. The last major widespread Minecraft outage was in October 2025, when the global Microsoft Azure cloud disruption affected services, including Minecraft authentication and Xbox Live.

Around 12:30 AM PT on June 1, players began to report problems with launching Minecraft via Downdetector. Attempting to connect to the game via the Minecraft Launcher shows the message, "Oh no! Something went wrong, and we couldn't connect to the Minecraft services. Please connect to the internet to refresh your offline access." A further error message reads, "We were unable to verify what products you own. Please check your internet connection."

https://twitter.com/rsdworker/status/2061382916035256762?s=20

The two messages suggest an issue with the authentication servers, meaning players will be unable to log in or may experience problems in Realms, servers, or multiplayer sessions. This issue is also affecting those opening Minecraft from a third-party launcher, such as Prism or Curseforge.

At the time of writing, nothing has been posted from the official Mojang Support X account. We'll continue to monitor the problem.

Bandai Namco's Tekken team has had several high-profile departures over the past year. First was assistant director Yohei Shimbori in August of 2025, followed by Executive Director and the "face of Tekken" Katsuhiro Harada--who recently revealed his new studio in partnership with SNK. Today, another Tekken developer and fighting-game veteran has officially announced his departure.

Kohei Ikeda, known among fans under the moniker "Nakatsu," has worked at Bandai Namco for over 20 years--primarily on the Tekken series but also contributing to games like Soulcalibur IV and the Project X Zone titles. He served as both game director and chief producer on Tekken 8. But that tenure appears to be ending, as he announced in a post on X, in both English and Japanese, that he is leaving after two decades with the company.

https://twitter.com/nkt_dreamer/status/2061296807259595212?s=20

"Becoming part of the company I had always admired--[Bandai] Namco--was truly a dream come true," he wrote. "Dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly to game development together remains one of the most cherished experiences of my life."

While Nakatsu didn't give a definitive reason for leaving the company, it does not mark the end of his career in games development as he also said he will "continue to take on new challenges" in the field.

While Tekken 8 has been a sales success for Bandai Namco Games--and it's getting plenty of future DLC support, including the recently-announced Yujiro Hanma guest character--there's also been a lot of controversy surrounding the gameplay direction from longtime players. With Ikeda's departure, there's sure to be a lot of speculation on who will step up to assume his mantle, and where the future of the Tekken series will be headed.

During today's Minecraft Live broadcast, Mojang dropped some small teasers about a new biome coming to the blocky sandbox game this fall.

While the next Minecraft update, Chaos Cubed, is officially set for release on June 16, this fall sees the arrival of the Dappled Forest--a cozy red, green, and yellow forest environment that houses some new structures, new Poplar trees, and by extension, the Poplar wood blocks to construct with.

Minecraft's new Dappled Forest biome.

Those structures, known as Abandoned Camps, are, well, abandoned camps. When you stumble across one of these in the wild there'll be a handful of chests left behind by former explorers with some goodies inside.

Mojang didn't mention what the rarity of those goodies might be, but with other forest structures, like the Woodland Mansions, you can often find diamond gear, rare music tracks, the Vex armor trim, and enchanted apples--all pretty sought-after stuff.

An Abandoned Camp in the Dappled Forest.

The drop will be focused on playing with friends, and given that Mojang recently added a direct peer-to-peer connection to its Java Snapshots feature, before removing it a few short days later, it seems likely this feature will be implemented in the fall drop. Mojang also says that the drop will focus on exploration and adventure, although it didn't go into more detail on what that means.

If you're already deep in the Minecraft, well, mines, check out our Minecraft guides hub for everything you need to know.

This year’s annual Call of Duty release--Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 4--is set to arrive in just a few months. But according to a new report, Modern Warfare 4 may give players the chance to start the campaign during an early-access release period.

