Streaming might be the new standard for watching movies at home, but nothing beats a physical film collection. If you're looking to stock up your Blu-ray library, Amazon is running a limited-time promotion ahead of Prime Day that lets you bundle three 4K Blu-rays for just $11 each, which adds up to $33 total. That's a pretty good deal considering most Blu-rays normally cost around $20. To get the deal, add three (or more) eligible 4K Blu-rays to your cart, and the discount will automatically kick in before check out.

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So what's worth picking up in the sale? If you're feeling lucky, Dirty Harry is still considered an all-time great, or for something goofier, National Lampoon's Animal House and Vacation are comedy classics. Throw in Smokey and the Bandit, and you'll be eastbound and down for some great entertainment.

On the modern side of cinema, we also recommend 1917 for a gripping war movie, while the 2021 Candyman is a spine-chilling update of the original horror film, and Sherlock Holmes for Robert Downey Jr.'s memorable turn on the classic detective.

Those are just a few of the dozens of 4K Blu-rays eligible for Amazon's promotion, so we've picked out a few more of our favorites in the list below. You can also browse the full sale to see everything on offer.

Amazon 4K Blu-ray Sale:

Bundle three eligble 4K Blu-rays for just $33

• 8 Mile -- $11 ($17.10)
• 1917 -- $11 ($15)
• ET: The Extra-terrestrial - 40th Anniversary Edition -- $11 ($14)
• Backdraft -- $11 ($13)
• Batman Forever -- $11 ($13)
• Batman: Mask of the Phantasm -- $11 ($17)
• The Big Lebowski - 20th Anniversary Edition -- $11 ($13)
• Candyman (2021) -- $11 ($19)
• Casino -- $11 ($13)
• Dirty Harry -- $11 ($20)
• Dune -- $11 ($15.32)
• ET: The Extra-terrestrial - 40th Anniversary Edition -- $11 ($14)
• Fast X: Collector's Edition -- $11 ($17.63)
• Godzilla -- $11 ($17.15)
• Howard the Duck -- $11 ($14)
• National Lampoon's Animal House -- $11 ($15)
• National Lampoon's Vacation -- $11 ($14.79)
• Sherlock Holmes -- $11 ($13)
• Smokey and the Bandit -- $11 ($15)
• Smokin' Aces -- $11 ($19)
• Waterworld -- $11 ($15)

3 for $33 Movies on 4K Blu-ray

Get popular movies on 4K for only $11 each while supplies last.

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Microsoft's next big game is Halo: Campaign Evolved, which launches at the end of July for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Ahead of that, Microsoft has published the official release times for the game, which begins with early access on July 23.

Read on to find out exactly when Halo: Campaign Evolved release where you live. The game is having a global launch, Microsoft said, which suggests the game will arrive in all regions at the same time.

Halo: Campaign Evolved early access release times

July 23

• 8 AM PT
• 11 AM ET
• 4 PM GMT

July 24

• 12 AM JST
• 1 AM AEST
• 3 AM NZST

Halo: Campaign Evolved global release times

July 28

• 8 AM PT
• 11 AM ET
• 4 PM GMT

July 29

• 12 AM JST
• 1 AM AEST
• 3 AM NZST

To get the five days of early access, people need to buy the game's $70 Premium edition or the $200 collector's edition--however, the CE is currently sold out.

There is no word yet on preloading or the file size for Halo: Campaign Evolved, but keep checking back with GameSpot for more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPrm70EK2f0

Halo: Campaign Evolved is a remake of the 2001 original Halo: Combat Evolved, and it's releasing this year for the franchise's 25th anniversary. It's coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC, as well as PlayStation 5, marking the franchise's debut on a PlayStation platform after more than two decades of exclusivity on Xbox.

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In addition to better graphics and updated features, Halo: Campaign Evolved includes Operation: Meteorite, which is a set of three prequel missions. For more, check out GameSpot's Halo: Campaign Evolved buying guide.

Craig Duncan, the head of Xbox Game Studios, is leaving the company after 15 years at Microsoft, and so is his chief of staff. The changes come ahead of reported layoffs and possible studio closures at Xbox under the leadership of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who has vowed to "reset" the Xbox business.

Duncan was the longtime studio head at Sea of Thieves developer Rare before he got promoted to overall Head of Xbox Game Studios in November 2024. He took over that position from Matt Booty, who was himself promoted to executive vice president and chief content officer at Xbox.

Prior to his tenure at Xbox, Duncan was a development manager and director of product development for Codemasters. He also worked on the executive team at Midway Games until its closure in 2009. He then went to Sumo Digital before starting at Rare in 2011.

