games news

• Former Dying Light lead says devs have an "obligation" to listen to player feedback even if "they're very often wrong"

  21-05-2026 23:01 via gamesradar.com
  
  Tymon Smektała is proud to say he helped developer Techland establish a reputation for truly listening to its players. After operating as Dying Light's franchise director for 13 years – the gaming vet recently stepped away from the zombie-slayer horror series – Smektała knows the customer is… not necessarily always right, but they need to be heard.There's no other option in the video game business, which relies on hordes of other people to take your art seriously eno
  
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• Former Destiny 2 writer says "it turns out the real Destiny killer" was CEO Pete Parsons as players pray for Destiny 3

  21-05-2026 22:59 via gamesradar.com
  
  As fans sift through the ashes following Bungie's announcement that Destiny 2 is ending active development, former Bungie writer Robert Brookes summarizes a sentiment percolating in the game's community: "It turns out the real Destiny killer was Pete Parsons." Brookes was laid off from Bungie in July 2024 – one of hundreds of employees impacted as the studio made multiple deep cuts. Previously, he wrote at the time, he'd been "delivering seasonal story from Hunt all the way to Deep and sen
  
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• Legendary Silent Hill artist clarifies iconic Bubble Head nurse origins after 21 years, yet some fans still don't believe him

  21-05-2026 20:11 via gamesradar.com
  
  There is a fight boiling over in Silent Hill – not for love, lust, nor the pendulous future of your sinner's soul, but over pop legend Madonna and how much she influenced the horror franchise's 2001 sequel. Silent Hill 2 artist art director is adamant the answer is barely at all. A popular Twitter post says facetiously that Madonna's music video for 1998 anthem 'Nothing Really Matters' was "inspiration for the atmosphere of silent hill 2 so technically we have madonna to thank for the perf
  
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• The 6 best new shows and movies streaming this week on Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Apple TV and more (May 22–May 24)

  21-05-2026 20:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  The long weekend is almost upon us, and you know what that means: an extra day to watch all the new shows and movies hitting streaming. It's a packed weekend for new releases, so you're going to need those extra 24 hours.Alongside returning seasons of long-running shows (Rick and Morty season 9), climactic movies for long-running shows (Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan: Ghost War) and brand new shows (Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed), there's also a mostly maligned Bradley Cooper movie – the perfect opp
  
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• Destiny 2 is dead: "active development" ends next month after one final update, but Bungie says the MMO will still be "playable"

  21-05-2026 19:13 via gamesradar.com
  
  Active development on Destiny 2 will come to an end with a final update coming June 9, Bungie announced today, officially sunsetting the MMO following a few dire years. "Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that Destiny 2 remains playable, just as the original Destiny is today," Bungie says. "Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that Destiny 2 is a welcoming place for players to return to."In its announcement, Bungie acknowledges that "it has become clear t
  
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• The next Helldivers 2 Legendary Warbond is Warhammer 40,000, which is kind of perfect

  21-05-2026 19:12 via gamesradar.com
  
  A new Helldivers 2 Legendary Warbond was announced at the big Warhammer Skulls fest today, and wouldn't you know it, Warhammer 40,000 reinforcements are stepping in to help with the galactic war. Helldivers 2 game director Mikael Eriksson, who says developer Arrowhead is full of Warhammer nerds, shared the news. The Helldivers elevator pitch to "liberate the galaxy from evil, oppressive aliens threatening our way of life" via extreme violence is an oddly perfect match for Warhammer, which is no
  
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• Dune: Awakening is "not an MMO" anymore, says the game's director, but it's still "quite complicated" compared to other survival games

  21-05-2026 18:56 via gamesradar.com
  
  Defining a game's genre can sometimes be tricky. For instance, is the varied Crimson Desert a true action-RPG or more of an open-world game like Grand Theft Auto? Similarly, figuring out what lane the packed survival RPG Dune: Awakening lives in has been a bugbear for the devs, though they gradually landed on a particular label early on.Joel Bylos, game director of Dune: Awakening, discusses trying to define Funcom's take on Frank Herbert's universe in a new interview with FRVR. "Survival game"
  