Well-known CoD leak and news site CharlieIntel shared a screenshot of a “Campaign Early Access” pass on Xbox, which appears to be one of several packs available for installation. However, there's no mention of that pass on Modern Warfare 4’s official store page on Xbox. Instead, the store states that players who preorder the digital version will get early access to the open beta. It wouldn't be the first time campaign early access has been available for a Call of Duty game, however--Modern Warfare 2 had a similar program back in 2022, for instance. 

https://twitter.com/charlieINTEL/status/2060080572177731642

The details about Modern Warfare 4 have only begun to come out, but developer Infinity Ward is aiming to put players back into the shoes of ordinary soldiers rather than the larger-than-life action heroes from some of the more recent games. Infinity Ward has also laid out some key improvements and quality-of-life adjustments for MW4, including movement and gunplay. Black Ops 7’s omnimovement is being dropped from MW4. The Prestige system is also getting a big change.

Some of the announced cast members for MW4 include Shrinking’s Luke Tennie and The Last of Us’ Young Mazino in leading roles as Lieutenant Wet and Private Park, respectively. The game will also feature supporting performances by Prisca Kim, Lanny Joon, William Lipton, and Barry Sloane, who will reprise his role as Price.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will be released on Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 23. Preorders are already live, and unlike Black Ops 7, MW4 will not be a day-one release on Game Pass. Infinity Ward has also assured players that MW4 runs smoothly on Switch 2.

All Call of Duty Games In Order View Images

James Bond has been a cultural staple for decades, and with his latest adventure--the 007 First Light game--the super-spy gets to wear a variety of suave and sophisticated outfits. Some of these are quite similar to the clothing Bond wears in the film series, dating back to his earliest appearances with Sean Connery, and GameSpot put together a compilation to show off a few examples.

https://twitter.com/GameSpot/status/2060047300689350813

As you would expect, the classic tuxedo, appropriately named "Classic Tuxedo" in-game, makes an appearance, and looks almost identical to the tuxedo Connery wore in the franchise's early days. The "Day of the Dead" outfit will be recognizable to anyone who saw Daniel Craig's Spectre.

The "Observant Spy" outfit, meanwhile, bears a striking resemblance to a coat Roger Moore wore when he was on his very long run as James Bond, and the "Espresso Command" outfit closely matches a suit worn by Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan's legacy in video games perhaps stands above some of the other Bond actors, as it's his portrayal that was used for the N64's GoldenEye in 1997.

Regardless of the outfit you choose to wear, 007 First Light is a fantastic super-spy simulator that blends Bond's signature charm and improvisation with the open-ended design of developer IO Interactive's Hitman games. In our 007 First Light review, Mark Delaney said, "007 First Light wisely repurposes what works in both universes but isn't afraid to reimagine or ditch those parts that don't."

The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red is collaborating with Saudi Arabia-owned game developer Scopely for a new mobile game, but it's not releasing soon.

During CD Projekt's latest earnings briefing, joint-CEO Michał Nowakowski was asked for an update on how the mysterious project--which is a game based on a CD Projekt franchise--is coming together. The executive said the game is "definitely not" coming out this year.

Nowakowski said the nature of game development is ongoing iteration, and this takes time.

"We've been previously suggesting that this would take some time. Scopely
and their team are very iterative, and they work very fast and very hard, but it’s more about iteration and reaching a certain level of satisfaction that is felt on both side--them and us--so things are happening, but, once again, it’s definitely not a story for 2026."

CD Projekt announced its partnership with Scopely in March 2025, saying at the time that the game was based on one of CD Projekt’s franchises. This came after CD Projekt said it was considering a Cyberpunk mobile game.

Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games bought Scopely in 2023 for $4.9 billion–that is the No. 8 biggest gaming acquisition of all time.

Scopely is one of the biggest mobile game companies on the planet. The company reached a new stratosphere of success with Monopoly Go. Scopely also now owns Pokemon Go.

In 2024, CD Projekt said it was considering the possibility of making The Witcher and/or Cyberpunk mobile games. The company does have experience with the mobile market, as Gwent: The Witcher Card Game received mobile ports, though support for the title ended in October 2023. Another Witcher mobile game, the Pokemon Go-inspired The Witcher: Monster Slayer, released in July 2021 but shut down nearly two years later in 2023.

Diablo 4 players looking for even more of a challenge will be able to create Solo-Self-Found characters starting in Season 14.

