Gaming

Chinese gamers make up more than half of Stellar Blade's breakout PC sales, analyst firm Alinea Analytics estimate.

Stellar Blade is smashing success on PC, with the game selling over 1 million copies on Steam within 3 days. The game's breakout performance on PC helped push total cross-platform sales to 3 million. This means that about one-third of the franchise's sales were made in this short PC launch window.

According to new data from Alinea Analytics, most of these new PC game sales were made in China, underlining the region's healthy appetite for action-based hack-and-slash games.

NetEase Games and 24 Entertainment have just unveiled a new cinematic, single-player, linear, story-driven, action-adventure title, and it takes players along a journey of survival and loyalty during the Dunhuang uprising. Introducing Blood Message.

Blood Message is currently in development for both PC and consoles and is powered by Unreal Engine 5, with enhanced proprietary tools from 24 Entertainment. As explained in the press release for the game, Blood Message is NetEase's first AAA single-player title, with the game blending brutal survival combat with Eastern storytelling. Players will step into the shoes of a nameless messenger and his young son, who are caught in the middle of a righteous uprising.

The nameless messenger and the son are driven by loyalty to both their family and their country as they begin a treacherous journey eastward to deliver a message that holds the fate of their homeland. The game is set during the final years of the Tang Dynasty, and players will journey approximately one-thousand miles to their destination of Chang'an, which is the heart of the Tang Empire.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword is the first game in the Onimusha series in decades, but that doesn't mean Capcom will chase the current modern gaming trends.

Just because Capcom's new Onimusha game has samurai fighting with swords in third-person combat doesn't mean it'll be a soulslike. Way of the Sword isn't about using grit, strategy, and luck to conquer bosses in a grueling gauntlet of skill. The new Onimusha game is more nuanced in its swordplay than dodge-and-attack mechanics, focusing on striking, clashing, and evading--and the series' trademark Issen critical strikes are also back for Way of the Sword.

"Onimusha: Way of the Sword isn't an open-world game, and it certainly isn't a punishing die-and-retry (soulslike) game either," game director Satoru Nihei said in a recent interview with Automaton.

It's official: Borderlands 4 will have a radar at launch.

When Gearbox revealed Borderlands 4, one of the biggest complaints was the lack of an on-screen radar that showed enemy locations. The other Borderlands games had a radar, so why not this one? Radars have slowly disappeared from the public eye over the years, but they're important tools for FPS games, and Borderlands fans apparently like the mechanic.

The studio is listening and decided to add radars back into Borderlands 4. Gearbox's Randy Pitchford revealed the news today in a lengthy Twitter thread while also discussing why radars weren't in the game to start. The feature will be off by default and gamers will have to toggle combat radar within the settings menu.

Developer ShiftUp says that Stellar Blade is the best-selling Korean singleplayer game ever, and shows the game sold one-third of its total copies in just 3 days.

Stellar Blade is a big hit for both Sony and Korean games developer ShiftUp. Thanks to the recent PC release, Stellar Blade has now sold over 3 million on both PlayStation 5 and PC combined. Over 1 million of these sales were made on PC in a three-day period, the developer has announced.

These sales metrics are explosive for ShiftUp. To put things into perspective, Stellar Blade's PC version sold as many copies as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 did across a 3-day span, but games like Elden Ring Nightreign moved 2 million copies in 1 day. Stellar Blade's sales also unlock an interesting milestone for Korea. According to ShiftUp, Stellar Blade is the best-performing singleplayer game that was made domestically, which makes sense, as online games are more popular in Korea.

In a recent interview, CD Projekt Red has claimed it's aware that fans are expecting big things from The Witcher 4, as there has been an entire generation of consoles between The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4.

Jan Hermanowicz, the engineering production manager on The Witcher 4 tech demo that was recently showcased at Unreal Fest, explained to the publication that CDPR is adapting to the "generational shift when it comes to hardware, engines, and technology between The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 4." With new and much more powerful hardware at the disposal of the developer, Hermanowicz says CDPR intends to "take full advantage of it and really deliver the next-gen experience."