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• After many disappointments, The Sims 4 fans desperate for cozy competitors find hope in indie gem Paralives as new gameplay showcases height sliders and more: "My jaw dropped"

  21-05-2026 18:43 via gamesradar.com
  
  Paralives – the promising, colorful indie competitor to The Sims 4 first unveiled in 2019 – is on life sim fans' minds thanks to a plethora of new gameplay videos ahead of its release.Just in case you're out of the loop, Paralives is set to launch in a few days on May 25, and in preparation for the big day, content creators have been uploading new gameplay footage – footage that has impressed many of us life sim stans.
  It's no secret that many folks have felt as though EA is le
  
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• Logitech and Thrustmaster lead Forza Horizon 6's sim racing compatibility during launch week, with "additional support coming in update" for Nacon, Moza, and Turtle Beach

  21-05-2026 18:35 via gamesradar.com
  
  Forza Horizon 6 might not be the first game that comes to mind if you're looking for a life-like sim racing game to make the most of today's beefy wheel and pedal setups, but compatibility for launch week is certainly available. If you're looking to hook up one of the best PC racing wheels or your old faithful Xbox steering wheel while tucking into the newest Forza, you may be in luck.A list of compatible wheels has been published to Forza's support website, and it details which wheel bundles do
  
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• No, that "Lenovo" retro handheld seemingly filled with illegal ROMs at Aliexpress isn't fake

  21-05-2026 18:33 via gamesradar.com
  
  Lenovo has confirmed that a retro handheld floating round AliExpress wearing the brand is actually officially licensed. Normally, that wouldn't be a biggie, as I've spotted the tech company's name on weird "free" earbuds at Chinese retailers in the past. The difference this time around is that the Game Boy clones being sold by third parties come with a bunch of ROMs, and that's more likely illegal.The Lenovo "G02" handheld was first spotted by Retro Dodo, with the publication originally question
  
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• Forza Horizon 6 is a "perfect game" and "a truly rare gem in a struggling industry," Baldur's Gate 3 publishing lead says

  21-05-2026 18:23 via gamesradar.com
  
  Forza Horizon 6 screeched onto the scene earlier this week in a smoke of cherry blossoms, and it has Baldur's Gate 3 publishing director Michael 'Cromwelp' Douse's attention. Douse says in a recent Twitter post that Forza Horizon 6 is "a perfect game," especially in what he describes as "a struggling industry." To his point, it feels like mass layoffs, spontaneous game cancellations, and a flood of uninspired remakes have all become as predictable as the sunset. But, as we note in our four-out-o
  
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• Lexar has kicked off a new line of SSDs inspired by the World Cup that show resellers the red card

  21-05-2026 18:16 via gamesradar.com
  
  The World Cup officially kicks off on June 11, and many of you footie fans will likely be getting your strips prepared so you can support your favorite team. But what if you wanted to show your fandom by donning the best external drives with your colors of choice instead? Well, are you a fan of the Argentina National football team?Lexar announced on May 19 that it has launched an official co-branded storage collection in partnership with the AFA (Argentine Football Association), which sees the t
  
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• Helldivers 2 recruits PlayStation PC port studio for "opening salvo in an ongoing campaign to improve performance"

  21-05-2026 18:07 via gamesradar.com
  
  Helldivers 2 has long struggled to stabilize its rocky foundations, but Arrowhead Game Studios is now preparing to launch an "opening salvo" and blast away the game's performance issues like a colony of juicy bugs. And, encouragingly, it's recruited PlayStation's PC port studio for help.Helldivers 2 players have been complaining about the game's questionable performance for well over a year, most recently in an uncensored Reddit AMA with creative lead and former CEO Johan Pilestedt where he prom
  
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• Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced ditches the original's Abstergo sections because Desmond's story isn't "really the question that's being asked today"

