Gaming

Microsoft's new Xbox app update will combine all your PC games into one aggregated library, and it's currently being tested by Xbox Insiders.

Xbox is converging with Windows, and to streamline this union, Microsoft is making the Xbox PC app a one-stop shop for launching games. The app will now show games that are installed from other stores besides Windows and Xbox, similar to how Lenovo's Legion Space and ASUS Armoury Crate launchers operate.

This means users can browse and launch PC games from the Xbox app regardless of where they are purchased. Battle.net and Steam games libraries will show up within the Xbox app, alongside content libraries from other major PC storefronts. This is the same "Xbox experience" found in the new Xbox Ally X handheld, a device built around bringing an Xbox console UI to Windows PC handhelds.

Elden Ring Nightreign's breakout sales performance helped the game achieve a spot in the top 10 best-earning games of May 2025.

FromSoftware's new Elden Ring game Nightreign is a bit unconventional. It's an online-oriented game with 3-player PVE co-op action with eight playable classes, all wrapped up with Elden Ring lore, items, and gameplay mechanics. The result is a unique experiment that attempts to capture the global scavenger hunt craze that Elden Ring kicked off in 2022.

Nightreign's live focus didn't deter fans. According to the latest data estimates from analyst firm Newzoo, Elden Ring Nightreign managed to become the fourth best-earning game of May 2025 by revenue. The data shows that Nightreign's sales revenue on PC holds more weight than other platforms. The top five looks like this: Fortnite clocks in at #1, EA Sports FC 25 at #2, Call of Duty at #3, Nightreign is #4, and NBA 2K25 is #5.

Funcom has revealed in a new press release that Dune: Awakening sales have surpassed 1,000,000 copies, making it the fastest-selling Funcom game to date.

The new MMO survival crafting RPG, Dune: Awakening, was launched on June 10, and since then, it has been received really well by gamers, with the Steam Store listing for the game landing on a "Very Positive" average for All Reviews.

Developer Funcom is celebrating the title's success with a new press release that states Dune: Awakening reached a peak concurrent player count of over 189,000 players, eclipsing the peak concurrent player count of Conan Exiles, which was 54,403 players.

Gearbox Software recently released the official story trailer for Borderlands 4, and now the CEO of the development studio, Randy Pitchford, has teased how in-depth the character classes are in the upcoming game.

Speaking at Borderlands Fan Fest, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford and chief creative officer Randy Varnell discussed what players can expect out of building their characters up in Borderlands 4, with Pitchford saying that character classes are so in-depth that even if four players took the same characters and action skill into a fight they would find they have enough variation in their skill set that they'd be able to take on different roles in the fight. More specifically, Pitchford said, "You'll find more skills per character than in Borderlands 3 and 2 added together."

Borderlands 2 characters each had three skill trees with 10 skills in each tree, with Borderlands 3 upping that to 4 skill trees per character and 18 to 20 skills in each tree. Adding those together, players get an intense amount of possible variation between skills, enabling players to explore specific builds with their character to see what works best with their playstyle. The problem Borderlands 4 will need to make sure they have overcome with extensive skill options is making each of those skills feel not only unique, but also useful.

Every once in a while, a new indie game hits the scene and gains massive popularity, and I believe we have found another instance with the release of PEAK, a new physics-based climbing simulator that has already passed the 24-hour player count for both Marvel Rivals and Call of Duty.

PEAK is developed by Landcrab and published by Aggro Crab and Landfall, which recently confirmed that its title, which was released on June 17, 2025, has already surpassed more than 1 million copies sold, per a post on the Landfall X account. PEAK peaked at 102,799 concurrent players on 22 June 2025, marking a monumental achievement for the developer and publisher.

When asked whether the game was going to come to consoles, Landfall responded and said it was "too early to say," but that it will "hopefully" be released on consoles. So, why has this game gained so much attention? A part of the reason behind PEAK's success is that it's a very streamer-friendly game, as many viewers enjoy watching a livestreamer attempt to climb a mountain and then fall off at their first mistake, only to have to start the climb all over again.