Developer Blizzard revealed Diablo 4's Solo-Self-Found (or SSF) mode as part of its Season 14 public test realm patch notes, offering the first details on all the new seasonal mechanics, item reworks, and balance changes coming to the ARPG for its upcoming season.

For those not in the know, SSF is a mode that's gained popularity over the years in the ARPG community across different games. It forces players to play solo, disabling the ability to team up with others to tackle more difficult challenges. More importantly, it also restricts players to only using gear they find themselves. That means no trading with other players or using an in-game auction house to buy better gear. 

In Diablo 4's case, SSF characters will be seasonal-only, and won't be able to join parties or trade with others. Stashes, currencies, and Paragon points will be shared only with other SSF characters on the same account. Additionally, SSF characters won't have access to the game's free trial, couch co-op on consoles, or multiplayer-focused Dark Citadel activity. SSF characters will be locked into the mode for the duration of the season. Once the season ends, they will revert into normal characters that can group and trade as usual. 

A look a SSF character creation in Diablo 4.

Those hoping for some kind of benefit to rolling a SSF character, such as increased rewards or better item drop rates (as is the case in some other ARPGs like Last Epoch) to make up for the fact that trading is disabled are out of luck. There will be no real benefit to playing Solo Self Found, other than access to SSF-only Tower leaderboards. And bragging rights, of course.

SSF is just one major shakeup coming as part of Diablo 4 Season 14. In addition to the return of Riftwalkers as a seasonal mechanic and a new Lair Boss, Season 14 will also controversially overhaul how Diablo 4's Mythic Uniques work. Instead of Mythics being the best items in the game as they currently are, any Ancestral Unique item will instead have a chance to roll as Mythic quality, though this change also means Mythic Uniques will now have largely random affixes.

Season 14 will bring major changes to some of Diablo 4's most powerful builds as well. One trick allowing players to become practically immortal is being nerfed, for example, while some popular builds, like Companion Druids, are also being brought down a peg.

Diablo 4 Season 14's PTR will run June 2-9, allowing players to get a taste of the new season and all its changes (and offer feedback to Blizzard) before it officially kicks off June 30. 

Games Like Diablo To Loot Your Way Through In 2026 View Images

Diablo 4 Season 14 will dramatically reimagine how Mythic Uniques work, and it's a change that doesn't seem to be sitting well with many in the game's community.

Since Diablo 4's launch, a handful of Mythic Uniques have been the best, and rarest, items in the entire game, with nearly every maxed-out endgame build wanting to use at least one (or likely several) if possible. Not every Mythic Unique currently in Diablo 4 is a winner, but finding or crafting items like The Grandfather, Heir of Perdition, and Harlequin Crest have always been a surefire way to gain an incredible amount of power. That was, in part, because these items had guaranteed stats and affixes. In a game of random loot, Mythic Uniques were set in stone, letting players build around them with confidence.

A look at some of Diablo 4 Season 14's Unique items as Mythics.

That's changing in Diablo 4 Season 14. As revealed in the public test realm patch notes for Diablo 4's next season, Mythic Uniques will go from best items in the game to simply a "modifiable item quality," according to Blizzard. Every Ancestral Unique item in the game (of which there are over 100) will have a chance to drop as a "Mythic" Unique. Existing Mythic Uniques are now becoming regular Uniques with drastically reduced power. On top of that, just like Uniques in the game's Lord of Hatred expansion, Mythic Uniques will have mostly random stats and affixes.

In Season 14, a Mythic Unique simply means that a particular Unique item has rolled with max stat values and the potency of its special power increased by 30%. Regular Uniques can be crafted into Mythic Uniques using the Horadric Cube, though Blizzard notes players will only be able to equip one crafted Mythic Unique at a time. Players can additionally use the cube to re-roll affixes on Unique items before potentially turning them into Mythic Uniques, giving at least some control over the randomness.