  21-05-2026 18:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  Assassin's Creed has slowly been peeling the modern day elements out of the series' recent games, so much so that Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is stripping the original of its Abstergo sections entirely. Why? Well, the remake's game director says Desmond's story is less of an urgent topic in 2026 than it was in 2013,.Speaking to GamesRadar+ about the forthcoming pirate adventure, game director Richard Knight says that from the beginning of production, the team "knew we wanted to remake B
  
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• Subnautica 2 sells over 4 million copies in under 1 week, and Unknown Worlds "incredibly grateful" for the survival game's success

  21-05-2026 17:50 via gamesradar.com
  
  Under the sea, down where it's wetter, that's where it's better. This is apparently the case for literally millions of players, as Subnautica 2 has already crossed a huge threshold for copies sold, and it's only been in early access one week.Unknown Worlds, the developer and publisher behind the aquatic survival sequel, has revealed that Subnautica 2 sold over four million copies within five days of launching. Between that and the concurrent players on Steam peaking at over 467,000, it's safe to
  
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• These official Hatsune Miku earbuds come with a leek case, but we can't have them

  21-05-2026 16:44 via gamesradar.com
  
  The best gaming earbuds and in-ear headphones are often packed with cases. Most of them are for charging duties and aren't much to look at, but Chinese audio tech brand Moondrop has taken things to a new level by launching a pair of Hatsune Miku buds with a leek case.You read that right, as discovered by Dexerto, the case is shaped like the leek vegetable that Hatsune Miku is famous for holding in her version of the classic 'leek spin' meme from the internet of yore. The buds are also draped in
  
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• Pokemon might soon require government ID in Japan to prevent TCG scalping

  21-05-2026 16:43 via gamesradar.com
  
  As someone who goes to several concerts a month, I'm no stranger to the woes of ticket scalpers. Yet, for as irritating as the practice is in the music world, it pales to the scalping within popular trading card games such as Pokemon or Magic the Gathering. In fact, it's becoming so extreme for pocket monsters, The Pokemon Company is looking into age verification to help soothe the market.The company revealed as much in a statement on the official Japanese site for the Pokemon TCG. The idea is t
  
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• Nvidia's Chinese budget GPU rival can actually run games, but it isn't a threat to the RTX 5060 yet

  21-05-2026 16:37 via gamesradar.com
  
  It looks like Nvidia could soon have a new graphics card rival in China, as tests confirm the Lisuan LX 7G100 can actually run games. The 12GB model isn't the first attempt at a gaming GPU to come out of the region, but this card seems to boast way better support for your PC library than previous attempts at a GeForce or AMD Radeon alternative. The Lisuan LX 7G100 performance revelations are thanks to a review by Chaowanke, with the Chinese YouTuber sharing various benchmarks for the supposed RT
  
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• "Entire nations will hate you": Steam expert warns devs to use good regional pricing and localization if they don't want Silksong-style review bombs

  21-05-2026 16:20 via gamesradar.com
  
  Depending on where you live in the world, you're bound to see different prices for games than you would do in another country, but one Steam and game sales expert warns devs and publishers that ignoring regional pricing – as well as localization – is a surefire way to make players "hate you."Speaking in a talk about how to price games at Digital Dragons 2026 – attended by GamesRadar+ – Tom Kaczmarczyk, founder and CEO of business intelligence company IndieBI, discusses wh
  
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• Deep Rock Galactic roguelike spin-off launches to "Mostly Positive" Steam reviews that can't decide if they love or hate its timer and shared progression tool

  21-05-2026 15:22 via gamesradar.com
  
  Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core puts a roguelite spin on the beloved, bug-squashing, interplanetary dwarf series - not to be confused with the other DRG roguelike - and its Steam Early Access release is already making quite the impression. As is often the case on the internet, however, no once can quite agree on two of the game's big new ideas.Since digging into Steam yesterday, Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core amassed almost 2,000 user reviews of which 70% were positive. That gives the game an ave
  
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• Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 trailer brings fan-favorite Earthbender Toph to live-action as the fight for Earth Kingdom begins

