Gaming

Ubisoft refreshes the sales figures for its key franchises, showing how important specific games are for the publisher.

Some good news for Ubisoft, following the recent Rainbow Six kerfuffle: Assassin's Creed is one of the highest-selling video game franchises on the planet, and the publisher's other series have likewise delivered solid sales.

The company's latest press kit shows that Assassin's Creed has now sold over 230 million copies worldwide, including the most recent release, Shadows. There are a few other tidbits, including that Black Flag engaged nearly 22% of the entire franchise's total unique players (34 million out of 155 million total), compared to Valhalla's 13%, or 20 million.

Hasbro and Scopely make history with their mega-popular mobile game based on the Parker Bros. classic.

Monopoly Go has made a fortune that would make even Rich Uncle Pennybags envious. According to data from analyst firm Sensor Tower, the Monopoly Go mobile game broke $6 billion revenue threshold faster than any other mobile game--conquering hits like Honor of Kings and Monster Strike with its speed.

Estimates show that Monopoly Go passed the $6 billion mark in 1,275 days, or roughly 3 and a half years, beating the closest competitor by over a year. Interestingly enough, Monopoly Go has only been on the market for 1,014 days. Sensor Tower notes that the timeframe doesn't include advertising revenue, and only in-app purchases are reflected. The game is said to generate $200 million in revenue per month--to put this number into perspective, a company like Rockstar Games earns anywhere from $150 - $200 million every quarter from Grand Theft Auto games.

Less than 24 hours after a pre-order trailer appeared on the Xbox store and was promptly removed, Sony has conceded and confirmed the release date for Bungie's Marathon.

The pre-order trailer appeared on the Xbox store and was quickly captured and re-uploaded across social media, sparking a stir that Sony was about to confirm the official release date for Marathon. Giving more credit that the leaked pre-order trailer was real is the copies of the trailer being taken down from social media, presumably from the rights holder. In this case, that would be Bungie or Sony. If it wasn't real, and the trailer was fan-made, take-downs wouldn't have occurred.

However, the trailer was real as Sony has conceded to the speculation and officially announced that Marathon will be launching on March 5, 2026, and that pre-orders are now open. Sony announced the news via its social media channels, and for those wondering if a free playtest will be available to those who wish to try Marathon, the official Marathon X account responded to a user asking this very question. "Yes. We'll have an open preview weekend before launch, and everyone will be able to try Marathon out!"

Since the emergence of AI, particularly generative AI, gamers have been opposed to the idea of these tools improving exponentially in the development of games. But, according to Razer's CEO Min-Liang Tan, gamers do want AI-powered tools assisting in game development, they just don't know it yet.

The statement comes from an interview with Min-Liang Tan and The Verge, where he was queried about Razer's $600 million investment into AI over the next few years. Tan was asked about his thoughts on Razer's hefty investment in the new technology and how gamers currently view AI. The Razer CEO said that many gamers are currently unhappy with "generative AI slop," and so is he, as he also doesn't want to be served poorly designed character models, hollow storylines, etc.

However, what Razer isn't against is providing the tools to assist game developers in the creation of the game. Tan provided an example of creating a tool that helps developers test their games faster and better. Tan goes on to say that Razer is building a QA (quality assurance) companion, a companion tool that works with a human QA tester to automatically fill out forms, identifying discovered bugs and problems within a game.

After taking a $1 billion investment from Tencent to prevent hostile takeovers and to pay back debt, the creative vision behind the Assassin's Creed franchise abruptly departed the company.

Marc-Alexis Côté, the former boss of the Assassin's Creed franchise, stated in October that Ubisoft offered him a new position, but it didn't carry the same "scope, mandate, or continuity with the work I had been entrusted with in recent years." Côté viewed this offer as a demotion, and now reports are stating Côté is suing Ubisoft for $1.3 million for lost severance pay and "moral damages". Additionally, the suit is demanding that Ubisoft lift Côté's non-compete clause.