Polish studio Rebel Wolves recently debuted a new 20-minute gameplay overview of their upcoming title, The Blood of Dawnwalker, a new single-player open-world dark fantasy action-RPG where players step into the shoes of a vampire.

The 20-minute gameplay overview can be watched above. It focuses heavily on gameplay and has minimal cutscenes, with viewers being introduced to the protagonist of the title, Coen, as he explores a town, encounters enemies, uses skills, variations of combat, and his transformation into a vampire.

Rebel Wolves is using Unreal Engine 5 to develop The Blood of Dawnwalker, and the studio is led by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, who was the game director for the critically acclaimed Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and head of production/secondary game director for Cyberpunk 2077.

Recently revealed gameplay footage for Blood of Dawnwalker, a new action RPG from former Witcher 3 developers, showcases the game's interesting four-way sword combat system.

Polish game studio Rebel Wolves took the lid off of their new game Blood of Dawnwalker, highlighting the game's visceral and gritty combat. From the looks of the new pre-beta gameplay footage, Dawnwalker's combat sequences are more tactile and impactful, adding a sense of weight to the omni-directional attack-and-block system.

The combat sequence reveals Blood of Dawnwalker will have ability-based debuffs like acrid dust, which stuns enemies in place. Successfully pulling off combat actions like attacking, blocking, or parrying will add an ability charge that can be spent to execute strategy-based skills like acrid dust, a DoT searing blood spell, and even a spin strike that can decapitate opponents.

Borderlands 4, the upcoming action-adventure RPG developed by Gearbox Studios, has received its official story trailer

The new story trailer released on the Gearbox YouTube channel gives players a closer look at the big bad for Borderlands 4, the Timekeeper. The trailer shows how the Timekeeper has implanted the player with a Bolt, a spine-grafted cybernetic device that he uses to "dominate the populace" of Kairos, trapping them to the planet. Additionally, the Timekeeper and his Order reign dominant on the planet of Kairos, ruling from a fortress city called Dominion City.

Players will start with very humble beginnings and begin their journey across Kairos to kindle the flames of a revolution against the Timekeeper and his Commanders. The inhabitants of Kairos have already begun rising up against the overlord, and you, the player, are set to be the final spark to ignite a full-scale revolt.

Xbox was rumored to be working with open-source Xbox 360 emulator Xenia to bring original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to the next-generation Xbox console. But now those rumors have been put to rest.

The rumors came from YouTuber and leaker Extas1s, who claimed Microsoft entered into a partnership with Xenia to begin work on bringing original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles to PC and handheld devices such as the Xbox ROG Ally. More specifically, the leaker stated these games would be coming to PC and handheld devices via a new advanced emulator that would increase in-game performance and graphical fidelity.

Shortly after the media picked up the rumors from Extas1s, multiple industry experts, including Xenia themselves chimed in, with Jez Corden, the executive editor for Windows Central, and known Microsoft/Xbox insider with a solid reputation writing, "Xbox is gunning to bring Xbox games to more devices, this particular scenario isn't a thing at the moment."

AMD's current RDNA 4 generation, led by the flagship Radeon RX 9070 XT, is a turning point for the company as it introduces powerful new AI hardware into the RDNA architecture and overhauls how it renders real-time ray-traced visuals. Our review shows that the arrival of FSR 4's new AI-powered upscaling and powerful RT-capable hardware is a game-changer compared to previous-gen RDNA 3 graphics.

With AMD shifting to a new unified data center and computer graphics architecture called UDNA for its next-generation GPUs, the latest rumors are pointing to UDNA GPUs offering a 20% increase in raw rasterized performance compared to RDNA 4 and a 2X increase in ray-tracing and AI performance. This technology is rumored to power the next-generation PlayStation 6 and Xbox consoles and the next desktop Radeon generation for PC gaming.

Even though a 20% improvement to raw performance might sound incremental and not a game-changer, the RT and AI enhancements will power a level of real-time graphics on the PlayStation 6 and next-gen Xbox consoles that we haven't seen before.

