Games news

• Minecraft’s Next Update Could Be Its Biggest In 15 Years, And We’ll Find Out This Weekend

  22-09-2026 11:54 via gamespot.com
  
  With the new Minecraft update now live, players have been eagerly looking forward to the next Minecraft Live to learn what comes next for the sandbox game. We now know that the next stream will be this weekend. The Minecraft Live broadcast will begin on September 26, 2026 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM GMT / 7 PM CEST. It hasn't been communicated how long that broadcast will run for, but we have a tiny hint of an idea around what could be coming next.The Minecraft Live broadcast date was revealed
  
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• Discord Begins Rolling Out Age Verification–And A Sponsorship With FanDuel

  23-09-2026 23:12 via gamespot.com
  
  Discord has officially begun rolling out age-verification measures as of today. The company first announced age verification--and, subsequently, limits placed on accounts of those under 18--back in February of this year, but delayed a full implementation until just recently.According to the official announcement blog post, this delay was done in order to include more age-assurance options, including several that do not rely on controversial biometric or digital ID systems, which have raised priv
  
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• Rainbow Six Siege Dev On Competing With GTA 6 And Why There Are No Plans For Siege 2

  23-09-2026 20:57 via gamespot.com
  
  Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 releases this November, and it's expected to take up a lot of time and attention, leading some to worry how other games may fare in its wake. Ubisoft's Joshua Mills, the creative director for Rainbow Six Siege, said it's unquestionable that "you're going to take a hit when that drops."
  "All of us are going to play it," Mills told The Game Business.So what can Ubisoft do for Siege when GTA 6 comes out? He said, "It's about being smart and with your expectations so yo
  
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• 30 Years Later, Collecting Pokemon Cards Hits A Little Different

  23-09-2026 20:36 via gamespot.com
  
  Let me sound like an old for a second.I remember in the late '90s and early '00s, collecting Pokemon cards was a casual hobby. You'd go to your local brick-and-mortar store with the money you made from mowing the lawn or whatever, drop maybe $10 on a couple of packs, rip them open, then go to your middle school to trade cards with your friends. No one knew how to actually play the game; the cards just looked cool, and everyone wanted something. Me? I wanted a holographic Charizard, and I would'v
  
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• High On Life Is Helping Make The Case For Bigger Games On Quest

  23-09-2026 19:40 via gamespot.com
  
  High on Life has been a big hit since it first launched in 2022, thanks to its bizarre sense of humor, motor-mouthed guns, and polished gameplay. But can it succeed as a virtual reality port? That's the question Flat2VR is aiming to answer, as the team behind several VR games is now working with Squanch Games to bring High on Life to Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets. While it's still early days for the project, I took the time to chat to High on Life VR game director Emily O'Neal and Eric Mashe
  
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• Arc Raiders’ Battle Pass Won’t Be Totally Free Anymore, But It’ll Pay For Itself

  23-09-2026 19:00 via gamespot.com
  
  When Arc Raiders' next major update, Frozen Trail, goes live on October 8, it'll introduce lots of changes and additions, and while the update itself will be free, the new battle pass system that comes with it won't be--at least not entirely.To date, Arc Raiders has featured three battle pass-like Raider Decks in the game. Players could complete dailies to unlock Creds that then got them rewards like new cosmetics and in-game items. With Frozen Trail, Embark Studios' new Reward Pass is replacing
  
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• Marvel’s Wolverine Claws Are Real Now, And Your Groceries Don’t Stand A Chance

  23-09-2026 18:20 via gamespot.com
  
  Contrary to comic book science, you don't need to enroll in a shadowy Canadian black-ops program and undergo excruciating pain to get a set of Wolverine's signature claws. Instead, it's much easier--and less traumatic--to simply hire some blacksmiths to craft you a set, which is exactly what PlayStation did to celebrate the launch of Marvel's Wolverine. Choosing Fiedlero Knives for the job, PlayStation tasked the blacksmith with creating a custom set of Wolverine-inspired claws, and unsurprising
  
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• More Lord Of The Rings Game Re-Releases Revealed, And They’re Great

  23-09-2026 18:13 via gamespot.com
  
  Aspyr Media is on a mission to re-release more The Lord of the Rings games, and now the latest titles have been revealed.The publisher announced on September 22--the shared birthday of Frodo and Bilbo--that Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor's Game of the Year edition and Middle-earth: Shadow of War's definitive edition are coming to Switch 2 soon.The games are releasing on Switch 2 in what's called the Middle-earth: Shadow Bundle, which releases on September 30 for $70. However, the bundle is half
  
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• Star Wars Zero Company Reportedly Hits 1 Million Sales, But Will It Be Enough?