It's a massively controversial change, in more ways than one. Players have already voiced their displeasure with the RNG added to regular Unique items as part of Lord of Hatred, which once upon a time also had set stats. Now Uniques can roll with completely unwanted affixes, making the hunt for a usable one much more time-consuming. Blizzard appears to be doubling down on the already unpopular idea and proposing that exact change to Mythic Uniques too. Whereas before seeing a purple item drop on the ground would cause a rush of excitement, there will now be a good chance it will be practically worthless if it doesn't have the right stats.

Players are already arguing about the pros and cons of the change on places like Diablo 4 subreddit. While there are some players who like the changes and argue Mythic Uniques will be even stronger with the addition of being able to re-roll affixes with the cube, many don't see the point and sound frustrated by yet another layer of RNG.

https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo4/comments/1tqhe42/mythic_uniques_no_longer_mythic/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

"I'm not looking for constant RNG within my RNG," user VagueSomething writes. "Uniques and especially Mythics need some consistency to stats or they're not worth mixing into your build. I'm already gambling if they'll drop and now I'm gambling if they will drop in a usable state."

But not everyone agrees. User StrikingSpare100, in a post diving into the details of the changes and arguing why it's an improvement, is a fan of the changes. What were once Mythic Uniques will now drop far more frequently, with players having the option to craft them into even more powerful Mythic versions than existed previously. 

"Personally I like this much more than [the] current situation of Mythic Unique," they write. "70% of them are utter trash, and the rest are mandatory [items] that exist on every single build."

https://www.reddit.com/r/diablo4/comments/1tqpg3e/the_changes_to_mythic_uniques_are_vastly/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Blizzard hasn't yet fully explained its reasoning for the change or whether or not it will be a permanent addition to Diablo 4 or is just in place for Season 14. It's possible the developer thinks this change will increase build variety and give players more options--something the community is always wanting to see more of. But if a greater variety of builds comes with the cost of far more work and hours of slogging through bad drops, it might not be a good trade. 

The Diablo 4 Season 14 PTR will run from June 2-9, so perhaps player feedback will see Blizzard divert course on the Mythic Unique changes before the season's launch on June 30.

Games Like Diablo To Loot Your Way Through In 2026 View Images

The upcoming Xbox Games Showcase on June 7 will not feature announcements about the Project Helix console. Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty said on the latest Xbox Podcast that Microsoft also won't share much about the company's broad strategy plans for its future under the leadership of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Instead, the Xbox Games Showcase will be all about games .

"We really want to focus on the teams and on the games. This is not going to be a place where we talk about strategy broadly. There are certainly some strategic things out there and some things we want to bring clarity to. But the focus here is on the games," he said. "For the long term, we want to make the right decisions, not fast decisions. There won't be Helix news. Helix will not be in this showcase. We want to get everything about that right."

Booty said Xbox will provide answers to "broader strategic questions" and the Helix console at some point later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwYglyND1EA&rco=1

The Xbox Games Showcase takes place on Sunday, June 7, with an Xbox Direct event immediately following that will focus on Gears of War: E-Day.

One of the games confirmed for the Xbox Games Showcase is the Fable reboot, which has been delayed to February 2027. Booty said Microsoft will have "some really cool stuff to show for Fable" at the showcase.

Fable was going to be developer Playground's second big release for 2026, following the successful launch of Forza Horizon 6. Another big game that Microsoft has on tap for 2026 is Halo: Campaign Evolved, which will bring the Halo series to PlayStation for the first time.

Fable has officially been delayed to February 2027, Xbox has confirmed. Originally scheduled to release in late 2026, the next game from Forza Horizon 6 developer Playground Games has instead been shifted to Q1 2027. Talking about the delay, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty explained that while Xbox is confident with how Fable is shaping up, it wants to give the game a "window" to shine all on its own.

"We're excited about where the game is. We want to make sure that the game has a window of its own, so we are going to move it from this fall to February," Booty said in the Xbox podcast.

While he didn't outright mention it, Booty's comments do suggest that Microsoft wants to avoid competing with Grand Theft Auto 6, which launches on November 19. Fable originally had a nebulous release date of Fall 2026, but signs of a possible delay cropped up earlier this year when Playground stopped signing off messages to fans with a Fall 2026 release date at the end.

https://youtu.be/BwYglyND1EA

"In order to plan our game launches through the holidays, in a way that works best for players, we’re moving Fable to February 2027 so it can have the dedicated moment it deserves," Xbox added in a social media post.

