Gaming - Page 117

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked point-blank (again) how much GTA 6 will cost--will it be $70? Maybe $80? Even $100? Rockstar will break the news, the CEO says.

Take-Two's CEO isn't ready to spill the beans on GTA 6's price tag--not yet, at least. It's a hot-button topic, with many speculating that GTA 6 could essentially have a blank check so to speak. It's so anticipated that GTA 6 could be $100 at launch and gamers would buy it, at least that's the thinking.

The reality is the price tag will be revealed by Rockstar Games, and not Take-Two themselves. Remember that TTWO is the parent company that owns multiple divisions, branches, and labels. Rockstar is its own developer and publisher, and is technically one of these labels. Essentially, Zelnick says that Take-Two won't steal Rockstar's thunder and spoil the surprise of GTA 6's price tag.

Bungie's independence is ebbing away and the Destiny developer will eventually become part of PlayStation Studios.

In a recent Q1'25 earnings stream, Sony CFO Lin Tao confirmed that Bungie will eventually be integrated into PlayStation Studios.

Bungie's internal independence is "getting lighter," Tao says, with Sony now controlling more and more of the decision-making. The developer's upcoming extraction shooter Marathon is still scheduled to release this fiscal year. This take-over is actually part of Bungie's acquisition contract; if Bungie fails to meet specific financial earnings targets, then Sony would dissolve Bungie's board of directors and take full control over Bungie's operations.

Marathon should be out by March 2026, but Sony isn't ready to make an official commitment just yet.

A bit ago, Bungie and PlayStation delayed Marathon to an indefinite period. The live game reportedly wasn't passing internal playtest reviews, and Sony doesn't want another $400 million Concord-level disaster on its hands. So Marathon was delayed...as to when, we don't know.

In a recent Q1'25 earnings webcast with analysts, Sony CFO Lin Tao directly commented on Marathon's release, saying that the intent is to launch the game in FY25 but no promises can be made.

Now that it has handily beaten Xbox console sales, Sony moving on with the next phase of the PlayStation business.

In a recent Q1'25 earnings call, Sony management said that PlayStation is "moving away" from being a hardware-based business into a more community business, potentially indicating that Sony could break exclusivity on more PlayStation Studios titles (including Helldivers 2).

In the webcast, Sony senior VP Sadahiko Hayakawa affirming that the company now prioritizes users and engagement rather than raw unit sales. "In the gaming business [we're] moving away from hardware-centric business more to community-based engagement business. As we move to more entertainment creation, the stability and productivity and performance is increasing," Haykawa said.

The new Xbox Ally handheld duo will launch mid-October in Europe, sources tell Dealabs' billbil-kun.

The release date for the first-ever Xbox handheld has apparently leaked out, with Dealabs' reporting both the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X handhelds will release on October 16, 2025 in Europe. It's unclear if this is the same release date for all worldwide geographies including the United States, especially given the current tariff situation.

Microsoft plans to reveal full details including pricing and availability at European games festival Gamescom 2025. While these details have yet to be confirmed, reports say that the Xbox Ally will be €599, and the higher-end Xbox Ally X with its 24GB of RAM and AI-powered chip will be a hefty three hundred euros more at €899. Full specs can be found here.

RedOctane is back - with a very slightly different name, RedOctane Games as opposed to RedOctane Inc - and is promising that it's already begun work on the 'next great music rhythm game' no less.

The announcement came on X (as noticed by Wccftech), and for those thinking 'Red-who?' - RedOctane Inc was the publisher and creative force behind the Guitar Hero games that first came out in 2005 (the outfit was subsequently closed down in 2010).

Yes, those were the very first plastic guitar games, before Rock Band came along, and the remit was expanded to not just axes, but mics, drums, and indeed the keyboard.

The PlayStation 5 has reached a new sales milestone with 80.3 million shipments made from launch to midsummer, Sony has announced.

Sony revealed the latest PS5 sales figures in their Q1'25 earnings report. According to the data, Sony shipped 2.5 million PS5s in Q1'25, pushing the PS5's total cumulative shipments to 80.3 million.

Despite the new sales bump, the PS5 still isn't beating the PS4 in launch-aligned sales. In its first 19 quarters on the market, the PS4 shipped 82.4 million units including the PS4 Pro. The PS5, on the other hand, shipped 80.3 million including the PS5 Pro. Interestingly enough, both Pro iterations helped spike sales of their respective console generations; PS4 shipments hit a record 9.7 million when the PS4 Pro released in 2016, and PS5 shipments reached 9.5 million when the PS5 Pro launched in 2024.