Duncan's departure from Xbox came just 48 hours after he posted on LinkedIn about how excited he was about the future of Xbox Games Studios and its many upcoming projects.

Additionally, Xbox Game Studios chief of staff Louise O'Connor is on the way out from Xbox. She had been with Rare since 1999, starting there as an animator before working up to Head of Animation and then Art Director. She became chief of staff for Xbox Game Studios in August 2025.

In a memo to staff obtained by The Game Business, Duncan said, "I’m proud to say we delivered many flawless launches that drove business success for the company." Addressing O'Connor, Duncan said she "consistently championed the craft and supported our studios with clarity and care."

Just recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked about how Xbox has been struggling for some time and that it is imperative that Microsoft finds a way to "turn [Xbox] into a sustainable business."

In other Xbox news, it was recently reported that Microsoft could spin off Xbox and accelerate the development of the next Halo and Fallout games.

We're halfway through 2026, and so far, Capcom is on a roll. Resident Evil: Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, and Pragmata have all been hit games, while other titles like Street Fighter 6 continue to do well with post-launch content. So what's Capcom's secret? According to the company itself, having a team-first mentality instead of auteur-driven games is one of its keys to success.

"In the game industry, when a title becomes a series, it often ends up depending heavily on a particular developer, becoming what you'd call an individual-driven title," COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto and Capcom founder Kenzo Tsujimoto said to Famitsu (via Automaton). "If that person doesn't make one, there's no next installment. The direction of the series becomes tied to the ideas of a single creator," Tsujimoto said.

According to the COO, this was the case for many years at Capcom, but as it started to examine its responsibilities to its shareholders, things began to change for the company. After talking to central figures behind its franchises, Capcom abandoned individual-driven development in favor of team-driven projects. "What we came up with instead was the idea that every title should essentially be rebuilt from the ground up. We didn't mind even if sales temporarily declined as a result, and by switching to a team-based approach to game development, Capcom changed dramatically," Tsujimoto added.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjm4G7s-ELI

Capcom had a long history with its games having big names behind them, like Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry), Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil), and Hideaki Itsuno (Dragon's Dogma). The Capcom renaissance--which is largely considered to have started when Resident Evil 7 was released in 2017--has seen the company move forward with this shift toward team-driven games. 

The risk with creator-driven games is that not every title is guaranteed to be a hit, with notable examples being Peter Molyneux's Godus or Tomonobu Itagaki's Devil's Third. Recently, former Yakuza game series director Toshihiro Nagoshi appears to have run into trouble at his self-named studio, Nagoshi Studio. Reports of publisher NetEase pulling financial backing and the studio's YouTube channel vanishing-then-reappearing quietly emerged in May, and since then, it has been nothing but radio silence for Gang of Dragon.

Meanwhile, gaming's most-famous auteur, Hideo Kojima, is as busy as ever with various game projects and dismissing rumors of there being trouble in paradise with his longtime pal, Geoff Keighley.

While the new Xbox leadership team under CEO Asha Sharma has been on a charm offensive lately--while also promising a "reset" for the division that suggests layoffs are on the way--Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella got down to brass tacks recently. During a panel at the New York Times Hard Fork event, Nadella spoke about how Xbox will have to find a way to become more profitable as it enters a new era.

"No one can accuse Microsoft of not having invested for the last 25 years," Nadella said. "And now we have to turn this into a sustainable business that delivers what is fundamentally one of the best sources of entertainment. The challenge we have is that we've not been monetizing that entertainment. In fact, if anything, we've been subsidizing that entertainment. There's more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at Microsoft.

"And so that doesn't mean we go do things that are unnatural. We want us to do what is really our job, which is to build great games, build great hardware, but we've got to do it in an economically sustainable way. I think Asha is really, 100 days in, and she put out a post saying in the next 100 days, she's going to take a fresh look and make sure we deliver on what our fans expect of us both on the hardware side or on the publishing side."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqEZyHkXgh0&t=276s

With gaming consoles and hardware experiencing a major spike in prices due to various global factors and hardware shortages, partly driven by the rampant investment in AI technologies, Nadella also remarked how Microsoft will have to find a way to "deliver the games in which it is economically relevant" to customers, although the Microsoft CEO didn't have a solution for the dilemma.

Recently, Sharma confirmed that Xbox's accountability margins only amount to a 3% profit, which isn't exactly great considering how Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in acquiring studios and publishers over the last couple of years. The return on investment is not looking good, especially when games are becoming more expensive and are sold to a much smaller playerbase when compared to the PS5 and Nintendo Switch, while recent Game Pass price hikes saw millions of people cancel their memberships.