Fable steering clear of GTA 6--which Booty described as one of the "biggest entertainment moments" of the year--makes sense when you also factor in Xbox's tentpole game for the year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Launching on October 22, Modern Warfare 4 should have enough breathing room to avoid direct competition with GTA 6, and the game is only coming to Xbox Game Pass a year after launch. Call of Duty games are usually one of the best sellers of the year, but last year's Black Ops 7 was the worst-performing Call of Duty game since 2008.

Microsoft hasn't revealed concrete dates yet for Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day, but it's likely that more details on those games will be revealed at next month's Xbox June Showcase.

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Call of Duty's latest video "From The Ward" is a documentary showing a behind-the-scenes look at Infinity Ward's development of Modern Warfare 4, and one scene could be teasing a first look at the game's DMZ map.

DMZ was originally introduced with the reboot of Modern Warfare 2, bringing the elements of an extraction shooter to Call of Duty as the game's third mode. DMZ also took place on the same maps used for Warzone, so it's possible the map image shown below will be used for both modes in Modern Warfare 4.

Zooming in on the right side of the developer's monitor reveals a map highlighted with various levels of difficulty or "heat zones," similar to what we've seen in the past with DMZ, MWZ, and even Black Ops 7's sandbox-style Endgame mode. The map is seemingly codenamed as "Tumen." The design features way less water than Endgame's Avalon map, but it's hard to determine how big this map will be in comparison.

We've learned about Modern Warfare 4's multiplayer and campaign, but Activision is saving DMZ's full reveal for June 7. So far, the publisher has described DMZ as having "changing weather, dynamic military objectives, and hostile forces."

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. Unfortunately, this means the old generation of consoles are losing support, and Warzone will also no longer be playable on PS4 and Xbox One after the start of the game's first season.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 preorders are live now, and Activision has also confirmed a "Loyalty" discount that allows players to get 10% off the game's Vault edition. Unfortunately, due to Xbox's recent changes to Game Pass, Modern Warfare 4 will not be available for subscribers on launch day.

The Witcher 3's upcoming expansion, Songs of the Past, was originally targeted to release this year, but developer CD Projekt Red pushed it to 2027. During an earnings call, CD Projekt's joint-CEO Michal Nowakowski said there was a "moment" when the Polish studio envisioned releasing Songs of the Past in 2026, but it was decided that shifting to 2027 would allow for "the best possible result."

"We had a moment where our plans assumed that Songs of the Past would be released this year, but we decided, together with the dev team, that the game would be released in 2027 to achieve the best possible result from the consumers’ standpoint, which, in the end, is the ultimate thing that matters," he said.

Another CD Projekt executive, Piotr Nielubowicz, said while Songs of the Past shifted to 2027, the company still has other unannounced projects coming this year. "We have some other content currently at an advanced production phase--and while obviously not on the same scale as the expansion, we still plan to release it this year," he said.

Songs of the Past is an expansion--don't call it DLC--that has players suiting up as Geralt of Rivia once more on a new adventure. Not much is known about the story and the content, but during a recent livestream, social media manager Laura Beitzel said the expansion will be "aligned with" The Witcher 3's previous expansions, Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone, in terms of size and scope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4asecMMnP4E

Fans have theorized that Songs of the Past will connect in some way to The Witcher 4. One leading theory is that the new sword seen in the key art for Songs of the Past will eventually go to Ciri, the main character in The Witcher 4.  That remains to be seen, but community manager Amelia Korzycka said during the stream that the new sword is "very important" for the story. 

"You will get to know it when the game comes out,” Korzycka said, as reported by Kotaku.

During the earnings call, Nielubowicz said Songs of the Past can be considered a "prologue" to The Witcher 4. "Not in verbatim way, but a prologue to the actual Witcher 4" in that it's coming out before The Witcher 4.

"The core thing from our perspective is delivering a high-quality
experience to existing fans of The Witcher," he said.

