Gaming

If you're wondering what the NEX Playground console is, well, it's a compact, cube-shaped, affordable console with an 8-core ARM chip running Android OS and a motion-sensing camera built into the box. Circana, which tracks video game console and software sales for the United States, confirms that during Black Friday 2025, ending on November 29, the NEX Playground sold more units than the Xbox Series X|S lineup.

According to the data (via social media), the PlayStation 5 accounted for 47% of Black Friday week console sales, with the Nintendo Switch 2 coming in second with 24%, followed by the NEX Playground with 14%. Adding a bit of irony to the numbers, the NEX Playground is a Wii- or Kinect-style console aimed at younger gamers, with titles based on popular IP like Bluey, Barbie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more.

Of course, there is some additional information that adds context to the report. Firstly, Sony's up to $100-off campaign for the PlayStation 5 lineup, combined with the lack of comparable discounts for Xbox consoles, made shoppers more inclined to go the PS5 route. Also, being the Nintendo Switch 2's first holiday season meant it was always going to be a hot-ticket item. Also, the NEX Playground was on sale from $249.99 down to $189.99.

Creative Assembly's Total War series is a PC gaming institution, from Medieval: Total War to Total War: Rome II, Total War: Three Kingdoms, and the recent Total War: Warhammer trilogy. With massive real-time battles featuring hundreds of units on-screen and a deep Civilization-style map with turn-based management and conquest, the series has been absent from PlayStation and Xbox consoles for decades.

Granted, its RTS-like presentation makes it a genre better suited to the PC's keyboard and mouse, which is why the franchise's only console appearance was the third-person action spin-off Spartan: Total Warrior for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube. With the Total War franchise currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, Creative Assembly has announced that this will change.

And it's all thanks to the studio's new "cutting edge of strategy gaming" Warcore engine that will power the Total War series for years. And with that, Creative Assembly adds that "Warcore opens the door for future Total War titles to launch on PlayStation and Xbox, bringing the scale, depth, and tactical mastery of Total War to a new generation of commanders."

Discord has announced that it will allow players to buy cosmetic items directly within the app.

The popular chat app Discord is changing from a community chat app into something that's better designed to make money. The maneuver makes more sense when considering that Discord is expected to go public with an IPO sometime soon. In August, Discord got a new CEO--Jason Citron resigned and former King president and CFO Humam Sakhnini took the helm. Shortly after, the company introduced interactive ads accompanied by a new virtual currency called Orbs.

Now Discord is essentially becoming a storefront for digital video game skins. Discord is adding a store that allows users to buy Marvel Rivals skins and cosmetics directly from the game's Discord server. Users can also buy and gift skins to their friends, which could end up being a powerful community-driven spark for sales.

ZeniMax's Todd Howard reiterates that the group is working on a number of different projects at once, including numerous games.

Right now, Bethesda Game Studios is full steam ahead on The Elder Scrolls VI. After that comes Fallout 5...which probably won't be out until the 2030s. BGS isn't the only division that utilizes these brands, and ZeniMax as a whole is quite busy crafting new content, remasters, and sequels (but unfortunately, maybe not new IPs).

In a recent interview with Video Games Chronicle, Bethesda's Todd Howard says that the team is "doing a bunch of games and different things," which reflects the buzzing workplace of a major publisher/developer.

Bethesda Game Studios, including Todd Howard, hold Obsidian in high esteem for their RPG prowess...especially in Fallout New Vegas.

There's a long-running belief that Bethesda is secretly bitter that Obsidian created what is, depending on who you ask, the best Fallout game. In reality, Bethesda is quite fond of Obsidian and Todd Howard in particular loves what the team at Obsidian did with New Vegas.

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Todd Howard reminds gamers that it was Bethesda who came to Obsidian to make a Fallout game because he has huge respect for the group.

ASUS has just announced the ROG CES 2026 event, where it will have an exclusive showcase of "legendary gaming gear, laptops, displays, and motherboards".

One of the biggest ROG unveilings will come from an earlier launch from Intel and its next-gen Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" laptop processors, where ASUS will unveil a slew of new ROG gaming laptops powered with Intel's new Panther Lake CPUs. We should expect new ROG STRIX and ROG Zephyrus laptops, which we'll be going hands-on with at CES 2026.

Intel will be launching its new Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" CPUs on January 5 at 3pm PST, with ASUS planning its ROG CES 2026 unveiling for the same time, but it also has a separate AI PC event for non-ROG products on January 6, but we all know that most people don't care about AI PC junk... ROG on the other hand, that'll be exciting to see.

Microsoft's overseas suppliers are ready to produce Xbox consoles in Vietnam, which should improve the negative profit margins for the company's games hardware.

Xbox consoles are produced at a loss, meaning Microsoft loses money by selling the hardware. Thanks to tariffs and rising manufacturing costs, Microsoft is now losing more money on each console produced than they ever have before. The company tried to stabilize costs by increasing prices for consumers, and Xbox Series consoles faced two separate MSRP hikes in 2025 alone. At the time of writing, there exists an $800 Xbox Series X variant.