So what are Microsoft's options to extract more profit from Xbox? One report claims that Xbox could be spun off into a separate company or a "wholly owned subsidiary" that would no longer operate as a Microsoft division. Microsoft is also said to be planning to increase investment in its biggest Xbox franchises--like Halo, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout--and speed up development on new titles.

The Best Xbox Game Pass Games In 2026 View Images

In an announcement that is sure to unsettle players but please investors, Electronic Arts has announced a new program to bring in-game ads to its games in ways that EA claims won't "disrupt" the player experience.

EA Advertising, as it's called, is a new platform that EA says advertisers can use to reach EA's network of 120 million monthly players. That's indeed a massive scale, and some people in the video game industry have been surprised that this kind of program hasn't happened sooner given how much money there is to potentially be made. Recently, Xbox's chief strategy officer Matthew Ball talked about advertising in gaming, while a former BioWare boss said product placement could help improve the viability and sustainability of gaming. Not everyone agrees, of course, as there has been significant player pushback to the idea of in-game ads, and one top executive, Strauss Zelnick of Take-Two, has said in-game ads for full-price games are not fair to the consumer.

For EA Advertising, it's coming at a time when EA is trying to sell itself to an investor consortium led by Saudi Arabia for $55 billion. This is a leveraged buyout--the biggest LBO in history--and it comes with significant debt. Given that, people are expecting major cuts at EA and new revenue streams, like EA Advertising, to help service the debt.

An example of an ad already in EA's FC series.

EA, of course, has tried in-game advertising before (as have other companies). When pause-screen ads came to EA Sports UFC 4, players revolted, and EA cut the program swiftly. Years earlier, EA announced in-game ads for Battlefield 2142, Need for Speed Carbon, Madden 08, Skate, and others--EA has been on a mission to bring more in-game ads to games for decades.

EA Advertising is the company's latest attempt at the market, but it's also not exactly new, as plenty of EA games already feature in-game ads. EA Advertising is the new banner under which this program will operate and potentially expand.

EA said brands will be able to "integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements, from stadium signage to custom in-game content, designed to enhance, not disrupt, the player experience."

EA went on: "In these interactive gameplay environments, brands become part of the game itself, reflecting how players engage with advertising in real-world contexts. Brands can activate across live environments, tailoring placements to meet campaign objectives, and update campaigns with ongoing optimization informed by aggregated engagement insights."

EA is selling multiple types of ads as part of EA Advertising. This includes brands creating "custom integrations designed for specific games and audiences" through things like in-game challenges, "interactive moments," and vanity items. For EA's sports games, EA said it will sell native ad units for things like digital ad boards, scoreboards, and brand broadcast overlays, not unlike the kind of advertising people see when they watch a sports game on TV.

What's more, EA said it is offering advertisers "advanced targeting" for their ads by way of a new proprietary ad server and SDK. Finally, EA said it's launching an EA Sports Partner Program within EA Advertising for a "select group of official partners" to team up for live events like the Madden Bowl, the annual Madden ratings reveals, and "social play experiences."

Some of the first partners for EA Advertising are Visa, Lowe's Red Bull, Xfinity, Peacock, and Mountain Dew, which are already running ads in EA's catalog of sports games.

Experts tend to agree that the AAA video game business is unhealthy and unsustainable, due in part to rising development costs and prices for new releases generally staying the same. Ball and others have said advertising could be a way to help companies make more money to avoid raising prices. However, there is no reason to believe companies like EA and others would not launching in-game ads while also raising prices to $80 or more, along with a further acceleration of things like DLC, battle passes, and microtransactions.

Dead by Daylight is officially 10 years old, and as well as announcing a ton of upcoming content, Behaviour Interactive is offering a massive 10 million free Bloodpoints for every player to redeem.

The huge giveaway was announced just before the developer's 10-year anniversary stream, surprising players who had predicted that the studio would not be overly generous with anniversary freebies.

https://twitter.com/DeadbyDaylight/status/2066174177900462318

Bloodpoints are one of DBD's various in-game currencies, used to level up characters through the Bloodweb. With the number of Survivors and Killers that have been added since the game first launched--and even more coming soon--the hefty injection of Bloodpoints will be a welcome gift. Players have calculated that the freebie should be enough to add around six Prestige Levels in a character's Bloodweb.

Behaviour has revealed a massive amount of incoming content in its 10th anniversary stream, including new licensed characters, new original characters, visual reworks, a new map, and plenty more. The studio is investing in the 10 year old game for the long haul, warning players not to hold out for a sequel.

