Helldivers 2 could have had a very different effect on Sony's business as a free-to-play game.

In a recent Discord post, Arrowhead CEO Shams Jorjani revealed some interesting details about Helldivers 2's development. The game was originally set to be a PS5 launch title (it ended up shipping four years later). Helldivers 2 was also a free-to-play title at one point, Jorjani says, before it switched back to a paid product. This offers a glimpse into a very different PlayStation live service model.

"[Helldivers II] started as a AA game, grew in scope, then pivoted to a launch title for PS5, then pivoted to F2P, then back to premium," the studio lead said in a post addressing the game's performance issues.

Electronic Arts could soon be taken over by a consortium of private equity firms.

EA could soon be taken private in a deal worth $50 billion, sources tell The Wall Street Journal, with investors on the deal including Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, firm Silver Lake, and Jared Kushner's investment group Affinity Partners. The popular video games publisher is currently trading at $193 a share with a market capitalization of $48 billion.

Electronic Arts is among the leading video game companies on the planet, with a plethora of best-selling franchises. The EA Sports label is among the best-earning entertainment properties with consistent billion-dollar annual revenues, helping EA make a record-breaking $7.4 billion in fiscal year 2025.

More game developers are explaining why they don't ship full games on Switch 2 cartridges and exposing a potential weak spot in Nintendo's new platform.

The Switch 2 is a big upgrade over the first console, but the game cartridges can apparently be a limitation. This is a major factor in why there are so many games shipping on Game-key Cards on the Switch 2, and we've heard two developers mention the limited performance of the cartridges. The main issue is that the game cartridges just aren't as fast as internal storage; the Switch 2 has built-in Kioxia flash storage capable of hitting 2.1 GB/sec speeds...but each individual Switch 2 game cartridge doesn't have that kind of performance. Essentially what it comes down to is that games that are installed to an SSD can be loaded faster than games that are stuck on an external cartridge.

Now another developer has spoken out about the speeds on the Switch 2 Game Cards. This time Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth game director Naoki Hamaguchi adds more context on why Square Enix games are shipping on the Switch 2's token digital authenticators rather than as full game ROMs.

Microsoft is pushing forward with plans to help those developing software for Windows 11 incorporate AI into their products with the release of Windows ML.

As The Verge noticed, Microsoft just published a blog post announcing the general availability of Windows ML to app developers.

Microsoft explains: "Windows ML is the built-in AI inferencing runtime optimized for on-device model inference and streamlined model dependency management across CPUs, GPUs and NPUs."

It was only recently that EA and Battlefield Studios revealed the campaign trailer for Battlefield 6, along with a number of details regarding Dagger 13, the team of Marines that players will step into throughout the missions.

However, more details have emerged online, and some of them answer the most burning questions about the new mode, such as the total length and how many missions players will be able to enjoy. According to BFBulletin on X, the Battlefield 6 campaign will be approximately 4 to 6 hours long and feature nine missions. Each of the missions has been listed below, and the leak includes their names, giving hints at what they will involve.

Furthermore, one of the early missions drops players in Northern Africa, where they will be battling the forces of Pax Armata under the shadows of the pyramids of Giza. Additionally, Dagger 13 will be moving through Brooklyn's streets that have been ravaged by war, and then to Gibraltar to reclaim the Rock, a very strategic location for the ongoing war. As for the missions themselves, reports indicate each mission is quite large in scope, enabling players to explore large open spaces and select which target they want to tackle first.

Gaming industry insider Billbil-kun has penned a new piece in the Dealabs magazine, claiming that a new PS5 Pro will be released later this month under the product designation "CFI-7121".

According to the publication, the new PS5 Pro is set to arrive in Europe from September 30, 2025, and it's suggested that the model will retain its same design aesthetics as the original PS5 Pro. Notably, billbil-kun leaked that Sony was going to release a cutdown version of the PS5 Slim that was a downgrade compared to its predecessor, and that turned out to be true. Sony quietly released this new console, and it notably featured cheaper components and had a smaller SSD, totalling just 825GB, compared to the 1TB on the previous model.

As for the new PS5 Pro, billbil-kun reports there is nothing to suggest this new console will get the same cutdown treatment as the Slim, which means we can expect it to feature the same 2TB storage capacity. Notably, Billbil-kun states this new model will feature some improvements, but as to what those improvements are, currently, that isn't known. Furthermore, Billbil-kun writes that there is no word on when this new console will be released in the Americas.

The rise of artificial intelligence-powered tools is leading to the creation of AI-generated art, which is making its way onto platforms that human artists currently dominate.

One of the most notable examples of AI-generated art making waves on a platform is the band The Velvet Sundown, a completely AI-generated band that exploded in popularity with the release of their song "Dust On the Wind". The song attracted millions of streams on Spotify, and the band now has nearly 300,000 monthly listeners.