  21-05-2026 15:20 via gamesradar.com
  
  The first trailer for Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2, Netflix's live-action adaptation of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series, has arrived, giving us our best look yet at blind earthbender Toph, and Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se, following a first look in March.In the trailer, which you can see above, we get our first hint at the strange goings on in Ba Sing Se, where all is not as it seems. We also get plenty of bending action, including a fresh glimpse of Aang being trained by Toph
  
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• Palworld lead praises "exciting" Lord of the Rings RPG from Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 devs, but says he "would have loved to learn this from a reveal trailer"

  21-05-2026 15:15 via gamesradar.com
  
  Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer Warhorse Studios confirmed all of the open-world Lord of the Rings RPG rumors just yesterday, and it's not just fans who are delighted.Fellow developers, such as Palworld global community manager John 'Bucky' Buckley, are just as excited as we are, apparently. He shares his joy in a new online post, explaining that he's thrilled – although he wishes the big reveal's delivery was a bit better than, erm, a thread on X.
  "A Lord of the Rings/Middle-earth g
  
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• Avengers: Endgame writers had to fly in Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi to make sense of how radically they were changing Thor: "Are you making him an idiot?"

  21-05-2026 14:58 via gamesradar.com
  
  The screenwriters of Avengers: Endgame have opened up about the process of writing Thor's arc in the movie, and how it was dramatically changed by Thor: Ragnarok. The Taika Waititi-directed third movie in the franchise changed Thor's character tone quite dramatically, making him a much more comedic role."Remember we were inheriting a Thor from Ragnarok who was very well and radically retoned from the previous Avengers movies," writer McFeely explained in a new interview with Vanity Fair. "So we
  
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• Emilia Clarke says she never thought Game of Thrones "wasn't great": "I'm deeply grateful it happened"

  21-05-2026 13:56 via gamesradar.com
  
  In most actors' careers, there's always that one defining role that they will probably always be known for. For Emilia Clarke its Daenerys Targaryen in HBO's Game of Thrones, and she's completely fine with that."I think I went through a phase of being like, oh, trying to want to be known for more than just Game of Thrones," said Clarke on Virgin Radio UK. "But now I'm just like, it was phenomenal."The show ran for eight years and eight seasons, quickly becoming one of HBO's most popular shows. H
  
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• Why you should keep tabs on the SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless this Memorial Day

  21-05-2026 13:36 via gamesradar.com
  
  Memorial Day sales are more handy for grabbing deals on shiny new furniture for your house and less so for getting cash off the best gaming headsets for your setup. But it doesn't mean this Monday, May 25, 2026, will be entirely devoid of gaming bargains. Last year, our roundup of the best Memorial Day sales included the mighty SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless, which had dropped from its $379.99 MSRP to just $243.46, and I suspect that it's going to be a fixture of this year's big day too. T
  
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• The Boys showrunner says Butcher and Hughie's last scene in The Boys series finale was "just about the only thing" he had planned "from the very beginning"

  21-05-2026 13:11 via gamesradar.com
  
  Although seven years ago, The Boys showrunner probably couldn't have imagined how popular the superhero satire series would become, Eric Kripke says he always had Billy Butcher and Hughie's last scene together in the back of his mind. Warning: the following contains major spoilers for The Boys season 5 episode 8, so turn back now if you haven't seen the series finale yet. One of the most shocking moments in The Boys season 5 series finale has to be Hughie killing Butcher. However, Kripke says th
  
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• Supergirl star Milly Alcock says she's never seen Black Widow, Captain Marvel or even Wonder Woman, jokes that's "probably not great"

  21-05-2026 13:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  Milly Alcock might play Supergirl in the DCU, but she hasn't seen some significant female-led superhero films that came before her. According to a new profile with Variety, Alcock hasn't seen Black Widow, Captain Marvel, or the DC movie Wonder Woman. "Which is probably not great," Alcock commented. "I should just lie!" Captain Marvel was the first MCU movie with a sole female lead, while Wonder Woman was the first DCEU film to be female-led. Black Widow, meanwhile, was the first time Scarlett Jo
  