Players have until July 16 to redeem their free Bloodpoints using the code DBD10BIRTHDAY. Dead By Daylight is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Dead by Daylight turns 10 years old today, June 14. The asymmetrical horror multiplayer game has been leading the pack since its debut, helping popularize the genre that has grown into a (haunted) cottage industry over the course of that decade. What began as a 4v1 game of horror-movie homages has grown into a horror museum of sorts, playing host to dozens of licensed collaborations with iconic horror staples like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Ringu, and The Walking Dead, as well as many striking original characters. 

Ahead of DBD's anniversary celebration, I caught up with some members of the Behaviour Interactive team to discuss all they've revealed today, which includes things like a new liminal-space map, overhauls to both gameplay and visuals, and a zombie mode. But one thing not in the works, the team told me, is Dead by Daylight 2. 

"We think the answer is 'no,'" executive producer Jose Ramos told me. "Of course, you never say never about anything, but we are confident that the answer is no. [We're] making sure that we're expanding our efforts in order to reinvest in the game where it deserves to have strong investment being done. [We want to] make sure that we have a team that has time to think about DBD, and which doesn't have to run, run, run, because running a live-service game is tough, right? The content cadence, etc.

"So we are making sure that those teams have time to breathe, have time to think, that they can take the time to design properly, and build the technical foundations that are going to offer them more tools and more possibilities. If we were ever to create a DBD 2, it will play differently, for sure. It will be different, it will feel different, and that's not something that we really want--for our players to just lose that feeling of home."

Instead of a sequel, Behaviour Interactive feels it can just keep growing DBD itself, so players never have to start over.

Building on a game now a decade old does come with limitations, but creative director Dave Richard says the team doesn't take DBD's success for granted, and in lieu of a sequel, the team would sooner look to add new game modes to DBD as well as new games within the DBD universe that aren't a sequel. 

"Oh, there's a challenge that comes with it, but we're grateful to have it. It's so precious, so it's not something that's holding us to the ground; it's helping us reach these new places. I would imagine a Dead by Daylight universe game that's not DBD 2, but that is something completely different that can live within this universe rather than doing a sequel," Richard continued. "And then in the Dead by Daylight ecosystem that exists right now, the core game can scale and become multiple other scenarios and multiple other ways to play inside that universe without us having to ever request the players buy DBD again, start from scratch, reinvest their time. We want to respect that, and [DBD's foundation] doesn't stop us from doing anything really."

Behaviour revealed a lot more about its trailblazing horror multiplayer game during a 10th-anniversary stream. You can see everything announced for Dead by Daylight here, as well as learn why DBD has gotten more violent over the years.

Dead by Daylight is now 10 years old and has been played by 70 million players worldwide, making it one of the older and most successful live-service games--and horror games--ever made. It's changed a lot over those years, but one change you may have noticed is in its depictions of violence. 

The game has gotten more graphic over time, the game's creative director Dave Richard explained to me. It's been a conscious decision by the team, and he explained how pop culture's increased interest in horror led to it.

"When we started Dead by Daylight, we wanted to be as accessible as possible. We've talked of other games like Outlast, for example, and you know, [Outlast developer Red Barrels] are our neighbors. We love them, but we wanted DBD to be scary, thrilling, but also accessible to more people, so that subjects that are too disgusting, or too violent, or, you know, too horror, would not be part of Dead by Daylight, so that we get as many people as possible. 

"But today we're revising this level, and we've been doing it through the years, raising the volume a little bit more every year. With the horror renewal and people getting into [ the genre more], it's like, they want more. They're not as sensitive to it than in previous years, and so I think it's part of our normal evolution that we get, more gory, more violent, and you can see that in the [kill animations called] moris, the moris is in the early days [versus] the moris today."

Richard said horror is "more interacted with and celebrated today than it was, you know, 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. As a horror fan, I'm sure you share the feeling. It's just awesome to see, and it's really, really inspiring."

The violence "volume" being turned up suits DBD's future well, as Behaviour has recently revealed a great number of changes coming to the game, including a collab with the Terrifier franchise, which is well known for its especially unflinching violence. You can read about everything new coming to Dead by Daylight, and why there's likely never to be a Dead by Daylight 2.

Dead by Daylight turns 10 years old today, and for its anniversary, the team at Behaviour Interactive has announced a ton of things coming to the game, both in the short and long term. We've rounded up all of those announcements in one place in case you missed the stream, and you can find that stream below, too. Combined with those announcements are additional insights from my recent interview with the team ahead of the anniversary showcase. Here's everything DBD fans need to know about what's coming to the game.