How is CDPR going to get there? Hermanowicz says that for the recent Witcher 4 tech demo, and specifically the part where the developer showcased how many NPCs can be in one small village at any given time, the team studied the inhabitants of Novigrad in The Witcher 3, with Hermanowicz saying that by looking at extensive footage of The Witcher 3's villages and cities they were able to determine what wasn't possible during the development of that game, and what they can now add to The Witcher 4.

Xenia, an Xbox 360 emulator developer, has responded to the claims that it's working with Microsoft to bring Xbox 360 games to PC.

The leak comes from YouTuber Extas1s, who stated a source who he says works directly at Microsoft informed him that Microsoft is currently working on bringing Xbox 360 and original Xbox games to PC and handheld devices via a new advanced emulator. Extas1s also stated that Microsoft is currently working with Xenia, the creators of the open-source Xbox 360 emulator that is available on PC. However, Xenia has since responded to those claims and denied any involvement with Microsoft.

In the official Discord server for Xenia, members of the team stated, "It's not real. Microsoft has their own Xbox 360 emulator, they'd never even consult Xenia." Adding, "If it was real I'd be under an NDA." Extas1s has since doubled down on his claims, writing in a recent X post that Xenia is currently under an NDA, and "don't worry, we'll see it in 2026," which is in reference to the initial claim that Microsoft is going to unveil this advanced emulation platform next year.

Battlefield Labs is getting a big upgrade today which introduces new features into the test version, including support for NVIDIA DLSS 4 upscaling and more.

The new Battlefield Labs update was reported on the official Battlefield subreddit, with the new patch pushed live a few hours ago. The update includes DLSS 4 support, the option to turn off the border around the capture zone, and more. The new update tweaks the watermark from "PRE ALPHA" to "ALPHA" as well as teasing new files related to the Battle Royale mode.

We are also promised some news coming soon about the class system in the game, which shouldn't be too much further away given that the next-gen Battlefield has moved from its "pre-alpha" stage to the "alpha" stage. We've seen plenty of leaked footage and gameplay of the game, where the new Battlefield will not only have its traditional multiplayer mode, but also a single-player campaign that has been developed by Motive Studios, the developer behind the Dead Space remake from last year, and will be influenced by TV shows and movies including Lioness and Civil War.

Sony's PlayStation executives have 'huge respect' for Nintendo and enjoy seeing the company do well, former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says.

In the FTC v Microsoft trial, the Federal Trade Commission isolated PlayStation and Xbox and took Nintendo out of its analysis. The rationale was simple: PlayStation and Xbox are more alike to each other than they are to Nintendo. This narrowing allowed regulators to better define a "relevant market" (in this case, high-powered games consoles), but on the surface it felt like a big mistake to remove Nintendo from the Big 3.

Apparently, Sony does something similar. Sony too removes Nintendo from its competitive analysis, but only for markets abroad. Domestically in Japan, Sony very much sees Nintendo as a competitor, but still feels that it's important to see Nintendo do well. As we've learned in our coverage of the FTC v Microsoft court case, all of the Big 3 are synergistically and mutually inter-connected in a kind of symbiosis with one another, and the aphorism "a rising tide lifts all boats" rings true here.

Blizzard is cooking up Overwatch 2 Season 7 next week with a bunch of new upgrades, maps, and more... all with a sleek 80s throwback aesthetic. Check out the trailer below:

Overwatch 2's upcoming Season 17 will let players choose between three randomized maps ahead of their matches, with the maps not selected by the vote itself, instead each of the votes will add a 1-in-10 chance that the map will be chosen in the end with a final roulette style decision. Your voting is hidden from other players, with leavers being penalized as soon as voting starts for anyone who dives out of the round early.