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• Herman Miller's first gaming desk is clearly targeting Secretlab and Flexispot with its design, but it has a secret weapon that could justify its absurd price

  21-05-2026 13:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  Herman Miller, a brand known for making nice furniture that will upset your bank account, just revealed a best gaming desk contender. It's called the Coyl, a name that's pretty apt, seeing as it coils its red underside cable to make it a statement piece. That aside, though, I could have easily mistaken this ultra-premium $1,475 surface for something by Secretlab or Flexispot, even though it has one other perk that could help justify its painful price point. As someone who's tested more than a fe
  
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• Capcom says generative AI "still cannot match" the devs who make Resident Evil and Monster Hunter, but it is useful for testing games

  21-05-2026 13:00 via gamesradar.com
  
  Capcom isn't using generative AI to make any of the assets you see in Resident Evil Requiem or Monster Hunter Stories 3, for example, because the developers behind some of this year's very best games are simply better.In an interview with 4Gamer, with quotes translated by Automaton, Capcom executive Shinichi Inoue, who serves as the company's vice president of game development platform and AI solutions, says the publisher isn't using the controversial tech for asset generation and has no plans t
  
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• Forza Horizon 6 wows an OG Silent Hill lead and other Japanese players with its realistic setting: "It's so Japanese, it's almost too Japanese. It feels like everyday life"

  21-05-2026 12:54 via gamesradar.com
  
  There's something genuinely awe-inspiring about playing a game that vividly recreates a real-life setting. The New York City of Insomniac's recent Spider-Man games is a perfect example, and now we have the Tokyo of Forza Horizon 6, a recreation so good, even locals are astounded.Not just any local residents, either. You've got game developers, such as Keiichiro Toyama, director of the first Silent Hill and creator of the Siren series. After spending some time in the new racer from Playground Gam
  
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• Arc Raiders is getting a new "official" roadmap soon, Embark CEO says, and it'll feature even "more details than we've done in the past"

  21-05-2026 12:40 via gamesradar.com
  
  Arc Raiders will soon be getting a new roadmap outlining content that's on the way in more depth than ever before, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund confirms. Embark Studios's latest multiplayer hit has now been out for almost seven months, but in that time, the devs have completed everything they laid out in the Arc Raiders 2026 roadmap. After all, it only went up to April's big Riven Tides update, but it sounds like we'll be getting a new one soon.Speaking on a new episode of The Fourt
  
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• After 20 years, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 2 is still a career highlight for Civilization 7's creative director: "I absolutely love that game"

  21-05-2026 12:19 via gamesradar.com
  
  Ahead of a chat with Civilization 7 creative director Ed Beach, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the veteran designer played a hand in making one of my all-time favorite strategy games. That would be The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-earth 2 – specifically its Rise of the Witch King expansion – for which Beach was executive producer. With dual campaigns that let you save Middle-earth or sack it, along with some devilishly replayable skirmish maps, the 2006 real-time st
  
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• The biggest missing cameo from The Boys season 5 finale turned it down

  21-05-2026 12:09 via gamesradar.com
  
  After seven years and five seasons, The Boys season 5 came to an end this week with a fiery series finale. However, aside from the Gen V kids and Ryan joining in on the fun in the very last episode, we were shocked to see some original characters stay out of the final fight. Throughout The Boys' final season, there have been a few hints that Wonder Woman-like Supe Queen Maeve may show up to help the Boys take down Homelander. In The Boys season 5 episode 6, we see that Sister Sage has a Queen Ma
  
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• Despite being "a standalone adventure," Jon Favreau says The Mandalorian and Grogu has "subtle stuff that relates to Ahsoka season 2"

  21-05-2026 12:08 via gamesradar.com
  
  While Ahsoka season 2 isn't coming until next year, The Mandalorian and Grogu might be laying some groundwork for the new show. Originally, the plan was to continue with The Mandalorian season 4, but the plan shifted during the 2023 WGA writers' strike and the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike. "I wrote season 4, and then we went into the work stoppage, and as we came out of it, that's when Lucasfilm was like, 'We haven't had a movie in a while. Could you do something with these characters? Is there some
  