New killers: Jason Voorhees, Art the Clown, and Frank Stone

This one was actually previously announced, but the studio showed off more about Jason, who comes to the game on June 16 as its latest crossover killer. Executive producer Jose Ramos told me in a pre-stream interview that the conversation about finally bringing Jason to DBD "accelerated in the past couple of years," after the license was in limbo due to a well-documented Hollywood legal feud.

Jason's kit includes an ability that lets him quickly phase from one area of the map to another, meant to mimic the slasher's way of almost magically appearing in front of his near-future victims.

Additionally, DBD is crossing over with Terrifier, the ultra-violent indie horror series starring Art the Clown. This collaboration will follow later this year, as the team told me it likes to do four chapters annually, with half of them being licensed crossovers. Look for Art's unforgettable face to pop up in DBD this November.

In 2027, Frank Stone, the killer at the heart of DBD lore and the focus of Supermassive's DBD spin-off game, The Casting of Frank Stone, will also come to the game.

Chorus of Sin, a "community-driven" chapter, is coming on August 25, too.

New survivor: Shane Wiigwaas

DBD is also adding its first indigenous character. That character, Shane, was molded into form thanks to a "very, very precious collab" with a representative of the Anishinaabe tribe who helped Behaviour forge who Shane is "for specifically this community," creative director Dave Richard told me.

Shane will come to the game as part of DBD's next chapter, The Life Road, on June 25.

New map: mall

A new map is coming soon in the form of a mall that appeals to two of the most requested aesthetics players have clamored for. Ramos explained to me how the mall came to be. 

"Every quarter, we run a survey and we open it to the community in game and on social media, and each time we have more than 100,000 respondents. [One] of our questions recently was about our map strategy, like, what are the themes that you would love to see eventually come into the game? And when we did that survey, number one was a mall, that's the one thing they wanted to see. Number two was Backrooms." The mall map is meant to appeal to both those who requested it specifically and those who wanted a liminal-space experience in DBD. Based on my Instagram algorithm, that's a perfectly reasonable fit. 

Though Ramos noted that the map is not a true Backrooms-like maze of shifting, yellow corridors, neither as a collab nor a specific homage, it is meant to capture the vibe of liminal horror much as Backrooms content does. Richard also noted that, though the map is coming soon, it following on the heels of the Backrooms movie is merely a coincidence. 

New collabs and cosmetics

In addition to the two new licensed killers coming to DBD, more cosmetics, including some other licensed crossovers, are on their way. This includes The Walking Dead outfits for the Rick Grimes survivor that will make him look like Glenn or Negan. 

Cheryl from Silent Hill will also get a new look that transforms her into Silent Hill f's Shimizu Hinako, and The Spirit will get a new alternate skin that turns her into a nurse from Silent Hill.

Even more cosmetics will tie into things like Scooby-Doo survivor characters and Diablo clothing options, introducing those series into DBD for the first time, while The Huntress killer will get a new alternate style tied to Iron Maiden. Intriguingly, Ice Nine Kills, a band already represented in the upcoming Halloween game, will get its own cosmetics collection in DBD, too. 

New game modes

Though the team isn't rolling out anything quite yet, it mentioned that a zombie mode is one of several ways DBD may change over time. Since Behaviour has no plans for a Dead by Daylight sequel, it prefers to grow DBD into new experiences over time. Ramos expanded on the team's thinking in this realm.

"We feel like we have barely scratched the surface of what [DBD] can be in terms of experiences, and bringing gameplay innovation, bringing new modes, is actually one of the core things that we want to bring in the future." 

He mentioned a few specifically, like a 1v1 experience and a zombie mode, adding that these experiences are "just the beginning. We want to keep exploring game modes and options. We like the asymmetry, so usually speaking, we like to keep exploring that aspect, but there is so much we can do. So, of course, 4v1 is a staple, and we don't want to put it on the side, or whatever. It is the staple of what we do, and it is a core experience, but bringing in new modes, exploring new things, which potentially could be a good fit with new types of collaborations, as well, absolutely, 100% is something that is going to happen."

Ramos added that some of these things will take a while, but the team is sharing them sooner as part of a revised approach to transparency with the core DBD players, specifying that though things like the mall and several new characters will arrive before the end of the year, something like zombie mode is "probably years away."

Maybe most exciting of all is that DBD will be getting a new set of modding tools for the community to create custom content like their own maps and modes. These tools are meant to debut in 2027.

Revamped onboarding and visuals

In the absence of any sequel plans, the team knows it has to manage DBD to keep it appealing to players for many more years to come. To that end, DBD will be getting a visual overhaul, with new attention paid to character models, map details, and other aspects of the game's look.

This fresh coat of paint is targeting 2027 and will alter the minimum and recommended PC specs, though the team didn't have specific benchmarks to share just yet. 

