Gaming - Page 10

ZeniMax Online Studios is undergoing a leadership overhaul as part of Microsoft's broader Xbox restructuring, which confirmed that 1,600 jobs will be immediately let go, and as many as 6,400 across Microsoft's entire workforce, equating to approximately 2.1% of all Microsoft employees.

Studio head Joe Burba and three other senior leaders are exiting the company, according to recent reports. The cuts, revealed in a WARN notice, include 379 roles eliminated in Maryland, with more than 200 from ZeniMax Online Studios alone, including positions such as Studio Head, Studio Operations Director, Studio Game Director, Studio Art Director, and various other C-level positions. Burba, who took over the studio alongside ESO executive producer Susan Kath, game director Rich Lambert, and production director Ala Diaz, will be departing.

The leadership transition is expected to take "a few months," with Josh Henderson taking over as head of ZeniMax Online Studios, who was previously head of business operations, and Nick Giacomini, who was promoted to Game Director last August, will be taking on a larger role. The news of executives departing, along with a selection of employees, has raised concerns about the continued growth of Elder Scrolls Online, a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that maintains its player base through constant content updates.

Steam has generated an estimated $11 billion in the first six months of 2026, which is more money than the platform made in the entire year of 2017.

New data estimates from Alinea Analytics put a number on Valve's successful PC games storefront. According to the firm's latest estimates, Steam could have made up to $11.1 billion in gross sales revenue throughout the first half of the year. This milestone could make 2026 a record-breaking year for PC gaming. One important thing to remember is that this is the total sum of all the earnings and sales from games and content on Steam--it doesn't just represent Valve's cut, but the whole pie.

"Steam's full-year revenue has climbed from around $5.5B in 2017 to roughly $20B in 2025," Alinea's Rhys Elliott said in the coverage. The FTC v Microsoft trial from 2023 also revealed that Valve's Steam storefront was estimated to have made $7 billion in 2021, illustrating a major boost to sales over nearly 10 years.

A couple of days ago, we got word that Valve was reportedly ceasing production of replacement parts for the original Steam Deck LCD gaming handhelds, which are no longer being produced in favor of the refreshed OLED models. This was based on a response from the hardware repair specialists at iFixit, who had received a customer request stating that Valve was sunsetting the availability of replacement batteries for the device.

The firm expanded on the response by adding that it was looking at and testing alternatives due to Valve no longer supplying replacement batteries, which led to stories like ours popping up online, and a consensus among the PC gaming community that dropping repair support so soon for the Steam Deck LCD handheld was not a consumer-friendly or PC gamer-friendly move from Valve. One of the reasons why batteries currently need to be sourced directly from Valve comes down to "special calibration not publicly available."

Well, it turns out that the sunsetting is no longer happening or was never really a thing, as iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens has taken to the social media platform X to confirm that, "Valve has reached out and is sending us a new batch of Steam Deck LCD batteries."

With PlayStation announcing the end of physical disc production for new games in January 2028, game ownership and physical media have become hot topics. However, one PC gamer on Reddit isn't ready to let go of physical media just yet, turning old 2.5-inch SSDs into custom Steam game cartridges complete with printed cover art and 3D-printed cases.

Reddit user Jibril-sama shared the setup online, where it has since picked up over 17,000 upvotes. The games are installed onto individual 128GB SATA SSDs, each dressed up to look like a game cartridge. When one is plugged into a SATA dock, a script automatically navigates Steam to the game's page and offers the option to launch it automatically as well. The SSDs were picked up for around $7 to $8 each, making this an affordable flex as much as a practical one.

The system runs on Linux, using a udev rule to detect when an SSD is connected and triggering a systemd daemon that finds and executes the launch script. Jibril-sama notes that it should be replicable on Windows as well, though without the seamless auto-navigate and auto-launch functionality that Linux enables.

When Nintendo released the highly anticipated Switch 2 last year, its official dock brought a few welcome upgrades, including a built-in LAN port and an active cooling fan. However, one thing it lacked was backward compatibility with the original Switch. Now, a Nintendo patent filed in China and spotted by Nintendo Patents Watch on Bluesky describes a universal dock designed to work with both the original Switch and the Switch 2.