Reports state the lawsuit outlines problems between Côté and Ubisoft began when the developer spawned Vantage Studios with Tencent, which is the new company that now controls Ubisoft's most-valuable IPs, such as Assassin's Creed. Notably, Côté discovered Vantage Studios was hiring for "Head of Franchises," which is a position that would supersede him.

Bungie's Marathon is reportedly going to be released in just a few short months, according to a recent leak that has made its way across social media.

The leak is from a pre-order trailer that was posted on an Xbox community listing and then taken down. However, before it was taken down, it was captured and reuploaded across social media, and then later verified by several outlets. The pre-order trailer, which can be viewed here, appears to be quite legitimate, being a fully-fledged nearly two-minute trailer teasing the release of the game and its Deluxe Edition.

To add further credibility that the trailer is real, copies of it on social media are currently being taken down, presumably by the rights holder, which in this case would be Bungie. If the trailer wasn't real and was fan-made, Bungie wouldn't bother issuing takedown notices. As for what is official, Bungie confirmed Marathon would be released sometime in March, but according to the leaked video, Marathon will be making a debut on March 5, 2026.

An explosion has resulted in a fire erupting at Rockstar North resulting in the offices of the Grand Theft Auto 6 developer being closed.

Reports have surfaced regarding an explosion at the Edinburgh office of video game developer Rockstar North after an explosion within the building. Around seven Scottish Fire and Rescue vehicles rushed to the property on Holyrood Road at approximately 5:00am local time, along with police. Currently, there are no reports of injuries or deaths, according to authorities.

The explosion and subsequent fire resulted in emergency service personnel being on the scene for upwards of two hours, and eventually left the studio after securing "structural damage" to the building, per a spokesperson from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Reports are currently suggesting the cause of the explosion was a faulty boiler, but this hasn't been confirmed by Rockstar, nor local authorities.

Rockstar Games has granted an exclusive early access playtest of Grand Theft Auto 6 to one huge fan of the franchise.

While the public will have to wait until November 19, 2026, to get their hands on Grand Theft Auto 6, one fan will be getting it many months earlier than everyone else. The news comes from Anthony Armstrong, a UI integrator at Ubisoft Toronto, who wrote in a LinkedIn post that one of his family members, who has been battling cancer for years, was recently told he has only 6-12 months to live.

Armstrong posted on LinkedIn and called upon his Rockstar Games contacts to request that his family member, who is a massive fan of the Grand Theft Auto franchise, be able to play Grand Theft Auto 6 before he passes. Armstrong wrote that his family member is willing to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), and that he lives quite close to one of Rockstar's studios.

It's increasingly looking likely that Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is currently the cloud streaming portion of Microsoft's Game Pass service, will be getting an ad-supported tier sometime this year. This has been rumored for a while; however, the release appears imminent, as players are already seeing evidence of it while using the service.

As spotted by Windows Central and The Verge's Tom Warren, the Xbox Cloud Gaming launcher now displays the text "1 hour of ad-supported playtime per session," which references an ad-supported tier that doesn't exist. The message is an error; it's being reported that this ad-supported tier will be a session-based option for non-Game Pass subscribers who have purchased digital Xbox games that are available in the Xbox Cloud Gaming library.

This new feature is expected sometime later this year and is seen as a potential solution to the growing uncertainty surrounding gaming hardware amid the current DRAM crisis. Xbox Cloud Gaming and NVIDIA's GeForce NOW streaming services let players jump into hundreds of games, including the latest titles, without dedicated PC or console hardware.

Rockstar Games is on the final stretch of development for Grand Theft Auto 6, and despite its delays, the subject of Grand Theft Auto 7 has already popped up.

In a recent interview with Esports Bets, former Rockstar Games and Grand Theft Auto 5 animator Mike York said that it's typical of major gaming companies to have two games being developed simultaneously, and suggested that Rockstar might have already begun developing either Grand Theft Auto 7 or Red Dead Redemption 3.

York went on to explain that once a project is nearing completion gaming companies begin the leg work for their next project, with the former animator going on to say, "That's probably what is happening now at Rockstar; GTA VI is nearing the end of its production, so I would be shocked if they hadn't already started working on RDR3."