Additionally, the team says it understands that new players can sometimes feel overwhelmed by all there is to learn about the game when they're trying to catch up with the entrenched community. Behaviour is actively exploring ways to improve onboarding for new players, with Richard noting that the task is "one hell of a challenge." He said the game needs to better communicate that it can be fun well before players reach a mastery level, as some high-level streamers may showcase, and the team is approaching this in a few ways.

"There's obviously the first-time user experience. The 'here's what the game is about, here's what you should expect.' You know, expect that it's about the chaos, as well, that it's ever-changing, that it's about the horror, and you know, not necessarily about winning by killing everybody or escaping all the time, so how to find the fun in the game. 

"And then through other steps in the future, through changes in the progression, to changes in how the perks are designed, and how we will transform the game, so that its density becomes more manageable."

Ramos added that one small step the team is taking as part of the bigger plan is to add something called the gameplay showcase, which will act as a way for players to see how killers' special abilities work in the menus before they jump into a game, removing the current issue of players needing to jump in cold and test them out in a live environment to understand how they work.

Dead by Daylight movie

The previously revealed DBD movie has officially landed its director, as the team announced Thordur Palsson will helm the project, with a script from Alexandre Aja and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick. Palsson previously worked on horror movies such as The Damned, 

Johnson-McGoldrick and Aja also come from a horror background, with the former having penned The Conjuring 2 and the latter working on things like High Tension and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes.

For more on my deep dive with the DBD team, you can read why there may never be a Dead by Daylight sequel, and why DBD has gotten more violent over its 10 years.

Earlier this month, GameStop disclosed that it achieved the highest profit in the company's history during the first quarter of its latest fiscal year. Now, GameStop appears to be taking further steps to cut costs by reportedly making significant changes to its Pro Membership rewards program.

According to Kotaku, new GameStop Pro members will no longer be able to earn Pro Points starting on July 15. Current Pro members are only getting a temporary reprieve until August 15. On that date, members will stop accruing Pro Points.

Prior to these changes, GameStop Pro members could earn roughly 2% of their total purchases in points, which they could redeem for games or other merchandise at a later date.

On Reddit, some GameStop employees are calling out the decision to take away the Pro Points and suggesting that they should collectively stop trying to upsell Pro Membership to customers. Their apparent disdain for this decision probably won't deter GameStop from going ahead with these changes.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen has been in the news recently because of his intention to buy eBay even though his company lacks the resources or the full financial backing to purchase the online auction house. In response to Cohen's plans, eBay rejected his overture and described it as neither “credible nor attractive.” Cohen could still attempt a hostile takeover by appealing directly to eBay stockholders, but he has yet to do so.

Microsoft's potential options for the future of the Xbox brand reportedly include spinning it off into a separate company or operating as a "wholly owned subsidiary" rather than a division within Microsoft.

According to The Information (via Reuters), these are just a few of the options Microsoft is considering. Xbox has struggled mightily in recent years, most recently losing millions of subscribers to its Game Pass subscription service after a major price hike. Game Pass has, at least partially, seen improvement following a price cut that also removed new Call of Duty games from the library.

A spin-off would, on paper, make the Xbox brand free from the high-profit-margin expectations of Microsoft as a whole, though it would also no longer have access to the vast resources of such a large company.

The Information's report also said Microsoft is planning to increase investment in a few of Xbox's biggest franchises, including Halo, The Elder Scrolls, and Fallout, in order to speed up development, but just what that means remains unclear. The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 were both technically announced many years ago, with very few updates on either, while Halo: Campaign Evolved will serve as a stopgap of sorts when it launches next month--for the first time on PlayStation 5 in addition to Xbox and PC.

That PS5 release may be a one-off for Halo, however, as Microsoft looks to renew focus on console exclusives. Gears of War: E-Day, for instance, reportedly had a PS5 version in the works, but is no longer coming to the platform.

Last year, Ubisoft confirmed that it is developing a new Ghost Recon game, but a new report suggests that the project has been troubled and may face a "complete reboot or outright cancellation" if its problems can't be fixed.

Insider Gaming is reporting that the next Ghost Recon, which is internally known as Project OVR, failed to meet Ubisoft's objectives during a recent review. Unnamed sources blamed the failure on "unrealistic deadlines and poor planning and management." According to the report, Ubisoft rejected the alternative production plans proposed by Project OVR's directors.

In response to the failed review, Ubisoft is reportedly taking a more hands-on approach with Project OVR by bringing in additional executives to oversee the development. The report cites an internal memo that describes Project OVR as having a "strong" foundation, but that may not be enough to prevent the game's development from being halted or redirected to other projects. Insider Gaming notes that there have already been "silent layoffs" on the Project OVR team, with potentially more soon.