  23-09-2026 18:06 via gamespot.com
  
  Star Wars Zero Company released in late August, and the game has evidently found an audience, as market-data firm Alinea Analytics estimates that the game has sold 1 million units.
  Writing on Twitter, analyst Rhys Elliott shared the estimate, which heavily favors PC. Roughly 70% of sales were on PC--unsurprising given the turn-based-tactics genre--with PlayStation following at roughly 20% and Xbox at about 10%. Elliott called its performance thus far "respectable for the genre and during such a
  
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• Resident Evil Movie Director Reveals His Four Favorite Games

  23-09-2026 17:38 via gamespot.com
  
  Zach Cregger, the director of the newly released Resident Evil movie, has revealed his top four favorite video games, and he made some solid choices.Before he listed off his top four to Regal, Cregger said they came "off the top of my head," so if he had more time, he might have chosen other games. Or he may not have. In any event, here are the games that Cregger singled out as his four faves:
  The Binding Of IsaacDark Souls 3Resident Evil 4The Last of Us 2https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xdpkc_h1k
  
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• GTA 6 Will Make Pro Athletes Perform Worse, NBA Star Says

  23-09-2026 16:57 via gamespot.com
  
  Steven Adams of the NBA's Houston Rockets has predicted that all the major professional sports leagues will experience a dip in quality this November because top athletes will be too focused on GTA 6.Speaking to press, Adams said, "Look at the NFL, look at all the leagues, and watch them plummet. Just for the month of November, performance is gonna go down."He went on to say things should get back to normal after athletes finish the game. "It should come back up though; most of the boys will get
  
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• Nintendo Turns 137 Today, Making It Older (And Better) Than Sliced Bread

  23-09-2026 16:37 via gamespot.com
  
  Nintendo is officially 137 years old today, and while that's an odd number to celebrate, it's certainly an impressive one. While it's a leading producer of video games and gaming hardware, the company originally started life as a maker of hanafuda playing cards in 1889, evolving with the times to eventually become a gaming powerhouse. But to put its age into perspective, it's worth looking at things that Nintendo predates.That makes for a long list, but the biggest surprise, as pointed
  
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• Activision’s Halo Game: Everything We Know So Far

  23-09-2026 16:04 via gamespot.com
  
  Microsoft is overhauling its Xbox business in a big--and painful--way. Part of the effort to "reset" Xbox involves enlisting Call of Duty publisher Activision to make the next Halo game. This isn't a spin-off or some kind of other extension of the iconic sci-fi series, but instead the next entry in the main series following 2021's disappointing Halo Infinite. Here's what we know about Activision's Halo game, and what comes next for Halo Studios.What's the new game?The biggest question is wh
  
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• Diablo 5 Wants You To Feel Your Power, Not Just See A Bigger Number

  23-09-2026 15:50 via gamespot.com
  
  Diablo 5 won't be out until 2029, but Blizzard is already sharing plenty of details on the game following its reveal at BlizzCon earlier this month. The power fantasy of being a demon-slaying warrior is one aspect of the Diablo experience that Blizzard wants to overhaul. Compared to Diablo 4, the developer wants you to feel the might of your newly earned power on the battlefield.Speaking to PC Gamer, game director Joe Shely explained how players should feel and look more powerful as they level u
  
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• Gears of War: E-Day Story Director Laid Off Just Before Launch

  23-09-2026 15:29 via gamespot.com
  
  Gears of War: E-Day officially went gold several days ago--indicating that the game is ready to hit its October launch date--but sadly, story director Juan Vaca was caught up in the latest wave of Xbox "reset" layoffs. After posting about the game hittings its new milestone, Vaca revealed that he was one of over 260 people who was impacted by job cuts at Xbox."I am part of this round of Microsoft Layoffs and am open to new opportunities in games/film/TV," Vaca wrote on L
  