3dSen has been in development for 10 years and is a passion project for Geod Studio. More than an emulator that lets you play classic games from the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console from the 1980s, it transforms them (it has a growing list of supported games) with 3D voxel visuals.

The effect of converting old 2D 8-bit sprite visuals into 3D is like playing classic video games from the '80s on an animated 3D diorama or hologram. 3dSen was developed with VR and PC displays in mind, and the process involved painstakingly building support for over 100 NES games, with features like quick save, rewind, custom camera rotation and zoom, and more.

3dSen just hit a significant milestone. It's now available in Version 1.0 form on Steam with a special 40% off launch discount. The list of supported games includes classics like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Super Mario Bros. 3, Mega Man 2, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Excitebike, and more.

NVIDIA's RTX Remix is a powerful and easy-to-use set of AI-enhanced modding tools that allows the modding community to convert older titles into a modern engine, opening the door to a new level of remastered visuals. And yes, this includes ray-tracing, path tracing, and support for technologies like DLSS 4 and Multi Frame Generation.

RTX Remix is the technology behind the impressive Half-Life 2 RTX mod that is remaking Valve's iconic shooter with new models, animation, and path-traced lighting. Over on ModDB, the vibrant RTX Remix community is working on remasters and ray-traced updates for classic games like Fallout: New Vegas, Max Payne, Mafia, Grand Theft Auto III, Deus Ex, and many more.

With that, NVIDIA and ModDB are currently hosting a $50K RTX Remix Mod Contest, which will award $50,000 in cash prizes to the most impressive RTX Remix mods for classic PC games.

Bethesda teamed up with developer Virtuos to release The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered in April. In a few short months, it has become one of the biggest-selling games of the year on PC and console platforms. With new Unreal Engine 5-powered visuals, the Oblivion Remastered looks like a completely different game compared to the 2006 original. However, its core gameplay and mechanics remain mostly unchanged.

This is because the cutting-edge 2025 visuals sit on top of the original game's engine, which means you've still got the lovable and dated Bethesda quirks that make Oblivion feel unlike anything else. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was a surprise launch. For fans wanting a full-blown remake, Skyblivion is an ambitious mod project rebuilding and redesigning the game from scratch in the Skyrim engine.

Skyblivion has been in development for over a decade, and its release is on track for 2025. Now, you might think that with the recent debut of Oblivion Remastered, there's a conflict of interest. That's not the case; key Skyblivion developer @Rebelzize was recently invited to Bethesda Game Studios' main offices to sit down and chat with the team; a short visit that turned into spending the day talking about Elder Scrolls and modding with Todd Howard and the team.

Unreal Engine 5 powers some of the biggest games being released today, and its tech is set to power some of the biggest titles on the horizon, such as Mafia: The Old Country, Borderlands 4, The Outer Worlds 2, and The Witcher 4. As impressive as Unreal Engine 5 games look, with advanced features that can render stunningly detailed open worlds with ray-tracing, Epic Games' latest engine technology isn't perfect.

Stable performance has been an issue with several UE 5-powered games on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. There have been widespread reports of stuttering and other problems with major Unreal Engine 5-powered games, alongside the need for powerful GPU hardware on PC just to meet the recommended specs.

There's room for improvement; this is where Unreal Engine 5.6 enters the picture. This recent major update to the engine is all about performance. According to Epic Games, Unreal Engine 5.6's updates allow consoles like the PS5 and high-end PCs to achieve a stable 60 FPS with hardware ray-tracing. It's a bold claim that looks like it might be true.

With the hype surrounding the upcoming release of Borderlands 4 on September 12, NVIDIA has announced that every game in the mainline series is now playable over the cloud with GeForce NOW. This includes the original Borderlands Game of the Year Enhanced, Borderlands 2, Borderlands 3, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

NVIDIA also confirms that the highly anticipated Borderlands 4, which is currently garnering positive press from those who have played it early, will also be available to play via GeForce NOW on day one. GeForce NOW is widely considered one of the best cloud gaming services, leveraging powerful GeForce RTX hardware and technologies like DLSS and G-Sync to deliver a smooth experience on various devices.