Earlier this week, Ubisoft reportedly shut down studios in Winnipeg and Belgrade whose titles included Rainbow Six Mobile, Far Cry 6, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, and support for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced.

During an investor disclosure in May, Ubisoft acknowledged a record €1.3 billion operating loss for its 2025-2026 fiscal year. However, it also touted a potential return to profitability in the 2027-28 and 2028-29 fiscal years because of upcoming titles, including Assassin's Creed Hexe, a new Far Cry, and the aforementioned Ghost Recon, which will potentially be a first-person shooter.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will feature "campaign early access," allowing people who preorder or pre-buy the game to start playing the story mode early.

This applies to preorders and pre-purchases for the MW4 standard digital edition or the Vault edition, across Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Switch 2, and Steam. The campaign early access begins on October 16, which is a full week before the game releases for everyone on October 23. During that week, only the game's campaign will be available; multiplayer unlocks on October 23.

Modern Warfare 4 releases in October.

Existence of the campaign early access for Modern Warfare 4 leaked already, so the announcement today is not a total surprise.

There is also precedent for it, as 2022's Modern Warfare 2 was the first game in the series to offer campaign early access. 2023's Modern Warfare 3 did as well, but 2024's Black Ops 6 did not, and neither did 2025's Black Ops 7.

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The Modern Warfare 4 campaign puts players into the shoes of Private Park, a young, inexperienced Korean soldier. He's played by Young Mazino, who is best known for his roles on Beef and The Last of Us.

For more, be sure to check out GameSpot's Modern Warfare 4 preorder guide.

Two more games are losing their online services, but the good news is that the server shutdowns aren't happening all that soon.

Delisted Games spotted notices from EA and 2K informing fans about forthcoming server closures. Grid Legends will lose its online service on PlayStation and Xbox consoles on September 11 this year, but servers will stay up for the game's Steam and Switch 2 editions.

Grid Legends is riding ... off into the sunset.

2K, meanwhile, announced that TopSpin 2K25's online support will go dark on December 31, 2027. 2K had previously said servers will close at the end of 2026, so players are getting an entire year more than expected.

2K said in its notice that supporting older titles while managing newer ones eventually becomes "commercially unfeasible." EA, for its part, said a similar thing, noting that, as player populations on older titles fall, "it's no longer feasible to continue the behind-the-scenes work" involved with operating them.

This all may be true, but anyone who is playing and enjoying Grid Legends and TopSkin 2K25 may not be thrilled by the shutdowns. In the case of TopSkin 2K25, that's the newest game in the series, so it's even more of a bummer.

Actor Ben Starr, known for his roles in Final Fantasy XVI, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and Hades 2, has revealed that he auditioned for the role of James Bond in 007: First Light. He didn't get the part, which ultimately went to Patrick Gibson, and Starr said he was "so f**king happy" to have not gotten the role.

"I never would have gotten it. I was terrible,” Starr told VGC. “I remember doing a self-tape for it. I did the GoldenEye scene, and I got recalled to meet the team.

“I was a couple of years into doing Final Fantasy at that point, and it hadn’t been released, so I was just a young actor who liked video games," he added.

Ben Starr.

Although Starr got a callback for the part, he said he "kind of crumbled under the pressure" and did not "deliver what they wanted."

"I’m so f**king happy I didn’t get anywhere near it, because my god, Patrick Gibson is so f**king good. He’s unbelievable,” Starr said.

First Light is expected to get a sequel, and we'd imagine that Gibson would come back for it. As for Starr, one of his upcoming projects is for the strategy game Stronghold 4.

Splitgate developer 1047 Games is back with Empulse, a new competitive shooter that, as GameSpot discovered, is to Titanfall 2 what Splitgate was to Halo. Jean-Luc got to go hands-on with the new shooter, which enters early access later this month.

Though it's heavily inspired by the Titanfall games, which should be pretty clear from the gameplay footage, it wasn't the sole source of inspiration for Empulse. Jean-Luc found the gunplay to feel closer to the Halo-y style of Splitgate than the ADS-heavy Titanfall, but the movement and grappling abilities, as well as the mechs (yes, this game has mechs) should be very familiar to fans of Respawn's masterpiece.

One big change from Titanfall 2 is the way you deal with those mechs if you're on the ground. There are no dedicated anti-mech guns here, but you do have access to a big ol' hammer that is very effective against them.