The dock would detect which system it is connected to and change its output accordingly. With a Switch 2 inserted, it would operate at USB 3.0 speeds, output video at up to 4K, and run the internal fan at a higher RPM to handle the console's greater thermal requirements. Drop in an original Switch instead, and the dock scales back to USB 2.0, caps video output at 1080p, and spins the fan at a lower speed.

The two systems handle power delivery differently: the original Switch is rated at a maximum of 18W, while the Switch 2 is rated at 60W, though it typically draws far less in practice. A dock that intelligently manages both would reduce clutter and make multi-console households considerably less annoying to deal with.

In a big surprise to no one, it turns out EA wants studios to design games around ads from day one, because of course it does. In an interview with The Game Business, EA's head of advertising, Alexander Dao, said developers should start factoring in-game ads into a title's design from the earliest stages of development, rather than bolting them on after launch.

When asked directly whether studios should be planning for ads during production, Dao called it a massive opportunity, not just for EA, but for the wider industry. He also pushed back on Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick's stance that interstitial ads have no place in $80 games, arguing that ads can work in any title regardless of price.

None of this should shock anyone who has watched EA operate for the last decade. This is a company that pioneered stadium billboard ads in its sports titles years ago, slapped ads into Battlefield 4 loading screens, and turned Star Wars: Battlefront II into a case study lawmakers still cite when talking about predatory monetization. Calling it an "opportunity" is corporate-speak for finding new ways to squeeze money out of a purchase that gamers already paid for.

If you know David Jaffe, you know how outspoken he can be, and he just published one of his more introspective takes yet. In a new video, the original God of War director argues that the AAA industry spent two decades chasing prestige as a storytelling medium, and that this chase is a big part of why studios are shutting down and projects are getting axed today.

His reasoning is somewhat personal, too. He says that after the first God of War hit in 2005, he became "the flavor of the year," courted by agents who wanted to sign him. Looking back, he calls that entire chapter, the PS2 through PS4 era AAA gaming, a delusion built on the idea that games needed to be cinematic to be taken seriously. He's careful to say the games from that stretch were genuinely great as products; he's just skeptical that the story was ever the reason they worked, a notably different tone from him defending Starfield's narrative last year.

Recent bestseller lists are dominated by mechanics-driven, multiplayer-heavy titles, not narrative epics. He points to where the audience spends its time now: Roblox, Call of Duty, Fortnite, the "virtual skate parks" of gaming rather than anything resembling a linear story.

The RPCS3 team has hit another compatibility milestone, and this one's a big deal for anyone who grew up with a PS3. The open source emulator now lists 75% of its tracked library, 2,681 out of 3,559 games, as "Playable." That's up from 70% back in January, so the project added roughly five percentage points of coverage in about six months.

"Playable" in RPCS3's own terms means a game can be finished start to finish with acceptable performance and no game-breaking glitches. It doesn't promise a flawless run. Some titles in that tier still have minor graphical hiccups or audio quirks, but nothing that stops you from reaching the credits.

While that is great news, not everything has cleared the bar yet. The Last of Us, God of War III, and Metal Gear Solid 4 are still stuck in the "In-Game" category, meaning they load and run but hit serious glitches or performance issues severe enough to block a full playthrough. It makes sense that Sony's biggest, most demanding PS3 exclusives are the last ones to fall in line, since those are the games that pushed the Cell architecture hardest in the first place.

When Sony announced that the PlayStation 5 would adopt liquid metal as part of its cooling solution, the consensus was positive: it's the sort of cutting-edge thermal solution you'd expect on a high-end piece of hardware. Unfortunately, the result wasn't entirely successful, with several instances of inconsistent heat transfer, overheating, and even leaks.

Some of the blame for this has been attributed to those who kept their consoles in a vertical orientation, with Sony going so far as to make revisions to mitigate the risk of liquid metal issues with the PlayStation 5 Slim and Pro refreshes. According to a new patent and a new report over at Tech4Gamers, Sony is ditching liquid metal for a new advanced cooling system for the PlayStation 6 that will support both horizontal and vertical orientations.

The design appears to be a proprietary solution that includes advanced heat pipes with tapered sections to enhance efficiency and facilitate fluid or liquid cooling. It appears to be a vaporization-based cooling system with a more traditional, water-like liquid, and it's designed to work effectively regardless of the console's orientation.