Right now, gamers can save 40% on a six-month Performance membership for $29.99. This membership offers sessions of up to six hours, ad-free play, and 1440p resolution. Gamers can instantly jump into games they own or have access to on Steam, the Epic Games Store, and PC Xbox, with a library of over 2,000 games available to stream.

Spoiler warning: The first hour of Death Stranding 2 has been leaked online...but you might not understand what's going on in the footage.

A gamer has uploaded the first 56 minutes of Hideo Kojima's new game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, giving important story and character updates along the way. We also get a nice bit of uninterrupted and raw gameplay footage that highlights Death Stranding 2's emphasis on gunplay and stealth this time around, hearkening back to Kojima's halcyon days of Metal Gear.

There's just one big catch: The entire video is in Spanish, so there's a chance viewers won't be able to read any of the subtitles. The footage is a predictable mix of story developments and flashback sequences where applicable as well as an interactive walkthrough that runs players through the basics of the game--sneaking, balancing cargo/weight management, shooting, and using the dynamic high-tech UI to track, plot, and travel across the world.

Star Wars fans are flocking to a 7-year-old game to have fun with friends as Disney releases a steady flow of TV shows and multimedia.

Something big is happening in EA's Battlefront II: Gamers are returning to the galactic third-person shooter by the thousands. Starting in April, Battlefront II's game population has leapt meteorically. In April, according to Steam Charts, the game had 760 average daily players for the entire month, but presently Battlefront II has 9,457 average players for the month of June. The jump from April to present represents an astronomical +1143% increase in players.

It also looks like Battlefront II is so popular on Steam that it set a new concurrent peak players record in June 2025, which is surprising to say the least because the game turns 8 years old this November. Data from SteamDB indicates that Battlefront II had over 28,000 players in the last 24 hours.

Microsoft's gaming aspirations have shifted from making Xbox the best place to play to making Windows #1 for gaming, indicating a homogenization of the brand. But the tenets of this new universal model haven't changed--take a multi-platform approach to virtuously build an expansive software base while reinvesting in your core infrastructure.

Xbox isn't a console anymore, and hasn't been for some time now. It's now more apt to say Xbox is an experience. Microsoft is bringing this Xbox console experience to Windows 11 for the first time with the Xbox Ally X, a handheld PC that blends a console user experience with a PC operating system and beefier hardware specs.

It's not just the user experience, though. Xbox console games have also crossed over to other platforms now that Microsoft has broken exclusivity of first-party games. This fragmentation of the ecosystem breaks down the isolated "walled garden" that companies used to build up their platforms in previous generations. This approach isn't valid any more because Microsoft now has some of the broadest franchises on the planet with Call of Duty, Elder Scrolls, and Minecraft.

In a new video posted on X, we've got a look at the single-player campaign from the new Battlefield, which you can check out below:

In a new post to X by dataminer @Temporyal we've got some early footage from the campaign of the new Battlefield, which is not a gameplay clip from a playtest or the Battlefield Labs test from previous leaks. The clip doesn't include watermarks that are there if someone was playing the closed playtest of Battlefield.

The footage looks very early, but teases a little of what to expect from the single-player campaign of the new Battlefield game. We can expect a big campaign for the game, with this video just being a simple tease of things to come.

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy gives updates on the current revenue mix for the streaming business, says most earnings come directly from viewers.

Like PBS, Amazon's streaming platform Twitch is very much a viewer-supported operation. Twitch lives and breathes on community, whether its social interactions or the collective of millions of viewers paying for subscriptions, donating, or by watching advertisements. That's the real message that Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wants to send--it's not just a game stream, but a "community-centric live stream," Clancy says.

In recent interviews, Clancy outlines how viewers are directly responsible for the success of their favorite streamers and the Twitch platform itself.