With AI tools being so sophisticated now, Dust On the Wind sounds like a song that was made by real people, which has sparked widespread concern about how listeners are meant to tell if the music they are listening to is made by real people or an AI in a matter of seconds.

Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the ChatGPT-maker has stolen trade secrets by hiring two former xAI employees.

xAI filed a new lawsuit against Xuechen Li, a former xAI employee who sold his stock in the company and departed for a position at xAI rival company, OpenAI. It's unclear whether Li actually began working at OpenAI, but xAI's lawsuit accuses the former employee of stealing trade secrets from xAI to take to OpenAI, specifically secrets related to xAI's AI model, Grok. The lawsuit also states Li, an "early xAI engineer," along with Jimmy Fraiture, a former "senior finance executive" at xAI, were "induced" by OpenAI to steal trade secrets in its desire to win the artificial intelligence race.

xAI claims that OpenAI is threatened by the "innovativeness and creativity of xAI's code," and that Grok currently offers "more innovative and imaginative than those offered by its competitors, including OpenAI." Furthermore, xAI cites Grok's leading scores on industry benchmarks, and that OpenAI simply became the dominator in the AI race by being the "first mover." The lawsuit doesn't stop there, as xAI claims OpenAI is engaging in a "coordinated, unfair, and unlawful campaign" to target xAI employees for recruiting.

Microsoft is officially ending support for Windows 10 next month, and ahead of the change, European regulators have altered what Microsoft will require of users if they still want to receive security updates to protect systems.

Notably, Microsoft is prepared to provide much-needed security updates to Windows 10 for an extra year, but users will have to first qualify and then pay $30 per device, or they will have to agree to syncing their PC settings with Microsoft's cloud via a Microsoft account through the Windows Backup tool, or use Microsoft Reward points. It should be further noted that the extended security plan is just for security updates and doesn't include technical updates or even bug fixes.

However, the Euroconsumers group has stated that Microsoft's requirements to access security updates after the October 14, 2025, deadline for Windows 10 support won't apply to residents of the European Economic Area, which is most of western Europe.

Now that Qualcomm's officially unveiled its new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 mobile processor, we will see next-gen Android smartphones hit the market powered by the new flagship chip, one of which is the new OnePlus 15 smartphone.

The new OnePlus 15 smartphone will feature the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and an ultra-smooth 165Hz display, capable of playing games at 165FPS thanks to Qualcomm's new chip. Geekerwan has deep-dived into the new OnePlus 15 and its gaming performance in a bunch of titles, with some rather interesting results.

Geekerwan tested the new OnePlus 15 smartphone against Apple's just-released iPhone 17 Pro Max in games like Honkai Impact 3rd, Wuthering Waves, Honor of Kings, and Delta Force.

Qualcomm has officially unveiled its new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor, which features SiP memory that pushes higher bandwidth in the little SoC.

System-in-Package (SiP) memory integrates multiple circuits and components including RAM, storage, and other parts of the chip into a single package, which is similar to how Apple and other companies -- Intel -- are now doing things inside of laptops and small form factor systems. This allows for saving important silicon space inside of small devices, while also improving efficiency and boosting memory speeds.

This is thanks to the RAM being placed directly next to the chipset, meaning that both components require less time communicating with one another to perform their required tasks, which results in higher memory bandwidth, and thus: more performance.

You'd think with all of the hype and marketing for Samsung and its growing range of foldable smartphones that they'd be the dominant force in the foldable world of phones, but it's actually Huawei... by a long shot, too.

Overall, foldable smartphones account for between 1% and 1.5% of the global smartphone market, with Chinese manufacturer Huawei out on top with its range of foldable smartphones. Huawei controls a rather dominant 48% of the foldable phone market, with Samsung in second place with 20% in H1 2025, according to analyst firm Canalys.

This is a new dominance by Huawei because in 2024 it was Samsung who enjoyed 45% of the global foldable smartphone market, in 2023 the company had 57%, and in 2022 it enjoyed most of the foldable market with 78% leaving Huawei at the time with just 14%.

Witcher 3's mod support on consoles won't arrive in 2025 as planned, and has now been delayed to an unspecified 2026 window.

One of the best RPG games ever made celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, but one major part of the anniversary has been pushed back. CD Projekt RED has confirmed that it won't have Witcher 3's anticipated mod support update ready for 2025 after all. Mods are coming to Witcher 3's console versions in 2026 instead.

"We originally planned to introduce cross-platform mod support for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S later this year, but the rollout is now shifting to 2026. We apologize for the delay and will share more details as we get closer to the release. Thank you for your patience!"

The new Halloween game will stay true to the films and make Michael Myers an unkillable, walking shadow of death.

Illfonic showed off the first gameplay for its new Halloween slasher sim, revealing what the game will look and play like when it ships next fall. The visuals are striking, with sharp contrasts and tones, and Michael is larger-than-life on the screen as he roams Haddonfield.