Rather than use a free-to-play model like Splitgate, Empulse is a $20 release, and 1047 is going with an old-school monetization approach--there will be no cash shop when the game launches in early access on June 24 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. A demo will be available via Steam Next Fest on June 15.

After months of speculation, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was unveiled for Switch 2 during this week's Nintendo Direct. It's the latest in a long line of remakes and remasters for Zelda 3D titles, but also raises the question: Why aren't there new versions of the franchise's first three mainline entries?

Nintendo has never remade The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. These 2D classics for NES and SNES are what made people fall in love with the action-adventure series to begin with. They even feature gameplay features still seen today in the series, like puzzle-filled dungeons, pot breaking, and satisfying secrets to discover. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze-346WTsI0

Weirdly, the only 2D Zelda to get a proper remake is The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening on Switch. That's the fourth entry in the mainline franchise, and while a dark-horse favorite of fans, it doesn't have the same widespread acclaim as A Link to the Past. In fact, to this day, many still consider that SNES game as the pinnacle of the series. 

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past did get re-released on Game Boy Advance, with multiplayer-centric The Four Swords added on to the experience. That game's version of Hyrule was also remade in A Link Between Worlds--so maybe Nintendo considers that 3DS title to be a remake of sorts. 

But still, in a world where every 3D Zelda game has received the remake or remaster treatment (including Switch 2 Edition upgrades), it's a bit odd Nintendo hasn't given the same glow-ups to the original triforce of games in the franchise. Sure, I'd prefer new Zelda games over these, as someone who remembers playing A Link to the Past as a kid. But at the same time, those 2D classics deserve a second time in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will see its second remake later this year on Switch 2 after previously getting a 3DS makeover in 2011. Nintendo withheld showing any gameplay in the reveal trailer, which hopefully signals bigger changes than just a visual overhaul.

Best Zelda Games, Ranked – Where Does Echoes of Wisdom Fall? View Images

The latest developments for HBO's The Last of Us are coming into focus, including production shutting down due to the World Cup and a big name joining the cast.

Deadline reports that production on Season 3 is undergoing a "mid-shoot hiatus" for about a month. This is because the show films in Vancouver, and that's also a World Cup regional site. This is causing headaches and disruptions locally, so HBO has opted to shut down production temporarily.

The World Cup final takes place on July 19. It's not precisely clear when production on Season 3 will resume, but Deadline said it's expected to film through the end of 2026, with the new season debuting in 2027. As previously reported, it could be the show's final season.

As for the new cast member, the report said veteran character actor Peter Sarsgaard is going to play the role of Amon, a leader of the Seraphites. If that name does not sound familiar, it's because Amon was invented for the show, and we'll apparently be seeing a lot of him. The report said Amon will be a recurring character.

Amon isn't The Last of Us show's first original character not from the games, as Yellowjackets actor Melanie Lynskey played the revolutionary leader Kathleen. Additionally, Season 1 showed fans the life of Frank (Murray Bartlett), who was only seen in the games as a dead body.

Sarsgaard has more than 70 acting credits to his name. He is known for his roles in the movies Garden State, Jarhead, Black Mass, The Batman, and Green Lantern. He's done a lot of TV work as well, including Dopesick and Presumed Innocent; he earned Emmy nominations for both of those shows.

Craig Mazin is the sole showrunner for Season 3, following the departure of Neil Druckmann. The story is expected to focus on Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), though Ellie (Bella Ramsey) is going to show up as well. Ramsey has said that after The Last of Us, they plan to steer away from those kinds of roles.

As for the game series, The Last of Us: Part III is rumored to be in the works at Naughty Dog, but this is not confirmed. The company is working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet right now

Ahead of GTA 6's release this November, GTA 5 is now available on a subscription service, and it's Rockstar's own GTA+.

The game's single-player campaign is now included with the GTA+ games library, while GTA+ members on PC can now get GTA Online through the games library.

Available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, GTA+ costs $8/month and includes access to a library of games, as well as a variety of perks. Some of the other games included in the library are Bully, L.A. Noire, and Red Dead Redemption. Games don't always stay forever, though.

A scene from GTA Online.

As for the perks, GTA+ subscribers get an allotment of $GTA 500,000 every month, access to "The Vinewood Club" in GTA Online, a free car each month, and other member benefits that change each month.

GTA 5 has been available on Game Pass and PlayStation Plus for periods of time over the years, but it's no longer part of either library. The game keeps selling, too, as it's now passed 230 million units sold.

GTA 6 arrives on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but one of the many unanswered questions about the game is what the multiplayer may look like, or how GTA+ may factor in.

Rockstar Games will kick off the marketing efforts for GTA 6 this summer, so it may not be much longer until we finally see and learn more about the game.