On the first day of Season 17, there will be new Mythic Skins for both D.Va and Reaper, with the D.Va Mythic Horang Hero Skin with four stages of evolving tiers, as well as Reaper's new Mythic Steel Death Weapon Skin, with both of the Mythic skins available in the Mythic Shop for 80 Mythic Prisms.

Red Dead Redemption actor Rob Wiethoff pulls back on his teasing comments about a big new announcement.

A bit ago, Rob Wiethoff, who played John Marston in Red Dead Redemption 2, shared his excitement for a big new reveal.

Wiethoff wouldn't say what it was, but fans connected the speculative dots and tied his comments to recent rumors. Reports and rumors indicate that Rockstar will release Red Dead Redemption 2 on Switch 2 sometime this year, and Wiethoff's comments could be leading up to that.

Microsoft is currently working to bring classic Xbox 360 titles and original Xbox titles to PC via emulation, according to a known Xbox leaker.

The information comes from Extas1s, who stated that a source who works directly at Microsoft informed him the company is currently working on what is referred to internally as "Xbox Classics," and these titles coming to PC wouldn't just be re-releases of the original game, either, as they would be brought to PC via a new advanced emulation platform designed to improve the original Xbox and Xbox 360 games.

According to the leaker, Microsoft's new emulation platform is intended to make the old console titles run with stability, but also improve the graphics and come with full integration on Game Pass. Additionally, the emulation platform integrates with PCs, current-gen Xbox consoles, the cloud, and portable devices such as the recently announced Xbox ROG Ally and Ally X handheld PC.

Some third-party publishers are reportedly disappointed with physical game sales on the Switch 2 while Cyberpunk 2077 soars as the top-selling third-party game on the platform.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is a megaton success, selling 3.5 million units in its first four days, making it the fastest-selling system of all time and the best-selling video games console launch in history. But what about the games? Mario Kart World was unsurprisingly at #1, and it's a known trend that Nintendo platforms are utterly dominated by first-party games.

Data shows that Cyberpunk 2077 was high ranking in the US, and it was also the best-selling physical third-party game. Others, however, didn't do as well. New reports from The Game Business utilize analyst data to paint a clearer picture of how the Switch 2 did in terms of physical third-party software performance.

Playtesters of the new Battlefield game have informed Insider Gaming that the title has moved from its pre-alpha stage of development to Alpha, indicating significant progression has been made.

For those outside the Battlefield news loop, select playtesters in various regions have been experiencing "Battlefield Labs," the pre-alpha version of the new Battlefield game that is being built with significant community feedback. These playtesters have informed the publication that in-game watermarks and labelling have now switched from "Battlefield Labs" and "Pre-Alpha" to just "Alpha." This change comes amid a major update to the title, which reportedly came with files related to a Battle Royale mode.

Notably, the playtesters have said this mode isn't available to play yet, but the files being present within the game suggest it isn't far away from being playtested in Battlefield Labs. Moreover, images sent to Insider Gaming of the Battle Royale revealed two teams of four in a skirmish in what looks like an abandoned factory.

Capcom will show off new gruesome footage of its next Resident Evil game this Thursday, June 26, 2025.

While Capcom surprise revealed RE9 at Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest weeks ago, the publisher is also doing its own event. The new Capcom Spotlight show goes live on Thursday, June 26 at 6PM EST and will highlight upcoming games like the hugely anticipated Resident Evil 9 Requiem, Capcom's new sci-fi IP Pragmata, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Street Fighter 6.

So what can we expect from the show? Weeks ago at SGF, Capcom showed off a Resident Evil 9 demo behind closed doors, and it's highly likely that fans will now get to see that same footage. It's also likely that a Capcom dev will be playing and/or narrating the experience, possibly even RE9 producer Jun Takeuchi.

AMD's Lisa Su comments on Microsoft's next-gen Xbox and how the two companies are building a fleet of gaming-oriented AI chips specifically for Xbox devices.