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• Halo Co-Creator Reacts To Franchise Moving To Activision: “Shocked But Not Entirely Surprised”

  23-09-2026 13:43 via gamespot.com
  
  The Halo franchise has a new home at Activision, as Microsoft announced sweeping changes to its Xbox games division this week. As various Xbox studios are being consolidated under new branches of the company, Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto has commented on the series' move to Activision."Shocked but not entirely surprised by the news of the Halo Studios closure and moving the franchise to an Activision team," Lehto wrote online. "Wishing the best for all the developers who were
  
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• KPop Demon Hunters And Ghostbusters Come To Monopoly Go For Spooky Season

  22-09-2026 21:57 via gamespot.com
  
  It is officially the fall season in the northern hemisphere, and that means that Halloween is approaching. Mobile game giant Scopely has announced how it's celebrating, and that includes crossovers with KPop Demon Hunters and Ghostbusters in the uber-popular mobile game Monopoly Go.The "Monster Mash" season, as it's called, runs September 23-November 25. During the event, players can take part in themed minigames and "immersive adventures" featuring Huntr/X and the Saja Boys from KPop Demon Hunt
  
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• StarCraft Doesn’t Sound Like An Xbox Exclusive

  22-09-2026 21:54 via gamespot.com
  
  StarCraft won't be an Xbox exclusive, though Blizzard isn't exactly making it clear what platforms the newly announced shooter will launch on.Announced during BlizzCon 2026 with a 2030 release date, Blizzard's StarCraft reboot won't "be exclusive," according to Kotaku, who received a comment from a Blizzard spokesperson. What exactly that means, however, is still up for debate. When asked for clarification on whether that means StarCraft would be coming to PlayStation as well as Xbox and PC
  
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• WoW: Forever Aspires To Have A “Mandela Effect” On Players

  22-09-2026 20:53 via gamespot.com
  
  World of Warcraft: Forever is reinventing the classic version of Azeroth with all kinds of new content, and if Blizzard does its job, players won't be able to tell the difference between what's old and what's new. Announced during BlizzCon 2026, Forever introduces four new zones to Azeroth: the Riverglades, Mount Hjyal, Shen'dralas, and Zephras Isle. In an interview with GameSpot, WoW: Forever senior art director Jeff Parrott and senior game designer Josh Greenfield elaborated on how Blizza
  
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• What Is Xbox Game Studios At This Point?

  22-09-2026 20:04 via gamespot.com
  
  The organizational structure of Xbox has long been complex and unwieldy, and that hasn't changed after the latest wave of changes and layoffs as part of Xbox's "reset." But Microsoft's latest reshuffling of its studios and workforce does prompt the question of what the "Xbox Game Studios" brand even is now, with apparently only four studios left under that banner.The Xbox division (formerly named Microsoft Gaming) consists of Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media, and Activisi
  
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• Xbox Layoffs Are Not Done Yet

  22-09-2026 19:47 via gamespot.com
  
  Microsoft's "reset" of the Xbox business entered its next chapter this week with the announcement of 268 more layoffs, along with other drastic organizational and operational changes for the gaming giant.
  As part of the announcement, Xbox boss Matt Booty said this latest wave of restructuring, combined with the changes completed in July, brings the company up to "roughly three-quarters of the way through" the planned changes.
  In essence, he’s saying that the Xbox “reset” effort
  
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• WoW: Forever Doesn’t Let Shamans Or Warlocks Tank, But That Could Change

  22-09-2026 19:34 via gamespot.com
  
  World of Warcraft: Forever is bringing big changes to the WoW Classic sandbox, but don't expect to see Shamans or Warlocks tanking, at least at launch.New roles for classes, like the above-mentioned tanks, as well as Rogue tank and Mage healer, were something Blizzard experimented with in WoW: Classic Season of Discovery. It certainly helped solve the game's tank shortage problem, with more classes than ever before able to taunt enemies and effectively hold aggro.In an interview with GameSpot, W
  
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• Obsidian’s New Fallout Game Is Still Coming, As The Studio Moves Under Bethesda’s Umbrella