Now it seems that Microsoft could pull another lever to help reduce console production losses. According to a new report from Reuters, EV Foxconn is ready to produce up to 4 million Xbox consoles at its Vietnam plant. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have all been moving key parts of their console hardware production cycles to Vietnam in an effort to avoid steep US tariffs on China-made products. This economic disruption has led to each of the Big 3 revising their production orders.

PSSR2 is set to be a really exciting upgrade for gamers with a PS5 Pro next year, going by the grapevine.

YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead covered the usual gamut of tech topics in his latest video, with a PSSR2 leak being the nugget that'll be of most interest to many gamers out there.

The source is a game developer who notes that Sony is aware that visual glitches are a real problem with PSSR upscaling on the PS5 Pro currently, and has provided a debugging app to game makers to help smooth over such bugs.

Netflix plans to acquire Warner Bros. in an $82 billion buyout, and that includes HBO, TV & film, and the interactive WB Games segment.

Netflix and Warner Bros. today announced a megaton multimedia combination: Netflix plans to buy Warner Bros.' newly-formed Studios & Streaming business for $82.7 billion. The deal would see Netflix becoming the new owner of WB's core business, including film and TV catalogs with HBO shows like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones as well as film rights to Harry Potter and the DC Universe. WB's Burbank-based studio is included, and so is the HBO Max service.

The WB Games division hasn't been discussed much in the press materials for the deal, however we've received confirmation that Warner Bros.' games studios, IP, and content will indeed be part of the transaction. This means that Netflix would effectively acquire WB Games, however Netflix has telegraphed that it plans to keep WB's multi-division hierarchy intact, with gaming continuing to operate as its own sub-segment.

As we head into the holiday season, NVIDIA's cloud-streaming GeForce NOW service, which lets you play with up to GeForce RTX 5080 levels of performance, is getting 30 new games this month. As GeForce NOW lets gamers play PC games they own or have access to via existing subscriptions, the list includes some classic Activision titles added to Ubisoft+ Premium, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, and Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

On top of this, GeForce NOW users can link their Battle.net accounts directly to the app for an automatic single sign-on for all devices and cloud gaming sessions, with auto-login support for Xbox, Epic Games, and Ubisoft. Back to the 30 new games, 10 of those have been added this week, and the list includes some new releases like MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, OCTOPATH TRAVELER 0, and ROUTINE.

The GeForce RTX 5080-ready list, which includes games optimized for the new RTX 5080 pods, has also expanded to include Enshrouded and Fallout 76, which just got a major, and free, expansion this week called Burning Springs. And with that, NVIDIA is running a "Half-Price Holiday" sale until the end of the year, with 50% off the first month for Performance and Ultimate tier subscriptions.

SEGA is exploring the use of AI in game development to help optimize and streamline workflows, but the company may not be ready to commit to generative AI just yet.

Gen AI is here, and games companies are using it in the hopes of reducing costs. Ubisoft, for example, is gung-ho about the new tech, with CEO Yves Guillemot hailing it as the next major revolution after 3D graphics. EA is also using gen AI in its experimental ChatGPT-like prompts, and Microsoft has provided tools like inWorld's gen AI and its own in-house CoPilot to its game developers. Then we have Krafton, the owners of PUBG, saying that they are now an AI-first company.

SEGA, on the other hand, isn't fully committing to AI just yet...generative or otherwise. In a recent Q&A with investors, SEGA's leadership says AI could offer efficiencies but they also recognize that the technology faces staunch push-back from creatives. Their approach is one of caution, and rightly so, considering SEGA relies strongly on outsourced content production from third-party "work-for-hire" groups. Rocking the boat and antagonizing your workforce is never a good idea, and becomes a much worse prospect when those workers are fickle creatives.

Marathon's stolen art controversy has officially been settled ahead of the shooter's upcoming planned launch.

Back in May, Bungie was caught by serious allegations of art theft. Creator Antireal alleged that Marathon used artwork that they created way back in 2017, and Bungie later admitted to the wrongdoing. Now the issue has been solved amicably, potentially by a payout from Bungie and/or Sony themselves.

"The Marathon art issue has been resolved with Bungie and Sony Interactive Entertainment to my satisfaction," Antireal wrote on Twitter.

The latest dev log for Judas reveals the game's core design philosophy, giving players a better idea on what to expect from the new reactive shooter.

It's been 12 years since BioShock Infinite released, and since then, franchise creator Ken Levine has been slowly putting together his vision for his next game, Judas. It wasn't so long ago that we didn't know anything about the project, but in recent years, Levine's new studio Ghost Story Games has been putting out some surprisingly substantial development logs that highlight things like themes, characters, and the main ethos of Judas.

The most recent log is no exception. In Judas' second update, Ghost Story says that they've created a more automated system for dynamic environments, one that can tailor-make specific areas based on the story and/or the decisions that players make. There's extensive discussion of Judas' main floating starship-city, The Mayflower, and how it'll be layered like an onion with tons of things to uncover and explore--all while changing over time.