Valve has updated its guidelines for developers publishing on the popular PC platform, specifically addressing AI disclosure and requiring developers to notify gamers if AI was used throughout development.

The changes were spotted by Simon Carless, the founder of GameDiscoverCo, which he outlined in a new report. According to Valve, developers aren't required to publish an AI disclaimer if AI-powered tools were used to help create the game. This is specifically in relation to code-aiding software. However, when it comes to generative AI, Valve requires developers to provide a disclaimer if generative AI was used to generate content for the game.

This requirement also covers any marketing material for the game and the Steam landing page for the title. Additionally, Valve requires developers to add a disclaimer if the title has "AI content generated during gameplay," which covers "images, audio, text, and other content." Ultimately, it will be up to the players to determine if AI content disclaimers are warranted or not, especially considering the ubiquitous nature of AI-powered tools assisting all kinds of software engineers, not just game developers.

Nintendo and Sony are currently working on a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie that is slated to launch on March 26, 2027, and now we have learned that after its theatrical run, it will make its way over to Netflix.

The movie is being directed by Wes Ball and will star Bo Bragason as Princess Zelda and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link. The decision to make a Legend of Zelda movie comes after the billion-dollar success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and at the end of last year, Nintendo released the first screenshots for the upcoming project, confirming the two aforementioned actors.

In a recent press release, Netflix confirmed that it will have the exclusive streaming rights to The Legend of Zelda Movie following its theatrical run. The screenshots that were released in November last year showcased both Link and Zelda in what appears to be the Hyrule fields.

CD Projekt Red gained its renown following the incredible release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2016, with the game going on to sell millions of copies around the world, spawn a Netflix TV show, and put CD Projekt Red on the map as one of the best development studios working today.

The monumental success of The Witcher 3 made fans fall in love with the world, and after completing the third installment in the franchise, many have gone back to play the second and first games. Now, CD Projekt Red's CEO Michal Nowakowski has revealed the sales figures for the entire Witcher franchise in a list of the most popular Polish video games.

Unsurprisingly, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has taken first place at 60 million units sold, followed by Cyberpunk 2077 at 35 million and Dying Light at 20 million. As for the first and second Witcher games, the Witcher 2 has sold 15 million units, and the first Witcher game has sold 10 million. According to Nowakowski, both the first and second Witcher games are still selling.

A new report claims the upcoming God of War TV show has secured another actor to play Thor's wife, Sif/Phoebe.

The upcoming TV show based on the popular game franchise from Sony and Santa Monica Studios, "God of War," recently confirmed Sons of Anarchy's Ryan Hurst as the actor who will play Kratos, and now a new report from Deadline has claimed Teresa Palmer will step into the shoes of Sif. Notably, Amazon has declined to comment on the rumor.

Palmer is known for her work in the movies The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Lights Out, Warm Bodies, and The Fall Guy. As for the other characters, a report from last month claimed Max Parker from Boots was in discussions to play Baldur, and Olafur Darri Olafsson from Severance is slated to play Thor. These reports have fans speculating as to what game the God of War TV show will be recreating, as Thor and his wife are only in God of War: Ragnarok.

The PlayStation 5 released right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic on November 12, 2020, making it quite difficult to get consoles into the hands of hungry gamers. Since then, Sony has released many first-party titles, but perhaps not as many as you would expect, especially compared to the esteemed PlayStation 2.

A trending X post has highlighted there have only been sixteen true PS5-exclusive titles, and that the PS2 had more than 500. With the lifecycle of the PS5 coming to an end, and the PS6 being on the horizon, the difference between the PS5 and PS2 when it comes to exclusive games highlights the shift in the gaming market for multiplatform releases. It should be noted the PS5 has more than 1,000 native titles, and thousands of PS4 games through backwards compatibility, but only a limited number of them are available exclusively on PS5.

The statement "sixteen true PS5-exclusive titles" does come with some caveats, such as many exclusivity periods expiring and the title being ported over to PC. Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarök are two examples of that caveat, and therefore they have been excluded from the "true exclusive" list. Games such as Astro Bot and Astro's Playroom are counted as true exclusives as they are currently only available on PS5.