Glen Schofield, the creator of Dead Space and co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, has announced his retirement from the games industry after 35 years. The news came in an emotional LinkedIn video in which Schofield thanked his family, colleagues, fans, and the studios that gave him the freedom to make the games he made.

"After 35 years of making games and directing them, running teams, it's time for me to officially retire from day-to-day work," Schofield said. "I had a front row seat to one of the greatest creative explosions in history."

Schofield's career reads like a timeline of some of the most influential games of the past three decades. He started as an artist before working his way up to VP at Crystal Dynamics, where he worked on the Gex series and the Legacy of Kain series. From there, he moved to EA's Visceral Games, where he was given the creative freedom to build something entirely new.

Assassin's Creed Hexe still hasn't been officially revealed, but a DLC for the game seems to have already leaked. While yes, the official reveal is supposedly coming soon, getting information about an expansion pack before the main game is quite peculiar, to say the least.

The find comes from RogueTx, the same Ubisoft insider we have closely tracked throughout Hexe's rocky development. The leaker says a datamined string from the game's source code reads "Season_Pass_Wuerzburg_Expansion," pointing to a post-launch expansion set in Wurzburg, a real city in Bavaria.

If accurate, that would mean Ubisoft is already building out post-launch content for a game it hasn't even announced yet, similar to how Assassin's Creed Shadows got story expansions rather than pure cosmetic add-ons.

A new industry report out of Japan claims that every single online game company surveyed is now using generative AI tools in some way. That's not a typo. Zero percent said no when they were inquired about AI use in their development pipelines.

The number comes from JOGA, the Japan Online Game Association, which has tracked the domestic online game market since 2004. Its newly published JOGA Online Game Market Research Report 2026 covers 2025 data, and the AI section is the one worth talking about.

According to a preview shared by Famitsu, 100% of surveyed companies said they use generative AI tools somewhere in their business, with Google's Gemini the most common pick at 94%, followed by Anthropic's Claude at 84% and GitHub Copilot at 76%.

PS5 emulation on PC has hit a new milestone, as the open source KytyPS5 emulator can now load Grand Theft Auto V far enough to reach the game's in-game menus and settings screen.

Additionally, Quake II Remastered has been shown reaching actual gameplay, marking a significant step toward achieving full 60FPS emulation. Unfortunately, neither of these games are playable from start to finish in their current state. Quake II reportedly runs at around 7 frames per second with visible graphical glitches, and GTA V's campaign and GTA Online remain totally inaccessible. So, not exactly a gripping gaming experience in either title. However, getting a commercial 3D PlayStation 5 title to boot this far is a significant technical milestone, and nothing to be ignored.

KytyPS5 is a Windows-only compatibility layer, and its GitHub page warns that compatibility is limited and changing rapidly as contributions pour in. Version 0.0.3, the latest build, focuses on backend and compatibility work rather than polished gameplay, which is critical for smooth gameplay in the future. For those wondering, the latest version introduced faster virtual memory allocation for quicker load times, a new shader-binding system, AMPR optimizations, Pthread fixes, and updated LibUlt ABIs, along with a refreshed GUI.

Late last year, Valve confirmed that it was discontinuing the original Steam Deck LCD model that debuted in 2022 by stating that it was no longer producing the model and "Once sold out, it will no longer be available." As for the reasoning, many have chalked it up to the rise in component costs making it no longer feasible to produce a more affordable variant compared to the Steam Deck OLED refresh, alongside the difficulty in repairing the original model - specifically in relation to its battery.

Cut to July 2026, and the online hardware repair specialists at iFixit have confirmed that Valve has now quietly discontinued the production of Steam Deck LCD replacement parts, namely the battery. Responding to a Reddit post from a user looking to replace the battery in a heavily used 2022 Steam Deck LCD handheld, iFixit confirms it can no longer obtain replacement parts for the original Steam Deck.

"It's not that we're choosing not to stock these anymore," the post from an iFixit representative reads. "Unfortunately, Valve is just starting to sunset these parts." On the plus side, as iFixit is all about offering users a way to repair tech of all shapes and sizes, the company is looking at alternatives. It is "actively evaluating aftermarket options," so hopefully there's a workaround.