The release of Helldivers 2 was a phenomenal moment for PlayStation, as it was the first time PlayStation released a game on consoles and PC at the same time.

The release was a monumental success and led to one of the most successful simultaneous platform launches in 2024, with Helldivers 2 becoming a viral sensation and attracting as many as 450,000 players on Steam. Helldivers 2 has retained a healthy player base on Steam ever since its release, and now the title has arrived on Xbox, despite Helldivers 2 being a first-party PlayStation title. Helldivers 2 stands as an example that the walls of exclusivity are coming down for both Xbox and PlayStation, or at least when it comes to live-service games.

To further illustrate that point, we have now learned that Helldivers 2 arriving on Xbox was "all PlayStation," as confirmed by Helldivers 2 CEO in response to a Discord message to a fan praising the work developer Arrowhead Studios did on bringing the title over to Xbox. "It was all PlayStation. Send them your thanks! We were all in support of course," said Arrowhead Studios CEO Shams Jorjani.

UPDATE: Avalanche has delivered a statement, confirming that development on Contraband has stopped.

"Over the past several years, Avalanche Studios Group and Xbox Game Studios Publishing have collaborated on Contraband. Active development has now stopped while we evaluate the project's future. We're thankful for the excitement we've seen from the community since we announced and will give an update on what's next as soon as we can."

Microsoft has chosen to cancel Contraband, a new game that had been in development for years, sources tell Bloomberg's Jason Schreier.

We have the final PC system requirements for the Battlefield 6 open beta, which goes live in 6 hours' time, with an RTX 3060 Ti all you require for 1440p @ 60FPS on High settings.

The official Battlefield account on X posted the specs, with the minimum requirements being 16GB of RAM and 75GB of storage space (at launch), with TPM 2.0 enabled, UEFI Secure Boot enabled, HVCI and VBS capable. The CPU for the minimum PC specs is between the Intel Core i5-8400 and AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processors.

Battlefield 6's open beta will require an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060, AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT, or Intel Arc A380 graphics card for 1080p @ 30FPS on Low settings.

Grand Theft Auto 6 could be priced at $100 when it launches, said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter just yesterday, but now another analyst has said a $100 price on GTA 6 is a bad idea.

Alinea Analytics' analyst Rhys Elliott has come out reporting on why a $100 base pricing for GTA 6 isn't a good idea, going into a little more detail. His points include GTA Online being the "real cash cow" and that Rockstar moving players from GTA 5 with a higher price on GTA 6 would limit the GTA 5 to GTA 6 player acquisition.

He explained:

Battlefield 6 launches into its first public beta over the weekend and there are already thousands of eager gamers filling up the servers now, with 48,000+ players ready to go right now.

According to SteamDB, the PC version of the game has a peak concurrent player count of 24,879 on Steam, with one Reddit user posting a screenshot that showed Battlefield 6's queue system for those trying to get into the BF6 servers hitting close to 50,000 users.

The first Battlefield 6 open beta begins this weekend at 1AM PST on August 9, with the Battlefield 6 Open Beta running through until August 11. The second weekend takes place at 1AM PST August 14, running through until August 16. This means you'll have a few chances to play Battlefield 6 before it officially launches on October 10.

PlayStation 4 is losing one of the most popular free-to-play games in April 2026, possibly indicating an eventual forced migration from the platform.

MiHoYo has confirmed plans to end PS4 support for billion-dollar F2P giant Genshin Impact. The game will be pulled from PS4 in three phases: delisting the game (September 10, 2025), shutting down microtransactions (February 25, 2026), and pulling servers offline (April 8, 2026). After this, Genshin Impact will only be playable via PlayStation 5.

The free-to-play game has had a tremendous impact on PlayStation's service revenues. Genshin Impact was among the 10 games that generated over $10 billion in revenue on the PlayStation Store. To put it another way: These 10 games/franchises made up over half of annual PlayStation Store earnings every year for the past 5 years in a row.

Nintendo is raising the price on a multitude of Switch consoles and accessories, with some products like the Switch OLED seeing a +$50 increase.

On the heels of $80 games and a new $550 console, Nintendo fans will have to adjust to even more sticker shock. The company is raising prices on at least 17 different products ranging from the entire Switch 1 console lineup as well as Joy-Cons, Pro controllers, Amiibo, and even the Switch Online retro controllers. Nintendo is clearly serious about clawing back some of the tens of billions of yen in profit that will be eaten up by global tariffs instigated by the Trump Administration.