Two days ago, Microsoft confirmed it wasn't leaving the hardware market and announced plans for its next-gen Xbox console. The 10th generation Xbox will be powered by new special AI chips made by AMD in a sizable multi-year deal.

Now AMD CEO Lisa Su delivers updates on the partnership and what to expect from the next-gen Xbox, and from AMD, in the future. "Moving forward, AMD will go beyond building custom chips for Xbox consoles to designing a full roadmap of gaming-optimized chips combining the power of Ryzen and Radeon for consoles, handhelds, PCs and the cloud."

DOOM: The Dark Ages just got a significant update, adding Path Tracing and DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction to the game, which dramatically improves the visual fidelity with full ray-traced lighting. For more on the game's Path Tracing, check out our impressions from an early hands-on we posted the other day.

As part of this update, id Software has provided updated 'Path Tracing Hardware Requirements' for DOOM: The Dark Ages, which confirms that you'll need some serious hardware to run the game in this mode, and a GPU with at least 12GB of VRAM. For 1080p 60FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 4070, for 1440p 60FPS, you'll need a GeForce RTX 5080, and for 4K 60FPS, a GeForce RTX 5090.

This is the baseline level of performance. You can then enable Frame Generation or DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation on top of this to boost performance into 100+ FPS territory. Alongside Path Tracing support, the game also got a surprisingly in-depth and detailed Benchmark Mode.

Warner Bros. Discovery intends to split itself into two entities by mid-2026; one WBD Global Networks that will handle traditional cable programming of sports, news, and entertainment, and the second being WBD Streaming and Studios, which controls HBO, TV series, and movie production, along with the company's gaming division and assets.

Now, rumors are circulating that Sony is eyeing an acquisition of the second entity. If true, this would considerably bolster the company's services and IPs under its umbrella, and make Sony more competitive on the IP front with the likes of Microsoft. If such an acquisition went through, Sony would own some of the biggest properties in entertainment, such as the DC universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and Mortal Kombat.

The news comes from the website SEScoops, which claims that sources have informed the publication of Sony's consideration to purchase WBD Streaming and Studios, contingent upon the separation of WBD's streaming, studio, and gaming assets from its cable networks.

The Nintendo Switch 2 can add another highly anticipated title to its growing library of third-party games, as Nintendo and IO Interactive have confirmed the release of 007 First Light in a new announcement trailer.

007 First Light has received a new announcement trailer posted to the Nintendo of America YouTube channel, where we see a young James Bond get himself into some trouble that I'm sure he is going to enjoy working his way out of in a not-so-graceful way.

For those who don't know, 007 First Light is being developed by Danish studio IO Interactive, famous for the Hitman franchise, and First Light will be a new origin story on 007 that focuses on narratively driven action that is not linked to any previous Bond media, meaning this a fresh new take on 007.

Nintendo has just wrapped up its Donkey Kong Bananza-dedicated Direct, where it gave a deep dive on the upcoming title, revealing aspects such as the villains of the story, Donkey Kong's abilities, and his companion that will be tagging along with him throughout the duration of the game.

The Donkey Kong Bananza Direct was mostly gameplay-focused. Nintendo revealed that players will journey to the center of the Earth with Donkey Kong and his companion, Pauline. In the upcoming title, Pauline is a child who was hidden inside a rock until DK discovered her. As players progress through the game, they will get deeper and deeper into the world, with each level being completely different from the last.

Donkey Kong Bananza takes aspects from other Nintendo titles, such as Breath of the Wild, with DK being able to climb on almost any terrain, participate in unique challenges, and take on bosses for rewards and upgrades. One of the biggest surprises of the Direct was Nintendo revealing that Donkey Kong is able to transform into different animals, such as a zebra and an ostrich. Each of these forms gives DK special perks and abilities, such as the ability to fly or run on water.