Although it's an Xbox console exclusive, the highly anticipated Gears of War: E-Day is also coming to PC. Launching October 6, we've got confirmation this week that the PC version of the game will debut with native support for DLSS 4.5 and ray tracing. When it comes to the latter, as the game has been built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, it's set to leverage the engine's cutting-edge tech for its advanced lighting.

Gears of War: E-Day will use MegaLights for its ray-traced shadow effects, supporting up to 100 distinct light sources to create a more cinematic, realistic-looking world. It's also set to leverage Lumen for ray-traced global illumination and Nanite to increase detail in each environment. According to developer The Coalition and the GeForce RTX team at NVIDIA, this will apparently increase "object detail and fidelity" by up to 100X compared to Gears 5.

In addition to fancy lighting, Gears of War: E-Day will also introduce real-time destruction to the series, as well as volumetric particle and smoke effects for more intense, action-paced sequences. "These technologies deliver players the most technically ambitious and visceral Gears of War entry to date," NVIDIA writes.

Former Epic Games VP Steve Allison joins Saber Interactive to help unlock the publisher's future.

Saber Interactive today announced that ex-Epic exec Steve Allison has been recruited, and will be serving as Saber's chief business officer. Allison was instrumental in the formation of the Epic Games Store and helped build a competing digital content sales platform on PC. He will lend his expertise to helm Saber's global developer-publisher games lineup.

"Allison will lead business development and strategy for the worldwide publisher and developer's portfolio of highly anticipated titles," reads the press release. "He will report directly to the CEO."

Publishers set the prices of games sold on the PlayStation Store, former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Gordon Thornton tells Insider Gaming.

Sony's decision to cut physical disc production has sparked controversy among the PlayStation faithful. The frustration has led to angry fans digging around Sony's financials and misinterpreting key data points, including digital/physical unit sales and revenues. With so much confusion floating around, it's important to pay attention when people in the know share info on industry dynamics.

Gamers are now getting more clarifications on how the digital PS Store actually works from higher-ups who used to work at Sony.

S&P Global shares predictions for the console games market from now until 2030, including estimates for PlayStation 6 and Project Helix. Sony's sales dominance throughout Gen 9 is expected to continue throughout Gen 10 as Microsoft faces down tough sales.

A new report from S&P Global estimates global console shipments from 2020 through 2030.

One particular graph shows how badly the RAM crisis is expected to bite into console production, with a major drop plotted in 2027. Console shipments will get a boost in 2028 thanks to the release of the PlayStation 6 and Project Helix consoles, yet the latter is expected to be outsold by the former by some 2.5x shipments.

Nintendo is reportedly considering an OLED upgrade for the Switch 2, according to a new report from ZDNet Korea. The Switch 2 launched with an LCD panel just like its predecessor, and similarly, walking the same path, the Switch 2's rumored OLED version would mean deeper blacks, richer colors, and overall improved visual fidelity.

The latest rumor suggests Nintendo is exploring a 1920 x 1080 Full HD OLED panel for a future revision of the Switch 2. Samsung Display may be among the potential suppliers for the panel, should the project move forward, which I would consider, given it's the same approach Nintendo took within the original Switch. Development could begin as soon as the end of this year, with mass production potentially starting by late 2027 or early 2028.

Additionally, Nintendo waited nearly 5 years into the original Switch's lifecycle before releasing an OLED version. If the company follows that same cadence, it will release the Switch 2 OLED at the earliest in 2029. If the report proves accurate, it would mark another step in OLED's growing role in gaming hardware, and with the Switch 2's new powerful hardware, I think every gamer would love to see those components paired with a gorgeous OLED display.

Techland has some disappointing news for gen 8 console gamers: Dying Light The Beast has been cancelled on PS4 and Xbox One.

Dying Light The Beast, the latest standalone game starring Kyle Crane, will no longer release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The developers at Techland announced the news today on Facebook, essentially saying that the older-gen consoles aren't powerful enough to meet the game's needs.

The studio confirms that refunds will be offered to those who pre-ordered the cancelled PS4 and Xbox One versions of The Beast on all platforms.