SEGA investors pressure executives about the volatility of the games market, seeking clarification on risk. Management responds with a quick rundown of how transmedia can be used to help counter unsuccessful games.

The games industry is quite chaotic right now, and SEGA's shareholders have taken notice, offering up some tough questions for the top brass. In a recent Q&A, SEGA investors ask the company's executive management about the wild ups and downs with video game sales, especially those that have consistently reviewed well. Why isn't SEGA able to consistently sell more games?

The questions set forth to SEGA are somewhat biting, but rightly so, as these investors expect returns. Management provided an interesting response that widens the lens of SEGA's total business and how its non-interactive content can actually act as a safeguard against volatility.

Sony has announced that its PlayStation games division will help create and publish a new live service shooter from a well-known industry creative, but the game may not be coming to Xbox.

Sony is teaming up with JJ Abrams' Bad Robot Games label to launch a brand new four-player shooter. The game will be directed by original Left 4 Dead creator Mike Booth, and while no exact details were revealed other than the game will be a co-op shooter with unforgettable gameplay, gamers might be able to expect the same kind of frenetic anything-can-happen action that was in the original Left 4 Dead from Valve and Turtle Rock.

"With the support of PlayStation, we hope to deliver a bold, innovative experience that is truly special for players. I could not be more excited that Mike Booth is at the creative helm, crafting a cooperative adventure that will lead to unforgettable moments with friends,"said Bad Robot Games CEO Anna Sweet.

Baseball fans will soon be able to steal home base on the go with MLB The Show Mobile.

In a bid to maximize revenues and to appease the rights-holders at MLB, Sony's San Diego studio is bringing its MLB The Show series to iOS and Android. The game is currently being soft launched and right now it's only available in the Philippines, and more geographies will be added. However, the devs say there's not a "set timeline for expansion."

Predictably, MLB The Show Mobile will have a paid in-game currency called Stubs. Users will be able to buy Stubs during the soft launch and purchases will roll over to the final release. The devs also say that "most progress and content will be reset" before the game's official fully-fledged launch.

Saudi Arabia's PIF will have a 93.7% stake in Electronic Arts following the proposed $55 billion buyout, the Wall Street Journal reports.

If the $55 billion leveraged buyout goes through, Saudi Arabia will effectively become the new owner of EA, one of the largest video games companies in the world that is responsible for several billion-dollar franchises, including FIFA/FC, Madden, Apex Legends, and Star Wars.

Three groups have joined forces to buy EA stock and take the company private. The consortium consists of Silver Lake, Affinity Partners, and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the latter of which has been investing billions to buy up companies like Scopely. New filings from Brazilian antitrust regulator CADE reveals an ownership breakdown of EA if the deal is approved, with the Saudis taking nearly 94% of ownership of EA and funding most of the deal.

Skyblivion is not only one of the most ambitious mods currently in development, but it's a project that has been in development by a passionate team of Elder Scrolls fans for over a decade. The premise is simple: it's a built-from-the-ground-up remake of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the Skyrim engine, including revamped dungeons, combat, leveling, and a complete overhaul of the game's Cyrodiil location.

Unlike Bethesda's own The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered from earlier this year, which presented the same 2006 game with only minor changes to gameplay alongside a complete Unreal Engine 5-powered visual overhaul, Skyblivion is essentially a remake of the classic RPG for a modern audience. However, this week the team behind the ambitious project has confirmed that it won't be able to hit its planned 2025 release - and has been delayed to 2026.

"Unfortunately, as we're getting closer to the end of this year, it pains me to have to announce that our initial goal of releasing Skyblivion this year is no longer possible," project lead Rebelzize says in the delay announcement video. "Despite the game being in the best state it's ever been, we still have some last challenges to overcome that are going to require a little bit more time."

Yacht Club Games needs Mina the Hollower to sell 200,000 copies, and if that doesn't happen, the studio could face some tough choices like being acquired by another bigger company.

It's been three years since Yacht Club Games released their latest project, Shovel Knight Dig. It's also been that same amount of time since they announced Mina the Hollower, the next big release from the studio. Mina was supposed to launch in October, but Yacht Club delayed the project indefinitely in order to boost the game's chances at making better sales.

If Mina misses the mark, Yacht Club is in trouble. Studio founder Sean Velasco tells Bloomberg's Jason Schreier that the new platformer is a "make or break" moment for the team. That's on top of the $1.2 million in funding raised by Kickstarter.

Arrowhead and Nixxes have massively reduced Helldivers 2's file size on PC from 154GB to just 23GB.

Helldivers 2 players on PC have some great news from the devs: Your install size is about to get a lot smaller. Arrowhead has released a new test build that shrinks the game's total file size by an astronomical -85%, dropping down to the low 20GBs in size. The studio says that this storage reduction was made possible by nixing all duplicated data within Helldivers 2's files.

Interestingly enough, this adjustment was expected to cause even longer loading times for users launching Helldivers 2 from hard disk drives--which Arrowhead notes is a small proportion of players. Apparently, the shrink only added a "few seconds in the worst cases" to mission load screens.