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• The Witcher 1 Remake made CD Projekt Red realize the "true impact" of not recording its old work: "We had little to no technical knowledge preserved from that time"

  21-05-2026 12:06 via gamesradar.com
  
  It's no secret that CD Projekt Red is working on a remake of The Witcher, the studio's first RPG centering around sword-wielding Geralt and his wild adventures as a monster killer – but it hasn't exactly been an easy road to go down for the studio.GamesRadar+ recently had the opportunity to attend Digital Dragons, and it's during this event that lead technical writer Jarosław Ruciński goes over how difficult working on The Witcher remake has been – and it's all thanks to a
  
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• Subnautica 2 exec is tired of Balatro-likes, says devs pitched "maybe 250 roguelike deckbuilders in the last 12 months"

  21-05-2026 11:51 via gamesradar.com
  
  Following Balatro's explosive debut, there have been almost too many deckbuilding roguelikes hoping to snatch a piece of the pie for themselves. Even Krafton (the corporate owner of Subnautica 2, PUBG, and Hi-Fi Rush) received a couple of hundred pitches from devs chasing Balatro's coattails.Speaking to Rock Paper Shotgun at the Digital Dragons conference, Krafton executive Victor Lee says that the average "trend cycle in gaming is just getting shorter and shorter," and advised prospective devs
  
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• Hideo Kojima has a two-word review for The Boys finale, and we're trying to work out if that's a good thing

  21-05-2026 11:40 via gamesradar.com
  
  Hideo Kojima is known for his movie and TV show reviews on X, often sharing verbose conclusions as well as some slightly shorter takes. Usually the latter isn't a great sign, as was the case with Madame Web and Return To Silent Hill, which both got pretty matter of fact responses from the Death Stranding creator. Kojima's latest post featured The Boys season 5 finale, as he wrote simply, "Good Morning" alongside four images. These were Billy Joel's 'Piano Man', which played an important part in
  
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• The Boys showrunner explains why the series finale didn't go "scorched earth": "I really wasn't interested in a post-apocalyptic world"

  21-05-2026 10:42 via gamesradar.com
  
  The Boys season 5 has brought the long-running Prime Video show to a final end – and the response has remained pretty mixed on how it all went down. The finale saw Homelander and Billy Butcher fight it out in the White House as Antony Starr's Supe was finally killed.However, while the moment was a hit with some people, other fans had been expecting more, especially given the tease of "scorched earth" between the two heavyweights. Showrunner Eric Kripke has reacted to this in a new intervie
  
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• Embracer founder says the company's "large adjustment" in 2023 was a chance for some studios "to prove themselves," not "a hard 'US Corporate style' headcount reduction"

  21-05-2026 02:05 via gamesradar.com
  
  Embracer founder and executive chair Lars Wingefors, the main architect behind the company's infamous $2b disaster from 2023 that resulted in thousands of lost jobs, canceled games, and shuttered studios, says the restructuring has been about giving a select number of developers and IP the chance to "prove themselves."It's irresponsible and unfair to pin the industry's ongoing layoff crisis on any one company, but Wingefors is right to point out in a recent open letter to shareholders that "we h
  
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• Warhorse's new Kingdom Come "adventure" is most definitely "a game" releasing as early as 2027, Embracer CEO confirms, but I'm dying to know if it's full-blown RPG or a spinoff

  21-05-2026 01:02 via gamesradar.com
  
  Warhorse has revealed that a new Kingdom Come "adventure" is in the works alongside the studio's rumored open-world Lord of the Rings RPG, but whenever I hear a game developer use words like adventure, experience, I naturally question whether that adventure or experience is really a video game at all. Well, thanks to Embracer Group CEO Phil Rogers, we now know it is indeed a game, but beyond that, the project is pretty much entirely shrouded in mystery.In a video presentation accompanying Embrac
  
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