The new price hikes are principally centered around the first generation Switch, but the Switch 2 doesn't go unscathed--Joy-Con2's saw a price jump. The largest price increase by dollar amount was the Switch OLED, which was increased by $50 from the original $349.99 price to the new $399.99 baseline. For reference, that's how much a launch PS4 retailed for in 2013.

The age-old FPS war between Battlefield and Call of Duty is on this year, but Activision isn't worried about being knocked off course by Battlefield 6.

Battlefield 6 is on the horizon and EA aims to make a big explosive re-entry into the FPS genre. The competition looks to be fierce, yet new reports say that Activision isn't particularly fazed by DICE's new mayhem-inducing sequel.

Sources tell Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson that Activision believes Call of Duty is "too big to fail," likely referring to the billion-dollar multiplatform net that the franchise casts over the industry. The sources also say that Activision has annual Call of Duty games laid out for the next four years.

Rockstar is adding age verification into GTA Online, and now we have some previews on what that will look like.

Gamers living in certain parts of the world will soon have to prove their age in order to play games online. Video games publishers are re-working their games to comply with the UK's new Online Safety Act, which significantly tightens age restrictions on games and online content. Rockstar Games is one of the many publishers adding new age verification buttons into titles like GTA Online.

Longtime GTA leaker Tez2 recently shared early looks at what these age assurance screens will look like. GTA Online will have a new "verify age" section within the settings menu, and gamers will have to go through the steps in order to even play the mega-popular online mode.

Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will require hardware-based security like Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 in order to play, Activision has confirmed

Battlefield 6 isn't the only new shooter that will require system-level security. Black Ops 7 will require both Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 in order to play, which may require some users to upgrade or change up their hardware/BIOS setups.

"Neither TPM 2.0 nor Secure Boot are required to play currently available Call of Duty titles; however, both will be required when Call of Duty®: Black Ops 7 launches in 2025. Keeping these settings enabled ensures a fair and fun experience for all players."

The Battlefield 6 beta is almost here, with EA celebrating the unlocking of the title by posting several early access beta codes to the official Battlefield X account.

The Battlefield 6 beta will be unlocked for those who have obtained an early access key on August 7, while the open beta for the general public will go live on August 9. That beta weekend will run between August 9 and 10, but will be followed by a second weekend between August 14 and August 17. Notably, early access will run between August 7 and August 9.

For those who have obtained an early access key, it will need to be redeemed via EA's website, which requires a user to sign into their EA account and link the code to their preferred platform of choice. At the time of writing, EA is still handing out early access codes by directing people to content creators on Twitch who are streaming Battlefield 6.

Mario Kart World is a mega hit on Switch 2, where the game sold over 5.63 million copies in less than a month, representing a massive 96% attach rate.

The Switch 2 has done so well that it has broken two major milestones: not only is it the fastest-selling video games console of all time, but the Switch 2 also had the best-ever launch of all time by units shipped. Nintendo managed to sell over 5.82 million Switch 2 consoles in just 25 days, and Nintendo CEO Shuntaro Furukawa recently confirmed the system has reached 6 million sales in 7 weeks.

No console launch is complete without a bevy of new software, and the Switch 2 didn't disappoint; Nintendo sold a total of 8.67 million games during the new console's launch. More than half of these sales were from one singular first-party exclusive: Mario Kart World.

The Battlefield 6 beta is only a matter of hours away, and EA has thrown the public one last bone to unlock early access.

The Battlefield 6 beta begins on August 7 for those who have received an early access code, and for those who haven't, the open beta begins on the weekend of August 9. If you want to get into Battlefield 6 on August 7, you will need an early access code, and to acquire one of them, EA is advising you to watch 30 minutes of any creator streaming Battlefield 6 on Twitch. To acquire a code, previously players had to sign up to Battlefield Labs before July 31, or watch streamers during last week's multiplayer reveal event.

However, that has now changed as a new post on the official Battlefield X account has said anyone with a Twitch account can just open up a stream from any creator streaming Battlefield 6, leave the stream open for 30 minutes, even on mute, and then they will receive a code. Additionally, once a code has been received, it will need to be redeemed via the EA website, where you will need to sign into an EA account and link the code to your preferred platform. Redeem the beta code here.