  22-09-2026 17:45 via gamespot.com
  
  As Xbox continues its reset and lays off nearly 300 staff, the company announced that some of its subsidiaries have been shaken up as well. This includes Obsidian Entertainment, which will now operate under Bethesda Softworks.On September 22, Xbox chief content officer and executive vice president Matt Booty posted on Xbox's website, outlining a new structure that sees the Bethesda business unit now include Obsidian."Bethesda will expand its remit to include Obsidian, which will continue its cur
  
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• Xbox’s Forza Studios Have Been Tag-Teaming For Years. Now They’re Becoming One

  22-09-2026 17:25 via gamespot.com
  
  Big changes are afoot at Microsoft, as the company announced a massive reorganization of its Xbox gaming division. While Activision and Bethesda will expand their remit, adding several studios to their portfolio, Forza series developers Playground and Turn 10 won't be included in the consolidation. Instead, the two developers are joining forces, merging into one developer after years of tag-teaming on games like Forza Horizon and Fable."These two studios have been creative and franchise par
  
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• Bloodborne’s JackSepticEye Says He’s A “Vibe-Checker” For The Movie

  22-09-2026 17:20 via gamespot.com
  
  When the R-rated Bloodborne movie was officially announced with YouTuber Seán McLoughlin AKA JackSepticEye signed on as a producer, many wondered what, exactly, his involvement might be. Now, we have a better idea.
  Appearing on 100 Questions with Tom Simons (via GamesRadar), McLoughlin said you can think of his role as a producer as a "vibe-checker" for the movie. In essence, McLoughlin said that when he's on calls with stakeholders discussing key elements of the "vetting process" and hir
  
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• State Of Decay 3 Lives On, And Is Still Coming To Game Pass

  22-09-2026 17:15 via gamespot.com
  
  In the wake of the latest round of reshuffles and retrenchments, Microsoft has confirmed that State of Decay 3 developer, Undead Labs, has reached an agreement with a new publisher that will keep the game alive.Undead Labs will now continue working on State of Decay 3, with Microsoft confirming that the game will still launch on Xbox Game Pass day-one when its ready. The studio confirmed the news in an announcement of its own, confirming that it is now a completely "independent, employee-owned g
  
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• GTA 6 Is Taking Over Miami, One Airlifted Letter At A Time

  22-09-2026 16:25 via gamespot.com
  
  Ahead of its release in November, the marketing for Grand Theft Auto 6 has begun to take over Miami's Kaseya Center. As part of the campaign, developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive are decking out the stadium in giant GTA 6 letters that will spell out "Welcome to Vice City" once they're fully installed. It's a big task, and one that requires aerial support, as one chopper has been steadily airlifting them up to their designated spot. Onlookers have been documenting the
  
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• Ninja Theory Now Expected To Close As Deal Falls Apart

  22-09-2026 16:15 via gamespot.com
  
  It's yet another sad day in the games industry as Xbox's continued gutting of its subsidiaries gets worse, with acclaimed action game studio Ninja Theory reportedly headed for the chopping block.Xbox's chief content officer and executive vice president Matt Booty posted on the official Xbox website on September 22 to announce that the Hellblade studio will go forward with the proposed closure."Unfortunately, two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through," Booty wrote. "We will now begin
  
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• All The Major Xbox Changes Microsoft Announced Today: Layoffs, Halo Goes To Activision, And Lots More

  22-09-2026 16:14 via gamespot.com
  
  Microsoft's "reset" of the Xbox business continued today with the announcement of another giant wave of changes and restructuring to help the business become more successful in the future, or at least that's the plan. The major moves included more layoffs, the planned closure of another developer, and a significant shakeup for the Halo franchise, among others.Here's everything we learned:LayoffsTo begin with, Xbox boss Matt Booty said there will be a further 268 layoffs that affect Halo Studios,
  
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• Halo’s Next Game Is Coming From An Unexpected Developer: Activision

  22-09-2026 16:04 via gamespot.com
  
  Microsoft has officially announced a major change to its Halo franchise, as Activision will develop the next game in the series with a new, purpose-built team. A small team at Halo Studios will continue to support the Halo community and existing games. The new studio will also exist separately from the group of developers that work on the annual Call of Duty series.Unfortunately, it's bad news for Halo Studios, as Microsoft has confirmed that it will be impacted by a new wave of layoffs that it
  
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