Gameplay-wise, Michael Myers will use the classic butcher knife and other makeshift kill utensils, but he also has a special Shape Jump ability that lets players go invisible for a period of time. It might be Illfonic's take of The Shape's curse storyline. Exact specifics on how this work remain unknown, but it was confirmed that Michael is unkillable in the game (players can lose if the time runs out).

After a decade with the Mario maker, Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser is retiring from the company.

The charmingly-named and even more charmingly-mannered Doug Bowser has announced that he will be leaving Nintendo at the end of 2025. Nintendo of America's EVP of revenue and marketing Devon Pritchard will take over for Bowser as NoA's new president.

Bowser helped lead Nintendo's critical US-based operations through its most profitable console generation--the Switch--when he took over as Nintendo of America president in 2019, and also navigated the company's Western division through turbulent, tariff-ridden waters with the Switch 2's launch. Bowser ends his send-off with an indication that he may not be leaving the games industry.

Nintendo has stealth released Fire Emblem Shadows, a new real-time tactics strategy game for mobile that has an interesting mimic gimmick.

Nintendo's latest mobile game, Fire Emblem Shadows, seems like an innovative blend of genres and classic gaming sentiments, which reflects the company's more unusual and quality-oriented approach to smartphone games. It's a game where you fight enemies with a team of other characters in the Fire Emblem world, but there's a catch: One of the party members is a saboteur, and each round you only have 10 seconds make a decision to figure out who it is.

The result is an interesting if not sometimes confusing blend of tactical RPG combat with a gimmicky mechanic that's meant to be suspenseful, adding a fun social twist to gameplay. Fire Emblem Shadows is free-to-start and must be purchased in order to keep playing after a certain point. Nintendo had previously converted its last free-to-play game, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, into a paid mobile game. Fire Emblem Heroes, Nintendo's other mobile game in the series, is successful with over $1 billion earned since 2017.

PlayStation's iconic racing franchise breaks the 100 million sales mark, joining other series like Monster Hunter and Mortal Kombat.

During yesterday's State of Play event, Polyphony Digital confirmed that the legendary Gran Turismo series has sold more than 100 million copies. That's a feat that few video game franchises can pull off, either by raw popularity, longevity, or a combination of the two. One interesting point; Sony has sold 623.7 million pieces of console and handheld hardware that have Gran Turismo games, so 100 million sales represents a strong, dedicated player base throughout the generations.

Polyphony Digital CEO and series creator Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed the news during the stream, and also announced the largest-ever update for Gran Turismo 7 called SPEC III.

It's come to light that one big-spender on Steam has bought over 40,000 games on Valve's platform.

That truly gargantuan collection of games has been amassed by someone in China, a certain SonixLegends, who has just received the Steam 'Game Collector' badge for buying over 40,000 games, and is the only person in the world (so far) to have done so.

Polygon (via Tom's Hardware) picked up on this achievement via SteamDB, and apparently this library is the result of 15 years of gaming, with an approximate toll on the gamer's wallet to the tune of $640,000. Yes, that's nearly two-thirds of a million dollars spent on Steam games, which is pretty mind-boggling.

TSMC is making great strides in the development of its next-gen A16 and A14 process node technology, with huge improvements over its N2 process node in both performance and energy efficiency.

In a new post on X by Research Director and Semiconductor Analyst at The Futurum Group, Ray Wang, that TSMC says its next-gen A14 node (1.4nm) has achieved "yield performance" ahead of schedule. The performance improvements expected from TSMC's next-gen A14 node are impressive to say the least.

TSMC's upcoming A16 technology will integrate nanosheet transistors with Super Power Rail (SPR) and novel backside contacts to deliver industry-leading logic density, power efficiency, and most importantly: performance. A16 compared to N2 will see 8-10% higher speed, 15-20% less power, and around 1.1x chip density, making TSMC's upcoming A16 process perfect for HPC products that need complex signal routing and robust power delivery.

Sony unveiled its first wireless speakers at its State of Play event that recently wrapped up, and according to the company, these wireless speakers are not only designed for the PS5 but also for PC and Mac.

The Pulse Elevate wireless speakers are Sony's latest addition to the line-up of PlayStation audio accessories and are touted to provide immersive, next-level gaming audio in a variety of different setups. As explained in the PlayStation blog post about the Pulse Elevate, each speaker features studio-inspired magnetic drivers for lifelike sound. When connected to the PS5 and a compatible game is played, the Pulse Elevate utilizes Tempest 3D AudioTech, which enhances the accuracy of audio cues.

Additionally, the Pulse Elevate comes with a built-in microphone and AI-enhanced noise rejection, which identifies unwanted background noise for clearer communication. The microphone is located within the right speaker, and according to Sony, it provides "a new level of headset-free voice chat for desktop gaming."