Microsoft says that Black Ops 6 was the "biggest Call of Duty release ever," but that success apparently has not been replicated for Black Ops 7.

While Microsoft has yet to confirm specifics (it probably won't), multiple reports indicate that Call of Duty is on a downslide. The $35 billion franchise was once a prestige brand that sold tens of millions of games per year and generated billions from microtransactions. That's all changed now that Microsoft is in control. Call of Duty games launch into Game Pass, which could negatively impact sales.

That's apparently what's happening, at least according to former Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, who is currently involved in a class action lawsuit surrounding the Microsoft-Activision merger (Sjunde Ap-Fonden v. Activision Blizzard et al. Case No. 2022-1001-KSJM). According to Game File, a new document filed by Kotick and his legal team asserts that Call of Duty sales are down by 60% in 2025.

If the latest PlayStation download results are anything to go by, Electronic Arts could be set to deliver a record-breaking year for game sales.

EA was on a roll in 2025, at least on PlayStation. The publisher delivered multiple hits with both Madden and College Football hitting the sales charts running, as well as DICE's big comeback with Battlefield 6, which managed to sell 7 million copies in just 3 days time (up to an estimated 20 million).

Sony's annual list of top PlayStation Store game downloads adds even more evidence of EA's outperformance. According to the results, EA had 5 games on the top 20 most-downloaded PS5 games of 2025, tying with Microsoft, who also had 5 games on the list. Yet it's not just the quantity, but the positioning that matters here: in the US, EA had 3 out of the top 5 most-downloaded games on the PS Store. Microsoft, however, had no games in the top 5, and only 2 games in the top 10.

Call of Duty has not appeared in the PlayStation Store's top 5 downloads of the year, breaking a long-running franchise streak going back at least 10 years.

More evidence of Black Ops 7 potentially missing the mark has surfaced, this time indirectly from Microsoft's symbiotic rival. Sony recently published the top 20 most-downloaded games on PlayStation platforms, revealing what could be disappointing results for Activision. For the first time in 10 years, Call of Duty has been knocked out of the PlayStation Store's top 5 most-downloaded games.

The list shows that Call of Duty Black Ops 7 was #7 on the top PS Store downloads list both in North America and Europe. Based on the lists that Sony publishes every year on the PS Blog, the Call of Duty franchise has shown up in the top 5 downloads every year since 2015, with the exception of last year. In 2025, Battlefield 6 was #2 on the US download charts, handily beating Black Ops 7, whereas Europe gravitated towards Forza Horizon 5 and EA Sports FC25.

Another high-profile creative has left Ubisoft as the company faces financial and logistical challenges.

Ubisoft isn't in the best place right now. The publisher was just hit with a massive hack on Rainbow Six Siege, its prestige microtransaction revenue driver, and the company is also restructuring its business as part of a big deal with Tencent. Now Ubisoft has taken yet another blow, this time to its creative teams.

Today, Ubisoft revealed that Julian Gerighty is leaving the group after 15 years. "We want to share that Julian Gerighty, executive producer on the Tom Clancy's The Division franchise, is heading off to a new adventure at Battlefield Studios. While we'll miss him, his mark will live on at Massive and we'll continue to bring the world he's been part of creative to our players for years to come," Ubisoft wrote in an announcement.

Although its release is still a few months out, IO Interactive's 007 First Light was showcased at CES 2026 as part of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX announcements, and we got our first look at the game's PC system requirements. Where, in addition to 1080p 60 FPS being listed under the 'Recommended' header, the VRAM and RAM requirements left many confused.

In a follow-up post on social media, the developers have updated and amended the PC system requirements. "We are providing today an update to the PC system requirements for 007 First Light after the community flagged some inconsistencies in an earlier version of the listing," the post reads, "The earlier mistake was due to an internal miscommunication leading to an older version of the specs to be shared."

And with that, the big difference here is that the overall system memory requirement has been lowered from 32GB to 16GB, with the VRAM requirements for the 'Minimum' and 'Recommended' specs also dropping to 6GB and 8GB, respectively.