More details about Songs of the Past will be announced at Gamescom in August. In other news, The Witcher 3 has now eclipsed 65 million units sold, moving it further up the list of best-selling games of all time.

Call of Duty fans have the same several questions every time a new entry is revealed, and one fairly contentious one involves the inclusion of crossover skins that break away from the franchise’s milsim aesthetic. If we take the word of Modern Warfare 4 developer Infinity Ward, the upcoming game will commit to authenticity.

Emphasizing that "every aspect" of Modern Warfare 4 is "anchored in the game's narrative," an X post from Infinity Ward reads: "Every feature, every decision needs to feel authentic to what Modern Warfare is, and that includes cosmetics and collabs. We're committed to keeping it grounded and transparent, and we want to hear from you on what you'd like to see in our game." 

In response to an X post lamenting the infamous Nicki Minaj skin in Modern Warfare 2, the Infinity Ward account replied: "Nah, no Nicki," before asking the user what they wanted to see in the game. When a different user replied (presumably jokingly) with a request for Beavis and Butthead (who showed up in Black Ops 6), the Infinity Ward account simply retorted: "Nope!"

https://twitter.com/InfinityWard/status/2060108836116349291?s=20

Of course, fans will recall that Activision made the same promise with last year’s Call of Duty entry, Black Ops 7. Developers Treyarch and Raven Software went back on their planned feature to carry over Black Ops 6 skins to 7, saying that "Black Ops 7 needs to feel authentic to Call of Duty and its setting."

It took only months for Black Ops 7 to incorporate a crossover severely out of place from the game’s futuristic battleground, with content based on the film Half-Baked and a skin modeled after noted transphobe Dave Chappelle.
From what we’ve seen of Modern Warfare 4 so far, it certainly looks like a gritty, grounded milsim. The game, set to launch on October 23, could very well change with updates and post-release content, but it’ll at least sport several improvements to the Modern Warfare formula.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 brings back the popular and fan-favorite character Captain Price, played by Barry Sloane, but for the events of MW4, he's a changed man.

Spoilers for the Modern Warfare series follow below.

At the end of the campaign for 2023's Modern Warfare 3, Price kills General Shepherd, and that's something that Price "can't really come back from," according to MW4 narrative director Jeff Negus. He said in an Xbox Wire interview that Price in MW4 will be "a different version" of the character based on his choice to murder Shepherd in MW3. 

"We get to forge a new path for him, and see what happens when he’s now in different conflicts --how does this version of Price resolve that conflict?" Negus said.

MW4's campaign follows multiple storylines, one being a group of young South Korean soldiers and the other following "a vengeful Captain Price" who is waging a "personal war from the shadows as he stays one step ahead of those hunting him." Eventually, the two stories will connect. "As Price's off-book mission collides with the forces behind the invasion, the war spreads beyond anyone's control," reads a line from MW4's story description.

The MW4 story description goes on to describe Price as an "operator-turned-outlaw" who is now working "outside the system he once served." 

"A hunt for revenge draws Price toward a weapon powerful enough to shift the balance of power, setting in motion a conflict far greater than he ever anticipated," the game's description continues. "Forced into uneasy alliances and illicit operations, Price is pulled deeper into consequences he can no longer escape."

MW4 launches on October 23 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's also coming to Nintendo Switch 2 at launch, with Activision's Digital Legends studio building the game's native edition for Switch 2.

Video game developers love to leave Easter eggs behind for longtime fans, and in 007 First Light, IO Interactive has resurrected one of its oldest jokes. Dating all the way back to 2006's Hitman: Blood Money, IO has regularly slipped in an inside joke revolving around Allan and his inability to add details to in-game assets. The tradition is alive and well in 007 First Light, cementing Allan's post-it note legacy.

Image credit: David Smith

During the 007 First Light campaign, you'll be tasked with searching through rogue MI6 agent 009's stash. Stare at the wall covered in post-it notes, and you'll see several pieces of paper with a polite reminder for Allan to add in some details. This joke and the line "Allan please add details" first surfaced in Blood Money, and could be found in a kitchen crate holding a lobster. In the HD version of Blood Money, the line was changed to "Any details yet, Allan?" and it would resurface in Hitman 2016.

A note with the familiar message was stuck on a computer monitor, and the phrase was also seen briefly in a trailer for the game. The official Hitman website also referenced the joke, this time with a plea for Allan to add some placeholder text.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingDetails/comments/ayrn04/hitman_series_theres_a_running_joke_about_the/

So who is Allan? That's one of the long-running mysteries in Hitman, with one of the theories revolving around two possible leads. As Reddit sleuths have discovered, Hitman: Blood Money lists two Allans, Hansen and Merrild. Merrild worked on Hitman: Blood Money and Absolution, while Hansen was an artist who worked on every Hitman game through 2012, with Absolution being his final job in the series. A poster for a street magician by the name of Allan Hansen could also be found in Hitman: Blood Money, possibly indicating that IO Interactive is continuing to honor the artist.

In other 007 First Light news, the game is off to a strong start and is IO Interactive's fastest-selling game to date. The studio confirmed that it reached 1.5 million sales in just 24 hours, and 007 First Light reviews have been very positive so far.

007 First Light: Meet The Celebrity Cast Of The New James Bond Game View Images

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's cast of actors is coming into focus, with Luke Tennie from the beloved Apple TV show Shrinking taking on a leading role and Beef and The Last of Us actor Young Mazino in the main role of Private Park.

Other actors with roles in the game include Prisca Kim (Beef, Loot), Lanny Joon (Baby Driver, Hollywood Wasteland), William Lipton (General Hospital), and Barry Sloane returning as Price. Variety confirmed the general casting details, and Resonate confirmed Mazino will play Park.

Tennie plays the character Lieutenant West in Modern Warfare 4. Posting on Instagram, Tennie said, "Pretty sure I made lifelong friends working on this."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V6Y591Zrkg

Tennie plays Sean on Shrinking, and he's coming back to reprise the role for the upcoming fourth season, which features a time jump and a totally new story.

In addition to Tennie as Lieutenant West, MW4 features María Elisa Camargo reprising her role as Valeria. We aren't totally sure who Kim, Joon, and Lipton are playing, however.

Mazino, for his part, is known for playing Jesse on HBO's The Last of Us, so this is not the first time he's involved with a video game project.

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Modern Warfare 4 releases on October 23, which is about a month before GTA 6 arrives. The new Call of Duty game is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, as well as Switch 2. For more, check out GameSpot's hands-on preview of MW4.

Infinity Ward is bringing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 to Nintendo Switch 2, and that's a big deal since the CoD franchise hasn't been on a Nintendo platform since 2013. Infinity Ward co-studio head Jack O'Hara discussed the process of bringing MW4 to Switch 2 with a native version, saying it's been "so smooth." This came after former Xbox boss Phil Spencer said there was "definitely" work that needed to be done to get Call of Duty running on Switch. 

"The game got up and running on the platform really quickly once we got the hardware. So far it's been really good. To be honest, it's been really fun to be on a new platform," O'Hara told GamesRadar about bringing MW4 to Switch 2.

Also in the interview, O'Hara confirmed that cross-play between Switch 2 and the other console platforms and PC is currently supported, but, "We'll see at launch exactly where the mix ends up."

The Switch 2 is a relatively less powerful console than the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but it remains to be seen what concessions the Nintendo console version will have.

Microsoft, which owns Activision and the Call of Duty franchise, first confirmed plans to bring Call of Duty to Switch in 2023 as a means to appease regulators and get its blockbuster deal for Activision across the line. At the time, Microsoft pledged that Call of Duty releases on Switch would arrive "the same day as Xbox, with full features and content parity."

The last time a Call of Duty game came to a Nintendo platform was in 2013 with the Wii U edition of Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Ghosts. 

MW4 is launching on October 23 for Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It is not coming to PS4 and Xbox One. Preorders are open now, but not on Switch 2. Activision has also confirmed a "Loyalty" discount for MW4 that allows people to get 10% off the game's Vault edition.